The Life of Galileo

A BERTOLT BRECHT PLAY
THE LIFE OF GALILEO

__________________________________________________
A Susanne Spirit Translation with Music and Songs
By
Ms. Susanne Spirit

All Rights Reserved 2009 Ms. Susanne Spirit
Brecht Estate and Susanne Spirit 19414 Dry Gulch Road
Library Of Congress Case# 1-290284771 Corona, CA 92881
Registration# Pending T. 951- 279-1134
E. Mail: susannespirit@mac.com
The Life Of Galileo
All Rights Reserved by the Brecht Estate and Susanne Spirit/Greenland Global Entertainment 2009
19414 Dry Gulch Road, The South Forty Estate, Corona, CA 92881
Inland Empire Ofce: T. 1-951-279-1134
Email: greenlandglobal@mac.com
I-i-1
ACT I
Scene 1
SETTING: Year 1600, Rome, a town square with a burning
Stake.
AT RISE: Ms. Spirits Music Que #1 is playing by musicians
strolling on stage and in the audience, period
costumes, playing lutes, an instrument of this time
and a favorite of Galileos father, Vincenzo Galilei.

A preparation for a burning at the stake is seen in
this town square in Rome, where Dominican Friar
GIORDANO BRUNO will be burned for his
thoughts.
[Music Cue #1: Spirit Nr. 1]
(MUSICIANS play briey to set stage.)
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Nel corso dell'anno sech-zchn centinaia e nove, sembrava daas luce del Sap-sens
luminose. A Pa-du-a sus uovo-nem klel-nen House Ga-li-le-o ga-li lei rech-ne-te, rech-ne-
te. La domenica" rappresenta ancora, (ANOTHER SINGER begins.) La domenica"
rappresenta ancora, la domenica" rappresenta ancora, la terra', la terra" -of-the-
immaginare!
ANOTHER BALLAD SINGER
(Sings same time with above singers.)
La terra viene da pensare che la terra" proviene dagli stand, la terra', la terra', la terra" -
kommmt - da-the-immaginare.
(Music and Musicians continue to play.)
A CHILD
(Speaking to what appears to be his father.)
What Happened?
THE MAN
The Life Of Galileo
Thats where Giordano Bruno will be burned at the stake he thought the Earth travels
around the sun! Such nonsense.
A CHILD
Are you sure it doesnt?
I-i-2
(Then a beautiful young woman, MARINO GAMBA of Venice,
SIGNORA SARTI in the play) stands and GALILEO enters seeing her
smiles at her, she smiles back and they exit the stage as BALLAD
SINGERS, enter, singing to the audience the tale of our story.)
[Music Cue #2: Spirit Galileo Galilei]
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings to Audience.)
Galileo Galilei, Galileo Galilei, Galileo Galileo
In the late 1500s Galileo Galilei was born
Little did he know he would always be scorned!
The bishops, cardinals, monks and senators,
Awed at this man, but didnt know what to do
As Galileo opposed not only Aristotle, but bible heroes, too,

Galileo, Galilei, Galileo Galilei, Galileo Galilei
He gured out, in robust thought
The earth is not the center of existence its merely a drop
Is there no heaven, if the earth is merely a star?
Oh Galileo, Galilei, What exists in the darkness afar?
Galileo Galilei constantly creating something new
From old, for the next generation to be told
Thinking it illogical to be afraid of the unknown
If man believes in God, he should believe in everything he holds
In scorn, after all, Man must accept his own death one day, he shall
Which will force him to change his ways
He says the thoughts of man is his esh and blood, with reason as
Changing old to new makes thinking and brings Mans personal season
To think means I am alive, to stop, means you have died
But one thing Galileo Galilei knows, that even when mans mortality goes
The Life Of Galileo
Writings and ideas left behind still shine,
Leaving the goodness of Mans most brilliant mind
(Softly.)
So, to begin our play, as history knows, here is how the story goes . . . . .
In the year sixteen hundred and nine, sciences light began to shine
At Padua City in a Modest house, Galileo Galilei, Galileo Galilei, Galileo Galilei
I-i-3
Set out to prove, The sun is still, The sun is still, The sun is still
And, The earth, The earth, Yes, The earth, Is, On, The, Move
(Secretly)
Galileo Galilei, teacher of mathematics in Padua, sets out to demonstrate the new
Copernican system.
(BLACKOUT)
(END OF SCENE)
The Life Of Galileo

I-ii-4
ACT I
Scene 2
SETTING: Galileos Modest Study in Padua, Italy.
TIME: Morning
RISE: A boy, ANDREA, Signora Sartis son, brings in a
glass of milk and a roll to SIGNOR GALILEI.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Speak.)
In the year sixteen-hundred-and-nine, sciences light began to shine. At
Padua City, in a modest house, Galileo Galilei, a teacher of mathematics at Padua, set out
to prove the sun is still and the earth is on the move.
GALILEO
(Washing his upper torso, pufng and happy)
Put the milk on the table but dont shut any of the books.
ANDREA
Mother says we have to pay the milkman. Otherwise hell make a circle around our
house, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
Describe a circle, Andrea, Describe a circle!
ANDREA
All right!! But if we dont pay, hell describe a circle around our house, Signor Galileo.
GALILEO
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While the bailiff, Signor Cambione, will come at us in a straight line, choosing what sort
of distance between two points?
ANDREA
(Grinning!)
The shortest!
GALILEO
Good. Ive got something for you. Look behind those star charts.
I-ii-5
(ANDREA shes out from behind the star charts a large wooden model
of the Ptolemaic System. GALILEO watches him.)
ANDREA
What is it?
GALILEO
An armillary sphere, a contraption that shows how the stars move around the earth in the
opinion of and according to the ancients.
ANDREA
How?
GALILEO
Lets examine it. First things rst! Description.
ANDREA
Right there in the middle there is a little stone.
GALILEO
That is the earth.
ANDREA
There are rings around it, one inside another; one on top of the other.
GALILEO
How many?
ANDREA
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Eight!
GALILEO
Those are the crystal spheres.
ANDREA
There are balls fastened to the rings, attached to them.
GALILEO
The stars.
ANDREA
Then there are tags with words painted on the bands.

I-ii-6
GALILEO
What kind of words?
ANDREA
Names of stars!

GALILEO
Such as . . .
ANDREA
The bottommost ball is the moon, it says! It is written right there. And the one above it is
the sun.
GALILEO
Now spin the sun around. Make it move!
ANDREA
(Sets the rings in motion!)
Thats pretty! Thats beautiful! But we are so shut in.
GALILEO
(Drying him self!)
Thats what I felt, too, when I laid eyes on that thing, that contraption, for the rst time.
Some people feel that way. Some people feel those things.
(Throws the towel to Andrea, for him to dry his back.)
Movement within Walls, rings and immobility!
[Music Cue #3: Spirit Were Moving In Full Sail]
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO / BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
For thousand of years we believed, we believed
The sun, the stars circled round us, indeed with great speed
The pope, cardinals, princes and scholars,
Captains, merchants, shwives, children and mongers
All believed, all believed, all believed, yes indeed
They sat still, immobile, inside this crystal sphere, yes, oh yes, oh yes, indeed.
(Chorus) But now were moving,
Were in full sail, with the winds of a gusty gale,
The old age is past,
Were living in a new one,
Now were moving,
Were in full sail,
The old age is gone; a new one has dawned, and were moving in full sail.
I-ii-7
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken as GALILEO continues singing.)
To be alive is such a great and wondrous
pleasure.

