Two astronomers of the
Collegium
come
out of a door.
out of a door.
Life-of-Galileo-by-Brecht
MRS.
SARTI Mr.
Galilei!
Come this minute!
You're out of your mind.
GALILEO You go with Virginia and Andrea.
I'll come later.
MRS. SARTI In another hour they won't let anyone leave the city. You must
come! (Listens) He's driving off! I've got to stop him. (Out)
(Galileo walks hack and forth. Mrs. Sarti returns, very pale, without her bundle)
GALILEO Don't stand around like that! The coach with the children will leave without you.
MRS. SARTI They've left. They had to hold Virginia down. The children will be taken care of in Bologna. But who'd get you your meals?
GALILEO You're crazy. Staying in the city to cook! . . , (Takes up his papers) You mustn't take me for a fool, Mrs. Sarti. I can't interrupt my observations. I have powerful enemies, I've got to supply proofs for certain propositions.
MRS. SARTI You needn't apologize. But it's not reasonable. b)
Outside Galileo's house in Florence. Galileo comes out of the door and looks down the street. Two, nuns are passing by.
GALILEO (addresses them from above the window) Sisters, could you tell me where I can buy milk? This morning the milk woman didn't come, and my housekeeper is away.
(man passes)
GALILEO (addresses man) Aren't you the baker who brings us our bread? Have you seen my housekeeper? She must have gone out last night. She hasn't been here all morning.
(The man shakes his head. A window across the street is opened and a woman looks out)
GALILEO Do you know anything about my housekeeper?
THE WOMAN Your housekeeper collapsed in the street. Up there. She must
have known. That's why she left you. How can people be so inconsiderate?
(She bangs the window shut)
GALILEO (at a window addressing other people on the street) Can you tell me
what's happened to the woman?
THE WOMAN (appears at her window again) They take 'em to potter's field. The whole
street back there's infected. Why don't you close it off?
(The soldiers stretch a rope across the street)
? THE WOMAN But now nobody can get into our house! Don't put your rope there. We're all well here. Stop! Stop! Can't you hear? My son's gone to the city, he won't be able to get back. You beasts! You beasts!
(Her sobbing and screaming are beard from inside.
GALILEO There seems to be a fire back there.
THE WOMAN The firemen won't touch it if there's any suspicion of plague.
All they can think about is the plague.
GALILEO Just like them! Their whole system of government is like that. They
cut us off like a withered fig branch that's stopped bearing fruit.
THE WOMAN You mustn't say that. They're helpless, that's all.
GALILEO Are you alone in your house?
THE WOMAN Yes. My son sent me a note. Thank God he heard last night that
27
? someone had died around here, so he didn't come home. There've been
eleven cases in the neighborhood during the night.
GALILEO I can't forgive myself for not sending my housekeeper away in time. I
had urgent work to finish, but she had no reason to stay.
THE WOMAN We can't go away either. Who would take us in? You mustn't reproach yourself. I saw her. She left this morning, at about seven
o'clock. She was sick, because when she saw me step out to bring in the bread she circled around me. I suppose she didn't want your house to be sealed off. But they get wise to everything.
(A rattling sound is heard)
GALILEO What's that?
THE WOMAN They're making noise to drive away the clouds that carry the
seeds of the plague.
(Galileo roars with laughter)
THE WOMAN How can you laugh?
(A man comes down the street and finds it roped off)
GALILEO Hey, you! The street's closed and there's nothing to eat in the house.
(The man has already run away)
GALILEO You can't just let us starve here! Hey! Hey!
THE WOMAN Maybe they'll bring us something. If they don't, I can put a pitcher
of milk on your doorstep, if you're not afraid, but not until after dark. GALILEO Hey! Hey! Somebody ought to hear us.
(Suddenly Andrea stands at the rope. His face is stained with tears)
GALILEO Andrea! How did you get here?
ANDRF. A I was here this morning. I knocked, but you didn't open. People told
me . . .
GALILEO Didn't you go away?
ANDREA I did. But I managed to jump out. Virginia went on. Can I come in? THE WOMAN No, you can not. You must go to the Ursulines. Maybe your
mother is there too.
I've been there. But they wouldn't let me see her. She's too sick.
Did you walk the whole way back? You've been gone for three days.
ANDREA
GALILEO
ANDREA
GALILEO (helplessly) Don't cry, Andrea. You know, I've found out a few things in
That's how long it took, don't be angry. And once they caught me.
the meantime. Shall I tell you? (Andrea nods, sobbing) But listen carefully, or you won't understand. Remember when I showed you the planet Venus? Don't listen to that noise, it's nothing. Remember? You know what I saw? It's like the moon. I saw it as a half-circle and I saw it as a crescent. What do you think of that? I can show you the whole thing with a little ball and a lamp. It proves that Venus has no light of its own either. And it describes a simple circle around the sun, isn't that marvelous?
