Diagram MAPD0340

Ultra Triginta: The diagram seeks to represent a statement in Capella's text resulting from a corruption of the text. The modern editors do not comment, but medieval scholars considered the text correct with this corruption and sought to make sense of it. Recognizing that the elongation of Mercury from the Sun does not exceed 22° along the arc of the solar circle, the illustrator presents a larger divergence of Mercury from the Sun (up to 32°) somehow below the Sun. From a short arc of large radius, representing part of the circle of the Sun around the earth, is suspended a shape that is approximately a semi-circle, though in some examples it is much more a low-hanging pendant. At the bottom of this semi-circle, or pendant, is a small circle, which represents Mercury. Frequently at the top of the figure, on the solar arc, is a small circle to represent the Sun. Neither of these small circles is usually labeled. Within the enclosure formed by the pendant and the arc of the Sun's path is written the phrase from the text of Capella, either "ultra xxxta" or "ultra xxxii", the former being an incomplete form of the latter.