Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Rise of Medieval Hebrew Science

«The monograph by Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400), A Treatise on the Astrolabe, which he dedicated to his son, Lewis, in ca.1391, was the first competent work written in English to teach the use of the plane astrolabe.» — Sela abre el libro por un texto inglés del siglo XIV: el tratado del astrolabio que Chaucer dedicó a su hijo Lewis hacia 1391, al que señala como el primer libro competente escrito en inglés para enseñar el uso del astrolabio plano

«This tretis, divided in 5 parties, wol I shewe the under full light reules and naked wordes in Englissh, for Latyn ne canst thou yit but small, my litel sone. But natheles suffise to the these trewe conclusions in Englissh as weI as sufficith to these noble clerkes Grekes these same conclusions in Grek; and to Arabiens in Arabik, and to Jewes in Ebrew, and to the Latyn folk in Latyn.» — Según Sela, Chaucer justifica escribir en inglés diciendo que las mismas conclusiones verdaderas sirven a los griegos en griego, a los árabes en árabe, a los judíos en hebreo y a los latinos en latín; el pasaje se cita en la grafía del inglés medio, con *Ebrew* por hebreo

«What is remarkable in this citation is that, besides presenting what he deemed was a justification for the composition of the work, Chaucer's brief statement encapsulates the major stages of the history of science, as seen from the vantage point of a fourteenth-century intellectual:» — Sela lee en esa lista, más que una justificación, un resumen de las etapas mayores de la historia de la ciencia tal como las veía un intelectual del siglo XIV

«the first, Hellenic phase, in whose framework sciences were rendered in the Greek language and emerged for the first time as a self-contained system of knowledge; (b) a second, Arabic phase, marked by the absorption of Greek science by the Islamic world, which not only translated the vast majority of the Greek scientific corpus into Arabic, but also expanded upon it, excelling in the construction of scientific tools; (c) a third, Jewish phase, characterized by casting scientific contents into a Hebrew mould, obviously for a Jewish reading public; (d) and a final, Latin phase, with which the author of the passage is himself identified, which conveyed the Graeco-Arabic scientific world view into Latin Christendom.» — Las cuatro fases que Sela extrae del pasaje: la helénica, que constituye las ciencias como sistema autónomo en griego; la árabe, que absorbe y amplía el corpus griego y sobresale en la construcción de instrumentos; la judía, que vierte contenidos científicos a un molde hebreo para un público lector judío; y la latina, que lleva esa visión grecoárabe a la cristiandad

«We have cited the above passage by Chaucer as the very starting point of this book, mainly because we find in it an adequate historical context and also a brief reference to the title of this book.» — Sela declara por qué el pasaje encabeza el libro: le da contexto histórico y alude al propio título de la obra

«Moreover, as we shall presently see, Ibn Ezra did not compose merely a single treatise, as was commonly accepted, but four different versions of the same treatise: three versions in Hebrew and the fourth in Latin, with the help of a disciple.» — Contra lo que se daba por aceptado, Sela sostiene que Ibn Ezra no escribió un solo tratado del astrolabio sino cuatro versiones del mismo, tres en hebreo y una cuarta en latín hecha con ayuda de un discípulo

«a new intellectual movement, which, beginning with the work of Abraham Bar I:Iiyya (b. ca.l065-d. ca.1140), another fellow Jewish scientist who produced his Hebrew literary output, including philosophical and scientific works, in the first half of the twelfth century, 2 began the process of secularisation of the 'holy tongue' and the development of 'medieval Hebrew science'.» — El movimiento que Sela describe arranca con Abraham Bar Ḥiyya, a quien fecha hacia 1065-1140, y consiste en secularizar la *lengua santa* y desarrollar lo que llama ciencia hebrea medieval; el OCR rinde el apellido como *Bar I:Iiyya* y la fecha de nacimiento como *ca.l065*

«Even though a thorough examination has not yet been carried out,11 the partial findings related to individual texts suggest that they represent chronologically isolated and disconnected scientific works that may hardly be described as a homogeneous corpus of Hebrew scientific texts belonging to a continuous scientific tradition.» — Sobre los textos científicos hebreos anteriores al siglo XII —la Mishnat ha-Midot, las dos Baraitot, los Capítulos de Rabbí Eliezer, el Sefer Yeṣirah, los dos textos médicos—, Sela señala que el examen a fondo está por hacerse y que lo hallado hasta ahora los muestra aislados y desconectados entre sí, no como corpus continuo

«Hebrew became established as a 'solemn' language, fulfilling literary-aesthetic functions, while Arabic writing performed communicative functions.» — La división del trabajo entre las dos lenguas que Sela describe para los judíos bajo el islam: el hebreo queda como lengua solemne de funciones literarias y estéticas, y el árabe asume las comunicativas

«The scientific output of scholars of Jewish descent, however, was by no means different from what was composed by Muslims or members of other religious communities, neither in their contents nor in the language in which they were couched.» — Sela acota el alcance de esa participación: lo que escribieron los sabios de ascendencia judía no se distinguía en nada de lo que escribían musulmanes o miembros de otras comunidades, ni por el contenido ni por la lengua

«However significant their contribution to the general history of science, their work can hardly be considered of any Jewish consequence.» — De ahí la consecuencia que Sela extrae: por importante que sea su aportación a la historia general de la ciencia, esa obra difícilmente puede tenerse por judía en sus efectos

«The impact of the Jewish scientific contribution in the framework of Arabic culture may be adequately assessed by reading Categories of Nations, a book composed by Sa'id al-Andalusi, a philologist, natural philosopher, historian and judge living in al-Andalus in the eleventh century.» — Para medir el peso de esa aportación dentro de la cultura árabe, Sela remite a las *Categorías de las naciones* de Saʿid al-Andalusí, a quien presenta como filólogo, filósofo natural, historiador y juez del siglo XI

«In his book, Sa'id al-Andalusi described the role played by eight privileged nations that made a significant scientific contribution in the framework of Arabic culture, and, interestingly enough, one of those places of honor was reserved by him for the Banu Israel.» — Según Sela, Saʿid al-Andalusí reparte el mérito científico entre ocho naciones privilegiadas y reserva uno de esos lugares de honor a los Banu Israel

«In order to counter-balance the declining Muslim power and the growing sway of the northern Christian kingdoms, two Berber dynasties, the Almoravides (1090) and the Almohades (1145), successively conquered al-Andalus and caused a substantial alteration in the Iberian political regime and cultural climate.» — Sela fecha el vuelco político de al-Ándalus en las dos dinastías bereberes —almorávides en 1090 y almohades en 1145—, llegadas para contrapesar el poder musulmán en declive y el avance de los reinos cristianos del norte

«In brief, these traditionalist Muslim regimes, characterized by a strict orthodoxy, placed obstacles to the study of unorthodox branches of science and put an end to the relative tolerance up to the time of the invasions.» — Lo que esos regímenes hicieron con el saber, según Sela: pusieron trabas al estudio de las ramas no ortodoxas de la ciencia y acabaron con la tolerancia relativa anterior a las invasiones

«Under compulsion to embrace Islam, many families of the resident minorities of Christians and Jews opted for abandoning Muslim Spain. The vast majority of these communities fled from al-Andalus to Christian Spain, while many Jewish families abandoned the Iberian Peninsula altogether and immigrated to southern France, Italy or the Orient.» — La salida que Sela describe: bajo presión de convertirse al islam, familias cristianas y judías abandonan la España musulmana, la mayoría hacia la España cristiana y muchas familias judías fuera de la península, al sur de Francia, a Italia o a Oriente

«As a result of their physical detachment from Muslim Spain, Jewish intellectuals gradually severed their links with the Arabic language and found another linguistic vehicle for expressing their intellectual aspirations.» — Sela liga el cambio de lengua al desarraigo físico: separados de la España musulmana, los intelectuales judíos van cortando su vínculo con el árabe y buscan otro vehículo lingüístico

«In contrast with the previous contributions of Jews to science - either written in Arabic but devoid of any significant Jewish imprint, or written in Hebrew but wrought in a disjointed body of texts» — El contraste que fija Sela: lo anterior era o bien árabe sin impronta judía, o bien hebreo en un cuerpo de textos desarticulado

«Thus Hebrew was transformed into the standard written language for medieval Jewish science and philosophy.» — El resultado que Sela consigna al cerrar el repaso de la investigación previa: el hebreo queda convertido en la lengua escrita estándar de la ciencia y la filosofía judías medievales

«Less attention, however, has been accorded to the crucially important first steps of this new movement.» — Sela sitúa ahí el hueco que su libro viene a ocupar: los primeros pasos del movimiento, que juzga de importancia decisiva, han recibido menos atención que su desarrollo

«If we wish to grasp and epitomize the initiation of this process, no better illustration may be found, it seems, than to study the work of Abraham Ibn Ezra.» — Y de ahí la elección del sujeto: para entender y compendiar el arranque del proceso, Sela no encuentra mejor ilustración que la obra de Ibn Ezra

«Geographically, Ibn Ezra's literary production, at least as it has been handed down to us, was not written in al-Andalus, where he was born and grew up, and where he received his secular education in the best tradition of the Arabic-Andalusian science» — Sela subraya la paradoja geográfica del corpus: lo que nos ha llegado de Ibn Ezra no se escribió en al-Ándalus, donde nació, creció y recibió su educación secular en la mejor tradición de la ciencia árabe-andalusí

«The very fact that he commenced his literary activities in 1140, and did so in Hebrew, demonstrates that the message he intended to transmit in this particular language became vitally relevant only after he emigrated from al-Andalus and arrived in Latin Europe.» — De la fecha y la lengua del arranque —1140 y en hebreo— Sela deriva que el mensaje que Ibn Ezra quería transmitir en esa lengua solo se volvió urgente después de emigrar de al-Ándalus y llegar a la Europa latina

«The same fact strongly suggests that had Abraham Ibn Ezra not abandoned al-Andalus and had not changed his linguistic vehicle from Arabic to Hebrew, in all likelihood he would have sunk into complete oblivion, instead of becoming a prolific writer and one of the most original medieval thinkers.» — El contrafactual que Sela se permite, dicho como sugerencia y no como certeza: sin la salida de al-Ándalus y sin el cambio del árabe al hebreo, Ibn Ezra habría caído con toda probabilidad en el olvido

«The biblical commentaries of Abraham Ibn Ezra attained extraordinary recognition in the Middle Ages.» — El reconocimiento medieval que Sela le adjudica descansa en los comentarios bíblicos, no en la obra científica

«This popularity led to their subsequent inclusion in the Miqra 'ot Gedolot, an exclusive compilation of the most prestigious and distinguished medieval Jewish commentaries that also became the normative Jewish biblical exegesis.» — Esa popularidad, dice Sela, llevó a incluirlos en el Miqra'ot Gedolot, la compilación de los comentarios judíos medievales más prestigiados, que se volvió la exégesis bíblica judía normativa

«What is more noteworthy, his popularity begot a new Hebrew literary genre, which flourished in the 14th century - the genre of super-commentaries by other writers on Ibn Ezra's fascinating and obscure biblical» — Y engendró además un género hebreo nuevo, floreciente en el siglo XIV: el de los supercomentarios de otros autores sobre los comentarios bíblicos de Ibn Ezra, a los que Sela llama fascinantes y oscuros; la frase sigue con *commentaries* al pie de la plana, pegada a la llamada de nota 37

«Perhaps the main reason for Ibn Ezra's medieval success and popularity is precisely his encyclopedic approach to biblical exegesis.» — La razón que Sela propone para ese éxito —marcada como conjetura con un *perhaps*— es el enfoque enciclopédico de su exégesis. El libro repite casi la misma frase más adelante, con *as a biblical commentator* en lugar de este final

«Ibn Ezra's exegetical career may be divided broadly into two: the Italian period and the French period.» — La división que Sela propone para la carrera exegética de Ibn Ezra: un periodo italiano y uno francés

«First, after turning his back on al-Andalus, in Rome, approximately between the years 1140-1143, he composed his commentaries on Ecclesiastes, Job, Lamentations, Daniel, Ruth, Esther and The Song of Songs.» — El periodo italiano, según Sela: Roma, aproximadamente entre 1140 y 1143, y ahí los comentarios a Eclesiastés, Job, Lamentaciones, Daniel, Rut, Ester y el Cantar de los Cantares

«The French period includes Ibn Ezra's exegetical work stretching approximately from 1153 to 1156.» — El periodo francés queda fechado por Sela entre 1153 y 1156

«This toponym, written in Hebrew letters, has been persuasively identified by N. Golb as Rouen, the capital of Normandy; other researchers have claimed it to be Dreux, near the border once running between the Ile-de-France and Normandy, or Rodez, in Languedoc.» — El desacuerdo sobre el topónimo hebreo de esos comentarios queda consignado sin arbitrar: N. Golb lee Ruan, capital de Normandía, y otros investigadores proponen Dreux o Rodez

«Thus, it would appear, when he arrived in a new town, he wrote a new version for a new audience.» — La explicación que Sela da a las versiones dobles, dicha con reserva: al llegar a una ciudad nueva, Ibn Ezra escribía una versión nueva para un público nuevo

«It tells us, on the one hand, that the pen was his main means of subsistence, and, on the other hand, that he was required to satisfy a demand that did not diminish during his wandering» — De ahí Sela deriva dos cosas: que la pluma era el medio de vida de Ibn Ezra y que había una demanda que no decaía mientras erraba

«Not by chance is the first version written in Italy of his parallel commentaries named by modern scholarship as the 'short commentary', whereas the second version written in France is designated as the 'long commentary'.» — Los nombres que la investigación moderna da a las dos versiones —comentario corto el italiano, comentario largo el francés— no son casuales para Sela

«The shortness and conciseness of the Italian commentaries, as compared with the French commentaries, should not be considered mere statistical data but a significant characteristic that generally translated into abstruseness and extreme terseness.» — Sela niega que la diferencia de extensión sea un dato meramente estadístico: la concisión italiana se traduce en oscuridad y en una parquedad extrema

«On the other hand, the longer, more verbose and expansive French commentaries reveal that Ibn Ezra became more concerned than before regarding the need to produce work that would be clearer and more understandable to the reader.» — Y la verbosidad francesa revela, según él, una preocupación nueva por producir una obra más clara y comprensible para el lector

«Third, perusing a pair of parallel commentaries to a single biblical verse will yield, in a number of cases, the perception that the audience addressed by Ibn Ezra in the first commentary was quite different from the reading public addressed in the second.» — Al cotejar dos comentarios paralelos al mismo versículo, Sela señala que en varios casos se percibe que el público del primero no es el del segundo

«Second, the spiritual change that our author underwent in the interim: whereas in the Italian period Ibn Ezra was physically in Rome or Lucca but spiritually in al-Andalus, still addressing an Andalusian audience, in the French period, written ten years later, Ibn Ezra was compelled to acknowledge the fact that he would never return to al-Andalus and had to integrate into a new intellectual milieu.» — El cambio espiritual que Sela le adjudica en el intervalo: en el periodo italiano Ibn Ezra estaba físicamente en Roma o Lucca pero espiritualmente en al-Ándalus, dirigiéndose todavía a un público andalusí; en el francés, diez años después, hubo de reconocer que no volvería y de integrarse en un medio intelectual nuevo

«Ibn Ezra's claim to fame would have been fully justified even had his literary work been confined to the domain of biblical exegesis.» — Sela concede que la fama de Ibn Ezra estaría justificada aunque su obra se hubiera limitado a la exégesis bíblica, y de ahí pasa a lo demás que escribió

«His poetry was written in the same vein as the Hebrew Andalusian poetry of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that is, in an almost purely biblical Hebrew, but according to the themes and structures of Arabic poetry.» — La poesía de Ibn Ezra, según Sela, está en la línea de la hebrea andalusí de los siglos XI y XII: hebreo casi puramente bíblico con los temas y las estructuras de la poesía árabe

«A typical case is Seier ha-Shem, (Book of the Name [of God]), a theological, grammatical, mathematical monograph whose purpose was to reveal the secret meanings behind the Tetragrammaton and its letters.» — Del *Sefer ha-Shem* dice Sela que es monografía teológica, gramatical y matemática a la vez, y que su propósito era revelar los sentidos secretos del Tetragrámaton y de sus letras; el OCR imprime el título como *Seier ha-Shem*

«Each of the Jewish disciplines, he said, is magnificent and beneficial, but there is no justification for learning any one of them exclusively.» — Según Sela, Ibn Ezra tiene por magnífica y provechosa cada una de las disciplinas judías y a la vez niega que haya justificación para estudiar una sola de ellas con exclusión de las demás

«In his opinion, the Jewish intellectual must combine and integrate all available human scientific knowledge if he wishes to elucidate obscure issues arising from the biblical or the Talmudic texts.» — Y le adjudica el corolario: el intelectual judío debe combinar e integrar todo el saber científico humano disponible si quiere aclarar los pasajes oscuros de los textos bíblicos o talmúdicos

«we deem it inappropriate to fragmentize our attention and study his oeuvre, as is customary in scholarly research, not as a whole piece but strictly divided into well-defined and isolated literary genres.» — La decisión de método que Sela declara: no estudiar la obra de Ibn Ezra partida en géneros literarios bien definidos y aislados, como acostumbra la investigación

«we regard it highly desirable to explore his scientific thought throughout his whole literary oeuvre.» — En su lugar, rastrear el pensamiento científico de Ibn Ezra a lo largo de toda su obra

«Consequently, considerable attention will be paid to eminently cultural and seemingly 'non-scientific' factors.» — De esa decisión Sela deriva que atenderá también a factores eminentemente culturales y en apariencia no científicos

«A relevant and crucially important topic in this regard is Ibn Ezra's vision of the Hebrew language and the study of his linguistic strategy when facing the necessity of creating a new scientific Hebrew nomenclature.» — Entre esos factores Sela destaca la visión que Ibn Ezra tiene de la lengua hebrea y su estrategia lingüística ante la necesidad de crear una nomenclatura científica hebrea nueva

«To better understand the main concerns of this book and illustrate their chief foci of interest, following is a list - by no means comprehensive - of some of the main questions which will be posed in due course:» — Antes de exponer el plan, Sela enumera las preguntas que guiarán el libro y declara que la lista no pretende ser exhaustiva

«The first part has been designed to provide a picture of Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus, as detailed and comprehensive as possible given the present state of research.» — De la primera parte dice Sela que da del corpus científico de Ibn Ezra el cuadro más detallado y completo que permite el estado de la investigación, con lo que acota de entrada su alcance

«First, Ibn Ezra's scientific work will be studied in detail and broken up into four main genres: mathematics, astronomy, scientific instruments and tools; the Hebrew calendar; the astrological encyclopedia; translations from Arabic into Hebrew.» — Los cuatro géneros en que Sela reparte la obra científica: matemáticas, astronomía e instrumentos; el calendario hebreo; la enciclopedia astrológica; y las traducciones del árabe al hebreo

«Then, Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus will be reassembled as a whole in order to provide a global characterization.» — Tras el desglose por géneros, Sela anuncia que volverá a montar el corpus entero para caracterizarlo en conjunto

«The second part will be devoted to an analysis of the linguistic strategy adopted by Ibn Ezra when facing the colossal task of rendering into a Hebrew mould the scientific concepts that he had imbibed in the Arabic language.» — La segunda parte, según Sela, examina la estrategia lingüística con que Ibn Ezra enfrentó la tarea de verter a molde hebreo los conceptos científicos que había bebido en árabe

«The main purpose of the third and fourth parts will be to show that Ibn Ezra's singular and innovative contribution was not so much related to original astrological or astronomical doctrines or new technical data as to a singular combination of scientific ideas with religious, philosophical and cultural concepts.» — Lo que Sela dice que las partes tercera y cuarta van a mostrar: que la aportación singular de Ibn Ezra no está en doctrinas astrológicas o astronómicas originales ni en datos técnicos nuevos, sino en una combinación singular de ideas científicas con conceptos religiosos, filosóficos y culturales

«A special approach is proposed in these parts to assess Ibn Ezra's astrological and cosmological view: to focus attention on a specific part of his scientific work, namely, the introductions to some of his astrological treatises.» — El recurso metodológico que Sela propone para leer la visión astrológica y cosmológica de Ibn Ezra: concentrarse en las introducciones de algunos de sus tratados astrológicos

«These introductions, written in brilliant, incisive and extremely concise Hebrew, were not only meant to catch the reader's interest in the book but also presented his singular and personal view about the astrological subject to be dealt with.» — Y la razón de ese recurso: esas introducciones, en hebreo brillante, incisivo y conciso, no solo buscaban captar el interés del lector sino que exponían la visión personal de Ibn Ezra sobre el asunto astrológico del libro

«The fifth part will be devoted to studying Ibn Ezra's attitude towards his scientific sources, as well as the ways he employed to introduce their scientific information into his scientific and non-scientific work.» — La quinta parte, dice Sela, estudia la actitud de Ibn Ezra ante sus fuentes científicas y los modos en que introdujo esa información en su obra científica y en la que no lo es

«This will be attained by exploring four 'encounters' between Abraham Ibn Ezra and Claudius Ptolemy, two scientists separated by a gap of one thousand years.» — El dispositivo de esa parte son cuatro *encuentros* entre Ibn Ezra y Claudio Ptolomeo, dos científicos separados por mil años

«Methodologically, this part has been also construed as a crossroads in which the two main parts of Ibn Ezra's oeuvre - that is, his scientific corpus, on the one hand, and his exegetical corpus, on the other» — Sela declara además que esa parte funciona como cruce de caminos: ahí entran en contacto las dos mitades de la obra de Ibn Ezra, el corpus científico y el exegético

«That has been done with the intention of examining how Ibn Ezra embedded scientific contents in a non-scientific environment, and also of illuminating the figure of Claudius Ptolemy by comparatively studying the role Ptolemy played in both literary environments.» — El doble propósito de ese cruce, según Sela: ver cómo Ibn Ezra encaja contenidos científicos en un entorno no científico, e iluminar la figura de Ptolomeo comparando el papel que juega en uno y otro entorno

«By and large, this book constitutes an exploration of Ibn Ezra's scientific thought by means of an analysis of excerpts from Ibn Ezra's scientific and non-scientific work.» — Sela resume el método del libro entero: explorar el pensamiento científico de Ibn Ezra analizando pasajes de su obra científica y de la que no lo es

«As these texts had been cited in their English translation, we have deemed it appropriate to cite the original Hebrew texts of the main quotations in an appendix.» — La decisión editorial que Sela declara: como los pasajes se citan en traducción inglesa, los originales hebreos de las citas principales van en apéndice

«Thus, the English reader familiar with Hebrew will have not only an opportunity to compare the Hebrew sources with their English translations but also to enjoy Ibn Ezra's magnificent Hebrew style.» — Y el doble uso que le atribuye: cotejar las fuentes hebreas con su traducción, y disfrutar de lo que llama el magnífico estilo hebreo de Ibn Ezra

«The overwhelming majority of the works comprising Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus were original treatises written in Hebrew, and this is the most neglected part of his scientific output.» — Sela sitúa el grueso del corpus científico de Ibn Ezra en tratados originales escritos en hebreo, y señala que es justo la parte más descuidada de esa producción

«It is not primarily as a study of the literary significance of these treatises, howeveF, that the present work was undertaken.» — Sela deslinda su propósito del de quienes editaron esos textos por otros motivos: su libro no se emprende primordialmente como estudio de la significación literaria de los tratados. El OCR imprime *howeveF* por *however*

«I will add new, significant data that I discovered as a result of my exploration of Ibn Ezra's work, both those books that have been published as well as the works that are extant only in manuscript.» — Sela declara que añadirá datos nuevos salidos de su propia exploración, tanto de los libros publicados como de las obras que solo subsisten en manuscrito

«As we shall soon see, it was not principally with the purpose of providing pure theoretical knowledge in mathematics or astronomy that these works were written.» — De las obras matemáticas y astronómicas de Ibn Ezra dice Sela que no se escribieron principalmente para dar conocimiento teórico puro

«They were mainly oriented towards solving technical astronomical problems arising from the astrological praxis.» — Su orientación, según Sela, era resolver problemas técnicos de astronomía surgidos de la práctica astrológica: la astrología es lo que pone las preguntas

«Of paramount importance in this context was his undertaking to explain and teach the use of scientific tools and instruments, such as the astrolabe and the astronomical tables.» — Dentro de esa orientación Sela pone en primer lugar la tarea de explicar y enseñar el uso de herramientas e instrumentos, como el astrolabio y las tablas astronómicas

«First, Sefer ha-Mispar was surely written before or in 1146, since Ibn Ezra alludes to Sefer ha-Mispar as an already accomplished work in his Sefer ha- 'Ibbur (Book of Intercalation), which was definitely written in 1146 in the city of Verona (see below, p. 39).» — El primer argumento de datación del *Sefer ha-Mispar*: Ibn Ezra lo menciona como obra ya hecha en el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur*, que Sela fecha con seguridad en 1146 en Verona

«Second, in his Sefer ha-Mispar Ibn Ezra refers on two different occasions to the first Hebrew version of Sefer Ta 'amei ha-Lubot (Book of the Reasons behind Astronomical Tables) while using the future tense, thus alluding to it as a still unaccomplished work.» — El segundo argumento: dentro del *Sefer ha-Mispar*, Ibn Ezra se refiere dos veces en futuro a la primera versión hebrea del *Sefer Ta'amei ha-Luḥot*, con lo que esa obra estaba todavía por hacer

«Since the first Hebrew version of the Sefer Ta 'amei ha-Lubot was written in Lucca approximately in 1146 (see below, p. 22), it follows that Sefer ha-Mispar was written in 1146 or earlier, in Verona, Lucca or in Rome, which was Ibn Ezra's previous station in Italy.» — De ahí la conclusión de Sela: el *Sefer ha-Mispar* se escribió en 1146 o antes, en Verona, en Lucca o en Roma, que era la estación italiana anterior de Ibn Ezra

«Sefer ha-Mispar was intended to be an arithmetic textbook, and as such it was divided into seven chapters, dealing with the following basic operations: multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, fractions, proportions and square roots.» — El contenido del libro, según Sela: un manual de aritmética en siete capítulos —multiplicación, división, suma, resta, fracciones, proporciones y raíces cuadradas

«Sefer ha-Mispar also presents and explains in its introductory chapter the decimal positional system, which assumes, besides separate symbols for 1 to 9, an additional "void" symbol for 0 as a placeholder.» — Y en su capítulo introductorio expone el sistema posicional decimal, que además de los signos del 1 al 9 supone un signo *vacío* para el cero como marcador de posición

«He claims that this system was an invention of the Hindu sages.» — Según Sela, Ibn Ezra adjudica la invención de ese sistema a los sabios de la India

«Ibn Ezra informs us that Kanka, a Hindu scholar, "taught the Arabs the basis of numbers, i.e., the nine numerals", and that subsequently "all later Arabic scholars multiply, divide and extract square roots as is written in Muhammad b. Musa al-Khwarizml's book on Hindu reckoning» — Y le atribuye la transmisión a Kanka, sabio indio que —dice Ibn Ezra en la traducción de Sela— enseñó a los árabes la base de los números, es decir, los nueve numerales, de donde arranca el cálculo de al-Jwarizmi

«Mispar was, most likely, based on al-Khwarizmi's Treatise on Calculation with the Hindu Numerals or the Book of Addition and Subtraction by the Method of Calculation of the Hindus, which may have expounded for the first time in Arabic the use of the Hindu numerals 1 to 9, and 0, and the place-value system, besides the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as the extraction of the square roOt.» — La fuente que Sela propone para el *Sefer ha-Mispar*, dicha como probabilidad: uno de los dos tratados de al-Jwarizmi sobre el cálculo con numerales indios, que habría expuesto por vez primera en árabe las nueve cifras, el cero, el valor posicional y las cuatro operaciones. El OCR imprime *roOt* por *root*

«The Hebrew Sefer ha-Mispar was one of the first to introduce the arithmetic of al-Khwarizmi into Latin Europe, as well as the decimal positional system, in parallel with a Latin contemporary version entitled algorismus, a name that clearly reflects al-Khwarizmi's influence.» — El lugar que Sela le da en la historia: uno de los primeros textos en introducir la aritmética de al-Jwarizmi y el sistema posicional decimal en la Europa latina, en paralelo con la versión latina llamada *algorismus*

«according to the highly reliable testimony of Joseph Bonfils in his work Sa/nat Pa 'aneab - a supercommentary written on Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch at the end of the fourteenth century - Ibn Ezra wrote two different Hebrew versions of the astronomical tables, the first in Lucca and the second in Narbonne.» — El testimonio en que Sela se apoya para las dos versiones hebreas del libro de las tablas: el supercomentario *Ṣafnat Pa'aneaḥ* de Joseph Bonfils, de fines del siglo XIV, que las sitúa en Lucca y en Narbona

«As far as the first Hebrew version is concerned, besides being composed in Lucca, as Joseph Bonfils claimed, it is possible to establish with reasonable certainty that it was written in 1146, after Ibn Ezra wrote his Sefer ha-Mispar and shortly before he moved to Verona.» — La primera versión queda fechada por Sela en 1146, en Lucca, después del *Sefer ha-Mispar* y poco antes del traslado a Verona

«Regarding the second Hebrew version of Sefer Ta 'amei ha-Lubot, we know for certain that it was composed in Narbonne, as Joseph Bonfils claimed, and it may thus be safely posited that it was composed after Ibn Ezra left Italy and arrived in Provence, between 1148 and 1154.» — La segunda, en Narbona, entre 1148 y 1154, ya en Provenza

«In the Latin text there appears in several places the name of Abraham or Abraham Iudaeus in reference to its writer,25 a remark which clearly identifies the writer as a Jew whose name was Abraham.» — Sobre el texto latino de las tablas, Sela consigna que el nombre que aparece en él es Abraham o Abraham Iudaeus, lo que identifica al escritor como un judío llamado Abraham

«Nor is it certain that Abraham or Abraham Iudaeus can be identified as Ibn Ezra.» — Y de inmediato acota lo que ese nombre no prueba: no es seguro que ese Abraham o Abraham Iudaeus pueda identificarse con Ibn Ezra

«Notwithstanding Millas Vallicrosa's important contribution in the edition of this work, some important obstacles still remain and need to be reckoned with before Ibn Ezra's authorship can safely be presumed.» — Sela reconoce el mérito de la edición de Millás Vallicrosa y a la vez sostiene que quedan obstáculos por resolver antes de dar por supuesta la autoría de Ibn Ezra

«Based on passages extracted from Ibn Ezra's Hebrew scientific corpus, these references point naturally to the lost Hebrew versions of Ibn Ezra's Sefer Ta 'amei ha-Lu/:lOt or Sefer ha-Lubot, and so they cannot be presented as proof of Ibn Ezra's authorship of a Latin counterpart.» — El defecto que Sela objeta al argumento: las referencias apuntan naturalmente a las versiones hebreas perdidas, y por eso no sirven como prueba de la autoría de una contraparte latina

«I am of the opinion that a proper demonstrationmethodology should employ the opposite approach, namely, when considering the Latin text as the point of departure, lines of contact should be traced to link the Latin text with Ibn Ezra's Hebrew work.» — La inversión metodológica que Sela propone en primera persona: tomar el texto latino como punto de partida y trazar desde él las líneas de contacto con la obra hebrea de Ibn Ezra; el impreso parte *demonstration-methodology* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une La capa de texto del troceo pega *demonstrationmethodology* sin espacio; se cita tal cual.

«What is more, additional evidence may be presented showing striking resemblance between certain passages of the Latin text and parallel passages of Ibn Ezra's whole Hebrew literary work, that is, the scientific corpus as well as his biblical exegesis and theological monographs.» — Y anuncia que puede presentar además semejanzas notables entre pasajes del texto latino y pasajes paralelos de toda la obra hebrea, incluidas la exégesis bíblica y las monografías teológicas

«These similarities and differences support the possibility that both texts were different versions, and militate against the possibility that the Latin version was a mere translation of the Hebrew version.» — La conclusión que Sela extrae del cotejo, dicha como posibilidad: los dos textos serían versiones distintas, no una traducción latina de la hebrea

«These passages may be construed as an effort by the author, Abraham Iudaeus, to convey to a Christian audience the fundamentals of the Jewish calendar, stressing particularly the points of convergence which link it with the Christian calendar.» — Lo que Sela lee en los pasajes del calendario del texto latino: un esfuerzo de Abraham Iudaeus por exponer a un público cristiano los fundamentos del calendario judío, subrayando los puntos en que converge con el cristiano

«In his short commentary on Genesis 37:35 and on Isaiah 38:10, Ibn Ezra sharply criticizes Jerome because of his wrong translation of the Hebrew word She'ol by the Latin term in» — Según Sela, Ibn Ezra objeta con dureza a Jerónimo por traducir el hebreo *She'ol* con el término latino *infernus*; el OCR parte la palabra e imprime *in/emus*

«Ibn Ezra finds fault with Jerome because in his translation he distorted such a geographical term as Shilo and saw in it an allusion heralding the rise of Christianity.» — La segunda objeción a Jerónimo que Sela recoge: haber distorsionado el término geográfico Shiloh y visto en él un anuncio del advenimiento del cristianismo

«an exploration of his biblical exegesis reveals some remarkable examples which clearly show that Ibn Ezra knew the Latin language well enough to refer critically to some parts of the Latin Vulgate» — El argumento de Sela sobre el latín de Ibn Ezra: su exégesis bíblica muestra que lo conocía lo bastante para objetar pasajes de la Vulgata

«Indeed, there is another instance of a scientific treatise which, as we shall demonstrate (see below, p. 31), Ibn Ezra wrote in Latin with the help of a Christian disciple: a Book on the Astrolabe, a parallel version to his Hebrew Keli ha-Nei» — Sela añade un segundo caso de tratado escrito en latín con ayuda de un discípulo cristiano: un libro del astrolabio paralelo al hebreo *Keli ha-Neḥoshet*

«The contents of Liber de rationibus tabularum show clearly that the text was written in the year 1154 in some unspecified location in France.» — El *Liber de rationibus tabularum* queda fechado, por su propio contenido, en 1154 y en un lugar de Francia que Sela no precisa

«In fact, the Latin text records that "he tabule composite sunt secundum meridiem Pisanorum quorum remotio est ab occidentis termino 33 gradus",32 a remark implying that a previous and first Latin version had been composed in Pi sa.» — De una frase del propio texto latino —las tablas calculadas para el meridiano de Pisa— Sela infiere que hubo una primera versión latina compuesta en esa ciudad

«Therefore, when attempting to identify the author of the Latin text, it is crucial to determine whether Ibn Ezra dwelt or resided in the city of Pisa.» — De ahí que, para identificar al autor del texto latino, Sela tenga por decisivo determinar si Ibn Ezra residió en Pisa

«But previous research has not traced any reference to Ibn Ezra's residence in Pisa.» — Y consigna la búsqueda negativa: la investigación anterior no había hallado ninguna referencia a esa residencia

«Fortunately, however, a fragment of the second Hebrew version of Ibn Ezra's Seier ha- 'Olam (Book of the World) - implying that Ibn Ezra performed astronomical observations for clearly astrological uses in both Pisa and Lucca - allows us to establish quite assuredly that Ibn Ezra did reside for some time in Pi sa.» — El hallazgo con que Sela llena ese hueco: un fragmento de la segunda versión hebrea del *Sefer ha-'Olam* donde Ibn Ezra dice haber hecho observaciones astronómicas de uso astrológico en Pisa y en Lucca

«Yet, while in the case of the great majority of the cities Ibn Ezra limited himself to the routine annotation of the zodiacal sign and its exact ecliptic parameters, he adopted a completely different way of reporting regarding precisely the two cities of Lucca and Pisa; thus he wrote that "Pisa: some say that its sign is Piscis, but, according to my own observations, its sign is 3 degrees in Aquarium;» — El detalle en que Sela apoya el hallazgo: para casi todas las ciudades Ibn Ezra anota de rutina el signo y sus parámetros, y solo con Lucca y Pisa cambia de modo, diciendo de Pisa que unos le dan Piscis pero que por observación propia su signo son 3 grados de Acuario

«The author of the treatise refers explicitly to Greek and Hermetic sources such as Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Doronius and Hermes;» — Las fuentes griegas y herméticas que el tratado latino nombra, según el inventario de Sela: Hiparco, Ptolomeo, Doroteo —impreso *Doronius*— y Hermes

«Arabic astronomers and astrologers are referred to in general as rnagistri probation urn and in particular by mentioning the names of notable scientists such as al-Khwarizmi, al-Battani, aI-Sufi, Ibn Sina, Thabit b. Qurra, al-Nayrizi, Ibn Yiinus, Banu Sakir, Masha'allah, Abu Ma'shar;» — Y las árabes: llamados en bloque *magistri probationum*, y por su nombre al-Jwarizmi, al-Battani, al-Sufi, Ibn Sina, Thabit b. Qurra, al-Nayrizi, Ibn Yunus, los Banu Shakir, Masha'allah y Abu Ma'shar

«Andalusian scientists such as Ibn al-Muthanna, Maslama, Ibn al-Safiar, Azarchiel are also mentioned.» — Se suman los andalusíes: Ibn al-Muthanna, Maslama, Ibn al-Saffar y Azarquiel, que el texto latino imprime *Azarchiel*

«As far as I could determine, Abraham Ibn Ezra composed this treatise, which was designed to describe the physical configuration of the astrolabe and teach its astronomical and astrological uses, in three different Hebrew versions.» — Sela marca el alcance de su propia pesquisa al declarar que, hasta donde pudo determinar, el tratado del astrolabio —destinado a describir el instrumento y enseñar sus usos astronómicos y astrológicos— existe en tres versiones hebreas

«What is more, Ibn Ezra wrote, with the aid of a disciple, a Latin version of the Astrolabe Book as well.» — Y una cuarta, latina, escrita con ayuda de un discípulo

«The first Hebrew version of Keli ha-Ne1;oshet was composed, as Ibn Ezra himself annotated at the beginning of the rete's list of stars,41 in 4906 A.M. (anno mundi) that is, in 1146.» — La primera versión hebrea del *Keli ha-Neḥoshet* queda fechada en 1146 por la anotación del propio Ibn Ezra al encabezar la lista de estrellas de la red del astrolabio, que da el año 4906 de la creación

«Also, in the text of the first version of Keli ha-Ne1;oshet, the author points out that he had already written a book dealing with the differences of opinion confronting the sages of Greece, India and Persia about the astrological aspects.» — Dentro de esa primera versión, Sela señala que el autor declara haber escrito ya un libro sobre las divergencias entre los sabios de Grecia, la India y Persia acerca de los aspectos astrológicos

«The second version of Keli ha-Nel;wshet, whose existence has not hitherto been known to modem research and which is extant only in manuscript,45 was also written in the year 1146 (4906 A.M.), as the author himself annotated at the beginning of the corresponding rete's list of stars.» — El hallazgo que Sela declara propio: una segunda versión del *Keli ha-Neḥoshet*, desconocida hasta entonces por la investigación moderna y conservada solo en manuscrito, fechada también en 1146 por la anotación del autor

«However, the two versions have substantially different traits that make them distinct one from the other:» — Y a la vez marca que las dos versiones tienen rasgos sustancialmente distintos que las separan

«The explanation for these apparently incompatible cross-references is that Seier ha- 'Ibbur was written some time in the year 1146 between the redaction of the two different versions of Keli ha-Neboshet.» — La solución que Sela da a las referencias cruzadas incompatibles entre los libros: el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* se escribió en 1146, entre la redacción de una y otra versión del tratado del astrolabio

«The second version was written late in 1146, after Ibn Ezra finished Seier ha- 'Ibbur, and in this second version of Keli ha-Neboshet Ibn Ezra refers to Seier ha- 'Ibbur as an already finished work.» — De ahí el orden: la segunda versión es de fines de 1146, ya terminado el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur*, al que remite como obra acabada

«In clear contrast with the first version, Ibn Ezra mentions Seier ha-Lubot in the second version several times using the future tense as a work not yet written.» — El contraste que Sela usa como criterio de datación: en la segunda versión el *Sefer ha-Luḥot* aparece varias veces en futuro, como obra aún no escrita

«Hence, we can conjecture that after moving from Lucca to Verona or Mantova, Ibn Ezra had to compose a new version of the Seier ha-Lubot, a task that he eventually accomplished after he arrived in Provence.» — La conjetura que Sela declara como tal: tras mudarse de Lucca a Verona o Mantua, Ibn Ezra hubo de componer una versión nueva del libro de las tablas, que acabó ya en Provenza

«Similarly, references to Seier ha-Mishpatim (Book of Astrological Judgments), which appear several times in the first version of Keli ha-Neboshet,55 disappear completely from its second version.» — Otro indicio del mismo tipo: las referencias al *Sefer ha-Mishpatim*, varias en la primera versión, desaparecen del todo en la segunda

«The third version of Keli ha-Neboshet, which also is extant in manuscript,56 was written almost two years later, early in 1148 (4908 A.M.), as the author recorded in the corresponding rete's list of fixed stars.» — La tercera versión, también manuscrita, queda fechada a principios de 1148 por la lista de estrellas fijas de la red

«What is more, in the rete's list of fixed stars we find 36 stars, while the two previous versions included only 23 stars.» — Y se distingue por el número de estrellas: 36 frente a las 23 de las dos versiones anteriores

«But in the third version, for the first time, we detect a reference in future tense to an astrological treatise entitled Reshit /fokhmah, a book that Ibn Ezra was to complete within the next weeks or months.» — El dato que sitúa esa tercera versión en el umbral de la enciclopedia astrológica: por primera vez aparece en futuro el *Reshit Ḥokhmah*, libro que Ibn Ezra iba a terminar en semanas o meses

«From this evidence we may conclude that the third version of Keli ha-Neboshet was the first work that Ibn Ezra wrote in Provence, after he left Italy.» — De esa evidencia Sela concluye que la tercera versión fue la primera obra escrita en Provenza, ya fuera de Italia

«The fact that Ibn Ezra composed yet another version of the same Book on the Astrolabe, just before he began the composition of his astrological encyclopedia headed by Reshit /fokhmah, is additional proof of the importance of the astrolabe in solving astronomical as well as astrological problems.» — Y lee en ese hecho una prueba más de la importancia del astrolabio para resolver problemas tanto astronómicos como astrológicos

«No doubt, given that Ibn Ezra wrote three versions of Keli ha-Neboshet, his authorship of a Latin counterpart should be based on a comparison of the Hebrew texts to the Latin text.» — El criterio que Sela exige para atribuir el manual latino: comparar los tres textos hebreos con el latino, no solo analizar el latino

«After such an examination which I made, the weight of evidence seems to favor Millas Vallicrosa's hypothesis about Ibn Ezra's authorship.» — Hecho ese examen, Sela declara que el peso de la evidencia parece favorecer la hipótesis de Millás Vallicrosa sobre la autoría de Ibn Ezra, y lo dice con esa reserva

«The three Hebrew versions are very similar to the Latin text not only in the description of the astrolabe - as expected, since they describe one and the same instrument - but also in their sources, the composition of the treatises and the wording employed to explain the uses of the astrolabe.» — En qué se parecen, según Sela: no solo en la descripción del instrumento —lo esperable, siendo el mismo— sino en las fuentes, en la composición de los tratados y en la redacción con que se explican los usos

«The Arabic transliteration of the names of the sources, as seen above, and also of the components of the astrolabe - terms such as alhidada, alilac, assabata, acemuth, almucantarath68 - indicates clearly that the Latin text author received his scientific education in al-Andalus, as indeed did Ibn Ezra.» — El indicio que Sela lee en el vocabulario del manual latino: la transliteración árabe de las fuentes y de las piezas del astrolabio —alhidada, alilac, assabata, acemuth, almucantarath— señala que su autor se formó en al-Ándalus, como Ibn Ezra

«The only personage that appears in the Latin text and that I was incapable of iocating in the other works of Ibn Ezra is A vennouausth Christianus.» — Sela declara su propia búsqueda negativa: el único personaje del texto latino que no pudo localizar en el resto de la obra de Ibn Ezra es el llamado Avennouausth Christianus

«Since the astrolabe allows the determination of the pattern of the heavens at any (past, present or future) time (birth, coronation, foundation of a city, etc.), it was extremely useful in computing the fundamental components of the horoscope.» — Para qué servía el instrumento, según Sela: como el astrolabio permite fijar la configuración del cielo en cualquier momento —nacimiento, coronación, fundación de una ciudad—, resultaba utilísimo para calcular los componentes fundamentales del horóscopo

«This was particularly true for those parts which entail calculations related to spherical-trigonometry, thus making it possible to skirt tedious calculations which would otherwise have been necessary.» — Y sobre todo, añade, para las partes que suponen cálculo de trigonometría esférica, que así podían esquivarse

«We will see later (see below, p. 88) that a main strain characterizing Ibn Ezra as a writer is that he is very fond of treating the technical aspects of an issue by recording the disputes between different schools of thought on how to solve the problem.» — El rasgo que Sela adjudica a Ibn Ezra como escritor: tratar los aspectos técnicos de un asunto consignando las disputas entre escuelas sobre cómo resolverlo

«Now, this is precisely a trait that may be easily detected in all four versions, Hebrew as well as Latin, of the Astrolabe Book.» — Y ese mismo rasgo, dice, se detecta sin dificultad en las cuatro versiones del libro del astrolabio, las hebreas y la latina

«Let us re-examine the passage that Millas Vallicrosa cited in substantiating his assertion that the Latin text was written in England approximately in the year 1160.» — Sela vuelve sobre el pasaje con que Millás Vallicrosa fechaba el texto latino en Inglaterra hacia 1160

«point here is that Mercury and Venus never get very far from the sun, so that it is almost impossible to employ the same techniques that were previously implemented in connection with Jupiter and Mars.» — El problema técnico del pasaje: Mercurio y Venus nunca se alejan mucho del sol, de modo que no se les pueden aplicar las técnicas usadas con Júpiter y Marte

«It follows, then, that England is mentioned in these two parallel passages only in order to corroborate that Venus, normally observed not far from the sun and appearing as an evening star or a morning star, may be seen exceptionally a sole remotissima or at midheaven.» — La lectura que Sela propone: Inglaterra se nombra en los dos pasajes paralelos solo para dejar constancia de que Venus, que suele verse cerca del sol como lucero vespertino o matutino, puede verse excepcionalmente en su máxima elongación o en el medio cielo

«The crucial point to be stressed here is that Ibn Ezra thought fit when dwelling in Northern Italy to refer, relying upon some unknown source,78 to a singular astronomical phenomenon that may be observed in England, since the second version of Keli ha-Neboshet, where this passage may be found, was written in 1146 in Mantova or Verona.» — Y el punto que hace caer la inferencia: Ibn Ezra pudo referirse a un fenómeno observable en Inglaterra apoyándose en una fuente que Sela no identifica, porque la segunda versión hebrea donde está el pasaje se escribió en 1146 en Mantua o Verona

«Thus, the link adduced by Millas Vallicrosa between the report of this singular phenomenon and Ibn Ezra's allegedly dwelling in England is severed.» — Con eso Sela da por cortado el vínculo que Millás Vallicrosa establecía entre ese fenómeno y una supuesta estancia inglesa

«We thus reach the conclusion that the mention of England in the report of astronomical observations does not indicate that the Latin version of the Astrolabe Book was written in England.» — La conclusión que Sela enuncia: la mención de Inglaterra en un informe de observaciones no indica que la versión latina del libro del astrolabio se escribiera allí

«Thus, the possibility arises that Abraham Ibn Ezra, who wrote in Mantova a treatise dealing with Hebrew grammar called Seier $abut, and possibly the second Hebrew version of Keli ha-Neboshet as well, also composed in the same city a Latin parallel version of the Astrolabe Book, motivated by the need to provide advice to the council of the city of Mantova in its endeavor to determine the location for the Torri del Sole.» — La alternativa que Sela ofrece, dicha como posibilidad: que la versión latina se compusiera en Mantua, donde Ibn Ezra escribió el *Sefer Ṣaḥot* y quizá la segunda versión hebrea del astrolabio, para asesorar al consejo de la ciudad