ANDREA (sobbing) Yes, and that's a fact.
GALILEO (softly) I didn't stop her from leaving. (Andrea is silent)
But of course if I hadn't stayed it wouldn't have happened. Will they have to believe you now?
GALILEO ANDREA GALILEO
THE WOMAN There's a woman with three children over there. Give her some too.
I've got all the proofs I need. You know what? When all this is over, I'll go to Rome and show them.
(Two muffled men -with long poles and buckets come down the street. With the poles they hold out bread to Galileo and the old woman in their windows)
28
? GALILEO I've nothing to drink. There's no water in the house.
(The two shrug their shoulders) Will you be back tomorrow?
GALILEO If you do come, could you reach up to me a little book that I need for
my work?
GALILEO This boy, my pupil, will be here to give it to you. It's a table showing
the period of Mercury, Andrea. I've mislaid mine. Will you find me one at school?
(The men have already moved on)
ANDREA Sure. I'll get it for you, Mr. Galilei. (Out) (Galileo retires. The old woman steps out of the house opposite and places a pitcher at Galileo's door)
29
? 6
1616: The Collegium Romanum, the research institute of the Vatican, confirms Galileo's discoveries.
Large hall in the Collegium Romanum, Rome. It is night. High ecclesiastics, monks, scholars, in groups. Galileo on one side, alone. Great merriment. Before the scene opens, boisterous laughter is heard.
? Things take indeed a wondrous turn When learned men do stoop to learn. Clavius, we are pleased to say Upheld Galileo Galilei.
? *PRE-RECORDED -
A FAT PRELATE (holds his belly for laughter) Oh stupidity! Oh stupidity! Can anyone
tell me of a proposition that has not been believed?
A SCHOLAR What about the proposition that you have an inconquerable aversion
to food, monsignor! THE FAT PRELATE Will be believed, never fear. Only reasonable statements are not believed. The existence of the devil is being doubted. But that the earth spins around like a marble
in a gutter, that's being believed. Sancta simplicitas!
A MONK (acting out a comedy) I'm dizzy. The earth is turning too fast. Permit me to hold on to you, professor. (He pretends to stagger and holds on to a scholar)
THE SCHOLAR (joining in the fun) Yes, she's dead drunk again, the old hag.
THE MONK Stop, stop! We're sliding off! Stop, I say!
ANOTHER SCHOLAR Venus is listing badly. I can only see half of her behind. Help!
ANOTHER MONK If only we don't get thrown on the moon. Brothers, they say it bristles with sharp mountain peaks!
THE FIRST SCHOLAR Plant your foot against it.
THE FIRST MONK And don't look down. I feel as sick as a monkey.
THE FAT PRELATE (pointedly loud in Galileo's direction) What! Monkey business in
the Collegium Romanum? (Loud laughter.
Two astronomers of the Collegium come
out of a door. Quiet sets in)
A MONK Still investigating? That's a scandal! ANOTHER ASTRONOMER (angrily) Not us!
THE ASTRONOMER Where's this going to end? I can't understand Clavius . . . Are all the claims made in the last fifty years to be taken at face value? In 1572 a new star appeared in the highest sphere, the eighth, the sphere of the fixed stars. It was rather larger and brighter than its neighbors and a year and a half later it was gone, overtaken by perdition. Is that any reason to question the eternal immutability of the heavens?
THE PHILOSOPHER If we let them, they'd smash up the whole universe.
THE ASTRONOMER Yes, what's the world coming to! Five years later, Tycho Brahe,
? 30
? a Dane, determined the trajectory of a comet. It started above the moon and broke through all the spheres, the material carriers of all movable celestial bodies. It met with no resistance, its light was not deflected. Is that any reason to doubt the existence of the spheres?
THE PHILOSOPHER Out of the question! How can Christopher Clavius, the greatest astronomer of Italy and of the church, lower himself to investigating such stuff!
I THE FAT PRELATE Scandalous! * ,
ASTRONOMER But there he is, investigating. There he sits, gaping through that devil's tube. . Principiis obsta! The whole trouble began years ago when we started using the tables of Copernicus--a heretic--for calculating such things as the length of the solar year, the dates of solar and lunar eclipses, the positions of the celestial bodies.
A MONK I ask you: What is better, to get a lunar eclipse three
days behind schedule or to miss out on eternal salvation altogether? *
A VERY THIN MONK (steps forward with an open Bible, fanatically stabbing his finger at a passage) What does the Book say? "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. " How can the sun stand still if it never moves as these heretics claim? Does the Book lie?
