The aim of science is not to open the door to
everlasting
wisdom, but to set a limit to everlasting error.
Life-of-Galileo-by-Brecht
I've been rereading him lately, he gives me a certain balance.
(He reaches for a small book) He puts words in the mouth of this same Priapus, a little statue that used to stand in the Esquiline Gardens.
Here's how it starts:
"I was a figtree stump, wood of little use When once a carpenter, pondering whether To fashion a Priapus or a footstool Decided on the god . . . "
Do you think Horace would have let anyone forbid him the footstool and put a table in the poem instead? Sir, a cosmology in which Venus has no phases violates my esthetic sense! We can't invent machines for pumping river water if we're forbidden to study the greatest machine before our eyes, the mechanism of the heavenly bodies. The sum total of the angles in a triangle can't be changed to suit the requirements of the curia. Nor can I calculate the courses of flying bodies in such a way as to account for witches riding on broomsticks.
THE LITTLE MONK Don't you think the truth will prevail, even without us, if it is the truth?
GALILEO No, no, no. Truth prevails only when we make it prevail. The triumph of reason can only be the triumph of reasoning men. You describe your peasants in the Campagna as if they were moss on their huts. How can anyone imagine that the sum of the angles of a triangle runs counter to their needs! But if they don't rouse themselves and learn how to think, the best irrigation systems in the world won't do them any good. Damn it, I see the divine patience of your people, but where is their divine wrath?
THE LITTLE MONK They're tired.
GALILEO (throws a bundle of manuscripts in front of him) Are you a physicist, my
son? Here you'll find the reasons for the ocean's tides. But don't read it, do you hear. Ah, reading already? I see you're a physicist. (The little monk has immersed himself in the papers)
GALILEO An apple from the tree of knowledge. He gobbles it up. He'll be damned for all eternity, but he's got to bolt it down, the hapless glutton. Sometimes I think I'd gladly be locked up in a dungeon ten fathoms below ground, if in return I could find out one thing: What is light? And the worst of it is: What I know I must tell others. Like a lover, a drunkard, a traitor. It's a vice, I know, and leads to ruin. But how long can I go on shouting into empty air--that is the question.
THE LITTLE MONK (points at a passage in the papers) I don't understand this sentence.
GALILEO I'll explain it to you, I'll explain it to you.
? 40
? 9
After a silence of eight years Galileo feels encouraged by the enthronement of a new pope, himself a scientist, to resume his research in the forbidden field. The sunspots.
Eight long years with tongue in cheek Of what he knew he did not speak. The temptations grew too great
And Galileo challenged fate.
Galileo's house in Florence. Galileo's pupils, Sagredo, the little monk and Andrea Sarti, now. a. young man, are gathered for an experiment. Galileo, standing, is reading a hook. -- Virginia and Mrs. Sarti are sewing bridal linen.
VIRGINIA Sewing a trousseau is fun. This is for the long dining table, Ludovico loves to have company. But it has got to be right, his mother notices every stitch. She isn't happy about father's books. . Any more than Father Christopher.
MRS. SARTI He hasn't written a book in years. VIRGINIA I think he saw he was mistaken. In Rome, a very high ecclesiastic told me a lot of things about astronomy. The distances are too great.
ANDREA (writes the program for the day on a blackboard and reads aloud) "Thursday afternoon: Floating bodies. "--That means ice again; bucket of water; scales; iron needle; Aristotle. (He fetches the objects)
(The others are looking up things in books. Enter Filippo Mucius, a scholar in his middle years. He appears to be upset)
MUCIUS Would you tell Mr. Galilei he must see me? He has condemned me without a hearing.
MRS. SARTI I've told you he doesn't wish to see you.
MUCIUS God will reward you if you ask him again. I must speak to him. VIRGINIA (goes to the staircase) Father!
GALILEO What is it?
VIRGINIA Mr. Mucius!
GALILEO (looks up brusquely, goes to the head of the stairs, his pupils trailing behind him)
What do you want?
MUCIUS Mr. Galilei, I request permission to explain the passages in my book
which seem to indicate a condemnation of the Copernican doctrine that
the earth revolves. I've . . .
GALILEO What is there to explain? You are in full agreement with the Holy
Congregation's decree of 1616. You are perfectly within your rights. It's true, you studied mathematics with us, but we have no authority to make you say that two times two is four. You have every right to say that this stone (He takes the pebble from his pocket and throws it down to the ground floor) has just flown up to the ceiling.
MUCIUS Mr. Galilei, I . . .
GALILEO Don't talk about difficulties! The plague didn't prevent me from
41
? going on with my observations.
MUCIUS Mr. Galilei, the plague is not the worst.
GALILEO Let me tell you this: Not to know the truth is just; stupid. To know the
truth and call it a lie is criminal! Leave my house at once!
