Hipparchus, who can never be sufficiently¹ commended, as one who more especially proved the relation of the stars to man, and that our souls are a portion of heaven, discovered a new star that was produced in his own age, and, by observing its motions on the day in which it shone, he was led to doubt whether this does not often happen, that those stars have motion which we suppose to be fixed². And the same individual 18 attempted, what might seem presumptuous³ even in a deity⁴, to number the stars for posterity⁵ and to express their relations by appropriate names; having previously⁶ devised instruments,[17] by which he might mark the place and the magnitude of each individual star. In this way it might be easily discovered, not only whether they were destroyed or produced, but whether they changed their relative positions, and likewise, whether they were increased or diminished; the heavens being thus left as an inheritance to any one, who might be found competent to complete his plan.
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