GALILEO
(Continues to Sing.)
It all began with ships, I like to think, to think, to think
For a long time ships hugged the shores, holding on as to not to sink
Then all at once, all at very, very once, they abandoned the shores
And, Set out across all the vast oceans, in full, full, roar
Now all of a sudden, all of a great sudden, we have an earnest desire,
To discover, to discover, the causes of all the things that in our mind hover
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
Now were moving,
Were in full sail,
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(GALILEO and the BALLAD SINGERS alternate singing lines.)
Why, why, does a stone fall when you let loose of it, why, why, why?
And, why, does it rise when you throw it in the sky?
Everyday, everywhere, everyday, everywhere, we discover something new
Beyond even our wildest imaginations or dreams, we do
And things seem endless, so many things still to be sought
So many, many other things and things and things for many new generations, to be got
(Sings.)
Now were moving,
Were in full sail,
I-ii-8
GALILEO
(Speaking.)
Cities are narrow and so are our minds both lled with superstition and plaque. But now
we say, since things are thus and so, they will not remain thus and so, because my
friend, everything is in motion. A rumor has sprung up on our continent that there are
even new continents. Our ships have been going there. People on all the laughing
continents are saying that the big dreaded ocean is nothing but a small lake. And a great
desire has arisen to nd the causes of all things. Men a hundred years old let youngsters
shout in their ears to tell them about the latest discoveries of every brand new day. There
are so many exciting works ahead for our future generations. It has always been taught
that the stars are pinned to a crystal vault, which prevents them from falling down. Now
weve mustered the courage to let them oat free, with nothing to hold them, theyre
moving, theyre in full sail, just like our ships.
[Music Cue #4: Spirit Nr. 2 A]
When I was a young man in Siena I saw some masons, after arguing for ve minutes,
discard an age-old method of moving granite blocks in favor of a new and more practical
arrangement of the ropes. Then and there I realized that the old times are over and this
every day is a new day. Some men will know all about their habitat, this heavenly body
The Life Of Galileo
they live on. Theyre no longer satised, nor willing with what it says in the ancient
books.
Where faith has ruled for a thousand years, doubt has now set in. Today everybody is
saying: Yes, thats what the books tell us, but we want to see for ourselves. All this new
thinking has stirred up a breeze that lifts even the gold-braided coats of princes and
prelates, revealing stout or spindly legs, legs, just the same as ours. The heavens we now
know are empty. And that idea has given rise to joyous laughter. The waters of the earth
supply power to the new spinning wheels, and in shipyards and the workshops of ropers
and sail makers new methods enable ve hundred hands to work together.
The most sacred truths are being looked into. Things that were never held in doubt are
being doubted now. We are in a new beginning.
[Music Cue #5: Spirit A New Beginning]
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Being put in the docket are most sacred truths
What was never questioned has ripened to full fruits
We now know the heavens are empty
The earth laughs and laughs, with that news, they do, they do, they do
I predict within our lifetime all market places
I-ii-9
GALILEO (Cont.)
Will hum with the talk of new astronomy gazes
And, even shwives sons, none of whom before
Will ght their way into schools, and no longer be idiotic fools,
No more, No more, No more
GALILEO, ANDREA AND BALLAD SINGERS
(Chorus) O Happy Morning; of A New Beginning
O Breathe of Wind, from new and distant shores, sing, sing, sing
The Millennium of faith, PRONOUNCED DEAD
The Millennium of doubt, is being born, instead,
Whirling, whirling, whirling, straight, straight on ahead
(Chorus MUSIC ONLY Nice to have special effects on stage during this time.)
ANDREA
They say, they say, the earth has rolled round the sun
With stars and stars attached, to a crystal sphere, all as one
So as not to come tumbling down on our heads
Well, now we must allow these beautiful pieces, to oat freely
The Life Of Galileo
With nothing to hold them in space, oh yes, I see this so clearly
The universe lost its center, its center, overnight
But new centers are found as wondrous sights, allow the sun to shine so bright, so bright,
Now our ships can sail far into the sea, and our stars far into space
Even in chess the castles will roam all over the board abundant with no haste
GALILEO, ANDREA AND BALLAD SINGERS
O Breathe of Wind, from new and distant shores, sing, sing, sing
(Chorus MUSIC ONLY)
GALILEO
(Speaking to continue telling the thoughts in his head.)
Yes, the earth rolls merrily around the sun, and even the Pope rolls with it. Overnight, the
universe lost its center and now in this morning, it has any number of centers. Any point
in the universe may be taken as the center. Why? Because, there is plenty of room for
everyone! Our ships sail far out into the ocean, our planets revolve far out in space, and
chess rooks range over many elds. What does the poet say?
BALLAD SINGERS AND ANDREA
(Sing.)
O Breathe of Wind, from new and distant shores, sing, sing, sing!
I-ii-10
BALLAD SINGERS AND ANDREA (Cont.)

ANDREA
(Sings. Gleefully.)
Oh, happy morning, of a new, new, new, new beginning! Oh breathe . . . of wind that
comes . . . . . from newfound shores.
(Speaks.)
Galileo, you and I better drink our milk. People will be coming soon.
GALILEO
Did you gure out what I told you yesterday?
ANDREA
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What? You mean about Kippernicus and all that turning business?
GALILEO
Yes!
ANDREA
No. Why do you want me to gure it out? Its too hard for me. Ill only be eleven in
October.
GALILEO
Because I want you to understand it, you especially! To make everybody understand
thats why I work and buy expensive books instead of paying the milkman. So that people
will understand.
ANDREA
But I can see that the sun is in a different place in the evening than in the morning. That
means it cant stand still. It just cant! I can see that the sun is in a different place in the
evening than in the morning. So it cant stand still. It just cant!!!!
GALILEO
You see! What do you see? You see nothing at all. Youre just gaping. Gaping isnt
seeing. It is just gawking!
(GALILEO places the iron washstand in the center of the room.)
Now, thats the sun. Sit down!
(ANDREA sits down in the only chair. GALILEO stands behind him.)
Where is the sun, right or left?
ANDRE
Left.
I-ii-11
GALILEO
And, how does it get to the right?

ANDREA
When you carry it over to the right, naturally.
GALILEO
Only then? Are you sure about that?
(GALILEO picks up the chair with ANDREA in it and turns it halfway
around.)
Wheres the sun now?
ANDREA
On the right.
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GALILEO
Has it moved?
ANDREA
I dont think so.
GALILEO
What did move?
ANDREA
Me!
GALILEO
(Roaring)
Wrong! Stupid! The Chair!!!!
ANDREA
But ME with it!
GALILEO
Obviously. The chair is the earth. Youre sitting on it.
(SIGNORA SARTI has come in to make the bed. She has been
watching the scene.)
SIGNORA SARTI
What on earth are you doing with my boy, Andrea, Signor Galilei?
GALILEO
I am teaching him how to see, Signora Sarti.
I-
ii-12
SIGNORA SARTI
By lugging and carrying him around the room.
ANDREA
Please never mind, mother. You dont understand!
SIGNORA SARTI
Oh, but you do? Is that so? But of course, you understand. A young gentleman has come
here. He wants to take lessons. Very well dressed and he has a letter of recommendation.
(SIGNORA SARTI hands over the letter to GALILEO)
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When you get through with my Andrea, hell be saying that two times two makes ve.
Youve got him all mixed up with him mixing up everything you tell him. Last night he
tried to prove to me that the earth moves around the sun. He is fully convinced that some
fellow by the name of Kippernicus has gured it out.
ANDREA
Kippernicus did gure it out, didnt he, Signor Galileo? You tell her!!!
SIGNORA SARTI
Do you really tell him such nonsense? He blabs it out in school and the priests come
running to me because of all the sinful, unholy stuff he says. You should be ashamed of
yourself, Mr. Galilei.
GALILEO
(Eating his breakfast.)
On the basis of our investigations and after many heated arguments and disputes, Signora
Sarti, Andrea and I have made discoveries that we can no longer keep secret from the
world. A new age has dawned, a great age, and its a joy to be alive.