MUCIUS (tonelessly) You are right. (He goes out) (Galileo returns to his study) SAGREDO That's how it is, I'm afraid, He doesn't amount to
much and no one could pay any attention to him if he hadn't been your pupil. But now of course they all say: He's heard everything Galileo had to say and is forced to admit that it's all wrong.
MRS. SARTI I feel sorry for the gentleman.
VIRGINIA Father was very fond of him.
MRS. SARTI I wanted to talk to you about your marriage, Virginia. You're such a
young thing, and you have no mother, and your father just puts little pieces of ice in water. Anyway, I wouldn't ask him questions about your marriage if I were you. He would say the most dreadful things for a week, naturally at meals when the young people are there, because he hasn't half a scudo's worth of shame in him, never did have. That's not what I had in mind, I'm thinking of what the future has in store. Not that I know anything, I'm only an ignorant woman. But this is a very serious thing, you mustn't go into it blindly. I do think you should go to a real astronomer at the university and consult him about your horoscope. Then you'll know what to expect. Why are you laughing?
VIRGINIA Because I've been.
MRS. SARTI (very curious) What did he say?
VIRGINIA For three months I must be careful because the sun will be in Aries, but
then I get a very good ascendant and the clouds will part. As long as I don't lose sight of Jupiter, I can go on any journey I please, because I'm an Aries.
MRS. SARTI
VIRGINIA
VIRGINIA
MUCIUS (comes back) Just thought I'd bring you a book that might be of
And Ludovico?
He's a Leo. (After a little pause) That means sensual, I think. (Pause)
I know that step.
interest to you. I'll just put the book in your little hands, and disappear, on
tiptoe. (He goes out. Virginia hands the book to Sagredo) GALILEO What's it about?
SAGREDO I don't know. (Spelling it out) "De maculis in sole. "
ANDREA On the sunspots. Another one! (Sagredo hands it to him)
ANDREA Listen to this dedication! "To the greatest living authority on physics,
Galileo Galilei. " (Galileo has immersed himself once more in his book) ANDREA I've read the treatise by Fabricius in Holland. He believes the spots are
clusters of stars passing between the earth and the sun.
THE LITTLE MONK Isn't that doubtful, Mr. Galilei? (Galileo does not answer) ANDREA In Paris and Prague they think they're vapors from the sun.
SAGREDO Hm?
? ANDREA Sagredo has his doubts.
SAGREDO Kindly leave me out of it. I said "Hm," that's all.
(He gesticulates with the scales. A pan falls to the floor. Galileo walks over and silently
picks it up)
THE LITTLE MONK It's blissful to doubt; I wonder why.
ANDREA Every sunny day in the last two weeks I've climbed up to the attic, right
under the roof. A thin beam of light comes down through a tiny crack in the
42
? tiles. With that beam you can catch the reverse image of the sun on a sheet of paper. I saw a spot as big as a fly and blurred like a small cloud. It moved. Why don't we investigate those spots, Mr. Galilei?
GALILEO Because we're working on floating bodies.
ANDREA Mother has whole baskets full of letters. All Europe wants your opinion.
With the reputation you've built up, you can't be silent.
GALILEO Rome has allowed me to build up a reputation because I've kept silent. SAGREDO But you can't afford to be silent any more.
GALILEO Nor can I afford to be roasted over a wood fire like a ham. ANDREA Do you think the spots come into it?
(Galileo does not answer)
ANDREA GALILEO ANDREA
All right, let's stick to our little pieces of ice. They can't hurt you.
Exactly. --Our proposition, Andrea!
We assume that whether a body floats or not depends essentially not on its
shape, but on whether it is lighter or heavier than water.
GALILEO What does Aristotle say?
THE LITTLE MONK "Discus latus platique . . . "
GALILEO Translate, translate!
THE LITTLE MONK "A broad, flat disk of ice floats in water, whereas an iron
needle sinks. "
GALILEO Why then, according to Aristotle, doesn't ice sink?
THE LITTLE MONK Because, being broad and flat, it cannot divide the water, GALILEO Very well. (A piece of ice is handed to him and he puts it into the bucket) Now I
press the ice firmly down to the bottom of the bucket. I remove the
pressure of my hands. What happens?
THE LITTLE MONK It rises to the surface.
GALILEO Correct. In rising it seems to be able to divide the water. Fulganzio! THE LITTLE MONK But why then does it float at all? Ice is heavier than water, because
it is condensed water.
GALILEO What if it were diluted water?
ANDREA It must be lighter than water, or it wouldn't float.
GALILEO Aha!
ANDREA Just as an iron needle can't float. Everything lighter than water floats,
everything heavier sinks. Which was to be proved.
GALILEO Andrea, you must learn to think carefully. Give me the iron needle. A
sheet of paper. Is iron heavier than water? ANDREA Yes.