«Seier ha- 'Ebad was composed prior to 1148, since Ibn Ezra referred to it as a completed work from within his Seier ha-Shem (Book of the Name [of God]), a theological, grammatical, mathematical monograph composed in the city of Beziers in Provence in 1148.» — El *Sefer ha-Eḥad* queda fechado antes de 1148 porque Ibn Ezra lo menciona como acabado desde el *Sefer ha-Shem*, monografía teológica, gramatical y matemática compuesta en Béziers en 1148

«While indebted to neo-Pythagorean Arabic arithmetic, Seier ha- 'E1)ad's direct sources are very difficult to ascertain.» — Sela reconoce la deuda del *Sefer ha-Eḥad* con la aritmética árabe neopitagórica y a la vez declara que sus fuentes directas son muy difíciles de precisar

«A good example is the quasi-theological treatment furnished in Seier ha- 'E1)ad of the number one, acknowledged as able to count itself while all the other numbers cannot do so, construed as the fundament of all numbers and endowed with the power of generating all the other numbers, and regarded as different from any other number while all the other numbers are similar to it.» — El tratamiento casi teológico del número uno que Sela destaca en ese libro: el uno puede contarse a sí mismo cuando ningún otro número puede, es fundamento de todos los números, tiene el poder de generarlos y difiere de todos aunque todos se le parezcan

«Such ideas, couched in almost the same terms as in Seier ha- 'E1)ad, may by found in Ibn Ezra's long commentary on Exodus 3:15, in Yesod Mor'ah (The Fundament of Awe) and Seier ha-Shem (Book of the Name [of God]), two theological monographs, in Seier ha-Mispar (Book of the Number)8S and in Liber de rationibus tabularum, where such ideas are presented in amplification of the decimal system.» — Sela rastrea esas mismas ideas, en términos casi idénticos, por el comentario largo a Éxodo 3:15, el *Yesod Mora'h*, el *Sefer ha-Shem*, el *Sefer ha-Mispar* y el *Liber de rationibus tabularum*

«The calendar was always a very pertinent matter high on the agenda of an educated medieval Jewish audience.» — El calendario, dice Sela, estuvo siempre en primer lugar en la agenda de un público judío medieval instruido

«This was true because the ritual and social connotations emanating from calendaric concerns were of enormous consequence for the collective religious awareness of medieval societies, not least for the national identity, from within and from without, of a minority medieval community.» — Y la razón que da: las connotaciones rituales y sociales del calendario pesaban enormemente en la conciencia religiosa colectiva y en la identidad nacional de una comunidad minoritaria, hacia dentro y hacia fuera

«By the tenth century, almost two centuries prior to Ibn Ezra's generation, there was already in force a regular and stabilized system which superseded the calendaric rules administered by the Supreme Court of Palestine under Roman rule.» — Sela sitúa hacia el siglo X, casi dos siglos antes de Ibn Ezra, la vigencia de un sistema calendárico regular y estabilizado que sustituyó a las reglas administradas por el tribunal supremo de Palestina bajo dominio romano

«Even though there was very little to add to the permanent calendaric regulations themselves, Ibn Ezra, as well as other twelfth century Spanish Jewish intellectuals of the Rabbanite camp such as Abraham Bar ijiyya and Maimonides, made a significant contribution in this field.» — Aun quedando poco por añadir a las reglas ya fijas, Sela adjudica una contribución significativa a Ibn Ezra y a otros intelectuales judíos españoles del siglo XII del campo rabanita, como Abraham Bar Ḥiyya y Maimónides

«They began to write about the calendar in Hebrew, a landmark innovation which enabled their work to span the cultural borders separating eastern and western Jewish communities.» — La innovación que Sela señala en ellos es de lengua: empezaron a escribir del calendario en hebreo, con lo que su obra pudo cruzar la frontera cultural entre las comunidades judías de oriente y de occidente

«And yet, their work was not only documentary, informative or explanatory but also marked by a spirited complement of polemics, not least when they came to study and discuss the sources to which they were purportedly indebted.» — Y acota que esa obra no era solo documental, informativa o explicativa, sino también polémica, sobre todo al discutir las fuentes de las que decían depender

«On the other hand, they explained the foundations of the Jewish calendar by implementing the tools provided by the new Greek-Arabic astronomy with whom Andalusian intellectuals had become acquainted during the last decades.» — El otro brazo de esa obra, según Sela: explicar los fundamentos del calendario judío con las herramientas de la nueva astronomía grecoárabe que los intelectuales andalusíes acababan de conocer

«The latter point is our main justification for designating the calendaric work of Ibn Ezra, Abraham Bar Hiyya and Maimonides as scientific.» — Sela declara que es justamente ese uso de la astronomía lo que le autoriza a llamar científica la obra calendárica de Ibn Ezra, Bar Ḥiyya y Maimónides

«And yet, it would be more appropriate to designate this special type of scientific literature as composed of treatises including scientific topics that were applied to Jewish ritualistic and social needs.» — Y en seguida afina el rótulo: más exacto sería llamarla literatura de tratados con contenidos científicos aplicados a necesidades rituales y sociales judías

«In contrast to his colleagues, he addressed calendaric issues in his biblical commentaries, and even endowed these references with a very particular flavor.» — Lo que separa a Ibn Ezra de sus colegas en esto, según Sela: llevó las cuestiones del calendario a sus comentarios bíblicos y les dio ahí un sabor muy propio

«Abraham Ibn Ezra wrote this treatise, designed to describe certain central aspects of the Jewish calendar and explain its fundamentals, in two different versions, as Joseph Bonfils reports in his super-commentary $aphnat Pa 'aneab.» — Del *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* dice Sela, apoyado otra vez en el supercomentario de Joseph Bonfils, que se escribió en dos versiones y que estaba destinado a describir aspectos centrales del calendario judío y explicar sus fundamentos

«The second version of Seier ha-'Ibbur, which is at present lost, was written in Narbonne - as Joseph Bonfils reported in $aphnat Pa 'aneab - and we assume that it was composed later than 1148, after Ibn Ezra had moved from Italy to Provence.» — La segunda versión está perdida; Sela la sitúa en Narbona, según Bonfils, y supone que es posterior a 1148

«To solve the problem posed by the calculation of the molad, Ibn Ezra provided not merely one but four methods, each of them revealing in a particular way his propensity to amuse himself by playing with numbers and words.» — Para calcular el *molad* —la conjunción de luna y sol— Ibn Ezra da cuatro métodos, y Sela lee en cada uno su gusto por jugar con números y palabras

«He not only played with the intricacies of numbers by presenting his material in the form of riddles, but also went to the extreme of expounding the fourth way for calculating the molad not in prose but by means of a rhyming poem.» — El extremo de ese gusto, según Sela: presentar el material en forma de acertijos y exponer el cuarto método del *molad* no en prosa sino en un poema rimado

«The second chapter, which is more than twice as long as the first, was designed to discuss the theoretical fundamentals of the Jewish calendar.» — El segundo capítulo, más del doble de largo que el primero, discute los fundamentos teóricos del calendario judío

«These are, first, the solar motion when computed by the instrumentality of the solar eccentric sphere, and, second, two different versions of trepidatio, one propounding an oscillatory motion of the equinoxes and the other proposing another oscillatory motion that makes the poles of the eighth sphere move back and forth;» — Los elementos astronómicos que entran ahí, según el inventario de Sela: el movimiento solar calculado con la esfera excéntrica del sol y dos versiones de la *trepidatio*, una con oscilación de los equinoccios y otra con oscilación de los polos de la octava esfera

«In addition, the second chapter brings interesting and valuable information about the differences related to the calendar which divided Jewish society from within and from without.» — Y añade que ese capítulo trae información valiosa sobre las diferencias de calendario que dividían a la sociedad judía por dentro y frente a fuera

«The latter school was considered by Ibn Ezra, as well as by other intellectuals contemporaneous with him such as Abraham Bar ijiyya and Maimonides, to be more accurate and to have obtained a more correct value for the tropical year than that of Mar Samuel.» — Según Sela, Ibn Ezra tuvo por más exacta la escuela de Rav Adda que la de Mar Samuel en el valor del año trópico, y con él Abraham Bar Ḥiyya y Maimónides

«Ibn Ezra argues with the Ge'onim about the visibility of the new crescent» — Entre las divergencias del capítulo, Sela consigna que Ibn Ezra discute con los Ge'onim la visibilidad del creciente nuevo; la llamada de nota queda pegada a la palabra

«But, curiously enough, Ibn Ezra commenced the treatise with a table of contents from which we learn that the third chapter was programmed to deal with ''the true [reckoning of the] vernal equinox (tequfat ha- 'emet), the conjunction of the luminaries, the visibility of the moon in every country, either eastern, western or northern, the timing of the eclipses of the moon and the sun, the extent of the eclipse as measured from the diameter and from the body (of the star) and the duration of the eclipse (zman ha-qadrut}» — El índice con que arranca el tratado anuncia para el tercer capítulo el cómputo verdadero del equinoccio de primavera, la conjunción de las luminarias, la visibilidad de la luna en cada país, el tiempo de los eclipses, su magnitud y su duración

«From these references we may conclude that the third chapter was intended to include strictly astronomical subjects and highly technical topics, such as the first visibility of the moon,109 irregularities in the lunar cycle, II 0 the rising times of the zodiacal constellations, III or the length of the solar year.» — De esas referencias Sela concluye que el tercer capítulo iba a tratar asuntos estrictamente astronómicos y muy técnicos: primera visibilidad de la luna, irregularidades del ciclo lunar, tiempos de salida de las constelaciones zodiacales, duración del año solar

«This situation brought us, in an earlier study of Ibn Ezra's scientific work, to the conclusion that either Ibn Ezra left the third chapter unaccomplished, or that, because it included heavy and obscure astronomical contents, later copyists presumably did not regard it as relevant enough, and thus excluded it from their manuscripts.» — La explicación que Sela había dado en un trabajo anterior, planteada como disyuntiva sin resolver: o Ibn Ezra dejó el tercer capítulo sin acabar, o los copistas posteriores lo excluyeron de sus manuscritos por su contenido astronómico pesado y oscuro

«The third chapter: before I discuss the true [reckoning of the] vernal equinox (tequfat ha- 'emet), I ought to draw up tables of the arcs and cords, afterwards tables of the declination of the sun to the north or to the south, as well as tables of the shadows.» — Según Sela, en el fragmento del tercer capítulo Ibn Ezra anuncia en primera persona que antes de tratar el cómputo verdadero del equinoccio levantará tablas de arcos y cuerdas, de la declinación del sol y de las sombras. El mismo pasaje se reimprime en el apéndice, ahí sin la transliteración *tequfat ha-'emet*

«equinox (tequfat ha- 'emet), I ought to draw up tables of the arcs and cords, afterwards tables of the declination of the sun to the north or to the south, as well as tables of the shadows. Only after we are acquainted with these subjects will we be able to calculate the latitude of any place, any hour of the day or of the night, the parts of the hour, the arc of the day, how many degrees each zodiacal constellation ascends in any place. Thereafter I will draw up tables of the place of the luminaries and the place of the caput draconis (rosh ha-teli), for which there is a great need when we come to calculate the eclipses of the luminaries» — La continuación del plan: solo sabidos esos asuntos podrá calcularse la latitud de un lugar, la hora del día o de la noche, el arco del día y los grados con que asciende cada constelación; y después vendrán las tablas del lugar de las luminarias y del *caput draconis*, que Ibn Ezra llama *rosh ha-teli*, de gran necesidad para los eclipses

«Thus, a close link is established between the third chapter of Seier ha- '/bbur and Seier ha-Mispar, which, as mentioned above, was written by Ibn Ezra in Italy approximately in 1146 or earlier, that is, shortly before he wrote Seier ha- '/bbur.» — El vínculo que Sela traza por el contenido: el tercer capítulo del *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* y el *Sefer ha-Mispar*, escrito poco antes en Italia hacia 1146

«In all likelihood, the interruption was caused by the highly technical topics and obscure astronomical contents of the remainder of the third chapter, which supposedly deterred a later scribe from continuing his work.» — Para la interrupción del manuscrito Sela propone, como probabilidad, que los temas muy técnicos y el contenido astronómico oscuro disuadieran a un copista posterior de seguir

«All in all, even though we hardly find in it any allusion to the subjects which were recorded in the table of contents or in the above-mentioned references - which are traceable in the first two chapters - this fragment of the third chapter of Seier ha- '/bbur gives every appearance of being an authentic work by Ibn Ezra.» — El juicio de autenticidad que Sela formula con su reserva: el fragmento apenas alude a lo anunciado en el índice, y aun así tiene toda la apariencia de ser obra auténtica de Ibn Ezra

«What clinches the argument in favor of Ibn Ezra's authorship, however, is the special scientific nomenclature: we find in this brief text technical terms peculiar to Ibn Ezra, such as qadrut ha-me 'orot, that is, the eclipse of the luminaries, and especially the very characteristic term keli ha-ne.(Joshet, which is the term invented by Ibn Ezra to designate the astrolabe.» — Lo que a su juicio decide la atribución es la nomenclatura: términos propios de Ibn Ezra como *qadrut ha-me'orot* para el eclipse de las luminarias y, sobre todo, *keli ha-neḥoshet*, el término que él inventó para el astrolabio

«(a) in his supercommentary Safnat Pa 'aneab, Joseph Bonfils quoted a whole passage that he claimed to have been taken from an epistle which Ibn Ezra wrote in answer to some questions posed to him beforehand.» — Sobre los responsa calendáricos, el primer argumento de autenticidad: Joseph Bonfils cita en su supercomentario un pasaje entero que dice tomado de una epístola de Ibn Ezra en respuesta a preguntas

«(c) the topics and formulations of two among the three responsa bear striking similarities to parallel passages that Ibn Ezra wrote in the first version of his Sefer ha-'Ibbur as well as in other parts of his work.» — Y el tercero: los asuntos y las formulaciones de dos de los tres responsa se parecen llamativamente a pasajes paralelos de la primera versión del *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* y de otras partes de su obra

«All in all, these three brief responsa not only provide a concise and telling illustration of Ibn Ezra's approach to the calendar, but also voice the calendaric concerns shared by an educated Jewish reading public in Provence in the middle of the twelfth century.» — Lo que Sela lee en esos tres responsa breves: no solo el modo en que Ibn Ezra encara el calendario, sino las preocupaciones calendáricas de un público judío instruido en la Provenza de mediados del siglo XII

«In the first responsum, Ibn Ezra was queried about the value and usefulness of a special calendaric table covering two hundred and forty-seven years and including thirteen cycles of nineteen years.» — El asunto del primero: el valor y la utilidad de una tabla calendárica de doscientos cuarenta y siete años, trece ciclos de diecinueve

«Ibn Ezra explained that this gap always occurs in the sixteenth year of the nineteen-year cycle.» — Según Sela, Ibn Ezra sitúa siempre en el año dieciséis del ciclo de diecinueve el desfase de cuatro semanas entre el calendario judío y el cristiano

«In his opinion, the discrepancy is accounted for by the fact that the Christians endorse an erroneous tropical year of 365 '14 days (the same as that adopted by the Jewish school headed by Mar Samuel) and that they determine the moment when the Sun enters the constellation of Aries (tequfat Nissan) only after the twentieth of Mars.» — Y le adjudica esta explicación del desfase: los cristianos sostienen un año trópico erróneo de 365 ¼ días —el mismo de la escuela judía de Mar Samuel— y fijan la entrada del sol en Aries solo después del veinte de marzo

«Ibn Ezra called for the help of fellow astronomers of different ages, schools and nations.» — El procedimiento que Sela le atribuye en esa discusión: convocar en apoyo a astrónomos de épocas, escuelas y naciones distintas

«Ibn Ezra said, this anonymous commentator asserted that "the moon deserved to be named by two appellations in the fourth day (of Creation): [it was named] the lesser luminary because its light waned when it was created; [it was named] the greater luminary because afterwards on the same day (that is, after nine hours and six hundred and forty-two parts) its light waxed and illuminated the earth.» — El comentario anónimo que Ibn Ezra objeta, en la traducción de Sela: la luna mereció dos nombres el cuarto día, luminaria menor porque su luz menguaba al ser creada y luminaria mayor porque después, el mismo día, su luz creció e iluminó la tierra

«Ibn Ezra referred explicitly to Abraham Bar Hiyya and argued with him in similar terms» — Sela consigna que la misma objeción la dirige Ibn Ezra, nombrándolo, a Abraham Bar Ḥiyya

«In the first place, Ibn Ezra reconciled the apparent contradiction regarding the moon in Genesis 1: 16 by providing, as is customary with him, a commentary that highlights the peshat, that is, the simple, obvious, literal meaning of the biblical text.» — El primer movimiento que Sela le atribuye ante la contradicción aparente de Génesis 1:16: un comentario que se atiene al *peshat*, el sentido simple y literal del texto

«In fact, he wrote, expanding on the commentary he himself had written in Lucca in 1145, that "both the sun and the moon were named greater luminaries because their light is greater than the light of the stars, and the light of the sun is the greatest» — La solución literal, en palabras de Ibn Ezra traducidas por Sela: sol y luna se llaman los dos luminarias mayores porque su luz supera a la de las estrellas, y la del sol es la mayor de todas

«Ibn Ezra's main concern, however, was to provide a new rationalistic and scientifically orientated explanation of the midrash.» — Pero lo que a Sela le interesa es el segundo movimiento: dar del midrash una explicación racionalista y de orientación científica

«Both the philosophers ('anshei ha-tushiah), who think that the moon has a soul, and the researchers ('anshei ha-mebqar), who believe the moon has a body made up of stone and glass and copper, Ibn Ezra said, will repudiate the opinion that the moon would have complained to God about its status relative to the sun.» — El argumento que Sela le adjudica contra la lectura literal del midrash: tanto los filósofos, que tienen a la luna por animada, como los investigadores, que la tienen por cuerpo de piedra, vidrio y cobre, rechazarán que la luna se quejara a Dios de su rango

«In his opinion, that the moon was allegedly punished for complaining about its status relative to the sun should be construed as a metaphor for a definite astronomical-astrological phenomenon.» — La lectura que propone en su lugar: el castigo de la luna por quejarse es metáfora de un fenómeno astronómico y astrológico preciso

«That a star "offends", "fights" or "quarrels" with another star means that the former star is in opposition to the latter, that they are separated one from the other by one half of the sphere, that is, by six zodiacal signs.» — La clave de esa metáfora, según Sela: que una estrella *ofenda*, *pelee* o *riña* con otra quiere decir que está en oposición, separada de ella por media esfera, seis signos del zodiaco

«As the sun has its own light and the moon does not, when the sun is in opposition to the moon it (the moon) shines so fully that its light is equal to the light of the sun.» — De donde la luna, que no tiene luz propia, brilla en la oposición con luz igual a la del sol

«In this situation, as is acknowledged by the astronomers (bakhmei ha-mazalot), the diameter of the moon seems, from the earth, to be equal to the diameter of the sun, that is, one degree and thirty-one parts of a degree.» — Y el diámetro aparente de la luna, según los astrónomos que Ibn Ezra llama *ḥakhmei ha-mazalot*, iguala entonces al del sol: un grado y treinta y una partes

«having "offended" the sun, the moon gradually looses its light and dims.» — El cierre de la metáfora: tras *ofender* al sol, la luna va perdiendo luz y se oscurece

«Nevertheless, as if stirred by a guilty conscience and as if he knew a priori the source of all this trouble, Ibn Ezra quickly found in his house the alluded-to verse and the commentary on it, but kept a tantalizing silence regarding the identity of the commentator.» — Sela subraya el silencio como dato: Ibn Ezra halla en su casa el versículo y el comentario que lo ofendieron, y calla quién era el comentarista

«Evidently, what gave much offence to the Shabbat was the implication that the day begins in the morning,» — Lo que en el relato ofende al Shabbat, según Sela: la implicación de que el día empieza por la mañana y no al anochecer

«Not only did this entail the risk of leading to the desecration of the Shabbat, but also, as Ibn Ezra clearly expressed it, the possibility that "Jews should be an object of scorn and derision in the eyes of Gentiles» — El riesgo que Ibn Ezra le atribuye a esa doctrina, en la traducción de Sela: no solo profanar el Shabbat, sino que los judíos queden por objeto de escarnio y burla ante los gentiles

«Ibn Ezra was commanded by the messenger to "fight the battle of the Torah against the Shabbat's enemies", and he, on his part, pledged himself to write "a long epistle» — El encargo que el mensajero del sueño le da y la promesa con que responde: pelear la batalla de la Torá contra los enemigos del Shabbat y escribir una epístola larga

«The Ptolemaic theory was placed at such a strategically important place in the epistle because Ibn Ezra believed that it was the most appropriate means of laying the astronomical foundation for the subsequent determination of the appropriate beginnings of the year, the month and day.» — La razón que Sela da para el lugar destacado de la teoría ptolemaica dentro de la epístola: era el medio más apropiado para poner el fundamento astronómico con que determinar los comienzos del año, del mes y del día

«The first chapter, even though it was specifically meant to discuss the beginning of the year, commences with a relatively lengthy debate on the length of the tropical year.» — Y señala el desvío del primer capítulo: destinado al comienzo del año, arranca con un debate largo sobre la duración del año trópico

«In line with other, similar passages across the length and breadth of Ibn Ezra's oeuvre, the first part of the debate was portrayed by Ibn Ezra as a controversy extending from antiquity to his own times and dividing national astronomical schools on the question of whether the exact length of the solar year is more or less than 365 days plus a quarter of a day.» — El molde recurrente que Sela detecta en la obra entera de Ibn Ezra: presentar el asunto como controversia que viene de la antigüedad y divide a las escuelas astronómicas nacionales, aquí sobre si el año solar excede o no los 365 días y cuarto

«He began by setting a sharp critical eye on the mysterious Karaite Judah ha-Parsy, who proposed a solar calendar very similar to the Julian calendar endorsed by the Christians.» — El primer blanco de esa discusión es el caraíta Judah ha-Parsy, a quien Sela llama misterioso, por proponer un calendario solar muy parecido al juliano de los cristianos

«He continued by presenting the main arguments which divided the two famous talmudic schools headed by Mar Samuel and by Rav Adda Bar 'Ahabah.» — Y el segundo tramo enfrenta a las dos escuelas talmúdicas, la de Mar Samuel y la de Rav Adda Bar 'Ahabah

«Ibn Ezra's approach, however, was not merely ornamental or eclectic, but taken to stress that there is no point in trying to apply any objective yardstick in determining the beginning of the year.» — Contra la lectura de ese relativismo como adorno o eclecticismo, Sela sostiene que Ibn Ezra lo usa para negar que haya vara objetiva con que fijar el comienzo del año

«His underlying aim was to emphasize that the only feasible way is that provided by the Rabbanite approach, which asserts the necessity of relying on an arbitrary body of human knowledge (such as the talmudic corpus) to solve the problem.» — El propósito de fondo que le adjudica: dejar como única vía practicable la rabanita, que reconoce la necesidad de apoyarse en un cuerpo arbitrario de saber humano, como el corpus talmúdico

«The major setback, in Ibn Ezra's opinion, is that there is a substantial gap between the 'mean' molad, determined by the mean motion of moon and sun, and the 'true' molad, which takes into account, as the old sages oflsrael put it, that sometimes the moon "travels by a long road" and sometimes "travels by a short road".» — El obstáculo que Ibn Ezra señala, según Sela: la distancia entre el *molad* medio, calculado con los movimientos medios, y el verdadero, que atiende a que la luna a veces —como decían los antiguos sabios de Israel— anda por camino largo y a veces por camino corto

«Ibn Ezra also has harsh words against some Jewish pseudo-astronomers living in Christian countries, who, without being knowledgeable in astronomy and equipped with only standard Jewish calendaric formulas, tum to the Christians and reveal to them the secrets of the Jewish intercalation in an incorrect manner.» — La objeción de Ibn Ezra que Sela recoge contra ciertos seudoastrónomos judíos de países cristianos: sin saber astronomía y solo con las fórmulas calendáricas usuales, revelan a los cristianos los secretos de la intercalación judía de manera incorrecta

«The scientific vantage point, in Ibn Ezra's view, is embodied by the opinion of the bakhmei ha-mazalot, that is, the astronomers and astrologers, who argued that noon is the most adequate beginning of the day.» — La posición que Ibn Ezra tiene por científica en el asunto del comienzo del día es, según Sela, la de los *ḥakhmei ha-mazalot* —astrónomos y astrólogos—, que ponían ese comienzo al mediodía

«They did so, Ibn Ezra says, both on geometrical grounds, which he declines to spell out, and on observational grounds, that is, because the shadow cast at noon is the shortest.» — Los dos fundamentos que Ibn Ezra les atribuye: uno geométrico, que se niega a detallar, y otro de observación, que la sombra del mediodía es la más corta

«Ibn Ezra, however, responds that even with the instrumentality of the astrolabe or the gnomon it is hardly possible to determine noon with necessary accuracy, and the same applies, even more strongly, to midnight.» — La objeción de Ibn Ezra: ni con astrolabio ni con gnomon puede fijarse el mediodía con la exactitud necesaria, y menos aún la medianoche

«All that enables Ibn Ezra to assert that if Tishrei betokens the proper beginning of the year according to Jewish belief, so, of necessity, evening, the parallel point in the sun's daily path to the autumnal equinox, must mark the proper beginning of the day.» — El argumento por analogía que Sela le adjudica: si Tishrei marca el comienzo propio del año según la creencia judía, entonces la tarde, punto paralelo del recorrido diario del sol al equinoccio de otoño, ha de marcar el comienzo del día

«In this last section, Ibn Ezra abandons astronomy and sets out to quote a long series of talmudic and biblical quotations which are interpreted by him as pointing to the conclusion that evening marks the beginning of the day.» — Y el cambio de registro con que cierra: deja la astronomía y encadena citas talmúdicas y bíblicas que lee como prueba de que la tarde abre el día

«However, some significant points militate, in my opinion, against this position.» — Contra la identificación corriente del comentarista anónimo con Rashbam, Sela objeta en primera persona que hay puntos de peso en contra

«Third, and this is the quintessence of our argument, Ibn Ezra's commentary on Genesis 1 :5, as developed in his Epistle on the Shabbat, embodies a veritable volte face in his exegetical stance, and is not a mere reiteration or variation of the two other commentaries he wrote on the same verse.» — El núcleo del argumento de Sela: el comentario a Génesis 1:5 dentro de la epístola es un verdadero giro en la postura exegética de Ibn Ezra, no una repetición ni una variante de los otros dos que escribió sobre el mismo versículo

«Moreover (and this is a point which oddly enough did not arouse the attention of the experts in the intricacies and technicalities of Ibn Ezra's exegesis), this change of heart may be seen as emending and rectifying the previous opinion which Ibn Ezra held when he wrote the two other commentaries on the same verse.» — Y añade una observación que dice no haber despertado la atención de los expertos: ese cambio de parecer enmienda y rectifica la opinión que Ibn Ezra sostenía en los dos comentarios anteriores

«To begin with, it is worth noting that the plain text of Genesis 1:5 has basis enough to provide justification for both the Christian and the Jewish versions of the beginning of the day.» — Sela concede de entrada que el texto llano de Génesis 1:5 da base suficiente tanto a la versión cristiana como a la judía del comienzo del día

«He expressed this idea clearly in Lucca around 1145 in the first commentary on Genesis 1 :5, in which he wrote that "once it is stated that God called the light day, it is impossible to maintain that the evening, too, is considered part of the day» — La postura anterior de Ibn Ezra, en Lucca hacia 1145: dicho que Dios llamó día a la luz, no cabe sostener que la tarde cuente también como parte del día

«He reiterated the same idea ten years thereafter in Rouen, at the very beginning of his second commentary on Genesis 1 :5, wherein he wrote that "since the evening is [part of the] night, it makes no sense that Scripture should designate the evening and the morning as 'one day'.» — Y la repite diez años después en Ruan: siendo la tarde parte de la noche, no tiene sentido que la Escritura llame *un día* a la tarde y la mañana

«Moreover, to assume that Genesis 1:5 brings a definition of the day, setting forth its components and their chronological order, is tantamount to maintaining that the biblical text not only holds contradictory ideas but is also redundant to a great extent, in view of the fact that the same formula appears, time and time again, after the end of each of the days of Creation.» — El argumento adicional que Sela le adjudica: tomar Génesis 1:5 por definición del día con sus componentes en orden equivaldría a atribuir al texto bíblico ideas contradictorias y una redundancia grande, ya que la misma fórmula vuelve tras cada día de la creación

«In order to corroborate this statement, Ibn Ezra introduced new evidence proving, in glaring contradiction to what he had maintained in the other two commentaries, that sometimes the biblical text brings two opposite notions in the framework of a single word.» — El giro que Sela documenta: en la epístola Ibn Ezra aporta evidencia nueva, en contradicción flagrante con sus dos comentarios anteriores, de que a veces el texto bíblico encierra dos nociones opuestas en una sola palabra

«As a corollary, Ibn Ezra comes to the conclusion that "the day includes both times, which are included in one motion... and therefore it is clarified with the evidence of the biblical Creation that the day extends from evening to evening» — Y el corolario, en su traducción: el día incluye los dos tiempos, comprendidos en un mismo movimiento, de donde la creación bíblica muestra que el día va de tarde a tarde

«What is noteworthy about Abraham Ibn Ezra, the exegete and the scientist, is that he embedded his new and innovative commentary in a scientific treatise concerned with the calendar.» — Lo que Sela destaca del caso, y que es su tesis en pequeño: Ibn Ezra encajó ese comentario nuevo dentro de un tratado científico sobre el calendario

«The main part of Ibn Ezra's scientific writings consists of a series of astrological treatises which may well be considered an astrological encyclopedia.» — El grueso de la obra científica de Ibn Ezra es, para Sela, una serie de tratados astrológicos que bien puede tenerse por enciclopedia astrológica

«First, not all the astrological works of Ibn Ezra but the majority, that is, at least one version of each of these astrological treatises, may be regarded collectively as the product of a steady and concentrated effort carried out in one single year, 1148 (4908 A.M.), and in one and the same place, the city of Beziers in Provence.» — La primera razón de ese rótulo, con su salvedad dicha: no todas las obras astrológicas, pero sí la mayoría —al menos una versión de cada tratado— son producto de un esfuerzo concentrado de un solo año, 1148, y de un solo lugar, Béziers

«Second, from a thematic point of view, these treatises may be considered as chapters of a single major work, since some of them are designed as general textbooks, while others deal separately with the four main systems of Arabic astrology: nativities, elections, interrogations and universal astrology.» — La segunda: por su temática esos tratados funcionan como capítulos de una obra mayor, unos como manuales generales y otros dedicados a los cuatro sistemas de la astrología árabe —natividades, elecciones, interrogaciones y astrología universal

«Ibn Ezra divided Reshit lJokhmah into 10 chapters, dealing with three main subjects: (a) a general description of the fixed stars, the zodiac constellations and their astrological characteristics [chapters i, ii, iii]; (b) a general description of the planets and their astrological characteristics [chapters iv, v, vi, vii]; (c) a general discussion of miscellaneous astrological concepts, such as the lots, aspects and some elements of universal astrology [chapters viii, ix, x].» — El plan del *Reshit Ḥokhmah* en diez capítulos, según Sela: las estrellas fijas y las constelaciones zodiacales con sus caracteres astrológicos, los planetas con los suyos, y una miscelánea de conceptos —las suertes, los aspectos y elementos de astrología universal

«Thus, Reshit lJokhmah is a textbook that explains the most basic tenets of the various branches of astrology.» — De donde su naturaleza: un manual que explica los principios más básicos de las varias ramas de la astrología

«It was considered by Ibn Ezra to be his chief astrological work, testified by the multiple references to Reshit lJokhmah annotated by Ibn Ezra from within his other astrological treatises, in order to elucidate various astrological concepts.» — Y el indicio que Sela da de que el propio Ibn Ezra lo tenía por su obra astrológica principal: las múltiples remisiones a él desde sus otros tratados

«Ibn Ezra regarded the first component of his astrological encyclopedia, that is, his Reshit /fokhmah, as a work that was not self-sufficient, since the treatise presented raw astrological concepts without introducing their reasons, that is, their rational explanations.» — El límite que el propio Ibn Ezra le pone a ese manual, según Sela: no se basta a sí mismo, porque presenta los conceptos astrológicos en crudo, sin sus razones

«Therefore, he promised to explain some topics more thoroughly in Seier ha-Moladot and Seier ha- 'Olam (Book of the World) or Seier ha-Ma/;lbarot (Book of Conjunctions), both of them still non-existent works, and at the same time he also referred the reader to Keli ha-Ne/;loshet, that is, to the third Hebrew version of the Astrolabe Book, already written before Reshit lfokhmah early in the same year 1148.» — El entramado de promesas y remisiones que Sela usa para datar: Ibn Ezra promete explicar asuntos en el *Sefer ha-Moladot* y en el *Sefer ha-'Olam*, entonces inexistentes, y remite a la tercera versión hebrea del libro del astrolabio, ya escrita a principios de ese mismo 1148

«This hypothesis, however, should in my opinion be rejected, and the second version of Seier ha- Te 'amim can be safely considered, just like the first version, as a commentary on Reshit lfokhmah.» — Sela objeta en primera persona la conjetura de Steinschneider y sostiene que la segunda versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim*, como la primera, es comentario del *Reshit Ḥokhmah*

«The key that makes possible the chronological arrangement of the two versions of Sefer ha- Te 'amim may be found in two different references to Sefer ha- 'Olam : While in one version of Sefer ha- Te 'amim Ibn Ezra writes, using the future tense, that "/ will explain the mansions of the moon in Sefer ha- 'Olam",» — La llave cronológica que Sela encuentra es un cambio de tiempo verbal: en una versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim* Ibn Ezra dice en futuro que explicará las mansiones de la luna en el *Sefer ha-'Olam*, y en la otra que ya quedó escrito ahí

«From this we clearly learn that the referred-to Sefer ha- 'Olam was written in between two different versions of Sefer ha- Te 'amim.» — De donde el *Sefer ha-'Olam* quedó escrito entre una y otra versión

«Since the first version of Sefer ha- 'Olam was composed by 1148, we conclude that the other version of Sefer ha-Te'amim was written after that date.» — Y como la primera versión del *Sefer ha-'Olam* es de 1148, la otra versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim* es posterior a esa fecha

«What precisely was the period of time separating the two versions we cannot determine, but it may be clearly noticed that the time that elapsed since Ibn Ezra finished his Reshit f:/okhmah was not short.» — Sela declara lo que no puede precisar: cuánto media entre las dos versiones; solo que desde el *Reshit Ḥokhmah* no había pasado poco tiempo

«Ibn Ezra deals in Seier ha-Moladot first with the fundamental problem of determining the criteria to be employed in order to choose an ascendant for the nativity, according to which the astrological houses may be calculated.» — De qué trata el *Sefer ha-Moladot*, según Sela: primero, del problema de fijar los criterios para elegir el ascendente de la natividad, del que dependen las casas astrológicas

«The central and major part of the treatise is divided into twelve chapters, each of them dealing with one of the twelve astrological houses and the techniques to interpret their astrological characteristics.» — Y su parte central: doce capítulos, uno por cada casa astrológica, con las técnicas para interpretar sus caracteres

«Ibn Ezra concluded the treatise with a discussion of the so-called tequlat ha-shanim (revolutiones annorum in Latin or tabiiwil al-sinin in Arabic), that is, the calculation of the years, or fraction of years, which have passed since the birth of an individual.» — El cierre del tratado es el *tequfat ha-shanim* —*revolutiones annorum* en latín, *taḥawil al-sinin* en árabe—, el cómputo de los años transcurridos desde el nacimiento

«However, a more attentive perusal and a collation of the Hebrew and Latin texts springs a surprise: whereas the Hebrew text of Seier ha-Moladot commences with a remarkable introduction, in which Ibn Ezra presents eight astrological, universal principles that override the private fate of the new-born,l92 the Latin text begins with an encomium of the astrolabe, and proceeds to present some astrolabe models.» — La sorpresa que Sela halla al cotejar el hebreo con el latín: el hebreo abre con una introducción donde Ibn Ezra expone ocho principios astrológicos universales que pasan por encima del destino particular del recién nacido, y el latín abre con un elogio del astrolabio y modelos del instrumento

«Also, the Hebrew text concludes, as noted above, with a discussion of the tequlat ha-shanim, a chapter which is completely non-existent in the Latin translation.» — La otra divergencia: el capítulo hebreo final sobre el *tequfat ha-shanim* no existe en la traducción latina

«This assertion is corroborated also by the fact that Seier ha-Moladot and Liber Abraham Jude de nativitatibus appear to be substantially different in their dates of composition.» — Y las dos obras difieren además, según Sela, en su fecha de composición

«We therefore conclude that Liber Abraham Iude de nativitatibus is the Latin translation of a second version of Seier ha-Moladot whose existence was hitherto unknown.» — La conclusión que Sela declara como hallazgo propio: el *Liber Abraham Iude de nativitatibus* traduce una segunda versión del *Sefer ha-Moladot* cuya existencia no se conocía

«If the second version of Seier ha-Moladot was composed around 1154, then in all likelihood Abraham Ibn Ezra wrote it during his sojourn in Rouen, the capital of Normandy.» — Y su localización, dicha como probabilidad: si esa segunda versión es de hacia 1154, Ibn Ezra la habría escrito durante su estancia en Ruan

«The Hebrew original of this second version is at present lost.» — Del original hebreo de esa segunda versión Sela declara la pérdida sin rodeos

«Following the composition of the first version of Seier ha-Moladot, Ibn Ezra wrote two new treatises, each of which dealt with two astrological systems.» — Tras la primera versión del *Sefer ha-Moladot* vienen, según Sela, dos tratados nuevos, cada uno sobre dos sistemas astrológicos

«While both systems require interpretation by the astrologer of the horoscope cast at the moment at which the question was posed, the latter system is related to magic and requires, as Ibn Ezra wrote in his treatises, that the thoughts of the client should be adequately read by the astrologer.» — La diferencia entre esos sistemas, según Sela: los dos piden que el astrólogo interprete el horóscopo del momento en que se hizo la pregunta, pero el segundo se relaciona con la magia y exige —así lo escribe Ibn Ezra— que el astrólogo lea adecuadamente los pensamientos del consultante

«Both treatises were composed by Abraham Ibn Ezra in two different versions, the first in 1148, and the second at a later date that is very difficult to establish.» — De los dos tratados hay dos versiones cada uno: la primera de 1148 y la segunda de fecha que Sela declara muy difícil de establecer

«Even though the contents of both versions of each of the treatises are similar, the four versions are clearly distinguishable by the remarkable introductions with which Ibn Ezra prefaced each of them.» — Lo que distingue a las cuatro versiones no es el contenido, parecido, sino las introducciones que Ibn Ezra antepuso a cada una

«The same two schools appear in the introduction to the second version, but both schools are here presented by Ibn Ezra as headed by two kings, the first named Ptolemy the King and the second Doronius the King,200 an interesting remark which reveals how deeply immersed Ibn Ezra was in the Arabic Andalusian cultural climate.» — El detalle que Sela subraya de la segunda introducción: las dos escuelas aparecen encabezadas por dos reyes, Ptolomeo el Rey y Doroteo el Rey —impreso *Doronius*—, y en eso lee cuán hondo estaba Ibn Ezra en el clima cultural árabe andalusí

«In this introduction, as well as in other places, Ibn Ezra endorses a myth according to which astrologers and astronomers, such as Claudius Ptolemy and Doroteus from Sidon, were transformed into kings.» — El mito que Ibn Ezra hace suyo, según Sela: que astrólogos y astrónomos como Claudio Ptolomeo y Doroteo de Sidón se convirtieron en reyes

«Of these four treatises, only the first version of Seier ha-MivQarim has been edited in a critical edition,202 while the other three treatises are available only in manuscript.» — El estado editorial que Sela consigna: de los cuatro tratados solo la primera versión del *Sefer ha-Mivḥarim* tiene edición crítica; los otros tres siguen en manuscrito

«Sefer ha-Me'orot (Book of Luminaries). This astrological treatise, concerned mainly with medical astrology, appears to have been written, like the other components of the astrological encyclopedia, in two versions.» — El *Sefer ha-Me'orot*, dedicado sobre todo a la astrología médica, se escribió también en dos versiones, como los demás componentes de la enciclopedia astrológica

«One, Ibn Ezra refers to Sefer ha-Me 'orot from within the first version of Sefer ha-She 'elot, using the past tense.» — El primer indicio de datación: desde la primera versión del *Sefer ha-She'elot* Ibn Ezra remite en pasado al *Sefer ha-Me'orot*

«Two, Ibn Ezra refers also to Sefer ha-Me 'orot, but using the future tense, from within the second version of Sefer ha- Te 'amim, which was written substantially later than the first version of Sefer ha-She 'elot.» — El segundo: desde la segunda versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim*, bastante posterior, remite al mismo libro en futuro

«Thus, we arrive at the conclusion that the first version of Sefer ha-Me 'orot was composed before Ibn Ezra wrote the first version of Sefer ha-She'elot, that is, still in 1148.» — De donde la primera versión del *Sefer ha-Me'orot* queda antes de la primera del *Sefer ha-She'elot*, todavía en 1148

«But, since Ibn Ezra refers to Sefer ha-Me 'orot in the future tense from within the second version of Sefer ha- Te 'amim, we also come to the conclusion that the second version of Sefer ha-Me'orot was composed some time after 1149.» — Y la segunda, después de 1149

«Sefer ha-Me 'orot deals with medical astrology, and, more precisely, with the influence that the moon exerts on man's health.» — El asunto del libro, dicho sin rodeo: la astrología médica, y más precisamente la influencia de la luna sobre la salud del hombre

«or above the orbs of Mercury and Venus) without making clear his own position, chose this introduction to reveal his opinion, which is that the sun's orb is the second, after the moon's orb.» — El hallazgo que Sela destaca en esa introducción: Ibn Ezra, que en otros lugares expone la controversia sobre si el orbe del sol va debajo o encima de los de Mercurio y Venus sin declarar su parecer, aquí lo declara: el orbe del sol es el segundo, tras el de la luna

«Seier ha-'Olam (Book of the World). This treatise is concerned with the branch of astrology dealing with the collective fate of mankind, by means of astrological forecasts as well as astrological analysis of past history.» — El *Sefer ha-'Olam* se ocupa, según Sela, de la rama astrológica que mira el destino colectivo de la humanidad, por pronóstico y por análisis astrológico de la historia pasada

«That Ibn Ezra regarded this treatise as a future project from as early as the beginning of 1148 can be confirmed on the basis of some references found in the first version of Sefer ha- Te 'amim, in which he calls the book by two alternative titles: Sefer ha- 'Olam (Book of the World) or Sefer ha-Ma.(Jbarot (Book of Conjunctions).» — Sela documenta que el libro estaba proyectado desde principios de 1148 por las referencias de la primera versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim*, donde Ibn Ezra le da dos títulos alternativos, Libro del Mundo o Libro de las Conjunciones

«One of them was published in a very poor edition in 1937,215 the other version remains at present in manuscript.» — El estado editorial que Sela consigna sin ambages: una versión se publicó en 1937 en edición muy pobre y la otra sigue en manuscrito

«For convenience, I call the published version the 'first version' and the unpublished version the 'second version'.» — La convención que Sela declara para nombrarlas: llama primera versión a la publicada y segunda a la inédita

«But, this nomenclature does not necessarily reflect the chronological order of their composition, since on both versions there appears the year 4908 A.M. (=1148) as the year of composition,» — Y en seguida acota que esa nomenclatura no refleja necesariamente el orden cronológico, porque las dos traen el año 4908 de la creación como fecha de composición

«Ibn Ezra began the introduction to the first version with a harsh attack on Abu Ma'shar, who, in his opinion, was astronomically wrong in relying on the mean motion of the planets according to Hindu theory and Hindu astronomical tables.» — La objeción con que abre la primera versión: un ataque duro a Abu Ma'shar por apoyarse, a juicio de Ibn Ezra, en los movimientos medios de los planetas según la teoría y las tablas indias

«Both versions describe at the outset, clearly following AbU Ma'shar's Kitiib al-qiriiniit, the periodic conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter as divided into three main groups: great (960 years), middle (240 years) and lesser conjunctions (20 years).» — Lo que las dos versiones toman del *Kitab al-qiranat* de Abu Ma'shar: las conjunciones periódicas de Saturno y Júpiter repartidas en tres grupos, grandes de 960 años, medias de 240 y menores de 20

«On the other hand, the second version is easily distinguishable from the first by a remarkable passage giving an astrological explanation of the history of the monotheistic religions, more precisely, endowing some special conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter with the capacity of bringing about and exerting influence on the birth of powerful figures and prophets in history, such as Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, which subsequently led to the establishment of new religions.» — Lo que distingue a la segunda versión, según Sela: un pasaje que explica astrológicamente la historia de las religiones monoteístas, atribuyendo a ciertas conjunciones de Saturno y Júpiter el nacimiento de figuras y profetas como Moisés, Jesús y Mahoma, y con ellos la fundación de religiones nuevas

«Even Ibn Ezra's authorship over this book has to date not been fully demonstrated.» — Sobre el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*, Sela consigna que ni siquiera la autoría de Ibn Ezra se ha demostrado del todo

«That the second version of Seier ha- Te 'amim was designed as a commentary on Reshit .8okhmah can be unhesitatingly confirmed on the grounds that Ibn Ezra himself asserted that design expressly in the opening words of the introduction.» — Lo que a su juicio no admite vacilación es que la segunda versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim* se concibió como comentario del *Reshit Ḥokhmah*, porque el propio Ibn Ezra lo declara al abrir la introducción

«At this preliminary stage of research, before an overall and clearer picture is obtained by a careful scrutiny of the relevant manuscripts, it would seem premature to attempt to settle the question about the possible relationship between Mishpetei ha-Mazalot and other components ofIbn Ezra's astrological encyclopedia.» — La abstención que Sela declara: mientras no se examinen con cuidado los manuscritos, tiene por prematuro decidir la relación entre el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot* y los demás componentes de la enciclopedia astrológica

«An examination of the technical terminology used in Mishpetei ha-Mazalot demonstrates that this treatise is undoubtedly the work of Abraham Ibn Ezra.» — Lo que sí da por firme, y por vía del vocabulario: la terminología técnica del *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot* señala que el tratado es sin duda obra de Ibn Ezra

«As we shall see later (see below, p. 75), a clue that clearly identifies Ibn Ezra is his particular translation strategy, which was based on the exploration of the biblical text in order to locate 'original' Hebrew words endowed with scientific meaning, avoiding the creation of new Hebrew words based on cognate Arabic words or on loan translations of Arabic words.» — La estrategia de traducción que Sela toma por firma de Ibn Ezra: rastrear el texto bíblico en busca de palabras hebreas originales con sentido científico, en vez de crear voces nuevas por calco del árabe

«Thus, in the lexical texture of Mishpetei ha-Mazalot, we may find the special word gevul taken by Ibn Ezra from Psalms 74:17, a word literally meaning 'border' or 'frontier' but which, in his opinion, was designed originally to express the technical concept of the 'seven climates', known in the ancient world and the Middle Ages.» — Primer ejemplo de esa firma: *gevul*, tomado del Salmo 74:17, que literalmente es frontera y que Ibn Ezra tiene por destinado originalmente a expresar los siete climas

«Also, in the text of Mishpetei ha-Mazalot, we may detect the very peculiar Hebrew word mU$aq, taken by Ibn Ezra from Job 36:16, 37:10 and 38:38, literally meaning 'solid', 'stable' or 'strong', but intended by him to designate the concept of center.» — Segundo ejemplo: *muṣaq*, tomado de Job, que literalmente es sólido, estable o fuerte y que él destina al concepto de centro

