solstitialis

tropical sign near the solstices

Aequinoctiale vel solstitiale ideo dictum est quod, in hoc signo, horas noctis ac diei aequata moderatione componit, quod a Graecis tropicon isemerinon appellatum est.

‘This sign is called equinoctial or solstitial because in it the hours of the day and night have equal measure, which the Greeks call tropicon isemerinon.’

tropical sign near the equinox

Non enim eodem semper loco sol oritur aut occidit, sed alius est ortus occasusque aequinoctialis—bis autem aequinoctium est—alius solstitialis, alius hibernus.

‘For the sun does not always rise or set in the same place. One rising and setting is the equinoctial [i.e., rising due E., setting due W.]—moreover, the equinox occurs twice a year—another is the summer-solstitial [i.e., rising in the N.E., setting in the N.W.], and still another the winter-solstitial [i.e. rising in the S.E., setting in the S.W.].’

Tres autem circuli supra dictis zonis inplexi inaequalitates temporum distingunt, solstitialis a parte signiferi excelsissima nobis ad septentrionalem plagam versus, contraque ad alium polum brumalis, item medio ambitu signiferi orbis incedens aequinoctialis.

‘But the three circles intertwined between the zones aforesaid are the cause of the differences of the seasons: the Tropic of Cancer on the side of the highest part of the zodiac to the northward of us, and opposite to it the Tropic of Capricorn towards the other pole, and also the equator that runs in the middle circuit of the zodiac.’