ith 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.

To ask or search I blame thee not; for Heaven
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
Here