Brecht Collected Plays: 5: Life of Galileo; Mother Courage and Her Children (World Classics) (59 page)

LITTLE MONK
Mr. Galilei, I am a priest.

GALILEO
You are also a physicist. How can new machinery be evolved to domesticate the river water if we physicists are forbidden to study, discuss, and pool our findings about the greatest machinery of all, the machinery of the heavenly bodies? Can I reconcile my findings on the paths of falling bodies with the current belief in the tracks of witches on broom sticks? (
A pause
) I am sorry – I shouldn’t have said that.

LITTLE MONK
You don’t think that the truth, if it is the truth, would make its way without us?

GALILEO
No! No! No! As much of the truth gets through as we push through. You talk about the Campagna peasants as if they were the moss on their huts. Naturally, if they don’t get a move on and learn to think for themselves, the most efficient of irrigation systems cannot help them. I can see their divine patience, but where is their divine fury?

LITTLE MONK
(
helpless
) They are old!

(
Galileo stands for a moment, beaten; he cannot meet the little monk’s eyes. He takes a manuscript from the table and throws it violently on the ground
)

LITTLE MONK
What is that?

GALILEO
Here is writ what draws the ocean when it ebbs and flows. Let it lie there. Thou shalt not read. (
Little Monk has picked up the manuscript
) Already! An apple of the tree of knowledge, he can’t wait, he wolfs it down. He will rot in hell for all eternity. Look at him, where are his manners? – Sometimes I think I would let them imprison me in a place a thousand feet beneath the earth where no light could reach me, if in exchange I could find out what stuff that is: “Light.” The bad thing is that, when I find something, I have to boast about it like a lover or a drunkard or a traitor. That is a hopeless vice and leads to the abyss. I wonder how long I shall be content to discuss it with my dog!

LITTLE MONK
(
immersed in the manuscript
) I don’t understand this sentence.

GALILEO
I’ll explain it to you, I’ll explain it to you. (
They are sitting on the floor
)

Scene Eight

Eight long years with tongue in cheek

Of what he knew he did not speak
.

Then temptation grew too great

And Galileo challenged fate
.

Galileo’s house in Florence again. Galileo is supervising his Assistants Andrea, Federzoni, and the Little Monk who are about to prepare an experiment. Mrs. Sarti and Virginia are at a long table sewing bridal linen. There is a new telescope, larger than the old one. At the moment it is covered with a cloth
.

ANDREA
(
looking up a schedule
) Thursday. Afternoon. Floating bodies again. Ice, bowl of water, scales, and it says here an iron needle. Aristotle.

VIRGINIA
Ludovico likes to entertain. We must take care to be neat. His mother notices every stitch. She doesn’t approve of father’s books.

MRS. SARTI
That’s all a thing of the past. He hasn’t published a book for years.

VIRGINIA
That’s true. Oh Sarti, it’s fun sewing a trousseau.

MRS. SARTI
Virginia, I want to talk to you. You are very young, and you have no mother, and your father is putting those pieces of ice in water, and marriage is too serious a business to go into blind. Now you should go to see a real astronomer from the university and have him cast your horoscope so you know where you stand. (
Virginia giggles
) What’s the matter?

VIRGINIA
I’ve been already.

MRS. SARTI
Tell Sarti.

VIRGINIA
I have to be careful for three months now because the sun is in Capricorn, but after that I get a favorable ascendant, and I can undertake a journey if I am careful of Uranus, as I’m a Scorpion.

MRS. SARTI
What about Ludovico?

VIRGINIA
He’s a Leo, the astronomer said. Leos are sensual. (
Giggles
)

(
There is a knock at the door, it opens. Enter the Rector of the University, the philosopher of Scene Four, bringing a book
)

RECTOR
(
to Virginia
) This is about the burning issue of the moment.

He may want to glance over it. My faculty would appreciate his comments. No, don’t disturb him now, my dear. Every minute one takes of your father’s time is stolen from Italy. (
He goes
)

VIRGINIA
Federzoni! The rector of the university brought this.

(
Federzoni takes it
)

GALILEO
What’s it about?

FEDERZONI
(
spelling
) De maculis in sole.

ANDREA
Oh, it’s on the sun spots!

(
Andrea comes one side, and the Little Monk the other, to look at
the book
)

ANDREA
A new one!

(
Federzoni resentfully puts the book into their hands and continues
with the preparation of the experiment
)

ANDREA
Listen to this dedication. (
Quotes
) “To the greatest living authority on physics, Galileo Galilei.” – I read Fabricius’ paper the other day. Fabricius says the spots are clusters of planets between us and the sun.

LITTLE MONK
Doubtful.

GALILEO
(
noncommittal
) Yes?

ANDREA
Paris and Prague hold that they are vapors from the sun.

Federzoni doubts that.

FEDERZONI
Me? You leave me out. I said “hm,” that was all. And don’t discuss new things before me. I can’t read the material, it’s in Latin. (
He drops the scales and stands trembling with fury
) Tell me, can I doubt anything?

(
Galileo walks over and picks up the scales silently. Pause
)

LITTLE MONK
There is happiness in doubting, I wonder why.

ANDREA
Aren’t we going to take this up?

GALILEO
At the moment we are investigating floating bodies.

ANDREA
Mother has baskets full of letters from all over Europe asking his opinion.

FEDERZONI
The question is whether you can afford to remain silent.

GALILEO
I cannot afford to be smoked on a wood fire like a ham.

ANDREA
(
surprised
) Ah. You think the sun spots may have something to do with that again? (
Galileo does not answer
)

ANDREA
Well, we stick to fiddling about with bits of ice in water. They can’t hurt you.

