THE CONFLICT OF OLD AND NEW IDEAS 



41 



astrological influence; 62 the alchemists change the baser metals 

 into gold in the regions below ; 63 and, finally, man stands as the 

 centre of the universe. These details show how Milton employed, 

 apparently without hesitation, the old beliefs, and based his colos 

 sal fabric on the old physical conceptions. And so solidly did he 

 build that even in the nineteenth century Huxley found it neces 

 sary to attack the science of Milton rather than that of Genesis. 



But Milton's mind was not wholly undisturbed by the new ideas. 

 The "optic tube" of Galileo rose persistently in the midst of his 

 imaginings ; 64 the poet seemed troubled by it, if not really fearful 

 lest it should bring his whole house of cards tumbling about his 

 ears. And he was right, too, in his apprehensions, for even as he 

 wrote the scientists were grinding the lenses for a telescope that 

 would enable them to see, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the false 

 basis of his physical theories. But Milton had every reason to want 

 to know the truth; he was purposing to write a poem which he 

 hoped the world would not willingly let perish, and its foundations 

 must be laid as firmly as possible. To Adam, therefore, he gave 

 the inquisitive mind of the new philosopher who would not be satis 

 fied with the old traditions and accepted explanations ; to Adam he 

 gave also a glimpse of the new conception, destined to revolutionize 

 theology and philosophy, of man's comparative insignificance in the 

 infinite expanse of the universe. Adam, like John Locke, began to 

 doubt the long-accepted ' * anthropocentric idea"; "the scenery had 

 become too wide for the drama". 65 



' ' Reasoning I oft admire ' ', said the inquisitive Adam to Raphael, 

 "how Nature, wise and frugal, could commit such disproportions". 68 

 The significant word "reasoning", at once put all the old beliefs 

 upon the defensive; nullius in verba can be truly called Adam's 

 motto as well as that of the new philosophers; he, like them, 

 has proposed ' ' to examine all systems, theories, principles, hypothe 

 ses". Raphael, at first, answered him evasively that "it makes no 



62 Ibid. VIII, 511-3. 



63 Ibid. VII, 346-8. 



64 Ibid. I, 287-90; V. 261-2; III, 587-90; VIII, 74, 149; "In Paradise Lost there 

 are nine references to Galileo and one to Copernicus". Woodhull, Marianna, The Epic 

 of Par. Lost, p. 310. 



65 Stephens, Leslie, History of Eng. Thought in 18th Cent., vol. I, p. 81. 

 w Par. Lost, VIII, 15-36. 