ASTRONOMER No, and that's why we're leaving. Yes, there are phenomena that perplex us astronomers, but must man understand everything? (Goes out)
THE VERY THIN MONK They degrade the home of mankind, a planet they call it. They load man, animal, plant and soil on a cart and chase it in circles through the empty sky. Heaven and earth, they claim, have ceased to exist. The earth because it's a star in the sky, and the sky because it consists of many earths. There's no longer any difference between above and below, between eternal and transient. That we are transient, that we know. But now they tell us that heaven itself is transient. There are sun, moon and stars, but we live on this earth, that's what we've learned and what the Book says; but now, according to them, the earth is just another star. One day they'll be saying there's no difference between man and beast, that man himself is an animal and only animals exist.
THE FIRST SCHOLAR (to Galileo) Mr. Galilei, you've dropped something. * GALILEO (who bad taken his pebble out of his pocket during the preceding speech and
dropped it on the floor, as he stoops to pick it up) It didn't drop, monsignor, it rose. THE FAT PRELATE (turns his back on him) The insolence of the man! *
(A very old cardinal comes in, supported by a monk. The others reverentially
make room for him)
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL Are they still in there? Can't they get this foolishness over with? Surely Clavius knows his astronomy. I hear this Mr, Galilei has moved man from the center of the universe to somewhere on the edge. Obviously he's an enemy of mankind. And ought to be treated as such. Man is the crown of creation, every child knows that, he's God's
? ? ? 31
? highest and most beloved creature. Would God have put his most marvelous work, his supreme effort on a little far-away star that's constantly on the move? Would he have sent His Son to such a place? How can there be men so perverse as to believe these slaves of their mathematical tables? How can one of God's creatures put up with such a thing?
THE FAT PRELATE (in an undertone) The gentleman is present. *
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL (to Galileo) Oh, you're the man? You know, I don't see too well any more, but I can see that you look remarkably like the man -- what was his name again? -- whom we burned a few years ago.
You want to degrade our earth, though you live on it and receive everything from it. You're fouling your own nest! But I for one will not stand for it.
I'm not some nondescript being on some little star that briefly circles around somewhere. I walk with assurance on a firm earth, it stands still, it is the center of the universe, I am in the center, and the Creator's eye rests on me, on me alone. Around me, fixed to eight crystal spheres, revolve the fixed stars and the mighty sun, which was created to illumine my surroundings. And myself as well, in order that God may see me. Hence obviously and irrefutably, everything depends on me, man, the supreme work of God, the creature in the center, the image of God, imperishable and . . . (He collapses)
(At this moment the door in the rear is opened and the great Clavius comes in at the head of his astronomers. Quickly, without a word or a glance aside, he traverses the hall and, near the exit, says to a monk)
CLAVIUS He's right.
(He goes out, followed by the astronomers. The door in the rear remains open. Deadly
silence. The very old cardinal revives)
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL What happened? Has there been a decision? (No one dares to
tell him)
(The old man is helped out. All leave the hall, perturbed. A little monk, a member of Clavius' investigating commission, stops at Galileo side)
THE LITTLE MONK (furtively) Mr. Galilei, before he left Father Clavius said: Now the theologians can see about setting the heavenly spheres right again. You have prevailed.
GALILEO (trying to hold him back) It has prevailed. Not I, reason has prevailed! (In the doorway he meets a tall cleric, the cardinal inquisitor, accompanied by an astronomer. Galileo bows. Before going out, he whispers a question to Little Monk)
? LITTLE MONK (whispering back) His Eminence the cardinal inquisitor. (The astronomer leads the cardinal inquisitor to the telescope)
? 32
? 7
But the Inquisition places the Copernican doctrine on the Index (March 5, 1616).
When Galileo was in Rome
A cardinal asked him to his home. He wined and dined him as his guest And only made one small request.
The house of Cardinal Bellarmine in Rome. A ball is in progress. In the vestibule, where two ecclesiastical secretaries are playing chess and exchanging observations about the guests, Galileo is received by an applauding group of masked ladies and gentlemen. He is accompanied by his daughter Virginia and her fiance" Ludovico Mar-sill
? VIRGINIA I won't dance with anyone else, Ludovico. LUDOVICO Your shoulder clasp is loose.
GALILEO
"Your tucker, Thai's, is askew. Don't
Set it straight, for preciously it shows me And others too some deeper disorder.
In the candlelight of the swirling ballroom It makes them dream of
Darker coigns in the expectant park. "
VIRGINIA Feel my heart.
GALILEO (places his hand on her heart) It's beating.
VIRGINIA I want to look beautiful, GALILEO You'd better, or else they'll start
doubting again that the earth revolves.
