Brecht Collected Plays: 5: Life of Galileo; Mother Courage and Her Children (World Classics) (12 page)

PHILOSOPHER
: Your reasons, Mr Galilei, your reasons.

GALILEO
: My reasons! When a single glance at the stars themselves and my own notes makes the phenomenon evident? Sir, your disputation is becoming absurd.

MATHEMATICIAN
: If one could be sure of not over-exciting you one might say that what is in your tube and what is in the skies is not necessarily the same thing.

PHILOSOPHER
: That couldn’t be more courteously put.

FEDERZONI
: They think we painted the Medicean stars on the lens.

GALILEO
: Are you saying I’m a fraud?

PHILOSOPHER
: How could we? In his highness’s presence too.

MATHEMATICIAN
: Your instrument – I don’t know whether to call it your brainchild or your adopted brainchild – is most ingeniously made, no doubt of that.

PHILOSOPHER
: And we are utterly convinced, Mr Galilei, that neither you nor anyone else would bestow the illustrious name of our ruling family on stars whose existence was not above all doubt.
All bow deeply to the grand duke
.

COSIMO
turns to the ladies of the court:
Is something the matter with my stars?

THE OLDER COURT LADY
: There is nothing the matter with your highness’s stars. It’s just that the gentlemen are wondering if they are really and truly there.
Pause
.

THE YOUNGER COURT LADY
: I’m told you can actually see the wheels on the Plough.

FEDERZONI
: Yes, and all kinds of things on the Bull.

GALILEO
: Well, are you gentlemen going to look through it or not?

PHILOSOPHER
: Of course, of course.

MATHEMATICIAN
: Of course.

Pause. Suddenly Andrea turns and walks stiffly out across the whole length of the room. His mother stops him
.

MRS SARTI
: What’s the matter with you?

ANDREA
: They’re stupid.
He tears himself away and runs off
.

PHILOSOPHER
: A lamentable boy.

CHAMBERLAIN
: Your highness: gentlemen: may I remind you that the state ball is due to start in three quarters of an hour.

MATHEMATICIAN
: Let’s not beat about the bush. Sooner or later Mr Galilei will have to reconcile himself to the facts.

Those Jupiter satellites of his would penetrate the crystal spheres. It is as simple as that.

FEDERZONI
: You’ll be surprised: the crystal spheres don’t exist.

PHILOSOPHER
: Any textbook will tell you that they do, my good man.

FEDERZONI
: Right, then let’s have new textbooks.

PHILOSOPHER
: Your highness, my distinguished colleague and I are supported by none less than the divine Aristotle himself.

GALILEO
almost obsequiously:
Gentlemen, to believe in the authority of Aristotle is one thing, tangible facts are another. You are saying that according to Aristotle there are crystal spheres up there, so certain motions just cannot take place because the stars would penetrate them. But suppose those motions could be established? Mightn’t that suggest to you that those crystal spheres don’t exist? Gentlemen, in all humility I ask you to go by the evidence of your eyes.

MATHEMATICIAN
: My dear Galileo, I may strike you as very old-fashioned, but I’m in the habit of reading Aristotle now and again, and there, I can assure you, I trust the evidence of my eyes.

GALILEO
: I am used to seeing the gentlemen of the various faculties shutting their eyes to every fact and pretending that nothing has happened. I produce my observations and everyone laughs: I offer my telescope so they can see for themselves, and everyone quotes Aristotle.

FEDERZONI
: The fellow had no telescope.

MATHEMATICIAN
: That’s just it.

PHILOSOPHER
grandly:
If Aristotle is going to be dragged in the mud – that’s to say an authority recognized not only by every classical scientist but also by the chief fathers of the church – then any prolonging of this discussion is in my view a waste of time. I have no use for discussions which are not objective. Basta.

GALILEO
: Truth is born of the times, not of authority. Our ignorance is limitless: let us lop one cubic millimetre off it. Why try to be clever now that we at last have a chance of being just a little less stupid? I have had the unimaginable luck to get my hands on a new instrument that lets us observe one tiny corner of the universe a little, but not all that much, more exactly. Make use of it.

PHILOSOPHER
: Your highness, ladies and gentlemen, I just wonder where all this is leading?

GALILEO
: I should say our duty as scientists is not to ask where truth is leading.

PHILOSOPHER
agitatedly:
Mr Galilei, truth might lead us anywhere!

GALILEO
: Your highness. At night nowadays telescopes are being pointed at the sky all over Italy. Jupiter’s moons may not bring down the price of milk. But they have never been seen before, and yet all the same they exist. From this the man in the street concludes that a lot else might exist if only he opened his eyes. It is your duty to confirm this. What has made Italy prick up its ears is not the movements of a few distant stars but the news that hitherto unquestioned dogmas have begun to totter – and we all know that there are too many of those. Gentlemen, don’t let us fight for questionable truths.

FEDERZONI
: You people are teachers: you should be stimulating the questions.

PHILOSOPHER
: I would rather your man didn’t tell us how to conduct a scholarly disputation.

GALILEO
: Your highness! My work in the Great Arsenal in Venice brought me into daily contact with draughtsmen, builders and instrument mechanics. Such people showed me a lot of new approaches. They don’t read much, but rely on the evidence of their five senses, without all that much fear as to where such evidence is going to lead them …

PHILOSOPHER
: Oho!

GALILEO
: Very much like our mariners who a hundred years ago abandoned our coasts without knowing what other coasts they would encounter, if any. It looks as if the only way today to find that supreme curiosity which was the real glory of classical Greece is to go down to the docks.

PHILOSOPHER
: After what we’ve heard so far I’m not surprised that Mr Galilei finds admirers at the docks.

