Göklerin Devinimi ve Mevsimlerin Bilgeliği: Ebû Ma'şer'in Astronomiye Giriş'i

After the Sun, the Moon comes to the testimony of things. For to many, even of the common people, it is not in doubt that the approaches of the Moon to the Sun and its recessions—that is, its risings and settings—and the increases and decreases of the air and seas in animals, grasses, and metals, are accompanied by movements of qualities and quantities. Many also obtain through numerous experiments that different times are affected by various qualities according to the different mansions of the Moon; as from this one, the ancients understood clouds; from that one, rains; and other things of this kind. After the Sun and the Moon, certain effects of all the stars are then established. It is by no means unknown even to the common people that the qualities of the times are altered between the increases and decreases of the stars through a certain participation with the Sun and the Moon. If this participation were not the cause of these movements, summer would never be hotter than summer, nor winter colder than winter. It is certain, therefore, that in every nation, through all climates, the generations and corruptions of things are moved by the alterations of the seasons. Thus, indeed, the farmer, the pastor, and the sailor, in their own office, predict convenient or inconvenient hours from the positions of certain stars. The farmer, indeed, for sowing and grafting; the pastor for the mating of herds and flocks, for stable conceptions and healthy births. The sailor, nonetheless, foresees friendly and hostile winds from the experiments of the past.