LUDOVICO It doesn't revolve at all. (Galileo laughs) All Rome is talking of nothing
but you, sir. After tonight Rome will be talking about your daughter. GALILEO Everybody agrees that it's easy to look beautiful in the Roman spring. I
myself probably look like a paunchy Adonis,
(To the secretary) I'm to wait here for the cardinal. (To the couple) Run along and enjoy yourselves!
(Before they reach the ballroom in the rear Virginia skips back once more)
? VIRGINIA Father, the hairdresser on Via del Trionfo took me first and made four ladies wait. He knew your name right away. (Out)
GALILEO (to the secretaries playing chess) How can you go on playing chess the old way? Too confined. As it's played now, the larger pieces can range over many fields. The rook goes like this (He demonstrates it) and the bishop like this, and the queen like this and this. That gives you plenty of room and you can plan ahead.
THE SECRETARY It doesn't fit in with our small salaries. We can only afford to move like this. (He makes a short move)
GALILEO It's the other way round, my friend. If you live grandly, you can get away with anything. You must go with the times, gentlemen. You mustn't
33
? keep hugging the shore, one fine day you must venture out on the high seas. (The very old cardinal of the previous scene crosses the stage, steered by his monk. He notices Galileo, passes him by, then turns uncertainly and greets him. Galileo sits down. The beginning of Lorenzo de'1 Medicos famous poem about the transience of the world is heard from the, ballroom, sung by boys)
"I who have seen the summer's roses die And all their petals pale and shriveled lie Upon the chilly ground, I know the truth: How evanescent is the flower of youth. "
GALILEO Rome. --Big party?
SECRETARY The first carnival after the years of plague. All the great families of
Italy are represented here tonight. The Orsinis, the Villanis, the Nuccolis, the Soldanieris, the Canes, the Lecchis, the Estensis, the Colombinis . . . Their Eminences, Cardinals Bellarmine and Barberini. (Enter Cardinal Bellarmine and Cardinal Barberini. They hold. respectively, a lamb's and a dove's mask mounted on sticks before their faces)
BARBERINI (pointing his index finger at Galileo) "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. " So says Solomon, and what does Galileo say? GALILEO When I was this big (He shows with his hand), Your Eminence, I was on a ship, and I cried out: The shore's moving away. --Today I know that the shore stood still and the ship was moving.
BARBERINI Clever, clever. What we see, Bellarmine, to wit, that the stars in heaven are turning, need not be so, witness ship and shore. And what is true, to wit, that the earth turns, cannot be observed! Very clever. On the other hand, his satellites of Jupiter are hard nuts for our astronomers. Unfortunately, I too once read a little astronomy, Bellarmine, It clings to you like the itch.
BELLARMINE We must go with the times, Barberini. If star charts based on a new hypothesis make navigation easier for our seamen, let's use them. We disapprove only of doctrines that put scripture in the wrong. (He waves a greeting to the ballroom)
GALILEO Scripture. --"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. " Proverbs of Solomon.
BARBERINI "A prudent man concealeth knowledge. " Proverbs of Solomon. GALILEO "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the
strength of the ox. "
BARBERINI "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city. " GALILEO "But a broken spirit drieth the bones. " (Pause) "Doth not wisdom cry? " BARBERINI "Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? "--Welcome
to Rome, my dear Galileo. You remember the founding of Rome? Two little boys, the story goes, received milk and shelter from a she-wolf. Ever since then all the she-wolfs children have had to pay for their rnilk. In return, the she-wolf provides all manner of pleasures, spiritual and worldly, from conversations with my learned friend Bellarmine to three or four ladies of international repute, would you like to see them? (He leads Galileo toward the rear to show him the ballroom. Galileo follows reluctantly] No? He prefers a serious discussion. Very well. Are you sure, friend Galilei, that you astronomers aren't just trying to make astronomy a little easier for yourselves? (He leads him back to the front) You like to think in
34
? circles or ellipses and in uniform velocities, in simple motions commensurate with your minds. But what if God had been pleased to make His stars move like this? (He moves his finger through the air in a very complicated course with varying velocity in the air) What would become of your calculations?
GALILEO Your Eminence, if God had created the world like this (He retraces Barberini^s course) He would have constructed our minds like this too (He repeats the same course) to enable them to recognize these courses as the simplest. I believe in reason. BARBERINI I consider reason inadequate. No answer. He's too polite to say he considers mine inadequate. (Laughs and returns to the balustrade)
BELLARMINE Reason, my friend, doesn't go very far. All around us we see nothing but falsehood, crime and weakness. Where is the truth?
GALILEO (angrily) I believe in reason. BARBERINI (to the secretaries) Don't take anything down. This is a scientific discussion among friends.
BELLARMINE Consider for a moment the intellectual effort it cost the church fathers and many after them to make some sense out of this world (abominable, isn't it? ). Consider the cruelty of those who have their peasants whipped half-naked around their estates in the Campagna and the stupidity of the wretches who kiss their feet in return. GALILEO Shameful! On my way here I saw .