(Galileo places the needle on a sheet of paper and floats it in the water. Pause) GALILEO What happens?
SAGREDO The needle floats! Holy Aristotle, they never checked up on him!
(They laugh)
GALILEO One of the main reasons for the poverty of science is that it is supposed to be so rich.
The aim of science is not to open the door to everlasting wisdom, but to set a limit to everlasting error. Take that down.
VIRGINIA What's the matter?
MRS. SARTI Every time they laugh, a fright comes over me. I wonder what
they're laughing about.
VIRGINIA Father says theologians have their church bells and physicists have
their laughter.
MRS. SARTI At least I'm glad he doesn't look through his tube so much any
43
? more. That was much worse.
VIRGINIA No, he only puts pieces of ice in water. No harm can come of that. MRS. SARTI Who knows?
(Enter Ludovico Marsili in traveling garb, followed by a manservant
with luggage. Virginia runs toward him and embraces him]
VIRGINIA Why didn't you let us know you were coming?
LUDOVICO I was near here inspecting our vineyards, and I just couldn't stay
away.
GALILEO (as though nearsighted) Who's that? VIRGINIA Ludovico.
THE LITTLE MONK Can't you see him?
GALILEO LUDOVICO GALILEO
Oh yes, Ludovico. (Goes toward him) How are the horses? They're fine, sir.
Sarti, let's celebrate. Bring us a jug of that old Sicilian wine!
(Mrs. Sarti goes out with Andrea)
LUDOVICO (to Virginia) You look pale. Country life will do you good. Mother is
expecting you in September.
VIRGINIA Wait, I want to show you my wedding dress. (Runs out)
GALILEO Sit down.
LUDOVICO I hear you have more than a thousand students in your lectures at
the university, sir. What are you working on at the moment?
GALILEO Routine stuff. Did you come through Rome?
LUDOVICO Yes. --Before I forget, mother congratulates you on your admirable tact in connection with all that fuss over the sunspots in Holland.
GALILEO (dryly) That's kind of her.
(Mrs. Sarti and Andrea bring wine and glasses. All gather around the table)
LUDOVICO Rome has found a topic of conversation for February. Christopher Clavius said he was afraid the whole earth-around-the-sun circus would flare up again because of those sunspots.
ANDREA Don't let it worry you.
GALILEO Any other news from the Holy City, apart from hopes for new sins on
my part?
LUDOVICO You heard, of course, that the Holy Father is dying?
THE LITTLE MONK Oh.
? GALILEO Who's mentioned as successor?
LUDOVICO Mostly Barberini.
GALILEO Barberini.
ANDREA Mr. Galilei knows Barberini personally.
THE LITTLE MONK Cardinal Barberini is a mathematician. SAGREDO A scientist in the chair of St. Peter!
(Pause)
GALILEO I see, now they need men like Barberini who've read a little mathematics. Things will start moving, FecterToni, we may live to see the day when we won't have to glance over our shoulders like criminals every time we say that two times two is four. (To Ludovico) I like this wine, Ludovico. What do you think of it?
LUDOVICO It's good.
GALILEO I know the vineyard. The slope is steep and stony, the grapes are almost
blue. I love this wine. LUDOVICO Yes, sir.
GALILEO There are little shadows in it. And it's almost sweet, but stops at the
44
? "almost. "--Andrea, put the stuff away, the ice and bucket and needle. --I value the consolations of the flesh. I have no patience with cowardly souls who speak of weakness. I say: To enjoy yourself is an achievement.
THE LITTLE MONK What are you taking up next?
SAGREDO We're starting in again on the earth-around-the-sun circus. ANDREA (singing in an undertone]
The Book says it stands still. And so
? Each learned doctor proves.
? The Holy Father takes it by the ears
? And holds it fast. And yet it moves.
? ? (Andrea, Federzoni and the little monk hurry to the workbench and
? clear it)
ANDREA We might even find out that the sun revolves too. How would you like that, Marsili?
? What's the excitement about?
You're not going back to those abominations, Mr. Galilei?
LUDOVICO MRS. SARTI GALILEO
LUDOVICO I said I did, sir.
GALILEO You really like it?
LUDOVICO (stiffly) I like it.
GALILEO Would you go so far as to accept a man's wine or his daughter without
asking him to give up his profession? What has my astronomy got to do with
my daughter? The phases of Venus don't affect my daughter's rear end. MRS. SARTI Don't be vulgar. I'll go get Virginia.
LUDOVICO (holds her back) In families like mine marriages are not decided by
sexual considerations alone.
GALILEO Did they prevent you from marrying my daughter for the last eight years
because I was on probation?
LUDOVICO My wife will also have to cut a figure in our village church.