«In a previously published article, I argued in favor of the possibility that Mishpetei ha-Mazalot was composed in Italy, presumably in Lucca or Verona, approximately in 1146, so that Mishpetei ha-Mazalot should have been regarded as the first astrological treatise written by Ibn Ezra.» — Sela expone primero su propia posición anterior: en un artículo había defendido que el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot* se compuso en Italia hacia 1146 y era el primer tratado astrológico de Ibn Ezra

«An examination of the second version of Keli ha-Neboshet, written later, in 1146, reveals the striking fact that these references to Sefer ha-Mishpatim have completely disappeared.» — El indicio en que la apoyaba: en la segunda versión del *Keli ha-Neḥoshet*, de fines de 1146, las referencias al *Sefer ha-Mishpatim* han desaparecido del todo

«This interesting feature led me to suggest that Mishpetei ha-Mazalot was written in between the time of composition of the first and the second versions of Keli ha-Neboshet, namely, sometime in the middle of 1146.» — De ahí su propuesta de entonces: el tratado se habría escrito entre una y otra versión del libro del astrolabio, hacia mediados de 1146

«New evidence, however, has led me to rethink this conclusion.» — Y el cambio de parecer, dicho en primera persona: evidencia nueva lo llevó a repensar esa conclusión

«Although it may still be regarded as an isolated work, separate from the astrological encyclopedia, Mishpefei ha-Mazalot should also be considered one of Ibn Ezra's most mature astrological works, and a later, if not final, one.» — La posición a la que llega: aun teniéndolo por obra aislada respecto de la enciclopedia astrológica, el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot* sería de las obras astrológicas más maduras de Ibn Ezra, y de las últimas si no la última

«we read the following passage: The beginning of the [horoscopic] houses changes in relation to the latitude of the countries. Thus, sometimes the beginning of the tenth [horoscopic] house calculated according to the rising times is the same as the beginning of the ninth [horoscopic] house calculated according to equatorial degrees. It may even occur in the high latitudes that the beginning of the [tenth horoscopic] house calculated according to the rising times is [the same as the beginning of] the eighth [horoscopic] house [calculated according to equatorial degrees].» — El pasaje técnico en que Sela apoya el cambio, en su traducción: el comienzo de las casas horoscópicas varía con la latitud, y en latitudes altas la casa décima calculada por tiempos de salida puede coincidir con la novena o aun con la octava calculada por grados ecuatoriales. El mismo pasaje se reimprime en el apéndice tras el original hebreo

«The assertion that "this may be clearly and unreservedly observed with the astrolabe" suggests that this is not merely a random example, and that the values presented are the result of observation and calculation performed at the specified place.» — Lo que Sela infiere de la frase sobre observar eso con el astrolabio: el ejemplo no es al azar y los valores salen de observación y cálculo hechos en el lugar que se nombra

«It is true that the example concerns "the high latitudes", but why should Ibn Ezra have precisely specified that his example applies to "this place whose latitude is 50S"?» — La pregunta con que arma el argumento: siendo el ejemplo de latitudes altas, por qué precisar que se aplica a *este lugar cuya latitud es 50º 30'*, que el OCR imprime *50S*

«As for (a), it may be assumed that Ibn Ezra postponed the composition of Sefer ha-Mishpatim (Book of the Judgments) till he arrived at Rouen, and then named it Sefer Mishpetei ha-Mazalot.» — La reconstrucción que Sela propone para salvar las referencias cruzadas: Ibn Ezra habría pospuesto el *Sefer ha-Mishpatim* hasta llegar a Ruan y lo habría llamado entonces *Sefer Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*

«As for (b), it is not impossible that the two references to Sefer ha-Moladot and to the Book of the (Astronomical) Tables pointed not to the first, but to the second version of these treatises.» — Y la segunda salida, dicha con doble negación: no es imposible que las dos referencias apuntaran a las segundas versiones y no a las primeras

«The chief and fundamental reason for this is that Ibn Ezra, who customarily linked all his works in a net of cross-references, completely ignored Mishpetei ha-Mazalot.» — El argumento de fondo es un silencio: Ibn Ezra, que solía enlazar todas sus obras en una red de referencias cruzadas, ignoró por completo el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*

«If, as suggested above, Mishpetei ha-Mazalot was composed in Rouen in the period stretching approximately from 1153 to 1156, it seems only natural that Ibn Ezra did not refer to it from within his astrological encyclopedia, which was composed in 1148.» — Y ese silencio se vuelve natural si el tratado se compuso en Ruan entre 1153 y 1156, mientras la enciclopedia astrológica es de 1148

«However, only in one case may we safely assert that Ibn Ezra was actually the translator, while there are good reasons to cast serious doubts on Ibn Ezra's role in the two remaining cases.» — De las tres traducciones del árabe que se le atribuyen, Sela solo da por segura una y declara buenas razones para dudar seriamente de las otras dos

«First of all, in neither of these translations does the translator identify himself, a trait not typical of Ibn Ezra, whose presence is clearly and explicitly felt in all his works, and who normally identifies himself in the introduction to his works as Abraham the Spaniard.» — El primer motivo de duda: en ninguna de las dos se identifica el traductor, cosa impropia de Ibn Ezra, cuya presencia se siente en toda su obra y que suele nombrarse en la introducción como Abraham el Español

«It is precisely the violation of these rules of translation, steadfastly observed by Ibn Ezra in all his work, that leads us to assert that the two above-mentioned translations were not carried out by Ibn Ezra.» — El criterio decisivo que Sela enuncia: la violación de las reglas de traducción que Ibn Ezra observó siempre es lo que permite sostener que esas dos traducciones no son suyas

«In clear contrast to them, Ibn Ezra obstinately avoided the use of cognate or loaned words stemming from the Arabic language, particularly in cases where in his opinion original scientific Hebrew terms were available in the biblical text.» — La regla en cuestión: Ibn Ezra evitó con obstinación las palabras cognadas o prestadas del árabe, sobre todo donde a su juicio había en el texto bíblico un término científico hebreo original

«But in his genuine works, Ibn Ezra completely avoided using the word 'aqlim, and instead he consistently and frequently used, in both his exegetical and scientific works, the Hebrew biblical word gevul.» — Primer contraste léxico: en sus obras auténticas Ibn Ezra evita del todo *'aqlim* y usa con constancia el bíblico *gevul*

«But the Hebrew word merkaz was completely avoided by Ibn Ezra, who employed instead in his works the biblical word mU$aq.» — Segundo contraste: evita *merkaz* y pone en su lugar el bíblico *muṣaq*

«It is possible to detect in the Michael version the use of the Hebrew word aqklim, and the absence of the word gevul.» — Y en la llamada versión Michael ocurre lo contrario: aparece *aqklim* y falta *gevul*

«Ibn Ezra's authorship of the second extant Hebrew translation of Ibn al-Muthannd's Commentary on the Astronomical Tables of al-Khwdrizmi, the so-called "Panna version" (extant in Panna, Bib. Palatina, MS 2636, fols. 1_13V) is indisputable.» — La traducción que Sela sí da por indiscutible: la segunda versión hebrea del comentario de Ibn al-Muthanna a las tablas de al-Jwarizmi, la llamada versión de Parma, que el OCR imprime *Panna*

«That can be safely affirmed on the basis of the fact that Ibn Ezra attached to it an outstanding introduction, in which he not only proclaimed his identity as Abraham the Spaniard and specified the year 1160 as the date of composition, but also presented his own version of the transmission of Hindu and Greek astronomy to the Arabic sciences.» — Y su fundamento: la introducción que Ibn Ezra le puso, donde se nombra Abraham el Español, fecha la obra en 1160 y da su propia versión de cómo pasó la astronomía india y griega a las ciencias árabes

«Regarding the aforementioned characteristics ofIbn Ezra's scientific terminology, the Panna version is in total contrast to the Michael version.» — El cotejo terminológico que cierra el argumento: en lo relativo a las marcas propias de Ibn Ezra, la versión de Parma contrasta por completo con la Michael

«The aforementioned word mU$aq, completely absent in the Michael version, is conspicuous in the Panna version, and is used precisely in the places where the word merkaz is employed in the variety of correlated meanings: from the basic notion of 'point', the meaning of mU$aq shades into the concept of the 'geometric center of the circle', and thus is viewed as a synonym of the earth, located at the cosmic center of the spheres.» — Y el detalle: *muṣaq*, ausente de la versión Michael, abunda en la de Parma justo donde la otra pone *merkaz*, con sentidos que van del punto al centro geométrico del círculo y de ahí a la tierra, situada en el centro cósmico de las esferas

«This expression literally means the slant serpent, but is used by Ibn Ezra to express the technical astronomical term of the nodes, that is, two points of intersection between two spheres: the sphere of the zodiac and the sphere of inclination.» — Otro término propio que Sela glosa: *naḥash bariaḥ*, literalmente serpiente oblicua, con que Ibn Ezra designa los nodos, los dos puntos donde se cortan la esfera del zodiaco y la de la inclinación

«(a) The large total number of books does not signify that the corpus is composed of completely distinct and independent treatises, since this number (30 works) is mainly the result of the sum of the multiple versions of Ibn Ezra's treatises.» — Sela acota la cifra de treinta obras antes de que engañe: ese número resulta sobre todo de sumar las múltiples versiones de los tratados, no de treinta tratados independientes

«(i) The first section includes works designed to develop technical-theoretical skills related mainly to astronomy and mathematics, especially designed to teach the use of scientific tools and instruments, such as the astrolabe and the astronomical tables, or to explain the astronomical foundations and how to determine the Hebrew calendar.» — La primera sección del corpus, según el reparto de Sela: obras de destreza técnica y teórica en astronomía y matemáticas, orientadas a enseñar el uso del astrolabio y de las tablas, o a explicar los fundamentos del calendario hebreo

«(ii) In contrast, the second section is composed exclusively of astrological treatises, which may be divided into two main groups: In one, we find general reference books, designed to describe, teach and explain the fundamentals of astrology.» — Y la segunda: solo tratados astrológicos, uno de cuyos grupos son libros de consulta general que describen, enseñan y explican los fundamentos de la astrología

«Notwithstanding this double division and despite the multiple topics included in them, the scientific corpus may well be regarded in an overall view as a single body of texts, dealing with a rather homogenous body of knowledge.» — Pese a esa división doble y a la variedad de asuntos, Sela sostiene que el corpus científico puede verse en conjunto como un solo cuerpo de textos sobre un saber bastante homogéneo

«First, we should consider the most common term employed by Ibn Ezra himself to refer to his own work and to the scientific branches that make up his scientific corpus.» — El camino que Sela elige para mostrarlo: mirar el término que el propio Ibn Ezra usa más para nombrar su obra y las ramas científicas que la componen

«For this, Ibn Ezra coined a new Hebrew expression: bakhmei ha-mazalot - that is, the persons engaged in bokbmat ha-mazalot, that is, the 'science of the zodiacal signs'.» — El término acuñado: *ḥakhmei ha-mazalot*, los que se ocupan de la *ḥokhmat ha-mazalot*, la ciencia de los signos del zodiaco

«Thus, on the one hand, the bakhmei ha-mazalot are frequently described as theoretical and practical astrologers whose activities include writing books about and engaging in genethlialogical astrology,» — Una cara de esos *ḥakhmei ha-mazalot*: astrólogos teóricos y prácticos que escriben sobre astrología genetlíaca y la ejercen

«But Ibn Ezra's bakhmei ha-mazalot are also mathematicians and astronomers.» — La otra cara, y en ella se apoya la homogeneidad del corpus: los mismos son matemáticos y astrónomos

«In this regard, they are described as dealing with trigonometric problems,265 engaged in astronomical tasks like mapping the skies,266 writing and using astronomical tables and the astrolabe,267 and establishing the relative order of the planetary spheres.» — Sus tareas en esa segunda cara: problemas trigonométricos, cartografía del cielo, escritura y uso de tablas astronómicas y del astrolabio, y el orden relativo de las esferas planetarias

«Special mention should be made of the bakhmei ha-mazalot as experts who specialize in the calculation of time reckoning parameters, such as the length of the tropical year and solar day, the precise moment of the equinoxes and solstices, and the mean conjunction of sun and moon.» — Y su especialidad en el cómputo del tiempo: duración del año trópico y del día solar, momento exacto de equinoccios y solsticios, conjunción media de sol y luna

«Interestingly enough, bakhmei ha-mazalot appear in Ibn Ezra's Seier ha- 'Ibbur not only as the representatives of Greek and Arabic astronomy, but also with reference to the Jewish astronomers of Talmudic times who regulated the calendar.» — El detalle que Sela subraya: en el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* el mismo rótulo cubre a los representantes de la astronomía griega y árabe y a los astrónomos judíos de tiempos talmúdicos que regulaban el calendario

«Also, although the astrolabe is known as an instrument essentially oriented to astronomical uses, all three Hebrew versions of Keli ha-Neboshet, as well as the Latin version of the Book on the Astrolabe, include, as has been said above (see p. 34), important chapters dealing with typically astrological procedures, such as the arrangement of the astrological houses, the calculation of the astrological aspects and the nihug ha-kokhav (ductus planetae) with the help of the astrolabe.» — El argumento que borra la frontera entre las dos secciones: aunque el astrolabio pase por instrumento astronómico, las tres versiones hebreas y la latina del libro del astrolabio traen capítulos de procedimientos típicamente astrológicos —disposición de las casas, cálculo de los aspectos, el *nihug ha-kokhav*

«This was done, although the fixed stars, except for the twelve zodiacal constellations, have little effect on astrology.» — Y su reverso, que Sela consigna igual: las estrellas fijas, salvo las doce constelaciones zodiacales, poco efecto tienen en astrología, y aun así se listan

«It turns out that the above-mentioned two-part division of Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus is not only a matter of distinct subject areas but also a chronological partition.» — El hallazgo que Sela añade al reparto del corpus: esa división en dos no es solo temática, también es cronológica

«Only afterwards, mainly in Provence, did Ibn Ezra tum his attention to the second section of his scientific corpus, which contained mainly seven treatises written in a concentrated effort as part of an astrological encyclopedia.» — El orden que de ahí resulta: solo después, ya sobre todo en Provenza, Ibn Ezra se vuelca a la segunda sección, los siete tratados de la enciclopedia astrológica escritos en un esfuerzo concentrado

«scientific corpus was due more to the need to satisfy the demand of his disciples than to Ibn Ezra's desire for gradually fulfilling a planned curriculum of studies.» — La explicación que Sela propone para ese orden: responde más a la demanda de los discípulos que al deseo de Ibn Ezra de cumplir por etapas un plan de estudios

«If this is true, the scope of Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus and its chronological ordering may be envisaged as reflecting not only the priorities of the local European learned audiences, both Jewish and Christian, but also the way by which the Greek-Arabic sciences made their impact on a confused Europe.» — Y su alcance, dicho con la condicional por delante: el corpus y su orden reflejarían las prioridades del público culto europeo, judío y cristiano, y el modo en que las ciencias grecoárabes golpearon a una Europa desconcertada

«Christian and Jewish scholars, confused and perplexed after the initial impact of Greek-Arabic sciences, had at this initial stage poor tools and little knowledge for understanding astronomical and mathematical theories.» — El estado de ese público, según Sela: sabios cristianos y judíos con pocas herramientas y poco saber para entender las teorías astronómicas y matemáticas

«Therefore, they gave precedence to understanding problems involved in the sheer practical handling of scientific tools and instruments: the astrolabe and the astronomical tables enabled simple and quick solutions to astronomical and astrological technical problems, in clear contrast with the difficulties and cumbersomeness involved in solving the same problems with purely geometric and mathematical tools.» — De ahí la preferencia por lo práctico: el astrolabio y las tablas daban soluciones rápidas a problemas que por vía puramente geométrica resultaban difíciles y engorrosos

«Also, they were highly interested in the practical and immediate benefits arising from astrological forecasting, for which the practical handling of astronomical tables and the astrolabe were crucially important.» — Y el interés por los beneficios prácticos e inmediatos del pronóstico astrológico, para el que ese manejo era decisivo

«If a common factor is required, reflecting the most essential aim and most representative aspects of Ibn Ezra's scientific book, a quite true answer may be that Ibn Ezra's scientific book was designed mainly as a 'textbook', planned to provide his disciples with easy access to and understanding of terms, concepts and general principles related to astrology, astronomy and mathematics, and particularly intended to teach the use of technical-theoretical tools» — El factor común que Sela propone: el libro científico de Ibn Ezra está pensado como manual, para dar a sus discípulos acceso fácil a términos, conceptos y principios de astrología, astronomía y matemáticas, y sobre todo para enseñar el uso de herramientas técnicas y teóricas

«This assertion may be justified, inter alia, on the basis of Ibn Ezra's own explicit and relevant remarks: He is accustomed to admitting expressly that when shaping some conceptual or formal idea of his books, he is guided by the need or wish to make the study easy for students.» — Y la funda en las declaraciones del propio Ibn Ezra, que admite guiarse por la necesidad de hacer fácil el estudio a los alumnos

«example, in the first version of Sefer ha- Te 'amim, as is usual in astrological books, the planets' astrological qualities are described by referring to the physical attributes of sub-lunar bodies (such as saying that Sun is hot, or that Saturn is cold), thereby undermining basic principles of Aristotelian physics.» — El caso con que Sela lo ilustra: en la primera versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim* las cualidades astrológicas de los planetas se describen con atributos de cuerpos sublunares —el sol caliente, Saturno frío—, con lo que se socavan principios básicos de la física aristotélica

«Therefore, he feels obliged to apologize for such an inexact expression, and so goes on to explain that "you have to understand that all I said (about the planets) was meant to convey the idea that they (the planets) generate cold and heat, and if it was expressed in such a crude way, it was done only because of the need to facilitate the understanding of the students".» — La disculpa con que Ibn Ezra cubre esa imprecisión, en traducción de Sela: lo dicho quería decir que los planetas generan frío y calor, y si se dijo de manera tan cruda fue solo por facilitar la comprensión de los alumnos

«Thus, just before beginning the central part of Sefer ha-Moladot, which was devoted to interpreting the characteristics of the astrological houses, Ibn Ezra saw fit to add a methodological remark, and so wrote that "only in order to facilitate the learning of the students did I choose to follow the method of the astrologers, and therefore I decided to discuss the issue of the nativities by dealing (separately) with the twelve houses".» — La misma razón didáctica en el *Sefer ha-Moladot*: solo por facilitar el aprendizaje de los alumnos, dice Ibn Ezra, sigue el método de los astrólogos y trata las natividades casa por casa

«A central feature that characterizes Ibn Ezra's scientific books and emphasizes its didactic nature is the inclusion of 'solved exercises', which illustrate and facilitate understanding of some theoretical doctrine.» — El rasgo didáctico central que Sela destaca: los *ejercicios resueltos* que ilustran una doctrina teórica

«Moreover, Ibn Ezra provided these 'solved exercises' with a special external sign that make them easy to identify: He customarily began them with the words "next I will present to you an 'illustration' (dimyion)" and immediately after he goes on to present the solution of a problem which usually involves some calculations.» — Y su marca externa: Ibn Ezra los abre diciendo que presentará una ilustración, *dimyion*, y pasa en seguida a resolver un problema con cálculos

«As such, Ibn Ezra's books are naturally infused with a clear didactic character and do not make any pretension of innovation.» — De esa naturaleza de manual deriva Sela el carácter didáctico de los libros y su ausencia de pretensión de novedad

«Nevertheless, we must do justice to the author.» — Sela introduce el contrapeso diciendo que hay que hacer justicia al autor

«Although these works are mainly textbooks, we can still discern in them features that clearly reveal the unique contribution and personality of the author.» — Y el contrapeso mismo: aun siendo manuales, en esas obras se distinguen rasgos que revelan la aportación y la personalidad propias del autor

«Another expression of the same predisposition is that Ibn Ezra does not content himself in some places with a merely rudimentary and basic presentation of a particular doctrine but goes on to add some rational explanation, beyond what his sources were ready to convey on the same topic.» — Uno de esos rasgos: Ibn Ezra no se conforma en algunos lugares con exponer la doctrina en crudo y añade una explicación racional que sus fuentes no daban

«"So wrote Ptolemy, but he did not provide any reason for this division. Here is the reason: the moon takes over until the boy is weaned, so that four years will elapse over him, each year under the power of one zodiacal sign, until four zodiacal signs will be completed, each of them corresponding to each of the four natural elements.» — El ejemplo, en su traducción: así escribió Ptolomeo, dice Ibn Ezra, pero sin dar razón de la división; y la razón es que la luna gobierna hasta el destete, de modo que pasan cuatro años, cada uno bajo un signo, hasta completar cuatro signos, uno por cada elemento natural

«Even though, as said above, the scientific material is brought in these textbooks as paraphrases or quotations of previous sources, Ibn Ezra avoids as much as possible a narrow and unilateral presentation of issues.» — Otro rasgo: aunque el material venga de paráfrasis y citas de fuentes previas, Ibn Ezra evita en lo posible una exposición estrecha y unilateral

«"I will next mention all that the ancient sages have tested and examined (on this subject); but because countless books dealing with astrology (bokbmat ha-mazalot) are available, and since some of them include observations which are contradicted by common sense, and in view of the fact that the astrologers are divided by divergent opinions, I was obliged in this book to present everything that is clear and all that in which there is agreement in the opinions of the old sages, and with which I myself have experimented numerous times.» — El programa que él mismo declara, en traducción de Sela: mencionar lo que los antiguos probaron y examinaron, y —porque los libros de astrología son incontables, algunos traen observaciones contrarias al sentido común y los astrólogos están divididos— presentar solo lo claro, lo acordado entre los antiguos y lo que él mismo ha experimentado muchas veces

«Ibn Ezra kept his promise and actually implemented in most of his scientific books the two methodological observations he mentioned in the last passage: first, to present the achievements of his predecessors; secondly, to add his own ideas and the results of his own experimentation.» — Sela declara que Ibn Ezra cumplió esa promesa en casi todos sus libros: exponer los logros de sus predecesores y añadir sus propias ideas y experimentos

«Consequently, Ibn Ezra tends to transform the presentation of some specific subjects into an arena where scientists and scientific schools belonging to different times, nations and religions meet together and clash on some scientific issue.» — Y el efecto que eso produce: la exposición de un asunto se vuelve una arena donde científicos y escuelas de tiempos, naciones y religiones distintas se encuentran y chocan

«even though honestly questing for the scientific truth, were unable to determine universally accepted values, so that the multiple solutions proposed by scientific research are of little avail for the worshiper who needs clear-cut calendaric instructions to perform his ritual obligations.» — El límite que Ibn Ezra pone a la ciencia en materia de calendario, según Sela: los sabios, buscando de buena fe la verdad, no lograron valores aceptados por todos, y esa multiplicidad de soluciones de poco sirve a quien necesita instrucciones claras para cumplir sus obligaciones rituales

«In the final analysis, Ibn Ezra was intent on arriving at the pro-Rabbanite conclusion that "we Jews ought to rely on Talmudic tradition» — De ahí la conclusión prorabanita a la que, según Sela, Ibn Ezra quería llegar: que los judíos han de apoyarse en la tradición talmúdica

«on the one hand, Ibn Ezra allows himself to present his own view, as part of the quasi academic debate, generally by way of compromise or by giving precedence to one of the presented opinions,299 but sometimes expressing disagreement and presenting an independent opinion as well» — El lugar que Ibn Ezra se reserva en ese debate cuasiacadémico: por lo común transige o da preferencia a una de las opiniones expuestas, y a veces disiente y presenta una propia

«on the other hand, Ibn Ezra makes express mention of empirical experiments that he carried out in order to corroborate or» — Y la otra vía de aportación propia que Sela le adjudica: mencionar expresamente experimentos empíricos hechos por él para corroborar lo dicho

«Thus, Ibn Ezra does not find a better way to begin the first version of Seier ha- 'Olam than with a harsh attack on Abu Ma'shar's Kitab al-qiranat, his main source in universal astrology.» — El caso más llamativo de su dureza con los predecesores: la primera versión del *Sefer ha-'Olam* abre con un ataque al *Kitab al-qiranat* de Abu Ma'shar, que es su fuente principal en astrología universal

«"If you have by chance found the book of Abu Ma'shar on the planets' conjunctions, you would surely not like it and you should not observe its rules, since AbU Ma'shar relies on the mean motion of the planets and there is no other sage that agrees with him, for the correct motion of the planets refers to the zodiacal sphere.» — El ataque, en traducción de Sela: si diste con el libro de Abu Ma'shar sobre las conjunciones de los planetas, no te gustará y no debes seguir sus reglas, porque se apoya en el movimiento medio y ningún otro sabio concuerda con él, siendo que el movimiento correcto se refiere a la esfera zodiacal

«Ibn Ezra also criticizes Mfishfi'allfih - also one of his main astrological sources - in the first version of Seier ha-Mivl;arim, by applying arguments grounded on common sense and rational explanations.» — También objeta a Masha'allah, otra de sus fuentes astrológicas principales, con argumentos de sentido común y explicaciones racionales; el OCR corrompe el nombre en *Mfishfi'allfih*

«Ibn Ezra also criticizes Enoch (Hermes), whose work embodies several Hermetic traditions, by asserting that he was accustomed to present his ideas without reasons, that is, without rational explanations.» — Y a Enoc, que Sela identifica con Hermes y cuya obra dice encarnar varias tradiciones herméticas, le objeta exponer sus ideas sin razones, esto es, sin explicaciones racionales

«Nevertheless, in other places Ibn Ezra regards affirmatively the work of Abu Ma'shar.» — El desacuerdo consigo mismo queda consignado sin armonizar: en otros lugares Ibn Ezra juzga con aprobación la obra de Abu Ma'shar

«colleagues sometimes turns to very sharp expressions, as for example when in Seier ha-Moladot he wrote as follows: "The sage Al Abzidag brought in his book some tables, which were called 'ovens' (tanurim) and were intended to find out the life expectancy of the newborn; but they deserve to be burned in the fire ovens (tanurei 'esh), since they are completely wrong.» — El extremo de esa dureza, en el *Sefer ha-Moladot*: de las tablas del sabio Al Abzidag, llamadas *hornos*, para hallar la esperanza de vida del recién nacido, Ibn Ezra dice que merecen quemarse en hornos de fuego porque están del todo equivocadas

«For one thing, Claudius Ptolemy is the sole scientific source that Ibn Ezra dared to introduce explicitly several times in his biblical commentaries in order to strengthen some arguments.» — El lugar único que Ptolomeo ocupa, según Sela: es la sola fuente científica que Ibn Ezra se atreve a introducir explícitamente varias veces en sus comentarios bíblicos para reforzar un argumento

«together with an admiring stance which attests to the favorable and enthusiastic reception of Greek science, it is possible to notice some sharp critical notes of Ptolemy's both astronomical and astrological contributions, but never a radical position striving to express a new scientific world view.» — La mezcla que Sela describe: junto a la admiración, que atestigua una recepción favorable y entusiasta de la ciencia griega, hay notas críticas agudas sobre lo astronómico y lo astrológico de Ptolomeo, pero nunca una posición radical que busque una visión científica nueva

«In his criticism, Ibn Ezra opted for drawing a sharp distinction between Ptolemy'S astronomical and astrological contributions.» — Y el corte que organiza esa crítica: Ibn Ezra separa tajantemente la aportación astronómica de Ptolomeo de la astrológica

«Thus, he wrote the following words in the first version of Seier ha- Te 'amim: "I will now give you a rule: everything that you may find of Ptolemy that deals with the spheres is excellent and nothing is available that surpasses it, but his assertions related to the judgments of astrology do not befit his wisdom.» — La regla con que lo formula, en traducción de Sela: todo lo que halles de Ptolomeo sobre las esferas es excelente y nada lo supera, pero sus afirmaciones sobre los juicios de la astrología no corresponden a su sabiduría

«Thus, in Liber de rationibus tabularum, Claudius Ptolemy is not spared for having committed in his book Algeraphie (that is, the Arabic transliteration of Geography) some inaccuracies related to the geographic parameters of the city of Cordoba.» — La objeción astronómica concreta que Sela recoge del *Liber de rationibus tabularum*: Ptolomeo no queda a salvo por las inexactitudes de su *Geografía* —transliterada al árabe como *Algeraphie*— en los parámetros geográficos de Córdoba

«Ibn Ezra wrote that Ptolemy'S astronomical tables in the Almagest are "useless and contradicted by observation", even though he goes on to explain that the errors were due in fact to his predecessors.» — Y la otra: en la introducción a su traducción del comentario de Ibn al-Muthanna, Ibn Ezra llama a las tablas del *Almagesto* inútiles y desmentidas por la observación, y a la vez atribuye los errores a los predecesores de Ptolomeo

«At least in Chaucer's historical awareness, the annals of the instrument's development are recorded in terms of the transmission of the astrolabe from one language into another.» — Al abrir la segunda parte, Sela vuelve a Chaucer: los anales del astrolabio se cuentan ahí como paso del instrumento de una lengua a otra, no como mejoras graduales del aparato

«In fact, the astrolabe kept its physical configuration almost intact for more than one thousand years, strong evidence of its efficiency as a scientific instrument, but also a clear sign that the scientific world conception upon which it was based did not change during this long span of time.» — Y lo apuntala con un dato: el astrolabio conservó su configuración física casi intacta más de mil años, prueba de su eficacia y a la vez señal de que la concepción científica en que se apoyaba no cambió en todo ese tiempo

«As the Greek astronomical scientific view was not seriously challenged until the times of Copernicus, it is hardly surprising that an instrument such as the astrolabe, which wholly reflected and incorporated the Greek astronomical and scientific picture, did not undergo any dramatic alteration.» — La razón que Sela da: como la visión astronómica griega no se puso seriamente en cuestión hasta Copérnico, no sorprende que el instrumento que la encarnaba no sufriera alteración drástica

«In short, the history of science from antiquity till the end of the Middle Ages may be epitomized as the transference of Greek science from the Greek language into Arabic, from the Arabic language into Hebrew, from Greek, Arabic and Hebrew into the Latin language, and finally into the modern European languages (as in the case of English, embodied by Chaucer).» — El compendio que Sela propone: la historia de la ciencia de la antigüedad al final de la Edad Media puede resumirse como traspaso de la ciencia griega del griego al árabe, del árabe al hebreo, de esas tres al latín y al fin a las lenguas europeas modernas

«Let us emphasize that the transition from Arabic to Hebrew was actually the passage from a language which had already proved able to successfully accommodate itself to the reception of Greek science, to a language previously used almost exclusively for religious and liturgical purposes.» — El peso de ese paso concreto, según Sela: del árabe, que ya había probado acomodar la ciencia griega, a una lengua usada casi solo para fines religiosos y litúrgicos

«In other words: if allowance is made for the limited terminological contribution of early Hebrew scientific literature, the transition from Arabic to Hebrew was tantamount to the creation of a new scientific Hebrew vocabulary.» — De donde su equivalencia, con la salvedad de la escasa aportación terminológica de la literatura científica hebrea temprana: pasar del árabe al hebreo era crear un vocabulario científico hebreo nuevo

«This endeavor, however, should by no means be considered a mere technical task involving mainly linguistic problems.» — Y la advertencia que sigue: esa empresa no debe tomarse por tarea meramente técnica de problemas lingüísticos

«The creation of a new scientific vocabulary entails principally the establishment of cultural contacts between two civilizations, and such contacts result in the transmission of a scientific view from one civilization to the other.» — Lo que sostiene en su lugar: crear un vocabulario científico supone ante todo entablar contactos culturales entre dos civilizaciones, y de ahí resulta el traspaso de una visión científica

«The burden in this process is especially onerous for the civilization which receives and borrows, since it is required to adapt its cultural frame to a new set of alien cultural concepts.» — Dónde recae el peso: en la civilización que recibe y toma prestado, obligada a adaptar su marco cultural a un conjunto de conceptos ajenos

«Jewish intellectuals, if they could have remained physically within the orbit of Islam, would have preferred to prolong as long as possible their attachment to the Arabic language and culture, as the particular but atypical example of Maimonides may indicate (see below, p. 141).» — La contrafactual con que Sela mide la elección: de haber podido quedarse dentro de la órbita del islam, los intelectuales judíos habrían prolongado cuanto pudieran su apego al árabe, como indica el caso particular y atípico de Maimónides

«Individuals, however, not least those who play a pioneering and crucial role as intermediaries between civilizations, are given the benefit of choice, at least the choice to adopt some particular and idiosyncratic stance when they come to borrow alien notions and create a new vocabulary.» — Y el margen que les deja: los individuos, sobre todo quienes hacen de intermediarios entre civilizaciones, tienen el beneficio de elegir al menos una postura propia al tomar nociones ajenas y crear vocabulario

«This brings us to the main purpose of the second part of this book, which will be concerned with the stance adopted by Ibn Ezra in facing the colossal task of rendering in Hebrew the scientific terms and concepts that he found in Arabic.» — El propósito de la segunda parte, declarado: la postura que Ibn Ezra adoptó ante la tarea colosal de verter al hebreo los términos y conceptos científicos que halló en árabe

«Then, in the last section, Ibn Ezra's terminological strategy will be unfolded by means of eight separate studies.» — Y la forma que tomará: ocho estudios separados sobre la estrategia terminológica

«Each of them will deal with the creation of a single idiosyncratic scientific term, and will examine how Ibn Ezra applied it in his work and particularly how he justified its use.» — Cada uno se ocupa de un solo término idiosincrásico, de cómo Ibn Ezra lo aplicó en su obra y sobre todo de cómo justificó su uso

«From a purely chronological vantage point, Abraham Bar l;Iiyya (b. ca. 1 065-d. ca.1140), and not Abraham Ibn Ezra, should be credited with the title of genuine pioneer in the task of creating a new Hebrew scientific vocabulary.» — La precedencia que Sela reconoce sin ambages: por pura cronología, el título de pionero genuino en la creación del vocabulario científico hebreo es de Abraham Bar Ḥiyya, no de Ibn Ezra

«That will be done, not only because Bar l;Iiyya was the true pioneer in the creation of a new Hebrew scientific terminology, but especially because a comparison between his scientific work and Ibn Ezra's will put the latter's scientific and terminological contribution within a more adequate context.» — Y la razón de comparar a los dos: además de esa prioridad, el cotejo sitúa la aportación científica y terminológica de Ibn Ezra en un contexto más adecuado

«Very little is known of his biography, except that he was a scion of an important Jewish family, a fact indicated by his title ha-Nassi (that is, the Prince), and by the probability that he occupied a post at the court of Alfonso I of Aragon, as may be attested by his appellation Savasorda, a corruption of Sabib-al-Shuqa, that is,» — Lo poco que Sela da por sabido de Bar Ḥiyya: familia judía importante, indicada por el título *ha-Nassi*, y probable puesto en la corte de Alfonso I de Aragón, según su apelativo Savasorda, corrupción de *Ṣaḥib al-Shurṭa*, que el OCR imprime *Sabib-al-Shuqa*

«The main fact that should be emphasized here about Bar I:Iiyya is that he wrote all his literary work in Hebrew, an unprecedented and innovative endeavor.» — Lo que Sela sí subraya de él: escribió toda su obra literaria en hebreo, empresa sin precedente

«I did not undertake this task of my own will, nor to gain glory.» — La declaración de Bar Ḥiyya que Sela cita, en su traducción: no emprendió la tarea por voluntad propia ni por ganar gloria

«Bar I:Iiyya reiterated almost the same justifying ideas, and employed similar wordings, in the introductions he wrote to other of his scientific Hebrew works, as in the cases of lJibbur ha-Meshiba veha-Tishboret (Treatise on Mensuration and Calculation), \0 the first Hebrew work dealing with practical geometry, Seier ha- 'Ibbur (Book of Intercalation),11 possibly the first Hebrew work on the Jewish calendar, and Seier Surat ha- 'Are$ (The Shape of the Earth),12 the first Hebrew work dealing with cosmography.» — Y la repite, casi con las mismas palabras, en las introducciones a sus otras obras hebreas: el tratado de medición y cálculo, primero en hebreo sobre geometría práctica; el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur*, quizá el primero sobre el calendario judío; y el *Sefer Ṣurat ha-Areṣ*, primero sobre cosmografía

«It is also remarkable that in those similar passages, Bar 1:Iiyya did not try to convey either a view about Hebrew as a language of science or an outline of his prospective linguistic strategy.» — El contraste que Sela abre entre los dos hombres: en esos pasajes Bar Ḥiyya no intenta transmitir ni una visión del hebreo como lengua de ciencia ni un esbozo de su estrategia lingüística

«Researches made on his Hebrew scientific vocabulary show an eclectic attitude: on the one hand, Bar 1:Iiyya coined new scientific Hebrew terms by taking words from the classical Hebrew lexicon, that is, from the Bible and the Mishnah, and by modifying their meaning.» — Lo que la investigación halla en su vocabulario, según Sela: una actitud ecléctica, que por un lado acuña términos tomando voces del léxico hebreo clásico, de la Biblia y la Mishná, y cambiándoles el sentido

«On the other hand, Abraham Bar 1:Iiyya did not feel any embarrassment in borrowing Arabic terminology and introducing Arabic words directly into the Hebrew language by way of transliteration.» — Y por otro, sin ninguna incomodidad, toma terminología árabe e introduce palabras árabes en hebreo por transliteración

«Bar 1:Iiyya devoted his literary work neither to Hebrew biblical exegesis (with the exception of some selected verses, which he commented upon here and there) nor to Hebrew poetry, both of which were literary genres that Ibn Ezra cultivated in Hebrew and in which he excelled.» — Otra diferencia que Sela consigna: Bar Ḥiyya no cultivó ni la exégesis bíblica hebrea —salvo versículos sueltos— ni la poesía hebrea, los dos géneros en que Ibn Ezra sobresalió

«And yet, the main lines of Bar 1:Iiyya's scientific work resemble to a great extent the main components of Ibn Ezra's scientific work.» — Y a la vez, las líneas principales de su obra científica se parecen mucho a los componentes de la de Ibn Ezra

«Such an examination may be instrumental in more accurately assessing whether and to what extent Ibn Ezra was a real trailblazer in his scientific terminological undertakings or the extent to which Ibn Ezra should be considered as indebted to his precursor.» — La pregunta que Sela deja abierta al comparar: hasta qué punto Ibn Ezra fue un verdadero abridor de caminos en lo terminológico y hasta qué punto es deudor de su precursor

«Abraham Bar 1:Iiyya's scientific work may be divided into four main parts: astronomy, mathematics, Jewish calendar, and astrology.» — Las cuatro partes en que Sela reparte la obra científica de Bar Ḥiyya: astronomía, matemáticas, calendario judío y astrología

«Ibn Ezra undoubtedly pointed to the same book by Bar ijiyya in a passage of the first version of Sefer ha- 'Olam: "You should wonder- Ibn Ezra wrote - of such a great man [a most sarcastic remark] who compiled astronomical tables which in fact stem from the mean motion astronomical tables of al-Battan!, but he presumes that they come from the tables of Ptolemy.» — El pasaje sarcástico que Sela le adjudica a Ibn Ezra sobre Bar Ḥiyya, en su traducción: hay que asombrarse de un hombre tan grande que compiló tablas que en realidad vienen de las de movimientos medios de al-Battani y que él presume venidas de las de Ptolomeo

«Ibn Ezra's Hebrew version of Sefer Ta 'amei ha-Lubot (Book of the Reasons behind Astronomical Tables) and the corresponding astronomical tables are at present lost, the extent to which Ibn Ezra drew on Bar I:Iiyya's astronomical work for his own astronomical contribution and Hebrew vocabulary cannot be easily ascertained.» — Lo que Sela declara no poder averiguar con facilidad, y por qué: perdidas la versión hebrea del *Sefer Ta'amei ha-Luḥot* y sus tablas, no se puede medir cuánto tomó Ibn Ezra de la obra astronómica de Bar Ḥiyya

«But Bar I:Iiyya never wrote a book on the astrolabe.» — El hueco que sí es seguro: Bar Ḥiyya nunca escribió un libro del astrolabio

«So that, at least from a terminological point of view, Ibn Ezra's Sefer Keli ha-Neboshet - the first Hebrew book on the astrolabe - embodies a challenging, demanding and indeed innovative terminological enterprise.» — De donde, al menos en lo terminológico, el *Keli ha-Neḥoshet* de Ibn Ezra —primer libro hebreo del astrolabio— es para Sela una empresa exigente y en verdad innovadora

«A glimpse of the subject-matter of those two works shows that the mathematical topics studied by Ibn Ezra, allowance made for some points of contact, were quite different from Bar I:Iiyya's.» — Otro deslinde: salvo algunos puntos de contacto, los asuntos matemáticos que trabajó Ibn Ezra eran bastante distintos de los de Bar Ḥiyya

«In contrast, Bar I:Iiyya's lJibbur ha-Meshiba veha-Tishboret is a geometrical treatise whose original object was to help French Jews in the measurement of their fields, but also deals with theoretical geometrical issues, such as how to find the formula of a truncated pyramid.» — El tratado de medición y cálculo de Bar Ḥiyya nació, según Sela, para ayudar a los judíos franceses a medir sus campos, y trata además cuestiones teóricas como la fórmula de la pirámide truncada

«In addition, the attributes of numbers, upon which Ibn Ezra reflected in Sefer ha- 'Ebad, and combinatorial analysis, which Ibn Ezra applied in his biblical exegesis and elsewhere in order to unfold the secret meanings of the Tetragrammaton letters, are purely mathematical topics hardly touched upon in Bar I:Iiyya's mathematical work.» — Y los asuntos propios de Ibn Ezra —los atributos de los números del *Sefer ha-Eḥad* y el análisis combinatorio con que desplegaba los sentidos secretos de las letras del Tetragrámaton— apenas se tocan en la obra matemática de Bar Ḥiyya

«just as the mathematical interests and topics were dissimilar, so the Hebrew vocabulary required to convey them had to be different.» — El corolario terminológico: siendo distintos los intereses y los asuntos matemáticos, distinto tenía que ser el vocabulario hebreo con que expresarlos

«Bar l;Iiyya's Seier ha- 'Ibbur was well known to Ibn Ezra, who critically referred to it on two different occasions: explicitly, in Ibn Ezra's own Seier ha- 'Ibbur, in which Bar l;Iiyya's Seier ha- 'Ibbur is mentioned and its author alluded to as Abraham the Prince (ha-Nassi), the Spaniard, Bar l;Iiyya; implicitly, in the responsa composed by Ibn Ezra to answer three questions posed by a certain David Ben Joseph of Narbonne.» — Sela documenta que Ibn Ezra conocía bien el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* de Bar Ḥiyya y lo objetó dos veces: de modo explícito en su propio libro del mismo título, donde lo llama Abraham el Príncipe, el Español, Bar Ḥiyya, y de modo implícito en los responsa a David ben Joseph de Narbona

«In both cases, Ibn Ezra harshly criticized Bar l;Iiyya for having taken literally the famous midrash (telling that the moon was punished for complaining to God about its status relative to the sun), for having misinterpreted an apparent contradiction in Genesis 1: 16, and, therefore, for having provided an erroneous astronomical explanation fo» — El contenido de esas objeciones: haber tomado al pie de la letra el midrash del castigo de la luna, haber leído mal la contradicción aparente de Génesis 1:16 y haber dado por ello una explicación astronómica errónea

«From this epistle we infer that Bar l;Iiyya endorsed the main tenets of astrology and that he integrated astrological considerations into his tasks as a Rabbi.» — Lo que Sela infiere de la epístola de Bar Ḥiyya: que hacía suyos los principios de la astrología y que metía consideraciones astrológicas en sus tareas de rabino

«We know also from this letter that his astrologically orientated activities when serving as a Rabbi aroused sharp criticism and that he adopted an apologetic stance vis-a-vis his attackers.» — Y lo que la misma carta muestra: esa actividad astrológica como rabino le atrajo críticas agudas y él adoptó ante sus atacantes una postura apologética

«This book, however, is not extant; the possibility should not be excluded that it was never written.» — Del libro astrológico que Bar Ḥiyya anunciaba, Sela declara la falta y deja abierta la posibilidad de que nunca se escribiera

«Bar 1:Iiyya categorically asserted that these astronomical procedures are sorely needed to deal with nativities (moladot), that is, with setting up the horoscope for particular births, the chief task of genethlialogical astrology.» — Según Sela, Bar Ḥiyya afirma de manera categórica que esos procedimientos astronómicos hacen falta para las natividades, es decir, para levantar el horóscopo de un nacimiento, tarea central de la astrología genetlíaca

«He went on to tell the reader that Ptolemy the Greek, the prince of the Greek scholars, introduced and used these astronomical techniques in his book entitled 'Arb 'a Ma 'amarot, that is, Tetrabiblos, when dealing with astrology.» — Y le atribuye a Ptolomeo, príncipe de los sabios griegos, la introducción y el uso de esas técnicas en el *Tetrabiblos*, que Bar Ḥiyya llama *'Arba' Ma'amarot*

«Bar 1:Iiyya openly acknowledged that Tetrabiblos is a reliable book and exhorted the reader to study it.» — Bar Ḥiyya reconoce sin reservas la fiabilidad del *Tetrabiblos* y exhorta a estudiarlo

«All those historical speculations are based on a detailed analysis of the periodic conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter, the main macro-astrological technique employed by Arabic astrologers, which Bar 1:Iiyya systematically applied in his own astrological world history.» — La técnica en que se apoya su historia astrológica del mundo: el análisis detallado de las conjunciones periódicas de Saturno y Júpiter, principal recurso macroastrológico de los astrólogos árabes

«Interestingly enough, Ibn Ezra did not concur with Bar ijiyya and Al Battiini in their high opinion of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos.» — El desacuerdo que Sela consigna sin arbitrar: Ibn Ezra no comparte la alta estima que Bar Ḥiyya y al-Battani tienen del *Tetrabiblos*

«Ibn Ezra explicitly mentioned Bar ijiyya's eschatological book and named it as Seier ha-Ki$im (Book of the End of Days).» — Ibn Ezra nombra el libro escatológico de Bar Ḥiyya y lo llama *Sefer ha-Qiṣim*, Libro del Fin de los Días

«Bar ijiyya felt no small embarrassment and misgivings when he decided to insert his astrological history into Megilat ha-Megaleh.» — La incomodidad que Sela le adjudica a Bar Ḥiyya al decidir meter su historia astrológica en el *Megilat ha-Megaleh*

«This chapter consists of worthless matters and nonsensical ideas, especially if its contents are compared with the contents of the previous chapters.» — Y la forma en que él mismo la expresa, en traducción de Sela: ese capítulo consta de materias sin valor e ideas sin sentido, sobre todo comparado con los anteriores

«Bar ijiyya's apologetic tone stands in sharp contrast to the reiterated statements which Ibn Ezra issued to the effect that astrology should be considered part and parcel of the curriculum of Jewish intellectuals.» — El contraste que Sela subraya: ese tono apologético se opone frontalmente a las declaraciones repetidas de Ibn Ezra de que la astrología es parte integrante del currículo del intelectual judío

«We have no work which Bar ijiyya devoted wholly to astrology.» — La negativa que Sela consigna: no hay obra de Bar Ḥiyya dedicada por entero a la astrología

«Bar ijiyya's astrological contribution was wrought either in the form of an apologetical epistle or in the form of an appendix or extension to works which were purposely designed as non-astrological treatises.» — Su aportación astrológica va, según Sela, o en forma de epístola apologética o como apéndice de obras concebidas como no astrológicas

«Fourteen out of the thirty above-mentioned treatises by Ibn Ezra were deliberately written as evident, whole astrological works, and included in this number is the astrological encyclopedia, the gem of Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus.» — Frente a eso, la cifra de Ibn Ezra: catorce de los treinta tratados son obras astrológicas declaradas, y entre ellas la enciclopedia astrológica, que Sela llama la joya de su corpus científico

«Though a systematic, comparative study of Ibn Ezra's and Bar ijiyya's scientific terminologies is still a desideratum, even a cursory perusal of their scientific work helps to appreciate the extent to which» — La deuda de investigación que Sela declara pendiente: el estudio sistemático y comparado de las dos terminologías científicas sigue siendo un desiderátum

