On the Miraculous Nature and the Divine Origin of Virgil’s Georgics
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Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Case by Case Analysis of some Miracles in the First Book of the Georgica
- 2.1 The Earth is Spinning around its Axis (Cosmology)
- 2.2 The Sun is a Star amongst Many Others (Cosmology)
- 2.3 The Earth is Orbiting the Sun: Heliocentricity (Cosmology)
- 2.4 Seasons are Caused by the Tilt of the Earth's Axis and its Position Relative to the Sun (Cosmology, Climatology)
- 2.5 Photosynthesis in Plants and Crops (Biology)
- 2.6 The Perfect Duration of a Year (Cosmology)
- 2.7 The Solar Calender is best used for Agriculture (Cosmology, Agronomy)
- 2.8 Manure, Micro Organisms and Soil (Biology, Chemistry, Agronomy)
- 2.9 The Earth is Spherical (Cosmology)
- 2.10 The Earth is Divided into Several Climatic Zones (Geography, Climatology)
- 2.11 Moderate Zones are Best for Living (Economics, Geography)
- 2.12 The Discovery of the North and South Pole and their Harsh Conditions (Geography, Climatology)
- 2.13 The Holes in the Ozone Layer (Meteorology)
- 3 Conclusion
- 4 See Also
Introduction
Have you ever wondered why so many scientific words are ‘Latin’ or ‘Greek’? Many of the sciences have Latin or Greek names. Even the word 'Science' itself is of Latin origin (scientia means knowledge). However, the Greeks and Romans did not believe in just one God. They were polytheists. This raises the question: who were those gods and goddesses that inspired these ancient polytheists? Virgil himself in the GEORGICA writes of Ceres, the goddess of grain and agriculture, Aristaeus, the planter of groves, Bacchus the god of wine, the goddess Minerva ‘the bringer of the olive’, Pan ‘guardian of the flocks’ and Jupiter (Zeus, ζευζ ) the supreme ruler of the universe.
About the Georgica
This critical analysis of the GEORGICA by Virgil (written in so-called Golden Latin in 28 BCE) will demonstrate that these ancient deities were the transmitters of knowledge that science would only confirm many centuries later. But first we must caution our readers. Latin cannot always be translated into English due to its complex, refined syntax and grammar. Latin is a unique language unlike any other language in the world. Words that mean one thing in English may have multiple meanings in Latin that cannot be translated accurately. We are using transliterations, but the pure, original, uncorrupted and preserved Latin will always be consulted in case of doubt. Please keep an open mind when you read this paper and join us on this scientific voyage of discovery.
Before we begin our journey, it should also be stressed that no Latin scholar, even if he or she were not a polytheist, has ever met the challenge of producing lines that resemble Virgil’s divine poetry. Furthermore, we know from many examples of extant manuscripts written in Europe’s monasteries during the Middle Ages, that there have been no disagreements among experts as to what was the precise content of Virgil’s poetry. As classical scholar Dr. Dianne Tillotson has observed:
These copies were made in monasteries, often many hundreds of miles apart from one another, throughout Europe. Yet despite the distances involved and the lack of communication between these diverse centers of culture and learning, no discrepancy has ever been detected between the manuscript copies of Virgil’s works, thereby attesting to their perfect, if not miraculous, preservation.
Literary Value of the Georgica
It should also not be forgotten that Virgil’s influence has never waned in Western culture - even among Christians. Indeed, Virgil acted as mentor and guide for the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321 CE) in his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy. Virgil accompanies Dante into the circles of an imagined Hell where, among the schismatics, deceivers and scandalmongers, they see the writhing body of one of the condemned, a certain Mahomet. Inspired by Virgil, Dante gives a vivid and ominous description of this inmate of the Inferno.
