Of All Things Visible, The

For When A Ship Is Floating Calmly Along, The Sailors See Its Motion Mirrored In Everything Outside, While On The Other Hand They Suppose That They Are Stationary, Together With Everything On Board. In The Same Way, The Motion Of The Earth Can Unquestionably Produce The Impression That The Entire Universe Is Rotating.

We Regard It As A Certainty That The Earth, Enclosed Between Poles, Is Bounded By A Spherical Surface.

Pouring Forth Its Seas Everywhere, Then, The Ocean Envelops The Earth And Fills Its Deeper Chasms.

Hence I Feel No Shame In Asserting That This Whole Region Engirdled By The Moon, And The Center Of The Earth, Traverse This Grand Circle Amid The Rest Of The Planets In An Annual Revolution Around The Sun. Near The Sun Is The Center Of The Universe. Moreover, Since The Sun Remains Stationary, Whatever Appears As A Motion Of The Sun Is Really Due Rather To The Motion Of The Earth.

Therefore, In The Course Of The Work I Have Followed This Plan: I Describe In The First Book All The Positions Of The Orbits Together With The Movements Which I Ascribe To The Earth, In Order That This Book Might Contain, As It Were, The General Scheme Of The Universe.