«Although the two Abrahams were involved in the same departments of science - astronomy, mathematics, astrology and Jewish calendar - they evinced divergent foci of interest.» — Y lo que sí da por firme: los dos Abrahames trabajaron las mismas ramas —astronomía, matemáticas, astrología, calendario— con focos de interés divergentes

«Thus, in his pioneering work on the astrolabe, on arithmetic, on the properties of numbers, on combinatorics, and especially in the composition of the various components of his astrological encyclopedia, Abraham Ibn Ezra could hardly have relied on the work of Bar ijiyya.» — De donde, en el astrolabio, la aritmética, las propiedades de los números, la combinatoria y la enciclopedia astrológica, Ibn Ezra difícilmente pudo apoyarse en la obra de Bar Ḥiyya

«In all these areas, Ibn Ezra was compelled to rely on his own resources, at least as far as a Hebrew scientific vocabulary was concerned.» — En todas esas áreas, concluye Sela, hubo de valerse de sus propios recursos, al menos en cuanto al vocabulario científico hebreo

«So it should not be surprising that Ibn Ezra began the second version of Keli ha-Nehoshet by noting that "it is difficult to translate from one language into another, and it is especially difficult to translate into the holy tongue, since we only know of it the part that is extant in the Bible".» — La dificultad que Ibn Ezra declara al abrir la segunda versión del *Keli ha-Neḥoshet*: traducir de una lengua a otra es difícil, y más a la lengua santa, de la que solo se conoce la parte que está en la Biblia

«in which he wrote as follows: Abraham the Spaniard, the son of Me'ir the son of Ezra, the author, said: Everyone, having an understanding of what he hears, knows that the holy tongue was the most comprehensive since it was the first among the languages of all the nations. But, since the holy people were exiled from their Holy Land, they intermingled with the other nations, learnt their languages, and so forgot their own language and were only left with the books of the prophets. But all those words which the prophets had no need for in their works, do not appear at all in Scripture. Therefore it is difficult to create new nouns, that is, to translate them from one language into another.» — La formulación extensa de esa misma idea en la tercera versión, firmada *Abraham el Español, hijo de Me'ir hijo de Ezra*: la lengua santa fue la más comprensiva por ser la primera de todas; el exilio mezcló al pueblo con otras naciones y le hizo olvidar la propia, dejándole solo los libros de los profetas; y lo que los profetas no necesitaron no aparece en la Escritura, de donde la dificultad de crear nombres nuevos. El pasaje se reimprime en el apéndice

«On the other hand, it seems that Ibn Ezra was also pointing at a solution, albeit a partial one, for his terminological and translation problems.» — Sela lee ahí, con reserva, algo más que un lamento: Ibn Ezra estaría apuntando también a una solución, aunque parcial, para sus problemas de terminología y de traducción

«Even though Ibn Ezra acknowledged the fact that "all those words which the prophets had no need for in their works, do not appear at all in Scripture", the vocabulary of biblical Hebrew, a surviving remnant of the ancient Hebrew language, "the first and most comprehensive of all the languages", can still be drawn on.» — La solución parcial que Sela le atribuye: reconocida la falta, queda el vocabulario del hebreo bíblico, resto superviviente de la lengua antigua, del que todavía puede echarse mano

«The main aim of the present part is to show that, on the contrary, his statement should be construed as a sincere ideological declaration of intentions: Ibn Ezra, an expert biblical commentator as well as a skilled scientist, considered himself to be highly qualified to revive the semiextinguished holy tongue, to restore an original scientific meaning that had been forgotten, a task which involved mining the biblical text to rediscover a set of original Hebrew scientific terms.» — El propósito declarado de la segunda parte: mostrar que esa declaración es ideológica y sincera, la de un comentarista bíblico y científico que se juzga capacitado para revivir la lengua santa medio extinguida minando el texto bíblico en busca de términos científicos hebreos originales; el impreso parte *semi-extinguished* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une

«In other words, we will try to demonstrate that, according to Ibn Ezra, when the translator approaches the task of conveying Arabic technical words into Hebrew, he is not always compelled to coin new words.» — La tesis en su forma operativa: según Ibn Ezra, el traductor que vierte términos técnicos árabes al hebreo no siempre está obligado a acuñar palabras nuevas

«Instead, the biblical text can provide some words endowed with the original scientific meaning.» — Porque el texto bíblico puede darle palabras dotadas del sentido científico original

«There are not many such words, but they are conspicuous and significant key words that express fundamental aspects of reality.» — Sela acota la cosecha: no son muchas esas palabras, pero son llamativas y expresan aspectos fundamentales de la realidad

«Abraham Ibn Ezra, for his part, as a scientist dealing with astronomy and astrology, could not do without the concept of the 'seven climates'.» — Primer caso de los ocho estudios: como astrónomo y astrólogo, Ibn Ezra no podía prescindir del concepto de los siete climas

«However, he completely avoided the Hebrew word 'aqlim and instead employed in a rich variety of contexts the very peculiar Hebrew word gevu/, which expresses literally the concept of 'border' or 'frontier', but which in his opinion denotes the concept of one of the 'seven climates'.» — Y aun así evitó del todo *'aqlim*, usando en su lugar *gevul*, que literalmente es frontera o linde y que a su juicio denota uno de los siete climas

«Abraham Bar l;Iiyya, for example, adopted and frequently used the new Hebrew word 'aqlim in his scientific treatises.» — El contraste con su precursor: Bar Ḥiyya adoptó y usó con frecuencia el neologismo *'aqlim*

«But, instead of using the normative word 'aqlim, he preferred a special expression derived from the word gevul, namely, gevulot 'are$, meaning borders of the earth.» — Al describir el astrolabio, Ibn Ezra prefiere de nuevo una expresión derivada de *gevul*, *gevulot areṣ*, fronteras de la tierra

«And shev'a gevulei ha- 'ara$ot (the seven climates of earth) are engaved on both sides [of the plates],40 because the inhabited part of the earth is extended only to the north and is divided into seven parts.» — El pasaje donde lo usa, en traducción de Sela: los siete climas de la tierra van grabados en ambas caras de las láminas, porque la parte habitada se extiende solo al norte y se divide en siete partes

«Not by chance, the standard number of these thin plates was seven, symbolically representing the seven climates and being associated with them.» — Y el dato que lo explica: el número corriente de láminas del astrolabio era siete, en representación de los siete climas

«It is important to point out, however, that the same Hebrew word gevul was used by Ibn Ezra in his astrological works with the completely different astrological meaning of 'terms', namely, the subdivisions of each of the twelve zodiacal constellations, which were assigned to the planets, except the moon and the sun (see below, p. 250).» — El desacuerdo interno que Sela consigna sin armonizar: la misma palabra *gevul* le sirve a Ibn Ezra, en sus obras astrológicas, para los *términos*, las subdivisiones de cada constelación zodiacal repartidas entre los planetas salvo el sol y la luna

«In this particular case, Ibn Ezra translated into Hebrew, by loan translation, the Arabic word bad, whose literal meaning, 'border' or 'frontier', is identical to that of the Hebrew word gevul.» — Y en ese caso sí traduce por calco: del árabe *ḥadd*, cuyo sentido literal de frontera coincide con el de *gevul*

«So, we have here the interesting but confusing case of one single Hebrew word, gevul, designating two completely different concepts: the geographical concept of 'climate', on the one hand, and the astrological concept of 'term', on the other hand.» — El resultado, que Sela llama interesante y confuso a la vez: una sola palabra hebrea designa dos conceptos del todo distintos, el geográfico de clima y el astrológico de término

«statement about the planet Venus. Venus ... exerts influence on the fifth gevul (that is, on the fifth climate), since this is the relative position of the sphere of Venus in relation to the sphere of Sa tum, and from among the nations, [Venus exerts influence on] the Muslims, since their zodiacal sign is Scorpio in the gevul (that is, in the term) of Venus, and (Venus) was there in the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter.» — El pasaje donde las dos acepciones de *gevul* conviven, en traducción de Sela: Venus influye en el quinto clima por la posición relativa de su esfera respecto de la de Saturno, y entre las naciones influye en los musulmanes, cuyo signo es Escorpión en el término de Venus. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«It is clear that Ibn Ezra had very strong reasons for clinging to this confusing approach.» — Sela sostiene que esa confusión no es descuido: Ibn Ezra tenía razones muy fuertes para aferrarse a ese modo de proceder

«Ibn Ezra revealed his reasons not in a scientific treatise but in his biblical exegesis.» — Y dónde las dio, que es lo que Sela quiere subrayar: no en un tratado científico, sino en su exégesis bíblica

«and he mentioned that ha-shiv'ah gevulot (that is, the seven climates) stand forever, and the inhabited part of the earth will not change, and the reason for writing 'summer and winter' is because the overwhelming majority of the inhabited part of the earth is in the north and only a slight part is in the south, and the reason for mentioning this together with the gevulot 'are$ (literally, the borders of the earth) is because when in one place it is summer, in the other it is winter.» — La explicación de Ibn Ezra al versículo, en traducción de Sela: los siete climas permanecen para siempre y la parte habitada no cambiará; se dice verano e invierno porque esa parte está casi toda al norte y solo un poco al sur, y se dice junto a *gevulot areṣ* porque cuando en un sitio es verano en otro es invierno

«Moreover, in Ibn Ezra's opinion, the seven climates are not merely a linguistic phenomenon that may be detected in the biblical vocabulary nor even an artificial parameter designed by the scientists in order to divide the inhabited area of the earth: the seven gevulot, or gevulot 'are$, will 'stand forever' because they are a physical reality created as part of the divine plan described in Genesis.» — Lo que Ibn Ezra le adjudica a los siete climas, según Sela: no son fenómeno lingüístico ni parámetro artificial de los científicos, sino realidad física creada como parte del plan divino que describe el Génesis

«In a clearly astrological context, the biblical word gevulot is employed to present three astrological doctrines:» — En contexto astrológico, la palabra bíblica *gevulot* le sirve a Ibn Ezra para exponer tres doctrinas

«(a) a special astrological relationship correlating each of the seven climates to each one of the twelve zodiacal signs;» — La primera: una relación que correlaciona cada uno de los siete climas con cada uno de los doce signos zodiacales

«(b) a link between the seven planets and the seven climates which was based on the direct correlation between the position of the planet's sphere in the current cosmological model and the ordinal position of the climate to which the corresponding planet is attached;» — La segunda: un vínculo entre los siete planetas y los siete climas, fundado en la correspondencia entre el lugar de la esfera del planeta en el modelo cosmológico vigente y el número de orden del clima

«(c) that residence in a specific geographical climate has a more powerful bearing on human destiny than the ostensible outcome of the individual horoscope.» — La tercera, que pesa sobre las otras: residir en un clima determinado influye en el destino humano más que lo que arroja el horóscopo individual

«Thus, the gevulot are one of the parameters to be taken into consideration when the astrologer sets out to calculate the dimensions of the astrological houses of the horoscope;» — Y su uso operativo: los *gevulot* son uno de los parámetros que el astrólogo ha de tomar en cuenta al calcular las dimensiones de las casas del horóscopo

«in this literary environment the biblical word gevulot served to highlight the role astrology played as a legitimate exegetical tool.» — Lo que Sela lee en el uso de esa palabra dentro de los comentarios bíblicos: sirve para hacer visible el papel de la astrología como herramienta exegética legítima

«'Parma version': Every planet has spheres, according to the scholars of Saba, among them the sphere of the zodiac which rotates on its sheath, whose middle or mU$aq (center) is the mU$aq (center) of the earth, and it is called the sphere of the zodiac.» — El pasaje de la versión de Parma donde aparece el segundo término estudiado: cada planeta tiene esferas, entre ellas la del zodiaco, cuyo *muṣaq* —centro— es el *muṣaq* de la tierra

«The normative word established in medieval Hebrew to express the concept of 'center' was the word merkaz, which is a cognate borrowed from the Arabic word markaz.» — La palabra normativa para centro en hebreo medieval era *merkaz*, cognado tomado del árabe *markaz*

«This fact, which closely resembles the above-mentioned connection between the Hebrew word 'aqlim and the Arabic word 'iqlim, illustrates the pre-eminence of the Arabic language in the process of filling the linguistic void of the Hebrew language, especially as far as scientific terminology was concerned.» — Y lo que ese hecho ilustra, según Sela: la preeminencia del árabe en el llenado del vacío léxico del hebreo, sobre todo en terminología científica

«Thus, the new Hebrew word merkaz, translated from the Arabic word markaz, was employed by Abraham Bar I:Iiyya in his scientific treatises.» — Bar Ḥiyya, otra vez, usa el término calcado del árabe en sus tratados

«A perusal of Abraham Ibn Ezra's whole prose literary work, however, reveals that he totally shunned the normative Hebrew word merkaz.» — Mientras que en toda la obra en prosa de Ibn Ezra, según el examen de Sela, la palabra normativa *merkaz* está rehuida por completo

«As far as I was able to ascertain, he was the first Hebrew writer to employ the peculiar word mU$aq instead of the word merkaz.» — Sela declara el alcance de su propia comprobación al afirmar que Ibn Ezra fue el primer escritor hebreo en usar *muṣaq* en lugar de *merkaz*

«Moreover, he maintained the use of the word mU$aq with obstinate consistency throughout his entire literary work.» — Y añade que mantuvo ese uso con obstinada consistencia en toda su obra

«Ezra's mind lies in the fact that the word mU$aq appears several times in the biblical repertoire, in clear contrast with the word merkaz, which is completely absent from the biblical or the Talmudic vocabulary.» — La razón de esa preferencia, según Sela: *muṣaq* aparece varias veces en el repertorio bíblico, y *merkaz* falta por completo del vocabulario bíblico y del talmúdico

«Ibn Ezra's opinion about the original and genuine meaning of the word mU$aq may be detected in his biblical commentary on Job, in which the word mU$aq figures several times.» — Dónde busca Sela el sentido que Ibn Ezra le daba: en su comentario a Job, donde la palabra aparece varias veces

«In his commentary on Job 38:38,64 Ibn Ezra annotated in an extremely succinct way that "mu$aq is a point".» — Y la glosa mínima que ahí escribe: *muṣaq* es un punto; la llamada de nota queda pegada a la cita bíblica

«wrote as follows: "Both words are employed allegorically, since rabab is the circle line and mU$aq is the center point.» — La pareja que da el sentido geométrico, en traducción de Sela: las dos palabras se usan alegóricamente, *rabab* es la línea del círculo y *muṣaq* el punto central

«These three commentaries manifest how the semantic field of the word mU$aq is gradually widened by Ibn Ezra.» — Lo que Sela ve en esos tres comentarios: el campo semántico de la palabra se va ensanchando por obra de Ibn Ezra

«MU$aq features in such an unexpected place as the introduction to Seier Sabot (Purity of Language), a grammar treatise, in which this word plays the role of the main cosmological point of reference defining the three Aristotelian motions:» — El uso que Sela llama inesperado: *muṣaq* aparece en la introducción al *Sefer Ṣaḥot*, un tratado de gramática, como punto cosmológico de referencia para definir los tres movimientos aristotélicos

«A simultaneous semantic metamorphosis affected in the Middle Ages both the Latin word iudicia and the Hebrew word mishpatim.» — El tercer término estudiado se abre con un paralelo: en la Edad Media una misma metamorfosis semántica afectó al latín *iudicia* y al hebreo *mishpatim*

«In a technical and precise way, the Latin word iudicia and the Hebrew word mishpatim began to designate the various manifestations of astrological influence as well as the various rules by which the astrologer can discern and determine this influence.» — El sentido nuevo que ambas palabras cobran en el siglo XII: las manifestaciones de la influencia astrológica y las reglas con que el astrólogo la discierne y determina

«As regards the Latin word iudicia, the new astrological connotation was attached to it simultaneously through multiple channels in the course of the twelfth century's translations of Arabic astrological texts into Latin.» — Para el latín, Sela sitúa la fuente del cambio en las traducciones de textos astrológicos árabes al latín a lo largo del siglo XII

«example, the Latin expression iudicia stelarum became the calque translation of the Arabic expression a/iktim al-nujum, literally meaning judgments or dictates of the stars.» — Y su calco concreto: *iudicia stelarum* traduce el árabe *aḥkam al-nujum*, literalmente juicios o dictados de las estrellas

«We may safely assume that the new astrological semantic layer of the Hebrew word mishpatim was the result of practically the same historical circumstances which affected the Latin word iudicia.» — La suposición que Sela declara como tal: la capa astrológica del hebreo *mishpatim* nació de las mismas circunstancias históricas que la del latín *iudicia*

«In other words, this semantic metamorphosis occurred in the first half of the twelfth century, during the historical process labeled here as the "rise of Hebrew medieval science", and as part and parcel of the creation of a new Hebrew scientific terminology.» — Y su fecha: la primera mitad del siglo XII, dentro del proceso que él llama el auge de la ciencia hebrea medieval y como parte de la creación de la terminología científica hebrea

«Two personalities may be assumed to have been responsible for this terminological innovation affecting the word mishpatim: Abraham Bar I;Iiyya and Abraham Ibn Ezra.» — Los dos nombres a los que Sela adjudica esa innovación: Abraham Bar Ḥiyya y Abraham Ibn Ezra

«In view of the fact that the Hebrew word mishpatim invested with clear astrological connotations will not be found in Hebrew literature prior to the twelfth century, we come to the conclusion that Ibn Ezra was the first to introduce this word into the Hebrew language with a clear astrological meaning.» — Y la conclusión que saca de una búsqueda negativa: como *mishpatim* con connotación astrológica no aparece en la literatura hebrea anterior al siglo XII, Ibn Ezra habría sido el primero en introducirla con ese sentido

«first, the Arabic expression abkizm al-nujum was translated by him as mishpetei ha-mazalot, that is, the judgments of the zodiacal signs;» — La primera de sus dos operaciones: traducir *aḥkam al-nujum* por *mishpetei ha-mazalot*, los juicios de los signos zodiacales

«second, he employed the word mishpatim in a rich variety of astrological contexts.» — Y la segunda: emplear la palabra en una variedad amplia de contextos astrológicos

«At least two of his astrological treatises were given titles bearing the word mishpatim.» — La huella en los títulos: al menos dos de sus tratados astrológicos la llevan

«The first is Seier Mishpetei ha- 'Olam (Book of World Judgments), which is an alternative title given in some manuscripts to Ibn Ezra's Seier ha- 'Olam (Book of the World), a treatise concerned with macro-astrology,» — El primero es el *Sefer Mishpetei ha-'Olam*, título alternativo que algunos manuscritos dan al *Sefer ha-'Olam*, tratado de macroastrología

«The second is Seier Mishpetei ha-Mazalot (Book of the Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs), an astrological treatise which was probably written in Northern France, Rouen, approximately between 1153 and 1156.» — El segundo, el *Sefer Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*, que Sela sitúa probablemente en Ruan, en el norte de Francia, entre 1153 y 1156

«The word mishpatim was employed by Ibn Ezra to designate in a most rigorous fashion three most important aspects of astrology:» — Sela ordena los usos: la palabra *mishpatim* le sirve a Ibn Ezra para designar con rigor tres aspectos capitales de la astrología

«To denote the art of astrology in such a clear-cut way as to distinguish it sharply from other related scientific activities such as astronomy, Ibn Ezra employed expressions such as mishpetei ha-mazalot» — El primero, el arte mismo, deslindado con nitidez de actividades vecinas como la astronomía

«Whereas mishpetei ha-mazalot is a clear-cut expression rendering the art of astrology clearly distinguishable from other scientific activities,» — El deslinde léxico que Sela subraya: *mishpetei ha-mazalot* nombra el arte astrológico de manera inconfundible

«/;1okhmat ha-mazalot embraces in Ibn Ezra's oeuvre a broad variety of activities which include astrology as well as mathematics, astronomy and calendaric regulation.» — Mientras que *ḥokhmat ha-mazalot* cubre en su obra un abanico ancho que incluye astrología, matemáticas, astronomía y regulación del calendario

«Astrologers are designated by Ibn Ezra as /;1akhmei mishpetei ha-mazalot82 (scholars in the judgments of the zodiacal signs),» — El segundo aspecto, el practicante: los astrólogos son *ḥakhmei mishpetei ha-mazalot*, sabios en los juicios de los signos zodiacales

«As for the special methodology of astrology, Ibn Ezra used such expressions as derekh ha-mishpatim,85 literally, the path of the [astrological] judgments,» — Y el tercero, el método: *derekh ha-mishpatim*, el camino de los juicios astrológicos

«The same word mishpatim when combined with other qualifying words restricts the scope, to give detailed information about miscellaneous aspects of astrology.» — Con palabras calificativas, la misma voz estrecha su alcance y da información detallada de aspectos diversos de la astrología

«Thus, the word mishpatim is used in designating the specialized branches of astrology, as in the case of the expression mishpetei ha- 'olam, that is, judgments of the world, which designates macro-astrology, or in the expression mishpetei ha-moladot, that is, judgments of the nativities, which designates genthlialogy, and mishpetei ha-she 'elot, that is, judgments related to the astrological system of interrogations.» — Así nombra las ramas especializadas: *mishpetei ha-'olam* para la macroastrología, *mishpetei ha-moladot* para la genetlialogía y *mishpetei ha-she'elot* para el sistema de interrogaciones

«An additional case in point is that related to the expression koab ha-mishpatim, that is, the force of the astrological judgments, which denotes the concept of astrological influence wielding a quantifiable power.» — Y *koaḥ ha-mishpatim*, la fuerza de los juicios, con que se designa una influencia astrológica de poder cuantificable

«Also, when the word mishpatim appears accompanied with the name of a planet, it expresses the specific astrological influence exerted by that planet, both in a general way by using such an idiosyncratic expression as mishpetei ha-meshartim (judgments of the planets),90 or by stating the name of specific planets, such as the inferior planets, the moon, or Venus.» — Acompañada del nombre de un planeta, la palabra expresa la influencia propia de ese planeta, sea en bloque con *mishpetei ha-meshartim* o nombrando los planetas inferiores, la luna o Venus

«In addition, when accompanied by the name of a specific astrological agent, the word mishpatim expresses the specific astrological influence exerted by that agent, as in the specific cases of the astrological aspects,92 the ductus planetae or nihug ha-kokhav,93 or the astrological terms.» — Y acompañada del nombre de un agente astrológico, la influencia propia de ese agente: los aspectos, el *nihug ha-kokhav* o los términos

«Ibn Ezra also played a role in the semantic mutation of the Latin word iudicia, and his contribution in this regard is highly reminiscent of his part in the change of the Hebrew counterpart mishpatim.» — La simetría que Sela le atribuye: Ibn Ezra participó también en la mutación semántica del latín *iudicia*, de modo muy parecido a como lo hizo con el hebreo

«noted, even though the bulk of Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus is composed of Hebrew works, it also includes two Latin scientific treatises: Liber de rationibus tabularum and the Latin Book of the Astrolabe.» — El fundamento de esa simetría: aunque el grueso del corpus sea hebreo, incluye dos tratados científicos latinos, el *Liber de rationibus tabularum* y el libro latino del astrolabio

«A remarkable example is that the special chapter dealing with the astrological uses of the astrolabe is labeled in the Latin Book of the Astrolabe by the sub-title de his quae ad iudicia pertinent, that is, "regarding the subjects pertaining to astrology", thereby revealing the new astrological meaning given to the old Latin word.» — El ejemplo que Sela destaca: el capítulo sobre los usos astrológicos del astrolabio lleva por subtítulo *de his quae ad iudicia pertinent*, lo que deja ver el sentido astrológico nuevo de la vieja palabra latina

«(b) The Latin word iudicia serves to rigorously designate the art of astrology, the practitioner of astrology, as well as the methodology of astrology, just as in the case of the uses of the Hebrew word mishpatim.» — Y el paralelo completo: *iudicia* designa con rigor el arte, el practicante y el método de la astrología, igual que *mishpatim* en hebreo

«Thus, to denote the art of astrology, on the one hand, the word iudicia may feature alone, but, on the other hand, it may also appear in some combined expressions such as iudicia astronomica or ars iudiciorum.» — Para el arte, la palabra aparece sola o en expresiones como *iudicia astronomica* o *ars iudiciorum*

«Besides, the astrologers receive various names such as doc to res iudiciorum, magistri iudiciorum or auctores iudiciorum.» — Para el practicante: *doctores iudiciorum*, *magistri iudiciorum*, *auctores iudiciorum*

«In addition, the special methodology of astrology is designated as probatio iudiciorum, thereby emphasizing its experimental character as well as the perception that the art is based not so much on rational thinking as on experience.» — Y para el método, *probatio iudiciorum*, con lo que —según Sela— se subraya su carácter experimental y la idea de que el arte descansa menos en el razonamiento que en la experiencia

«Although we may be reasonably certain that Ibn Ezra was acquainted with Arabic scientific terminology in general and with the Arabic etymological associations of the astrological word mishpatim in particular, in his opinion the ultimate genuine origin of the word will not be found in Arabic but in biblical Hebrew.» — La posición de Ibn Ezra sobre el origen de la palabra, dicha con la concesión por delante: conociendo la terminología científica árabe y las asociaciones etimológicas árabes de *mishpatim*, a su juicio el origen genuino último no está en árabe sino en hebreo bíblico

«Ibn Ezra frequently employed Arabic words in his biblical commentaries to find the etymology and morphology of problematic biblical Hebrew words.» — Y el uso que sí le daba al árabe: buscar en sus palabras la etimología y la morfología de voces hebreas bíblicas problemáticas

«Notwithstanding the apparent inferiority of the judgments of astrology to the judgments of the Lord,105 Ibn Ezra brought the two kinds of judgments together in the same context because both are intended to fulfill a similar function - to pronounce the verdict of human fate, though with varying degrees of success.» — El acercamiento que Sela observa entre dos órdenes de juicio: pese a la inferioridad aparente de los juicios de la astrología frente a los del Señor, Ibn Ezra los pone en el mismo contexto porque ambos cumplen una función semejante, pronunciar el veredicto sobre el destino humano

«In the final analysis, this kind of references to astrology, openly declaring its inferiority in comparison to other types of intellectual wisdom, should be attributed to the epistemological inferiority usually ascribed to astrology in antiquity and the Middle Ages when compared with other sciences, such as astronomy or mathematics.» — Y a qué lo atribuye: a la inferioridad epistemológica que la antigüedad y la Edad Media adjudicaban a la astrología frente a otras ciencias como la astronomía o las matemáticas

«On the other hand, Ibn Ezra solved the much more complicated problem created by the word bariab by invoking Exodus 26:28, a verse in which this word is explicitly expressed.» — El cuarto término estudiado: para resolver el problema de la voz *bariaḥ*, Ibn Ezra acude a Éxodo 26:28, donde la palabra aparece expresa

«Therefore, in both his commentaries, on Job 26: 13 and Isaiah 27: 1, he wrote that the serpent is called bariab because it "runs from end to end" (Exodus 26:28), thereby hinting at two opposite points.» — De ahí su explicación, repetida en los comentarios a Job 26:13 y a Isaías 27:1: la serpiente se llama *bariaḥ* porque corre de extremo a extremo, con lo que alude a dos puntos opuestos

«the nodes: For this reason, the sphere is called shamayim (heavens), hinting at the two places that are at rest and upon which the motion of the sphere takes place.» — Y la aplicación cosmológica, en traducción de Sela: la esfera se llama *shamayim* aludiendo a los dos lugares que están en reposo y sobre los que ocurre su movimiento

«And perhaps [the word] shamayim (heavens) hints at the two points of intersection between the two superior spheres, which are called rosh ha-tely u-zenavo, (that is, the head of the dragon and its tail), and the proof for that is: By his wind, the shamayim (heavens) were made fair, his hand slew the nabash bariab (Job 26: 13).» — La conjetura que Ibn Ezra marca con un *quizá*: *shamayim* aludiría a los dos puntos de intersección entre las dos esferas superiores, llamados cabeza y cola del dragón, y la prueba está en Job 26:13

«the expression rash ha-tely u-zenavo is explicitly explained by our author as "the two points of intersection between the two superior spheres";» — El sentido técnico que Ibn Ezra da a la expresión, según Sela: los dos puntos de intersección entre las dos esferas superiores

«to Ibn Ezra's mind the equation of rosh ha-tely u-zenavo with the two nodes is totally accounted for by Job 26:13, a verse in which the naQash bariaQ features.» — Y de dónde saca la equivalencia: para Ibn Ezra, igualar cabeza y cola del dragón con los dos nodos queda plenamente justificado por Job 26:13

«Ibn Ezra, for his part, read about the cosmological connotations of the word tely in Seier Ye$irah, a book well known to him.» — La fuente que Sela le adjudica para las connotaciones cosmológicas de *teli*: el *Sefer Yeṣirah*, libro que le era bien conocido

«regarding the precise astronomical connotations of the word tely and its close connection to the expression naQash bariaQ, Ibn Ezra was in all likelihood indebted to Baraita de-Shmu 'el.» — Y para las connotaciones astronómicas precisas y su vínculo con *naḥash bariaḥ*, con toda probabilidad la *Baraita de-Shmu'el*

«In this early cosmologicalastrological Hebrew work, the tely is not only metaphorically made a king, just as in Seier Ye$irah, but is also presented in the framework of the expressions rosh ha-tely or zanav ha-tely with the meaning of the two nodes, and, the same as in the already noted opinion by Ibn Ezra, the tely is made equivalent to naQash bariaQ.» — Lo que esa obra hebrea temprana trae, según Sela: el *teli* hecho rey metafóricamente como en el *Sefer Yeṣirah*, presentado además como cabeza y cola con el sentido de los dos nodos, e igualado a *naḥash bariaḥ*; el impreso parte *cosmological-astrological* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une La capa de texto del troceo pega *cosmologicalastrological* sin espacio; se cita tal cual.

«But at least in one remarkable place in his scientific corpus, Ibn Ezra employed the expression nabash bariab in such a peculiar manner that it revealed his thinking.» — El pasaje en que, según Sela, Ibn Ezra deja ver su pensamiento al usar la expresión de un modo peculiar dentro del corpus científico

«The striking feature in this regard is not the mere fact that he employed this biblical expression, but the extraordinary way by which Ibn Ezra justified its use in the translation.» — Lo llamativo no es que emplee la expresión bíblica, dice Sela, sino el modo extraordinario en que justifica su uso dentro de una traducción

«So, Ibn Ezra abruptly interrupted the thread of the translation, forgot about his role of translator, burst into the text, and added his own gloss: "Abraham said: and this (that is, the head and tail of the dragon) is called in the holy tongue nabash bariab» — Y en qué consiste: interrumpe de golpe el hilo de la traducción, olvida su papel de traductor y mete su propia glosa, *dijo Abraham*, para decir que eso se llama en la lengua santa *naḥash bariaḥ*

«Thus, whereas in Ibn Ezra's opinion the word raqi 'a refers to the most external layer of the sublunary domain, the word shamayim applies to the superlunary abode where the stars and its spheres dwell.» — El quinto término: para Ibn Ezra, *raqia'* nombra la capa más externa del dominio sublunar y *shamayim* la morada supralunar donde habitan las estrellas y sus esferas

«Perhaps the most instructive example to learn about the distinction between raqi 'a and shamayim is Ibn Ezra's commentary on Psalms 19:2, in which he wrote, on the one hand, that "shamayim is the abode of the stars", and, on the other hand, that "raqi'a is the air"» — El ejemplo que Sela juzga más instructivo, del comentario al Salmo 19:2: *shamayim* es la morada de las estrellas y *raqia'* es el aire

«This distinction may be well appreciated in Ibn Ezra's two commentaries on Genesis I: 14, in which he took full advantage of the manner in which this pair of related words appear in this verse, in order to demonstrate that the biblical account of the genesis of the stars does not refer to the physical generation of the superlunary abode but to a visual phenomenon in which the stars and the luminaries were made visible and seen from the sublunary world for the first time.» — Y el uso exegético de esa distinción: en los dos comentarios a Génesis 1:14 Ibn Ezra la aprovecha para sostener que el relato bíblico de la génesis de los astros no habla de la generación física del ámbito supralunar sino de un fenómeno visual, el de hacerse visibles por primera vez desde el mundo sublunar

«In addition, in his second commentary on Genesis 1: 14, Ibn Ezra vigorously dissented from "a great Spaniard scholar", a fellow commentator who held that the word raqi 'a should be seen as tantamount to the eight spheres, that is, with the superlunary world.» — El desacuerdo que Sela consigna sin nombrar al adversario porque el texto no lo nombra: Ibn Ezra disiente con vigor de *un gran sabio español* que igualaba *raqia'* a las ocho esferas

«On the other hand, Ibn Ezra was not content with this quite restricted scope for the word shamayim, but took a further step to limit even more the meaning of the word and to provide it with a more precise definition.» — El paso siguiente que Sela le atribuye: no contentarse con ese alcance ya restringido de *shamayim* y estrecharlo aún más con una definición más precisa

«He revealed his intention in three different places, and in all three, Ibn Ezra began his account by advancing his main thesis, namely, that the word shamayim should be associated with "two celestial places".» — En tres lugares distintos, y en los tres con la misma tesis de arranque: *shamayim* ha de asociarse a un par de lugares celestes

«These three alternative but complementary explanations, however, differ one from the other as to where in the superlunary abode those "two celestial places" should be located.» — Las tres explicaciones son para Sela alternativas y complementarias a la vez, y difieren en dónde situar esos dos lugares dentro del ámbito supralunar

«In his theological monograph, Seier ha-Shem, Ibn Ezra held that "perhaps shamayim hints at the two points of intersection between the two superior spheres, which are called rosh ha-tely u-zenavo", that is, the head of the dragon and its tail (see above, p. 124).» — La primera, del *Sefer ha-Shem*: quizá *shamayim* aluda a los dos puntos de intersección entre las dos esferas superiores, cabeza y cola del dragón

«In all likelihood, to direct these three alternative solutions to the problem of finding "two celestial places", Ibn Ezra derived inspiration from astronomical treatises based on the introduction to the Almagest, or directly from this book, in which Claudius Ptolemy mentioned these three concepts to explain that "the earth is in the middle of the heavens" and that "there are two different primary motions in the heavens» — La fuente que Sela propone, con su probabilidad declarada: tratados astronómicos basados en la introducción del *Almagesto*, o el libro mismo, donde Ptolomeo maneja esos conceptos para explicar que la tierra está en medio de los cielos y que hay dos movimientos primarios distintos

«However cryptic and puzzling Ibn Ezra was in some of his statements, in this particular issue he provided a transparent and straightforward answer, so that there is no necessity to find a solution in some theological or mythological arguments not referred to by our author.» — Y la abstención que Sela declara: por críptico que Ibn Ezra sea en otras cosas, aquí da una respuesta clara, de modo que no hace falta buscar soluciones teológicas o mitológicas que él no invocó

«In his opinion, the Hebrew word shamayim should be associated with "a pair of celestial places" because this word was formed in the Hebrew language as a dual word, that is, by using a grammatical number category which refers to two items.» — La razón que Ibn Ezra da, y que es gramatical: *shamayim* se formó en hebreo como palabra dual, categoría de número que se refiere a dos elementos

«Therefore, as a direct result of this morphological characteristic, the Hebrew word shamayim ought to refer not to the complete superlunary abode but only to "a pair of celestial places"» — De donde, por esa sola característica morfológica, la palabra no nombraría el ámbito supralunar entero sino solo una pareja de lugares celestes

«A further remarkable case is that related to the biblical word meshartim, that is, literally, attendants.» — El sexto término: la voz bíblica *meshartim*, que literalmente son los servidores

«Ibn Ezra's commentary on Psalms 103 :21: Bless, his hosts - these are the host of the higher heavens, and his attendants (meshartav) are the seven which are in seven spheres.» — El pasaje que fija su sentido, del comentario al Salmo 103:21 en traducción de Sela: esos son el ejército de los cielos altos, y sus servidores son los siete que están en siete esferas

«The fact that the attendants (meshartim) mentioned in this biblical commentary are seven, and that they are arrayed in seven spheres, dispels any doubt that Ibn Ezra construed the 'seven meshartim' as being synonymous with the 'seven planets'.» — De donde Sela da por disipada la duda: los *meshartim* del comentario son siete y están en siete esferas, luego equivalen a los siete planetas

«Equipped with this meaning, Ibn Ezra profusely employed the word meshartim as a technical word to designate the seven planets in all his literary work, scientific and non-scientific as well.» — Y con ese sentido Ibn Ezra usa la palabra con profusión, como término técnico para los planetas, en toda su obra

«We should not be far from the truth if we state that, statistically, the use of the word meshartim in his oeuvre was the most frequent among all the scientific words reviewed in this part.» — La medida que Sela arriesga con cautela: de todas las voces científicas repasadas, esa es estadísticamente la más frecuente en su obra

«The Hebrew word meshartim means literally 'attendants', hence the seven planets - considered from an astrological standpoint as the chief agents exerting their influence over the sublunary region - are by no means deemed by Ibn Ezra as self-reliant, but as working as attendants of God to do his pleasure [Psalms 103:21].» — Y lo que el término implica, según Sela: los siete planetas, agentes principales de la influencia sobre la región sublunar, no son para Ibn Ezra autosuficientes sino servidores de Dios que cumplen su voluntad

«Toledet is another idiosyncratic scientific term noticeable in Ibn Ezra's entire oeuvre.» — El séptimo término, *toledet*, que Sela vuelve a llamar idiosincrásico y presente en toda la obra

«Toledet (in the singular) was derived from the biblical word toledot (in the plural), which appears for the first time in Genesis 2:4.» — Y su procedencia bíblica: del plural *toledot*, que aparece por primera vez en Génesis 2:4

«Two explicit definitions of the word to ledet, within two quite different contexts, were provided by Ibn Ezra in his first commentary on Genesis 1: 11 and in the exegetical excursus which he included in the long commentary of Exodus 23:25.» — Sela localiza dos definiciones explícitas de *toledet* en contextos distintos: el primer comentario a Génesis 1:11 y el excurso exegético del comentario largo a Éxodo 23:25

«On this particular occasion, Ibn Ezra plainly defined the Hebrew word toledet as the "power (koal)) placed in the earth and in the water to bring forth at God's command» — La primera, en su traducción: *toledet* es el poder puesto en la tierra y en el agua para producir por mandato de Dios

«The same notion of power was employed in the other definition, but covering the more restricted scope of the bodily configuration of man.» — La segunda usa la misma noción de poder con alcance más estrecho, el de la configuración corporal del hombre

«Ibn Ezra profusely employed the word to ledet, or toledot, in his complete work, not only in his scientific corpus but especially in his biblical commentaries.» — Y el término, dice Sela, abunda en toda su obra, no solo en el corpus científico sino sobre todo en los comentarios bíblicos

«The very conspicuousness of this word in Ibn Ezra's oeuvre, however, is in sharp contrast with the complete absence of the stock Hebrew word tev' a, a cognate word borrowed from the Arabic tiva 'a.» — Contra esa abundancia, la ausencia total de la palabra hebrea corriente *teva'*, cognado tomado del árabe *ṭabi'a*

«The strong impression is thus conveyed that Ibn Ezra consciously shunned the standard word lev' a and deliberately superseded it with the biblical word toledet.» — La impresión que Sela declara como tal: Ibn Ezra rehuyó conscientemente el término corriente y lo sustituyó a propósito por el bíblico

«This power, however, was not seen by Ibn Ezra as static or unchanging.» — Y una precisión sobre el concepto: ese poder no era para Ibn Ezra estático ni inmutable

«Ibn Ezra asserted that "if this person truly cleaves to God, the revered God will strengthen the power of toledet of his kidneys and see to it that his sperm functions properly, so that he will be able to have children".» — El ejemplo que lo muestra, en traducción de Sela: si alguien se une de veras a Dios, Dios fortalecerá el poder de *toledet* de sus riñones y hará que su simiente funcione, de modo que pueda tener hijos

«Besides the two above-mentioned explicit definitions of the word toledet, a cursory analysis of its numerous occurrences in Ibn Ezra's work brings us to the conclusion that he construed toledet as a synonym for nature and natural phenomena.» — La conclusión que Sela saca del recuento de apariciones: Ibn Ezra entendía *toledet* como sinónimo de naturaleza y de fenómenos naturales

«Starting from the basic notion of 'nature', the word shades into the concept of 'natural configuration', and then it is further expanded into the notion of 'natural power'.» — Y su gradación semántica: de naturaleza a configuración natural, y de ahí a poder natural

«Thus, natural science is called by Ibn Ezra in multiple places bokhmat ha-toledet or bokhmat ha-toladot, that is, wisdom of nature;» — De donde el nombre que da a la ciencia natural: *ḥokhmat ha-toledet* o *ḥokhmat ha-toladot*, sabiduría de la naturaleza

«In addition, phenomena that are in harmony with the laws of nature are described by Ibn Ezra as proceeding derekh ha-toledet, that is, along the path of nature,141 which in his opinion was wisely created by divine blueprint.» — Los fenómenos acordes con las leyes naturales van, según Ibn Ezra, *derekh ha-toledet*, por el camino de la naturaleza, que a su juicio fue creada con sabiduría según plan divino

«On the other hand, phenomena incompatible with the laws of nature, as for example miracles, are characterized as being hefekh ha-toledet,143 that is, contra natura, or QU$ ha-toledet, that is, outside nature.» — Y los incompatibles con esas leyes, como los milagros, son *hefekh ha-toledet*, contra natura, o *ḥuṣ ha-toledet*, fuera de la naturaleza

«In this regard, Ibn Ezra labeled the four basic sublunary elements - fire, air, water and earth - as 'arb 'a toladot,147 that is, the four natures, or ascribed toledet separately to them,148 or employed the word toledet to describe their natural behavior, as in the case of fire, which always moves away from the earth's center.» — El término cubre también los cuatro elementos sublunares —fuego, aire, agua y tierra—, llamados *arba' toladot*, las cuatro naturalezas, y describe su comportamiento propio, como el del fuego que siempre se aleja del centro de la tierra

«The word toledet was employed by Ibn Ezra to describe the natural properties of the members of the human body,156 to convey the Galenic notion of 'temperament', that is, of the human body as composed of four basic body humours (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile), 157 as well as to characterize natural instinctive or unconscious human behavior.» — Y el cuerpo humano: las propiedades naturales de sus miembros, la noción galénica de temperamento con sus cuatro humores —sangre, flema, bilis negra y bilis amarilla— y la conducta instintiva o inconsciente

«On the other hand, Ibn Ezra ascribed toledet to the superlunary realm in general,159 as well as to the Aristotelian fifth element in particular, which was labeled by him as toledet /;Jam ish it, 160 that is, fifth nature.» — También el ámbito supralunar y el quinto elemento aristotélico, que Ibn Ezra llama *toledet ḥamishit*, quinta naturaleza

«In a similar vein, Ibn Ezra profusely ascribed toledet to the natural properties of celestial bodies such as stars,161 zodiacal constellations,162 or planets.» — Y las propiedades naturales de los cuerpos celestes: estrellas, constelaciones zodiacales o planetas, con las llamadas de nota pegadas a la palabra

«Ibn Ezra, however, relying on the cold toledet of mandrake, in this commentary casts doubts on its aphrodisiac powers.» — El uso crítico del término que Sela destaca: apoyándose en la *toledet* fría de la mandrágora, Ibn Ezra pone en duda sus poderes afrodisíacos

«Little wonder then that both words were combined by him in the word group koab ha-toledet, that is, the power of nature, an expression which was especially employed to describe the natural self-preserving make-up of the human body.» — La combinación que resulta de definir *toledet* como poder: *koaḥ ha-toledet*, el poder de la naturaleza, usado sobre todo para la constitución autoconservadora del cuerpo humano

«Thus, in this particular framework, Ibn Ezra assigned koab ha-toledet to the vegetative or appetitive soul, which is a component of the tripartite soul.» — Y dentro de ese marco, Ibn Ezra lo adjudica al alma vegetativa o apetitiva, una de las partes del alma tripartita

«On the other hand, the concept of "power in nature" (koab batoledet) was conceived by Ibn Ezra as residing in inanimate objects, such as stones, and endowing them with quasi-magical powers.» — Fuera de él, el poder en la naturaleza reside también, según Sela, en objetos inanimados como las piedras, y les confiere poderes casi mágicos; el impreso parte *koaḥ ba-toledet* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une

«In addition, Ibn Ezra asserted in his long commentary on Exodus 28:9 that a special power (koab) resides in the toledet of every stone, as in the case of the lodestone which has the power of attracting iron, or of other kinds of stone which are provided with the power of stopping bleeding, being repelled by vinegar, emitting sounds, or forming a triangle when they are broken.» — El pasaje que lo muestra: en cada piedra reside un poder propio, como el imán que atrae el hierro, o las que cortan la sangre, son repelidas por el vinagre, emiten sonidos o al romperse forman un triángulo

«In a similar vein, Ibn Ezra ascribed toledet to various components of the horoscope which exert a specific astrological influence on the new-born.» — El mismo término sirve para los componentes del horóscopo que ejercen influencia sobre el recién nacido

«Horoscopic parameters assigned with toledet by Ibn Ezra are the ascendant,168 the astrological houses,169 the astrological aspects,170 the ninths,171 the head of the dragon and his tail playing some role in the horoscope,172 or the celestial places where the stars are placed.» — La lista de esos parámetros: el ascendente, las casas, los aspectos, las novenas, la cabeza y la cola del dragón, y los lugares celestes donde se sitúan las estrellas

«Observe that all illnesses come from the food that enters the body... If the horoscope of a woman determines that she will not be able to carry her children to their term, then it will be the toledet (that is, the natural property) of her womb to abort the children in it.» — El ejemplo con que Sela lo ilustra, en su traducción: si el horóscopo de una mujer determina que no llevará a término sus hijos, será *toledet* —propiedad natural— de su matriz abortarlos

«Consider the case of a person who cleaves to God and was born under a horoscope which determined that he will have such a toledet (that is, physical make-up) that is unable to beget children. Then, if he truly cleaves to God, the revered God will strengthen the koab ha-toledet (that is, the natural power) of this man's kidneys and see to it that his sperm functions properly so that he will be able to have children .» — Y el reverso, donde la devoción altera esa propiedad: si el hombre se une de veras a Dios, Dios fortalecerá el poder natural de sus riñones y su simiente funcionará

«For I (that is, God) will overcome toledet (that is, nature).» — La fórmula que resume esa capacidad, en traducción de Sela: yo, Dios, venceré a la naturaleza

«In this remarkable commentary we find Ibn Ezra's view about the scope of scientific branches such as natural science, medicine and astrology, his singular opinion about how the decrees of the stars may be circumvented, as well as a definition of the term toledet, with several examples showing the diverse connotations with which Ibn Ezra admirably endowed the word toledet: Abraham the author said: There are some great scholars who are very learned in the two laws (that is, the written Torah and the oral Torah) but have not busied themselves with bokhmat ha-toledet (that is, natural science)» — La objeción de Ibn Ezra, firmada *dijo Abraham el autor*: hay grandes sabios muy versados en las dos leyes, la Torá escrita y la oral, que no se han ocupado de la ciencia natural

«This is Ibn Ezra's description of the rete in his third version of Sefer Keli ha-NelIoshet: The rete: it is also called shabaka (that is, net in Arabic) and it has a circle which is divided into two unequal parts.» — El octavo término se estudia en la descripción que Ibn Ezra hace de la red del astrolabio: se llama también *shabaka*, red en árabe, y lleva un círculo dividido en dos partes desiguales

«it is also called shabaka (that is, net in Arabic) and it has a circle which is divided into two unequal parts. The smaller part [of the circle] is reserved for the northern zodiacal constellations, which are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo and Virgo; while the bigger part includes the southern zodiacal constellations, which are Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.» — El reparto de ese círculo: la parte menor para las constelaciones zodiacales del norte, de Aries a Virgo, y la mayor para las del sur, de Libra a Piscis

