Scene 14
p. 96
bent wooden rail and small ball of wood -
When Copernicus displaced the Earth from the centre of the universe, he tore the heart out of Aristotelian mechanics, but he did not suggest how it might be replaced. Thus, for those who wished to promote Copernicus’s ideas, the question of why the motion of the Earth is not noticed took on a special urgency. Without suitable explanation, Copernicanism was a violation not only of Aristotelian philosophy but also of plain common sense.
The solution to the problem was discovered by the Italian mathematician and scientist Galileo Galilei. Inventing experimental physics as he went along, Galileo studied the motion of balls rolling on inclined planes. He noticed that, if a ball rolled down one plane and up another, it would seek to regain its initial height above the ground, regardless of the inclines of the two planes. That meant, he reasoned, that, if the second plane were not inclined at all but were horizontal instead, the ball, unable to regain its original height, would keep rolling forever. From this observation he deduced that bodies do not need a proximate cause to stay in motion. Instead, a body moving in the horizontal direction would tend to stay in motion unless something interfered with it. This is the reason that the Earth’s motion is not apparent; the surface of the Earth and everything on and around it are always in motion together and therefore only seem to be at rest.
This observation, which was improved upon by the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes, who altered the concept to apply to motion in a straight line, would ultimately become Newton’s first law, or the law of inertia. However, Galileo’s experiments took him far beyond even this fundamental discovery. Timing the rate of descent of the balls (by means of precision water clocks and other ingenious contrivances) and imagining what would happen if experiments could be carried out in the absence of air resistance, he deduced that freely falling bodies would be uniformly accelerated at a rate independent of their mass. Moreover, he understood that the motion of any projectile was the consequence of simultaneous and independent inertial motion in the horizontal direction and falling motion in the vertical direction. In his book Dialogues Concerning the Two New Sciences (1638), Galileo wrote,
It has been observed that missiles and projectiles describe a curved path of some sort; however, no one has pointed out the fact that this path is a parabola. But this and other facts, not few in number or less worth knowing, I have succeeded in proving. …
Just as Galileo boasted, his studies would encompass many aspects of what is now known as classical mechanics, including not only discussions of the law of falling bodies and projectile motion but also an analysis of the pendulum, an example of harmonic motion. His studies fall into the branch of classical mechanics known as kinematics, or the description of motion. Although Galileo and others tried to formulate explanations of the causes of motion, the focus of the field termed dynamics, none would succeed before Newton.
p. 97
unrest in the Arsenal in Venice; "disaffected rope-makers" -
During the seventeenth century a whole succession of special Inquisitors were sent by the Senate precisely to discover and root out whatever traces they could of the slightest worker unrest.
hawsers -
a large rope for towing, mooring, or securing a ship; composed of three ropes laid together right-handed with each containing three strands twisted together
bell ropes -
a rope attached to a bell or to the tongue of a bell
'Charity never faileth' -
Bible; Corinthians 1:13; full quote: "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away"
p. 98
'When I am weak then I am strong.' -
Bible; Corinthians 2: 12; full quote: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
'He to whom speaketh the eternal word is free from much questioning.' -
From Thomas à Kempis's "The Imitation of Christ"; Book 1; Chapter Three "The Doctrine of Truth"; full quote: "He to whom the Eternal Word speaks is free from theorizing."
p. 99
"...not a single paper expounding new theories has been published in Italy since you toed the line." -
Far and wide the news of the recantation spread. Copies of the abjuration were immediately sent to all universities, with instructions to the
professors to read it publicly. At Florence, his home, it was read out in the cathedral church, all his friends and adherents being specially summoned to hear it.
"...nothing from Descartes? No news from Paris?" -
In 1633, just as he was about to publish The World (1664), Descartes learned that the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) had been condemned in Rome for publishing the view that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Because this Copernican position is central to his cosmology and physics, Descartes suppressed The World, hoping that eventually the church would retract its condemnation. Although Descartes feared the church, he also hoped that his physics would one day replace that of Aristotle in church doctrine and be taught in Catholic schools.
