The Daemon from Levania
[The daemon describes Levania – the earth’s moon – and the selection of humans who can survive the journey]
Daemon ^61 ex Levania ^62
Quinquaginta millibus miliarium Germanicorum ^53 in aetheris profundo sita est ^54 Levania insula; iter ad eam hinc vel ex ea in has Terras rarissime patet ^55, et cum patet, nostrae quidera genti facile est ^56, hominibus vero transportandis plane difficillimum et cum summo vitae periculo conjunctum ^57.
“The island of Levania is located fifty thousand German miles high up in the sky. The route to get to there from here, or back to this Earth, is rarely open. When it is open, it is easy for our kind, at least, to travel. But transporting humans is truly difficult, and risks the greatest dangers to life.
Nulli a nobis sedentarii adsciscuntur in hunc comitatura, nulli corpulenti, nulli delicati ^58, sed legimus eos, qui aetatem veredorum assiduo usu consumunt, aut qui navibus frequenter Indias adeunt, pane biscocto, allio, piscibus duratis et cibis abhorrentibus victitare sueti ^59.
We do not admit desk-bound humans into these ranks, nor the fat, nor the foppish. But we choose those who regularly spend their time hunting with swift horses, or those who voyage in ships to the Indies, and are accustomed to living on hard bread, garlic, dried fish and other abhorrent foods.
Inprimis nobis aptae sunt vetulae exsuccae ^60, quibus inde a pueritia trita est ratio, hircos nocturnos, aut furcas, aut trita pallia inequitandi trajiciendique per immania terrarum spatia. Nulli e Germania viri apti sunt, Hispanorum sicca corpora non respuimus ^61.
The best adapted for the journey are dried-out old women, since from youth they are accustomed to riding goats at night, or pitchforks, or travelling the wide expanses of the earth in worn-out clothes. There are none in Germany who are suitable, but the dry bodies of Spaniards are not rejected.
The Somnium Project 
[…] kilometers (50,000 mi) above Earth, and the only way to do it is through an interdimensional route opened by demons. Kepler described the demons beginning the journey based on the phases of the Moon. They administer […]
50,000 German miles is roughly 235,000 miles, or (not surprisingly) roughly the distance to the Moon (see this wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolete_German_units_of_measurement#Meile_.28mile.29).
Fwiw, the “careted” numbers in the Latin text, refer to Kepler’s notes to the work, but the one’s here don’t seem to link to anything.
They will link to the footnotes, when I’ve translated them. Or if I get a chance I’ll put the Latin up as a holding measure
Hi. I deal in special projects. One has a Kepler facet to it. Wonderin: when did he conceive/write the “suspended animation” passage. Could it be like 2018 or 19?
Many thanks.
[…] kilometers (50,000 mi) above Earth, and the only way to do it is through an interdimensional route opened by demons. Kepler described the demons beginning the journey based on the phases of the Moon. They administer […]