Since Osiander knew of Copernicus’ hesitations to publish his manuscript for ‘four times nine years’;63a of his insistence that in the narratio prima his authorship should remain anonymous; of his attempt to publish only his planetary tables without the theory behind them, he must have assumed that Copernicus would agree with his cautious and conciliatory approach, which was merely reiterating the classical doctrine that physics and sky-geometry were matters apart.