"won't permit the ox anything that Jove won't permit himself." -
Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi is a Latin phrase, literally meaning "What is legitimate for Jove (Jupiter), is not legitimate for oxen." The phrase was created by Terence, a playwright of the Roman Republic, in reference to the myth wherein Jupiter took the form of a bull to seduce Europa, in the form "Aliis si licet, tibi non licet". The rhymed version of the phrase probably was created in the Middle Ages.
The phrase is often translated as "Gods may do what cattle may not". It indicates the existence of a double standard (justifiable or otherwise), and essentially means "what is permitted to one person or group, is not permitted to everyone." It is also used as the maxim for victor's justice, where a State that wins a war tries and punishes the vanquished, while avoiding such procedures with their own personnel.
'If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.' -
Bible; Matthew 18: 9; full quote: "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."
p. 103
great whore of Babylon -
The Whore of Babylon or "Babylon the Great" is a Christian allegorical figure of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is given as "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth."
p. 104
Hippocratic oath -
ethical code attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, adopted as a guide to conduct by the medical profession throughout the ages and still used in the graduation ceremonies of many medical schools. Although little is known of the life of Hippocrates—or, indeed, if he was the only practitioner of the time using this name—a body of manuscripts, called the Hippocratic Collection (Corpus Hippocraticum), survived until modern times. In addition to containing information on medical matters, the collection embodied a code of principles for the teachers of medicine and for their students. This code, or a fragment of it, has been handed down in various versions through generations of physicians as the Hippocratic oath. The oath dictates the obligations of the physician to students of medicine and the duties of pupil to teacher. In the oath, the physician pledges to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt; and to live an exemplary personal and professional life.
The text of the Hippocratic Oath (c. 400 bc) provided below is a translation from Greek by Francis Adams (1849). It is considered a classical version and differs from contemporary versions, which are reviewed and revised frequently to fit with changes in modern medical practice.
I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation—to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this Art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional practice or not, in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret. While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot!
Excerpted from Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster Online, and Shipbuilders of the Venetian Arsenal: Workers and Workplace in the Preindustrial City
bent wooden rail and small ball of wood -
When Copernicus displaced the Earth from the centre of the universe, he tore the heart out of Aristotelian mechanics, but he did not suggest how it might be replaced. Thus, for those who wished to promote Copernicus’s ideas, the question of why the motion of the Earth is not noticed took on a special urgency. Without suitable explanation, Copernicanism was a violation not only of Aristotelian philosophy but also of plain common sense.
The solution to the problem was discovered by the Italian mathematician and scientist Galileo Galilei. Inventing experimental physics as he went along, Galileo studied the motion of balls rolling on inclined planes. He noticed that, if a ball rolled down one plane and up another, it would seek to regain its initial height above the ground, regardless of the inclines of the two planes. That meant, he reasoned, that, if the second plane were not inclined at all but were horizontal instead, the ball, unable to regain its original height, would keep rolling forever. From this observation he deduced that bodies do not need a proximate cause to stay in motion. Instead, a body moving in the horizontal direction would tend to stay in motion unless something interfered with it. This is the reason that the Earth’s motion is not apparent; the surface of the Earth and everything on and around it are always in motion together and therefore only seem to be at rest.
This observation, which was improved upon by the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes, who altered the concept to apply to motion in a straight line, would ultimately become Newton’s first law, or the law of inertia. However, Galileo’s experiments took him far beyond even this fundamental discovery. Timing the rate of descent of the balls (by means of precision water clocks and other ingenious contrivances) and imagining what would happen if experiments could be carried out in the absence of air resistance, he deduced that freely falling bodies would be uniformly accelerated at a rate independent of their mass. Moreover, he understood that the motion of any projectile was the consequence of simultaneous and independent inertial motion in the horizontal direction and falling motion in the vertical direction. In his book Dialogues Concerning the Two New Sciences (1638), Galileo wrote,
It has been observed that missiles and projectiles describe a curved path of some sort; however, no one has pointed out the fact that this path is a parabola. But this and other facts, not few in number or less worth knowing, I have succeeded in proving. …
Just as Galileo boasted, his studies would encompass many aspects of what is now known as classical mechanics, including not only discussions of the law of falling bodies and projectile motion but also an analysis of the pendulum, an example of harmonic motion. His studies fall into the branch of classical mechanics known as kinematics, or the description of motion. Although Galileo and others tried to formulate explanations of the causes of motion, the focus of the field termed dynamics, none would succeed before Newton.