SIGNORA SARTI
I see! I hope well be able to pay the milkman in this new age, Mr. Galilei.
(Pointing at the letter.)
Just do me one favor and dont turn this one away, too. Im thinking of the milk bill.
(SIGNORA SARTI leaves the room.)
GALILEO
(Laughing.)
Yes, just give me time to nish my milk! (To ANDREA) Well, you did seem to have
understood something yesterday after all!!!
ANDREA
I only told her to get a rise out of her. But, it is not true!! You only turned the chair with
me in it around sideways, but not like this!
I-ii-13
(ANDREA moves his arm in a circle to the front, a vertically circular
movement.)
Because Id have fallen off the chair, and thats a fact! Why didnt you turn the chair
over? Because that would prove Id fall off the earth if it moved that way. There!
GALILEO
But I proved it to you!!!
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ANDREA
But last night I gured out that if the earth turned that way Id hang down head rst at
night, and thats a fact!!!
GALILEO
(GALILEO takes an apple from the table.)
All right! Look here. This is the earth.
ANDREA
Dont always use examples like that kind. You can prove anything that way, Signor
Galilei.
GALILEO
(Putting the apple back.)
Very well!
ANDREA
You can do anything with examples if youre clever. But I cant carry my mother around
in a chair the way you can me. So you see, it was a bad example. And what would happen
if the apple were the earth? Nothing would happen.
GALILEO
(Laughing.)
I thought you werent interested.
ANDREA
All right, take the apple. What would keep me from hanging head down at night?
GALILEO
Well, heres the earth, and here you are, youre standing here on it.
(He sticks a splinter from a piece of kindling, a log, into the apple.)
And now the earth turns.
ANDREA
And, now I am hanging head down.
I-ii-14
GALILEO
What do you mean? How do you gure? Look closely! Wheres the head?
ANDREA
(Pointing at the apple.)
There. Below.
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GALILEO
Sure? Down where, Andrea?
(Turns the apple back.)
Isnt the head still in the same place or not? Arent your feet still below it on the ground?
When I turn it, do you suddenly stand like this?
(GALILEO takes the splinter out and turns it upside down.)
ANDREA
No. Then, why dont I notice and feel the earth turning?
GALILEO
Because youre turning too! You turn with it. You and the air above you and everything
else on the globe are turning.
ANDREA
But why does it look like the sun moves?
GALILEO
(GALILEO once again turns the apple with the splinter.)
All right now! What do you see under you? Look, you see the earth underneath you, it
stays that way, its always underneath and as far as youre concerned it doesnt ever
move. Now look up. The lamp is there, over your head. But now that I have turned it,
whats over your head, in other words, above you now?
ANDREA
(ANDREA turns him self along with it, making the same turn.)
The stove.
GALILEO
And, wheres the lamp?
ANDREA
Down below.
GALILEO
Aha!!!
I-ii-15
ANDREA
Thats great! Thatll get a rise out of her!

(LUDOVICO MARSILI, a rich, wealthy young man, enters.)
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
This place is as busy as a pigeon house or like a chicken coop!
LUDOVICO
Good morning sir! My name is Ludovico Marsili.
GALILEO
(Examining his letter of recommendation.)
You have been in Holland?
LUDOVICO
Where I heard a great deal about you, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
Your family owns property in the Campagna?
LUDOVICO
My mother wanted me to look around a bit to see whats going on around the world. To
experience that sort of thing and so on.
GALILEO
And in Holland they told you that in Italy, for instance, I was going on?
LUDOVICO
And since mother also wanted me to take a look at the sciences . . .
GALILEO
Fine private lessons will cost you Ten Scudi a month.
LUDOVICO
Very well, Signor!
GALILEO
What are your interests?
LUDOVICO
Horses.
I-ii-16
GALILEO
Aha, I see!
The Life Of Galileo
LUDOVICO
I have no head for science, Signor Galilei
GALILEO
Aha! Well, in that case, it will be fteen scudi a month.
LUDOVICO
Very well, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
Ill have to take you rst thing in the morning. And, Andrea, Youll just have to be the
loser. Naturally, Ill have to drop you, Andrea. You understand? You dont pay.
ANDREA
All right, Im going. Can I take the apple?
GALILEO
Yes.
(ANDREA leaves.)
LUDOVICO
Youll have to be patient with me, mostly because in science everythings the opposite of
common sense. Take that crazy tube theyre selling in Amsterdam. Ive examined it
carefully. A green leather casing and two lenses, one like this . . .
(He indicates a concave lens.)
and one like this . . .
(He indicates a convex lens.)
As far as I know, one magnies and the other reduces.
[Music Cue #6: Spirit Thats Science For You]

GALILEO
(Sings.)
(Chorus) Yes, Thats science for you,
Its unpredictable, odd, and is delightful for play,
But a little bit of science is ab-so-lute-te-ly necessary these days
It is better than a dead language, or the-o-lo-gy, I would certainly say.
And, that, is, science, for you.
I-ii-17
The Life Of Galileo
LUDOVICO
(Sings.)
Mother believes everyone takes science with wine
At least once a day, while they dine,
Mother says, in science things are different from anything common sense explains
Like that crazy tube selling in Amsterdam, there is nothing anywhere the same
I, Ludovico, have examined it closely, its green leather casing and two magic lenses
It goes against all senses
One like a-this, and one like a-that, Its hard to imagine, what is all a this and a that.
GALILEO AND LUDOVICO
(Sings.)
(Chorus) ) Yes, Thats science for you,
LUDOVICO
(Sings.)
I have not told mother, but I have seen church towers and their power
Grander than real, with the tube, its two lenses, loving all, its appeal
Ah, and I bet, you say how old is this invention, worth gold, you want to know?
Let me tell you, soft and low, before I go
The creation, this invention, is nor more than a few days old
From when I left Holland, I was secretly, secretly told.
GALILEO, LUDOVICO, BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
(Chorus) ) Yes, Thats science for you,
GALILEO
(Sings.)
I understand one magnifying lens enlarges
And one convex lens diminishes what you see, any reasonable person would think
Theyd cancel each other out, oh yes indeed
Wrong, Instead you see, everything ve times as large with your eyes
Pigeons, anything far away or in the sky, and brings all objects closer to the observer,
even making buildings appear three miles high.
Its true, its true, Oh, Galileo, it is so true! I guess that is why they say . . . . . . .
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I-ii-18
GALILEO (Cont.)
(Begins wildly dancing while continuing to sing.)
And that is science for you.

LUDOVICO
(Joins in singing as he ponders and watches GALILEO)
And, that is science for you. And, that is science for you.
GALILEO
And, that my young man is science, yes science, for you.
(Speaking.)
And, that is science for you. Perhaps you should take up horse breeding? Its easier.
(GALILEO and LUDOVICO catch sight of SIGNORA SARTI.)
LUDOVICO
Mother says a little science wont hurt me.
GALILEO
Very well. Ill see you on Tuesday morning.
(LUDOVICO leaves. GALILEO speaks to SIGNORA SARTI.)
Dont look at me like that. I took him, didnt I? Ive accepted him.
SIGNORA SARTI
Only, because you saw me in the nick of time! The procurator of the university is here.
GALILEO
Bring him in. Hes important. It might mean ve hundred scudi. Then I wouldnt have to
take on any pupils.
(SIGNORA SARTI shows the procurator in. GALILEO has completed
dressing while scribbling gures on a slip of paper.)
GALILEO
Good morning, lend me a half of scudo.
(GALILEO gives the coin THE PROCURATOR has shed out of his
purse to SIGNORA SARTI.)

Sarti, would you send Andrea to the spectacle maker for two lenses? Here are the
measurements.
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(GALILEO hands SIGNORA SARTI the slip of paper. SIGNORA
SARTI leaves.)
I-ii-19
THE PROCURATOR
Ive come in regard to your application request for a raise of salary. You have asked for a
thousand scudi. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend such an increase to the university.
You are aware, I am sure, that courses in mathematics dont attract students to the
university. Mathematics doesnt pay. Not that the Republic of Venice doesnt value it
highly. It may not be as important as philosophy or as useful as theology; still, it gives
endless pleasure to the connoisseur.
GALILEO
(Immersed in his papers.)
My dear man, I cant get along on ve hundred scudi.
THE PROCURATOR
But, Signor Galilei, all you do is give two-hour lectures twice a week. Surely your
extraordinary reputation must attract any number of students who can afford private
lessons. Havent you got private Pupils?
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Do I have students?
[Music Cue #7: Spirit I Teach, I Teach]

GALILEO/ BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
(Chorus) I teach, I teach, and I have too many students
I teach, and I teach, my life is nothing but stupid students
How am I to teach if all I have are hypothesis?
I need proofs, I need proofs, I need proofs to teach.
Especially for these many, too many, stupid students
A BALLAD SINGER
(Spoken)
I ask myself, when am I to learn the books of research, I have no time for them,
(Spoken)
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Everyday the pen strews me, while I teach my students again and again.
(Spoken)
God knows, I am not as all knowing as philosophical faculty gentlemen.
I-ii-20
GALILEO
(Sings.)
In fact, Ive become as stupid as many of my students, understanding nothing anymore
Cause Im too busy teaching, earning just little money, so I am not completely broke and
poor.
GALILEO/BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
GALILEO
(Sings.)
(Slowly Expressed.)
Especially for these many, too many, stupid students!
A BALLAD SINGER
(Spoken)
How am I to make progress when to keep my household a oat?
(Spoken)
I must drum into the head of every dunce who pays, while I gleam and gloat.
(Spoken)
That parallel lines meet in innity and too many laws explain so little indenitely.
(Spoken)
Whereas our new ideas have few rules that explain a lot,
GALILEO
(Spoken)
The Life Of Galileo
But, I cant prove it, I cant prove it, to these rambling idiots
(Sing.)

