Question five: on quantity

There are twelve signs in heaven and neither more nor less than twelve,  so that there can be four seasons in the year, namely spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season has three months so that there is a tempering of complexions in things below through the circle, through the square and through the triangle. As four times three makes three squares, so the circle is composed of triangles and squares, where four triangles exist in a circular way in four squares and three squares in four triangles. But this could not be so if heaven were naturally divided into a larger or smaller number of parts than twelve signs. And heaven would neither have the nature of the square or of the triangle, and its virtue would be deficient in the property, proportion and nature of the square and of the triangle. And with this deficiency, it could not be the cause of the circles, squares and triangles that exist in things below.
     Among other reasons we can give for the fact that there are naturally neither more nor less than seven planets, let us give these three.
     The first reason is that seven days make up a week, in which each planet has its day; and the course of the year is completed through weeks, which could not happen if there were eight or six planets.
     The second reason is because in the number seven there are triangles in squares, and squares in triangles, in circular fashion.  Saturn, Jupiter and Mars make up one triangle through the natural participation of complexions, natures, properties and conditions; and Jupiter, Mars and the Sun make another triangle, and the two triangles are made up of four planets, as we said. Then there is another triangle made by Mars, the Sun and Venus, and yet another triangle made by the Sun, Venus and Mercury; and both triangles exist in circular fashion in a square, made of Mars, the Sun, Venus, and Mercury. And there is another triangle, made by Venus, Mercury and the Moon, and another one made by Mercury, the Moon and Saturn; and both exist in circular fashion in one square made by Venus, Mercury, the Moon and Saturn. And there is yet another triangle, made by the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter, and this one participates in a circular fashion with the triangle made of Mercury, the Moon and Saturn, in the square made of Mercury, the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter.
     Therefore there are seven triangles in four squares, and four squares in seven triangles, all this in a circular way according to the operations, natures and influences that they transmit to things below.  Every planet participates in triangles and squares, which cannot happen without a determined number of neither more nor less than seven planets.
     There is a further natural clarification of the reason why there cannot be and must not be any more or less than seven planets. And this is as follows: by experience, we sense and imagine that  two complexions are called active, namely heat and cold.  The two other complexions are called passive as compared to the said two greater complexions; these passive qualities are called moisture and dryness.
    For this reason, there must be two planets, similar and concordant in proper and appropriated qualities that multiply heat: these are Mars and the Sun, whose complexion is B. And there must be two other planets concordant through their proper and appropriated qualities, namely Venus and the Moon, whose complexion is D. and multiplies cold.  Saturn has a dry and cold complexion and no other planet has dryness as a proper quality. And the same with Jupiter, which has no peer of the complexion of A.  Hence, the proper qualities of C. and  A. are passive qualities, because they have no peer to help them,  whereas there are two B.'s and two D.'s.
   If there were eight planets, there would be a peer to constitute A.A. and a peer to constitute C.C., so that moisture and dryness would act as greatly in things below as do heat and cold , which  is not the case, as experience tells us.
     If there were only six planets, the said order would be destroyed in them. With this destruction, nature would suffer passion on account of the vacuum remaining after the destruction of this order. But nature cannot sustain such a vacuum.
     Having proved that in heaven there must be twelve signs and  seven planets, let us now investigate why they have proper and appropriated qualities.

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