p. 97
unrest in the Arsenal in Venice; "disaffected rope-makers" -
During the seventeenth century a whole succession of special Inquisitors were sent by the Senate precisely to discover and root out whatever traces they could of the slightest worker unrest.
hawsers -
a large rope for towing, mooring, or securing a ship; composed of three ropes laid together right-handed with each containing three strands twisted together
bell ropes -
a rope attached to a bell or to the tongue of a bell
'Charity never faileth' -
Bible; Corinthians 1:13; full quote: "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away"
p. 98
'When I am weak then I am strong.' -
Bible; Corinthians 2: 12; full quote: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
'He to whom speaketh the eternal word is free from much questioning.' -
From Thomas à Kempis's "The Imitation of Christ"; Book 1; Chapter Three "The Doctrine of Truth"; full quote: "He to whom the Eternal Word speaks is free from theorizing."
p. 99
"...not a single paper expounding new theories has been published in Italy since you toed the line." -
Far and wide the news of the recantation spread. Copies of the abjuration were immediately sent to all universities, with instructions to the
professors to read it publicly. At Florence, his home, it was read out in the cathedral church, all his friends and adherents being specially summoned to hear it.
"...nothing from Descartes? No news from Paris?" -
In 1633, just as he was about to publish The World (1664), Descartes learned that the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) had been condemned in Rome for publishing the view that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Because this Copernican position is central to his cosmology and physics, Descartes suppressed The World, hoping that eventually the church would retract its condemnation. Although Descartes feared the church, he also hoped that his physics would one day replace that of Aristotle in church doctrine and be taught in Catholic schools.
"won't permit the ox anything that Jove won't permit himself." -
Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi is a Latin phrase, literally meaning "What is legitimate for Jove (Jupiter), is not legitimate for oxen." The phrase was created by Terence, a playwright of the Roman Republic, in reference to the myth wherein Jupiter took the form of a bull to seduce Europa, in the form "Aliis si licet, tibi non licet". The rhymed version of the phrase probably was created in the Middle Ages.
The phrase is often translated as "Gods may do what cattle may not". It indicates the existence of a double standard (justifiable or otherwise), and essentially means "what is permitted to one person or group, is not permitted to everyone." It is also used as the maxim for victor's justice, where a State that wins a war tries and punishes the vanquished, while avoiding such procedures with their own personnel.
'If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.' -
Bible; Matthew 18: 9; full quote: "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."
p. 103
great whore of Babylon -
The Whore of Babylon or "Babylon the Great" is a Christian allegorical figure of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is given as "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth."
p. 104
Hippocratic oath -
ethical code attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, adopted as a guide to conduct by the medical profession throughout the ages and still used in the graduation ceremonies of many medical schools. Although little is known of the life of Hippocrates—or, indeed, if he was the only practitioner of the time using this name—a body of manuscripts, called the Hippocratic Collection (Corpus Hippocraticum), survived until modern times. In addition to containing information on medical matters, the collection embodied a code of principles for the teachers of medicine and for their students. This code, or a fragment of it, has been handed down in various versions through generations of physicians as the Hippocratic oath. The oath dictates the obligations of the physician to students of medicine and the duties of pupil to teacher. In the oath, the physician pledges to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt; and to live an exemplary personal and professional life.
The text of the Hippocratic Oath (c. 400 bc) provided below is a translation from Greek by Francis Adams (1849). It is considered a classical version and differs from contemporary versions, which are reviewed and revised frequently to fit with changes in modern medical practice.
I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation—to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this Art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional practice or not, in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret. While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot!
Excerpted from Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster Online, and Shipbuilders of the Venetian Arsenal: Workers and Workplace in the Preindustrial City