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 path of the Sun in the heavens is described by Milton with marked precision, and he mentions in regular order the names of the zodiacal constellations through which the orb travels. Passing through Taurus with the seven Atlantic Sisters (the Pleiades) and the Spartan Twins (Gemini), he enters the Tropic Crab (Cancer), in which constellation he attains his highest northern altitude; thence downwards he travels through Leo, Virgo, and the Scales (Libra), as deep as Capricornus, reaching his lowest point of declination at the winter solstice; and were it not for this alteration of the Sun’s path, the poet informs us that perpetual spring would have reigned upon the Earth.
Milton was evidently well acquainted with the astronomical reasons (the revolution of the Earth in her orbit and the obliquity of the ecliptic) by which the occurrence and regular sequence of the seasons can be explained.
The path of the Sun in the heavens; his upward and downward course from the equator; the names of the constellations through which the orb travels, and the periods of the year at which he enters them, were also familiar to him.
The grateful change of the seasons, and the varied aspects of nature peculiar to each, which give a charm and freshness to the rolling year, must have been to Milton a source of pleasure and delight, and have stimulated his poetic fancy.
His observation of natural phenomena, and his keen perception of the pleasing changes which accompany them, are described in the following lines:—
As, when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o’erspread
Heaven’s cheerful face, the louring element
Scowls o’er the darkened landskip snow or shower,
If chance the radiant Sun, with farewell sweet,
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.—ii. 488-95.
The ancient poets Virgil and Ovid describe the Earth as having been created in the spring; and associated with this season, which