GALILEO You mean, your peasants won't pay their rent if the lady of the manor is
insufficiently saintly? LUDOVICO In a way.
GALILEO Andrea. Sagredo, get the brass mirror and the screen! We'll project the sun's image on it to protect our eyes. That's your method, Andrea.
(Andrea and the little monk get mirror and screen)
LUDOVICO Years ago in Rome, sir, you signed a pledge to stay away from this earth- around-the-sun business.
GALILEO Oh well. We had a reactionary pope in those days.
MRS. SARTI Had! His Holiness isn't even dead yet!
GALILEO Pretty near, pretty near! --Put a grid over the screen. We'll proceed
methodically. And we'll be able to answer all those letters, won't we,
Andrea?
MRS. SARTI "Pretty near! " Fifty times that man weighs his pieces of ice, but
when something happens that suits his purposes he believes it blindly! (The
screen is put up)
LUDOVICO Mr. Galilei, if His Holiness should die, the next pope--no matter who he is or how much he loves science-- will have to take account of how much the country's leading families love him.
THE LITTLE MONK God made the physical world, Ludovico; God made the human brain; God will allow physics.
MRS. SARTI Galileo, let me tell you something. I've watched my son fall into sin for the sake of these "experiments" and "theories" and "observations," and I
Now I know why your mother sent you here. Barberini is on the rise. Knowledge will be a passion and research a delight. Clavius is right, these sunspots do interest me. You like my wine, Ludovico?
45
haven't been able to do anything about it. You set yourself against the authorities and they gave you a warning. The greatest cardinals spoke to you the way you'd speak to a sick horse. It worked for a while, but two months ago, right after the Immaculate Conception, I caught you sneaking back to your "observations. " In the attic! I didn't say anything, but I knew. I ran out and lit a candle for St. Joseph. It's more than I can bear. When we're alone you show some sense, you say you've got to behave because it's dangerous, but two days of "experiments" and you're as bad as ever. If I lose my eternal salvation because I stand by a heretic, that's my business, but you have no right to trample your daughter's happiness with your big feet!
? GALILEO (gruffly) Get the telescope!
? (They uncover the telescope)
LUDOVICO Giuseppe, put the luggage back in the coach. (The manservant goes out) MRS. SARTI She'll never get over this. You can tel! her yourself.
(She runs out, still holding the pitcher)
LUDOVICO I see you've made up your mind. Mr. Galilei, three quarters of the year mother and I live on our estate in the Campagna and I can assure you that our peasants lose no sleep over your treatises on the moons of Jupiter. They work too hard in the fields. It might upset them, though, if they heard that attacks on the holy doctrine of the church were going unpunished. Don't forget that those poor brutalized wretches get everything mixed up. They really are brutes, you have no idea. A rumor that somebody's seen a pear growing on an apple tree makes them run away from their work to gab about it.
GALILEO (with interest) Really?
LUDOVICO Animals. When they come to the manor with a trifling complaint, mother has
to have a dog whipped in front of them to remind them of discipline and order and good manners. You, Mr. Galilei, you may occasionally see flowering corn fields from your traveling coach, or absent-mindedly eat our olives and our cheese, but you have no idea how much effort it takes to raise all these things -- all the supervision!
GALILEO Young man, I never eat my olives absent-mindedly. (Rudely) You're wasting my time. (Calls toward outside) Is the screen ready?
ANDREA Yes. Are you coming?
GALILEO You whip more than dogs to keep discipline, don't you, Marsili?
LUDOVICO Mr. Galilei, you have a marvelous brain. Too bad.
THE LITTLE MONK (amazed) He's threatening you.
GALILEO Yes, I might stir up his peasants to think new thoughts. And his servants
and his overseers.
SAGREDO How? They don't know Latin.
GALILEO I could write in the vernacular for the many instead of in Latin for the few. For
our new ideas we need people who work with their hands. Who else wants to know the causes of everything? People who never see bread except on their tables have no desire to know how it's baked; those bastards would rather thank God than the baker. But the men who make the bread will understand that nothing can move unless something moves it. Fulganzio, your sister at the olive press won't be much surprised -- she'll probably laugh -- when she hears that the sun is not a gold escutcheon, but a lever: The earth moves because the sun moves it.
LUDOVICO You'll always be a slave to your passions. Convey my apologies to Virginia. It's better, I think, if I don't see hernow.
GALILEO The dowry is at your disposal. At any time.
LUDOVICO Good day. (He goes) ANDREA Our regards to all the Marsilis!
? 46
? SAGREDO Who tell the earth to stand still so their castles won't fall off. ANDREA And to the Cencis and Villanis!
SAGREDO The Cervillis!
ANDREA The Lecchis!
SAGREDO The Pierleonis!
ANDREA Who'll only kiss the pope's foot as long as he tramples the people with it.
