Into all eyes, to wish her ftill in fight.
And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt propos'd, Benevolent and facile, thus reply'd:
To afk or fearch I blame thee not; for heav'n
Is as the book of God before thee fet, Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn His feasons, hours, or days, or months, or years. This to attain, whether heav'n move, or earth, Imports not, if thou reckon right the reft From man or angel the great Architect Did wifely to conceal, and not divulge His fecrets to be fcann'd by them who ought Rather admire; or if they lift to try Conjecture, he his fabrick of the heav'ns Hath left to their difputes, perhaps to move His laughter at their quaint opinions wide Hereafter, when they come to model heav'n, And calculate the ftars; how they will wield The mighty frame; how build, unbuild, contrive
To fave appearances; how gird the fphere With centrick and eccentrick fcribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.
L. 82. Appearances.] Fr. Lat. An astrological term. The rifings, motions, places, and influences of the planets. Here is a strong and pleasant confutation of judiciary astrology, with some of its abfurd terms, by way of a digression.
L. 83. With centrick and eccentrick.] Centrick or concentrick are fuch spheres whofe centre is the fame with, and eccentrick fuch whofe centres are different from, that of the earth. Richardfon.
L. 84. Cycle.] Lat. Gr. i. e. a circle. An aftrological term. A continual revolution of plancts, which goeth on from the first number to the laft, without any interruption, and then returns to the firft; as the cycle of the fun, &c.
Ibid. Epicycle.] Lat. Gr. i. e. a circle above a circle. An aftrological term. A leffer circle, whofe centre is in the circumference. of the greater circle, i. e. one cycle within another, or orb in orb, as plancts having their centre different from the centre of the carth, &c.
Ibid. Orb.] Fr. Lat. An aftronomical term. An hollow fphere or globe, ufed by astronomers and aftrologers to demonftrate the motions and distances of places. Globes or spheres were first in
Already by thy reasoning this I guess, Who art to lead thy offspring, and fuppofeft That bodies bright and greater should not serve The lefs not bright, nor heav'n fuch journies run, Earth fitting ftill, when fhe alone receives The benefit. Confider first, that great Or bright infers not excellence: the earth Though, in comparison of heav'n, so small, Nor glift'ring, may of folid good contain More plenty than the fun that barren shines, Whofe virtue on itfelf works no effect, But in the fruitful earth; there first receiv'd, His beams, unactive elfe, their vigour find. Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries Officious, but to thee, earth's habitant. And for the heav'ns' wide circuit, let it speak The Maker's high magnificence, who built So fpacious, and his line ftretch'd out so far; That man may know he dwells not in his own; An edifice too large for him to fill, Lodg'd in a small partition; and the reft Ordain'd for uses to his Lord beft known.
The fwiftness of those circles attribute,
Though numberlefs, to his omnipotence,
That to corporeal fubftances could add
Speed almost spiritual- me thou think'ft not flow, 110 Who fince the morning-hour fet out from heav'n, Where God refides, and ere mid-day arriv'd
In Eden; diftance inexpreffible
By numbers that have name. But this I Admitting motion in the heav'ns, to show Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd: Not that I fo affirm, though so it seem
vented by Archimedes, an excellent mathematician of Sicily, about A. M. 3730.
To thee who haft thy dwelling here on earth. God, to remove his ways from human fenfe,
Plac'd heav'n from earth fo far, that earthly fight, 120 If it prefume, might err in things too high,
And no advantage gain. What if the fun- Be centre to the world, and other ftars,
By his attractive virtue and their own Incited, dance about him various rounds ?
Their wand'ring courfe now high, now low, then hid,
Progreffive, retrograde, or ftanding ftill,
In fix thou feeft: and what if fev'nth to thefe
The planet earth, fo ftedfaft though the feem, Infenfibly three different motions move?
Which else to several spheres thou must afcribe, Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities ;-
Or fave the fun his labour, and that swift Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb fuppos'd, Invisible else above all stars, the wheel Of day and night; which needs not thy belief, If earth, induftrious of herself, fetch day Travelling eaft, and with her part averse
From the fun's beam meet night, her other part Still luminous by his ray.. What if that light, Sent from her through the wide tranfpicuous air, To the terreftrial moon be as a star,, Enlight'ning her by day,, as fhe by night: This earth? reciprocal, if land be there, Fields and inhabitants.. Her fpots thou feeft
L. 124. By his attractive virtue, &c.] It appears by this paffage,. that Milton was acquainted, in fome measure, with the doctrine of attraction, feveral years before Sir Ifaac Newton published his Principia. Newton.
L. 130. Three.] i. e. the diurnal, the annual, and the motion on? her own axis.
L. 145. As clouds.] It feems by this and by another paffage, B. V. 1. 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. here
As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce Fruits in her foften'd foil, for fome to eat Allotted there; and other funs, perhaps, With their attendant moons, thou wilt defcry Communicating male and female light; Which two great sexes animate the world, Stor'd in each orb perhaps with fome that live. For fuch vast room in nature unpoffefs'd By living foul, defert and defolate,
Only to fhine, yet scarce to contribute
Each orb a glimpfe of light, convey'd fo far- Down to this habitable, which returns
Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.
But whether thus these things, or whether not;. Whether the fun predominant in heav'n,
Rife on the earth, or earth rife on the fun; He from the eat his flaming road begin, Or fhe from weft her filent course advance, With inoffenfive pace, that spinning fleeps On her foft axle, while fhe paces even, And bears thee foft 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, Where-ever 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 paffes there; be lowly wife: Think only what concerns thee, and thy being;
feas and waters, which reflect only part of the fun's rays, and abforb the reft. They cannot poffibly be clouds and vapours, becaufe they are obferved to be fixed and permanent. But (as Dr. Pearce obferves,) Mr. Auzout, in the Philofophical Tranfactions for the year 1666, thought that he had obferved fome difference between the spots of the moon as they then appeared, and as they are de fcribed to have appeared long before: And Milton, who wrote this poem about that time, might approve of Auzout's obfervation though others do not. Newton.
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there 175 Live, in what ftate, condition, or degree, Contented that thus far hath been revealů, Not of earth only, but of higheft heav'n.
To whom thus Adam, clear'd of doubt, reply'd : How fully haft thou fatisfy'd me, pure Intelligence of heav'n, angel ferene, And freed from intricacies, taught to live The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts) To interrupt the fweet of life, from which
God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,
And not moleft us, unless we ourselves
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, obfcure and subtle, but to know That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime wifdom: what is more, is fume, Or emptiness, or fond impertinence, And renders us, in things that molt concern, Unpractis'd, unprepar'd, and ftill to feek. Therefore from this high pitch let us defcend A lower flight, and fpeak of things at hand Ufeful, whence haply mention may arise Of fomething not unfeasonable to ask, By fuff'rance, and thy wonted favour deign'd. Thee I have heard relating what was done Ere my remembrance: now hear me relate My ftory, which perhaps thou haft not heard; And day is yet not spent ; 'till then thou feest
How fubtly to detain thee I devise,
Inviting thee to hear while I relate, Fond, were it not in hope of thy reply:
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