The *[1]Stoicks held that planet to be mixed of fire and aire, and in their opinion, the variety of its composition, caused her spots: _Anaxagoras_ thought all the starres to be of an earthly nature, mixed with some fire, and as for the Sunne, hee affirmed it to be nothing else but a fiery stone; for which later opinion, the _Athenians_ sentenc’d him to death;[2] those zealous Idolaters counting it a great blasphemy, to make their God a stone, whereas not withstanding, they were so senslesse in their adoration of Idolls, as to make a stone their God, this _Anaxagoras_ affirmed the Moone to be more terrestriall then the other, but of a greater purity then any thing here below, and the spots hee thought were nothing else, but some cloudy parts, intermingled with the light which belonged to that Planet, but I have above destroyed the supposition on which this fancy is grounded: _Pliny_[3] thinkes they arise from some drossie stuffe, mixed with that moysture which the Moone attracts unto her selfe, but hee was of their opinion, who thought the starres were nourished by some earthly vapours, which you may commonly see refuted in the _Commentators_ on the bookes, _de Cœlo_. [Sidenote 1*: _Plut. de placit. phil. l. 2. c. 25._] [Sidenote 2: _Iosephus l. 2. con. App._ _August. de civit. Dei. l. 18. c. 41._] [Sidenote 3: _Nat. Hist. lib. 2. c. 9._] _Vitellio_ and _Reinoldus_[1] affirme the spots to be the thicker parts of the Moone, into which the Sunne cannot infuse much light, and this (say they) is the reason, why in the Sunnes eclipses, the spots and brighter parts are still in some measure distinguished, because the Sunne beames are not able so well to penetrate through those thicker, as they may through the thinner parts of the Planet. Of this opinion also was _Cæsar la Galla_, whose words are these,[2] “The Moone doth there appeare clearest, where shee is transpicuous, not onely through the superficies, but the substance also, and there she seemes spotted, where her body is most opacous.” The ground of this his assertion was, because hee thought the Moone did receive and bestow her light by illumination onely, and not at all by reflexion, but this, together with the supposed penetration of the Sunne beames, and the perspicuity of the Moones body I have above answered and refuted. [Sidenote 1: _Opt. lib. 9._ _Comment. in Purb. pag. 164._] [Sidenote 2: _Ex qua parte luna est transpicua non totum secundum superficiem, sed etiam secundum substantiam, eatenus clara, ex qua autem parte opaca est, eatenus obscura videtur._ _De Phænom. cap. 11._]