THE LITTLE MONK (also at the instruments) The new pope will be an enlightened man. GALILEO And now let's start observing these spots in the sun which interest us--at our
own risk, not counting too much on the protection of a new pope .
"I was a figtree stump, wood of little use When once a carpenter, pondering whether To fashion a Priapus or a footstool Decided on the god . . . "
Do you think Horace would have let anyone forbid him the footstool and put a table in the poem instead? Sir, a cosmology in which Venus has no phases violates my esthetic sense! We can't invent machines for pumping river water if we're forbidden to study the greatest machine before our eyes, the mechanism of the heavenly bodies. The sum total of the angles in a triangle can't be changed to suit the requirements of the curia. Nor can I calculate the courses of flying bodies in such a way as to account for witches riding on broomsticks.
THE LITTLE MONK Don't you think the truth will prevail, even without us, if it is the truth?
GALILEO No, no, no. Truth prevails only when we make it prevail. The triumph of reason can only be the triumph of reasoning men. You describe your peasants in the Campagna as if they were moss on their huts. How can anyone imagine that the sum of the angles of a triangle runs counter to their needs! But if they don't rouse themselves and learn how to think, the best irrigation systems in the world won't do them any good. Damn it, I see the divine patience of your people, but where is their divine wrath?
THE LITTLE MONK They're tired.
GALILEO (throws a bundle of manuscripts in front of him) Are you a physicist, my
son? Here you'll find the reasons for the ocean's tides. But don't read it, do you hear. Ah, reading already? I see you're a physicist. (The little monk has immersed himself in the papers)
GALILEO An apple from the tree of knowledge. He gobbles it up. He'll be damned for all eternity, but he's got to bolt it down, the hapless glutton. Sometimes I think I'd gladly be locked up in a dungeon ten fathoms below ground, if in return I could find out one thing: What is light? And the worst of it is: What I know I must tell others. Like a lover, a drunkard, a traitor. It's a vice, I know, and leads to ruin. But how long can I go on shouting into empty air--that is the question.
THE LITTLE MONK (points at a passage in the papers) I don't understand this sentence.
GALILEO I'll explain it to you, I'll explain it to you.
? 40
? 9
After a silence of eight years Galileo feels encouraged by the enthronement of a new pope, himself a scientist, to resume his research in the forbidden field. The sunspots.
Eight long years with tongue in cheek Of what he knew he did not speak. The temptations grew too great
And Galileo challenged fate.
Galileo's house in Florence. Galileo's pupils, Sagredo, the little monk and Andrea Sarti, now. a. young man, are gathered for an experiment. Galileo, standing, is reading a hook. -- Virginia and Mrs. Sarti are sewing bridal linen.
VIRGINIA Sewing a trousseau is fun. This is for the long dining table, Ludovico loves to have company. But it has got to be right, his mother notices every stitch. She isn't happy about father's books. . Any more than Father Christopher.
MRS. SARTI He hasn't written a book in years. VIRGINIA I think he saw he was mistaken. In Rome, a very high ecclesiastic told me a lot of things about astronomy. The distances are too great.
ANDREA (writes the program for the day on a blackboard and reads aloud) "Thursday afternoon: Floating bodies. "--That means ice again; bucket of water; scales; iron needle; Aristotle. (He fetches the objects)
(The others are looking up things in books. Enter Filippo Mucius, a scholar in his middle years. He appears to be upset)
MUCIUS Would you tell Mr. Galilei he must see me? He has condemned me without a hearing.
MRS. SARTI I've told you he doesn't wish to see you.
MUCIUS God will reward you if you ask him again. I must speak to him. VIRGINIA (goes to the staircase) Father!
GALILEO What is it?
VIRGINIA Mr. Mucius!
GALILEO (looks up brusquely, goes to the head of the stairs, his pupils trailing behind him)
What do you want?
MUCIUS Mr. Galilei, I request permission to explain the passages in my book
which seem to indicate a condemnation of the Copernican doctrine that
the earth revolves. I've . . .
GALILEO What is there to explain? You are in full agreement with the Holy
Congregation's decree of 1616. You are perfectly within your rights. It's true, you studied mathematics with us, but we have no authority to make you say that two times two is four. You have every right to say that this stone (He takes the pebble from his pocket and throws it down to the ground floor) has just flown up to the ceiling.
MUCIUS Mr. Galilei, I . . .
GALILEO Don't talk about difficulties! The plague didn't prevent me from
41
? going on with my observations.
MUCIUS Mr. Galilei, the plague is not the worst.
GALILEO Let me tell you this: Not to know the truth is just; stupid. To know the
truth and call it a lie is criminal! Leave my house at once!
MUCIUS (tonelessly) You are right. (He goes out) (Galileo returns to his study) SAGREDO That's how it is, I'm afraid, He doesn't amount to
much and no one could pay any attention to him if he hadn't been your pupil. But now of course they all say: He's heard everything Galileo had to say and is forced to admit that it's all wrong.