«The mentioned circle is named beshev 'afudat galgal ha-mazalot (that is, literally, the girdle of the dress of the zodiacal sphere), and outside the beshev ha- 'afudah (the girdle of the dress) are the southern known stars ... while inside the beshev ha- 'afudah (the girdle of the dress) are the northern stars.» — Y el nombre que Ibn Ezra le da: *ḥeshev 'afudat galgal ha-mazalot*, el ceñidor del vestido de la esfera zodiacal, con las estrellas australes fuera de él y las boreales dentro. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«Ibn Ezra took this name from Exodus 28:8, in which it speaks of the girdle of the ceremonial dress of Aaron, the brother of Moses and head of the Jewish priesthood.» — De dónde sale ese nombre: de Éxodo 28:8, que habla del ceñidor del vestido ceremonial de Aarón, hermano de Moisés y cabeza del sacerdocio judío

«Ibn Ezra's cryptic language renders it extremely difficult to comprehend the exact meaning of his words.» — Sela declara el límite de su lectura: el lenguaje críptico de Ibn Ezra hace dificilísimo entender el sentido exacto de sus palabras

«In his long commentary on this verse, Ibn Ezra suggested that "there is a very deep secret behind the ceremonial dress (' efod) of the high priest"» — Lo que sí está dicho: que hay un secreto muy hondo tras el efod del sumo sacerdote

«The expression melekhet ha-shamayim, meaning literally 'heavenly art', was taken from Jeremiah 44:19, and is Ibn Ezra's alternative biblical name designating astrology and its practical aspects.» — Y otro nombre bíblico que Ibn Ezra da a la astrología y a su práctica: *melekhet ha-shamayim*, arte del cielo, tomado de Jeremías 44:19

«In all those places, however, beshev 'afudat hagalgal does not mean the above-mentioned component of the astrolabe, but conveys the astronomical meaning of zodiac, or, put more precisely, the belt around the heavens extending 9° on either side of the ecliptic, in which the orbits of the sun, the moon and of the planets also lie.» — La precisión de Sela sobre ese término fuera del astrolabio: ahí no nombra la pieza del instrumento sino el zodiaco, la faja del cielo que se extiende nueve grados a cada lado de la eclíptica y en la que caen también las órbitas del sol, la luna y los planetas

«But a scrutiny of Ibn Ezra's entire scientific corpus strongly suggests that beshev ha- 'afudah as an astronomical name is a linguistic phenomenon restricted to the period of his sojourn in Provence in 1148.» — El hallazgo cronológico que Sela deriva del término: como nombre astronómico está restringido al periodo de la estancia en Provenza, en 1148

«In the first version, and not least in the second version of Sefer Keli ha-Neboshet, Ibn Ezra made use, for the same purpose, of the more abbreviated expression 'afudat ha-galgal, that is, the girdle of the sphere.» — En las dos versiones italianas del libro del astrolabio, en cambio, Ibn Ezra usa para lo mismo la expresión más breve *'afudat ha-galgal*, el ceñidor de la esfera

«In this astrological treatise the expression beshev ha- 'afudah is completely non-existent.» — Y en el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*, escrito en Ruan años después de la enciclopedia, la expresión no aparece en absoluto

«The use of all the above-mentioned terms, and particularly the manner in which their use was justified, leads us now to the conclusion that in all these cases Ibn Ezra was motivated by the same prevailing ideological incentive: he preferred biblical words over other common and more normative expressions, because in his opinion the available biblical vocabulary occasionally holds some original and authentic scientific terms that represent some of the most central concepts of nature and reality.» — La conclusión de la segunda parte: en todos esos casos movía a Ibn Ezra un mismo incentivo ideológico, preferir las voces bíblicas a las corrientes porque a su juicio el vocabulario bíblico guarda a veces términos científicos originales y auténticos

«Ibn Ezra considered these scientific words to be a relic of the original Hebrew language - "the most comprehensive and the first among the languages of all the nations".» — Lo que esas palabras eran para él: reliquia de la lengua hebrea original, la más comprensiva y la primera de todas

«To restore into use those forgotten words was the quintessence of his terminological strategy.» — Y de ahí el núcleo de su estrategia: devolver al uso esas palabras olvidadas

«Peculiar as Ibn Ezra's linguistic strategy may seem, it is worth emphasizing that Ibn Ezra's approach should be considered as part and parcel of the intellectual climate and historical circumstances from which he sprang up.» — Sela acota en seguida esa singularidad: por peculiar que parezca, la estrategia es parte del clima intelectual y de las circunstancias históricas de las que Ibn Ezra salió

«His penchant for avoiding Arabic scientific vocabulary may be read as his idiosyncratic response to the challenge posed by the forced separation from Arabic culture and language that he and his generation were forced to meet.» — Y ofrece una lectura de su rechazo del léxico árabe: respuesta idiosincrásica al desafío de la separación forzosa de la cultura y la lengua árabes que su generación hubo de encarar

«Ibn Ezra's attitude, however, was by no means commonplace.» — A la vez señala que esa actitud no era en absoluto la común

«Judah Ibn Tibbon' slife (ca. 1 1 2O-ca. 1 190) epitomizes the fate of Ibn Ezra's generation, which was expelled from al-Andalus and was thus compulsorily detached from the Arabic language.» — El primer contraejemplo: la vida de Judah ibn Tibbon compendia el destino de esa generación expulsada de al-Ándalus y desprendida por fuerza del árabe; el OCR parte las fechas y pega *slife*

«Accordingly, he wrote that Arabic "is in fact a most comprehensive language, full of resources concerning every subject. It satisfies the necessities of all those who speak or write this language. Its expressions are exact and clear, and it reaches to the heart of all questions, much more than is possible in Hebrew.» — Y su juicio sobre las dos lenguas, en traducción de Sela: el árabe es lengua comprensiva y llena de recursos, exacta y clara, que llega al fondo de toda cuestión mucho más que el hebreo

«By and large, Hebrew was the language of his religious and halakhic work, whereas Arabic was the linguistic vehicle he adopted» — El segundo contraejemplo, Maimónides: el hebreo para la obra religiosa y halájica, el árabe como vehículo para lo demás

«In this regard, after allowance is made for an extraordinary case,194 the Maimonidean linguistic model may be seen as embodying the tendency to preserve as long as possible the attachment to the Arabic language in accordance with what had long been customary.» — El modelo que Sela lee en él, con la salvedad de un caso extraordinario: conservar cuanto se pueda el apego al árabe, como venía siendo costumbre

«By contrast, Ibn Ezra's terminological strategy of restoring into use forgotten biblical words should not be interpreted as the bizarre intellectual product of a maverick.» — Frente a esos dos, Sela niega que la estrategia de Ibn Ezra sea el producto extravagante de un excéntrico

«Quite the opposite; Ibn Ezra's stance should be construed as a highly representative expression of the propensity of his generation to revert to what they deemed as the ultimate sources of Judaism.» — Y propone leerla al revés: como expresión muy representativa de la propensión de su generación a volver a lo que tenía por fuentes últimas del judaísmo

«However immersed Ibn Ezra was in the cultural climate of his times, it is necessary to concede that his strategy in the creation of Hebrew scientific terminology was significantly original and idiosyncratic.» — Y a la vez concede lo contrario sin armonizarlo: por inmerso que estuviera en el clima de su tiempo, su estrategia terminológica fue notablemente original e idiosincrásica

«Although Ibn Ezra's scientific and non-scientific work continued to circulate broadly after his death, the following generations were quite reluctant to adopt Ibn Ezra's peculiar scientific terminology.» — El desenlace que Sela consigna: pese a que su obra siguió circulando ampliamente tras su muerte, las generaciones siguientes fueron reacias a adoptar su terminología

«Therefore, these bizarre words failed to reflect the basic fact that the new scientific Hebrew vocabulary was, in actuality, an offspring of the Arabic scientific lexicon.» — Y la razón que da: esas palabras extrañas no reflejaban el hecho básico de que el nuevo vocabulario científico hebreo era en realidad hijo del léxico científico árabe

«On the other hand, very different was the fortune of the word mishpatim, which took root and inserted itself firmly in medieval Hebrew language, as did the word iudicia in the Latin languages.» — La excepción, dicha sin armonizar con lo anterior: *mishpatim* sí arraigó con firmeza en el hebreo medieval, como *iudicia* en las lenguas latinas

«We therefore propose to focus attention on a specific part of Ibn Ezra's work, that is, the introductions to some of his astrological treatises.» — Al abrir la tercera parte Sela repite su recurso metodológico: concentrarse en las introducciones de algunos tratados astrológicos

«These introductions, written in a brilliant, incisive and extremely concise Hebrew, were not only meant to arouse the reader's interest in the book, but also presented his singular and personal view about the astrological subject to be dealt with, and even beyond that.» — Y la razón, ahora con un añadido: ahí Ibn Ezra no solo busca despertar el interés del lector sino que expone su visión personal del asunto astrológico, y aun más allá

«The Double Rhythm of Human History Abraham the Spaniard said: Every scholar learning the science of the judgments of the zodiacal signs (.(Jokhmat mi$hpefei ha-mazalot)2 who is not acquainted with the superior science (bokhmah 'elyionah) will sometimes be found to have made erroneous astrological judgments.» — La advertencia con que abre el *Sefer ha-Moladot*, en traducción de Sela: todo estudioso de la ciencia de los juicios de los signos zodiacales que no conozca la ciencia superior emitirá a veces juicios astrológicos erróneos

«Every scholar learning the science of the judgments of the zodiacal signs (.(Jokhmat mi$hpefei ha-mazalot)2 who is not acquainted with the superior science (bokhmah 'elyionah) will sometimes be found to have made erroneous astrological judgments. For he has not been wary of matters that call for caution. And I will make an important statement: universal [astrological] judgments override particular [astrological] judgments, with respect to which I now present eight rules:» — Y la tesis que enuncia en seguida, con sus ocho reglas por delante: los juicios astrológicos universales prevalecen sobre los particulares

«Sefer ha-Moladot is not a general astrological textbook but a specialized treatise concerned with genethlialogical astrology (nativities), a specific branch of astrology whose main purpose is to determine the life history of individuals based upon a detailed study of the horoscope drawn at the exact moment of their birth.» — Sela recuerda de qué libro se trata: no un manual general sino un tratado de astrología genetlíaca, que determina la vida del individuo por el horóscopo del momento exacto del nacimiento

«On the other hand, 'superior science' (bokhmah 'elyionah) is a peculiar and extremely rare term.» — El término *ḥokhmah 'elyonah*, ciencia superior, es para Sela peculiar y rarísimo

«In fact, a thorough exploration of Ibn Ezra's whole literary work reveals that the term 'superior science' stems from his biblical commentaries, and from there it was transferred to Seier ha-Moladot, in which one finds the only occurrence of the term in Ibn Ezra's whole scientific corpus.» — Y su rastreo declara el resultado: el término viene de los comentarios bíblicos y esta es su única aparición en todo el corpus científico

«On the other hand, Ibn Ezra enumerated those who were not summoned by the king because of their inability to interpret his dream: the sages proficient in geometry, arithmetic, proportions between numerical values, psychology, and, finally, those acquainted with the 'superior science'.» — Quiénes quedan fuera en el comentario a Daniel 2:2: los peritos en geometría, aritmética, proporciones y psicología, y los conocedores de la ciencia superior

«'science of the judgments of the zodiacal signs' represents a specific branch of science amongst many others, one that affords only partial and restricted knowledge.» — Frente a esa ciencia superior, la de los juicios de los signos es para Ibn Ezra una rama entre muchas, que da un saber solo parcial y restringido

«It follows, therefore, that Ibn Ezra begins his introduction by urging the reader to significantly enlarge the scope of his study and be acquainted with the comprehensive 'superior science', and not to rely solely on the 'science of the judgments of the zodiacal signs', that is, on the specific department of science dealing with astrology.» — De donde la exhortación con que abre: ensanchar el estudio hasta la ciencia superior y no apoyarse solo en la astrología

«Put simply, only an acquaintance with a comprehensive science can prevent the astrologer from making erroneous astrological judgments.» — Dicho llanamente, según Sela: solo el conocimiento de una ciencia comprensiva impide al astrólogo emitir juicios erróneos

«In other words: the macro-astrological judgments concerned with general human affairs have the power to override and annul the micro-astrological judgments which are limited in scope to the individual's life.» — La traducción operativa de la tesis: los juicios macroastrológicos sobre los asuntos humanos generales pueden anular los microastrológicos, limitados a la vida del individuo

«Actually, behind this general law, Ibn Ezra was presenting his overall vision of history, formulated in a clearly astrological milieu and couched in astrological terms, those with which he was best acquainted.» — Lo que Sela lee detrás de esa ley: la visión entera de la historia que Ibn Ezra tenía, formulada en medio astrológico y dicha en términos astrológicos

«In his opinion, human history is determined by astrological decrees which have a dual character.» — Esa visión, en su núcleo: la historia humana la determinan decretos astrológicos de carácter doble

«On the one hand, human history is shaped discretely, affecting the lives of separate human beings in a particular and specific way; on the other hand, the astrological decrees influence humankind collectively, affecting broad classes of people as well as their natural environment.» — Y sus dos caras: por un lado la historia se moldea de manera discreta, en la vida de cada ser humano; por otro, los decretos actúan colectivamente sobre clases enteras de gente y sobre su entorno natural

«However modem the flavor of this dual pattern of human history,6 Abraham Ibn Ezra was not entirely a trailblazer.» — Sela acota la originalidad con una doble negación: por moderno que suene ese patrón doble, Ibn Ezra no fue del todo un abridor de caminos

«He was emulating Claudius Ptolemy, both in adopting this dual pattern of human history and in the way he organized his astrological work.» — Porque en eso, dice, emulaba a Claudio Ptolomeo, tanto en el patrón como en el modo de organizar su obra astrológica

«Since prognostication by astronomical means is divided into two great and principal parts, and since the first and more universal is that which relates to whole, races, countries and cities, which is called general (6 Ka90Au::oV), and the second and more specific is that which relate~ to individual men, which is called genethlialogical (6 YEvE9AlaAoY1KoV),» — El pasaje del *Tetrabiblos* en que Sela apoya esa filiación: la predicción por medios astronómicos se divide en dos partes principales, la general, que mira razas, países y ciudades, y la genetlíaca, que mira a los hombres individuales

«we believe it fitting to treat first of the general division, because such matters are naturally swayed by greater and more powerful causes than are particular events.» — Y la razón que Ptolomeo da para tratar primero la general: esos asuntos los mueven causas mayores y más poderosas que las de los sucesos particulares

«In addition to the first group of general reference books, designed to describe, teach and explain the fundamentals of astrology (Reshit /fokhmah, Seier ha- Te 'amim, Mishpetei ha-Mazalot), Ibn Ezra composed two central astrological treatises treating separately both aspects of the dual view of human history: Seier ha- 'Olam (Book of the Wodd), dealing with universal astrology, and Seier ha-Moladot, addressing genethlialogical astrology.» — La correspondencia que Sela traza en la obra de Ibn Ezra: además de los libros de consulta general, dos tratados centrales, el *Sefer ha-'Olam* para la astrología universal y el *Sefer ha-Moladot* para la genetlíaca

«after stating the main thesis, Ibn Ezra proceeded to introduce in detail eight macro-astrological rules which illustrate and corroborate the main idea presented in the first lines of the introduction: "universal judgments override particular judgments» — Y lo que viene tras la tesis: ocho reglas macroastrológicas que la ilustran y la sostienen

«We learn from the following passage that Ibn Ezra regarded national affiliation as a crucial collective trait which has the power to set aside the particular fate of individuals:» — Lo que Sela lee en la regla de la nacionalidad: Ibn Ezra tiene la pertenencia nacional por rasgo colectivo capaz de dejar sin efecto el destino particular del individuo

«configuration of his horoscope detenmne that he will become a king, it is not appropriate that [the astrologer] should pronounce the judgment that this Israelite will be crowned king.» — La regla en su formulación literal, traducida por Sela: aunque el horóscopo determine que el israelita será rey, no conviene que el astrólogo pronuncie ese juicio; el OCR imprime *detenmne*

«the new-born will be close to kings, he will mingle with kings and run affairs with them, but he himself will not become a king.» — Lo que en su lugar ha de decirse: que el recién nacido estará cerca de los reyes, se mezclará con ellos y llevará asuntos con ellos, pero no será rey

«Thus this individual power cannot abrogate the more general force.» — El principio que la regla ilustra: el poder individual no puede derogar la fuerza más general

«The Israelite is presented as being subject to the influence of two conflicting astrological agents.» — La tensión que Sela subraya: el israelita queda bajo la influencia de dos agentes astrológicos en conflicto

«As if to emphasize their great impact, the 'great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter' is assigned the enormous power of causing the continuous exile of the Jewish nation.» — Al primero, la gran conjunción de Saturno y Júpiter, se le adjudica el poder enorme de causar el exilio continuo de la nación judía

«In other words: to illustrate the power of national affiliation to set aside the particular fate of individuals, the 'great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter' is shown by Ibn Ezra as determining the main feature of Jewish history as he himself knew it in his own tirnes.» — Y lo que Sela lee ahí: para ilustrar la fuerza de la pertenencia nacional, Ibn Ezra hace de esa conjunción la que determina el rasgo principal de la historia judía tal como él la conocía; el OCR imprime *tirnes*

«On the one hand, it is utterly inconceivable that an Israelite should become a king, since all Israelites belong to a nation without territory or selfgovernment, decreed by the 'great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter' to remain permanently in exile.» — El primer cuerno de la contradicción: es del todo inconcebible que un israelita llegue a rey, perteneciendo a una nación sin territorio ni gobierno propio, condenada por esa conjunción al exilio permanente; el impreso parte *self-government* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une

«On the other hand, the Jew, like any other individual human being, may be destined to be crowned a king as the result of a special configuration of the stars at the moment of his birth.» — Y el segundo: como cualquier individuo, el judío puede estar destinado a ser coronado por una configuración especial de los astros al nacer

«In this bizarre state of affairs, Ibn Ezra strives to assert that, powerful as the macro-astrological sway of the 'great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter' may appear, the personal astrological influence still continues to playa considerable role in concrete human history.» — La salida que Ibn Ezra busca, según Sela: por poderoso que sea el influjo macroastrológico de la gran conjunción, la influencia astrológica personal sigue teniendo un papel considerable en la historia concreta

«Indeed, the Jew will not be a king himself; however, he will be a courtier, that is, as an attendant of kings the Jew will be close to them, will mingle and manage affairs with them.» — Y su forma concreta: el judío no será rey, sino cortesano, cercano a los reyes y ocupado en sus asuntos

«The figure of the Jewish courtier is not a figment of imagination or literary fancy.» — Sela niega que esa figura sea invención literaria o fantasía

«Moreover, it is plausible to maintain that Ibn Ezra's reference to the Jewish courtier in his Seier ha-Moladot is nothing more than a reflection of his own biography: when residing in Italy, a few years before he wrote Seier ha-Moladot, Ibn Ezra possibly gave astrological services to an important Christian personage of Pisa.» — Y propone, como verosímil, que la referencia al cortesano judío refleje la propia biografía de Ibn Ezra, que en Italia habría dado servicios astrológicos a un personaje cristiano importante de Pisa

«In all likelihood, it was to meet a request made by this Pisan magnate that Ibn Ezra wrote Liber de rationibus tabularum, that is, the Latin version of his Seier Ta 'amei ha-Lubot (Book of the Reasons Behind Astronomical Tables).» — A ese encargo atribuye, con su probabilidad declarada, la composición del *Liber de rationibus tabularum*

«Likewise, if in the natal horoscope of an Israelite we find that the planet Saturn is in the ninth horoscopic house, that circumstance will not signity that his religious belief will be wrong, but if the [same] natal horoscope applies to the births of Ishmaelites, that will be the case.» — La segunda regla, en traducción de Sela: Saturno en la casa novena del horóscopo de un israelita no significa que su creencia religiosa sea errónea, y sí lo significa si el mismo horóscopo es de ismaelitas

«Ibn Ezra explores in this passage the influence that the planets exert on the religious belief of an Israelite and a Muslim.» — Lo que el pasaje explora, según Sela: la influencia de los planetas sobre la creencia religiosa de un israelita y de un musulmán

«As early as in Tetrabiblos, we find that Claudius Ptolemy named the place of the natal chart which corresponds to the ninth horoscopic house as the "House the God".» — El linaje de esa casa novena: ya en el *Tetrabiblos* Ptolomeo la nombra la casa del dios

«As for Arabic astrological sources, in the epitome Ibn Hibinta wrote of Masha'llah's Fi al-qircmat wa 'l-adycm wa 'I-milal (On Conjunctions and Peoples and Religions), the ninth house is labeled "the house of prophecy", in close connection with the founding of Christian and Muslim religions.» — Y en las fuentes árabes: el epítome que Ibn Hibinta hizo del libro de Masha'allah sobre conjunciones, pueblos y religiones la llama la casa de la profecía, en estrecha relación con la fundación de las religiones cristiana y musulmana

«AbU Ma'shar, for his part, named the ninth horoscopic house as "the place of faith".» — Abu Ma'shar, por su parte, la llama el lugar de la fe

«Both Tacitus (56-120), probably the greatest Roman historian,18 and St. Augustine (354--430), bishop of Hippo in Roman Africa and the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity,19 acknowledged that a special link connects Saturn to the Jews.» — El linaje del vínculo entre Saturno y los judíos, según Sela: Tácito y san Agustín reconocen ya un lazo especial; el volumen imprime las fechas de Agustín con doble guion, que aquí es raya y no corte de renglón

«However, the special name given to Saturn in the post-biblical Hebrew language attests to the fact that Jewish society of late antiquity was aware of some association between Saturn and the Jews: Saturn was called Shabtay in the Babylonian Talmud.» — Y el nombre hebreo posbíblico lo atestigua: en el Talmud de Babilonia Saturno se llama *Shabtay*

«Ibn Ezra, too, presented in Reshit /fokhmah and in the first version of Sefer ha- Te 'amim lists of planets and their links to nations: Saturn governs the Jews, the Christians are under the influence of the Sun, and Venus governs the Arabs and all those who believe in the Mohammedan religion.» — El reparto de planetas y naciones que Ibn Ezra da en el *Reshit Ḥokhmah* y en la primera versión del *Sefer ha-Te'amim*: Saturno gobierna a los judíos, el sol a los cristianos y Venus a los árabes y a quienes creen en la religión de Mahoma

«The idea of Saturn as the planet of the Jews pervaded the intellectual climate of Muslim22 and Christian23 society during the Middle Ages till the beginning of the Modem Era.» — El alcance que Sela le da a esa idea: impregnó el clima intelectual de la sociedad musulmana y de la cristiana durante la Edad Media hasta el comienzo de la era moderna

«Greek and Arabic astrology considered Saturn the most malignant among the seven planets.» — Y el lugar de Saturno en esa astrología: el más maligno de los siete planetas

«Saturn, when he gains sole dominance, is in general the cause of destruction by cold, and in particular, when the event concerns men, causes long illness, consumptions, withering, disturbances caused by fluids, rheumatisms, and quartan fevers, exile, poverty, imprisonment, mourning, fears, and deaths, especially among those advanced in age» — El pasaje de Ptolomeo que lo detalla, en la traducción que Sela cita: Saturno solo en el dominio causa destrucción por frío, y en los hombres enfermedades largas, consunciones, reumatismos, fiebres cuartanas, exilio, pobreza, cárcel, duelo, temores y muertes, sobre todo entre los entrados en años

«Ibn Ezra described the planet Saturn as possessing the most negative and gloomy attributes.» — Los atributos que Ibn Ezra da a Saturno, según Sela: los más negativos y sombríos

«In Reshit IJokhmah he wrote that "its nature is very pernicious; it denotes destruction, ruin, death, affliction, weeping, grief, complaint, and ancient things".» — En el *Reshit Ḥokhmah*, en traducción de Sela: su naturaleza es muy perniciosa; denota destrucción, ruina, muerte, aflicción, llanto, duelo, queja y cosas antiguas

«Ibn Ezra went on to assert that Saturn "is cold and dry, and since death is mainly coldness mixed with dryness, Saturn denotes death, sadness and suffering".» — Y la razón física que le adjudica: siendo frío y seco, y siendo la muerte sobre todo frío mezclado con sequedad, Saturno denota muerte, tristeza y sufrimiento

«The natural inference to be made was that the Jews, too, who were considered astrologically connected to and governed by Saturn, ought to be contaminated by the malignant and wicked nature of Saturn.» — La inferencia incómoda que de ahí se sigue, y que Sela pone por delante: los judíos, gobernados astrológicamente por Saturno, quedarían contaminados por su naturaleza maligna

«Saturn is a malefic, and its nature is cold and dry, black bile, dark; it is ill-smelling.» — El retrato árabe de Saturno que Sela cita: maléfico, de naturaleza fría y seca, de bilis negra, oscuro y maloliente

«If it (Jupiter) is mixed with Saturn, it indicates that the faith of the people of that religion is Judaism, which is similar to the essence of Saturn, since the [ other] planets apply to it, and it does not apply to any planet among them.» — El reparto de religiones por mezcla planetaria que Sela toma de Abu Ma'shar: Júpiter mezclado con Saturno indica el judaísmo, semejante a la esencia de Saturno, al que los demás planetas se aplican sin que él se aplique a ninguno

«If the mixer with it is Mars, it indicates the worship of fire and the faith of Mazdaism.» — Con Marte, el culto del fuego y la fe mazdea

«If the mixer with it is the Sun, it indicates the worship of the planets, idols and the marvellous.» — Con el sol, el culto de los planetas, de los ídolos y de lo maravilloso

«If the mixer with it is Venus, it indicates revealed religion, and monotheism, like Islam and the like.» — Con Venus, la religión revelada y el monoteísmo, como el islam

«If the mixer with it is Mercury, it indicates Christianity and every faith containing antipathy, doubt and trouble.» — Con Mercurio, el cristianismo y toda fe que encierre antipatía, duda y conflicto

«If the mixer with it is the Moon, it indicates doubts, confusion, denying God all attributes, apostasy and distrust in the faith.» — Y con la luna, dudas, confusión, negación de todo atributo a Dios, apostasía y desconfianza en la fe

«Although Ibn Ezra was obviously indebted to Abu Ma'shar or other Arabic astrologers for his basic ideas, he was at the same time fairly original in the ways he applied his ideas in the context of a Hebrew astrology.» — El juicio que Sela emite sobre esa deuda, con las dos mitades a la vista: Ibn Ezra debe a Abu Ma'shar o a otros astrólogos árabes las ideas básicas y es a la vez bastante original en cómo las aplica dentro de una astrología hebrea

«But, on the other hand, Saturn is a star which exerts a special collective influence over nations and religions, and it is regarding this special quality that Saturn is considered as the planet of the Jews.» — La doble cara de Saturno: además de maléfico, es un astro que ejerce influencia colectiva sobre naciones y religiones, y por esa cualidad se le tiene por el planeta de los judíos

«Accordingly, as Saturn is not the planet of the Muslims, the malefic planet behaves towards them in a regularly damaging way, and causes harm to their religious belief.» — De donde, no siendo el planeta de los musulmanes, se comporta con ellos del modo dañino habitual y perjudica su creencia religiosa

«But since Saturn is the planet of the Jews, the malefic planet does not exert on the Jews its typical, adverse influence, and does not molest them in the observance of their religious belief.» — Y con los judíos no ejerce esa influencia adversa ni les estorba la observancia de su creencia

«If Saturn is in the ninth horoscopic house of a Jew, his religious faith will be strengthened, but if Saturn is in the ninth horoscopic house of a Christian or of a Muslim, their religious faith will be weakened.» — La regla que de ahí resulta: Saturno en la casa novena fortalece la fe del judío y debilita la del cristiano o la del musulmán

«If the Sun is in the ninth horoscopic house of a Christian, his religious faith will be made stronger, but if the Sun is in the ninth horoscopic house of a Jew or of a Muslim, their religious faith will became weaker.» — Con el sol la simetría se invierte: fortalece la fe del cristiano y debilita la del judío y la del musulmán

«If Mars is in the ninth horoscopic house of a Muslim, his religious faith will be strengthened, but if Mars is in the ninth horoscopic house of a Christian or ofa Jew, their religious faith will be weakened.» — Y Marte fortalece la del musulmán y debilita la del cristiano y la del judío

«However loaded the subject of the link: between astrological influence and the religious faith of the three monotheistic communities, Ibn Ezra's approach may be quite surely regarded as free from any inclination to engage in religious polemics.» — El juicio de Sela sobre el tono: por cargado que sea el asunto, el enfoque de Ibn Ezra puede tenerse por libre de toda inclinación a la polémica religiosa

«At most, one may perceive in his statements an apologetic stance taken to account for and justify the embarrassing connection of the Jews with Saturn.» — Lo más que se percibe, dice, es una postura apologética para justificar la incómoda conexión de los judíos con Saturno

«Instead, he removed the sting of this embarrassing connection by stressing, on the one hand, that Saturn favors the religious faith of the Jew, and, on the other hand, by making the collective fate of the Jews vis-a-vis the planets similar to that of the other monotheistic religions.» — Y cómo le quita el aguijón: subrayando que Saturno favorece la fe del judío y equiparando el destino colectivo de los judíos frente a los planetas al de las otras religiones monoteístas

«By means of the Hebrew word 'am, meaning 'nation', he construed national affiliation as a macro-astrological rule, and ascribed to it quite definite properties.» — La operación conceptual que Sela le atribuye: con la palabra hebrea *'am*, nación, convierte la pertenencia nacional en regla macroastrológica con propiedades definidas

«First of all, the concept of 'nationality' which emerges from Ibn Ezra's ideas is chiefly synonymous with the notion of 'religion'.» — Y el contenido de ese concepto: la nacionalidad que se desprende de sus ideas es principalmente sinónimo de religión

«the favorable influence of Saturn on the Jews is achieved on condition that the Jews keep the fourth commandment ("Remember the Shabbat day, to keep it holy") and abstain from occupying themselves with everyday matters on Saturday, the day in which Saturn is specially harmful.» — La condición que Sela subraya: el favor de Saturno se logra si los judíos guardan el cuarto mandamiento y se abstienen de ocuparse en asuntos cotidianos el sábado, día en que Saturno es especialmente dañino

«For if the subject for whom a horoscope has been cast is born in Ethiopia and in the ascendant33 of his horoscope we find Venus together with the Moon, we will not maintain that the outcome of his horoscope will be similar to [the outcome of similar horoscopes belonging to] people who reside in other climates. Accordingly, only in the case of people dwelling in the same climate will we consider a similar outcome for [horoscopes based on] similar configurations of the stars.» — La segunda regla, sobre el entorno geográfico, en traducción de Sela: solo en quienes viven en el mismo clima se dará un resultado semejante para configuraciones semejantes de los astros

«Therefore, even though the temperament (toledet)34 of this Ethiopian will not be as balanced as should be, we will judge that he will be cleverer and wiser than his fellow-countrymen (that is, than the people dwelling in his own climate).» — El ejemplo etíope: aunque su temperamento no sea tan equilibrado como debiera, se juzgará que será más listo y sabio que sus paisanos del mismo clima

«It is not the complete geographical setting so much as the seven climates with which the second macro-astrological rule is concerned.» — La precisión de Sela: lo que esa regla mira no es el marco geográfico entero sino los siete climas

«the second macro-astrological rule postulates that dwelling in a specific geographical climate has a more powerful bearing on human destiny than the outcome of the individual horoscope.» — Y su postulado: vivir en un clima determinado pesa más sobre el destino humano que el resultado del horóscopo individual

«In other words, Ibn Ezra's main intent in this macro-astrological rule was to state that human beings having similar horoscopes will meet a different fate because they live in different climates.» — Dicho de otro modo: personas con horóscopos semejantes tendrán suertes distintas por vivir en climas distintos

«Ibn Ezra borrowed the general idea as well as the particular example related to the Ethiopian from a special chapter in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos devoted to the study of the "characteristics of the inhabitants of the general climes» — La filiación de esa regla, según Sela: la idea general y el ejemplo etíope vienen de un capítulo del *Tetrabiblos* sobre los rasgos de los habitantes de los climas

«So, for example, Aries, a zodiacal sign generating mild temperature, neither cold nor hot, was associated by Ibn Ezra with the third climate, which is characterized by a mild and pleasant weather.» — Un ejemplo de la correspondencia entre signos y climas: Aries, de temperatura suave, se asocia al tercer clima, de clima apacible

«Consequently, Saturn was associated with the first climate, Jupiter with the second, Mars with the third, and so on.» — Y la de planetas y climas: Saturno con el primero, Júpiter con el segundo, Marte con el tercero

«Ibn Ezra noted that astrologers commonly choose between two different systems to compute the horoscopic houses.» — El problema técnico de la tercera regla: los astrólogos eligen entre dos sistemas para calcular las casas del horóscopo

«the second system, named 'the rising times division' (l;Jiluq ha-mi$adim), is based on the computation of the rising times, that is, how many degrees of the equator cross the horizon of a given locality simultaneously with the consecutive zodiacal signs.» — El segundo de esos sistemas, la división por tiempos de salida, cuenta cuántos grados del ecuador cruzan el horizonte de un lugar junto con los signos sucesivos

«Universal precepts: When you inquire about universal affairs you should take heed of every great, middle or lesser conjunction [of Saturn and Jupiter] as well as of the revolutions of the world-year. You should, however, distinguish between them.» — El precepto universal, en su traducción: al inquirir sobre asuntos universales hay que atender a toda conjunción grande, media o menor y a las revoluciones del año del mundo, distinguiendo entre ellas

«Good or evil stemming from a great conjunction is universal, and will persist until another great conjunction occurs which brings about a new system that will do away with the influence of the previous one. Great conjunctions determine general affairs concerning nations and peoples. Middle conjunctions hold sway over the kings of nations and peoples. Lesser conjunctions have the power to add or lessen in affairs of state or kingdom, and after twenty years the power of this conjunction vanishes.» — Lo que alcanza cada tipo: el bien o el mal de una gran conjunción es universal y dura hasta que otra gran conjunción trae un sistema nuevo; las grandes deciden los asuntos generales de naciones y pueblos, las medias mandan sobre sus reyes, y las menores añaden o quitan en asuntos de estado y a los veinte años se desvanecen

«The revolution of the world-year has power over eventualities happening as it were by chance, but rapidly loses its influence as soon as the power of a new revolution of the world-year is felt.» — La revolución del año del mundo manda en lo que ocurre como por azar y pierde su influjo apenas se siente el de una revolución nueva

«If two children are born at one and the same time and in the same city, one of them the son of a member of the royalty and the other the son of a servant, and the horoscope of both of them predicts that they will ascend to high social rank and assume supreme power, then the son of a member of the royalty will become a king and the son of the servant will become a merchant.» — La regla del rango social, en traducción de Sela: dos niños nacidos a la misma hora en la misma ciudad, uno hijo de la realeza y otro de un sirviente, con horóscopos que a los dos prometen rango alto y poder supremo, darán un rey y un mercader

«Thus, if the personal horoscope of a king determines that he will make war, then he will drag into war a multitude of people whose horoscopes do not determine at all that any of them will change their location.» — La regla del poder político: si el horóscopo del rey determina que hará la guerra, arrastrará a ella a una multitud cuyos horóscopos no indican que vayan a cambiar de lugar

«Ibn Ezra regarded the 'seven climates' not so much as a contrived geographical parameter, artificially created by scientists to map the oekumene, but as a real and natural property created by God and embedded in the earth as an integral part of the divine plan of world creation.» — Lo que los siete climas son para Ibn Ezra, según Sela: no un parámetro geográfico inventado por los científicos para trazar el mundo habitado, sino propiedad real y natural creada por Dios como parte del plan de la creación

«Jerusalem, because of its particular location at the middle of the seven climates, is a place bound to receive a particularly favorable astrological influence.» — De ahí el privilegio de Jerusalén: por su posición en medio de los siete climas, recibe una influencia astrológica especialmente favorable

«And it is known that the latitude of Jerusalem is 33°, that is, the middle of oekumene.» — El dato que lo sostiene, en traducción de Sela: la latitud de Jerusalén es de 33 grados, el medio del mundo habitado

«it is impossible that upright people, capable of receiving wisdom, should be found anywhere except in the middle three sections.» — Y su consecuencia: es imposible que se hallen gente recta y capaz de recibir sabiduría fuera de las tres secciones centrales

«the inhabitants of Jerusalem, however handicapped with an unfavorable individual horoscope, are fit to receive wisdom» — El contraste que la regla traza: los habitantes de Jerusalén, por desfavorable que sea su horóscopo individual, son aptos para recibir sabiduría

«Ethiopians, however favored by the planet Mercury in their personal horoscope,43 will not be wise in any sort of sciences, because they are born in one of the most extreme climates.» — Y al revés: los etíopes, por favorecidos que estén por Mercurio en su horóscopo personal, no serán sabios en ninguna ciencia por nacer en uno de los climas extremos

«The 'great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter' already appeared in the first macro-astrological rule (see above, p. 149), as an illustrative tool demonstrating the macro-astrological power of national affiliation.» — Sela sigue el mismo agente astrológico por dos reglas: la gran conjunción de Saturno y Júpiter ya había servido en la primera como ilustración

«Now the same astrological agent appears once again at the very core of the third macro-astrological rule, not as an illustration, but as a major macro-astrological rule in its own right.» — Y en la tercera vuelve, ya no como ilustración sino como regla macroastrológica por derecho propio

«First, because amongst the diverse and multiple astrological agents introduced by him in his introduction, these two were the most representative and most typical techniques employed in macro-astrology.» — La primera razón que Sela da para esa pareja: entre los muchos agentes astrológicos, esos dos eran las técnicas más representativas de la macroastrología

«Second, because both astrological agents are mentioned in Ibn Ezra's astrological sources in the same order and in close connection one to the other.» — Y la segunda: las fuentes astrológicas de Ibn Ezra los nombran en el mismo orden y estrechamente ligados

«The specific area chosen by Ibn Ezra to illustrate the powerful effect of both astrological agents is a medieval city, convulsed by war and disease.» — El escenario que Ibn Ezra escoge para mostrar su efecto: una ciudad medieval sacudida por la guerra y la enfermedad

«Thus, if the power of the conjunction determines that a certain city will be plunged into war, all the inhabitants born in that city which is destined to go to war will be killed, even though their personal horoscopes do not indicate that they will be put to the sword.» — El ejemplo, en traducción de Sela: si la conjunción determina que una ciudad se hundirá en la guerra, morirán todos sus nacidos aunque sus horóscopos personales no indiquen que caerán a espada

«In view of the devastating and powerful influence attributed to both macro-astrological agents, little wonder that after presenting them, Ibn Ezra did not refrain from repeating for a second time the main thesis of his introduction: "The astrological judgments working on particulars have no power to annul universal astrological judgments.» — Tras exponer los dos agentes, Ibn Ezra repite la tesis: los juicios astrológicos que actúan sobre particulares no pueden anular los universales

«The conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter and the revolution of the world-year were considered by Arabic medieval astrology, following Sassanian sources, as chief astrological tools in analyzing history and forecasting future collective events.» — El lugar de esos dos agentes en su tradición: la astrología árabe medieval, siguiendo fuentes sasánidas, los tenía por herramientas principales para analizar la historia y pronosticar sucesos colectivos

«Both versions of Seier ha- 'Olam describe at the outset, closely following Abu Ma'shar's Kitab al-qiranat, the periodic conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter, which are divided into three main types:» — Las dos versiones del *Sefer ha-'Olam* siguen de cerca el *Kitab al-qiranat* de Abu Ma'shar al repartir las conjunciones de Saturno y Júpiter en tres tipos

«According to Hindu cosmological theories, as Ibn Ezra relates in some of his scientific works, the world undergoes long and recurrent cycles of creation and destruction; creation, however, occurs when all the planets meet in conjunction in the head of Aries.» — La cosmología que Ibn Ezra refiere: para las teorías indias el mundo pasa por ciclos largos y recurrentes de creación y destrucción, y la creación ocurre cuando todos los planetas se juntan en la cabeza de Aries

«Even though the revolution of the world-year seems to have a distinct and different nature from the conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter, both are mentioned in medieval astrological sources in close connection one to the other.» — La razón del emparejamiento, dicha con la objeción por delante: aunque la revolución del año del mundo parezca de naturaleza distinta, las fuentes astrológicas medievales la nombran junto a las conjunciones

«Ibn Ezra referred fairly frequently to vernal-equinox horoscopes in his astrological works, where we read about their influence over the life and longevity of kings, over wars, and over sudden and unexpected rising prices.» — Lo que esas revoluciones gobiernan según Ibn Ezra: la vida y la longevidad de los reyes, las guerras y las subidas repentinas de precios

«The first is Masha'llah (762-ca.815), a Jewish convert to Islam from Ba~ra, who introduced Sassanian astrology to the Arabs and to the 'Abbasid court.» — El primer transmisor que Sela nombra: Masha'allah, judío de Basora convertido al islam, que introdujo la astrología sasánida entre los árabes y en la corte abasí

«Most interesting for the historian of astrology and astronomy is Masha'llah's Fi al-qiranat wa 'I-adyan wa 'I-milal (On Conjunctions and Peoples and Religions) surviving in an epitome by Ibn Hibintii, a work which attempted to fit world history into the framework of a series of conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter and revolutions of the world-year, and explained the vicissitudes of world history by the special characteristics of these two astrological agents.» — Y su obra sobre conjunciones, pueblos y religiones, conservada en un epítome de Ibn Hibinta, que encajaba la historia del mundo en una serie de conjunciones de Saturno y Júpiter y revoluciones del año del mundo

«Ibn Ezra referred directly to this treatise, employing the name Sefer Abu Mashar ba-ma1;1barot, that is, Abu Ma'shar's Book on Conjunctions, but did so very critically, in the introduction to the first version of Sefer ha- 'Olam.» — La remisión de Ibn Ezra al libro de las conjunciones de Abu Ma'shar, hecha —como subraya Sela— de manera muy crítica

«Ibn Ezra explained the reasons behind the combination of the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter and the vernal-equinox in the first version of Sefer ha- 'Olam, in which he described an interesting chain of data-transmission: "Doronius the King (that is, Dorotheus of Sidon, of the first century A.D.) said that he found in the Book of Secrets by Enoch (who represents Hermetic traditions) that at the vernal-equinox of those years in which there occurs a great, a middle or a lesser conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, man is commanded to always observe the places of the planets at the time when the Sun enters the sign of Aries.» — La cadena de transmisión que Ibn Ezra traza, en traducción de Sela: Doroteo el Rey dice haber hallado en el Libro de los Secretos de Enoc el mandato de observar los lugares de los planetas al entrar el sol en Aries en los años de conjunción

«It turns out that the periods of the three types of conjunctions as well as of the revolution of the world-year mark the rhythm of human history, at almost all its levels. These periods (960, 240, 20 and 1 year) are the intervals of time in which the dominance of each of those astrological agents still continues to be felt.» — Lo que Sela deriva del conjunto: esos periodos —960, 240, 20 y un año— marcan el ritmo de la historia humana en casi todos sus niveles

«In addition, the length of these periods is directly proportional to the historical significance of the macro-astrological influence exerted by each of those astrological agents.» — Y su proporción: la duración de cada periodo es directamente proporcional a la importancia histórica de la influencia que ejerce ese agente

«Longterm periods cause epoch-making events, whereas short-term periods bring about eventualities of little consequence.» — Dicho en corto: los periodos largos producen sucesos que hacen época y los cortos, eventualidades de poca consecuencia; el impreso parte *Long-term* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une

«These two rules provide an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the mentality and socio-political awareness of a twelfth-century astrologer such as Abraham Ibn Ezra.» — Lo que Sela dice ver en las reglas del rango social y del poder político: la mentalidad y la conciencia sociopolítica de un astrólogo del siglo XII

«Social status arising from family standing and political power behind a royal house are not viewed by him as sociological factors created by a combination of structural and anonymous characteristics of society, or as personal factors, determined by the free will of particulars.» — Y cómo las entiende Ibn Ezra: ni como factores sociológicos nacidos de rasgos estructurales y anónimos de la sociedad, ni como factores personales decididos por la libre voluntad de los particulares

«It appears that to become a 'merchant', in Ibn Ezra's mind, is the embodiment of the successful career of a prosperous commoner, who attains high social rank and assumes supreme power even though he was not born in the purple.» — Lo que el mercader encarna para él, según Sela: la carrera exitosa de un plebeyo próspero que alcanza rango alto y poder supremo sin haber nacido en la púrpura

«Relying on our passage, however, one clearly receives the impression that this social mobility is accounted for not so much from a socioeconomic as from an astrological vantage point.» — Y la impresión que Sela declara sacar del pasaje: esa movilidad social se explica desde la astrología más que desde lo socioeconómico

«In this regard, Ibn Ezra reiterated in various astrological treatises that Jupiter is a propitious star for successful monetary operations,60 that Mercury has a special sway over merchants61, and that if the ruler star of the second horoscopic house is in the ascendant of the horoscope, the subject for whom a horoscope has been cast will meet monetary and mercantile success without effort.» — Los apoyos astrológicos de esa lectura: Júpiter propicio a las operaciones monetarias, Mercurio con mando sobre los mercaderes, y el regente de la casa segunda en el ascendente como señal de éxito mercantil sin esfuerzo

«The astrological judgments emanating from a favorable horoscope, however, are neither infallible nor wholly fulfilled.» — El límite que Ibn Ezra pone a su propio sistema: los juicios de un horóscopo favorable no son infalibles ni se cumplen del todo

«It is qualified, one may even say thwarted, by the prevailing socioeconomic infrastructures, or, as Ibn Ezra will put it, by the power derived from the social status of the family, which, in its tum, is grasped as a macro-astrological pattern.» — Qué los acota: la infraestructura socioeconómica vigente o, como lo dice Ibn Ezra, el poder que viene del rango familiar, entendido a su vez como patrón macroastrológico

«Therefore, when an extraordinary horoscope foretells that a Jew or a commoner will attain kingship, the prudent astrologer will not take this statement at its facevalue and will not allow the Jew or the commoner to cross the barrier of royal rank and power.» — La consecuencia práctica que Sela extrae de esas dos reglas: ante un horóscopo extraordinario que promete reino a un judío o a un plebeyo, el astrólogo prudente no lo tomará al pie de la letra ni les dejará cruzar la barrera del rango y el poder reales; el impreso parte *face-value* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une

«And the seventh rule is concerned with natural power (ha-toledet). If somebody embarks on a ship in the cold season and the sea becomes tempestuous, he will not survive, even though he took the precaution of assuring that in the ascendant [of the horoscope] there be Jupiter and Venus, which are favorable stars.» — La séptima regla, en traducción de Sela: toca al poder natural, la *toledet*; quien se embarque en la estación fría no sobrevivirá al temporal aunque haya cuidado de poner a Júpiter y a Venus en el ascendente

«The same holds for a thousand people embarking together in a ship - they will all die when the sea becomes stormy even though the particular horoscope of each of them determines that they will survive this year.» — Y su versión colectiva: mil personas embarcadas juntas morirán todas en la tormenta aunque el horóscopo particular de cada una prometa que sobrevivirá ese año

«But if some of them happened not to be on the sea, which is a perilous place, then he will only incur a lesser harm and will survive.» — La excepción que la propia regla trae: quien no estuviera en el mar, lugar peligroso, sufrirá un daño menor y sobrevivirá

«In a quite dramatic way, Ibn Ezra accorded the fury of the elements the power to override the personal horoscope of one thousand persons, whose fate is collectively doomed to death despite having been reassured by their personal horoscopes that they will survive the year.» — Lo que Sela lee en ese ejemplo: Ibn Ezra concede a la furia de los elementos el poder de anular el horóscopo personal de mil personas condenadas en bloque

«Man may indeed be saved to some extent from the decrees of the stars, not by canceling the decrees of the stars or by declaring them null and void, but by circumventing them.» — El margen que queda, según Sela: el hombre puede salvarse en parte de los decretos de los astros, no anulándolos ni declarándolos nulos, sino esquivándolos

