An atom, with the firmament compar'd And all her number'd stars, that seem to roll Spaces incomprehensible (for such
Their distance argues and their swift return Diurnal) merely to officiate light
Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot, One day and night in all their vast survey Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire, How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit Such disproportions, with surperfluous hand So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold to this one use,
For aught appears, and on their orbs impose 30 Such restless revolution day by day Repeated, while the sedentary earth,
That better might with far less compass move, Serv'd by more noble than herself, attains Her end without least motion, and receives, As tribute, such a sumless journey brought Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light; Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.
So spake our Sire, and by his count'nance seem'd Ent'ring on studious thoughts abstruse, which Eve Perceiving where she sat retir'd in sight, With lowliness majestic from her seat, And grace that won who saw to wish her stay, Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers, To visit how they prosper'd, bud and bloom, Her nursery; they at her coming sprung, And touch'd by her fair tendence gladlier grew.
Yet went she not, as not with such discourse Delighted, or not capable her ear
Of what was high: such pleasure she reserv'd, 50 Adam relating, she sole auditress:
Her husband the relator she preferr'd
Before the Angel, and of him to ask
Chose rather, he, she knew, would intermix Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute With conjugal caresses: from his lip
Not words alone pleas'd her. O when meet now Such pairs in love and mutual honor join'd? With goddess-like demeanor forth she went, Not unattended, for on her, as queen,
of winning Graces waited still,
And from about her shot darts of desire Into all eyes to wish her still in sight. And Raphael now to Adam's doubt propos'd Benevolent and facile thus reply'd:
To ask or search I blame thee not, for Heav'n Is as the book of God before thee set,
Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years: This to attain, whether Heav'n move or Earth, 70 Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest From man or angel the great Architect Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge His secrets to be scann'd by them who ought Rather admire; or if they list to try Conjecture, he his fabric of the Heav'ns Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide Hereafter, when they come to model Heav'n And calculate the stars, how they will wield 80 The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive To save appearances, how gird the sphere With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb:
Already by thy reasoning this I guess, Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest That bodies bright and greater should not serve The less not bright, nor Heav'n such journeys run, Earth sitting still, when she alone receives The benefit; consider first, that great Or bright infers not excellence: the earth, Though in comparison of Heav'n, so small, Nor glist'ring, may of solid good contain More plenty than the sun that barren shines, Whose virtue on itself works no effect, But in the fruitful Earth; there first receiv'd His beams, unactive else, their vigor find. Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries Officious, but to thee, Earth's habitant. And for the Heav'n's wide circuit, let it speak 100 The Maker's high magnificence, who built So spacious, and his line stretch'd out so far; That man may know he lives not in his own; An edifice too large for him to fill, Lodg'd in a small partition, and the rest Ordain'd for uses to his Lord best known. The swiftnes of those circles attribúte,
Though numberless, to his omnipotence,
That to corporeal substances could add
Speed almost spiritual; me thou think'st not slow, Who since the morning hour set out from Heav'n Where God resides, and ere mid-day arriv'd In Eden, distance inexpressible
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, If it presume, might err in things too high, 121 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? Their wand'ring course now high, now low, then hid, Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,
In six thou seest, and what if seventh to these The planet Earth, so steadfast 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 its 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 140 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 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 contribúte
Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd so 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 sun predominant in Heav'n 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 that spinning sleeps On her soft axle, while she paces even And bears thee soft with the smooth air along, Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,
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