relations, and, without making them in any way correspond, should
construct a monster instead of a human being.

"Accordingly, when I had long reflected on this uncertainty of
mathematical tradition, I took the trouble to read again the
books of all the philosophers I could get hold of, to see if some
one of them had not once believed that there were other motions
of the heavenly bodies. First I found in Cicero that Niceties had
believed in the motion of the earth. Afterwards I found in
Plutarch, likewise, that some others had held the same opinion.
This induced me also to begin to consider the movability of the
earth, and, although the theory appeared contrary to reason, I
did so because I knew that others before me had been allowed to
assume rotary movements at will, in order to explain the
phenomena of these celestial bodies. I was of the opinion that I,
too, might be permitted to see whether, by presupposing motion in
the earth, more reliable conclusions than hitherto reached could
not be discovered for the rotary motions of the spheres. And
thus, acting on the hypothesis of the motion which, in the
following book, I ascribe to the earth, and by long and continued
observations, I have finally discovered that if the motion of the
other planets be carried over to the relation of the earth and
this is made the basis for the rotation of every star, not only
will the phenomena of the planets be explained thereby, but also
the laws and the size of the stars; all their spheres and the
heavens themselves will appear so harmoniously connected that
nothing could be changed in any part of them without confusion in
the remaining parts and in the whole universe. I do not doubt
that clever and learned men will agree with me if they are
willing fully to comprehend and to consider the proofs which I