«In this procedure, explained in Tetrabiblos (III, 10 and IV, 10) by Ptolemy, a certain planet - called paqid ha-bayim in Hebrew in our passage, apheta in Greek, indicator in Latin - is directed from one of the five places of life to one of the five places of death» — El procedimiento que lo permite, explicado en el *Tetrabiblos*: dirigir un planeta —*paqid ha-ḥayim* en hebreo, *apheta* en griego, *indicator* en latín— de uno de los cinco lugares de vida a uno de los cinco de muerte

«Thus the life expectancy of the subject for whom a horoscope has been cast, or the date of some especially dangerous event in his life, may be calculated beforehand.» — Con lo que puede calcularse de antemano la esperanza de vida del sujeto o la fecha de un suceso especialmente peligroso de su vida

«It emerges that despite the outright detenninistic character of the first part of the seventh rule, the fury of the elements may be predicted and avoided to some extent.» — De donde Sela concluye, contra el determinismo de la primera mitad de la regla, que la furia de los elementos puede preverse y evitarse en alguna medida; el OCR imprime *detenninistic*

«By employing the astrological technique of nihug ha-kokhav or ductus planetae, anybody who intends to embark on a maritime journey in the dangerous season, may know of threatening deadly perils on sea at some specific time, and, by applying this infonnation, may save his life and evade the decrees of the stars if he desists from putting out to sea.» — Y cómo: con el *nihug ha-kokhav* o *ductus planetae* puede conocerse el peligro mortal en el mar en un momento dado y salvarse la vida desistiendo de zarpar

«However, the desire to evade the decrees of the stars cannot be fulfilled entirely.» — El límite que Sela subraya en seguida: el deseo de esquivar los decretos de los astros no puede cumplirse por entero

«By this remark, Ibn Ezra meant that even if adversity may be prognosticated and averted to some extent, man must admit that the decrees of the stars should be provided with some outlet for making manifest, even partly, their deterministic hannful trend.» — Lo que significa, según su lectura: aun previendo y esquivando la adversidad, hay que admitir que los decretos han de tener alguna salida por donde manifestar, siquiera en parte, su tendencia dañina

«The eighth rule is concerned with the power of the wise soul (literally, the power of the soul whose power is wisdom).» — La octava regla toca el poder del alma sabia, que Sela traduce literalmente como el poder del alma cuyo poder es la sabiduría

«Consider the case of a scholar in the science of the zodiacal signs who observes in [the horoscope of] his anniversary nativity (tequfat ha-shanah) that he is bound to come down with fever at a certain time when Mars enters in the degree of the ascendant.» — Su caso ejemplar: un estudioso de la ciencia de los signos que ve en el horóscopo de su revolución anual que caerá con fiebre cuando Marte entre en el grado del ascendente

«there is no doubt that the righteous person is more protected than the scholar regarding the judgments coming from the stars, since sometimes the scholar's acuteness of judgment will be faulty, as Scripture says (Isaiah 44:25), 'and makes diviners mad'.» — Y el límite que el propio Ibn Ezra le pone al sabio: el justo está más protegido que el estudioso frente a los juicios de los astros, porque a veces la agudeza del estudioso falla, como dice Isaías 44:25

«And the second type [of astrologers] says that man by means of his wisdom can do things which are not determined by the stars, and man may even purposefully change what has been determined by the stars.» — El segundo tipo de astrólogos que Ibn Ezra describe: los que sostienen que el hombre puede hacer por su sabiduría lo que los astros no determinan, y aun cambiar a propósito lo que determinaron

«There are those who make things dependent on the human soul, and they say that the spirit of man and his soul hold a higher rank, that the soul is the fundamental quality of man, that the essence of the soul is above the stars and zodiacal signs, and that with the help of the power of the soul, man can change things that have been determined by the stars.» — La primera rama de ese segundo tipo: los que lo hacen depender del alma humana, cuya esencia está por encima de los astros y de los signos, y que con su poder puede cambiar lo determinado

«But there are others [belonging to the second type] who judge that things are dependent on Almighty God, and they say that God created in man the ability to change what has been determined by the stars.» — Y la segunda: los que lo hacen depender de Dios omnipotente, que creó en el hombre la capacidad de cambiar lo que los astros determinaron

«In any case, both types maintain that the hurts stemming from the stars may be averted.» — Lo que las dos ramas comparten: que los daños que vienen de los astros pueden evitarse

«While those [belonging to the first type] say that man should drink cold beverages in order to cool his body, the others [belonging to the second type] maintain that God will avert the calamity.» — Y en qué difieren ante la fiebre: unos mandan beber frío para enfriar el cuerpo y otros sostienen que Dios apartará la calamidad

«the wise soul too is considered by Ibn Ezra as a macro-astrological power capable of overriding the astrological judgments emanating from the particular horoscope.» — Lo que Sela adjudica al alma sabia dentro del esquema: un poder macroastrológico capaz de anular los juicios del horóscopo particular

«And yet, whereas all the previous seven rules embodied natural or sociological factors while viewing man as part of anonymous and collective whole units, the eighth» — Y a la vez la distingue de las siete anteriores: aquellas encarnaban factores naturales o sociológicos y miraban al hombre como parte de conjuntos anónimos y colectivos

«a pattern whose sources may be traced back to Plato and Aristotle, a fact of which Ibn Ezra was well aware.» — El linaje del alma tripartita, según Sela: se remonta a Platón y Aristóteles, cosa que Ibn Ezra sabía bien

«Accordingly, in several of his astrological treatises he stated that the vegetative soul is under the control of Jupiter, Venus is appointed over the animal soul, and Mercury is in charge of the wise souU9» — El reparto planetario de las tres almas que Ibn Ezra da: Júpiter sobre la vegetativa, Venus sobre la animal y Mercurio a cargo de la sabia; la llamada de nota queda pegada a la palabra

«Thus, in Ibn Ezra's opinion, the biblical vocabulary reserved three special words for each one of the three components of the composite soul:» — Y su correlato léxico: para Ibn Ezra el vocabulario bíblico reservó tres palabras propias a cada componente del alma compuesta

«The astrological aspect of the three souls doctrine plays a crucial role in Ibn Ezra's thought.» — El peso que Sela le da: el aspecto astrológico de la doctrina de las tres almas tiene papel decisivo en el pensamiento de Ibn Ezra

«In his commentary on Ecclesiastes, Abraham Ibn Ezra addressed a Talmudic tradition (Shabbat 30b) according to which the book of Ecclesiastes was in danger of being censored and banned from use because of its serious internal inconsistencies.» — El uso exegético de esa doctrina: en su comentario a Eclesiastés, Ibn Ezra encara la tradición talmúdica según la cual el libro estuvo en riesgo de ser proscrito por sus contradicciones internas

«Ibn Ezra defended the integrity of Ecclesiastes and construed its inconsistencies not as logical contradictions but as instances of the power-plays in which the three different components of the human soul are entangled when trying to overcome each other.» — Y su defensa: esas inconsistencias no son contradicciones lógicas sino episodios del pulso entre los tres componentes del alma humana

«The seat to the vegetative soul is in the liver.» — La topografía del alma en su traducción: la vegetativa tiene asiento en el hígado

«The animal soul is situated in the heart and life depends on it.» — La animal, en el corazón, y de ella depende la vida

«Man's body belongs with the lowest world, the superior soul is connected to the body, and there are intermediaries between the body and the soul.» — Y el conjunto: el cuerpo pertenece al mundo más bajo, el alma superior está unida al cuerpo y hay intermediarios entre uno y otra

«God gave the Torah to strengthen, to intensify, and to increase the power of the superior soul.» — La función que Ibn Ezra adjudica a la Torá: fortalecer, intensificar y acrecentar el poder del alma superior

«However, if the Torah is not observed, then the body overpowers the soul.» — Y su reverso: si no se observa la Torá, el cuerpo domina al alma

«Accordingly, people may fall into twenty-seven different categories.» — La consecuencia clasificatoria que Sela consigna: la gente puede repartirse en veintisiete categorías según la fuerza relativa de sus tres almas

«On the one hand, he plainly maintained that the wise soul, much in the same manner as the other two souls, is connected to the body.» — La tensión que Sela deja sin armonizar: por un lado Ibn Ezra sostiene sin rodeos que el alma sabia, como las otras dos, está unida al cuerpo

«On the other hand, despite this fatalistic state of affairs, Ibn Ezra named the 'wise soul' as the 'superior soul', thereby asserting that it is linked to the superior world as well.» — Y por otro la llama alma superior, con lo que afirma que está ligada también al mundo superior

«In this regard, Ibn Ezra clearly pointed to the 'Torah' as instrumental in invigorating his wise soul and, at the same time, in debilitating the power of the other two souls.» — Y el instrumento de esa ligadura: la Torá, que vigoriza el alma sabia y a la vez debilita a las otras dos

«Undoubtedly, by using the word Torah, a practicing Rabbanite Jew such as Abraham Ibn Ezra means the Torah of Moses, the Pentateuch, and the Talmudic scholarship derived from it in the course of generations.» — Qué entiende Ibn Ezra por Torá, según Sela: la Torá de Moisés, el Pentateuco, y la erudición talmúdica derivada de ella a lo largo de generaciones

«When the wise soul is "connected to the body" and is merely one among the three components of the human soul, then "the body overpowers the soul", that is, the vegetative soul is under the control of Jupiter, the animal soul under Venus, and the wise soul under Mercury.» — El estado en que el cuerpo domina al alma: la vegetativa bajo Júpiter, la animal bajo Venus y la sabia bajo Mercurio

«However, when the power of the superior soul is enhanced, then the wise soul may serve as a vehicle for the liberation of man's soul from its lowest world prison.» — Y el estado contrario: acrecentado el poder del alma superior, el alma sabia puede servir de vehículo para liberar el alma del hombre de su prisión en el mundo más bajo

«In this situation, "the body does not rule over the soul", that is, the wise soul is converted into a macro-astrological power capable of overriding the particular astrological judgments emanating from the individual horoscope.» — Ahí el alma sabia se convierte, según Sela, en poder macroastrológico capaz de anular los juicios del horóscopo individual

«Man must participate in his own process of soul liberation.» — Y la condición que Sela subraya: el hombre ha de participar en su propio proceso de liberación del alma

«The first way is epitomized by 'a scholar in the science of the zodiacal signs' (bakham be-bokhmat ha-mazalot) who is able to remedy some physical hurts inflicted upon him by the stars, by successfully combining astrology and medicine.» — Las dos vías que Ibn Ezra da: la del estudioso de la ciencia de los signos, que remedia daños físicos combinando astrología y medicina

«The second way is personified by the righteous person (ha-$adiq), who is described by Ibn Ezra as being completely saved by God's intervention from the harms preordained in his personal horoscope.» — Y la del justo, a quien Dios salva por entero de los daños preordenados en su horóscopo

«In Ibn Ezra's opinion, medicine should not be considered as a monolithic but as a dual art consisting of a 'hard' and a 'soft' version.» — La medicina, según Ibn Ezra, no es arte monolítico sino doble, con una versión dura y otra blanda

«Whereas the 'hard' version of medicine is under the sway of Mars (a maleficent planet associated with war and bloodshed), uses surgical tools and pierces the human body in order to treat the internal organs, the 'soft' version of medicine is under the power of Venus (a beneficent planet associated with sensuality and sexual passion), only touches the external surface of human body, employs natural materials such as perfumes and ointments, and heals particularly by regulating the use of food.» — El reparto de las dos: la dura bajo Marte, con instrumentos que perforan el cuerpo para tratar los órganos internos; la blanda bajo Venus, que solo toca la superficie, usa perfumes y ungüentos y cura sobre todo regulando la comida

«To be sure, Ibn Ezra drew on his astrological sources, specifically on Abu Ma'sar, to envisage this dual vision of medicine.» — La fuente de esa visión doble, según Sela: sus fuentes astrológicas, y en concreto Abu Ma'shar

«According to this special view, as a reward for the devotion of the believers, God becomes an extremely effective arch-doctor, reigning supreme over the 'hard' version of medicine, and relegating mortal physicians to a partial and limited role in the 'soft' version of medicine.» — Y su giro teológico: Dios se vuelve archimédico supremo de la medicina dura y relega a los médicos mortales al papel parcial de la blanda

«Thus, in Ibn Ezra's mind, surgical and internal medicine lies exclusively in God's province.» — De donde la cirugía y la medicina interna quedan, para Ibn Ezra, en el terreno exclusivo de Dios

«Ibn Ezra views the scholar as proceeding through two main stages.» — El procedimiento del estudioso se despliega, según Sela, en dos etapas

«In the first stage, the scholar casts a horoscope and prognosticates the future astrological event which will in due course cause him a physical hurt.» — La primera: levantar un horóscopo y pronosticar el suceso astrológico que a su tiempo le causará un daño físico

«In all likelihood Ibn Ezra's main motivation for introducing this specific astrological technique in this particular scenario was his intention to point to the anniversary nativity (tequfat ha-shanah) as the counterpart of the revolution of the world-year (tequfat ha- 'olam), thus presenting them as a pair of fairly similar astrological techniques, whose range of action extends from the restricted area of individual fate to the wide domain of collective destiny and history.» — La razón que Sela propone, con su probabilidad declarada, para meter ahí la revolución anual del nacimiento: presentarla como contraparte de la revolución del año del mundo, dos técnicas semejantes cuyo alcance va del destino individual al colectivo

«Regarding the revolution of the world-year, Ibn Ezra emphasized in the fourth rule that, thanks to this astrological technique, it is possible to prognosticate "illness inflicted upon a certain city".» — El paralelo en sus dos escalas: de la revolución del año del mundo se dice que permite pronosticar la enfermedad que caerá sobre una ciudad

«Conversely, concerning the anniversary nativity, Ibn Ezra significantly restricted the scope to the case of an individual who is "bound to come down with fever".» — Y de la revolución anual del nacimiento, que un individuo caerá con fiebre

«More precisely, he stated that Mars harms by causing an excess of one of the four humors, so that the way for health's restitution is to restore the balance between the four humors.» — El mecanismo del daño y de la cura: Marte daña provocando exceso de uno de los cuatro humores, y la salud se restituye restableciendo el equilibrio entre ellos

«Since hot and dry are the two main natural qualities of Mars, it is necessary to act upon the yellow bile, which is under the sway of Mars.» — Y el humor sobre el que hay que actuar: la bilis amarilla, por ser lo caliente y lo seco las cualidades de Marte

«Accordingly, the scholar prescribed abstention from eating any hot food, and recommended drinking suitable beverages in order "to cool one's body".» — La receta que de ahí sale: abstenerse de alimentos calientes y beber lo apropiado para enfriar el cuerpo

«In this regard, Ibn Ezra wrote that "he will maintain balance in the natural setting of his body when Mars enters in the degree of the ascendant", and by this expression he meant that the neutralizing measures should be put into effect precisely at the time when the harmful effects of Mars are about to come into effect, a timing which was predicted by the anniversary nativity horoscope.» — Y su momento: las medidas neutralizantes han de aplicarse justo cuando el daño de Marte va a producirse, hora que el horóscopo de la revolución anual predice

«It is evident that by presenting the scholar vis-a-vis the righteous person, Ibn Ezra was intent on drawing a comparison between two archetypes, with respect to which three main points were thrown into relief.» — Lo que Sela lee en la contraposición: Ibn Ezra compara dos arquetipos y hace resaltar tres puntos

«First, while the scholar's performance characterizes a rational and active approach relying on a manifest scientific methodology, the righteous person seems to embody a religious and passive stance trusting exclusively in God to attain salvation.» — El primero: el estudioso encarna un enfoque racional y activo apoyado en método científico, y el justo una postura religiosa y pasiva que confía solo en Dios

«regarding the righteous person, Ibn Ezra writes that "God will bring about the proper causes to save him from any harm prognosticated in his horoscope» — Lo que Ibn Ezra dice del justo: Dios dispondrá las causas adecuadas para salvarlo de cualquier daño pronosticado en su horóscopo

«Undoubtedly, there is a genuine tension between the characteristics attributed by Ibn Ezra to the scholar and the righteous person» — La tensión que Sela declara y no armoniza: la hay, y genuina, entre los rasgos que Ibn Ezra da al estudioso y los que da al justo

«As the way of the righteous person is much more effective than that of the scholar, the righteous person may be considered» — Y el juicio comparativo que él mismo saca: siendo la vía del justo mucho más eficaz que la del estudioso, el justo expresa más plenamente el poder del alma sabia

«We should also contemplate the possibility that the righteous person is, in Ibn Ezra's thinking, a figure of blended nature that not only epitomizes sublime godly devotion but also, by surpassing the scholar, harmoniously integrates some of the scholar's characteristics» — La posibilidad que Sela deja abierta: que el justo sea en el pensamiento de Ibn Ezra una figura de naturaleza mixta, que además de la devoción sublime integre rasgos del estudioso

«Our author, however, provided only extremely limited and vague clues to these questions, not least when trying to explain the source of the inferiority of the scholar to the righteous person and, vice versa, the source of die righteous person's superiority over the scholar» — Y el límite que declara: Ibn Ezra da indicios muy escasos y vagos sobre la fuente de esa inferioridad y de esa superioridad; el OCR imprime *die* por *the*

«It seems that at this stage we have exhausted all the relevant material included in the introduction to Sefer ha-Moladot» — Sela declara agotado el material de la introducción al *Sefer ha-Moladot*

«We have been left, however, with unsatisfactory answers to the questions posed above» — Y lo que queda: respuestas insatisfactorias a las preguntas planteadas

«Therefore, it is now desirable to enlarge the scope and tum to other parts ofIbn Ezra's work to look for additional clues» — De donde el paso siguiente que anuncia: ensanchar el campo hacia otras partes de la obra de Ibn Ezra en busca de más indicios

«But if Ibn Ezra decided to label Enoch as "the righteous person", it is precisely because of what is written about him in Genesis 5:24: "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not: for God took him.» — Por qué Ibn Ezra llama justo a Enoc, según Sela: por lo que de él dice Génesis 5:24, que anduvo con Dios y desapareció porque Dios lo tomó

«Actually, it is only in the upper world where the righteous person receives his reward and where his spiritual qualities achieve their fullest expression.» — Dónde recibe el justo su recompensa, según Sela: solo en el mundo superior, y ahí sus cualidades espirituales alcanzan su expresión plena

«Ibn Ezra dwelled upon the reward received by the righteous person in his commentary on Psalms 16:11, in which he wrote that after the death of his body, the righteous person will ascend to heaven to meet the superior angels;» — El premio que Ibn Ezra le adjudica en su comentario al Salmo 16:11: tras la muerte del cuerpo, el justo asciende al cielo al encuentro de los ángeles superiores

«there, after being released from the affairs of the lower world, the righteous person will enjoy the divine splendor, will be delighted with the divine presence and will attain the knowledge of the ultimate truth.» — Y ahí, libre ya de los asuntos del mundo inferior, gozará del esplendor divino, se deleitará con la presencia de Dios y alcanzará el conocimiento de la verdad última

«In his allegorical commentary on Psalms 1 :3, Ibn Ezra illustrated the meaning of the dictum "the memory of the righteous person is blessed" (Proverbs 1 0:7) by referring explicitly to the properties of the wise soul:» — El vínculo que Ibn Ezra traza entre el justo y el alma sabia: explica el dicho de Proverbios sobre la memoria bendita del justo por las propiedades de esa alma

«But the wise soul should be filled with the Torah of God, and should know his eternally permanent deeds and should be suitably attached to the upper world after its separation from the body ... this is the meaning of 'the memory of the righteous» — Y cómo lo explica, en traducción de Sela: el alma sabia ha de llenarse de la Torá de Dios, conocer sus obras eternamente permanentes y quedar unida al mundo superior tras separarse del cuerpo. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«At the very outset, he adopted an extremely deterministic stance and admitted that man's soul "receives superior power in accordance to the configuration of the planets, that is, in accordance with the way each of the planets is arranged vis-a-vis the stars of the zodiac at the time of birth» — El punto de partida determinista del excurso a Éxodo 3:15: el alma del hombre recibe poder superior según la configuración de los planetas respecto de las estrellas del zodiaco en el momento del nacimiento

«After endowing the horoscope with such enormous power, Ibn Ezra dramatically altered the picture and wrote that "if the soul grows wise,» — Y el giro que sigue, según Sela: tras dar al horóscopo ese poder enorme, Ibn Ezra cambia el cuadro con una condicional, si el alma se hace sabia

«then it will discover the secret of the angels and it will be able to receive a power which is stronger than the superior power that the soul received from the light of the angels.» — Entonces descubrirá el secreto de los ángeles y podrá recibir un poder más fuerte que el que el alma recibió de la luz de los ángeles

«Man will then cleave to God the glorious (davek ba-shem ha-nekhbad).» — Y el hombre quedará adherido a Dios el glorioso, *davek ba-shem ha-nekhbad*

«in his opinion, only after a process of intellectual improvement, that is, after the "soul grows wise", can man entertain any hope of being saved from the stars.» — La condición que Sela subraya: solo tras un proceso de mejora intelectual, cuando el alma se hace sabia, cabe esperanza de salvarse de los astros

«he conceded that "the superior soul of man has the power to somewhat avert the particulars and to augment or reduce all that which is indicated by the stars, but it has not any power to annul the universals (that is, the» — Y el límite que el propio Ibn Ezra concede: el alma superior puede desviar algo los particulares y aumentar o reducir lo que los astros indican, pero no tiene poder para anular los universales

«he wrote that "since the human soul is the superior soul, man can be protected, that is, he can augment or reduce the sway of the stars".» — La formulación breve de esa capacidad: siendo el alma humana el alma superior, el hombre puede protegerse, es decir, aumentar o reducir el influjo de los astros

«the marriage of faith with wisdom is altogether viable, and has the power of bringing about man's salvation from the pernicious influence of the stars» — La combinación que Sela ve operar en Ibn Ezra: el matrimonio de la fe con la sabiduría es enteramente viable y puede traer la salvación del influjo pernicioso de los astros

«'the fear of the Lord' (Psalms 111:10) protects him from the 'ordinances of heaven and their dominion on the earth' (Job 38:33) all the days of his life, and after the soul vacates his body, he will 'inherit substance' (Proverbs 8:21) and will 'live forever' (Genesis 3:22).» — El pasaje que lo dice con versículos encadenados: el temor del Señor protege de las ordenanzas del cielo y de su dominio sobre la tierra todos los días de la vida, y tras dejar el alma el cuerpo heredará sustancia y vivirá para siempre

«Ibn Ezra held that if "the righteous person is more protected than the scholar", that happens because the righteous person "trusts God with all his heart", or rather because his "heart is wholly with his God".» — Por qué el justo está más protegido que el estudioso: porque confía en Dios con todo su corazón, o porque su corazón está enteramente con su Dios

«It is only said that God will "bring about the proper causes to save him", quite a hazy» — Y lo que queda sin explicar, según Sela: solo se dice que Dios dispondrá las causas adecuadas para salvarlo, fórmula que él llama vaga

«Ibn Ezra supported a simplistic type of religious faith,105 a closer reading reveals that he sustained a deep contempt for the shallow and perfunctory religious faith of the masses and a great admiration for the rationalistic religious devotion of the intellectuals.» — La lectura que Sela propone contra la apariencia: una lectura atenta muestra desprecio hondo por la fe superficial de las masas y gran admiración por la devoción racionalista de los intelectuales

«He began by stating that human beings are by no means equal regarding their religious faith.» — El punto de partida de esa gradación: los seres humanos no son en absoluto iguales en cuanto a su fe religiosa

«At the lowest stage are the ignorant masses who "believe what they have heard because their masters have told them so» — En el escalón más bajo, las masas ignorantes, que creen lo que han oído porque sus maestros se lo dijeron

«At the third and highest level, Ibn Ezra brought the intellectually educated believer.» — Y en el tercero y más alto, el creyente educado intelectualmente

«It is worthwhile to turn directly to Ibn Ezra's own words in order to better appreciate his opinion about this privileged and exclusive group of believers among whom, no doubt, he included himself:» — Grupo en el que, según Sela, Ibn Ezra se incluye a sí mismo sin duda

«[And in the third category of religious faith is included he] whose heart has moved him to study the sciences, which are the steps that lead to the place of his desire.» — La descripción de ese creyente, en traducción de Sela: aquel a quien su corazón movió a estudiar las ciencias, que son los peldaños que llevan al lugar de su deseo

«He will see God's works in the metals, in the plants and living creatures, and in the human body itself.» — Y lo que verá: las obras de Dios en los metales, en las plantas, en los seres vivos y en el propio cuerpo humano

«He will know the makeup of each organ according to its particular nature.» — Conocerá la composición de cada órgano según su naturaleza

«He will similarly know the reason why it was shaped according to this particular pattern.» — Y la razón por la que fue conformado de ese modo

«His heart will then aspire to learn the science of the spheres that are the Lord's works in the middle world, which is everlasting.» — Después su corazón aspirará a la ciencia de las esferas, obra del Señor en el mundo medio, que es perdurable

«He will learn when the sun or moon is eclipsed and how much of the sun is eclipsed by the moon.» — Aprenderá cuándo se eclipsan el sol y la luna y cuánto del sol eclipsa la luna

«He will know why the moon is eclipsed and what brings about its eclipse.» — Y sabrá por qué se eclipsa la luna y qué causa su eclipse

«First, even when both ofthem are able to avert the pernicious sway of the stars, they achieve that goal with different degrees of success.» — El primero de los tres puntos con que Sela cierra la comparación: aun pudiendo los dos desviar el influjo pernicioso de los astros, lo logran con grados de éxito distintos

«Indeed, the scholar is capable not only of prognosticating the happening of an unfortunate event but also of taking preventive measures in order to avoid the harm called for by the stars.» — El estudioso puede pronosticar el suceso desdichado y tomar además medidas preventivas

«And yet, he attains this goal with uneven success, since sometimes his acuteness of judgment proves faulty.» — Y a la vez lo logra de manera desigual, porque a veces su agudeza de juicio falla

«The righteous person, on the other hand, is able to avoid any harm preordained in his horoscope.» — El justo, en cambio, puede evitar cualquier daño preordenado en su horóscopo

«Second, the sting of the latter extreme statement is quite removed when we appreciate that the scholar and the righteous person are described as operating within different ranges of activities.» — El segundo punto, que atenúa lo anterior: uno y otro se describen operando en ámbitos de actividad distintos

«Third, the righteous person is set apart from the scholar because he implements in a significantly different way the power of the wise soul.» — Y el tercero: lo que aparta al justo del estudioso es que aplica de modo significativamente distinto el poder del alma sabia

«A feature which can be readily traced in Abraham Ibn Ezra's full work is his inclination, or rather his obsession, to explain and comment on almost every text that fell into his hands.» — El rasgo con que Sela abre la cuarta parte: la inclinación de Ibn Ezra —él la llama obsesión— por explicar y comentar casi cualquier texto que le llegara a las manos

«While this propensity might be seen as natural and even desirable in his biblical commentaries, it is surprising to observe the same penchant for exegesis in Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus as well.» — Y lo que le sorprende: que esa misma propensión aparezca también en el corpus científico, donde no es lo esperable

«Another distinct expression of this feature, one with which we will be chiefly concerned in this part, is that he designed two of his astrological works as commentaries upon another astrological treatise of his own writing.» — Su manifestación más clara: diseñar dos de sus obras astrológicas como comentarios de otro tratado astrológico suyo

«Such was the case with the two versions of Seier ha- Te 'amim, which were designed to provide the reasons and clarifications accounting for the unrefined astrological terms and concepts that Ibn Ezra included in Reshit ljokhmah, his chief astrological treatise.» — Las dos versiones del *Sefer ha-Te'amim* dan las razones y aclaraciones de los términos y conceptos que el *Reshit Ḥokhmah* trae en crudo

«Here we will not, of course, dwell upon the entire text of these three works, an endeavour which would require at least a volume on its own.» — El recorte que Sela declara: no se ocupará del texto entero de esos tres libros, empresa que pediría un volumen aparte

«As said above, we regard the subject-matter of these introductions as an excellent substratum through which Ibn Ezra's genuine and original views may be revealed.» — Y por qué vuelve a las introducciones: las tiene por sustrato excelente para que asomen las opiniones genuinas y originales de Ibn Ezra

«Third, we selected precisely these two introductions because we consider them closely related, so that the combined examination of both might provide an excellent opportunity to disclose Ibn Ezra's views on the subjects treated therein.» — La razón de escoger esas dos: las juzga estrechamente relacionadas, y examinarlas juntas permite sacar a la luz las posiciones de Ibn Ezra

«The first version of Seier ha-Te 'amim is dovetailed with Reshit ljokhmah in its organization and contents: it strictly keeps the division into 10 chapters adopted in Reshit ljokhmah and explains the reasons for astrological concepts in precisely the order in which the same concepts appear in Reshit ljokhmah.» — El encaje de la primera versión con el *Reshit Ḥokhmah*: mantiene con rigor sus diez capítulos y explica los conceptos en el mismo orden

«Moreover, and this is especially pertinent to our quest, Ibn Ezra was so absorbed in his exegetic task that he omitted writing an introduction to the first version of Seier ha- Te 'amim altogether, and began this treatise directly with a discussion of the first item appearing in the first chapter of Reshit ljokhmah, which is, the question of why the sphere is divided into 360 degrees.» — El detalle que a Sela le importa: absorbido en su tarea exegética, Ibn Ezra omitió del todo escribir introducción a esa primera versión y arrancó con la pregunta de por qué la esfera se divide en 360 grados

«The absence of such a clear correspondence as that found between the first version of Seier ha- Te 'amim and Reshit Qokhmah might also be explained by the assumption that the period which elapsed after Ibn Ezra finished his Reshit Qokhmah and before he began the second version of Seier ha-Te 'amim was not a short one.» — Para la segunda versión, donde ese encaje falta, Sela propone como explicación que medió un lapso largo desde el *Reshit Ḥokhmah*

«These and other considerations induced some researchers to call into question the very connection between Reshit Qokhmah and the second version of Seier ha-Te 'amim.» — Y consigna el desacuerdo: esas y otras consideraciones llevaron a algunos investigadores a poner en duda la conexión misma entre las dos obras

«From the point of view of theology, God's providence and omnipotence may be seen as being seriously challenged and questioned by the alleged claim that the celestial bodies autonomously shape the earth and determine the fate of its natural environment and its creatures.» — La tensión que Sela plantea del lado de la teología: la providencia y la omnipotencia de Dios quedan en entredicho si los cuerpos celestes conforman la tierra y deciden por sí solos la suerte de sus criaturas

«From the vantage point of religion, astrology may be seen as canceling out the rewards coming from the observance of religious prescriptions, since if individual or collective fate is determined by the stars, and not in the least by human deeds, it is hard to see how one could maintain an assumption of reward and punishment which would justify the observance of religious commandments.» — Y del lado de la religión: si la suerte la deciden los astros y no las obras humanas, es difícil sostener un premio y un castigo que justifiquen observar los mandamientos

«The opponents of astrology were indeed those who, with a vested interest in denigrating astrology, highlighted these tensions.» — Quiénes subrayaron esas tensiones, según Sela: los adversarios de la astrología, con interés declarado en denigrarla

«Their basic supposition was that their adversaries, the astrologers, upheld an extreme doctrine which afforded absolutely no opportunity for salvation from the influence of the stars.» — La suposición de esos adversarios: que los astrólogos sostenían una doctrina extrema que no dejaba ninguna posibilidad de salvarse del influjo de los astros

«Notwithstanding this claim, we will search in vain for any astrologer in antiquity or in the Middle Ages who maintained such an extremely deterministic and fatalistic outlook based on astrology.» — Y la búsqueda negativa con que Sela responde: en vano se buscará un astrólogo de la antigüedad o de la Edad Media que sostuviera una visión tan determinista y fatalista

«It follows that Ibn Ezra clearly dissociated himself from an extreme, deterministic version of astrology and supported the possibility that man might be protected from the 'ordinances of heaven and their dominion on the earth' (Job 38:33).» — Lo que de ahí se sigue para Ibn Ezra: se desmarca de la versión extrema y determinista de la astrología y sostiene que el hombre puede protegerse de las ordenanzas del cielo y de su dominio sobre la tierra

«A further remarkable feature of Ibn Ezra's vision, one that draws on clearly neo-Platonic traditions, is that salvation from the stars is not exclusively restricted to the earthbound stage of man's life.» — Otro rasgo que Sela destaca, y le adjudica raíz neoplatónica: la salvación de los astros no se limita a la etapa terrena de la vida

«Indeed, salvation occurs when the wise soul of man, after a process of intellectual betterment, departs from his body and ascends to the upper world where it 'inherits substance' (Proverbs 8:21) and 'lives forever' (Genesis 3:22).» — Porque la salvación ocurre, según esa visión, cuando el alma sabia deja el cuerpo tras un proceso de mejora intelectual y asciende al mundo superior

«We particularly recognize 'the righteous person' in IRH, when Ibn Ezra asserts that salvation from the stars is achieved not only as long as man remains alive but especially after his soul leaves his body, a stage in which he will 'inherit substance' (Proverbs 8:21) and 'live forever' (Genesis 3:22).» — Dónde reconoce Sela al justo dentro de la introducción al *Reshit Ḥokhmah*, que él abrevia IRH: en la afirmación de que la salvación de los astros se logra no solo en vida sino sobre todo cuando el alma deja el cuerpo

«Therefore, he asked: 'Who has ascended up into heaven, and come down again?' (Proverbs 30:4); And the meaning of that is: we should never have knowledge as complete as that of the heavenly angels.» — El límite que Ibn Ezra pone al saber humano, en traducción de Sela, con Proverbios 30:4 por delante: nunca tendremos un conocimiento tan completo como el de los ángeles celestes

«The wise in heart, however, sought [this knowledge] generation after generation, and their souls ascended into heaven by the ladder of geometry, they also conducted experiments and were successful in their intent.» — Y lo que sí lograron los sabios de corazón: buscaron ese saber generación tras generación, sus almas subieron al cielo por la escalera de la geometría, hicieron experimentos y acertaron en su intento

«first, that "the wise in heart sought this knowledge, generation after generation", namely, that astrologers rely on cumulative knowledge transmitted generation after generation from antiquity;» — Los tres rasgos que Sela extrae de esa frase: primero, que la astrología se apoya en un saber acumulado y transmitido desde la antigüedad

«second, that "their souls ascended into heaven by the ladder of geometry", that is, that scholarly astrology includes also a deep acquaintance with mathematics and astronomy;» — Segundo, que la astrología erudita supone un conocimiento hondo de las matemáticas y la astronomía

«third, that "they also often conducted experiments and were successful in their intent", namely, that astrology relies more on empirical experience than on logical inference.» — Y tercero, que la astrología se apoya más en la experiencia empírica que en la inferencia lógica

«In IRH, Ibn Ezra posited astral influence as equal to the 'ordinances of heaven and their dominion on the earth', an eloquent expression which he constructed using key words extracted from Job 38:33.» — La equivalencia que Ibn Ezra enuncia: la influencia astral es lo mismo que las ordenanzas del cielo y su dominio sobre la tierra, expresión armada con palabras de Job 38:33

«The biblical expression 'ordinances of heaven', employed by Ibn Ezra throughout his whole work, was instrumental in expressing not only the general idea of astrology, as in the introduction to the second version of Sefer ha-Miv/;Jarim,9 but also the idea of astronomical law determining the working of the heavens, as in 'Igeret ha-Shabbat (The Epistle on the Shabbat).» — Y el doble uso que hace de esa expresión en toda su obra: la idea general de astrología y también la de ley astronómica que rige el funcionamiento de los cielos

«And we know that man's reason has conclusive proofs concerning [the existence of] the planets, their dimensions, the dimensions of their epicycles, their distance from the earth, their apogees and perigees.» — La posición de Ibn Ezra sobre la astronomía, en traducción de Sela: la razón del hombre tiene pruebas concluyentes sobre los planetas, sus dimensiones, las de sus epiciclos, su distancia a la tierra y sus apogeos y perigeos

«Regarding the judgments of the zodiacal signs (mishpe(ei ha-mazalot), however, there are no complete proofs, but rather only [proofs] which are the product of analogies (dimyonot).» — Y sobre la astrología: ahí no hay pruebas completas sino solo las que resultan de analogías, *dimyonot*

«Astronomy is very favorably appraised in this paragraph, even though no definite appellation is employed to label it.» — Lo que Sela observa en ese párrafo: la astronomía queda muy bien valorada aunque sin nombre definido

«From this passage we learn that astronomy is an eminently rational human activity founded on conclusive proofs which are the basis for a series of highly respectable scientific tasks: to prove the existence of the planets, to measure their dimensions, the dimensions of their epicycles, their distance from the earth, their apogees and perigees.» — Y qué resulta de ahí: la astronomía es actividad humana eminentemente racional, fundada en pruebas concluyentes que sostienen una serie de tareas científicas respetables

«There are things opposed to nature in the science of medicine.» — La analogía con la medicina, en traducción de Sela: hay cosas opuestas a la naturaleza en la ciencia médica

«Astronomy is to astrology, what astrology is to medicine.» — Y la proporción que Ibn Ezra formula: la astronomía es a la astrología lo que la astrología es a la medicina

«There are proofs and observations in the science of the zodiacal signs.» — Lo que sí concede a la astrología: hay pruebas y observaciones en la ciencia de los signos zodiacales

«astronomy relies on 'conclusive proofs', astrology is borne out by 'incomplete proofs', by 'analogies' and by 'experimental evidence'.» — El reparto epistémico que Sela resume: la astronomía descansa en pruebas concluyentes; la astrología, en pruebas incompletas, en analogías y en evidencia experimental

«This is, to all intents and purposes, a remarkable and astounding statement.» — Y el juicio que Sela emite sobre esa declaración: la llama notable y asombrosa

«The sting of this perplexing and curious situation, however, may be considerably reduced if attention is paid to the dividing lines between astronomy and astrology» — Cómo atenúa esa perplejidad: atendiendo a las líneas divisorias entre astronomía y astrología

«It is almost commonplace, especially after the rise of Greek science, to refer to the close collaboration between astronomy and astrology.» — El lugar común que Sela recuerda antes de matizarlo: desde el auge de la ciencia griega se habla de la colaboración estrecha entre astronomía y astrología

«Whereas his Almagest is the culmination of the Greek contribution to mathematical astronomy, his Tetrabiblos epitomizes Greek astrology.» — El caso de Ptolomeo: el *Almagesto* culmina la aportación griega a la astronomía matemática y el *Tetrabiblos* compendia la astrología griega

«The terms astronomia and astrologia were practically indistinguishable both in Greek and in Latin, and either could be applied to the two pertinent fields of activity.» — Y la confusión terminológica que lo acompaña: en griego y en latín los dos términos eran prácticamente indistinguibles y cualquiera podía aplicarse a los dos campos

«Another remarkable tendency is to conflate astronomy and astrology and subsume both under a single name.» — Otra tendencia que Sela señala: fundir las dos disciplinas bajo un nombre único

«This is perceptible in the work of such an important Arabic medieval philosopher as Al-Farabl (ca.870ca.950) who, in his 'Ihsa al- 'ulum (Classification of the Sciences), divided 'ilm al-nujum (the science of stars) in a two-fold manner.» — El ejemplo árabe: al-Farabi reparte en dos la *'ilm al-nujum*, la ciencia de los astros, en su clasificación de las ciencias; el impreso parte *ca.870-ca.950* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une

«Thus, Abraham Bar l;Iiyya, the true pioneer in the rise of Hebrew medieval science, coined the term bokhmat ha-kokhavim (that is, the science of the stars) to label an integrated body of knowledge related to the study of the stars which has two main parts: bokhmat ha-bizzayion (literally, science of observation), which represents astronomy, and bokhmat ha-nissayion (literally, 'science based on experience'), a term referring directly to astrology.» — Y el hebreo: Bar Ḥiyya acuña *ḥokhmat ha-kokhavim* para el conjunto, con *ḥokhmat ha-ḥizzayon* —ciencia de la observación— para la astronomía y *ḥokhmat ha-nissayon* —ciencia basada en la experiencia— para la astrología

«This part is essential to all scientific knowledge and rational thinking, and all its proofs and statements are entirely correct beyond any doubt.» — Lo que Bar Ḥiyya dice de la primera de esas partes, en traducción de Sela: es esencial a todo saber científico y a todo pensamiento racional, y sus pruebas y afirmaciones son enteramente correctas sin duda alguna

«On the one hand, this term was employed by him to denote astrologers, with a view to deprecating their activities.» — El doble uso del término árabe *iṣṭagninin* en Maimónides, según Sela: primero, para nombrar a los astrólogos con ánimo de menospreciar su actividad

«But he used the same term i$ tagninin to acknowledge the contribution of a group of Jewish astronomers, and regarded their reckoning methods as the astronomical paradigm endorsed in Talmudic times for the regulation of the Jewish calendar.» — Y segundo, para reconocer la aportación de un grupo de astrónomos judíos cuyos métodos tiene por el paradigma astronómico aceptado en tiempos talmúdicos para regular el calendario

«We see, then, that Maimonides' i$tagninut26 and Bar I:Iiyya's l;lOkhmat ha-kokhavim fit into the same semantic field as Ibn Ezra's bokhmat ha-mazalot.» — La convergencia que Sela traza: el término de Maimónides, el de Bar Ḥiyya y el de Ibn Ezra caen en el mismo campo semántico

«In all three cases, a single term serves to denote both astrology and astronomy, thereby blurring the borders between them.» — Y su efecto: en los tres casos un solo término nombra la astrología y la astronomía, con lo que se borran las fronteras entre ellas

«On the other hand, there is a tendency to draw a clear-cut distinction between astronomy and astrology.» — Sela consigna a la vez la tendencia contraria, la de trazar una distinción tajante entre las dos

«In a passage of this work dealing with de differentia astronomiae et astrologiae, Isidore of Seville makes a clear distinction between astronomia, which, he says, is the domain of the mathematici, and astrologia superstitiosa, which, he says, deals with the twelve astrological houses, and with the influence of the stars over personal horoscopes and human destiny.» — El caso latino: Isidoro de Sevilla separa la *astronomia*, dominio de los matemáticos, de la *astrologia superstitiosa*, que trata de las doce casas y del influjo de los astros sobre el horóscopo personal y el destino humano

«The position of the i$ fagninin is given the lie by reason, for correct reasoning has already refuted, by means of lucid proofs, all those follies that they have maintained.» — La objeción de Maimónides a los astrólogos, en traducción de Sela: según él, la razón la contradice, porque el razonamiento correcto ya opuso pruebas claras a todas esas necedades

«It also is regarded as a falsehood by us because of religious tradition.» — Y el segundo fundamento que aduce: también la tradición religiosa la tiene por falsedad

«This is demonstrated by the first chapter of Tetrabiblos, where Claudius Ptolemy, the astrologer, describes astrology as a "less self-sufficient method" than astronomy, and immediately advises» — El reconocimiento que viene de dentro de la propia astrología: en el primer capítulo del *Tetrabiblos*, Ptolomeo la llama método menos autosuficiente que la astronomía

«Whereas astronomy is deemed by Abraham Bar I.Iiyya to be "part and parcel of scientific knowledge and rational thinking", astrology is considered to be merely an art based on experience (mel'ekhet ha-nissayion) that "does not belong to truly scientific knowledge» — Bar Ḥiyya dice otro tanto: la astronomía es parte integrante del saber científico y del pensamiento racional, y la astrología, arte basado en la experiencia que no pertenece al saber propiamente científico

«Maimonides, as may be expected from a staunch opponent of astrology, considers astronomy an "exceedingly glorious science", whereas astrology is an art whose "assertions are far from being scientific» — Y Maimónides, adversario declarado, llama a la astronomía ciencia gloriosísima y dice que las afirmaciones de la astrología distan de ser científicas

«In this situation, it is precisely the position of Bar I.Iiyya and Ibn Ezra that is puzzling: why should these two astrologers advocate a position that openly declares, without inhibitions or embarrassment, the inferiority of their art in comparison to astronomy?» — La pregunta que Sela formula: por qué dos astrólogos como Bar Ḥiyya e Ibn Ezra declaran sin rodeos ni apuro la inferioridad de su propio arte frente a la astronomía

«The main reason, it seems, is that their stance was commonplace among astrologers.» — Y la respuesta que propone con reserva: porque esa postura era lugar común entre los astrólogos

«Astrology was born with a 'congenital defect', an 'inferiority complex' vis-a-vis astronomy.» — La fórmula con que lo resume: la astrología nació con un defecto congénito, un complejo de inferioridad frente a la astronomía

«experience, with no basis in theory, is demoted to the inferior degree of an art, the knowledge of practical rules resting on general principles, which occupies a lower level than science, the pure knowledge of universal causes devoid of any practical end.» — La jerarquía heredada que lo explica: la experiencia sin base teórica queda degradada a arte, saber de reglas prácticas, por debajo de la ciencia, saber puro de causas universales sin fin práctico

«Thus, as already mentioned, astrology is depicted as a "less self-sufficient method" in the first chapter of Tetrabiblos, the bedside book of astrologers, while astronomy is described there as an "unvarying science".» — Y su expresión en el libro de cabecera de los astrólogos: la astrología como método menos autosuficiente y la astronomía como ciencia invariable

«Any scholar who investigates this science will observe the motions of the seven planets (meshartim) which are hasty in their motions when they move around the degrees of the superior sphere,» — El cuadro compacto del universo con que Ibn Ezra sigue su introducción: el estudioso observará los movimientos de los siete planetas, veloces al recorrer los grados de la esfera superior

«The second is the motion of the planets that is observed "in their own spheres". In this regard, Ibn Ezra was ready to declare without any additional explanation that this second motion is observed when the planets "face the uppermost stars which are in the sphere of the zodiacal signs» — El segundo movimiento, que Ibn Ezra declara sin explicación añadida: el de los planetas en sus propias esferas, observable cuando miran a las estrellas más altas de la esfera zodiacal

«Regarding both motions, Ibn Ezra made the important remark that "all the motions take place around the center (mu$aq), which is the earth, which is just like the point in the middle of the circle» — Y lo que vale para los dos: todos los movimientos ocurren alrededor del *muṣaq*, que es la tierra, como el punto en medio del círculo

«MU$aq plays two interrelated crucial functions in this passage. First, by interpreting and using this word as 'center', Ibn Ezra constructed an outspoken endorsement of the geocentric cosmological outlook.» — Lo que Sela lee en ese término dentro del pasaje: al interpretarlo y usarlo como centro, Ibn Ezra suscribe abiertamente la visión cosmológica geocéntrica

«The reader of this passage, however, especially if not equipped with the necessary astronomical information, gets the feeling that he is left with several unanswered questions:» — El límite que Sela señala en el pasaje: el lector sin preparación astronómica queda con varias preguntas sin respuesta

«Then he (that is, the scholar) will fully realize that the aforesaid motions [of the planets], even though they proceed evenly and straight, vary their effect according to the [seven] climates (gevulim).» — Lo que sigue, en traducción de Sela: los movimientos de los planetas, aun procediendo parejos y rectos, varían su efecto según los siete climas

«On the other hand, the effect of those motions over the sublunary region is by no means uniform but characterized by variations.» — De donde el contraste que Sela subraya: el efecto de esos movimientos sobre la región sublunar no es uniforme sino variable

«What captures our attention in this passage is the sharp contrast between the heavenly and the sublunary region.» — Y lo que le llama la atención del pasaje: el contraste agudo entre la región celeste y la sublunar

«First, the student of astrology should learn geometry and mathematics in order to measure celestial space by the number of the degrees of the sphere.» — Lo que Ibn Ezra pide al estudiante de astrología: aprender geometría y matemáticas para medir el espacio celeste por los grados de la esfera

«The 'northern' constellations of fixed stars are 21 in number, whereas the 'southern' include 15 additional constellations.» — El inventario de constelaciones que da: veintiuna boreales y quince australes

«That these two topics - the number of degrees of the sphere, as well as the description of the northern and southern constellations of the sphere -were important for Ibn Ezra may be deduced from the fact that these were precisely the two subjects with which he opened the first chapter of Reshit lJokhmah.» — La importancia que Sela les adjudica: con esos dos asuntos abre Ibn Ezra el primer capítulo del *Reshit Ḥokhmah*