MRS. SARTI In another hour they won't let anyone leave the city. You must
come! (Listens) He's driving off! I've got to stop him. (Out)
(Galileo walks hack and forth. Mrs. Sarti returns, very pale, without her bundle)
GALILEO Don't stand around like that! The coach with the children will leave without you.
MRS. SARTI They've left. They had to hold Virginia down. The children will be taken care of in Bologna. But who'd get you your meals?
GALILEO You're crazy. Staying in the city to cook! . . , (Takes up his papers) You mustn't take me for a fool, Mrs. Sarti. I can't interrupt my observations. I have powerful enemies, I've got to supply proofs for certain propositions.
MRS. SARTI You needn't apologize. But it's not reasonable. b)
Outside Galileo's house in Florence. Galileo comes out of the door and looks down the street. Two, nuns are passing by.
GALILEO (addresses them from above the window) Sisters, could you tell me where I can buy milk? This morning the milk woman didn't come, and my housekeeper is away.
(man passes)
GALILEO (addresses man) Aren't you the baker who brings us our bread? Have you seen my housekeeper? She must have gone out last night. She hasn't been here all morning.
(The man shakes his head. A window across the street is opened and a woman looks out)
GALILEO Do you know anything about my housekeeper?
THE WOMAN Your housekeeper collapsed in the street. Up there. She must
have known. That's why she left you. How can people be so inconsiderate?
(She bangs the window shut)
GALILEO (at a window addressing other people on the street) Can you tell me
what's happened to the woman?
THE WOMAN (appears at her window again) They take 'em to potter's field. The whole
street back there's infected. Why don't you close it off?
(The soldiers stretch a rope across the street)
? THE WOMAN But now nobody can get into our house! Don't put your rope there. We're all well here. Stop! Stop! Can't you hear? My son's gone to the city, he won't be able to get back. You beasts! You beasts!
(Her sobbing and screaming are beard from inside.
GALILEO There seems to be a fire back there.
THE WOMAN The firemen won't touch it if there's any suspicion of plague.
All they can think about is the plague.
GALILEO Just like them! Their whole system of government is like that. They
cut us off like a withered fig branch that's stopped bearing fruit.
THE WOMAN You mustn't say that. They're helpless, that's all.
GALILEO Are you alone in your house?
THE WOMAN Yes. My son sent me a note. Thank God he heard last night that
27
? someone had died around here, so he didn't come home. There've been
eleven cases in the neighborhood during the night.
GALILEO I can't forgive myself for not sending my housekeeper away in time. I
had urgent work to finish, but she had no reason to stay.
THE WOMAN We can't go away either. Who would take us in? You mustn't reproach yourself. I saw her. She left this morning, at about seven
o'clock. She was sick, because when she saw me step out to bring in the bread she circled around me. I suppose she didn't want your house to be sealed off. But they get wise to everything.
(A rattling sound is heard)
GALILEO What's that?
THE WOMAN They're making noise to drive away the clouds that carry the
seeds of the plague.
(Galileo roars with laughter)
THE WOMAN How can you laugh?
(A man comes down the street and finds it roped off)
GALILEO Hey, you! The street's closed and there's nothing to eat in the house.
(The man has already run away)
GALILEO You can't just let us starve here! Hey! Hey!
THE WOMAN Maybe they'll bring us something. If they don't, I can put a pitcher
of milk on your doorstep, if you're not afraid, but not until after dark. GALILEO Hey! Hey! Somebody ought to hear us.
(Suddenly Andrea stands at the rope. His face is stained with tears)
GALILEO Andrea! How did you get here?
ANDRF. A I was here this morning. I knocked, but you didn't open. People told
me . . .
GALILEO Didn't you go away?
ANDREA I did. But I managed to jump out. Virginia went on. Can I come in? THE WOMAN No, you can not. You must go to the Ursulines. Maybe your
mother is there too.
I've been there. But they wouldn't let me see her. She's too sick.
Did you walk the whole way back? You've been gone for three days.
ANDREA
GALILEO
ANDREA
GALILEO (helplessly) Don't cry, Andrea. You know, I've found out a few things in
That's how long it took, don't be angry. And once they caught me.
the meantime. Shall I tell you? (Andrea nods, sobbing) But listen carefully, or you won't understand. Remember when I showed you the planet Venus? Don't listen to that noise, it's nothing. Remember? You know what I saw? It's like the moon. I saw it as a half-circle and I saw it as a crescent. What do you think of that? I can show you the whole thing with a little ball and a lamp. It proves that Venus has no light of its own either. And it describes a simple circle around the sun, isn't that marvelous?
