The Astronomy of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' by Thomas Nathaniel Orchard (read along books .TXT) 📖
- Author: Thomas Nathaniel Orchard
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In the following lines Adam expresses to his Angel-guest, in forcible and convincing language, his reasons in support of the Copernican theory:—
Of Heaven and Earth consisting, and compute
Their magnitudes—this Earth, a spot, a grain,
An atom, with the Firmament compared
And all her numbered 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 her vast survey
Useless besides—reasoning, I oft admire,
How Nature, wise and frugal could commit
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold, to this one use,
For aught appears, and on their Orbs impose
Such restless revolution day by day
Repeated, while the sedentary Earth,
That better might with far less compass move,
Served 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.—viii. 15-38.
We are enabled to perceive that Milton had formed a correct conception of the magnitude and proportions of the universe, and also of the relative size and importance of the Earth, which he describes as ‘a spot, a grain, an atom,’ when compared with the surrounding heavens. He expresses his surprise that all the stars of the firmament, whose distances are so remote, and whose dimensions so greatly exceed those of this globe, should in their diurnal revolution have ‘such a sumless journey of incorporeal speed imposed upon them’ merely to officiate light to the Earth, ‘this punctual spot;’ and reasoning, wonders how Nature, wise and frugal in her ways, should commit such disproportions, by adopting means so great to accomplish a result so small, when motion imparted to the sedentary Earth would with greater ease produce the same effect.
The inconceivable velocity with which it would be necessary for those orbs to travel in order to accomplish a daily revolution round the Earth might be described as almost spiritual, and beyond the power of calculation by numbers.
The Angel, after listening to Adam’s argument, expresses approval of his desire to obtain knowledge, but answers him dubiously, and at the same time criticises in a severe and adverse manner the Ptolemaic theory.
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 Heaven move or Earth,
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 scanned by them who ought
Rather admire. Or, if they list to try
Conjecture, he his fabric of the Heavens
Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model Heaven,
And calculate the stars; how they will wield
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.—viii. 66-84.
When, with the advancement of science, astronomical observations were made with greater accuracy, it was discovered that uniformity of motion was not always maintained by those bodies which were believed to move in circles round the Earth. It was observed that the Sun, when on one side of his orbit, had an accelerated motion, as compared with the speed at which he travelled when on the other side. The planets, also, appeared to move with irregularity: sometimes a planet was observed to advance, then become stationary, and afterwards affect a retrograde movement. Those inequalities of motion could not be explained by means of the revolution of crystalline spheres alone, but were accounted for by imagining the existence of a small circle, or epicycle, whose centre corresponded with a fixed point in the larger circle, or eccentric, as it was called. This small circle revolved on its axis when carried round with the larger one, and round it the planet also revolved, which when situated in its outer portion would have a forward, and when in its inner portion a retrograde, motion.
The theory of eccentrics and epicycles was sufficient for a time to account for the inequalities of motion already described, and by this means the Ptolemaic system was enabled to retain its ascendency for a longer period than it otherwise would have done. But more recent discoveries brought to light discrepancies and difficulties which were explained away by adding epicycle to epicycle. This created a most complicated entanglement, and hastened the downfall of a system which, after an existence of many centuries, sank into oblivion, and is now remembered as a belief of bygone ages.
The devices which the upholders of this system were compelled to adopt, in order ‘to save appearances,’ with ‘centric and eccentric,’ cycle and epicycle, ‘orb in orb,’ are in this manner appropriately described by Milton, as indicating the confusion arising from a theory based upon false hypotheses.
Continuing his reply, the Angel says:—
Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest
That bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright, nor Heaven such journies 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 Heaven, so small,
Nor glistering, 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 received,
His beams, inactive else, their vigour find,
Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries
Officious, but to thee, Earth’s habitant.
And, for the Heaven’s wide circuit, let it speak
The Maker’s high magnificence, who built
So spacious, and his line stretched out so far,
That Man may know he dwells not in his own—
An edifice too large for him to fill,
Lodged in a small partition; and the rest
Ordained for uses to his Lord best known,
The swiftness of those Circles attribute,
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 Heaven
Where God resides, and ere midday arrived
In Eden—distance inexpressible
By numbers that have name. But this I urge,
Admitting motion in the Heavens, to show
Invalid that which thee to doubt it moved;
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,
Placed Heaven from Earth so far, that earthly sight,
If it presume, might err in things too high,
And no advantage gain.—viii. 85-122.
Notwithstanding the Angel’s severe criticism of the Ptolemaic system, he does not unreservedly support the conclusions arrived at by Adam, but endeavours to show that his reasoning may not be altogether correct. He questions the validity of his argument that bodies of greater size and brightness should not serve the smaller, though not bright, and that heaven should move, while the Earth remained at rest. He argues that great or bright infers not excellence, and that the Earth, though small, may contain more virtue than the Sun, that ‘barren shines,’ whose beams create no beneficial effect, except when directed on the fruitful Earth. He reminds Adam that those bright luminaries minister not to the Earth, but to himself, ‘Earth’s habitant,’ and directs his attention to the magnificence and extent of the surrounding universe, of which he occupies but a small portion. The diurnal swiftness of the orbs that move round the Earth he attributes to God’s omnipotence, that to material bodies ‘could add speed almost spiritual.’
The Angel, after alluding to his rapid flight through space, suggests that God placed heaven so far from Earth that man might not presume to inquire into things which it would be of no advantage for him to know. He then suddenly changes to the Copernican system, which he lucidly describes in the following lines:—
Be centre to the World, and other stars
By his attractive virtue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds?
Their wandering 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,
Moved contrary with thwart obliquities,
Or save the Sun his labour, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb supposed
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,
Enlightening 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 softened 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,
Stored in each orb perhaps with some that live.
For such vast room in Nature unpossessed
By living soul, desert and desolate,
Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute
Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far
Down to this habitable, which returns
Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.—viii. 122-58.
The Copernican theory, which is less complicated and more easily understood than the Ptolemaic, is described by Milton with accuracy and methodical skill.
The Sun having been assigned that central position in the system which his magnitude and importance claim as his due, the planets circling in orbits around him have their motions described in a manner indicative of the precise knowledge which Milton acquired of this theory. At this time the law of gravitation was unknown, and, although the ellipticity of the orbits of the planets had been discovered by Kepler, the nature of the motive force which guided and retained them in their paths still remained a mystery. It was believed that the planets were whirled round the Sun, as if by the action of magnetic fibres; a mutual attractive influence having been supposed to exist between them and the orb, similar to that of the
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