«Together with mathematics and astronomy, those interested in "knowing the ordinances of heaven employing the method of astrology" ought obviously to learn astrology, not only in a general and theoretical manner but also by becoming familiar with its specialized branches.» — Y lo que exige a quien quiera conocer las ordenanzas del cielo por la vía de la astrología: aprenderla no solo en general sino en sus ramas especializadas

«58 The Slow Motion of the Host of Heaven Therefore, we knew that the host of heaven (Genesis 2:1; Deuteronomy 4:19, et passim), that is, the immense multitude [of stars] which has been divided by the scholars in the science of the zodiacal signs into forty-eight constellations, is above the spheres of the planets, and we found that it moves from west to east [at a rate of] one degree in seventy years.» — El pasaje que Sela toma por central del *Sefer ha-Te'amim* segundo, en su traducción: el ejército del cielo, la inmensa multitud de estrellas que los sabios reparten en cuarenta y ocho constelaciones, está por encima de las esferas de los planetas y se mueve de oeste a este un grado cada setenta años

«On this score, it is not only the method of demonstration that captures our attention but also the name by which the fixed stars of the eighth sphere were called: $va ha-shamayim, that is, 'the host of heaven'.» — Lo que a Sela le interesa además del modo de demostrar: el nombre con que se llama a las estrellas fijas de la octava esfera, *ṣeva ha-shamayim*, ejército del cielo

«These are the forty-eight constellations catalogued in Ptolemy'S Almagest VII,S and mentioned by Ibn Ezra himself in the first chapter of Reshit /fokhmah.» — La filiación de esas cuarenta y ocho constelaciones: las catalogadas en el *Almagesto* de Ptolomeo, que Ibn Ezra recoge en el primer capítulo del *Reshit Ḥokhmah*

«But, in clear contrast to the planets, whose cycles span from one month to thirty years and are therefore relatively easy to discern within a human lifetime, the host of heaven moves at the leisurely rate of one degree in seventy years, that is, an exceptionally slow motion indeed which completes its cycle in 25,200 years.» — El contraste que hace difícil la observación: frente a los ciclos planetarios, de un mes a treinta años, el ejército del cielo avanza un grado cada setenta años y cierra su ciclo en 25 200

«Even Methuselah would have run into serious difficulties had he tried to measure in his own life span the slow motion of the host of heaven.» — La comparación con que Sela lo subraya: ni Matusalén habría podido medir ese movimiento dentro de su propia vida

«Ibn Ezra, to be sure, was by no means introducing a new idea in ISVST, but only invoking a theory as old as the times of Hipparchus and Claudius Ptolemy.» — Y su acotación sobre la novedad: Ibn Ezra no introducía una idea nueva sino que invocaba una teoría tan antigua como Hiparco y Ptolomeo

«Since it was so extremely slow and thus virtually impossible to observe, no wonder that astronomers in antiquity and in the Middle Ages adopted two opposing attitudes regarding the slow motion of the fixed stars.» — Las dos actitudes que la lentitud produjo entre los astrónomos de la antigüedad y la Edad Media, consignadas sin arbitrar

«Various versions of the steady, slow, eastward stellar motion are referred to in Liber de rationibus tabularum, in which Ibn Ezra mentioned not only the work of the ancients, and of Ptolemy amongst them, but also of Arabic astronomers such as al-Battani and al-Sufi.» — Las autoridades que el *Liber de rationibus tabularum* nombra para el movimiento estelar lento: los antiguos, con Ptolomeo entre ellos, y los árabes al-Battani y al-Sufi

«In another passage of the same Latin astronomical treatise, however, Ibn Ezra ascribed to antiqui omnes et Hermes et indi et doctores ymaginun the alternative 'trepidation theory'71, which was couched in the following two versions:» — Y a quiénes adjudica ahí la teoría alternativa de la trepidación: a todos los antiguos, a Hermes, a los indios y a los maestros de las imágenes

«As for those who maintain the second position, among whom Ptholomeus or Ptolemy the King is counted, in Liber de rationibus tabu/arum they are called magistri probationum, whereas the same group is named in Seier ha- 'Ibbur as 'scholars of the zodiacal signs who rely on proofs' (bakhmei ha-mazalot» — El otro bando, con Ptolomeo el Rey entre ellos: los *magistri probationum* del texto latino, llamados en el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* sabios de los signos que se apoyan en pruebas

«These references are not many, and their relative paucity suggests that in these cases Ibn Ezra was motivated by very cogent reasons, or that he was intent on fulfilling some important purpose.» — Lo que Sela infiere de la escasez de referencias: que en esos pocos casos Ibn Ezra tenía razones de peso o un propósito importante

«A complete and exhaustive review of these applications exceeds the limited bounds of this part, so that we will limit ourselves to two illustrations, each of them reflecting a specific aspect ofIbn Ezra's thought and work.» — Y el recorte que declara: se limita a dos ilustraciones, cada una con un aspecto propio del pensamiento y la obra de Ibn Ezra

«These physical pointers represented the places of these stars as they were calculated and engraved in the astrolabe body at the date when the astrolabe was created.» — El problema práctico del astrolabio: los punteros de la red dan el lugar de las estrellas tal como se calculó y se grabó en la fecha en que se hizo el instrumento

«However, as the fixed stars move slowly eastwards at a rate of one degree in seventy years, these pointers did not generally provide the actual position of the selected group» — Y su consecuencia: moviéndose las estrellas fijas un grado cada setenta años, esos punteros dejan de dar la posición real

«Therefore, in order to correct this inaccuracy and ascertain the actual position of a star, a second list was commonly provided in treatises on the astrolabe.» — De ahí la segunda lista que los tratados del astrolabio solían traer, para corregir la inexactitud

«Little wonder, then, that in all three versions of Keli ha-Nel;lOshet, the date of issue was not given as a mere chronological remark but explicitly provided as a parameter to be used together with the list of stars in order to calculate the actual place of a star.» — Y de ahí también que en las tres versiones del *Keli ha-Neḥoshet* la fecha de fabricación no sea nota cronológica sino parámetro de cálculo

«In clear contrast with the first illustration, where that peculiar motion was referred to as the focus of a central scientific controversy, and in contrast to the second illustration, in which the slow motion of the fixed stars was grasped as a cosmic clock which enables one to establish the age of sublunary and supralunar objects,80 in ISVST the motion of the host of heaven was employed with a clearly demonstrational aim.» — Los tres usos del movimiento lento que Sela distingue: foco de una controversia científica, reloj cósmico para fechar objetos, y —en la introducción a la segunda versión— recurso con fin demostrativo

«And since we have observed that every day the sphere of the zodiacal signs and the spheres of the planets move from east to west in a direction which is the opposite of their [own] movement, we know that there is some semblance of a superior sphere over all the other [spheres], and all [the spheres] are driven by its motion.» — La demostración misma, en traducción de Sela: viendo que cada día la esfera zodiacal y las de los planetas se mueven de este a oeste, al revés de su movimiento propio, se sabe que hay algo así como una esfera superior que las arrastra a todas

«For in these circumstances, eight spheres were sufficient to provide a general account of the celestial machinery: seven planets were moved by seven spheres, as Ibn Ezra explained in ISVST, and an eighth sphere accounted for the daily motion which propelled the fixed stars as well as the planets.» — Por qué bastaban ocho esferas antes: siete para los planetas y una octava para el movimiento diario que arrastra a las estrellas fijas y a los planetas

«To accept, as Ibn Ezra did in ISVST, that the eighth sphere "moves from west to east at a rate of one degree in seventy years" amounted to robbing the eighth sphere of the daily motion customarily assigned to it.» — Lo que la tesis de Ibn Ezra cuesta: dar a la octava esfera el movimiento de un grado cada setenta años es quitarle el movimiento diario que se le asignaba

«On the other hand, to ignore the slow motion of the fixed stars was tantamount to accepting a cosmos of eight spheres only, or making the ninth sphere completely irrelevant.» — Y el reverso: ignorar el movimiento lento equivale a aceptar un cosmos de ocho esferas o a volver irrelevante la novena

«The ninth sphere was ascribed this special task, and since this additional sphere was placed above the eighth sphere - thereby becoming the highest sphere in the cosmological reigning structure - Ibn Ezra labeled it in Hebrew ha-galgal ha- 'elyion, that is, the superior sphere, and circulus altissimus in Latin.» — El nombre que Ibn Ezra le da a esa novena esfera: *ha-galgal ha-'elyon* en hebreo y *circulus altissimus* en latín

«However, being the product of logical necessity rather than of astronomical observation, postulating the existence of the ninth sphere could be easily belittled as a rather contrived conception straining credulity to the limit.» — La objeción que Sela le anticipa: siendo producto de necesidad lógica y no de observación astronómica, esa esfera podía tacharse de artificiosa

«Being ascribed the daily motion, which is the quickest among all the celestial motions, the ninth sphere flagrantly contradicted the rule postulated by Ibn Ezra in ISVST, namely, that "the sphere which completes its motion in a few days is beneath the sphere whose motion takes more days for completion» — Y la contradicción interna que señala: con el movimiento diario a cuestas, la novena esfera choca de frente con la regla del propio Ibn Ezra de que la esfera más rápida va debajo de la más lenta

«Under these circumstances, it was to be expected that Ibn Ezra would cautiously postulate the ninth sphere in ISVST with a definite degree of unease and uncertainty: instead of referring to it as a plain unvarnished reality, he chose to describe it as "some semblance of a superior sphere".» — De donde la cautela del texto: Ibn Ezra no la nombra como realidad llana sino como algo así como una esfera superior

«Abraham Bar I;Iiyya (d. ca.1140) informed the readers of his cosmological work Surat ha- 'Are$ about two conflicting opinions: while the philosophers accept the construct of a nine-sphere system, the astronomers reject it on the grounds that there is no observational astronomical evidence to confirm the existence of the ninth sphere.» — El desacuerdo que Bar Ḥiyya consigna en su obra cosmológica: los filósofos aceptan el sistema de nueve esferas y los astrónomos lo rechazan por falta de evidencia observacional

«Abraham Bar l;Iiyya seems to have endorsed the position of the astronomers, that is, the notion of a restricted eight-sphere universe.» — Y el bando en que Sela lo sitúa, con reserva: parece haber hecho suya la posición de los astrónomos, la del universo de ocho esferas

«Averroes avowed the eighth sphere as 'the all-embracing sphere', and rejected the assumption of a ninth sphere.» — El otro nombre de ese bando: Averroes tiene la octava por la esfera que todo lo abarca y rechaza la novena

«Maimonides gave the ninth sphere a distinctive status, by sharply distinguishing between the ninth sphere and the other eight spheres.» — El tercer nombre del debate: Maimónides da a la novena esfera un estatuto aparte, separándola tajantemente de las otras ocho

«took the liberty of dispensing with the ninth sphere altogether, and presented a novel four-globe scheme which represents nothing less than a redistribution of the customary eight spheres in which there are stars.» — Y en otro lugar prescinde del todo de ella, con un esquema nuevo de cuatro globos que redistribuye las ocho esferas con estrellas

«he emphatically posited the existence of the ninth sphere, in others he ignored its existence altogether.» — La contradicción de Ibn Ezra que Sela consigna sin armonizar: en unos lugares afirma con énfasis la novena esfera y en otros ignora su existencia

«but also because special attention should be centered on the outermost layer of the cosmos, since it represents the border and link between the physical world and the divine domain.» — Por qué la capa más externa del cosmos pide atención especial, según Sela: representa la frontera y el enlace entre el mundo físico y el dominio divino

«It is known that seven spheres are for the luminaries and for the five planets, and the eighth is for the sphere of the zodiacal signs where the great host dwells, and the ninth is for the superior sphere (gal gal ha- 'elyion) which moves from east to west, and the tenth is for the Throne of Glory.» — El escalonamiento que Ibn Ezra da en su comentario al Salmo 8:4: siete esferas para las luminarias y los cinco planetas, la octava para el zodiaco donde habita el gran ejército, la novena para la esfera superior que va de este a oeste y la décima para el Trono de Gloria

«Curiously enough, the ninth sphere is still labeled by Ibn Ezra in this biblical commentary as the superior sphere, thereby implying that its status as the outermost physical and astronomical boundary of the universe is left intact, even though it is surrounded by the so-called tenth sphere.» — Lo que a Sela le llama la atención: aun rodeada por esa décima, la novena sigue llamándose esfera superior, con lo que conserva intacto su rango de frontera física y astronómica del universo

«We thus infer that the sphere of the Throne of Glory, although identified as number ten, is furnished with a supernal and metaphysical actuality.» — De donde su inferencia: la esfera del Trono de Gloria, aunque numerada la décima, tiene realidad supernal y metafísica

«Now the second commandment, which is 'Thou shalt have no other gods beside me' (Exodus 20:3), corresponds to the superior sphere (gal gal ha- 'elyion), which propels all the spheres from east to west, which is the opposite of their own movement, in twenty-four hours.» — La correspondencia que Ibn Ezra traza: el segundo mandamiento corresponde a la esfera superior, que en veinticuatro horas arrastra a todas las esferas de este a oeste, al revés de su movimiento propio

«It is in reference to this sphere that Scripture states, 'other gods' (Exodus 20:3). It says this to let us know that the spheres run by the power of God.» — Y para qué sirve esa correspondencia, en su traducción: la Escritura dice *otros dioses* para hacernos saber que las esferas corren por el poder de Dios

«Many considered this sphere to be the creator, because it is incorporeal.» — El error que la motiva: muchos tuvieron esa esfera por el creador, por ser incorpórea

«The superior sphere's incorporeality (it is a sphere in which there is no star) is mentioned in order to address the other gods of the biblical text, and to account for the confusion which caused many to consider the superior sphere to be the creator.» — Lo que Sela lee en el pasaje: la incorporeidad de la esfera superior —esfera sin estrella alguna— se trae para encarar a los otros dioses del texto bíblico y explicar esa confusión

«On the other hand, an overall survey of Ibn Ezra's astrological, astronomical and even exegetical work shows that in some cases he argued for a restricted cosmos made up of eight spheres alone.» — Y el reverso, que Sela consigna sin resolver: un repaso de su obra astrológica, astronómica y aun exegética muestra casos en que defiende un cosmos de solo ocho esferas

«Ibn Ezra still employed the same term superior sphere (galgal ha- 'elyion), but he pointed to the sphere of the fixed stars, thereby proposing the eighth sphere as the outermost cosmic layer.» — Ahí el mismo término, esfera superior, apunta a la de las estrellas fijas, con lo que la octava queda como capa más externa

«As for astronomy, serious attention should be given to Bar ijiyya's remark that the astronomers rejected the ninth sphere on the grounds that there is no observational, astronomical evidence to confirm its existence.» — El argumento astronómico que Sela recuerda: los astrónomos rechazaban la novena esfera por falta de evidencia observacional

«This assumption may be seen as strengthened by the reiterative statement Ibn Ezra made about the inability of medieval astronomical instruments, such as the astrolabe and the gnomon, to attain accurate results.» — Y lo refuerza con lo que el propio Ibn Ezra repite sobre la incapacidad de los instrumentos medievales, el astrolabio y el gnomon, para dar resultados exactos

«This quote, precisely because it includes a glaring contradiction, is an eloquent expression of the manner in which Ibn Ezra turns a blind eye to the ninth sphere in an astrological milieu: by attributing a slow motion to the fixed stars, Ibn Ezra implicitly posits the existence of a ninth sphere above the sphere of the fixed stars; but he names the sphere of the fixed stars the superior sphere, thereby assuming that the eighth sphere is the outermost cosmic layer.» — Lo que Sela lee en una cita contradictoria: al dar movimiento lento a las fijas, Ibn Ezra supone implícitamente una novena esfera encima, y al llamar superior a la de las fijas supone que la octava es la capa más externa

«In the introduction to the chapter in which a list of fixed stars is given, Ibn Ezra wrote that "the superior sphere (ha-galgal ha- 'elyion), where the zodiacal signs are, was divided by the astronomers (bakhmei ha-mazalot) into forty-eight constellations . . . and the geometricians (be 'aley ha-midot) recognized in the superior sphere (ha-galgal ha- 'elyion) one thousand and twenty-two stars» — El pasaje de la tercera versión del libro del astrolabio: la esfera superior, donde están los signos, fue repartida por los astrónomos en cuarenta y ocho constelaciones, y los geómetras reconocieron en ella mil veintidós estrellas. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«Thus, in his commentary on Psalms 147:4 - 'He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names' - Ibn Ezra wrote that "the superior sphere is scattered with stars", thereby substantially departing from what he wrote» — El mismo giro en la exégesis: comentando el Salmo 147:4, Ibn Ezra escribe que la esfera superior está sembrada de estrellas, apartándose de lo que había escrito antes

«Two additional cases should be mentioned in which the term superior sphere is employed to refer to the ninth sphere.» — Sela apunta dos casos más en que el término esfera superior nombra a la novena

«What makes these two cases special and fairly unexpected is that, in contrast with the above-mentioned examples, the ninth sphere features in them in a clearly astronomical or astrological environment.» — Y por qué los llama especiales e inesperados: ahí la novena aparece en un entorno claramente astronómico o astrológico

«One of the motions is from east to west, and this is the motion of the superior sphere (circulus altissimus) which is also called the upright sphere (circulus rectus) and propels all the other spheres ...» — El primero de esos casos, del texto latino: un movimiento de este a oeste, el de la *circulus altissimus*, llamada también esfera recta, que arrastra a las demás. La cita acaba en la elisión del propio Sela

«The other motion is from west to east, and it is carried out around the two poles, and this is the motion of the sphere of the zodiacal signs which is the sphere of the firmament.» — Y el otro movimiento, de oeste a este, alrededor de los dos polos: el de la esfera de los signos zodiacales, que es la del firmamento

«The second case is related to the use of 'equal degrees' (ma 'alot yesharot or ma 'alot shavot), that is, degrees which were measured along the celestial equator.» — El segundo caso toca los grados iguales, medidos a lo largo del ecuador celeste

«In those technical instances, side by side with the term superior sphere, Ibn Ezra employed the term upright sphere, which he rendered into Hebrew by means of the expression galgal ha-yosher, and into Latin by the use of the cognate expression circulus rectus.» — Ahí Ibn Ezra usa junto a esfera superior el término esfera recta, *galgal ha-yosher* en hebreo y *circulus rectus* en latín

«Thus, by making the upright sphere equal to the superior sphere, Ibn Ezra presupposed that the plane of motion of the superior sphere is the plane of the celestial equator.» — Lo que esa igualdad supone, según Sela: que el plano de movimiento de la esfera superior es el del ecuador celeste

«A clear inference from this correspondence is that the superior sphere in this context should by no means be confused with the eighth sphere, whose plane of motion is inclined at an approximate angle of 23120 in relation to the plane of the celestial equator.» — Y la inferencia que de ahí saca: en ese contexto la esfera superior no puede confundirse con la octava, cuyo plano se inclina unos 23 grados respecto del ecuador

«In this particular case, however, this attitude stemmed not so much from an astronomical or theological rationale as from mathematicalcosmological considerations.» — La razón que Sela adjudica a esa postura: no astronómica ni teológica, sino de orden matemático y cosmológico; el impreso parte *mathematical-cosmological* en el salto de renglón y la extracción por programa la une La capa de texto del troceo pega *mathematicalcosmological* sin espacio; se cita tal cual.

«And [the superior sphere] intersects the sphere of the zodiacal signs in two places, that is, the head of Aries and the head of Libra, and then the length of the day is equal to the length of the night.» — Y el dato que lo apoya, en su traducción: la esfera superior corta la zodiacal en dos lugares, la cabeza de Aries y la de Libra, y entonces el día iguala a la noche

«Abraham Ibn Ezra's treatises are an excellent means of learning about scientific sources available in al-Andalus in the twelfth century and earlier.» — El valor documental que Sela adjudica a los tratados de Ibn Ezra: sirven para saber qué fuentes científicas había en al-Ándalus en el siglo XII y antes

«If we regard the complete contribution of Ibn Ezra as a single oeuvre, Claudius Ptolemy clearly emerges as his chief scientific source, as Ibn Ezra referred in his scientific work to the Alexandrian scientist more than to any other scientist.» — La tesis de la quinta parte: mirada la obra como un solo conjunto, Ptolomeo resulta su fuente científica principal, porque es a quien más remite

«Note that Ibn Ezra did not refrain from explicitly mentioning Claudius Ptolemy in his biblical commentaries despite the sharp contrast between his corpus of scientific treatises and his corpus of biblical exegesis, two distinctly different literary genres focused on divergent thematic points ofinterest.» — Y el dato que la refuerza: Ibn Ezra nombra a Ptolomeo también en sus comentarios bíblicos, pese al contraste entre los dos géneros

«One of the main indicators of that affinity between Abraham Ibn Ezra and Claudius Ptolemy is the acquaintance of the former with the scientific treatises of the latter.» — El primer indicador de esa afinidad, según Sela: el conocimiento que Ibn Ezra tenía de los tratados de Ptolomeo

«Ibn Ezra ascribed to Ptolemy a treatise entitled Algeraphie, that is, Ptolemy's Geography rendered into Arabic and transliterated into Latin.» — Una de las obras que le atribuye: el *Algeraphie*, la *Geografía* vertida al árabe y transliterada al latín

«But the two works by Ptolemy which predominantly took hold of Ibn Ezra's attention were Tetrabiblos and Almagest, the two treatises which the Alexandrian scientist wrote as a comprehensive summary of Greek astrology and astronomy.» — Y las dos que de veras le ocuparon: el *Tetrabiblos* y el *Almagesto*, compendios de la astrología y la astronomía griegas

«Ibn Ezra introduced this treatise into medieval Jewish educated circles employing Hebrew names such as Sefer ha- 'Ilan (Book of the Tree) or Sefer ha-Peri (Book of the Fruit) in his Sefer ha-Moladot and Reshit l;/okhmah.» — Los nombres hebreos con que Ibn Ezra introdujo el *Tetrabiblos* entre los judíos cultos: *Sefer ha-'Ilan*, Libro del Árbol, y *Sefer ha-Peri*, Libro del Fruto

«the fact that, besides the clearly authentic work of the Alexandrian scientist, Ibn Ezra referred in his work to two additional treatises ascribed in the Middle Ages to Ptolemy in the framework of Islamic culture but now considered by recent research to be apocryphal treatises.» — La atribución que Sela consigna sin corregir: Ibn Ezra remite además a dos tratados que la Edad Media islámica daba por de Ptolomeo y que la investigación reciente tiene por apócrifos

«Ibn Ezra also explicitly mentioned the Almagest and expressed a very high opinion of it in the introduction he composed for the Hebrew translation he made of Ibn al-Muthanna's Commentary on the Astronomical Tables of al-Khwarizmi.» — Dónde elogia el *Almagesto*: en la introducción a su traducción hebrea del comentario de Ibn al-Muthanna

«Ibn Ezra wrote about Ptolemy's Almagest that "this book is perfect and there is none superior to it in the science of astronomy ... All the proofs which Ptolemy ... brought forth in his great book called the Almagest are complete. No scholar can contradict his proofs for they are taken from the science of measurement called geometry in Greek.» — Y en qué términos, en traducción de Sela: ese libro es perfecto y no hay superior en astronomía, sus pruebas son completas y ningún sabio puede contradecirlas, porque vienen de la ciencia de la medida que los griegos llaman geometría. La cita lleva dentro las elisiones del propio Sela

«The explicit references to Claudius Ptolemy in Ibn Ezra's scientific work are legion and they encompass an extremely wide range of aspects.» — El alcance de esas remisiones: las referencias explícitas a Ptolomeo en la obra científica son legión y cubren un abanico amplísimo

«Ibn Ezra mentioned and employed Ptolemy's astronomical work regarding such central topics as the rearward movement of the sphere of the fixed stars,12 the two primary motions of the heavens,13 and the angle of inclination of the ecliptic to the equator.» — Los asuntos astronómicos en que se apoya en él: el movimiento retrógrado de la esfera de las fijas, los dos movimientos primarios de los cielos y el ángulo de inclinación de la eclíptica sobre el ecuador

«In the field of mathematics, Ibn Ezra drew on Ptolemy concerning the calculation of arches and cords,15 and employed the values obtained by Ptolemy to solve such a fascinating problem (for Ibn Ezra) as the calculation of the ratio between the perimeter of the circle and its diameter.» — Y los matemáticos: el cálculo de arcos y cuerdas, y los valores de Ptolomeo para la razón entre el perímetro del círculo y su diámetro, problema que Sela dice fascinante para Ibn Ezra

«In some instances, however, it is possible to detect a definite bias in favor of Ptolemy's views, as in the cases where Ptolemy emerges as the only scientist whose name is explicitly mentioned together with some aspect of his work, while other scientific opinions and schools are anonymously referred to in the framework of the discussion.» — El sesgo que Sela detecta: en algunos casos Ptolomeo es el único científico nombrado, mientras las otras opiniones y escuelas quedan en el anonimato

«In Ibn Ezra's Hebrew scientific treatises, Ptolemy is acclaimed as the chief of the Greek scholars22 or the chief of the ancients (qadmonim),23 and as such Ptolemy commonly appears in confrontation with anonymous groups of scholars representing Hindu, Persian, Babylonian, Muslim or Jewish science.» — El rango que le da: jefe de los sabios griegos o jefe de los antiguos, enfrentado a grupos anónimos que representan la ciencia india, persa, babilónica, musulmana o judía

«in which we read that the above-mentioned Ptolemy "was a great scholar in the science of the stars and the zodiacal constellations. No one to this very day has been able to surpass him, as R. Abraham Ibn Ezra wrote in the introduction to his Book on Astronomical Tables.» — El juicio de Ibn Ezra que un tercero recoge: Ptolomeo fue un gran sabio en la ciencia de los astros y de las constelaciones, y nadie hasta hoy ha podido superarlo

«Ibn Ezra strongly opposed various Hindu-related doctrines, such as ascribing to caput draconis et cauda the status of planets, or stating that Gemini 4° is the exaltation of caput draconis and the depression of cauda draconis, and that Sagittarius is the exaltation of cauda draconis.» — Las doctrinas indias que Ibn Ezra objeta con fuerza: dar a cabeza y cola del dragón rango de planetas y asignarles exaltaciones y depresiones en grados del zodiaco

«He cleansed the notion of caput draconis et cauda of any astrological connotation with the assistance of Claudius Ptolemy, a fellow astronomer involved like him in astrological activities.» — Y con qué ayuda lo hace, según Sela: con la de Ptolomeo, astrónomo metido como él en actividades astrológicas

«He did that, however, despite the fact that Ptolemy in his Tetrabiblos did not dwell upon any Hindu astrological doctrine and hardly referred to the concept of caput draconis et cauda in an astrological context.» — La objeción que Sela le pone en seguida: Ptolomeo no trata en el *Tetrabiblos* ninguna doctrina astrológica india y apenas menciona esos nodos en contexto astrológico

«but Ptolemy laughs at them since the caput draconis is not by any means a star, and he is completely right.» — El pasaje en que Ibn Ezra lo invoca, en traducción de Sela: Ptolomeo se ríe de ellos porque la cabeza del dragón no es en modo alguno una estrella, y tiene toda la razón

«Ptolemy claims that if a maleficent planet moves towards the luminaries when the moon is at the nodes (that is, at caput draconis et cauda), there come about deformations of the body such as hunchback, crookedness, lameness or paralysis.» — Y lo que sí le concede en materia de nodos: que un planeta maléfico acercándose a las luminarias con la luna en los nodos produce deformidades del cuerpo, joroba, torcedura, cojera o parálisis

«It should be known that the division of the celestial circle into twelve parts was made according to two methods.» — El otro asunto donde Ptolomeo pesa: la división del círculo celeste en doce partes se hizo por dos métodos

«The first is the method adopted by Ptolemy, the second is the method adopted by the ancients and by the Hindu sages.» — Uno es el de Ptolomeo y el otro el de los antiguos y los sabios indios

«But while Ptolemy's method stands on its own, the second method depends on the first one, the reason being that Ptolemy's method is based on scientia et ratio (that is, scientific and rational thinking) but the other method relies on probatio iudiciorum (that is, the experience of the astrological judgments).» — Y su jerarquía: el de Ptolomeo se sostiene solo, porque descansa en *scientia et ratio*, y el otro depende de él, porque descansa en la *probatio iudiciorum*, la experiencia de los juicios astrológicos

«Besides endorsing Ptolemy's astronomical methodology, Ibn Ezra accepted some astrological opinions held by Ptolemy in his Tetrabiblos, in some cases stressing that this agreement is based on and corroborated by his own empirical experimentation.» — Lo que Ibn Ezra acepta de Ptolomeo además de su método astronómico: opiniones astrológicas del *Tetrabiblos*, subrayando a veces que el acuerdo lo corrobora su propia experimentación

«So, in Seier Mishpetei ha-Mazalot and in Seier ha-Moladot, Ibn Ezra concurred with Ptolemy about various aspects related to the determination of the five aphetic houses (meqomot serarah we-memshalah) and the relative astrological power to be ascribed to the planets in these places.» — Un caso de acuerdo: la determinación de las cinco casas aféticas y el poder astrológico relativo de los planetas en ellas

«In Seier ha-Me'orot (Book of Luminaries) and Reshit lJokhmah, Ibn Ezra expressed his approval of Ptolemy's way of determining the quartile and sextile astrological aspects.» — Otro: el modo de determinar los aspectos de cuadratura y de sextil

«Also, both in Reshit lJokhmah and in the parallel place in the first version of Seier ha- Te 'amim, Ibn Ezra sided with Ptolemy against the ancients about the way of determining the Lot of Fortune or the Lot of the Moon.» — Y otro más, donde Ibn Ezra se pone del lado de Ptolomeo contra los antiguos: el modo de determinar la Suerte de la Fortuna o Suerte de la Luna

«But despite his admiration for Ptolemy and his agreement with him on a wide range of astronomical and astrological doctrines and methodological considerations, Ibn Ezra did not abstain from highlighting what he deemed as Ptolemy's errors, and even went to the extreme of unleashing upon him a harsh attack related to some fundamental astrological issues.» — El giro que Sela introduce: pese a la admiración y a los acuerdos, Ibn Ezra no se abstuvo de señalar lo que tenía por errores de Ptolomeo, y llegó a lanzarle un ataque duro en cuestiones astrológicas fundamentales

«Two main flaws were found by Ibn Ezra in Ptolemy'S astronomical work.» — En lo astronómico, Sela cuenta dos defectos hallados por Ibn Ezra

«One concerns certain inaccurate bits of data which in Ibn Ezra's opinion spoiled Ptolemy'S scientific work.» — El primero: datos inexactos que a su juicio echaron a perder la obra científica de Ptolomeo

«brought by Ptolemy in his A 1geraph ie, that is, Ptolemy's Geography rendered into Arabic, Ibn Ezra emphasized in Liber de rationibus tabularum that Ptolemy committed a grave error by asserting that the city's longitude is 9° instead of 27° and its latitude 36° instead of37,5°.» — El ejemplo concreto: en la *Geografía* vertida al árabe, la longitud de Córdoba dada como 9 grados en vez de 27 y su latitud como 36 en vez de 37,5

«Also, concerning the apogee of the sun, despite the explicit admiration for Ptolemy's findings in this particular field,40 Ibn Ezra stated in Liber de rationibus tabularum that Ptolemy as well as the magistri probationum, that is, the Arab scholars, could have committed an error of two degrees.» — Y otro, dicho con la admiración por delante: en el apogeo del sol, Ptolomeo y los sabios árabes pudieron errar dos grados

«However, Ibn Ezra ended this critical remark in a tone of understanding.» — El tono con que Ibn Ezra cierra esa objeción, según Sela: comprensivo

«Since the apogee of the sun is not a star whose location may be easily observed, the error may have been caused by the use of the intrumentum probationis, that is, the astrolabe, an insufficiently accurate tool which provides inexact values.» — Y la disculpa que ofrece: no siendo el apogeo una estrella observable, el error pudo venir del *instrumentum probationis*, el astrolabio, herramienta poco exacta

«In the final analysis, Ibn Ezra considered that "haec fallacia in astronomia parum nocet", that is, the kind of errors that Ptolemy committed have no damaging effect on astronomy.» — La conclusión que Ibn Ezra saca, citada en latín: esa clase de errores poco daña a la astronomía

«In these places Ibn Ezra did not limit himself to merely expressing disagreement with Ptolemy but repeatedly stressed that his opinion is borne out by empirical and astronomical observations, as well as by the use of astronomical tables compiled according to the methods of Ptolemy and of the Persian and Indian scholars.» — Cómo sostiene sus desacuerdos, según Sela: no se limita a discrepar, sino que insiste en que su opinión se apoya en observaciones empíricas y astronómicas y en tablas calculadas por los métodos de Ptolomeo y de los sabios persas e indios

«Therefore, it is hardly surprising to find in the first version of Sefer ha- 'Olam an interesting remark related to macro-astrology, showing Ibn Ezra's closeness to and acquaintance with the latest developments of Arabic astrology, as well as his aloofness from Ptolemy.» — La posición que Sela le adjudica en macroastrología: cercanía a los últimos desarrollos de la astrología árabe y distancia respecto de Ptolomeo

«Ibn Ezra rejects Ptolemy'S position and endorses the methods of the modern and the ancient astrologers regarding the question whether the duration of a solar or lunar eclipse determines when the astrological influences will be felt.» — Un caso de ese apartamiento: sobre si la duración de un eclipse fija cuándo se sentirán las influencias, Ibn Ezra rechaza a Ptolomeo y sigue a los astrólogos modernos y antiguos

«Ibn Ezra also found fault with Ptolemy'S approach to two astrological doctrines pivotal and much-discussed throughout the ages: the planetary terms and the astrological lots.» — Las dos doctrinas astrológicas en que le objeta de fondo: los términos planetarios y las suertes

«In his first version of Seier ha-Te 'amim, Ibn Ezra openly expressed his own opinion: "The planetary terms brought forward by Ptolemy are unreliable, since he himself admitted that he found them in an old manuscript.» — Su objeción a los términos de Ptolomeo, en traducción de Sela: no son fiables, porque él mismo admitió haberlos hallado en un manuscrito antiguo

«The Egyptian terms, however, are correct, because they are corroborated by experience.» — Y los que sí acepta: los egipcios, por estar corroborados por la experiencia

«In passing, it is worth noting that the reported fact that Ptolemy found his list of terms in an old manuscript was admitted by Ptolemy himself in Tetrabiblos.» — La comprobación que Sela añade: lo del manuscrito antiguo lo admite el propio Ptolomeo en el *Tetrabiblos*

«Ibn Ezra did not fail to emphasize Ptolemy's special approach in this particular field, focusing his attention on two main points: the fact that Ptolemy acknowledged only one astrological lot, namely, the Lot of Fortune, and the instructions Ptolemy gave in Tetrabiblos for determining the Lot of Fortune.» — En materia de suertes, dos puntos que Ibn Ezra subraya: que Ptolomeo reconoce una sola, la de la Fortuna, y las instrucciones que da para determinarla

«Ptolemy the King mocked at the way the subject of the astrological lots was approached by the ancients, and that in clear contrast to them, Ptolemy acknowledged only one lot, that is, the Lot of Fortune or the Lot of the Moon, which was to be determined in a special way.» — El pasaje mismo, en traducción de Sela: Ptolomeo el Rey se burló del modo en que los antiguos trataron las suertes y solo reconoció la de la Fortuna o de la Luna

«You should know, however, that all the astrological lots proposed by the ancients are correct and true.» — Y la respuesta de Ibn Ezra: todas las suertes propuestas por los antiguos son correctas y verdaderas

«the astrological lots are named by Ibn Ezra in Mishpetei ha-Mazalot by the special Hebrew word manot, which presumably is a literal translation from the Arabic cehem, meaning part.» — El nombre hebreo que Ibn Ezra les da en el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*: *manot*, al parecer traducción literal del árabe *sahm*, parte

«Ibn Ezra highlighted the discrepancies between Ptolemy and the ancients on this subject, but he admitted that the differences between Ptolemy and Masba'llah were more apparent than real, so that as a matter of fact they were basically in accord.» — El desacuerdo que Ibn Ezra rebaja: las diferencias entre Ptolomeo y Masha'allah serían más aparentes que reales

«scale of astrological 'powers', Ibn Ezra reproached Ptolemy in the second version of Seier ha-Te 'amim for putting the cart before the horse and giving priority to the lord of the triplicity over the lord of the house.» — Otra objeción, en la escala de poderes astrológicos: haber puesto la carreta delante del caballo al dar prioridad al señor de la triplicidad sobre el señor de la casa

«Batalmiyus (that is, Ptolemy in Arabic transliteration) is at variance [with us] regarding the houses of the triplicities, and we have already performed empirical experimentation to verify his approach and found it incorrect.» — La objeción en boca de Ibn Ezra: Batalmiyus discrepa en las casas de las triplicidades, y la experimentación hecha muestra que su enfoque no es correcto

«Therefore, we should endorse the approach of the ancients, and [regarding this issue] I will now give you a general rule: everything that you may find of Batalmiyus that deals with the spheres is correct and nothing is available that surpasses it, but his assertions related to the judgments of astrology do not befit his wisdom, therefore you should only rely [in this area] on what has been said by Doronius the King and Masha'llah.» — Y la regla general con que la cierra: todo lo de Batalmiyus sobre las esferas es correcto y nada lo supera, pero sus afirmaciones sobre los juicios astrológicos no corresponden a su sabiduría, y ahí hay que apoyarse en Doroteo el Rey y en Masha'allah

«In stark contrast to Ptolemy, Ibn Ezra presented in several of his astrological treatises a completely different list whose main characteristic is that it assigned five lords for every triplicity, two who rule by day, two who rule by night, and an additional co-ruler.» — La lista alternativa que Ibn Ezra da: cinco señores por triplicidad, dos de día, dos de noche y un corregente

«Ibn Ezra arrived at a far-reaching conclusion: whereas Ptolemy's astronomical work is superb and merits everyone's highest opinion, Ptolemy's astrological work "does not befit his wisdom» — La conclusión de largo alcance que Sela le adjudica: la obra astronómica de Ptolomeo es magnífica y la astrológica no corresponde a su sabiduría

«Ibn Ezra not only demoted Ptolemy's astrological work as being well below his astronomical contribution, but also went so far as to denigrate Ptolemy's achievements, by denying Ptolemy's very authorship over his chief astrological treatise.» — Y hasta dónde llega: no solo la rebaja frente a la astronómica, sino que le niega la autoría misma de su principal tratado astrológico

«The opening words of this commentary make it clear that Abraham Ibn Ezra, the author, is intent not so much on identifying himself, a superfluous step in the middle of his work, as to catch the attention of the reader and to retain it for a while, for a special discussion which will be different in certain aspects from other parts of his regular biblical commentaries.» — El segundo encuentro con Ptolomeo arranca en un comentario a Amós 5:8, y Sela lee en sus primeras palabras un modo de retener al lector para una discusión distinta de las de sus comentarios habituales

«This commentary, however, is not an exegetical or theological excursus79 (see below, p. 288) but a straightforward commentary on the biblical text of Amos 5:8.» — Y acota el género: no es excurso exegético ni teológico sino comentario directo del texto bíblico

«First, in this commentary Ibn Ezra combined clearly scientific pieces of data, a common phenomenon in his exegetical excursus.» — Lo que sí comparte con los excursos: combinar datos claramente científicos

«As the biblical text does not mention a single star but a pair of stars, from the very beginning Ibn Ezra stated the working methodology underlying his entire commentary - to look for the stars Kesil and Khima in a pair of strategically located celestial places.» — El método que Ibn Ezra declara de entrada: como el texto nombra un par de estrellas, buscar a Kesil y a Khima en un par de lugares celestes estratégicos

«The reason for calling this point Khima, is because Khima was located at this place in the ancient days.» — La razón que da para el nombre: porque en los días antiguos Khima estaba en ese lugar

«And Bafa/miyus the wise found in his days, namely, roughly one thousand years ago, that [the star] Cor Leonis (Lev ha-Aryeh) was located at [the zodiacal constellation of Leo] 2° and now this star is at [the zodiacal constellation of Leo] 18°. But it is known that Cor Leonis is always at 9° in relation to the constellation, but not in relation to the point of intersection.» — El matiz que introduce: Cor Leonis está siempre a 9 grados respecto de la constelación, no respecto del punto de intersección

«Ibn Ezra placed the biblical star /fadrei Teiman (Chambers of the South) very close to the Arabic named star Suhayl, to which he also gave an alternative Hebrew name, 'Adom, that is, Red, and did so because of the special color and remarkable brightness of this star.» — La identificación que propone para *Ḥadrei Teiman*: muy cerca de Suhayl, a la que da además el nombre hebreo *'Adom*, Roja, por su color y su brillo

«Ibn Ezra strove to show that in both cases those two biblical stars were intentionally named in the biblical text by highly meaningful Hebrew words.» — Lo que Ibn Ezra quiere mostrar, según Sela: que el texto bíblico nombró esas dos estrellas con palabras hebreas cargadas de sentido

«the literal meaning of the Hebrew words 'Ash and /fadrei Teiman points to the astronomical phenomena which permit a terrestrial observer to recognize those stars close to the northern and southern poles.» — Porque el sentido literal de *'Ash* y de *Ḥadrei Teiman* apunta a los fenómenos por los que un observador terrestre reconoce esas estrellas cerca de los polos

«Ibn Ezra maintained that this word is derived from' Ushu, which is the first word of Joel 4:11.» — La etimología que propone para *'Ash*: derivada de *'Ushu*, primera palabra de Joel 4:11

«Since in Ibn Ezra's opinion the word 'Ushu means "they gather together" (hitkab$u), it turns out that the word 'Ash is a direct allusion to the astronomical fact that 'Ash is composed of seven stars that are inseparable.» — Y su lectura: significando esa palabra *se juntan*, *'Ash* alude a que la componen siete estrellas inseparables

«He clearly expressed this idea when he wrote that "these stars are invisible to those who live in the northern hemisphere and therefore Scripture named them /fadrei Teiman".» — La contraparte: esas otras estrellas son invisibles para quienes viven en el hemisferio norte, y por eso la Escritura las llamó Cámaras del Sur

«in Ibn Ezra's opinion the biblical Hebrew terminology is a surviving remnant of the ancient Hebrew language, designated by him as "the most comprehensive of all the languages" and thus able to express the most subtle details of reality, and in this particular case, the names of stars.» — La premisa que sostiene todo el argumento: la terminología hebrea bíblica es resto de la lengua antigua, la más comprensiva de todas, capaz de expresar los detalles más sutiles de la realidad

«Ibn Ezra brought an abrupt end to his reference to 'Ash and /fadrei Teiman when he stated that "we are still left with the task of expounding Kesil and Khima", thereby making it crystal clear that he did not agree with the previously presented opinion which identified Kesil with 'Ash, and Khima with /fadrei Teiman.» — El corte abrupto con que descarta la identificación anterior: queda por exponer Kesil y Khima, con lo que rechaza igualarlos a *'Ash* y a *Ḥadrei Teiman*

«Thus, regarding 'Ash, he stated that this star "is always visible, during the summer as well as during the winter, from the entire northern, inhabited part of the earth» — La razón del descarte: *'Ash* se ve siempre, en verano y en invierno, desde toda la parte habitada del hemisferio norte

«According to his methodological approach, Ibn Ezra strove to find not a single star but a pair of stars placed in two highly significant and strategically important celestial places.» — Y el criterio que aplica: hallar no una estrella sino un par situado en dos lugares celestes estratégicos

«It follows, therefore, that 'Ash squares with this criterion, whereas lJadrei Teiman does not» — De donde una de las dos cumple el criterio y la otra no

«Ibn Ezra consequently rejected the poles and continued his examination, proposing an alternative pair of celestial places.» — Y por eso rechaza los polos y propone otro par de lugares

«Having examined and rejected the possibility that Kesil and Khima are located in the poles, Ibn Ezra turned to ponder a Talmudic tradition (Berakhot 58b) according to which Khima is located "in the tail of Aries and the head of Taurus» — La tradición talmúdica a la que entonces acude: Khima está en la cola de Aries y la cabeza de Tauro

«Thus, in his commentary on Job 38:31 (a verse where both Kesil and Khima are again explicitly mentioned), after paraphrasing the same Talmudic tradition, Ibn Ezra identified Khima with a big star named by him as 'Eyn ha-Shor ha-Semoli, that is al-Dabaran, while Kesil was identified with Lev ha-'Aqrav, that is Qalb al-'Aqrav.» — Las identificaciones que hace en el comentario a Job 38:31: Khima con la estrella que llama *'Eyn ha-Shor ha-Semoli*, es decir Aldebarán, y Kesil con *Lev ha-'Aqrav*, Qalb al-'Aqrab

«Ibn Ezra regards Khima as a constellation comprising six stars which span from the tail of Aries to the head of Taurus, as both places are continuous and very close one to the other.» — Y qué entiende por Khima: constelación de seis estrellas que va de la cola de Aries a la cabeza de Tauro, lugares contiguos

«enough, in the same commentary he emphasized that Kesil and Khima are located at two diametrically opposed celestial places, thereby presupposing the same methodological approach which we have already observed in Amos 5:8.» — El supuesto que se repite: Kesil y Khima están en lugares celestes diametralmente opuestos

«Thus, in the very first chapter of Reshit f/okhmah, Ibn Ezra referred to Khima as one of the stars of the constellation of Taurus,89 and in the section dedicated to the constellation of Taurus he specified that the longitude of Khima is between the 13° and the 15° of Taurus.» — La precisión que da en el *Reshit Ḥokhmah*: la longitud de Khima está entre los 13 y los 15 grados de Tauro

«So, in the first and second versions of Keli ha-Neboshet, Ibn Ezra identified Khima with al-Gadi 'a, which is one of the twenty-eight lunar mansions.» — Y otra identificación suya: Khima con *al-Gadi'a*, una de las veintiocho mansiones lunares

«Also in the second version of Seier ha- Te 'amim, he argued with some astrologers who held that Khima had some astrological influence affecting eye diseases.» — El desacuerdo que Sela consigna: Ibn Ezra discute con astrólogos que daban a Khima influencia sobre las enfermedades de los ojos

«We arrive then at the conclusion that, according to what Ibn Ezra wrote in some of his commentaries and scientific works, Khima should be located somewhere inside the sign of Taurus, a position which concurred in very rough lines with the above-mentioned Talmudic tradition, although Ibn Ezra's position did not exactly match with the tradition brought in the Babylonian Talmud, Berackhot 58b.» — La conclusión de Sela, con su límite dicho: Khima quedaría dentro de Tauro, posición que coincide a grandes rasgos con la tradición talmúdica sin ajustarse exactamente a ella

«As if to challenge the above-mentioned Talmudic tradition, Ibn Ezra presented incontrovertible proofs which, under close scrutiny, emerge as one of the Ptolemaic astronomical fundaments.» — Y el giro que le sigue: Ibn Ezra presenta pruebas incontrovertibles que, miradas de cerca, resultan ser uno de los fundamentos astronómicos ptolemaicos

«Evidently this was not a difference of opinion which Ibn Ezra could afford to ignore or treat light-heartedly.» — La tensión con sus fuentes que Sela subraya: no era una divergencia que Ibn Ezra pudiera ignorar ni tomar a la ligera

«But how could such diverging opinions, which track down one and the same star to two utterly different places, be made compatible?» — Y la pregunta que abre: cómo compatibilizar dos opiniones que sitúan una misma estrella en lugares del todo distintos

«It is precisely to restore harmony between him and his Talmudic sources that Ibn Ezra added passage (e), and it turns out that in the last part of his commentary he emerged from this embarrassing situation with flying colors.» — La función que Sela adjudica al último pasaje del comentario: restaurar la armonía con las fuentes talmúdicas, y salir airoso del apuro

«Instrumental in reconciling these two apparently irreconcilable opinions was the slow motion of the sphere of the fixed stars (see above, p. 218), as illustrated and proved by the changing location of the star Cor Leonis (Lev ha-Aryeh).» — El instrumento de esa reconciliación: el movimiento lento de la esfera de las fijas, ilustrado por el cambio de lugar de Cor Leonis

