The sun is a large world of much more
size and weight than the earth and all the stars that
move round it. It is by its great weight that
it draws them all to it, and if they did not move
fast and far in a course that takes them from the
sun, all those stars that move round it with our world
would be drawn to it in a short time. No one knows
of what the sun is made, nor how it is that it gives
so much heat and light; but most wise men think that
it is a world like our own, where men can live, and
not be burnt more than we are burnt by the heat of
the earth. What makes the light and heat is a
thing that seems strange to all. Some think that
the clouds round it give out the light; that the black
spots which are seen on the sun are large holes in
the clouds round it, through which the sun is seen,
and that the black spots are parts of the real sun.
The sun shines and gives out heat to all the stars,
which could not move in their orbs if the sun did
not draw them to it; for they would else fly off through
space.