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Who since the morning hour set out from heaven
Where God resides, and ere mid-day arriv'd
In Eden, distance inexpressible

But this I urge,

115

By numbers that have name.
Admitting motion in the heav'ns, to show
Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd;
Not that I so affirm, though so it seem
To thee who hast thy dwelling here on earth.
God to remove his ways from human sense,
Plac'd heav'n from earth so far, that earthly sight, 120
If it presume, might err in things too high,
And no advantage gain. What if the sun
Be centre to the world, and other stars

By his attractive virtue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds?

125

Their wand'ring course now high, now low, then hid, Progressive, retrogade, or standing still,

In six thou seest, and what if sev'nth to these

128. In six thou seest, &c.] In the moon, and the five other wandering fires, as they are called v. 177. Their motions are evident; and what if the earth should be a seventh planet, and move three different motions though to thee insensible? The three different motions which the Copernicans attribute to the earth are the diurnal round her own axis, the annual round the sun, and the motion of libration as it is called, whereby the earth so proceeds in her orbit, as that her axis is constantly parallel to the axis of the world. Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe, &c. You must either

VOL. II.

ascribe these motions to several spheres crossing and thwarting one another with crooked and indirect turnings and windings: or you must attribute them to the earth, and save the sun his labour and the primum mobile too, that swift nocturnal and diurnal rhomb. It was observed in the note on vii. 619. that when Milton uses a Greek word, he frequently subjoins the English of it, as he does here, the wheel of day and night. So he calls the primum mobile: and this primum mobile in the ancient astronomy was an imaginary sphere above those of the planets and fixed stars; and

F

The planet earth, so stedfast though she seem,
Insensibly three different motions move?
Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,
Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities,

Or save the sun his labour, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb suppos'd,
Invisible else above all stars, the wheel

Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
If earth industrious of herself fetch day
Travelling east, and with her part averse

From the sun's beam meet night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray. What if that light
Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air,

To the terrestrial moon be as a star
Enlight'ning her by day, as she by night

This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,
Fields and inhabitants: her spots thou seest

therefore said by our author to be supposed and invisible above all stars. This was conceived to be the first mover, and to carry all the lower spheres round along with it; by its rapidity communicating to them a motion whereby they revolved in twenty-four hours. Which needs not thy belief, if earth &c. But there is no need to believe this, if the earth by revolving round on her own axis from west to east in twenty-four hours (travelling east) enjoys day in that half of her globe which is turned towards the sun, and is covered with night in the other half which is turned away from the

sun.

130

[blocks in formation]

135

140

145

It seems by this and by another passage, v. 419. as if our author thought that the spots in the moon were clouds and vapours: but the most probable opinion is, that they are her seas and waters, which reflect only part of the sun's rays, and absorb the rest. They cannot possibly be clouds and

vapours, because they are observed to be fixed and permanent. But (as Dr. Pearce observes) Mr. Auzout in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1666 thought that he had observed some difference between the spots of the moon as they then appeared, and as

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
Fruits in her soften'd soil, for some to eat
Allotted there; and other suns perhaps
With their attendant moons thou wilt descry
Communicating male and female light,
Which two great sexes animate the world,
Stor'd in each orb perhaps with some that live.
For such vast room in nature unpossess'd
By living soul, desert and desolate,
Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute
Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd so far
Down to this habitable, which returns

they are described to have ap-
peared long before: and Milton,
who wrote this poem about that
time, might approve of Auzout's
observation, though others do

not.

150. Communicating male and female light] The suns communicate male, and the moons female, light. And thus Pliny mentions it as a tradition, that the sun is a masculine star, drying all things: on the contrary, the moon is a soft and feminine star, dissolving humours: and so the balance of nature is preserved, some of the stars binding the elements, and others loosing them. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. ii. c. 100. Solis ardore siccatur liquor; et hoc esse masculum sidus accepimus, torrens cuncta sorbensque.-E contrario ferunt lunæ femineum ac molle sidus, atque nocturnum solvere humorem.-Ita pensari naturæ vices, semperque sufficere, aliis siderum elementa cogentibus, aliis vero fundentibus.

150

155

155. Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute] The accent here upon contribute is the same as upon attribute, in ver. 107.

The swiftness of those circles attribúte:

and upon attributed in ver. 12.

With glory attributed to the high. But now-a-days we generally lay the accent differently.

155. In each of these words Mr. Todd throws back the accent on the first syllable. Milton perhaps pronounced many words in the foreign manner without any very marked emphasis on either syllable: and if we avoid the modern method of placing the accent on the second syllable of contribute, attribute, &c. a greater stress is necessarily laid both on the first syllable, where Mr. Todd would place the accent, and upon the third, where it is placed by Newton. E.

157. this habitable,] An adjective used substantively: earth

Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.
But whether thus these things, or whether not,
Whether the sun predominant in heaven
Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun,
He from the east his flaming road begin,
Or she from west her silent course advance
With inoffensive pace the spinning sleeps
On her soft axle, while she paces even,

is understood; as in vi. 78. this terrene. This habitable is pure Greek, Oxμm, the inhabited, the earth. Richardson.

158. Light back to them,] I think that Dr. Bentley very justly objects to the word light here: for if the fixed stars convey only a glimpse of light to our earth, it is too much to say that she returns back to them light in general, which implies more than a glimpse of it. He therefore would read Nought back to them: but this is not agreeable to the philosophy which Milton puts in Raphael's mouth: for it is intimated in ver. 140. that our earth does send out light from her; and if so, then some of her light might be returned back to the fixed stars. Suppose we should read Like back to them &c. i. e. only a glimpse of light, just as much and no more than she receives. Pearce.

159. But whether thus these things, or whether not, &c.] The angel is now recapitulating the whole. He had argued upon the supposition of the truth of the Ptolemaic system to ver. 122. Then he proposes the Copernican system, and argues upon

160

165

that supposition. Now he sums up the whole, But whether thus these things, or whether not, whether the one system or the other be true, whether heaven move or earth, solicit not thyself about these matters, fear God and do thy duty.

So i.

162.his flaming road] Elegantly applying to the road what belongs to the sun. 786. he says the moon wheels her pale course. Richardson.

164.that spinning sleeps On her soft axle,] Metaphors taken from a top, of which Virgil makes a whole simile, Æn. vii. 378. It is an objection to the Copernican system, that if the earth moved round on her axle in twentyfour hours, we should be sensible of the rapidity and violence of the motion; and therefore to obviate this objection it is not only said that she advances her silent course with inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps on her soft axle, but it is farther added to explain it still more, while she paces even, and bears thee soft with the smooth air along: for the air, the atmosphere, moves as well as the earth.

And bears thee soft with the smooth air along,
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,
Leave them to God above, him serve and fear;
Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
Wherever plac'd, let him dispose: joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy fair Eve; heav'n is for thee too high
To know what passes there; be lowly wise:
Think only what concerns thee and thy being;
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
Live, in what state, condition, or degree,
Contented that thus far hath been reveal'd

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175

Not of earth only but of highest heaven.

To whom thus Adam, clear'd of doubt, replied.

How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure

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Intelligence of heav'n, angel serene,

And freed from intricacies, taught to live

The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts
To interrupt the sweet of life, from which

God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,

And not molest us, unless we ourselves

185

Seek them with wand'ring thoughts, and notions vain.
But apt the mind or fancy is to rove
Uncheck'd, and of her roving is no end;

Till warn'd, or by experience taught, she learn,
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and subtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,

173.be lowly wise:] Noli altum sapere. Hume.

190

193. That which before us lies in daily life,] Shadowed from

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