6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
"It goes
to the South and rotates to the North; turning, revolving, the wind goes and
returns upon its circuits." From this we are able to believe
that the sun approaches the meridian quarter in the time of winter, and in the
summer is near to the Great Bear, and does not commence its movements in the
equinox of autumn, but when the west wind is blowing in the time of spring,
when all things give birth. But he
actually says "turning, revolving, the wind goes and returns upon its
circuits" as if he calls the sun itself a breath, like an animal that
breathes and lives, completing its annual orbit in its course, just like the
poet Vergil says: "Meanwhile the sun flies around the great year" [Aeneid 3.284]
and elsewhere [Vergil Georg. 2. 402.]
"and the year flies through its own footsteps" or that bright sphere
of the moon and Titan's star: "The breath nourishes within: and the
intelligence stirs the whole mass infused through the limbs, and mingles itself
with the mighty body" [Vergil Aeneid, 6. 726-7.]. He is not speaking about the annual course of
the sun, but its daily path. For it
proceeds sidelong and towards the North, and thus turns to the East. Another meaning of this verse is: when the
sun moves to the South it is closer to the Earth; when it moves to the North it
is raised to higher orbits. Perhaps
therefore it moves to those parts, which are compressed together by the cold of
atmospheric disturbances, and of winter.
Severe heat indeed blazes out from the North above the Earth, and that
sun is closer to righteousness than those men who in fact live in the Northern
region, and who are deprived of summer's heat.
The sun then moves far away and turns by its circuits to the place
whence it set out. For when it has
subdued all things to it and illuminated all things with its rays, let there be
the first restoration and "God may be all in all". [I Cor. 15, 28.] Symmachus interpreted this phrase saying, 'it
goes to the meridian, and turns around to the North; turning the wind goes, and
the wind returns by those routes by which it had come around'.
[AD 420] Jerome on Ecclesiastes 1:6
to the South and rotates to the North; turning, revolving, the wind goes and
returns upon its circuits." From this we are able to believe
that the sun approaches the meridian quarter in the time of winter, and in the
summer is near to the Great Bear, and does not commence its movements in the
equinox of autumn, but when the west wind is blowing in the time of spring,
when all things give birth. But he
actually says "turning, revolving, the wind goes and returns upon its
circuits" as if he calls the sun itself a breath, like an animal that
breathes and lives, completing its annual orbit in its course, just like the
poet Vergil says: "Meanwhile the sun flies around the great year" [Aeneid 3.284]
and elsewhere [Vergil Georg. 2. 402.]
"and the year flies through its own footsteps" or that bright sphere
of the moon and Titan's star: "The breath nourishes within: and the
intelligence stirs the whole mass infused through the limbs, and mingles itself
with the mighty body" [Vergil Aeneid, 6. 726-7.]. He is not speaking about the annual course of
the sun, but its daily path. For it
proceeds sidelong and towards the North, and thus turns to the East. Another meaning of this verse is: when the
sun moves to the South it is closer to the Earth; when it moves to the North it
is raised to higher orbits. Perhaps
therefore it moves to those parts, which are compressed together by the cold of
atmospheric disturbances, and of winter.
Severe heat indeed blazes out from the North above the Earth, and that
sun is closer to righteousness than those men who in fact live in the Northern
region, and who are deprived of summer's heat.
The sun then moves far away and turns by its circuits to the place
whence it set out. For when it has
subdued all things to it and illuminated all things with its rays, let there be
the first restoration and "God may be all in all". [I Cor. 15, 28.] Symmachus interpreted this phrase saying, 'it
goes to the meridian, and turns around to the North; turning the wind goes, and
the wind returns by those routes by which it had come around'.