escribed by
Milton as contributing to the general disarrangement of the happy
condition of things that existed before the Fall.

After having described the adverse physical changes which occurred in
Nature as a consequence of the Fall, Milton makes use of his
astronomical knowledge in explaining how they were brought about, and
suggests two hypotheses: (1) a change of position of the Earth's axis;
(2) an alteration of the Sun's path from the equinoctial road:--

Some say he bid his Angels turn askance
The poles of Earth twice ten degrees and more
From the Sun's axle; they with labour pushed
Oblique the centric globe: some say the Sun
Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial road
Like distant breadth--to Taurus with the seven
Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins,
Up to the Tropic Crab; thence down amain
By Leo, and the Virgin, and the Scales,
As deep as Capricorn; to bring in change
Of seasons to each clime. Else had the spring
Perpetual smiled on Earth with vernant flowers.--x. 668-79.

In support of the theory of a perpetual spring, Milton assumes that the
Earth's axis was directed at right angles to her orbit, and that the
plane of the equator coincided with that of the ecliptic. Consequently,
the Sun's path remained always on the equator, where his rays were
vertical, and north and south of this line each locality on the Earth
enjoyed one constant season, the character of which depended upon its
geographical position. In what are now the temperate regions of the
globe there was one continuous season, similar in climate and length of
day to what is experienced at the vernal equinox, when the Sun is for a
few days on the equator. There was then no winter, no summer, nor
autumn; and, consequently, the growth of vegetation must have taken
place under conditions of climate entirely different to what exist on
the Earth at the present time.

The change of position of the Earth's axis, 'twice ten degrees and more
from the Sun's axle,' is described by Milton as having been
accomplished by the might of angels, who 'with labour pushed oblique the
centric globe.'

(2) According to the Ptolemaic belief, the Sun revolved round the Earth,
but his course was altered from the equinoctial road to the path that he
now pursues, which is the ecliptic. Instead of remaining on the equator,
he travels an equal distance from this line upwards and downwards in
each hemisphere.

The