In The Midst Of All Dwells The

Yet The Widespread Planetary Theories, Advanced By Ptolemy And Most Other Astronomers, Although Consistent With The Numerical Data, Seemed Likewise To Present No Small Difficulty. For These Theories Were Not Adequate Unless They Also Conceived Certain Equalizing Circles, Which Made The Planet Appear To Move At All Times With Uniform Velocity Neither On Its Deferent Sphere Nor About Its Own Epicycle's Center.

Those Who Know That The Consensus Of Many Centuries Has Sanctioned The Conception That The Earth Remains At Rest In The Middle Of The Heavens As Its Center, Would, I Reflected, Regard It As An Insane Pronouncement If I Made The Opposite Assertion That The Earth Moves.

The Universe, Wrought For Us By A Supremely Good And Orderly Creator.

In The First Book I Shall Describe All The Positions Of The Spheres, Along With The Motions Which I Attribute To The Earth, So That The Book Will Contain As It Were The General Structure Of The Universe. In The Remaining Books I Relate The Motions Of The Remaining Stars, And All The Spheres, To The Mobility Of The Earth, So That It Can Be Thence Established How Far The Motions And Appearances Of The Remaining Stars And Spheres Can Be Saved, If They Are Referred To The Motions Of The Earth.

In The Midst Of All Dwells The Sun. For Who Could Set This Luminary In Another Or Better Place In This Most Glorious Temple, Than Whence He Can At One And The Same Time Brighten The Whole.