The Nature of the Miracles found in the Georgica
Are the GEORGICA merely pastoral poetry as so many people have always thought or are they books of divine revelation? With our painstaking research we have uncovered various types of miracles in the Liber Primus of the GEORGICA concerning:
- Biology (Biologia)
- Mathematics (Mathematica) (which is of course numerology)
- Physics (Phsycia)
- Climatology (Climatologia)
- Cosmology (Cosmologia)
- Geology (Geologia)
- Geography (Geografia)
- Biochemistry (Biochemia)
- Meteorology (Meteorologia)
- Agronomy (Agranomia)
- Economics (Economica)
- Prophecy or foreknowledge of future events (Oraculum Divina)
Case by Case Analysis of some Miracles in the First Book of the Georgica
The Earth is Spinning around its Axis (Cosmology)
English Translation: “What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star, Maecenas, it is meet to turn the earth and fasten vines to elms?”
These are the very first lines of the GEORGICA. Of course we should look a bit deeper into the text to find the true divine wisdom hidden within this beautiful piece of poetry. Let’s investigate the ‘quo sidere terram vertere’, since this has a very significant meaning and at first glance already seems to contain at least three scientifically accurate statements.
- quo = ‘what’ from qui (pronomen interogativum, ablitavus, singularis, neutr.)
- sidere = ‘star’ from sidus (ablativus, singularis, neutr.)
- terram = ‘earth’ from terra (accusativus, singularis, fem.)
- vertere = ‘turn’ or ‘spin’ (infinitivus)
Virgil is clearly writing about the earth’s ‘spinning’ (vertere: changing its orientation facing a certain direction) around its own axis, something modern science has only recently discovered. This is a revolutionary insight (no pun intended). More primitive cultures many centuries later would still regard the earth as ‘fixed’ like a flattened abode, pinned down by mountains and a firm place to live, but Virgil is saying that it is in fact spinning! How did Virgil know this? DId he have a space rocket to observe the earth spinning?
The Sun is a Star amongst Many Others (Cosmology)
English Translation: “What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star, Maecenas, it is meet to turn the earth and fasten vines to elms?”
Let’s take a look at the word sidere (in verse 1:4). Sidus means star. We should first bear in mind that the sun is the most important celestial body to all farmers and Roman civilization was an agricultural society. The celestial body mentioned (especially in the context of the GEORGICA) is most certainly the sun.
Why would a poet born in the first century before Christ refer to the sun as ‘a star’ (using the word sidus and not the word sol) unless he knew it was in fact a star? More primitive cultures still thought (until quite recently) that the sun set in a muddy spring, prostrated itself beneath some mythical godhead’s throne and that the stars were quite separate bodies fixed in the lower part of the heavens and used as missiles to chase away imaginary spirits. Virgil correctly and accurately identifies the sun as a star amongst many others. How could Virgil be talking about the sun as a star (which is exactly what modern science teaches us) without some divine source of inspiration? How would it have been possible that he simply ‘guessed’ the truth?
The Earth is Orbiting the Sun: Heliocentricity (Cosmology)
English Translation: “What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star, Maecenas, it is meet to turn the earth and fasten vines to elms?”
Now let’s look at the case of the word sidere, in this case an ablative is used. One use of the ablative is to designate a spatial relation between two objects: it is called an ablativus loci. So a more accurate translation of this verse would be: ‘in relation to what star is the earth to move in a circular path?’ This means that Virgil already knew that the earth is rotating around the sun (a circular movement in relation to it). Virgil accurately describes the Sun as the centre of our solar system and not the earth.
The latter view formed part of the prevalent notion of our universe in ancient times and many primitive and backward people would still believe for centuries that the sun was orbiting around the earth only to re-emerge in the east the following day.
Seasons are Caused by the Tilt of the Earth's Axis and its Position Relative to the Sun (Cosmology, Climatology)
English Translation: “What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star, Maecenas, it is meet to turn the earth and fasten vines to elms?”