I-ii-21
GALILEO
(Sings Slowly)
Especially for these many, too many, stupid students!
(Thoughtfully)
You offer me protection from freedom of thought, what a lot,
That protection, is quite a protable business you sought
By pointing out that in other cities the inquisition rules and burns
You get good teachers, at little cost, for no money they earn,
Protection, you offer, from the res allows you to reimburse,
Yourself by paying the worst salaries while you ll up your own purse.
(Sing.)
I teach, I teach, and I teach and I teach, stupid students, a ridicule of my worth.
GALILEO
(Spoken with muse)
What good is freedom of inquiry with no free time to explore my quest for knowledge,
my unquenchable dying thirst? But should I nd my proofs while teaching these goofs,
you will not allow me to use the examples, no matter what stands as the real truth. Oh,
my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind hurts.
THE PROCURATOR
(Speaks as though he never heard a word of the songs words.)
Well, dont forget that while the Republic of Venice doesnt pay as much as certain
princes, it really does provide freedom of inquiry. We here in Padua even allow
Protestants to attend lectures. And we award them doctors degrees. Did we hand over
Signor Cremonini to the Inquisition even when we had proof, proof, Signor Galilei that
he had made sacrilegious statements? No, we voted him a higher salary. As far away as
Holland, Venice is known as the Republic over which the Inquisition has no jurisdiction.
The Life Of Galileo
That ought to be worth something to you as an astronomer. As you are aware, your
discipline has not shown too great respect for the teachings of the Church of late.
GALILEO
You handed Giordano Bruno over to Rome for spreading the teachings of the Copernicus.
THE PROCURATOR
Not for spreading the teachings of Copernicus, which by the way, are wrong, but because
he was not a Citizen of Venice and held no appointment at the University. You can just
leave him out of it, even if they did burn him at the stake. And, Anyway, what good
I-ii-22
THE PROCURATOR (Cont.)
would all the time you want for research do you, if every ignorant monk of the
Inquisition could simply suppress your idea.

GALILEO
I have freedom with no free time, great. Why dont you submit my work on the Laws of
Falling Bodies to the worthy gentlemen of the Signoria . . .
(Pointing at a bundle of manuscripts)
. . . and ask them if its not worth a few scudi more!
THE PROCURATOR
Its worth innitely more, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
Not innitely more, just ve hundred scudi more, Signor.
THE PROCURATOR
Scudi are worth what scudi will buy. Youll have to come up with something different.
You can ask only as much as it earns the purchaser. For instance, the philosophy Mr.
Colombe is selling in Florence brings the prince at least ten thousand scudi a year.
Granted, your laws of falling bodies raised some dust. You are applauded in Paris and
Prague. But the gentlemen who applaud you dont pay the University of Padua what you
cost it. Your misfortune is your eld, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
I understand. Free trade, free research. Free trading in research, eh?
THE PROCURATOR
How can you say such a thing? Dont scorn trade, Signor Galilei. Permit me to observe
that I dont fully appreciate your witticism. The ourishing trade of the Republic is
The Life Of Galileo
hardly to be sneered at. Much less can I, as long-time procurator of the University,
countenance the, I must say, frivolous tone in which you speak of research.
(GALILEO sends longing glances toward his worktable.)
Think of the world around us - with the whip of slavery under which science is groaning
at certain universities where old leather-bound tomes have been cut into whips. Where
no one cares how the pebble falls, but only what Aristotle writes about it. The eyes have
only one purpose: reading. What use are the new laws of gravity when the law of suavity
is all that matters? And then think of the immense joy with which our Republic accepts
your ideas. Here you can do research, here you can work. Nobody oppresses or spies on
you. Our merchants, who know the importance of better linen in their competition with
Florence, listen with interest to your cry for Better Physics. And dont forget how much
physics owes to the campaign for better looms. Our most eminent citizens men whom
time is money take an interest in your work, they come to see you and watch
I-ii-23
demonstrations of your discoveries. Dont despise trade. None of us here will tolerate
interference with your research, or allow outsiders to create difculties for you. You must
admit, Signor, that this is the ideal place for your work.
GALILEO
(In despair.)
Yes.
THE PROCURATOR
As far as the nancial aspect is concerned, why not come up with something as ingenious
and clever as your famous splendid proportional compass that enables one with no
mathematical knowledge, ignorant of mathematics, to . . .
(Counting on his ngers.)
. . . protract lines, calculate compound interest on capital, reproduce ground plans in large
or reduced scales and determine the weight of cannon balls.
GALILEO
FlimFlam!! That is a toy!
THE PROCURATOR
A Toy? That invention delighted and amazed our leading citizens and brought in money
you call that imam, and a toy? Why even General Stefano Gritti is able to gure out
square roots with it.
GALILEO
Ah, miracolo Priulli, you have given me an idea. You have set a bee loose in my
bonnet. I just might have something for you along those lines.
The Life Of Galileo
(GALILEO picks up a slip of paper with his sketches and hands it to
the PROCURATOR.)
THE PROCURATOR
Really! Have you? Yes, this appears to be your solution. (Rises!) Signor Galilei, I know, I
know of your troubled thoughts.
[Music Cue #8: Spirit A Great Dissatised Man]
THE PROCURATOR
(Sings.)
You are a great man, a great, but dissatised man
If I may take the liberty and say so, I dont understand!
I-ii-24
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Yes, I am a dissatised man, I will tell you what I can
I am dissatised with myself, I am
Now you have made me dissatised with you, too
Oh, heavens, what oh what should I do.
You helped me become who I am you should be paying me great from my dissatisfaction
As I look at every distraction.
THE PROCURATOR
(Sings.)
You are a great man, a great, but dissatised man
You inventions enchant and astound men
Allowing them to gure and see with no thought of their own at hand
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Yes, I am a dissatised man, I will tell you what I can
Those toys I created with joy from my heart,
Because my mind whirls and whirls and wont stop, you old fart
I want answers, I want, I want, questions and I want your help too
I have made great discoveries, worth money, of which you know is true
Realizations, unveilings of things unknown yet by man
That can no longer keep secret from our land
THE PROCURATOR
The Life Of Galileo
(Sings.)
You are a great man, a great but dissatised man
Your profession is the problem, mathematics calculates no pay, it makes you think, and it
creates all your crazy thoughts I say.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Yes, Im a dissatised man, I will tell you what I can
In this age especially for a great man
To be alive and not thinking is a pleasure I couldnt and will not stand
I am 46 years old and have done nothing to satisfy my own inquiries of who I am
A Protractor here! And a compass there!
Have you no concern for the madness that exists at present?
THE PROCURATOR
(Spoken.)
You are a great man, a great but truly dissatised man. You should continue your
I-ii-25
acceptable discoveries you do so well, and with those approved I imagine, you can live
quite comfortably. Be satised, my friend. Be satised, my friend. I shall not disturb you
any longer.
GALILEO
Thank you!
(THE PROCURATOR goes out. GALILEO remains alone for a
moment and begins to work. Then ANDREA comes rushing in.
GALILEO continues working.)
Why havent you eaten the apple?
ANDREA
I need it to show her that the earth turns.
GALILEO
I must tell you something, Andrea. Dont talk about our ideas to anyone.

