On the Comet of the Year 1618, a New Spectacle of the World: Two Books of Paradox-Discourse

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Original title: De cometa anni 1618. Novo mundi spectaculo, libri duo. Paradoxologia A two-book Neo-Latin treatise in the Ciceronian paradox tradition (paradoxologia), dedicated jointly to Archduke Albert VII of Austria and the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands. Responding to the bright comet seen across Europe in November 1618, it argues against the common fear that comets portend war, plague, and the death of kings. Puteanus reclassifies the comet as a supralunar celestial body—a 'citizen of heaven' (caeli civis) and 'offspring of the Sun' (Solis soboles)—rather than a sublunary fiery exhalation, drawing on the parallax argument, the Cassiopeian nova, the comet of 1577, and telescopic novelties (the phases of Venus, the Jovian satellites), even entertaining a Tychonic arrangement of the heavens. Each of the two books contains nine numbered paradoxa; the work moves from natural philosophy to a forensic polemic against astrologers and diviners, and finally to a moral relocation of the truly portentous from the sky to the human soul (non sidera, sed scelera prodigia; in animo, non in caelo). It closes with a carmen reciprocum, a palindromic verse, and a censura. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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Eryci Pvteani DE COMETA ANNI 8. 19C. XVIII. Nouo Mundi Spectaculo, LIBRI DVO. PARADOXOLOGIA. COLONIAE Sumptibus Conradi Butgeni Anno MDCXIX. Biblioteca Nap. Romana Vittorio Emanuele.