Look again at quo sidere. We've established that it is an ablativus loc and that it clarifies the earth's circular path around the sun. But there is more hidden in these majestic words of golden Latin. It relates the appropriate times for planting and growing crops to this position. The earth's position relative to the sun (during it's yearly orbit around it) is exactly what causes the change of seasons on our planet. The earth's axis is slightly tilted, relative towards its heliocentric orbit. Whichever half (the northern or the southern) is facing the sun is experiencing summer at that time, the other is experiencing winter. It's simply amazing that Virgil somehow knew of this and it's even more amazing that he managed to express all this divine knowledge into so few words.
Photosynthesis in Plants and Crops (Biology)
We seem to have ‘skipped’ the first 4 words in this classic poem. Let’s take a second look at them.
English Translation: “What makes the cornfields smile?”
It seems these 4 words make very little sense: cornfields do not smile and we can imagine that for centuries people who read them must have thought: “Virgil is a great poet but his statements are not true according to modern science!” Let’s see what these words actually mean shall we?
- Quid = ‘what’ from quid (pronomen interogativum, nominativus, singularis, neutr.)
- Faciat = ‘makes’ from facio (verbum, 3rd person singular presens)
- Laetas = ‘fertile’ or ‘happy’ from laetus (adiectivum, accusativus, pluralis, fem.)
- Segetes = ‘acre’ or ‘cultivated fields’ from seges (substantivum, pluralis, fem.)
Wait a minute! The sun isn’t making the fields smile or making them happy: it is recharging plants on those fields (seges means cultivated field, one with crops on it) with energy so things can grow and flourish. Modern scientists have only recently discovered that this is exactly what plants are doing. Plants absorb the energy of the sun and thus produce fruits, nuts and seeds. The typical overall chemical reaction of this process is: 6H2O + 6CO2 + light _ C6H12O6 (glucose) + 6O2; the energy contained in crops (the plants on those segetes) comes from the light of the sun not from the water of from the carbon on earth. This process is called ‘photosynthesis’ and was absolutely unknown to the Romans of the first century before Christ. How could Virgil have written specifically about this many centuries before photosynthesis was actually discovered by modern science? Did he just make a lucky guess or was he divinely inspired?
The Perfect Duration of a Year (Cosmology)
English Translation: “O brightest light of the world which moves the passing year in the sky.”
It is difficult to see how even the most skeptical readers (unless the gods of the underworld continue to veil their minds) on reading these lines can remain unconvinced of the divine miracle of the GEORGICA. Through this revelation to Virgil and the rest of mankind, the gods and goddesses are clearly asserting that it is indeed our world that “moves the year”, i.e. it is the planet earth that rotates around the star that is our sun. What we call a “year” is produced by the movements of the earth and not, as it would seem to any human observer 2000 years ago, by the movements of the sun. Hence the divinities are developing (and in verses of inimitable beauty) the insights contained in the very first lines.
Need we stress once again that it took more than 1500 years for scientists to confirm the truths revealed in the GEORGICA? Furthermore the gods and goddesses are prophesying that science will confirm their revelations. The words “O clarissima mundi lumina” (in the vocative case used for addressing people) are no doubt also directed at the enlightened minds of the world that will scientifically confirm what the divinities have expressed in poetry. All this stands in stark contrast, for example, to the unenlightened minds that six hundred years later in other parts of the world will fail to understand anything whatsoever about the real movements of our planet and its relation to the sun. In many primitive cultures not the sun but the moon is used to calculate the years. These crude and inaccurate lunar calendars are mainly used today by primitive cultures, mainly for religious purposes.
The Solar Calender is best used for Agriculture (Cosmology, Agronomy)
English Translation: “What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star, Maecenas, it is meet to turn the earth and fasten vines to elms?”
Lets take another look at the first verses. These verses confirm that it is the sun (and not the moon) that dictates the times of year, they also tell us that the star(!) we call our sun dictates the seasons best for planting. Not only do we know that the solar instead is superior and far more accurate than the lunar calender invented by more primitive cultures. To use the lunar calendar for planting crops would be suicide!