MRS. SARTI I feel sorry for the gentleman.
VIRGINIA Father was very fond of him.
MRS. SARTI I wanted to talk to you about your marriage, Virginia. You're such a
young thing, and you have no mother, and your father just puts little pieces of ice in water. Anyway, I wouldn't ask him questions about your marriage if I were you. He would say the most dreadful things for a week, naturally at meals when the young people are there, because he hasn't half a scudo's worth of shame in him, never did have. That's not what I had in mind, I'm thinking of what the future has in store. Not that I know anything, I'm only an ignorant woman. But this is a very serious thing, you mustn't go into it blindly. I do think you should go to a real astronomer at the university and consult him about your horoscope. Then you'll know what to expect. Why are you laughing?
VIRGINIA Because I've been.
MRS. SARTI (very curious) What did he say?
VIRGINIA For three months I must be careful because the sun will be in Aries, but
then I get a very good ascendant and the clouds will part. As long as I don't lose sight of Jupiter, I can go on any journey I please, because I'm an Aries.
MRS. SARTI
VIRGINIA
VIRGINIA
MUCIUS (comes back) Just thought I'd bring you a book that might be of
And Ludovico?
He's a Leo. (After a little pause) That means sensual, I think. (Pause)
I know that step.
interest to you. I'll just put the book in your little hands, and disappear, on
tiptoe. (He goes out. Virginia hands the book to Sagredo) GALILEO What's it about?
SAGREDO I don't know. (Spelling it out) "De maculis in sole. "
ANDREA On the sunspots. Another one! (Sagredo hands it to him)
ANDREA Listen to this dedication! "To the greatest living authority on physics,
Galileo Galilei. " (Galileo has immersed himself once more in his book) ANDREA I've read the treatise by Fabricius in Holland. He believes the spots are
clusters of stars passing between the earth and the sun.
THE LITTLE MONK Isn't that doubtful, Mr. Galilei? (Galileo does not answer) ANDREA In Paris and Prague they think they're vapors from the sun.
SAGREDO Hm?
? ANDREA Sagredo has his doubts.
SAGREDO Kindly leave me out of it. I said "Hm," that's all.
(He gesticulates with the scales. A pan falls to the floor. Galileo walks over and silently
picks it up)
THE LITTLE MONK It's blissful to doubt; I wonder why.
ANDREA Every sunny day in the last two weeks I've climbed up to the attic, right
under the roof. A thin beam of light comes down through a tiny crack in the
42
? tiles. With that beam you can catch the reverse image of the sun on a sheet of paper. I saw a spot as big as a fly and blurred like a small cloud. It moved. Why don't we investigate those spots, Mr. Galilei?
GALILEO Because we're working on floating bodies.
ANDREA Mother has whole baskets full of letters. All Europe wants your opinion.
With the reputation you've built up, you can't be silent.
GALILEO Rome has allowed me to build up a reputation because I've kept silent. SAGREDO But you can't afford to be silent any more.
GALILEO Nor can I afford to be roasted over a wood fire like a ham. ANDREA Do you think the spots come into it?
(Galileo does not answer)
ANDREA GALILEO ANDREA
All right, let's stick to our little pieces of ice. They can't hurt you.
Exactly. --Our proposition, Andrea!
We assume that whether a body floats or not depends essentially not on its
shape, but on whether it is lighter or heavier than water.
GALILEO What does Aristotle say?
THE LITTLE MONK "Discus latus platique . . . "
GALILEO Translate, translate!
THE LITTLE MONK "A broad, flat disk of ice floats in water, whereas an iron
needle sinks. "
GALILEO Why then, according to Aristotle, doesn't ice sink?
THE LITTLE MONK Because, being broad and flat, it cannot divide the water, GALILEO Very well. (A piece of ice is handed to him and he puts it into the bucket) Now I
press the ice firmly down to the bottom of the bucket. I remove the
pressure of my hands. What happens?
THE LITTLE MONK It rises to the surface.
GALILEO Correct. In rising it seems to be able to divide the water. Fulganzio! THE LITTLE MONK But why then does it float at all? Ice is heavier than water, because
it is condensed water.
GALILEO What if it were diluted water?
ANDREA It must be lighter than water, or it wouldn't float.
GALILEO Aha!
ANDREA Just as an iron needle can't float. Everything lighter than water floats,
everything heavier sinks. Which was to be proved.
GALILEO Andrea, you must learn to think carefully. Give me the iron needle. A
sheet of paper. Is iron heavier than water? ANDREA Yes.
(Galileo places the needle on a sheet of paper and floats it in the water. Pause) GALILEO What happens?