ANDREA (sobbing) Yes, and that's a fact.
GALILEO (softly) I didn't stop her from leaving. (Andrea is silent)
But of course if I hadn't stayed it wouldn't have happened. Will they have to believe you now?
GALILEO ANDREA GALILEO
THE WOMAN There's a woman with three children over there. Give her some too.
I've got all the proofs I need. You know what? When all this is over, I'll go to Rome and show them.
(Two muffled men -with long poles and buckets come down the street. With the poles they hold out bread to Galileo and the old woman in their windows)
28
? GALILEO I've nothing to drink. There's no water in the house.
(The two shrug their shoulders) Will you be back tomorrow?
GALILEO If you do come, could you reach up to me a little book that I need for
my work?
GALILEO This boy, my pupil, will be here to give it to you. It's a table showing
the period of Mercury, Andrea. I've mislaid mine. Will you find me one at school?
(The men have already moved on)
ANDREA Sure. I'll get it for you, Mr. Galilei. (Out) (Galileo retires. The old woman steps out of the house opposite and places a pitcher at Galileo's door)
29
? 6
1616: The Collegium Romanum, the research institute of the Vatican, confirms Galileo's discoveries.
Large hall in the Collegium Romanum, Rome. It is night. High ecclesiastics, monks, scholars, in groups. Galileo on one side, alone. Great merriment. Before the scene opens, boisterous laughter is heard.
? Things take indeed a wondrous turn When learned men do stoop to learn. Clavius, we are pleased to say Upheld Galileo Galilei.
? *PRE-RECORDED -
A FAT PRELATE (holds his belly for laughter) Oh stupidity! Oh stupidity! Can anyone
tell me of a proposition that has not been believed?
A SCHOLAR What about the proposition that you have an inconquerable aversion
to food, monsignor! THE FAT PRELATE Will be believed, never fear. Only reasonable statements are not believed. The existence of the devil is being doubted. But that the earth spins around like a marble
in a gutter, that's being believed. Sancta simplicitas!
A MONK (acting out a comedy) I'm dizzy. The earth is turning too fast. Permit me to hold on to you, professor. (He pretends to stagger and holds on to a scholar)
THE SCHOLAR (joining in the fun) Yes, she's dead drunk again, the old hag.
THE MONK Stop, stop! We're sliding off! Stop, I say!
ANOTHER SCHOLAR Venus is listing badly. I can only see half of her behind. Help!
ANOTHER MONK If only we don't get thrown on the moon. Brothers, they say it bristles with sharp mountain peaks!
THE FIRST SCHOLAR Plant your foot against it.
THE FIRST MONK And don't look down. I feel as sick as a monkey.
THE FAT PRELATE (pointedly loud in Galileo's direction) What! Monkey business in
the Collegium Romanum? (Loud laughter.
Two astronomers of the Collegium come
out of a door. Quiet sets in)
A MONK Still investigating? That's a scandal! ANOTHER ASTRONOMER (angrily) Not us!
THE ASTRONOMER Where's this going to end? I can't understand Clavius . . . Are all the claims made in the last fifty years to be taken at face value? In 1572 a new star appeared in the highest sphere, the eighth, the sphere of the fixed stars. It was rather larger and brighter than its neighbors and a year and a half later it was gone, overtaken by perdition. Is that any reason to question the eternal immutability of the heavens?
THE PHILOSOPHER If we let them, they'd smash up the whole universe.
THE ASTRONOMER Yes, what's the world coming to! Five years later, Tycho Brahe,
? 30
? a Dane, determined the trajectory of a comet. It started above the moon and broke through all the spheres, the material carriers of all movable celestial bodies. It met with no resistance, its light was not deflected. Is that any reason to doubt the existence of the spheres?
THE PHILOSOPHER Out of the question! How can Christopher Clavius, the greatest astronomer of Italy and of the church, lower himself to investigating such stuff!
I THE FAT PRELATE Scandalous! * ,
ASTRONOMER But there he is, investigating. There he sits, gaping through that devil's tube. . Principiis obsta! The whole trouble began years ago when we started using the tables of Copernicus--a heretic--for calculating such things as the length of the solar year, the dates of solar and lunar eclipses, the positions of the celestial bodies.
A MONK I ask you: What is better, to get a lunar eclipse three
days behind schedule or to miss out on eternal salvation altogether? *
A VERY THIN MONK (steps forward with an open Bible, fanatically stabbing his finger at a passage) What does the Book say? "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. " How can the sun stand still if it never moves as these heretics claim? Does the Book lie?