GALILEO
Correct. – Our thesis!

ANDREA
All things that are lighter than water float, and all things that are heavier sink.

GALILEO
Aristotle says –

LITTLE MONK
(
reading out of a book, translating
) “A broad and flat disk of ice, although heavier than water, still floats, because it is unable to divide the water.”

GALILEO
Well, now I push the ice below the surface. I take away the pressure of my hands. What happens?

(
Pause
)

LITTLE MONK
It rises to the surface.

GALILEO
Correct. It seems to be able to divide the water as it’s coming up, doesn’t it?

LITTLE MONK
Could it be lighter than water after all?

GALILEO
Aha!

ANDREA
Then all things that are lighter than water float, and all things that are heavier sink. Q.e.d.

GALILEO
Not at all. Hand me that iron needle. Heavier than water? (
They all nod
) A piece of paper. (
He places the needle on a piece of paper and floats it on the surface of the water. Pause
) Do not be hasty with your conclusions. (
Pause
) What happens?

FEDERZONI
The paper has sunk, the needle is floating.

VIRGINIA
What’s the matter?

MRS. SARTI
Every time I hear them laugh it sends shivers down my spine.

(
There is a knocking at the outer door
)

MRS. SARTI
Who’s that at the door?

(
Enter Ludovico. Virginia runs to him. They embrace. Ludovico is followed by a servant with baggage
)

MRS. SARTI
Well!

VIRGINIA
Oh! Why didn’t you write that you were coming?

LUDOVICO
I decided on the spur of the moment. I was over inspecting our vineyards at Bucciole. I couldn’t keep away.

GALILEO
Who’s that?

LITTLE MONK
Miss Virginia’s intended. What’s the matter with your eyes?

GALILEO
(
blinking
) Oh yes, it’s Ludovico, so it is. Well! Sarti, get a jug of that Sicilian wine, the old kind. We celebrate. (
Everybody sits down. Mrs. Sarti has left, followed by Ludovico’s Servant.
)

GALILEO
Well, Ludovico, old man. How are the horses?

LUDOVICO
The horses are fine.

GALILEO
Fine.

LUDOVICO
But those vineyards need a firm hand. (
To Virginia
) You look pale. Country life will suit you. Mother’s planning on September.

VIRGINIA
I suppose I oughtn’t, but stay here, I’ve got something to show you.

LUDOVICO
What?

VIRGINIA
Never mind. I won’t be ten minutes. (
She runs out
)

LUDOVICO
How’s life these days, sir?

GALILEO
Dull. – How was the journey?

LUDOVOCI
Dull. – Before I forget, mother sends her congratulations on your admirable tact over the latest rumblings of science.

GALILEO
Thank her for me.

LUDOVICO
Christopher Clavius had all Rome on its ears. He said he was afraid that the turning around business might crop up again on account of these spots on the sun.

ANDREA
Clavius is on the same track! (
To Ludovico
) My mother’s baskets are full of letters from all over Europe asking Mr. Galilei’s opinion.

GALILEO
I am engaged in investigating the habits of floating bodies. Any harm in that? (
Mrs. Sarti re-enters, followed by the Servant. They bring wine and
glasses on a tray
)

GALILEO
(
hands out the wine
) What news from the Holy City, apart from the prospect of my sins?

LUDOVICO
The Holy Father is on his death bed. Hadn’t you heard?

LITTLE MONK
My goodness! What about the succession?

LUDOVICO
All the talk is of Barberini.

GALILEO
Barberini?

ANDREA
Mr. Galilei knows Barberini.

LITTLE MONK
Cardinal Barberini is a mathematician.

FEDERZONI
A scientist in the chair of Peter!

(
Pause
)

GALILEO
(
cheering up enormously
) This means change. We might live to see the day, Federzoni, when we don’t have to whisper that two and two are four. (
To Ludovico
) I like this wine. Don’t you, Ludovico?

LUDOVICO
I like it.

GALILEO
I know the hill where it is grown. The slope is steep and stony, the grape almost blue. I am fond of this wine.

LUDOVICO
Yes, sir.

GALILEO
There are shadows in this wine. It is almost sweet but just stops short. – Andrea, clear that stuff away, ice, bowl, and needle. – I cherish the consolations of the flesh. I have no patience with cowards who call them weaknesses. I say there is a certain achievement in enjoying things.

(
The Pupils get up and go to the experiment table
)

LITTLE MONK
What are we to do?

FEDERZONI
He is starting on the sun.

(
They begin with clearing up
)

ANDREA
(
singing in a low voice
)

The Bible proves the earth stands still,

The Pope, he swears with tears:

The earth stands still. To prove it so

He takes it by the ears.

LUDOVICO
What’s the excitement?

MRS. SARTI
You’re not going to start those hellish goings-on again, Mr. Galilei?

ANDREA

And gentlefolk, they say so too.

Each learned doctor proves,

(If you grease his palm): The earth stands still.

And yet – and yet it moves.

GALILEO
Barberini is in the ascendant, so your mother is uneasy, and you’re sent to investigate me. Correct me if I am wrong, Ludovico. Clavius is right: these spots on the sun interest me.

ANDREA
We might find out that the sun also revolves. How would you like that, Ludovico?

GALILEO
Do you like my wine, Ludovico?

LUDOVICO
I told you I did, sir.

GALILEO
You really like it?

LUDOVICO
I like it.

GALILEO
Tell me, Ludovico, would you consider going so far as to accept a man’s wine or his daughter without insisting that he drop his profession? I have no wish to intrude, but have the moons of Jupiter affected Virginia’s bottom?

MRS. SARTI
That isn’t funny, it’s just vulgar. I am going for Virginia.