Cartesius Page #14

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in such a short period of time,

a certainly incredible quantity of blood,

goes though the heart in this way.

The difficulty is truly insurmountable,

even though I have to admit that

Harvey's hypothesis is interesting.

We'll discuss it again , however

if the doctrine divides us,

friendship unites us.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

Mr Descartes.

Dear Descartes.

Illustrious friend.

I've come to return the

treatise of Golius to you.

I'm always pleased to see you ,

you could have sent it with you servant,

without disturbing yourself.

Walking by the streets of your

country always pleases me.

You only meet people intent

on their own work.

as if they were executing the most

serious of duties in the presence of God.

Even the really rich,

who could live on income,

often work all the same.

The Spanish, Italian and French

nobles of the thirteenth century,

just three hundred years ago,

were captains, land owners,

administrators and sometimes

men of letters at the same time.

In effect, they didn't know how

to do any of these things well,

and if they lived on income it's

above all because they enjoyed

the work performed by the others,

by the peasants, the craftsmen

the only ones at the time faithful

to a profession out of need.

A century ago, the humanists.

knowledgeable in the tongues of the

ancients, claimed to talk of everything,

from astronomy to architecture

and to medicine,

not to mention then the

scholastic philosophers,

ready to resolve any

scientific problem,

with the principles of Aristotle,

with the only

effect of exciting

man's presumption.

Our people are far removed

from all that.

Their book is the bible,

their master is Calvin.

- Listen.

- Calvin's heresy is unacceptable.

Listen to what he wrote

one hundred years ago,

even if you believe him to be a heretic,

and I assure you that you'll understand.

God commands everyone to

follow his own vocation

though life's work.

But unfortunately, man, because

his nature burns with restlessness

and often because of irresponsibility,

ambition and greed

is led to lose

his vocation

and to embrace different

works that confuse him

and the madness of the world

is born in this way.

Out of a fear that our rashness

may drag us far from him

God permitted the collapse,

the end of states,

of the customs, of the eras

in past history,

and so that man does not get lost

completely he has established

what everyone one must do

for each of us.

Without even going

to far beyond his own limits,

every man should live

his own vocation

obedient to his nature,

remembering that he lives

in the misery of sin

and that he can do nothing,

without the aid of God.

It's true, they are wise words.

They educated a people.

I too follow my vocation faithfully.

But you burn with restlessness and

you have a greed for knowledge,

that will lead you to embrace

different works together.

There is absolutely no

straying in my work.

All the parts of my new book

that seem to deal with

different subjects are on the

contrary tied together.

All philosophy is like a tree

the roots of which

are metaphysics, the trunk

is physics and the branches

all the other sciences that are

reduced to three main principles,

or better, medicine,

mechanics and moral philosophy,

I mean the highest and most

perfect moral philosophy

which presupposes a perfect

knowledge of the other sciences,

and the highest degree of wisdom.

When are you going to publish it?

Before Christmas.

You have an acute and clear mind,

but I don't know how you'll fair

with the authorities of the Roman Church,

if by bad luck they investigate you.

Your doctrines are a curious mixture.

I don't see why the Roman

Church should investigate me,

what I write never invades

the theological field.

Perhaps Galileo Galilei

thought in the same way,

but he was mistaken ,

more or less on this point.

I'm sure that your treatise will

not fail to attract the curiosity

of the Roman theologians,

but you have nothing to fear.

Here, you are far from Rome.

The first three chapters.

I still have to make

a few corrections.

I'll be the most important work of

the century, equal to those of Bacon,

Copernicus or Galileo.

It'll be a work different to theirs

because many of my hypotheses

are completely new,

above all concerning

the structure of the universe.

Are you going to say anything

about the movement of the skies?

I don't know yet.

I do however have an original

hypothesis also on this subject.

The ancients always

believed the earth

to be at the centre of the universe,

Tolomeo taught this hypothesis,

but it was proved false

after the observations

made in recent centuries

by the astronomers.

Then Copernicus made an

interesting hypothesis.

According to him, the Earth with

its planets, rotate around the Sun.

The third of the hypotheses

is by the Dutchman Brahe,

according to which around

the immobile Earth,

the Moon and the Sun rotate and the

planets and comets

rotate around the sun.

I shall promote my hypothesis

of the movement of the Earth

with more shrewdness than Copernicus

and with greater truth than Brahe.

I shall explain that the

matter of the skies is fluid,

just like that comprising

the Sun and the fixed stars,

that when the skies move, they transport

all the bodies they contain with them.

The Earth is therefore

surrounded like this on all sides,

by an extremely fluid sky in which it

rests without any propensity to move,

it is carried in its sky like a

vessel moved by the tides

of the seas, and because

the other planets

are similar to the earth,

we have reason to believe

that they also remain at rest

in the skies that contain them.

When will you give me the

definitive manuscript?

Very soon I hope,

I'm working day and night.

The wind is piercing today.

What good things are you preparing?

Sprouts and pork.

Ah, good, do you like them?

Yes, but ''rich cooking,

poor testament''.

Dr. Ogelham, I'm always

grateful for the hospitality,

but I would be even more grateful

if you would read me this letter

written to me by Mr Descartes,

I cannot read.

As you know, seeing and not understanding

is like returning from hunting

with the meat bag empty.

Dear Elena, I congratulate you on

the good health you are enjoying,

I pray to God that it'll remain

with you until the end of your wait,

as for me, I'm thirty now, and

thanks to God have no illness,

and I seem now to be

further away from death

than I was in

my youth.

You will be pleased to know that during

these days I have concerned myself

with obtaining a pardon for the life

of Joakin from the judges of this city,

the peasant who was unjustly

accused of homicide.

I'm doing it to do a good deed,

above all for his family.

A good conscience is a good pillow.

Among the teachings of Christ

we should, above all practice

the rule of love

which is the only sentiment

that can make man's journey

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