ANDREA
Why not?
GALILEO
Our rulers, the authorities, have forbidden it!
ANDREA
The Life Of Galileo
But it is the truth.
GALILEO
Even so they forbid it, all the same. But thats not all. There is another reason. We still
have no proof of what we know to be right. Even the doctrine of the great Copernicus is
not yet proven. Its only a hypothesis. Give me the lenses.
ANDREA
The half-scudo wasnt enough. I had to leave my jacket, as a pledge.
GALILEO
How will you get through the winter without a jacket?
(A Pause. GALILEO arranges the lenses on the sheet with the sketch.)
ANDREA
What is a hypothesis?

I-ii-26
GALILEO
Its when we consider something probable but have no facts. We assume that Felice a
new young mother while nursing her baby down there outside of the basket weavers
shop, is giving milk to the baby and not getting milk from it. Thats a hypothesis as long
as we cant go and see for ourselves and prove it. In the face of the heavenly bodies were
like worms with dim eyes that see very little. The ancient doctrines that have been
accepted for a thousand years are rickety. Theres less soled timber in those immense
edices than in the props needed to keep them from collapsing. Too many laws that
explain too little, whereas our new hypothesis has few laws that explain a great deal.
ANDREA
But youve proved it all to me.
GALILEO
Only thats its possible. You see, the hypothesis is a very elegant one and there is no
evidence to the contrary.
ANDREA
I want to be a physicist too, like you, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
That is very sensible in view of all the problems remaining to be solved in our eld.
The Life Of Galileo
(GALILEO has gone to the window and looked through the lenses. He
appears mildly interested.)
Take a look, Andrea.
[Music Cue #9: Spirit Were Moving In Full Sail
[Instrumental Chorus]
ANDREA
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Everything comes close. Everything is so clear. The bells of
the campanile are right here. I can even read the copper letters. Gratia Dia! Gratia Dia!
GALILEO
This one will get us ve hundred scudi!
(CURTAIN)
(END OF ACT)
II-i-27
ACT II

Scene 1
SETTING: The great Arsenal of Venice near the Harbor.

AT RISE: GALILEO presents a new invention to the republic
of Venice. SENATORS are gathered with the
DOGE at the Head. To his one side are Galileos
friend SAGREDO and VIRGINIA GALILEI,
Galileos daughter who is fteen years old. She
carries a velvet cushion on which lies a telescope
about two feet in length and covered in a rich
crimson leather. On a dais is GALILEO; behind him
the tripod stands for the telescope with the lens-
grinder FEDERZONI who stands in charge of it.
[Music Cue #10: Spirit Nr. 2 B]

The Life Of Galileo
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing Verse.)
Beautiful is not everything that a great man does.
No ones virtue is complete and great Galileo likes to eat.
So hear and be not angry, you will not resent, we hope, regarding the truth about his
telescope.
(Sings.)
Non affatto al-les-su ci che un grande uomo lut! DODI Ga-li-le-o britanniche come
buona. Ora rock, e non sono grimm dar-eh, la verit metropolitana bers Te-le-skop.
GALILEO
Your Excellency Noble August Signoria! As a professor of mathematics at your
University of Padua and director of your Great Arsenal here in Venice, I have always
regarded it as my duty incumbent upon me not only to fulll my responsibility as a
teacher, but also to provide the Republic of Venice with special advantages by means of
practical and useful inventions. It is with great pleasure and in all humility that today I
demonstrate and deliver to you an entirely new instrument, my spyglass or telescope,
manufactured in your world - the famous Great Arsenal in accordance with the highest
scientic and Christian principles, the fruit of seventeen years patient research by your
obedient servant.
(GALILEO leaves the dais and stands beside SAGREDO.
AUDIENCE applauses. GALILEO bows.)
II-i-28
GALILEO
(Softly to Sagredo.)
What a waste of time!
SAGREDO
(Softly.)
Youll be able to pay the butcher, my old friend, old man.

GALILEO
Yes, theyll make lots of money on it.
(GALILEO makes another bow!)

THE PROCURATOR
(Steps up onto the dais.)
Your Excellency, Noble August Signoria! Once again a glorious page in the great book of
arts, of human accomplishments, is being written with much embellishment in Venetian
characters.
(Polite applause.)
The Life Of Galileo
A scholar of world renown is presenting to you and to you alone, a highly salable
cylinder tube for you to manufacture and market at your pleasure in anyway you see t.
(Stronger applause.)
Has it occurred to you that in the event of war the instrument will enable us to distinguish
the nature and number of the enemys ships at least two hours before they have a clear
view of ours, and, in full cognizance of recognizing his strength, decide whether to
pursue, engage or withdraw?
(Very loud applause.)
And, now, Your Excellency, Noble August Signoria, Signor Galileo begging bids you
accept this instrument of this invention, this evidence of his genius, this testimony of his
intuition, from the hands of this charming daughter.

[Instrumental of score plays]
VIRGINIA steps forward, bows, hands the telescope to the
PROCURATOR who passes it on to FEDERZONI who places it on the
tripod stand and adjusts it. The DOGE and the SENATORS ascend the
dais and look through the telescope. )
GALILEO
(Softly.)
I cant promise, because I dont know if I can go through with this farce. They think
theyre getting a protable gadget, a toy, but it is so much more than that. Last night I
turned the tube on the moon.
SAGREDO
What did you see?
II-i-29
GALILEO
It has not light of its own.
SAGREDO
What!?
[Music Cue #12: Spirit No Ones Virtue Is Complete]
BALLAD SINGER/
S
(ALL Sing.)
(Verse) Beautiful is not everything, that a Great Man does, that A Great Man does,
Except for what we sing, in voices, like Gods doves (Repeat Verse with Harmonies)
The Life Of Galileo
(Chorus) No Ones virtue is complete, ah . . . oh . . . uh . . . la . . . do . . .e . . .
Even our great Galileo, oh Galilei, e oh, yes, he does, he does, he loves, to eat
So hear, shhhhhh, So hear, shhhhhh, So hear, shhhhhhh, So hear, shhhhhh.
And be not angry (Silence.)
You will not resent, we hope, we hope, we hope, we hope, oh how we hope,
Regarding the truth about his telescope, ah . . .oh . . . uh . . . la . . . do . . . the
telescope.
(A BALLAD SINGER Sings.)
(Verse) For from his ndings we know, we know, we know, we know . . . oh, Galileo,
oh . . .Galilei, e . . . brings the world a new truth, and it is so, it is so, it is so, it is so!
But his words, his words are dangerous to what is in control. Will they his words, his
words (Silence.) let him speak? Will they let him speak? Will they let him speak?
(Silence.) We need to know. We . . . Need . . . To . . . Know . . .!
(ALL Sing.)
(Chorus) No Ones virtue is complete, ah . . . oh . . . uh . . . la . . . do . . . e . . .
Even our great Galileo, oh Galilei, e oh, yes, he does, he does, he loves, to eat
You will not resent, we hope, we hope, we hope, we hope, oh how we hope,
So hear, shhhhhh, So hear, shhhhhh, So hear, shhhhhhh, So hear, shhhhhh.
And be not angry (Silence)
Regarding the truth about his telescope, ah . . .oh . . .uh . . . la . . . do . . . the telescope.
(ALL Sing.)
(Verse) Now you will hear his beliefs so wise that are spreading though out the
countryside and universe. Oh, Galileo, oh... Galilei, e how, oh how, oh how, how, how,
how? How can one mans thoughts be so far from what is known as right? (EACH
SINGER, one by one, repeats the line then ALL Repeat verse with Harmonies)
(Chorus) No Ones . . .
(Dancers Enter to Instrumental of #13. The Arsenal becomes the stage
of a beautiful dance number as words are spoken. Then song begins.)

[Music Cue #13: Spirit Heavenly Harmony]
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
In the 2nd A.D., the ancient astronomer, Ptolemy, held a concept of the cosmos called the
Ptolemaic which explains how the stars move around the earth, based on a purely and
rigorous mathematical system, was a group of concentric spheres.
II-i-30
(Continues to speak.)
A series of balls with balls, each having the same center. The innermost ball was the earth
made up of hard, solid, earthy substance, such as men were familiar with underfoot. The
other spheres, encompassing the earth in series were all transparent, so it was thought,
The Life Of Galileo
they were the crystalline sphere, made known to us by the piets, their harmony was the
music of the spheres.

