The Sleepwalkers (72 page)

In
other
words,
Rheticus
was
to
stick
out
his
neck;
and
the
Canon
was
to
retract
his
into
his
tortoise
shell.

10.
Narratio Prima

Thus
came
into
being
Rheticus'
Narratio
prima
–
The
First
Account
of
the
Copernican
theory
in
printed
form.
It
was
written
in
the
guise
of
a
letter
from
Rheticus
to
his
former
teacher
in
astronomy
and
mathematics,
Johannes
Schoener
in
Nuremberg.
It
has
seventy-six
pages
in
small
quarto,
and
bears
the
following
cumbersome
title:

"To
the
most
illustrious
Dr.
Johannes
Schoener,
a
First
Account
of
the
Book
of
Revolutions
by
the
most
learned
and
most
excellent
mathematician,
the
Reverend
Father,
Dr.
Nicolas
of
Torun,
Canon
of
Ermland,
from
a
young
student
of
mathematics."

Rheticus'
own
name
is
only
mentioned
in
the
caption
leading
into
the
text
of
the
letter:
"To
the
illustrious
Johannes
Schoener,
as
to
his
own
revered
Father,
Georg
Joachim
Rheticus
sends
his
greetings."

After
an
apology
for
the
delay
in
sending
his
report,
Rheticus
explains
that
so
far
he
had
only
had
ten
weeks
to
study
the
manuscript
of
his
Teacher;
the
manuscript
embraces
the
whole
realm
of
astronomy
and
is
divided
into
six
books,
of
which
so
far
he
has
mastered
three,
understood
the
general
idea
of
the
fourth,
but
has
only
gained
a
sketchy
notion
of
the
last
two.
He
then
gives
a
skilful
account
of
the
Copernican
system,
showing
his
grasp
of
the
subject
and
independence
of
mind
by
disregarding
the
sequence
of
chapters
in
Copernicus'
manuscript
and
substituting
for
it
a
resumé
of
its
essential
contents.
In
between,
Rheticus
inserted
an
astrological
digression
in
which
the
rise
and
fall
of
the
Roman
and
Moslem
Empires,
and
the
second
coming
of
Christ,
are
made
directly
dependent
on
changes
in
the
eccentricity
of
the
Earth's
orbit.
He
also
gave
his
estimate
of
the
total
duration
of
the
world
as
six
thousand
years,
in
conformity
with
a
prophecy
by
Eliah.

Copernicus
himself
did
not
seem
to
have
believed
in
astrology,
but
Rheticus
did,
Melanchton
and
Schoener
did,
and
so
did
most
of
the
scholars
of
the
age;
and
since
the
digression
about
Eliah
and
the
second
coming
was
calculated
to
please
them,
Copernicus
apparently
raised
no
objection.

Interspersed
in
Rheticus'
account
are
the
usual
quotations
from
Aristotle
and
Plato,
eulogies
on
the
divine
wisdom
of
the
ancients,
and
protestations
that
his
Teacher
never
meant
to
go
against
their
authority:

"If
I
have
said
anything
with
youthful
enthusiasm
(we
young
men
are
always
endowed,
as
he
says,
with
high
rather
than
useful
spirits),
or
if
I
have
inadvertently
let
fall
any
remark
which
may
seem
directed
against
venerable
and
sacred
antiquity,
more
boldly
perhaps
than
the
importance
and
dignity
of
the
subject
demanded,
you
surely,
I
have
no
doubt,
will
put
a
kind
construction
on
the
matter
and
will
bear
in
mind
my
feeling
towards
you
rather
than
my
fault.
As
for
my
learned
Teacher,
I
should
like
you
to
know
and
be
fully
convinced
that
for
him
there
is
nothing
better
or
more
important
than
to
walk
in
the
footsteps
of
Ptolemy
and
to
follow,
as
Ptolemy
did,
the
ancients
and
those
who
were
much
earlier
than
himself.
However,
when
the
phenomena,
which
control
the
astronomer
...
compelled
him
to
make
certain
assumptions
even
against
his
wishes,
it
was
enough,
he
thought,
if
he
aimed
his
arrows
by
the
same
method
to
the
same
target
as
Ptolemy,
even
though
he
employed
a
bow
and
arrows
of
far
different
type
of
material
from
Ptolemy's."
⁴⁵

But
then
Rheticus
continues
with
a
delightful
non
sequitur
:
"At
this
point
we
should
recall
the
saying:
'Free
in
mind
must
he
be
who
desires
to
have
understanding.'"

The
treatise
is
full
of
pious
protestations
that
his
Teacher
"is
far
from
thinking
that
he
should
rashly
depart,
in
a
lust
for
novelty,
from
the
sound
opinions
of
the
ancients,"
followed
by
"...
except
for
good
reasons
and
when
the
facts
themselves
force
him
to
do
so."
⁴⁶
These
apologies
were
probably
intended
to
reassure
Copernicus
rather
than
Melanchton
and
Luther,
who,
too
shrewd
to
be
fooled,
persisted
in
their
opposition
to
the
Copernican
theory,
yet
kept
its
young
prophet
in
their
favour.