ASTRONOMER No, and that's why we're leaving. Yes, there are phenomena that perplex us astronomers, but must man understand everything? (Goes out)
THE VERY THIN MONK They degrade the home of mankind, a planet they call it. They load man, animal, plant and soil on a cart and chase it in circles through the empty sky. Heaven and earth, they claim, have ceased to exist. The earth because it's a star in the sky, and the sky because it consists of many earths. There's no longer any difference between above and below, between eternal and transient. That we are transient, that we know. But now they tell us that heaven itself is transient. There are sun, moon and stars, but we live on this earth, that's what we've learned and what the Book says; but now, according to them, the earth is just another star. One day they'll be saying there's no difference between man and beast, that man himself is an animal and only animals exist.
THE FIRST SCHOLAR (to Galileo) Mr. Galilei, you've dropped something. * GALILEO (who bad taken his pebble out of his pocket during the preceding speech and
dropped it on the floor, as he stoops to pick it up) It didn't drop, monsignor, it rose. THE FAT PRELATE (turns his back on him) The insolence of the man! *
(A very old cardinal comes in, supported by a monk. The others reverentially
make room for him)
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL Are they still in there? Can't they get this foolishness over with? Surely Clavius knows his astronomy. I hear this Mr, Galilei has moved man from the center of the universe to somewhere on the edge. Obviously he's an enemy of mankind. And ought to be treated as such. Man is the crown of creation, every child knows that, he's God's
? ? ? 31
? highest and most beloved creature. Would God have put his most marvelous work, his supreme effort on a little far-away star that's constantly on the move? Would he have sent His Son to such a place? How can there be men so perverse as to believe these slaves of their mathematical tables? How can one of God's creatures put up with such a thing?
THE FAT PRELATE (in an undertone) The gentleman is present. *
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL (to Galileo) Oh, you're the man? You know, I don't see too well any more, but I can see that you look remarkably like the man -- what was his name again? -- whom we burned a few years ago.
You want to degrade our earth, though you live on it and receive everything from it. You're fouling your own nest! But I for one will not stand for it.
I'm not some nondescript being on some little star that briefly circles around somewhere. I walk with assurance on a firm earth, it stands still, it is the center of the universe, I am in the center, and the Creator's eye rests on me, on me alone. Around me, fixed to eight crystal spheres, revolve the fixed stars and the mighty sun, which was created to illumine my surroundings. And myself as well, in order that God may see me. Hence obviously and irrefutably, everything depends on me, man, the supreme work of God, the creature in the center, the image of God, imperishable and . . . (He collapses)
(At this moment the door in the rear is opened and the great Clavius comes in at the head of his astronomers. Quickly, without a word or a glance aside, he traverses the hall and, near the exit, says to a monk)
CLAVIUS He's right.
(He goes out, followed by the astronomers. The door in the rear remains open. Deadly
silence. The very old cardinal revives)
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL What happened? Has there been a decision? (No one dares to
tell him)
(The old man is helped out. All leave the hall, perturbed. A little monk, a member of Clavius' investigating commission, stops at Galileo side)
THE LITTLE MONK (furtively) Mr. Galilei, before he left Father Clavius said: Now the theologians can see about setting the heavenly spheres right again. You have prevailed.
GALILEO (trying to hold him back) It has prevailed. Not I, reason has prevailed! (In the doorway he meets a tall cleric, the cardinal inquisitor, accompanied by an astronomer. Galileo bows. Before going out, he whispers a question to Little Monk)
? LITTLE MONK (whispering back) His Eminence the cardinal inquisitor. (The astronomer leads the cardinal inquisitor to the telescope)
? 32
? 7
But the Inquisition places the Copernican doctrine on the Index (March 5, 1616).
When Galileo was in Rome
A cardinal asked him to his home. He wined and dined him as his guest And only made one small request.
The house of Cardinal Bellarmine in Rome. A ball is in progress. In the vestibule, where two ecclesiastical secretaries are playing chess and exchanging observations about the guests, Galileo is received by an applauding group of masked ladies and gentlemen. He is accompanied by his daughter Virginia and her fiance" Ludovico Mar-sill
? VIRGINIA I won't dance with anyone else, Ludovico. LUDOVICO Your shoulder clasp is loose.
GALILEO
"Your tucker, Thai's, is askew. Don't
Set it straight, for preciously it shows me And others too some deeper disorder.
In the candlelight of the swirling ballroom It makes them dream of
Darker coigns in the expectant park. "
VIRGINIA Feel my heart.
GALILEO (places his hand on her heart) It's beating.
VIRGINIA I want to look beautiful, GALILEO You'd better, or else they'll start
doubting again that the earth revolves.
LUDOVICO It doesn't revolve at all. (Galileo laughs) All Rome is talking of nothing
but you, sir. After tonight Rome will be talking about your daughter. GALILEO Everybody agrees that it's easy to look beautiful in the Roman spring. I
myself probably look like a paunchy Adonis,
(To the secretary) I'm to wait here for the cardinal. (To the couple) Run along and enjoy yourselves!