Manure, Micro Organisms and Soil (Biology, Chemistry, Agronomy)
English Translation: “Don’t be ashamed to saturate the arid soil with rich manure, and scatter charred ashes over the weary fields.”
The divinities’ omniscience extends from the sun to the soil. The GEORGICA first tells us to be unashamed of something that we might feel ashamed about. Indeed, who would have the idea of spreading manure and ashes (substances naturally associated with decay and death) over fields to make them more fertile? Ignorant people in the Arabian peninsula will be told in a book that they still consider to be a guide, that their god provides them with all the fruits of the earth without their having to intervene in any way. But the Roman divinities knew that humans, if they are taught to increase the fertility of the soil, can make plants more productive. Let us examine more closely what these recommendations are and how the knowledge contained in them could only have a divine source.
First, manure has value as both a soil conditioner (preventing compaction and crusting) and a source of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It also increases the water holding ability of the soil and provides a more favorable environment for beneficial micro-organisms invisible to the human eye. No human in Virgil’s day knew anything about the importance of micro-organisms and how these, with the help of manure, can make agricultural land more fertile.
No-one in Virgil’s day knew that ash has a high nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash content. No-one in Virgil’s day knew about the chemical interactions between the soil’s compounds and those contained in manure and ash. No-one 2000 years ago could possibly have known that crops remove nitrogen and phosphoric acid from the soil and that what crops remove humans can restore through the use of ash and manure. Truly, it can be seen that the GEORGICA is not only a source of divine knowledge but at the same time is also a Book of Clear Guidance. In comparison, the so-called guidebook produced in Arabia more than six hundred years later can only be described as excrementum bovis whose recommendations will inevitably lead to infertile, unproductive and even dangerous practices.
The Earth is Spherical (Cosmology)
English Translation: “Five zones comprise the earth: of which one is bright with the glittering sun and always burned by his flames: round this extreme at the sky’s ends, two zones are layered with ice and darkened by storms, two more have been given to weak humanity, by the grace of the gods.”
The GEORGICA also states that that Arctic and Antarctic regions are rounded extremes (“quam circum extremae”). The two polar regions are indeed the two rounded extremes of our planet, thereby confirming once again that the Roman gods and goddesses revealed to Virgil that the earth is round and not flat. It is interesting to note that a certain work that is considered by many people to be God’s last revelation to mankind not only never mentions the common phenomenon of ice even once, but gives its readers absolutely no indication concerning the existence of the polar regions. It is also apparent that the so-called God who revealed this latter text thought that the earth was flat.
The Earth is Divided into Several Climatic Zones (Geography, Climatology)
English Translation: “Five zones comprise the earth: of which one is bright with the glittering sun and always burned by his flames: round this extreme at the sky’s ends, two zones are layered with ice and darkened by storms, two more have been given to weak humanity, by the grace of the gods.”
Miracle upon miracle! In Virgil’s days it would have been impossible for any human being to guess correctly that the earth is indeed divided into five zones, the intensely hot equatorial/tropical zone which separates the two temperate zones in the southern and northern hemispheres and beyond which lie the two polar regions ‘layered in ice’.
Moderate Zones are Best for Living (Economics, Geography)
English Translation: “Five zones comprise the earth: of which one is bright with the glittering sun and always burned by his flames: round this extreme at the sky’s ends, two zones are layered with ice and darkened by storms, two more have been given to weak humanity, by the grace of the gods.”
The Roman divinities smile upon mortals who happen to live in the temperate areas of the world. It is these temperate areas, such as are found in Europe, Japan, North America or even New Zealand that beneficent divinities chose above all others for humanity to progress and prosper. For reasons which we can only surmise, the divinities in all probability did not favor peoples such as desert-dwellers living outside these temperate areas.
We can thus safely conclude that the gods and goddesses who inspired Virgil to write the GEORGICA were both omniscient and benevolent and, through their incomparable knowledge and recommendations, wished human beings to thrive and prosper, at least in the earth’s temperate zones.
