Of All Things Visible, The Highest Is

I Am Aware That A Philosopher's Ideas Are Not Subject To The Judgment Of Ordinary Persons, Because It Is His Endeavour To Seek The Truth In All Things, To The Extent Permitted To Human Reason By God.

In So Many And Such Important Ways, Then, Do The Planets Bear Witness To The Earth's Mobility.

For I Am Not So Enamoured Of My Own Opinions That I Disregard What Others May Think Of Them.

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.

The Two Revolutions, I Mean The Annual Revolutions Of The Declination And Of The Centre Of The Earth, Are Not Completely Equal; That Is The Return Of The Declination To Its Original Value Is Slightly Ahead Of The Period Of The Centre. Hence It Necessarily Follows That The Equinoxes And Solstices Seem To Anticipate Their Timing, Not Because The Sphere Of The Fixed Stars Moves To The East, But Rather The Equatorial Circle Moves To The West, Being At An Angle To The Plane Of The Ecliptic In Proportion To The Declination Of The Axis Of The Terrestrial Globe.