The Earth from the Moon
[The appearance of the earth and the movements of celestial objects seen by the inhabitants of the moon]
Sub utroque vero polorum in compensationem noctis Sol dimidius tegitur, dimidius lucet, montes circulo circumiens ^95. Nec enim minus Levania suis incolis immota stare videtur, currentibus astris, quam Terra nostra nobis hominibus ^96.
Under each of the poles the night hangs in balance, the sun half covered, half alight, as it circles the mountains. To its inhabitants, Levania appears to stand unmoving, among the moving stars, no less than our Earth appears to we humans.
Nox et dies juncti aequant unum ex nostratibus mensibus: quippe Sole orituro mane integrum fere zodiaci signum postridie plus apparet quam pridie ^97.
Their night and day together are equal to one of our month: When the Sun is about to rise in the morning, almost an entire sign of the Zodiac is more visible on the day after than on the day before.
Et ut nobis in uno anno 365 Soles et 366 sphaerae fixarum, seu praecisius in 4 annis 1461 Soles, sed 1465 sphaerae fixarum volvuntur, sic illis in uno anno Sol duodecies, sphaera fixarum tredecies seu praecisius in 8 annis Sol 99 ies , sphaerae fixarum centies septies circumit. Sed familiarior est ipsis circulus annorum 19. Etenim in tot annis Sol oritur ducenties tricies quinquies, fixae vcro ducenties quinquagies quater ^98.
Just as in one of our years the Sun transits 365 times, and the sphere of the fixed stars revolves 366 times – or more precisely, 1461 Suns in four years but 1465 revolutions of the fixed sphere – so for them, in one year the Sun transits 12 times, and the sphere of fixed stars 13 times – or more precisely, in eight years the Sun transits 99 times and the fixed sphere revolves 107 times. But a 19-year cycle is more familiar to them, for in that number of years the Sun rises 235 times and the fixed stars 254 times.
Oritur Sol subvolvarum mediis seu intimis, quando nobis apparet ultima quadra, privolvarum vero intimis tunc, quando nobis est prima quadra. Quae autem de meditulliis dico, de totis semicirculis intelligenda sunt per polos et meditullia ductis, ad divisorem rectis, quos semicirculos medivolvani appellare possis ^99.
The sun rises on the central or innermost regions of the Subvolvans’ when the Last Quarter appears to us. What I describe in the middle regions may be understood of all the semicircles through the poles
and the centre lines at right angles to the divisor: these could be called the Medivolvan semicircles.
The Somnium Project 