(Before they reach the ballroom in the rear Virginia skips back once more)
? VIRGINIA Father, the hairdresser on Via del Trionfo took me first and made four ladies wait. He knew your name right away. (Out)
GALILEO (to the secretaries playing chess) How can you go on playing chess the old way? Too confined. As it's played now, the larger pieces can range over many fields. The rook goes like this (He demonstrates it) and the bishop like this, and the queen like this and this. That gives you plenty of room and you can plan ahead.
THE SECRETARY It doesn't fit in with our small salaries. We can only afford to move like this. (He makes a short move)
GALILEO It's the other way round, my friend. If you live grandly, you can get away with anything. You must go with the times, gentlemen. You mustn't
33
? keep hugging the shore, one fine day you must venture out on the high seas. (The very old cardinal of the previous scene crosses the stage, steered by his monk. He notices Galileo, passes him by, then turns uncertainly and greets him. Galileo sits down. The beginning of Lorenzo de'1 Medicos famous poem about the transience of the world is heard from the, ballroom, sung by boys)
"I who have seen the summer's roses die And all their petals pale and shriveled lie Upon the chilly ground, I know the truth: How evanescent is the flower of youth. "
GALILEO Rome. --Big party?
SECRETARY The first carnival after the years of plague. All the great families of
Italy are represented here tonight. The Orsinis, the Villanis, the Nuccolis, the Soldanieris, the Canes, the Lecchis, the Estensis, the Colombinis . . . Their Eminences, Cardinals Bellarmine and Barberini. (Enter Cardinal Bellarmine and Cardinal Barberini. They hold. respectively, a lamb's and a dove's mask mounted on sticks before their faces)
BARBERINI (pointing his index finger at Galileo) "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. " So says Solomon, and what does Galileo say? GALILEO When I was this big (He shows with his hand), Your Eminence, I was on a ship, and I cried out: The shore's moving away. --Today I know that the shore stood still and the ship was moving.
BARBERINI Clever, clever. What we see, Bellarmine, to wit, that the stars in heaven are turning, need not be so, witness ship and shore. And what is true, to wit, that the earth turns, cannot be observed! Very clever. On the other hand, his satellites of Jupiter are hard nuts for our astronomers. Unfortunately, I too once read a little astronomy, Bellarmine, It clings to you like the itch.
BELLARMINE We must go with the times, Barberini. If star charts based on a new hypothesis make navigation easier for our seamen, let's use them. We disapprove only of doctrines that put scripture in the wrong. (He waves a greeting to the ballroom)
GALILEO Scripture. --"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. " Proverbs of Solomon.
BARBERINI "A prudent man concealeth knowledge. " Proverbs of Solomon. GALILEO "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the
strength of the ox. "
BARBERINI "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city. " GALILEO "But a broken spirit drieth the bones. " (Pause) "Doth not wisdom cry? " BARBERINI "Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? "--Welcome
to Rome, my dear Galileo. You remember the founding of Rome? Two little boys, the story goes, received milk and shelter from a she-wolf. Ever since then all the she-wolfs children have had to pay for their rnilk. In return, the she-wolf provides all manner of pleasures, spiritual and worldly, from conversations with my learned friend Bellarmine to three or four ladies of international repute, would you like to see them? (He leads Galileo toward the rear to show him the ballroom. Galileo follows reluctantly] No? He prefers a serious discussion. Very well. Are you sure, friend Galilei, that you astronomers aren't just trying to make astronomy a little easier for yourselves? (He leads him back to the front) You like to think in
34
? circles or ellipses and in uniform velocities, in simple motions commensurate with your minds. But what if God had been pleased to make His stars move like this? (He moves his finger through the air in a very complicated course with varying velocity in the air) What would become of your calculations?
GALILEO Your Eminence, if God had created the world like this (He retraces Barberini^s course) He would have constructed our minds like this too (He repeats the same course) to enable them to recognize these courses as the simplest. I believe in reason. BARBERINI I consider reason inadequate. No answer. He's too polite to say he considers mine inadequate. (Laughs and returns to the balustrade)
BELLARMINE Reason, my friend, doesn't go very far. All around us we see nothing but falsehood, crime and weakness. Where is the truth?
GALILEO (angrily) I believe in reason. BARBERINI (to the secretaries) Don't take anything down. This is a scientific discussion among friends.
BELLARMINE Consider for a moment the intellectual effort it cost the church fathers and many after them to make some sense out of this world (abominable, isn't it? ). Consider the cruelty of those who have their peasants whipped half-naked around their estates in the Campagna and the stupidity of the wretches who kiss their feet in return. GALILEO Shameful! On my way here I saw .