SAGREDO The needle floats! Holy Aristotle, they never checked up on him!
(They laugh)
GALILEO One of the main reasons for the poverty of science is that it is supposed to be so rich.
The aim of science is not to open the door to everlasting wisdom, but to set a limit to everlasting error. Take that down.
VIRGINIA What's the matter?
MRS. SARTI Every time they laugh, a fright comes over me. I wonder what
they're laughing about.
VIRGINIA Father says theologians have their church bells and physicists have
their laughter.
MRS. SARTI At least I'm glad he doesn't look through his tube so much any
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? more. That was much worse.
VIRGINIA No, he only puts pieces of ice in water. No harm can come of that. MRS. SARTI Who knows?
(Enter Ludovico Marsili in traveling garb, followed by a manservant
with luggage. Virginia runs toward him and embraces him]
VIRGINIA Why didn't you let us know you were coming?
LUDOVICO I was near here inspecting our vineyards, and I just couldn't stay
away.
GALILEO (as though nearsighted) Who's that? VIRGINIA Ludovico.
THE LITTLE MONK Can't you see him?
GALILEO LUDOVICO GALILEO
Oh yes, Ludovico. (Goes toward him) How are the horses? They're fine, sir.
Sarti, let's celebrate. Bring us a jug of that old Sicilian wine!
(Mrs. Sarti goes out with Andrea)
LUDOVICO (to Virginia) You look pale. Country life will do you good. Mother is
expecting you in September.
VIRGINIA Wait, I want to show you my wedding dress. (Runs out)
GALILEO Sit down.
LUDOVICO I hear you have more than a thousand students in your lectures at
the university, sir. What are you working on at the moment?
GALILEO Routine stuff. Did you come through Rome?
LUDOVICO Yes. --Before I forget, mother congratulates you on your admirable tact in connection with all that fuss over the sunspots in Holland.
GALILEO (dryly) That's kind of her.
(Mrs. Sarti and Andrea bring wine and glasses. All gather around the table)
LUDOVICO Rome has found a topic of conversation for February. Christopher Clavius said he was afraid the whole earth-around-the-sun circus would flare up again because of those sunspots.
ANDREA Don't let it worry you.
GALILEO Any other news from the Holy City, apart from hopes for new sins on
my part?
LUDOVICO You heard, of course, that the Holy Father is dying?
THE LITTLE MONK Oh.
? GALILEO Who's mentioned as successor?
LUDOVICO Mostly Barberini.
GALILEO Barberini.
ANDREA Mr. Galilei knows Barberini personally.
THE LITTLE MONK Cardinal Barberini is a mathematician. SAGREDO A scientist in the chair of St. Peter!
(Pause)
GALILEO I see, now they need men like Barberini who've read a little mathematics. Things will start moving, FecterToni, we may live to see the day when we won't have to glance over our shoulders like criminals every time we say that two times two is four. (To Ludovico) I like this wine, Ludovico. What do you think of it?
LUDOVICO It's good.
GALILEO I know the vineyard. The slope is steep and stony, the grapes are almost
blue. I love this wine. LUDOVICO Yes, sir.
GALILEO There are little shadows in it. And it's almost sweet, but stops at the
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? "almost. "--Andrea, put the stuff away, the ice and bucket and needle. --I value the consolations of the flesh. I have no patience with cowardly souls who speak of weakness. I say: To enjoy yourself is an achievement.
THE LITTLE MONK What are you taking up next?
SAGREDO We're starting in again on the earth-around-the-sun circus. ANDREA (singing in an undertone]
The Book says it stands still. And so
? Each learned doctor proves.
? The Holy Father takes it by the ears
? And holds it fast. And yet it moves.
? ? (Andrea, Federzoni and the little monk hurry to the workbench and
? clear it)
ANDREA We might even find out that the sun revolves too. How would you like that, Marsili?
? What's the excitement about?
You're not going back to those abominations, Mr. Galilei?
LUDOVICO MRS. SARTI GALILEO
LUDOVICO I said I did, sir.
GALILEO You really like it?
LUDOVICO (stiffly) I like it.
GALILEO Would you go so far as to accept a man's wine or his daughter without
asking him to give up his profession? What has my astronomy got to do with
my daughter? The phases of Venus don't affect my daughter's rear end. MRS. SARTI Don't be vulgar. I'll go get Virginia.
LUDOVICO (holds her back) In families like mine marriages are not decided by
sexual considerations alone.
GALILEO Did they prevent you from marrying my daughter for the last eight years
because I was on probation?
LUDOVICO My wife will also have to cut a figure in our village church.
GALILEO You mean, your peasants won't pay their rent if the lady of the manor is
insufficiently saintly? LUDOVICO In a way.
GALILEO Andrea. Sagredo, get the brass mirror and the screen! We'll project the sun's image on it to protect our eyes. That's your method, Andrea.