«He proceeded to do so not only because he had read Ptolemy's work in Arabic translation, but especially because he was deliberately drawing on Ptolemy'S Almagest:» — Y de dónde lo toma, según Sela: no solo por haber leído a Ptolomeo en traducción árabe, sino porque se apoyaba deliberadamente en el *Almagesto*

«Therefore the star Cor Leonis has moved 2 2/3 0 towards the rear along the ecliptic in the 265 or so years from the observation of Hipparchus [-128/7] to the beginning [of the reign] of Antoninus [137/8], which was when we made the majority of our observations of the positions of the fixed stars.» — El pasaje de Ptolomeo que Sela cita: Cor Leonis se desplazó dos grados y dos tercios hacia atrás por la eclíptica en los unos 265 años que van de la observación de Hiparco al comienzo del reinado de Antonino

«From this we find that 10 rearward motion takes place in approximately 100 years, as Hipparchus too seems to have suspected.» — Y la tasa que de ahí se deduce: un grado de retroceso cada cien años, como al parecer ya sospechaba Hiparco

«The impact of this passage from Almagest on Ibn Ezra's mind was so strong that he repeated the same reference to Claudius Ptolemy and Cor Leonis in two other parts of his scientific corpus:» — La huella de ese pasaje en Ibn Ezra, según Sela: repite la misma referencia a Ptolomeo y a Cor Leonis en otras dos partes del corpus científico

«In view of the fact that the cycle of the slow motion of the fixed stars is so long in relation to the standard human life span, only a continuous and prolonged chain of astronomical research could make possible the measurement of this inordinate slow motion.» — La condición que hace posible medir ese movimiento: una cadena continua y prolongada de investigación astronómica, dado lo largo del ciclo frente a una vida humana

«Nevertheless, at least three major differences may be observed between the reference to Hipparchus in Ptolemy's Almagest, and the reference to Ptolemy in Ibn Ezra's commentary on Amos 5:8.» — Y la salvedad que Sela añade: entre la referencia de Ptolomeo a Hiparco y la de Ibn Ezra a Ptolomeo hay al menos tres diferencias mayores

«position of Cor Leonis in Ptolemy's times and in his own times, Ibn Ezra showed that the discrepancy between his own thesis, which locates Khima at the vernal equinox, and the Talmudic tradition, according to which Khima is located "in the tail of Aries and the head of Taurus", is a consequence of the slow rate of motion of the fixed stars.» — Lo que Ibn Ezra muestra con ese cálculo: que la discrepancia entre su tesis y la tradición talmúdica es consecuencia de la lentitud del movimiento de las fijas

«This difference is more apparent than real, and it stems from the fact that the biblical text in Amos 5:8 has preserved a frozen image of the cosmic place where the star Khima was created.» — Y cómo la resuelve: la diferencia es más aparente que real, porque el texto de Amós conserva una imagen congelada del lugar cósmico donde Khima fue creada

«Therefore, if the astronomer attempts to pinpoint the biblical stars Kesil and Khima at any time after their creation, he will of course not find those stars at the place specified in the biblical text.» — De donde el astrónomo que busque a Kesil y a Khima después de su creación no las hallará en el lugar que da la Escritura

«The stars would be found in another place, whose distance from the correspondent equinoxes (where both biblical stars were created) should be calculated by employing the motion rate of the sphere of the fixed stars.» — Sino en otro, cuya distancia a los equinoccios ha de calcularse con la tasa de movimiento de la esfera de las fijas

«At the final climactic point of a most praiseworthy section devoted to Claudius Ptolemy and his Almagest, Ibn Ezra merged ancient Greek and Jewish science by turning geometry into the Greek counterpart of the Hebrew gematria.» — El cruce que Sela destaca: al cerrar una sección elogiosa de Ptolomeo y su *Almagesto*, Ibn Ezra funde la ciencia griega con la judía volviendo la geometría contraparte griega de la *gematria*

«Whereas geometry in this introduction was envisaged as the chief element providing scientific trustworthiness to Ptolemy's Almagest, the Hebrew gematria was regarded by Ibn Ezra as the science of measurement cultivated by the old sages ofIsrael:» — El reparto que resulta: la geometría da fiabilidad científica al *Almagesto* y la *gematria* es para Ibn Ezra la ciencia de la medida cultivada por los antiguos sabios de Israel

«was aware of this meaning of the word and condemned its use in his biblical commentaries as mere toying with numbers.» — El deslinde que Sela hace: Ibn Ezra conocía el otro sentido de la palabra —la sustitución de letras por números— y lo condenaba en sus comentarios como mero juego con cifras

«In the current quotation, however, Ibn Ezra, in using the word gematria, was referring to the Jewish counterpart of Greek geometry.» — Y en esta cita, en cambio, la usa como contraparte judía de la geometría griega

«Calendaric concerns were much more appealing and much more indispensable to an educated medieval Jewish audience than other essentially theoretical scientific issues, not least because of its ritual connotations and its consequences, from within and from without, for the religious collective awareness and national identity of a minority medieval community.» — Por qué el calendario pesaba más que otros asuntos científicos ante un público judío instruido: por sus connotaciones rituales y sus consecuencias para la conciencia religiosa colectiva y la identidad nacional de una comunidad minoritaria

«said that [the people ofJ Israel reckoned [their calendaric regulations] according to the sun. But if it were true, then Moses did not account for the complete annual motion, since the scholars of the zodiacal signs have been unable to clarify [the length of the year] till this very day.» — El argumento del caraíta que Ibn Ezra recoge: si Israel contara por el sol, Moisés no habría contado el movimiento anual completo, ya que los sabios de los signos no han logrado aclarar hasta hoy la duración del año

«scholars of India add the fifth of an hour to a quarter of a day [besides 365 days], while Ptolemy and his companions say that the 300th part of a day should be deducted [from the quarter of a day], and he [Ptolemy] is close to the methodology of the Jewish intercalation.» — El estado de la cuestión que Ibn Ezra expone: los sabios de la India añaden un quinto de hora al cuarto de día, y Ptolomeo y los suyos mandan restar la parte trescentésima de un día, con lo que queda cerca del método judío de intercalación

«But we [Jews] ought to rely on [Talmudic] tradition.» — Y la conclusión que Ibn Ezra saca: los judíos han de apoyarse en la tradición talmúdica

«First, we infer that Judah ha-Parsy was affiliated to the Karaite movement from the fact that Ibn Ezra criticized him in the preface to his first commentary on the Pentateuch, in the very same exegetical framework in which he severely took to task other famous Karaite figures.» — Cómo sitúa Sela al adversario: Judah ha-Parsy sería caraíta, porque Ibn Ezra lo objeta en el prefacio a su primer comentario al Pentateuco junto a otras figuras caraítas

«Second, we learn that Judah ha-Parsy compiled a book on the calendarl14 whose main thesis is mentioned in Ibn Ezra's commentary on Leviticus 25:9, namely, that the Jewish calendar was based on the solar motion, in much the same manner as in the case of the Christians (a remark which Ibn Ezra does not fail to cite to denigrate Judah ha-Parsy), with the result that the year was divided,» — Y qué sostenía: un libro sobre el calendario cuya tesis principal es que el calendario judío se basaba en el movimiento solar, como el de los cristianos

«Ibn Ezra was not intent on proving that Judah ha-Parsy's main thesis was wrong.» — Sela acota el propósito de Ibn Ezra con una negación: no buscaba mostrar que esa tesis fuera errónea

«But he completed the task in the long commentary on Exodus 12:2, when commenting precisely on that biblical verse which in his opinion contradicts Judah ha-Parsy's thesis."6 Actually, Ibn Ezra's chief purpose in his commentary on Leviticus 25:9 was much more comprehensive and far-reaching: he intended to challenge the Karaite's methodology and to defend the Rabbanite calendaric approach; that is, to demonstrate that crucial calendaric decisions should not be made by relying on independent judgmentl17 but on authoritative human decisions based on Talmudic tradition.» — Sino algo más amplio: objetar el método caraíta y defender el rabanita, esto es, sostener que las decisiones calendáricas no se toman por juicio independiente sino por decisiones humanas autorizadas apoyadas en la tradición talmúdica

«In the middle, between Moses and Judah ha-Parsy, Ibn Ezra placed Claudius Ptolemy and the 'scholars of the zodiacal signs', that is, the astronomers, as witnesses to this strange duel and as the exponents of the achievements of astronomical scientific research regarding the length of the solar year.» — El lugar que Ibn Ezra da a Ptolomeo y a los astrónomos en ese duelo: testigos y exponentes de lo alcanzado por la investigación sobre la duración del año solar

«Azarchiel said in his book about the solar year that the solar year should be considered from three points of view: First, according to the declination circle; second, according to the eccentric circle; and the third, according to the conjunction of the sun with the fixed stars.» — Los tres puntos de vista desde los que Azarquiel dice que ha de considerarse el año solar: el círculo de la declinación, el círculo excéntrico y la conjunción del sol con las estrellas fijas

«The first school is epitomized by those who add a small amount of time to the quarter of a day.» — La primera de las tres escuelas que Ibn Ezra reparte: los que añaden un poco de tiempo al cuarto de día

«At the opposite extreme, Ibn Ezra introduced "those who came after Ptolemy", whose scientific contribution is characterized by the fact that they deducted, from the quarter of a day, values ranging from the 180th to the I06th part of a day, to obtain the exact length of the solar year.» — En el extremo opuesto, los que vinieron después de Ptolomeo, que restan al cuarto de día valores entre la parte centesimosexta y la centesimoctogésima

«Thus, for example, we learn from Ibn Ezra's report in Seier ha-Moladot that those who proposed to deduct the I06th part of a day were "great Arab scholars" such as Yahya b. Abi Mansur, al-Marwadhi, Ibn al-Muqaffa' and al-Battani.» — Quiénes proponían restar la parte centesimosexta, según el reporte de Ibn Ezra: grandes sabios árabes como Yahya b. Abi Mansur, al-Marwadhi, Ibn al-Muqaffa' y al-Battani

«In the middle, between those who add to and those who deduct from the quarter of a day, Ibn Ezra introduced "Ptolemy and his companions" and classified them as those who deducted the 300th part of a day.» — Y en medio, Ptolomeo y los suyos, que restan la parte trescentésima

«Likewise, in almost all the parallel reports of the solar year controversy, a special place of honor is reserved for Ptolemy, or collectively for Greek astronomy, and the special value proposed by him: the 300th part» — El lugar de honor que Sela ve reservado a Ptolomeo en casi todos los relatos paralelos de esa controversia

«In the commentary on Leviticus 25:9, "Ptolemy and his companions" are clearly recognized as distinct from the two other groups, and the reason given for that is because "Ptolemy is close to the methodology of the Jewish intercalation".» — Y la razón que Ibn Ezra da para distinguirlo: Ptolomeo está cerca del método de la intercalación judía

«Ibn Ezra arrived at the conclusion that "the discrepancy between the Hebrews' and Ptolemy's length of the year is very small.» — La conclusión que saca: la discrepancia entre la duración del año de los hebreos y la de Ptolomeo es muy pequeña

«We will try to show now, first, that when Ibn Ezra presented scientific data in such an extremely detailed and seemingly overdone manner (for an exegetical literary genre), he did so to clinch an eminently exegetical argument, and second, that science plays in Ibn Ezra's commentary an essentially negative role.» — Lo que Sela anuncia que va a mostrar: que el despliegue minucioso de datos científicos sirve a un argumento exegético, y que la ciencia juega ahí un papel esencialmente negativo

«Despite the misleading impression given by the numerous technical details, Ibn Ezra's chief purpose in his commentary on Leviticus 25:9 was not to enlighten his readers about the division of opinion among the three astronomical schools divided about the length of the solar year.» — Contra la impresión que dan los tecnicismos, Sela niega que el propósito del comentario fuera ilustrar al lector sobre la división entre las tres escuelas

«Despite the fact that Ptolemy and the other astronomers are presented by Ibn Ezra as witnesses to a strange duel between Moses and Judah ha-Parsy, the division of opinion separating these three astronomical schools was not introduced by Ibn Ezra in order to tip the scale in favor of either Judah ha-Parsy, an obscure Karaite personage, or of Moses, the ultimate Jewish legislator for the Rabbanite persuasion.» — Y tampoco inclinar la balanza hacia Judah ha-Parsy o hacia Moisés, pese a que los astrónomos figuren como testigos del duelo

«emphasize that scientists, even though honestly searching for the scientific truth, were unable to determine a universally accepted value.» — Sino subrayar que los científicos, buscando de buena fe la verdad, no pudieron fijar un valor aceptado por todos

«Notwithstanding the disqualification of sciences as a deciding factor in calendaric matters, Claudius Ptolemy emerges as the leading scientific personality in this issue.» — Y aun descalificada la ciencia como factor decisorio en materia de calendario, Ptolomeo emerge como la figura científica principal del asunto

«The Alexandrian scientist is the only one whose name is explicitly recorded in the passages from the commentary on Leviticus 25:9 and Sefer ha- 'Ibbur amidst the other numerous contributions.» — El dato que lo muestra: es el único cuyo nombre queda registrado explícitamente entre las muchas aportaciones

«A subtle but significant bias in favor of sciences, however, may also be detected in Ibn Ezra's account.» — El sesgo que Sela detecta a la vez: sutil pero significativo, en favor de las ciencias

«First, that the decisions of Talmudic tradition regarding the Jewish regular calendar were based on astronomical considerations, and secondly, that the astronomical computations and values obtained by the ancient Jewish science were not only highly reminiscent of the achievements of Greek science but particularly related to the scientific contribution of Claudius Ptolemy.» — Las dos cosas que Ibn Ezra deja dichas, según Sela: que las decisiones talmúdicas sobre el calendario regular se apoyaban en consideraciones astronómicas, y que los cómputos de la ciencia judía antigua recordaban los logros de la griega y se relacionaban con Ptolomeo

«Not only is he presented as the chief of the Greek scholars but he is also proclaimed as King.» — El rango que le da: jefe de los sabios griegos y además rey

«We are told there that the above-mentioned value proposed by Ptolemy for the length of the year is very close to the value proposed by the tequfah of R. Adda.» — El vínculo concreto: el valor que Ptolomeo propone para la duración del año está muy cerca del de la *tequfah* de R. Adda

«The most important point to be stressed in this regard is that by proposing this direct scientific link between Ptolemy and Rav Adda Bar ' Ahavah, Ibn Ezra was creating a direct connection between the best product of Greek science and the most refined contribution of ancient Jewish science.» — Y lo que Sela subraya de ese vínculo: al trazarlo, Ibn Ezra conecta directamente lo mejor de la ciencia griega con lo más afinado de la ciencia judía antigua

«This excursus was considered by Ibn Ezra himself as a cardinal component of his exegetical work, an assessment which is corroborated by the multiple cross-references that he himself inserted in various parts of his long commentary on Exodus pointing to the exegetical excursus in his long commentary on Exodus 33:21.» — El peso que Ibn Ezra da al excurso del comentario largo a Éxodo 33:21, medido por las remisiones cruzadas que él mismo insertó

«We have singled out this fragment because, as will eventually be seen, the presence of Claudius Ptolemy may be explicitly or implicitly felt in each of its three component passages.» — Por qué Sela lo escoge: la presencia de Ptolomeo se siente, explícita o implícita, en cada uno de sus tres pasajes

«This interesting account, however, exceeds the boundaries of our chapter.» — Y el recorte que declara: el relato excede los límites de su capítulo

«Note, all plants, all that live on the earth, all fowl, cattle, animal, reptile and all human beings are tied to the forty-eight constellations of the sphere.» — La tesis del excurso, en traducción de Sela: todas las plantas, cuanto vive en la tierra, aves, ganado, animales, reptiles y todos los hombres están atados a las cuarenta y ocho constelaciones de la esfera

«(b) Those who added to give light, which is an incongruous addition to the issue, perhaps they knew that but did not want to reveal the secret to Ptolemy.» — Y la conjetura que Ibn Ezra desliza sobre quienes añadieron algo incongruente: quizá lo supieran y no quisieran revelarle el secreto a Ptolomeo

«At this introductory stage, it is in place to remark that the text of this passage, as was presented above, significantly deviates from the corresponding text of all the printed editions of Ibn Ezra's commentary on Exodus.» — El hallazgo textual que Sela declara: el pasaje que cita se aparta bastante del texto de todas las ediciones impresas del comentario de Ibn Ezra al Éxodo

«In a preliminary phase of research we arrived at the conclusion that the text of the printed version of passage (b) is quite unintelligible, so that it is almost impossible to get at Ibn Ezra's genuine thought.» — Su juicio sobre lo impreso: el texto de la versión impresa de ese pasaje es casi ininteligible, de modo que apenas puede llegarse al pensamiento genuino de Ibn Ezra

«As a result of having recourse to a new set of manuscripts, a new version was obtained - slightly different in its wording from the previous one but considerably different in its meaning.» — Y lo que obtuvo con manuscritos nuevos: una versión de redacción algo distinta y de sentido bastante distinto

«After a comparative and contextual scrutiny of the texts, we came to the conclusion that the new version is in all likelihood the one which reflects the genuine original text more faithfully.» — La conclusión que saca del cotejo, con su probabilidad declarada: la versión nueva es la que refleja con más fidelidad el texto original

«We notice, then, that according to this account, all the elders produced as one man a uniform translation of the Septuagint, despite the fact that they were isolated one from the other.» — La tradición talmúdica que está en juego: los ancianos produjeron como un solo hombre una traducción uniforme de la Septuaginta pese a estar aislados

«Yet the same Talmudic tradition goes on to inform us that the elders did not deliver to King Ptolemy an accurate translation into Greek of the Pentateuch.» — Y su segunda mitad: esa traducción entregada al rey Ptolomeo no era exacta

«Each of them, although they worked in seventy-two separate rooms, committed an identical set of errors in order to distort the original text of the Torah and hide from King Ptolemy the purport of some key biblical verses.» — Porque cada uno, en setenta y dos cuartos separados, cometió el mismo juego de errores para distorsionar la Torá y ocultarle al rey el sentido de versículos clave

«The text of the first version lends plausibility to the following two points: first, the phrase to give light is part and parcel of an addition or interpolation - as in the Talmudic tradition, and not as part of a stock Hebrew expression which blurs the meaning;» — Lo que la versión nueva hace verosímil, primero: que la frase *para dar luz* sea añadido o interpolación, como en la tradición talmúdica, y no giro hebreo corriente

«second, this version not only suggests that the phrase to give light is an interpolation made by the translators, but also that this interpolation "is incongruous to the issue", that is, it radically alters the original text and the meaning of Deuteronomy 4:19, as was the intention of the seventy-two translators according to the aforementioned Talmudic tradition.» — Y segundo: que esa interpolación es incongruente con el asunto, es decir, que altera de raíz el texto y el sentido de Deuteronomio 4:19, como querían los setenta y dos traductores

«The second discrepancy completely alters the identity of the person (or persons) to whom the translators did not want to reveal the secret presumably hidden behind the text of Deuteronomy 4:19.» — La segunda discrepancia entre versiones cambia por completo a quién se le oculta el secreto

«Whereas the second version presents some students, whose presence in this context is rather strained and removed from the above-mentioned Talmudic tradition (even though not completely implausible), in the new version there appears Ptolemy (Talmai), whose presence makes it crystal clear that Ibn Ezra is referring to the promoter of the Greek translation of the Pentateuch.» — Donde la versión impresa pone unos estudiantes, la nueva pone a Ptolomeo —Talmai—, con lo que queda claro que Ibn Ezra habla del promotor de la traducción griega

«In this case, the explicit reference to Ptolemy turns the scales in favor of the new version.» — Y esa referencia explícita es, para Sela, lo que inclina la balanza hacia la versión nueva

«The ultimate identity of the mentioned King Ptolemy, however, is not yet completely clear.» — El límite que declara en seguida: la identidad última de ese rey Ptolomeo no queda del todo clara

«It goes without saying that from a strictly historical, chronological perspective, King Ptolemy and Ptolemy the Alexandrian scientist were two completely different persons: King Ptolemy Philadelphus, the promoter of the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek, reigned in Alexandria in the third century B.C., whereas Claudius Ptolemy, the scientist, performed astronomical observations during the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus (A.D. 138-161).» — Lo que la cronología dice: el rey Ptolomeo Filadelfo reinó en Alejandría en el siglo III antes de nuestra era y Claudio Ptolomeo observó bajo Antonino, entre 138 y 161

«An overall reading of Ibn Ezra's work, however, furnishes the following two pieces of evidence which make it highly plausible that King Ptolemy and Claudius Ptolemy, in Ibn Ezra's mind at least, were one and the same person: first, Ibn Ezra frequently bestowed the royal title on Claudius Ptolemy, the scientist; second, there is no evidence that Ibn Ezra was aware of the chronological gap which separated King Ptolemy Philadelphus from Claudius Ptolemy.» — Y las dos evidencias que, según Sela, hacen muy verosímil que para Ibn Ezra fueran la misma persona: que le daba con frecuencia título real al científico, y que nada indica que conociera la distancia cronológica entre uno y otro

«This is a fairly frequent phenomenon, which may be easily traced in several of Ibn Ezra's scientific treatises and monographs, such as Mishpetei ha-Mazalot, Sefer ha- 'Olam (second version), Sefer ha- Te 'amim (second version), Sefer ha-Me 'orot, Sefer ha-Shem, Keli ha-Neboshet (first version), Sefer ha- 'Ibbur and Sefer ha-Mispar.» — Dónde se rastrea ese título real: en el *Mishpetei ha-Mazalot*, en las segundas versiones del *Sefer ha-'Olam* y del *Sefer ha-Te'amim*, en el *Sefer ha-Me'orot*, el *Sefer ha-Shem*, el *Keli ha-Neḥoshet*, el *Sefer ha-'Ibbur* y el *Sefer ha-Mispar*

«After al-Farghani, there arose another great scholar who translated the distinguished book about the constellations written by Batalmiyus, the King of Egypt, a Greek who lived a thousand years ago.» — El pasaje donde Ibn Ezra lo llama rey, en traducción de Sela: tras al-Farghani surgió otro gran sabio que tradujo el libro insigne sobre las constelaciones escrito por Batalmiyus, rey de Egipto, griego que vivió hace mil años

«Two were the heads of the astrologers (Qakhmei ha-maza[ot), Ptolemy and Doronius, and both a/them were kings.» — Y otro: dos eran los jefes de los astrólogos, Ptolomeo y Doroteo, y los dos eran reyes

«Ptolemy endorsed the judgments of astrology and wrote three books about collective and individual astrology, but he did not agree with the astrological doctrine of the interrogations.» — Lo que en ese mismo lugar se dice de Ptolomeo: hizo suyos los juicios de la astrología y escribió tres libros de astrología colectiva e individual, pero no aceptó la doctrina de las interrogaciones

«This passage clearly shows that the regal title in this case was ascribed to Claudius Ptolemy as an integral part of an explanatory statement and not as a mere accretion to his name, as is customary in the majority of the other cases.» — Lo que Sela lee ahí: el título real no es añadido al nombre sino parte integrante de una afirmación explicativa

«Such a wording strongly suggests that the royal title ascribed to Claudius Ptolemy was a statement intentionally made by the author himself and cannot be considered a later interpolation by a copyist.» — Y lo que de ahí se sigue: el título es del propio autor y no interpolación posterior de un copista

«Much more compelling and convincing are some external pieces of evidence, which make it quite clear that the coronation of Claudius Ptolemy was not so much a bizarre innovation by Ibn Ezra as it was a clear indicator mirroring his deep involvement in medieval Arabic civilization.» — El argumento externo que Sela prefiere: la coronación de Ptolomeo no es invención rara de Ibn Ezra sino señal de cuán metido estaba en la civilización árabe medieval

«But the most conclusive source pointing to King Claudius Ptolemy is Kitiib al-mad1)al al-kabir ila sinii 'at a1)kam al-nujum (Great Introduction to the Science of the Stars' Judgements) by Ja'far Ibn Mul;lammad AbU Ma'shar AI-Balkhi (787-886), a treatise which was well known to Ibn Ezra.» — Y la fuente que juzga más concluyente: la *Gran Introducción a la Ciencia de los Juicios de las Estrellas* de Abu Ma'shar, tratado que Ibn Ezra conocía bien

«Ibn Ezra's references to Abu Ma'shar's astrological work are very frequent, but they were commonly made without specifying the specific source from which they were extracted.» — Con la salvedad que Sela apunta: Ibn Ezra remite muy a menudo a la obra astrológica de Abu Ma'shar sin precisar de qué libro

«We have an account that Greek kings reigned over Egypt for 275 years after Alexander the Macedonian.» — El relato de Abu Ma'shar que Sela cita: reyes griegos gobernaron Egipto durante 275 años después de Alejandro de Macedonia

«One of those kings was born in the city of Philadelphia, reigned over Egypt and wrote an astronomical book in the Greek language called Almagest.» — Y entre ellos, uno nacido en la ciudad de Filadelfia que reinó sobre Egipto y escribió en griego un libro de astronomía llamado Almagesto

«All the above has been said to make known to you that all the learned Gentile scholars acquired their wisdom from our sages ... and you should know that Hipparchus learnt from them and drank from the spring of their knowledge. Likewise, each particular field of wisdom with which the Gentiles are acquainted, they learnt from our forefathers, may their memory be blessed.» — El mito del robo de la ciencia en boca de Ibn Ezra, en traducción de Sela: todos los sabios gentiles tomaron su sabiduría de nuestros sabios, e Hiparco aprendió de ellos y bebió de la fuente de su conocimiento. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«Maimonides asserted that astrology played a crucial role in Jewish history in the era when the Temple was destroyed, going to the extreme of stating that the old Kingdom of Israel was lost and the Temple destroyed because some of the Hebrew forefathers busied themselves with works of astrology and endorsed its doctrines, instead oflearning and implementing the art ofwar.» — La versión de Maimónides que Sela consigna: el reino de Israel se perdió y el Templo fue destruido porque algunos antepasados se ocuparon de obras de astrología y las hicieron suyas en vez de aprender el arte de la guerra

«Even though Maimonides emphasized the proximity between those accomplishments,195 he also pointed out some divergences, and in one case at least, he even did not refrain from remarking that the achievements of the Gentiles were superior to those of the old sages of Israel.» — Y la divergencia que él mismo admite: en un caso al menos, Maimónides no evita señalar que los logros de los gentiles eran superiores a los de los antiguos sabios de Israel

«Be that as it may, the modern reader of works such as the Laws concerning the Sanctification of the New Month gets the strong impression that Maimonides' references to the separate and parallel development of Greek and Jewish science were made to legitimize the study and practice of the new Arabic-Greek science within Jewish society, especially in order to afford access to sciences for such practical and compelling uses as the regulation of the observation of Jewish ritual.» — La lectura que Sela declara como impresión: las referencias de Maimónides al desarrollo paralelo de la ciencia griega y la judía servirían para legitimar el estudio de la nueva ciencia arabogriega dentro de la sociedad judía

«In other words: it is permitted to employ the scientific exploits of the Gentile scholars because in the final analysis they mainly agree with the achievement of the old sages of Israel.» — Y la fórmula de esa legitimación: se puede usar lo que lograron los sabios gentiles porque en última instancia concuerda con lo alcanzado por los antiguos sabios de Israel

«Judah ha-Levy (d. 1141), Ibn Ezra's close friend, also believed that the sciences of Israel thrived in past times, especially astronomy, a scientific field which served as a central tool in calendaric uses.» — La tercera voz del cotejo: Judah ha-Levy, amigo cercano de Ibn Ezra, también creía que las ciencias de Israel florecieron en tiempos pasados, en especial la astronomía

«In sharp contrast with Talmudic law, which was preserved throughout the hardships of the exile, old Jewish science vanished, in ha-Levy's opinion, because it was not shared by the people but was the exclusive intellectual property of a minority group of scholars.» — Su explicación de la pérdida: la ciencia judía antigua desapareció por no ser común al pueblo sino propiedad exclusiva de una minoría de sabios

«But Judah ha-Levy drew a clear-cut line of differentiation between old Jewish wisdom, which achieved an unsurpassable degree of precision, being based on prophecy and divine revelation, and the sciences of the Gentiles, inexact by nature because they were a product of human research and therefore always subject to alterations.» — Y la línea que traza: la sabiduría judía antigua alcanzó una precisión insuperable por apoyarse en profecía y revelación, y las ciencias de los gentiles son inexactas por ser producto de investigación humana

«Judah ha-Levy not only strove to demote the foreign sciences by presenting them as less precise and always subject to alterations, but also by regarding them as a stolen and degraded copy of the original Hebrew science.» — El paso siguiente que Sela le atribuye: presentar las ciencias extranjeras como copia robada y degradada de la ciencia hebrea original

«To Hebrew, however, belongs the first place, both as regards the nature of the languages, and the completeness of meanings.» — Y el lugar que da al hebreo, en la cita que Sela trae: el primero, por la naturaleza de las lenguas y por la plenitud de los sentidos

«Judah ha-Levy's view, however, is not a mere repetition of Abraham Bar J:Iiyya's already mentioned position.» — La distinción que Sela mantiene: esa posición no es mera repetición de la de Bar Ḥiyya

«The main difference between them, however, lies in the literary context within which the similar idea was presented.» — Y dónde está la diferencia: en el contexto literario en que se presenta una idea parecida

«Ibn Ezra's formulations are so similar to Judah ha-Levy's that one is impelled to assume that the idea was jointly elaborated and refined during their tete-a-tete meetings and discussions, before they abandoned al-Andalus in 1140.» — La hipótesis que Sela se ve llevado a suponer: las formulaciones de Ibn Ezra se parecen tanto a las de ha-Levy que la idea se habría elaborado y afinado en sus encuentros antes de salir de al-Ándalus en 1140

«However similar his view may seem, Ibn Ezra diverged from his companions mainly in the way he emphasized, and in the manner in which he mixed, the ingredients of this myth, notably by endowing them with a remarkable biblical paraphernalia.» — Y en qué se aparta de sus compañeros: en el énfasis, en la mezcla de los ingredientes del mito y en el aparato bíblico con que los reviste

«Even though Ibn Ezra viewed the translation of the Pentateuch from Hebrew into Greek as an attempt to steal those astrological secrets, he believed that the sinister design of King Ptolemy, the Thief, was thwarted by the translators, who committed an identical set of errors, so that in the final» — Lo que Ibn Ezra sostiene sobre la Septuaginta: fue intento de robar esos secretos astrológicos, y el designio siniestro del rey Ptolomeo, el Ladrón, quedó frustrado por los traductores

«The conjunctions [of seven planets] are one hundred and twenty.» — El dato que cierra el excurso: las conjunciones de los siete planetas son ciento veinte

«Ibn Ezra, however, did not confme himself in this passage to simply advancing a cosmological thesis but also intended to accompany it with what may be called a demonstration or explanation.» — Y lo que Ibn Ezra hace con él: no limitarse a enunciar la tesis cosmológica sino acompañarla de algo así como una demostración

«And yet, the details of this account remain in a state of utter obscurity» — El límite que Sela declara: los detalles de ese cómputo quedan en completa oscuridad

«Also, in vain will the reader look for a hint about the methodology employed by the author to obtain these partial results.» — Y en vano buscará el lector una pista del método con que se obtuvieron los resultados parciales

«A completely different story about the same 'one hundred and twenty' conjunctions appears in the introduction to the first version of Seier ha- 'Olam, in which Ibn Ezra introduced a parallel account of exactly the same issue but couched in totally different terms.» — El relato paralelo que Sela contrapone: el mismo asunto de las ciento veinte conjunciones, en la introducción a la primera versión del *Sefer ha-'Olam*, dicho en términos del todo distintos

«Ibn Ezra did not claim originality for this formula. Quite the contrary, at the very beginning of the third chapter of his arithmetic textbook Seier ha-Mispar, he acknowledged that he borrowed this precise formula from a book» — La honestidad que Sela le reconoce: Ibn Ezra no reclama originalidad para la fórmula y admite haberla tomado de un libro

«In the following paragraph of the same chapter in the same book, however, Ibn Ezra ascribed to himself an additional formula» — Aunque en el párrafo siguiente se adjudica a sí mismo una fórmula adicional

«That he regarded his own formula as a veritable contribution, worthy to be recorded as such, even though the formula which he ascribed to himself appears to a modem eye as algebraically equivalent to the other formula which he took from a book,209 illustrates the extent to which his mathematical approach was guided by the guidelines of Arabic algebra of his times, based more on verbal than on symbolic solutions of algebraic problems.» — Lo que Sela lee en esa reivindicación: aunque a ojos modernos las dos fórmulas sean equivalentes, el que la tuviera por aportación propia muestra cuánto seguía el álgebra árabe de su tiempo, más verbal que simbólica

«The continuation of the parallel account in the fIrst version of Seier ha- 'O/am shows that if Ibn Ezra intended to provide his explanation with a distinct mark of originality, he attained that, not so much by proposing a new formula as by endowing the borrowed formula with the singular capability of solving some crucial parts of the problem of fInding the total number of combinations (of at least two planets) in which seven planets are involved.» — Dónde estaría su originalidad, según Sela: no en proponer fórmula nueva, sino en dar a la prestada la capacidad de resolver partes del problema de las combinaciones de siete planetas

«Now we begin and ask how many two-star conjunctions there are, that is, how many combinations of only two stars (among seven stars) there are.» — El planteamiento, en traducción de Sela: cuántas conjunciones de dos estrellas hay entre siete

«So, six multiplied by half its value, plus half its value, represents twenty-one [conjunctions], and this is the number of two-star conjunctions.» — Y su cuenta: seis multiplicado por su mitad, más su mitad, da veintiuna

«Following the solution of the two-star problem, Ibn Ezra pressed ahead and persisted in the application of the same formula to solve the much more complicated problems related to fInding the number of three-star and four-star combinations.» — Después aplica la misma fórmula a las combinaciones de tres y de cuatro estrellas

«Regarding the much more complicated problem related to fInding the number of the fIve-star and six-star combinations, he jettisoned the formula and resorted to an individual solution.» — Y para las de cinco y seis abandona la fórmula y recurre a una solución caso por caso

«We learn from the ascending consecutive order (two, three, four, five, six and seven stars) in which the problem was solved in the introduction to Seier ha- 'O/am that Ibn Ezra was intent on showing an overall solution to a complex problem in a way which is as clear and systematic as possible.» — Lo que Sela deduce del orden ascendente en que el problema se resuelve en el *Sefer ha-'Olam*: Ibn Ezra buscaba una solución global clara y sistemática

«Conversely, from the fact that in the theological excursus he disregarded the expected consecutive order of the partial solutions, we learn that Ibn Ezra was interested in dazzling and bringing his audience under the spell of the numbers and their co-related fascinating qualities, much more than searching for a mathematical and systematic solution of the overall problem.» — Y lo contrario en el excurso teológico, donde desatiende ese orden: ahí le interesaba más deslumbrar a su público con los números y sus cualidades que dar una solución matemática

«He did so, as he himself stated in his long commentary on Exodus 33:21, because both problems resulted in one and the same final number - 21 conjunctions - even though the quantity of stars involved in each case was different - two and five stars.» — La razón que él mismo da: los dos problemas arrojan el mismo número final, veintiuna conjunciones, con cantidades distintas de estrellas

«In all likelihood, Ibn Ezra turned the problem on its head in the theological excursus and began by finding the number of seven-star combinations, precisely the opposite of what he did in the second account, because according to some Indian astrological traditions, well known by him, the genesis of cosmos happened at the same time that a seven-star conjunction occurred.» — Y la que Sela propone como probable para que empezara por las combinaciones de siete: según tradiciones astrológicas indias que conocía, el cosmos nació al ocurrir una conjunción de siete estrellas

«Ibn Ezra first toyed with the number seventy-two, which is the cumulative sum of the numerical values of the letters of the Tetragrammaton: Y(lO) + YH(15) + YHV(21) + YHVH(26) = 72.» — El juego numérico del excurso: setenta y dos como suma acumulada de los valores de las letras del Tetragrámaton

«But the same number is also the sum total of the numerical values of the letters of secret and alternative names of God, according to ancient traditions known to Ibn Ezra.» — Y el mismo número, según tradiciones antiguas que Ibn Ezra conocía, suma los valores de nombres secretos y alternativos de Dios

«Thereafter Ibn Ezra focussed his attention on the number twenty-six, which is the sum of the numerical values of the letters of the Tetragrammaton (26 = Y + H + V + H), and raised three points related to this number.» — Después pasa al veintiséis, suma de los valores de las cuatro letras, con tres puntos sobre él

«The third point, even though connected to the Tetragrammaton, does not refer directly to the numerical aspect of its letters but to the conjunction of the planets.» — El tercero de esos puntos no toca el valor numérico sino la conjunción de los planetas

«It turns out that the number twenty-six is combinatorially related to the conjunctions of five planets in precisely the same way as the number one hundred and twenty is related to the conjunction of seven planets.» — La correspondencia que Sela traza: veintiséis se relaciona combinatoriamente con las conjunciones de cinco planetas como ciento veinte con las de siete

«On the letters of the Tetragrammaton: ... if we add the first letter to the second, and we do so with all the four letters [of the Tetragrammaton], we get the number seventy-two.» — El pasaje del *Sefer ha-Shem*, en traducción de Sela: sumando la primera letra a la segunda y así con las cuatro, se obtiene setenta y dos. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«And if we multiply the [sum of the] two first letters of the Tetragrammaton by half their value, plus half their value, according to the formula to obtain the sum of all the [whole] numbers, then we get the number one hundred and twenty.» — Y multiplicando la suma de las dos primeras letras por su mitad más su mitad, según la fórmula de sumar todos los números enteros, se obtiene ciento veinte

«For one thing, the significance of the number 'one hundred and twenty' (about which we know that it represents the sum total of the combinations of seven planets) appears in very close relationship to the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton.» — Lo que a Sela le importa de ahí: el número ciento veinte, que da el total de combinaciones de siete planetas, queda en relación estrecha con las dos primeras letras del Tetragrámaton

«He reiterated a similar assertion in Yesod Mor 'ah, though in this case he did not explicitly acknowledge the fact that he employed the same formula.» — Y la repetición en el *Yesod Mora'h*, ahí sin reconocer que empleaba la misma fórmula

«He introduced this numerical pattern in his long commentary on Daniel 10:21 and his long commentary on Exodus 3:13, in the framework ofa discussion of the irregular motions of the planets.» — Dónde más aparece ese patrón numérico: en los comentarios largos a Daniel 10:21 y a Éxodo 3:13, dentro de una discusión sobre los movimientos irregulares de los planetas

«Actually, Ibn Ezra borrowed this numerical pattern not so much from the genuine Claudius Ptolemy of antiquity as from his medieval reflection, an unreal and mythical personality by which Claudius Ptolemy was known by Ibn Ezra as well as by Arabic, Latin and Hebrew civilizations.» — La procedencia real que Sela le asigna: no del Ptolomeo histórico sino de su reflejo medieval, personalidad irreal y mítica con que lo conocieron las civilizaciones árabe, latina y hebrea

«But a glimpse of the Centiloquium quickly reveals post-Ptolemaic elements among its miscellaneous astrological materials, such as in article 66, wherein a reference is made to the conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter, an astrological doctrine not known by Greek astrology but developed and well-known at a later time by Arabic astrologers.» — El indicio que lo delata: el *Centiloquium* trae elementos pospolemaicos, como la referencia del artículo 66 a las conjunciones de Saturno y Júpiter, doctrina que la astrología griega no conocía

«Consequently, he did not fmd a better artifice to assure the publication of his own astrological work than to convert part of it into a commentary upon a book attributed to Claudius Ptolemy, a book which in reality he wrote himself.» — El artificio que Sela adjudica al autor real: convertir parte de su propia obra astrológica en comentario de un libro atribuido a Ptolomeo que él mismo había escrito

«A reading of the fiftieth article of the Centiloquium shows that its author endowed it with a clear cosmological character: "Ptolemy said: you should not ignore the one hundred and twenty conjunctions of the planets, since in them is immersed the knowledge of everything that affects this world of generation and destruction.» — El artículo cincuenta del *Centiloquium*, en traducción de Sela: dijo Ptolomeo que no ignores las ciento veinte conjunciones de los planetas, porque en ellas está sumergido el conocimiento de cuanto afecta a este mundo de generación y destrucción

«As may be learnt from the aforementioned biblical commentaries, Ibn Ezra fully endorsed the cosmological significance of the one hundred and twenty conjunctions of the planets.» — Lo que Ibn Ezra hace con eso: hacer suyo por entero el significado cosmológico de las ciento veinte conjunciones

«He credulously believed, as did many others until recent times, that he was borrowing the idea from the astrologer Claudius Ptolemy, even though in fact he was following» — Y la atribución que Sela consigna sin corregirla en boca de Ibn Ezra: creyó con credulidad, como muchos hasta tiempos recientes, que tomaba la idea del astrólogo Claudio Ptolomeo

«If in a 'scientific revolution' an old outlook is dethroned and superseded by a new one, in a 'cultural revolution' something similar happens, not because the new ideas are intrinsically innovative but because they are being transferred for the first time from one civilization into another.» — La distinción que organiza la conclusión: en una revolución científica una visión vieja es destronada por otra nueva; en una revolución cultural ocurre algo parecido, no porque las ideas sean intrínsecamente nuevas, sino porque pasan por primera vez de una civilización a otra

«Abraham Ibn Ezra is a child of the Ptolemaic scientific world outlook, and Claudius Ptolemy, no doubt, is the main scientific character featuring in his literary work, scientific and non-scientific as well.» — El lugar de Ibn Ezra en esa visión: hijo del mundo científico ptolemaico, con Ptolomeo por personaje científico principal de toda su obra

«The persona with whom Ibn Ezra was acquainted was not the flesh and blood astronomer, astrologer and mathematician of antiquity but a figure encompassing a cluster of myths.» — Y de qué Ptolomeo se trata: no el astrónomo, astrólogo y matemático de carne y hueso de la antigüedad, sino una figura hecha de mitos

«It was not Claudius Ptolemy that Ibn Ezra grasped but Batalmiyus, who is Ptolemy in Arabic transliteration, and Talmai, who is the biblical Hebrew name of Ptolemy.» — Los dos nombres bajo los que lo captó: Batalmiyus, la transliteración árabe, y Talmai, el nombre hebreo bíblico

«Indeed, Ibn Ezra was drawn to the Arabic mythical Ptolemy, who, according to AbU Ma'shar's in his Kitflb al-madhal, "reigned over Egypt and wrote an astronomical book in the Greek language called Almagest and ... an Astrological Treatise Divided into Four Parts"» — El Ptolomeo mítico árabe que lo atrajo, según la *Gran Introducción* de Abu Ma'shar: reinó sobre Egipto y escribió en griego un libro de astronomía llamado Almagesto y un tratado astrológico dividido en cuatro partes. La cita lleva dentro la elisión del propio Sela

«Ibn Ezra considered their exegetical methodology largely objectionable and therefore he advised his readers "to learn external sciences from the books of experts in the external sciences"» — La objeción de Ibn Ezra a los Ge'onim por meter contenidos científicos en sus comentarios bíblicos, y el consejo con que la remata: aprender las ciencias externas en los libros de los expertos en ciencias externas

«It is completely clear that Ibn Ezra's aim was not to deter his readers, or the prospective exegete, from introducing scientific contents into exegetical discussions or biblical commentaries.» — Lo que Sela niega que ese consejo signifique: disuadir al lector o al exegeta de meter contenidos científicos en la exégesis

«Instead, Ibn Ezra's criticism may be read as a recommendation to draw a clear-cut line between the scientific text, on the one hand, and the exegetical text, on the other, not because the former should include scientific contents while the latter should not, but because each of them epitomizes a quite different approach or way to transmit and implement scientific knowledge.» — Y cómo propone leerlo: como recomendación de separar el texto científico del exegético, no porque uno lleve ciencia y el otro no, sino porque cada uno encarna un modo distinto de transmitir y aplicar el saber científico

«Despite these critical notes, we will never find in Ibn Ezra's scientific work a revolutionary approach striving to articulate a radically new scientific opinion.» — El balance que Sela sostiene: pese a las notas críticas, nunca se hallará en la obra científica de Ibn Ezra un enfoque revolucionario que busque una opinión radicalmente nueva

«Thus, paradoxically, we find that while the 'scientific book' is distinguished by its pedagogical and non-innovative character, the 'exegetical excursus', which also includes considerable scientific data, embodies a tendency towards research and free polemic.» — La paradoja que él llama tal: el libro científico es pedagógico y no innovador, y el excurso exegético —que también trae ciencia— tiende a la investigación y a la polémica libre

«These 'scientific research articles' may be also seen as a continuation or extension of the scientific textbook.» — Y cómo los relaciona: esos artículos de investigación pueden verse como continuación o extensión del manual científico

«As a result of this widening trend, Abraham Ibn Ezra uncovers new aspects, almost completely absent in his scientific corpus.» — Lo que ese ensanchamiento produce: Ibn Ezra descubre aspectos nuevos, casi del todo ausentes de su corpus científico

«The reception of astronomy into Islamic, Jewish and Christian society was substantially less problematic and disturbing than that of astrology.» — El contraste de recepciones que Sela plantea: la astronomía entró en las sociedades islámica, judía y cristiana con menos problema que la astrología

«Astronomy provided a most appropriate rationale for the calendaric aspects of the ritual, thus becoming almost indispensable to faith.» — Porque la astronomía daba razón a los aspectos calendáricos del rito, con lo que se volvía casi indispensable a la fe

«Since the astronomers' attention was almost exclusively directed to the supralunar domain, because the links of the supralunar domain with the divine or with the sublunar world were almost completely out of their scope, theologians could, with no trouble, consider astronomy as a harmless 'foreign science', the perfect handmaiden of theology.» — Y porque, mirando casi solo el dominio supralunar, los teólogos podían tenerla sin problema por ciencia extranjera inofensiva, criada perfecta de la teología

«By contrast, the astrologers' assumption that general and particular destiny may be prefigured was construed by the opponents of astrology as undermining the basis of religion, because it endorses an absolute denial of human freedom.» — La objeción que en cambio se hacía a la astrología: que prefigurar el destino general y particular socava el fundamento de la religión al negar de raíz la libertad humana

«Moreover, the astrologers' assumption that their techniques enable them to know how the motions of supralunar bodies provoke alterations in the sublunar world was sometimes grasped as sheer pagan star worship, as a denial of divine omnipotence.» — Y la segunda: que saber cómo los movimientos supralunares alteran el mundo sublunar se tomaba a veces por culto pagano de los astros y por negación de la omnipotencia divina

«Interestingly enough, Ibn Ezra and other medieval scientists not only were undeterred by these disturbing and embarrassing aspects of the astrological metier but also went to the extreme of making astrology the very nucleus of their scientific and non-scientific work.» — Lo que Sela subraya frente a eso: Ibn Ezra y otros científicos medievales no solo no se arredraron, sino que hicieron de la astrología el núcleo mismo de su obra

«As we have seen, an overall look at Ibn Ezra's scientific corpus shows that it was composed of about thirty works, dealing with multiple and various subjects.» — El recuento del corpus: unas treinta obras sobre asuntos múltiples y diversos

«And yet, one cannot too strongly emphasize that astrology stood at its very core.» — Y el énfasis que Sela no quiere dejar corto: la astrología estaba en su núcleo

«Other Hebrew astrological works were composed by Jewish astrologers in the following generations, but no Hebrew medieval writer matched Ibn Ezra's achievements in this field.» — La comparación que hace con las generaciones siguientes: se escribieron otras obras astrológicas hebreas, y ningún escritor hebreo medieval igualó lo que Ibn Ezra logró en ese campo

«His Hebrew astrological treatises were an accomplished product, widely circulating in manuscript during the Middle Ages.» — El estado de esos tratados: producto acabado, de circulación manuscrita amplia durante la Edad Media