lination of the comparatively small body of the Earth,
than by the setting in motion of the whole system of the universe;
especially if this motion is to be regarded as ordained solely for the
Earth's advantage: While for the fixed stars, or for the planets, it is of
no use at all. For this motion the rising and settings of stars in every
Horizon, as well as their culminations at the height of the heavens, are
shifted so much that the stars which once were vertical are now some
degrees distant from the zenith. For nature has taken care, through the
Earth's soul or magnetick vigour, that, just as it was needful in
tempering, receiving, and warding off the sun's rays and light, by suitable
seasons, that the points toward which the Earth's pole is directed should
be 23 degrees and more {235} from the poles of the Ecliptick[250]: so now
for moderating and for receiving the luminous rays of the fixed stars in
due turn and succession, the Earth's poles should revolve at the same
distance from the Ecliptick at the Ecliptick's arctick circle; or rather
that they should creep at a gentle pace, that the actions of the stars
should not always remain at the same parallel circles, but should have a
rather slow mutation. For the influences of the stars are not so forceful
as that a swifter course should be desired. Slowly, then, is the Earth's
axis inflected; and the stars' rays, falling upon the face of the Earth,
shift only in so long a time as a diameter of the arctick or polar circle
is extended: whence the star at the extremity of the tail of the Cynosure,
which once was 12 degrees 24 minutes (namely, in the time of Hipparchus)
distant from the pole of the universe, or from that point which the pole of
the Earth used to face, is now only 2 degrees and 52 minutes distant from
the same point; whence from its nearness it is called by the moderns
_Polaris._ Some time it will be only 1/2 degree away from the pole:
afterward it will begin to recede from the pole until it will be 48 degrees
distant; and this, according to the Prutenical tables, will be in Anno
Domini 15000. Thus _Lucida Lyrae_ (which to us southern Britons now almost
culminates) will some time approach to the pole of the world, to about the
fifth degree. So all the stars shift their rays of light at the surface of
the Earth, through this wonderful magnetical inflection of the Earth's
axis. Hence come new varieties of the seasons of the year, and lands become
more fruitful