(Andrea and the little monk get mirror and screen)
LUDOVICO Years ago in Rome, sir, you signed a pledge to stay away from this earth- around-the-sun business.
GALILEO Oh well. We had a reactionary pope in those days.
MRS. SARTI Had! His Holiness isn't even dead yet!
GALILEO Pretty near, pretty near! --Put a grid over the screen. We'll proceed
methodically. And we'll be able to answer all those letters, won't we,
Andrea?
MRS. SARTI "Pretty near! " Fifty times that man weighs his pieces of ice, but
when something happens that suits his purposes he believes it blindly! (The
screen is put up)
LUDOVICO Mr. Galilei, if His Holiness should die, the next pope--no matter who he is or how much he loves science-- will have to take account of how much the country's leading families love him.
THE LITTLE MONK God made the physical world, Ludovico; God made the human brain; God will allow physics.
MRS. SARTI Galileo, let me tell you something. I've watched my son fall into sin for the sake of these "experiments" and "theories" and "observations," and I
Now I know why your mother sent you here. Barberini is on the rise. Knowledge will be a passion and research a delight. Clavius is right, these sunspots do interest me. You like my wine, Ludovico?
45
haven't been able to do anything about it. You set yourself against the authorities and they gave you a warning. The greatest cardinals spoke to you the way you'd speak to a sick horse. It worked for a while, but two months ago, right after the Immaculate Conception, I caught you sneaking back to your "observations. " In the attic! I didn't say anything, but I knew. I ran out and lit a candle for St. Joseph. It's more than I can bear. When we're alone you show some sense, you say you've got to behave because it's dangerous, but two days of "experiments" and you're as bad as ever. If I lose my eternal salvation because I stand by a heretic, that's my business, but you have no right to trample your daughter's happiness with your big feet!
? GALILEO (gruffly) Get the telescope!
? (They uncover the telescope)
LUDOVICO Giuseppe, put the luggage back in the coach. (The manservant goes out) MRS. SARTI She'll never get over this. You can tel! her yourself.
(She runs out, still holding the pitcher)
LUDOVICO I see you've made up your mind. Mr. Galilei, three quarters of the year mother and I live on our estate in the Campagna and I can assure you that our peasants lose no sleep over your treatises on the moons of Jupiter. They work too hard in the fields. It might upset them, though, if they heard that attacks on the holy doctrine of the church were going unpunished. Don't forget that those poor brutalized wretches get everything mixed up. They really are brutes, you have no idea. A rumor that somebody's seen a pear growing on an apple tree makes them run away from their work to gab about it.
GALILEO (with interest) Really?
LUDOVICO Animals. When they come to the manor with a trifling complaint, mother has
to have a dog whipped in front of them to remind them of discipline and order and good manners. You, Mr. Galilei, you may occasionally see flowering corn fields from your traveling coach, or absent-mindedly eat our olives and our cheese, but you have no idea how much effort it takes to raise all these things -- all the supervision!
GALILEO Young man, I never eat my olives absent-mindedly. (Rudely) You're wasting my time. (Calls toward outside) Is the screen ready?
ANDREA Yes. Are you coming?
GALILEO You whip more than dogs to keep discipline, don't you, Marsili?
LUDOVICO Mr. Galilei, you have a marvelous brain. Too bad.
THE LITTLE MONK (amazed) He's threatening you.
GALILEO Yes, I might stir up his peasants to think new thoughts. And his servants
and his overseers.
SAGREDO How? They don't know Latin.
GALILEO I could write in the vernacular for the many instead of in Latin for the few. For
our new ideas we need people who work with their hands. Who else wants to know the causes of everything? People who never see bread except on their tables have no desire to know how it's baked; those bastards would rather thank God than the baker. But the men who make the bread will understand that nothing can move unless something moves it. Fulganzio, your sister at the olive press won't be much surprised -- she'll probably laugh -- when she hears that the sun is not a gold escutcheon, but a lever: The earth moves because the sun moves it.
LUDOVICO You'll always be a slave to your passions. Convey my apologies to Virginia. It's better, I think, if I don't see hernow.
GALILEO The dowry is at your disposal. At any time.
LUDOVICO Good day. (He goes) ANDREA Our regards to all the Marsilis!
? 46
? SAGREDO Who tell the earth to stand still so their castles won't fall off. ANDREA And to the Cencis and Villanis!
SAGREDO The Cervillis!
ANDREA The Lecchis!
SAGREDO The Pierleonis!
ANDREA Who'll only kiss the pope's foot as long as he tramples the people with it.
THE LITTLE MONK (also at the instruments) The new pope will be an enlightened man. GALILEO And now let's start observing these spots in the sun which interest us--at our
own risk, not counting too much on the protection of a new pope .