CHAMBERLAIN
: Your highness, I am dismayed to note that this exceptionally instructive conversation has become a trifle prolonged. His highness must have some repose before the court ball.

At a sign, the grand duke bows to Galileo. The court quickly gets ready to leave
.

MRS SARTI
blocks the grand duke’s way and offers him a plate of biscuits:
A biscuit, your highness?
The older court lady leads the grand duke out
.

GALILEO
hurrying after them:
But all you gentlemen need do is look through the telescope!

CHAMBERLAIN
: His highness will not fail to submit your ideas to our greatest living astronomer: Father Christopher Clavius, chief astronomer at the papal college in Rome.

5

Undeterred even by the plague, Galileo carries on with his researches

(a)

Early morning. Galileo at the telescope, bent over his notes. Enter Virginia with a travelling bag
.

GALILEO
: Virginia! Has something happened?

VIRGINIA
: The convent’s shut; they sent us straight home. Arcetri has had five cases of plague.

GALILEO
calls:
Sarti!

VIRGINIA
: Market Street was barricaded off last night. Two people have died in the old town, they say, and there are three more dying in hospital.

GALILEO
: As usual they hushed it all up till it was too late.

MRS SARTI
entering:
What are you doing here?

VIRGINIA
: The plague.

MRS SARTI
: God alive! I’ll pack.
Sits down
.

GALILEO
: Pack nothing. Take Virginia and Andrea. I’ll get my notes.

He hurries to his table and hurriedly gathers up papers. Mrs Sarti puts Andrea’s coat on him as he runs up, then collects some food and bed linen. Enter a grand-ducal footman
.

FOOTMAN
: In view of the spread of the disease his highness has left the city for Bologna. However, he insisted that Mr Galilei too should be offered a chance to get to safety. The carriage will be outside your door in two minutes.

MRS SARTI
to Virginia and Andrea:
Go outside at once. Here, take this.

ANDREA
: What for? If you don’t tell my why I shan’t go.

MRS SARTI
: It’s the plague, my boy.

VIRGINIA
: We’ll wait for Father.

MRS SARTI
: Mr Galilei, are you ready?

GALILEO
wrapping the telescope in the tablecloth:
Put Virginia and Andrea in the carriage. I won’t be a moment.

VIRGINIA
: No, we’re not going without you. Once you start packing up your books you’ll never finish.

MRS SARTI
: The coach is there.

GALILEO
: Have some sense, Virginia, if you don’t take your seats the coachman will drive off. Plague is no joking matter.

VIRGINIA
protesting, as Mrs Sarti and Andrea escort her out:
Help him with his books, or he won’t come.

MRS SARTI
from the main door:
Mr Galilei, the coachman says he can’t wait.

GALILEO
: Mrs Sarti, I don’t think I should go. It’s all such a mess, you see: three months’ worth of notes which I might as well throw away if I can’t spend another night or two on them. Anyway this plague is all over the place.

MRS SARTI
: Mr Galilei! You must come now! You’re crazy.

GALILEO
: You’ll have to go off with Virginia and Andrea. I’ll follow.

MRS SARTI
: Another hour, and nobody will be able to get away. You must come.
Listens
. He’s driving off. I’ll have to stop him.

Exit
.

Galileo walks up and down. Mrs Sarti re-enters, very pale, without her bundle
.

GALILEO
: What are you still here for? You’ll miss the children’s carriage.

MRS SARTI
: They’ve gone. Virginia had to be held in. The children will get looked after in Bologna. But who’s going to see you get your meals?

GALILEO
: You’re crazy. Staying in this city in order to cook!
Picking up his notes:
Don’t think I’m a complete fool, Mrs Sarti. I can’t abandon these observations. I have powerful enemies and I must collect proofs for certain hypotheses.

MRS SARTI
: You don’t have to justify yourself. But it’s not exactly sensible.

(b)

Outside Galileo’s house in Florence. Galileo steps out and looks down the street. Two nuns pass by
.

GALILEO
addresses them:
Could you tell me, sisters, where I can buy some milk? The milk woman didn’t come this morning, and my housekeeper has left.

ONE NUN
: The only shops open are in the lower town.

THE OTHER NUN
: Did you come from here?
Galileo nods
. This is the street!

The two nuns cross themselves, mumble a Hail Mary and hurry away. A man goes by
.

GALILEO
addresses him:
Aren’t you the baker that delivers our bread to us?
The man nods
. Have you seen my housekeeper? She must have left last night. She hasn’t been around all day.

The man shakes his head. A window is opened across the way and a woman looks out
.

WOMAN
yelling:
Hurry! They’ve got the plague opposite!
The man runs off horrified
.

GALILEO
: Have you heard anything about my housekeeper?

WOMAN
: Your housekeeper collapsed in the street up there.

She must have realised. That’s why she went. So inconsiderate!

She slams the window shut
.

Children come down the street. They see Galileo and run away screaming. Galileo turns round; two soldiers hurry up, encased in armour
.

SOLDIERS
: Get right back indoors!

They push Galileo back into his house with their long pikes
.

They bolt the door behind him
.

GALILEO
at the window:
Can you tell me what happened to the woman?

SOLDIERS
: They throw them on the heap.

WOMAN
reappears at the window:
That whole street back there is infected. Why can’t you close it off?

The soldiers rope the street off
.

WOMAN
: But that way nobody can get into our house. This part doesn’t have to be closed off. This part’s all right. Stop
it! Stop! Can’t you listen? My husband’s still in town, he won’t be able to get through to us. You animals!
She can be heard inside weeping and screaming. The soldiers leave. At another window an old woman appears
.

GALILEO
: That must be a fire back there.