We should contrast this with the state of countries outside the temperate zones and in which many people still hold to the primitive belief that a certain work penned in Arabic in the seventh century is the ultimate source of truth and enlightenment. Many of these countries are among the most economically backward in the world today and they are almost all ruled by despotic tyrants. The wealth that some of them possess is due solely to the discoveries and technical know-how of men who emerged from the same societies where Virgil is still held in the highest esteem.
The Discovery of the North and South Pole and their Harsh Conditions (Geography, Climatology)
English Translation: “Five zones comprise the earth: of which one is bright with the glittering sun and always burned by his flames: round this extreme at the sky’s ends, two zones are layered with ice and darkened by storms, two more have been given to weak humanity, by the grace of the gods.”
No-one 2000 years ago living in the Mediterranean basin knew about the existence of the Arctic let alone the Antarctic region. No-one knew about the storms that lashed these regions continuously. Indeed the Antarctic region (first discovered in the 18th Century) experiences some of the fiercest storms in the world.
Cyclonic storms travel eastward around the Antarctic continent and frequently are intense because of the temperature contrast between ice and the open ocean. The ocean area from about 40 degree south latitude to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average wind velocities found anywhere on Earth.
The Holes in the Ozone Layer (Meteorology)
English Translation: “Five zones comprise the earth: of which one is bright with the glittering sun and always burned by his flames: round this extreme at the sky’s ends, two zones are layered with ice and darkened by storms, two more have been given to weak humanity, by the grace of the gods.”
The sky's end? Isn't the sky without ends or holes? Does the sky have an end?
Yes it does: it's called the hole in the ozone layer. Actually, there's two: one at the north and the other at the south pole (the extremes of the earth) The ozone layer can be depleted by free radical catalysts. Over approximately 5% of the Earth's surface, around the north and south poles, large (seasonal) declines in the Ozone layer have been observed; these are what we call the ozone holes.
Not only does Virgil accurately describe the fact that the ozone layers have holes in it, it accurately described their number (two) and where they are located: at the north and at the south pole. This is a scientific fact that was only discovered in the modern age, using the latest in technology, at the end of the 20th century! How did a Roman Polytheist stumble upon this knowledge? Many more primitve cultures long after Virgil still believed the Sky was like a perfect dome, built on invisible pillars so no part of it could fall (!) down on earth.
Conclusion
We can safely say that the GEORGICA are a work of Miracles. In the very first eight words alone of the GEORGICA we find no less than five - there's probably many more! - scientifically accurate statements of which Virgil himself (born in the first century before Christ) could not have had any knowledge of, due to science only confirming them many centuries later.
To summarize:
- Virgil somehow knew the sun is a star amongst many other stars.
- Virgil somehow knew the earth is spinning around its axis.
- Virgil somehow knew about our heliocentric solar system centuries before modern science actually discovered this.
- Virgil somehow knew about the tilt of the earth's axis and its relation to our seasons.
- Virgil somehow knew of photosynthesis, many centuries before modern science discovered this to be true.
These are just five scientific miracles in eight words of Latin, the most beautiful language of the world and clearly the language spoken by the Gods in heaven!
If we read verses 234 to 237 we see that:
- Virgil somehow knew the earth is spherical,
- Virgil somehow knew the earth is divided into several climatic zones,
- Virgil somehow knew that the moderate zones are best for living,
- Virgil somehow knew there are two poles, which are extremely cold,
- Virgil somehow knew there are two holes in the ozone layer above the two poles.
That's five more miracles in just three verses! It seems the GEORGICA are full of these divine pearls of wisdom, wherever we look we find them. Is there any text in the world more densely packed with such scientifically accurate knowledge? What divine source could have whispered all this into Virgil's ear? Virgil was a polytheist, who worshiped many different gods. Let the honest reader draw his or her own conclusions. All we request is that you look upon this with an open mind.
