The Sleepwalkers (144 page)

"
Tycho
gave
me
no
opportunity
to
share
in
his
experiences.
He
would
only,
in
the
course
of
a
meal,
and
in
between
conversing
about
other
matters
mention,
as
if
in
passing,
today
the
figure
for
the
apogee
of
one
planet,
tomorrow
the
nodes
of
another."
⁴

One
might
add:
as
if
he
were
handing
bones
to
Jepp
under
the
table.
Nor
would
he
allow
Kepler
to
copy
out
his
figures.
In
exasperation,
Kepler
even
asked
Tycho's
Italian
rival,
Magini,
to
offer
his
own
data
in
exchange
for
some
of
Tycho's.
Only
gradually,
step
by
step,
did
Tycho
yield;
and
when
he
put
Kepler
in
charge
of
Mars,
he
was
forced
to
disgorge
his
Mars
data.

Kepler
had
spent
barely
a
month
at
Benatek
when
Tycho,
in
a
letter,
first
hinted
at
difficulties
that
had
arisen
between
them;
another
month
later,
on
5
April,
the
tension
blew
up
in
an
explosion
which
might
have
shattered
the
future
of
cosmology.

The
immediate
cause
of
the
row
was
a
document
which
Kepler
had
drafted,
and
in
which
the
conditions
of
his
future
collaboration
with
Tycho
were
laid
down
in
unpleasant
detail.
If
he
and
his
family
were
to
live
permanently
at
Benatek,
Tycho
must
provide
them
with
a
detached
apartment
because
the
noise
and
disorder
of
the
household
were
having
a
terrible
effect
on
Kepler's
gall,
and
provoked
him
to
violent
outbursts
of
temper.
Next,
Tycho
must
obtain
a
salary
for
Kepler
from
the
Emperor,
and
in
the
meantime
pay
him
fifty
florins
a
quarter.
He
must
also
provide
the
Keplers
with
specified
quantities
of
firewood,
meat,
fish,
beer,
bread
and
wine.
As
for
their
collaboration,
Tycho
must
leave
Kepler
his
freedom
to
choose
the
time
and
subject
of
his
work,
and
only
ask
him
to
undertake
such
researches
which
were
directly
connected
with
it;
and
since
Kepler
was
"not
in
need
of
a
spur
but
rather
of
a
brake
to
prevent
the
threat
of
galloping
consumption
due
to
overwork",
⁵
he
must
be
allowed
to
rest
in
the
day-time
if
he
had
worked
deep
into
the
night.
And
so
on,
for
several
pages.

This
document
was
not
meant
for
Tycho's
perusal.
Kepler
handed
it
to
a
guest,
a
certain
Jessenius,
professor
of
medicine
in
Wittenberg,
who
was
to
serve
as
an
intermediary
in
the
negotiations
between
Tycho
and
himself.
But
whether
by
chance
or
intrigue,
Tycho
got
hold
of
the
document,
which
he
could
hardly
regard
as
flattering
to
himself.
Nevertheless
he
took
it
with
that
good-humoured
magnanimity
which
lived
side
by
side
in
the
Danish
grand
seigneur
with
jealousy
and
bullying.
He
remained
a
benevolent
despot,
so
long
as
nobody
challenged
his
rule;
and
socially,
Kepler
was
so
much
his
inferior
that
his
carping
and
bickering
demands
did
not
affect
Tycho
as
a
challenge.
One
of
the
reasons
for
Kepler's
bitterness
was,
incidentally,
that
he
had
been
assigned
an
inferior
position
at
the
dinner
table.

But
above
all,
Tycho
needed
Kepler,
who
alone
could
put
his
life-work
into
proper
shape.
Hence
he
sat
down
to
negotiate
with
Kepler
in
the
presence
of
Jessenius,
patiently
rubbing
ointment
on
his
nose,
a
paragon
of
paternal
moderation.
This
attitude
grated
even
more
on
Kepler's
inferiority
complex,
and
he
attacked
Tycho,
in
the
latter's
words
"with
the
vehemence
of
a
mad
dog,
to
which
creature
he,
Kepler
himself,
so
much
likes
to
compare
himself
in
irritability."
⁶

Immediately
after
the
stormy
session
Tycho,
who
always
had
an
eye
on
posterity,
wrote
down
the
minutes
of
it,
and
requested
Jessenius
to
endorse
them.
However,
when
his
temper
had
cooled
down,
he
entreated
Kepler
to
stay
on,
at
least
for
another
few
days,
until
an
answer
arrived
from
the
Emperor,
whom
Tycho
had
approached
concerning
Kepler's
employment.
But
Kepler
refused
to
listen,
and
on
the
next
day
departed
in
the
company
of
Jessenius
to
Prague,
where
he
took
quarters
with
Baron
Hoffman.
Just
before
his
departure,
Kepler
had
another
choleric
outburst;
at
the
moment
of
farewell,
he
was
overcome
with
remorse
and
apologized;
while
Brahe
whispered
into
Jessenius'
ear
that
he
should
try
to
bring
the
enfant
terrible
back
to
reason.
But
as
soon
as
they
arrived
in
Prague,
Kepler
wrote
another
abusive
letter
to
Tycho.