The Sleepwalkers (164 page)

Though
Kepler
was
unable
to
solve
the
dilemma,
he
clarified
it
and
polished
its
horns,
as
it
were.
The
angels,
spirits,
and
unmoved
movers,
were
banished
from
cosmology;
he
sublimated
and
distilled
the
problem
to
a
point
where
only
the
ultimate
mystery
remains.
Though
he
was
always
attracted,
with
a
mixture
of
disgust
and
fascination,
by
theological
disputes,
he
uncompromisingly
and
indeed
vehemently
rejected
the
incursion
of
the
theologians
into
science.
On
this
point
he
made
his
position
very
clear
in
a
statement
–
or
rather
a
battle-cry
–
in
the
introduction
to
the
New
Astronomy
:

"So
much
for
the
authority
of
Holy
Scripture.
Now
as
regards
the
opinions
of
the
saints
about
these
matters
of
nature,
answer
in
one
word,
that
in
theology
the
weight
of
Authority,
but
in
philosophy
the
weight
of
Reason
alone
is
valid.
Therefore
a
saint
was
Lanctantius,
who
denied
the
earth's
rotundity;
a
saint
was
Augustine,
who
admitted
the
rotundity,
but
denied
that
antipodes
exist.
Sacred
is
the
Holy
Office
of
our
day,
which
admits
the
smallness
of
the
earth
but
denies
its
motion:
but
to
me
more
sacred
than
all
these
is
Truth,
when
I,
with
all
respect
for
the
doctors
of
the
Church,
demonstrate
from
philosophy
that
the
earth
is
round,
circumhabited
by
antipodes,
of
a
most
insignificant
smallness,
and
a
swift
wanderer
among
the
stars."

VII KEPLER
DEPRESSED

1.
Publishing Difficulties

THE
writing
of
the
New
Astronomy
had
been
an
obstacle
race
over
six
years.

At
the
start
there
had
been
the
quarrels
with
Tycho,
the
long
sojourns
in
Gratz,
illness,
and
the
drudgery
of
the
pamphlets
against
Ursus
and
Craig.
When
the
Great
Dane
died,
and
Kepler
was
appointed
his
successor,
he
may
have
hoped
to
be
able
to
work
in
peace;
instead,
his
life
became
even
more
disorganized.
His
official
and
unofficial
duties
included
the
publication
of
annual
calendars
with
astrological
predictions;
the
casting
of
horoscopes
for
distinguished
visitors
at
Court;
the
publication
of
comments
on
eclipses,
comets,
and
a
new
star;
answering
at
great
length
the
queries
on
every
subject
under
the
sun,
put
to
him
by
the
various
patrons
with
whom
he
corresponded;
and
above
all
petitioning,
lobbying
and
intriguing
to
obtain
at
least
a
fraction
of
the
salaries
and
printing
costs
due
to
him.
He
had
discovered
his
Second
Law
as
early
as
1602,
one
year
after
Tycho's
death;
but
the
next
year
he
was
almost
entirely
occupied
with
other
labours,
among
them
the
great
work
on
optics,
published
in
1604;
the
year
after
that,
he
became
stuck
on
the
egg-shaped
orbit,
fell
ill
and
again
thought
that
he
was
dying;
and
only
round
Easter
in
1605
was
the
New
Astronomy
completed
in
outline.

But
it
took
another
four
years
to
get
it
published.
The
reason
for
this
delay
was
lack
of
money
to
pay
for
the
printing,
and
a
harassing
feud
with
Tycho's
heirs,
led
by
the
swashbuckling
Junker
Tengnagel.
This
character,
it
will
be
remembered,
had
married
Tycho's
daughter
Elisabeth
after
putting
her
in
the
family
way
–
the
only
achievement
on
which
he
could
base
his
claim
to
the
Tychonic
heritage.
He
was
determined
to
cash
in
on
it,
and
sold
Tycho's
observations
and
instruments
to
the
Emperor
for
the
sum
of
twenty
thousand
Thalers.
But
the
imperial
treasury
never
paid
the
Junker;
he
had
to
content
himself
with
an
annual
five
per
cent
interest
on
the
debt
–
which
was
still
twice
the
amount
of
Kepler's
salary.
As
a
result,
Tycho's
instruments,
the
wonder
of
the
world,
were
kept
by
Tengnagel
behind
lock
and
key;
within
a
few
years
they
decayed
to
scrap
metal.
A
similar
fate
would
no
doubt
have
befallen
the
treasure
of
Tycho's
observations,
if
Kepler
had
not
hurriedly
pinched
them,
for
the
benefit
of
posterity.
In
a
letter
to
one
of
his
English
admirers
¹
he
calmly
reported:

"I
confess
that
when
Tycho
died,
I
quickly
took
advantage
of
the
absence,
or
lack
of
circumspection,
of
the
heirs,
by
taking
the
observations
under
my
care,
of
perhaps
usurping
them..."