(ALL now sing as DANCERS continue with a ritual style dance.)
(Sing.)
From Harmony, from Heavenly Harmony, this universal frame began
When nature underneath a heap, of jarring atoms lay most deep
And, could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high, Arise, arise ye more than dead!
From Harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began.
The cold and hot and moist and dry
In order to their stations leap high
And musics power obeys, come, come, with no delay,
From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
Through all the compass of the notes it ran, the diapason closing full in man.
(Dancers continue to dance. GALILEO studies his telescope. )
A BALLAD SINGER
(Spoken.)
These spheres revolved about the earth. Each containing set in it as a jewel, a luminous
heavenly body or orb that moved about the earth with the movement of its transparent
sphere. Nearest to the Earth was the Moon. Then, in turn, came the spheres of Mercury,
Venus, the Sun, Then those of the Outer Planets. Last came the Outermost Sphere,
containing the Fixed Stars studded in it, all moving majestically about the earth in daily
motion, but motionless with respect to each other, because held rmly in the same sphere.
(Spoken.)
The Highest is the immoveable sphere of the xed stars, which contains and gives
position to all things. The lunar sphere revolves about the center of the earth and moves
with the earth like an epicycle. In the same order also one planet surpasses another in
speed of revolution, according as they trace greater or smaller circles.
II-i-31
A BALLAD SINGER
(Spoken.)
Saturn completes its revolution in thirty years;
The Life Of Galileo
(Spoken.)
Jupiter in twelve;

A BALLAD SINGER
(Spoken.)
Mars in two and one half;
(Spoken.)
Earth in one year;
A BALLAD SINGER
(Spoken.)
Venus in nine months;
(Spoken.)
And, Mercury in three.
(Sing.)
We that are of pure re, imitate the starry quire
Who in their nightly watchful spheres, lead in swift round the months and years?
Arise, arise ye more than dead.
The sounds, and seas, with all their nny drove,
Now to the moon in wavering morrice move
And lo the sea, that eets about the land,
And like a girdle clips her solid waist with music and measure both doth understand
From Harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began
Music and measure both doth understand;
For his great crystal eye is always cast up to the moon and on her xed fast
And as she danceth in her palled sphere, so danceth he, about his centre here
And musics power obeys, come, come, with no delay,
II-i-32
A BALLAD SINGER
The Life Of Galileo
(Spoken.)
Beyond the sphere of the xed stars, in general belief, laid the Empyrean, the home of
the angels and immortal spirits. But this was not a matter of natural science. A person
standing on the earth, and looking up into the stars, felt himself enclosed by a dome of
which his own position was the center.
(Spoken.)
In the blue sky of the day, he could literally see the crystalline spheres, in the star at
night, he could behold the orbs, which these spheres carried, with them all revolved
around him, presumably at no very alarming distance. The celestial bodies supposed to be
of different material and quality than the earths heavy dross. The stars, planets, and the
sun and the moon seemed made of pure gleaming light, a bright ethereal substance,
almost as tenuous as the crystal spheres in which they moved. The cosmos was a
hierarchy of ascending perfection. The heavens are of purity, purer than earth. This
system corresponded to actual appearances and except for scientic knowledge would be
highly believable.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began.
(Spoken.)
But, upon a renewed interest in the philosophical traditions of Pythagoras and Plato, a
new concentration created new ideas. Copernicus concluded that the sun was the center
of the solar system and Fixed stars and the earth to be one of the planets revolving in
space around it. And, this view also entertained a few great thinkers before.

BALLAD SINGERS/DANCERS
(Spoken.)
But he, with an increasingly detailed knowledge of the actual movements of the heavenly
bodies, decreed it necessary to make the Ptolemaic System more intricate by the addition
of new cycles and epicycles, until as John Milton expressed:
(Sing.)
The Cosmos was with centric, And concentric,
Scribbled oer cycle, and epicycle, orb and orb.
(Spoken.)
Question: What are the heavenly bodies made of, had they not been touched???
The sun and moon had dimensions!
Stars and planets were pints of light!
And, all previous theories might apply to insubstantial luminous objects in motion.
The Life Of Galileo
II-i-33
ALL BALLAD SINGERS/DANCERS
(Sing.)
From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began.
A SENATOR
(Spoken.)
Signor. Galilei, I can see the fortications of Santa Rosita. Over there, on that boat
theyre having lunch. Fried sh. Its making me hungry.
GALILEO
I tell you, astronomy has been marking time at a standstill for a thousand years for lack of
a telescope.
SENATOR
Signor. Galilei!
SEGRADO
They are calling for you.
SENATOR
One sees too well with that thing. Ill have to warn my ladies to stop bathing on the roof.
GALILEO
(To Segrado.)
Do you know what the Milky Way consists of?
SAGREDO
No.
GALILEO
I do.

SENATOR
A thing like this is worth at least ten scudi, Signor. Galilei.
(GALILEO bows.)
VIRGINIA
(Takes LUDOVICO to her father, GALILEO.)
Ludovico wants to congratulate you, father.
LUDOVICO
The Life Of Galileo
(Embarrassed.)
Congratulations, sir.
II-
i-34 GALILEO
Ive improved on it.
LUDOVICO
So, I see, sir. You made the casing red. In Holland the covering, it was green.
GALILEO
(Returning to Sagredo.)
I wonder if I couldnt prove a certain doctrine with that contraption.
SAGREDO
Watch your step! Be careful!
THE PROCURATOR
Your ve hundred scudi are in the bag, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
(Paying him no attention.)
Of course, Im always wary ahead of rash conclusions.
(The DOGE, a fat, modest man, has approached GALILEO and is
attempting, with clumsy dignity, to address him.)
THE PROCURATOR
Mr. Galilei, His Excellency the Doge.
(The DOGE shakes GALILEOS hand.)
GALILEO
Of course, Oh, yes, the ve hundred scudi! Are you satised, Your Excellency?
DOGE
Unfortunately our city fathers always need some sort of pretext before they can do
anything to reward our scholars.
THE PROCURATOR
Otherwise, without where would the incentive be, eh Signor Galilei?
DOGE
(Smiling.)
The Life Of Galileo
We require a pretext.

(The DOGE and the procurator lead GALILEO to the SENATORS,
who surround him. VIRGINIA and LUDOVICO slowly walk away. )
II-i-35
VIRGINIA
Did I do it all right?

LUDOVICO
It seemed all right to me. I thought it was ne.
VIRGINIA
Then what was the matter?
LUDOVICO
Oh, nothing. Only that the green casing might have done just as well.
VIRGINIA
I think they are all very pleased with father.
LUDOVICO
And I think Im beginning to understand something about science.
(Sings.)
Schon ist nicht al-les, was ein gro-ber Mann lut! Dodi Ga-li-le-o u gern gut. Nun hort
und seid nicht grimm dar-eh, die Wahrheit u-bers Te-le-skop.
(CURTAIN)
(END OF ACT)
The Life Of Galileo
III-i-36
ACT III
Scene 1
SETTING: January 10, 1610. GALILEOS Modest Study.
Padua, Italy.
TIME: Evening.
AT RISE: GALILEO and SAGREDO, both in heavy
overcoats, are at the telescope and about to abolish
heaven. By means of the telescope GALILEO
discovers celestial phenomena that prove the
Copernican system. Warned by his friend of the
possible consequences of his investigations,
GALILEO still afrms his faith in reason.
BALLAD SINGERS tell the tale of how they see
things.
[Music Cue #15: Spirit Nr. 2 C]
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Sixteen hundred ten, Sech-zehnhun-dert-sehn
tenth of January, sehn-ter Ja-nu-ary,
Galileo Galilei, Galileo Galilei
saw that no heaven was,
Sah daft kein Himmel war,
saw that no heaven was,
Sah daft kein Himmel war.
Quasdam Miracula Universi, Quasdam,
Quasdam Miracula Universi, Universi, Intoxicatio, Intoxicatio.
A BALLAD SINGER
The Life Of Galileo
(Sing.)
January the tenth, sixteen ten, Galileo Galilei abolishes heaven.
He claims the moon and the earth are the same, has he gone insane?
Does he realize the danger in this truth, has he gone insane?
why does he want to change our universe, has he done insane?
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
III-i-37
GALILEO
(Sings.)
On this day, January tenth, sixteen ten, I Galileo Galilei, abolish heaven.
Yes, the moon and the earth are the same, I say so let me document it in my journal today.

BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
[Music Cue #16: Spirit My Little Orbs]
FEMALE BALLAD SINGERS
(ALL sing accompanied by a Heavy Strings Section.)
Little Orbs, Little Orbs, where are you tonight?
Where are you little perfect ickering pieces of light?
Little Orbs, Little Orbs, Have you gone out of my sight?
Have you left me alone with no hope of my magical heavenly ight?

A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
I believed in you, how could you be a fake?
For years you made my earthly pain easy to take
Because with hell under the ground
My only hope was that for eternity you would be around.
(Sing.)
Little Orbs, Little Orbs, Where are you tonight?
Where are you perfect ickering pieces of light?
Little Orbs, My Little Orbs, Little Orbs, Have you gone out of my sight?
The Life Of Galileo
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
I could look to you in the sky, and know that when I die
That I will get to meet you, face to face
My little orbs, my little orbs, my orbs there you were for me, in your heavenly space.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
No human has seen this before, except Copernicus and me.
III-
i-38
GALILEO (Cont.)
(Sings.)
In over two thousand long years of history.
This idea contradicts a-stro-no-my that began, back then.
But I have the in-stru-ments to prove this the-ory, even to the common man.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Earth shine, earth beams, earth light, you are not alone tonight
You are now a reection upon the moons sight,
Earth shine, earth beams, earth light, you are not alone tonight
the sun glows on you both in its orbital ight.
(Sing.)
Little Orbs, Little Orbs, Where are you tonight?
Where are you perfect ickering pieces of light?
Little Orbs, My Little Orbs, Little Orbs, Have you gone out of my sight?
GALILEO
(Spoken.)
Heaven must be purer than this ugly earth,
For earth is a heavy dross, they say, lled with just dirt,
The refuse of impurities of melted metal waste matter
All worthless stuff, rubbish, all falling into space in spatters.
The Life Of Galileo
(Spoken.)
Your cosmos must be hierarchy of ascending perfection
Made of ethereal substance with God at the top and descending his essence
Your world tenuous as the Crystal spheres, for where you lived
Im so sorry my little orbs; oh I do hope you still exist.
(Sing.)
My orbs are pure and beautiful out there aluminous and bright
They are my heaven, my salvation from my blight. They are my stars and planets,
Not merely insubstantial little shining points of light at random
ALL BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
I could look to you in the sky, and know that when I die, That I will get to meet you, face
to face. My little orbs, my little little orbs, I am sorry you are being disturbed, in your
precious heavenly space.
III-i-39
GALILEO
(Sings.)
The moon sees us as a half-circle, all full and a crescent, too
What the moon is to us, we are to the moon, I know it is true.
That space above the earth, weve thought as our heaven,
I can see in my lens, it is not immutable, perfect, nor even pleasant
(Sing.)
The stars and planets, sun and the moon
Look how they shine bright, like the earths rays at noon
They must be made of pure and gleaming light
How could my angels live up there if everything wasnt perfectly right?
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
There is no difference between this earth and the moon

Where will my muses play their heartfelt tunes?
The moon cant be an earth, for the earth is not a star this whole thing has gone too far.
My little Orbs, My little Orbs, Please let me see you just once more tonight.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
I am looking at the dark half of the moons crescent,
The Life Of Galileo
It does glitter with some bright particles effervescent
But irregular, jagged and rough, its edges seem to appear
with the same earth, like substances, created here over millions of years.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken.)
Your Cosmos, must be hierarchy of ascending perfection,
Made of ethereal substance with God at the Top and Descending his essence.
Your world, tenuous, as the crystal spheres for where you lived,
I am sorry, my little Orbs, Oh I hope, for our sake, you still exist.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Those spots of light are gigantic mountains, I believe, I believe
Whose peaks catch the morning rays, Oh, yes, indeed,
While their slopes are covered, in the night with none,
Light pours down the summers in the valleys, from our same sun.
III-i-40
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken.)
The stars, planets, sun and the moon look how they shine bright,
Like the earths rays at noon, they must be made of pure, and gleaming light.
How could my angels live up there? If everything wasnt perfectly right?
(Shouted)
Oh, Galileo Galilei, Do not destroy my little orbs, not tonight.
GALILEO
(Spoken.)
I am looking at the dark half of the moons crescent. It does glitter with some bright
particles efferiscent, but irregular, jagged and rough, its edges seem to appear, with the
same earth-like substances, created here over millions of years.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken.)
Your cosmos must be hierarchy of ascending perfection, made of ethereal substance with
God at the top and descending his essence. Your world, tenuous as the crystal spheres, for
where you lived. I am sorry my little orbs, Oh, I hope for our sake, you still exist.

GALILEO (Speaks Softly)
Those spots of light are gigantic mountains, I believe!
(Sings.)
Whose peaks catch the morning rays, Oh, yes, indeed.
The Life Of Galileo
While their slopes are covered in the night with none, light pours down the summits in
the valleys, from our same sun.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken.)
My orbs are pure and beautiful out there illuminous and bright.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
The earth and the moon merely send a dim ashen light.
The sun is what makes the universe obviously shine bright.
The planets have visible breadth, impressions of largeness, freedom and grace. It is not
true, I declare that they simple are xed there in space.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken.)
The stars, planets, sun and the moon, look how they shine bright, like the earths rays at
noon.
III-
i-41
BALLAD SINGERS (Cont.)
They must be made of pure, and gleaming light. How could my angels live up there, if
everything wasnt perfectly right? (Shouted.) Oh, Galileo Galilei, do not destroy my little
orbs, not tonight.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Jupiter has satellites, moons of its own, moving with simple strokes,
I can see them clearly from my telescope.
They move around, like our moon, and its orbital sphere and this earth,
It is the sun that shines pure and perfect as the infant at birth.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
There is no difference, between this earth and moon, where will my muses play?
Their heartfelt tunes, the moon cant be an earth, for the earth is not a star,
This whole idea has absolutely gone way, way, way, way too far.
GALILEO
(Sings.)
For the earth I declare is nothing more, nor less, bizarre than an ordinary heavenly body.
One of thousands whirling in the far the sun and the xed stars remain constant,
The Life Of Galileo
Unchanging and bright, oh this miracle I see tonight is a wondrous sight.

BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Little Orbs, little Orbs, where are you tonight?
Where are you, little perfect ickering pieces of light?
GALILEO
(Sings.)
There is no difference and that is right, between heaven and earth, not in my sight.
And, on this tenth of January 1610, let me say,
I, Galileo Galilei, I, Galileo Galelei, abolish heaven.
ONE BALLAD SINGER
(Sing.)
Quasdam Miracula Universi Quasdam
(BLACKOUT)
(END OF SCENE)
III-ii-42
ACT III
Scene 2
SETTING: GALILEOS study in Padua.
TIME: Night.
AT RISE: GALILEO and SAGREDO are both wrapped in
thick, heavy cloaks at the telescope.
SAGREDO
(Looking through the telescope, he speaks, half to himself.) The edge of the crescent is
quite irregular, jagged and roughly serrated. In the dark half near the luminous edge there
are bright luminous particle points that are emerging, one after another that keep growing
larger, and spreading light out over wider and wider areas until they nally merge with
the bright larger crescent part.
GALILEO
So, how do you account for those spots of light, those luminous points?
SAGREDO
The Life Of Galileo
It cant be.
GALILEO
But it is. Theyre mountains.
SAGREDO
On a star?
GALILEO
Gigantic mountains. Whose gilded peaks catch the rays of the rising sun while all around
their surrounding slopes are covered in the deep darkness of night! What youre seeing is
light pouring down the descending summits from the highest peaks of the valleys.
SAGREDO
But that contradicts all of the astronomy for two thousand years.
GALILEO
Yes, I know. That is true! What youre seeing now, no human being mortal has ever seen
before, except me and Copernicus. Youre the third.
SAGREDO
But, the moon cant be an earth with mountains and valleys, any more than the earth can
be a star or a planet.
III-
ii-43 GALILEO
The moon can be an earth with mountains and valleys, and the earth can be a planet or a
star. Simply another heavenly body, one among thousands! Look again! Is the darkened
part of the moon completely dark?
SAGREDO
No. But now that I do look closely I can see a dim, feeble ashen light on it.
GALILEO
Yes, And, what kind of light can that be? (Pause.) Its from the earth.
SAGREDO
Nonsense. How can the earth with its mountains and forest and oceans a cold body
give light?
GALILEO
The same way the moon sheds light. Both bodies are lighted and illuminated by the sun
and thats why they shine. What the moon is to us we are to the moon. The moon sees us
by turns as a crescent, as a half circle, as full, and then not al all.
The Life Of Galileo
SAGREDO
Then theres no difference between moon and earth?
GALILEO
Apparently no! None.
SAGREDO
A man was burned in Rome less than ten years ago. His name was Giordano Bruno and
he said the very same thing.
GALILEO
I know. But we can see it. Keep your eyes to the telescope tube, Sagredo. What you see is
that theres no difference between heaven and earth. This day, this tenth of January1610,
humanity notes in its diary, its journal: Heaven is abolished!!!
(Sings.)
I Galileo, I Galileo, declare that heaven is abolished!
[Music Cue #18: Spirit My Little Orbs] (Chorus Only)
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Little Orbs, Little Orbs, Where Are You Tonight?
Where are you little perfect ickering pieces of light?
[Music Cue #19: Spirit Nr. 2 D]
III-
ii-44
ONE BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
The old says, as I am, Ive been from the beginning
The new says: If youre not useful then go!

BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Quasdam Miracula, Universi Quasdam
Quasdam Miracula, Universi, Universi, Intoxicatio, Intoxicatio!

SAGREDO
It is terrifying.
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
Theres something else Ive discovered. Perhaps something even more amazing and
astonishing.
SIGNORA SARTI
(Hurriedly enters.) The Procurator is here.
THE PROCURATOR
(Bursting into the room, and pointing at the telescope.) Galileo, I would be much obliged
if we could talk privately. I apologize for the late hour.
GALILEO
Mr. Sagredo can hear anything I can hear, Mr. Priuli.
THE PROCURATOR
Well, it might embarrass you to have the gentleman hear what has happened.
Unfortunately, its something quite incredible.
GALILEO
Mr. Sagredo is used to hearing incredible things in my presence.
THE PROCURATOR
Oh, no doubt. (Pointing at the telescope.) There it is, that miraculous optical splendid
gadget of yours! You might as well throw that tube away for all its worth, as it is worth
nothing! Nothing! Absolutely nothing!!! It is worthless, absolutely worthless!!!
SAGREDO
(He has been wandering about restlessly.) Whatever do you mean?

III-
ii-45
THE PROCURATOR
Are you aware that this invention of yours, the fruit of seventeen years patient
research, is to be bought on every street coroner in Italy for a couple of scudi? And,
whats worse, made in Holland! At this very moment a Dutch freighter in the harbor is
unloading ve hundred telescopes.
GALILEO
You dont say, really?
THE PROCURATOR
Your equanimity, Signore, confounds me!!!

SAGREDO
The Life Of Galileo
I fail to see whats troubling you. Let me tell you that just in these last few days Signor
Galilei has made the most revolutionary discoveries about the universe concerning
heavenly bodies with this very instrument.
GALILEO
(Laughing.) Have a look for yourself Priuli.
THE PROCURATOR
Let me tell you that after having Signor Galileis salary doubled on the strength of this
worthless gadget Im quite satised with the discovery Ive already made. Its only by the
sheer accident that when the gentlemen of the Signoria rst looked through your tube,
condent of having acquired something for the republic that could be manufactured only
here, they failed to see seven times magnied a common peddler on the next corner
hawking that same instrument for a song.
(GALILEO roars with laughter.)

SAGREDO
My dear, dear Signor Priuli, I cant judge this instrument in terms of its value to the
economy, but its worth to philosophy is so incalculable enormous that . . .
THE PROCURATOR
To philosophy! What business has Signor Galilei, a mathematician, meddling with
philosophy? Mr. Galilei, you once invented a very respectable pump for the city; your
irrigation system still functions. The weavers, too, are very pleased with your machine.
How on earth could l I have anticipated anything like this?
GALILEO
Not so fast, Priuli. Sea routes are still long, uncertain and expensive. What we lack is a
reliable clock in the heavens, a guide to navigation. I now have cause to believe that with
this telescope we can observe and clearly perceive certain stars with very regular
motions. New star charts could save the shipping industry millions of scudi, Signor Priuli.
III-ii-46
THE PROCURATOR
Forget it, Ive heard enough! In return for my kindness youve made me the laughing
stock of the city. Thank you! Ill be remembered as the Curator who fell, laid low, for a
worthless telescope. You have every reason to laugh. You have your ve hundred scudi.
But Im telling you, and I speak as an honest man: This world disgusts me. It makes me
sick!
(He leaves, banging the door behind him.)

GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
Hes rather likable when he gets angry. Did you hear what he said: A world where you
cant do business makes him sick and disgusts him.
SAGREDO
Did you know about these Dutch instruments?
GALILEO
Of course from heresay! But the one I made for those skinint moneychangers in the
Signoria is twice as good. How can I do my work with the bailiff at the door breathing
down my neck? And Virginia will need her trousseau soon. Shes not too bright. Besides,
I like buying books, and not only about physics, and I like to eat well. My best ideas
come to me over a good meal. What a rotten time to live in! They were paying me less
than the teamster who carts their wine barrels. Four cords of rewood for two courses in
mathematics! So now, Ive wormed ve hundred scudi out of them, but Ive got debts,
some of them twenty years old. Give me ve years of peace and quiet, and Ill prove
everything. Let me show you something else.
SAGREDO
(Hesitates going to the telescope.) I feel something very like fear, Galileo. I almost think
I am afraid.
GALILEO
I am going to show you a milky-white patch of luminous mist in the galaxy. Tell me what
its made of.
SAGREDO
Why, stars, countless stars.
GALILEO
In the constellation of Orion alone there are ve hundred xed stars. Those are the many
worlds, the countless other worlds, the star beyond stars that the man they burned talked
about. He never saw them, but he knew they were there.
SAGREDO
Even if our earth is a star, its still a long way to prove Copernicus contention that the
earth revolves around the sun. There isnt any star in the heavens with another one
III-ii-47
SAGREDO (Cont.)
revolving around it. Accept for the earth, youll have to admit, has the moon revolving
around it.
GALILEO
Sagredo, I wonder. Ive been wondering for two long days. Theres Jupiter. (He adjusts
the telescope and focuses on it.) Now, near it there are four smaller stars that you can
only make out through the telescope. I saw them on Monday, but I didnt pay too much
The Life Of Galileo
attention to their particular positions. Then yesterday I looked again. I could have sworn
that all four of them had changed their position. They had moved! So, I recorded their
exact positions in a note. Now they are different again. What is this? There were four of
them (Excitedly.) You look!
SAGREDO
I see three.
GALILEO
Where is the fourth? Here are the tables. We must compute the movements they can have
made.
(Agitated, but very excited, they sit down to work. The stage grows
dark, but on a cyclorama Jupiter and its satellites appear visible.
When the light returns again, Galileo and Sagredo are still sitting
there, wrapped in their winter cloaks.)
There is our proof. The fourth had to have moved behind Jupiter where we cant see it.
There you have your star with another one revolving around it.
SAGREDO
But the crystal-sphere that Jupiter is attached to?
GALILEO
Yes, where could it be indeed? How can Jupiter be attached to anything when other stars
revolve around it? Theres no scaffolding in the sky, theres nothing holding the universe
up! There we have another sun!!! Weve found another star!!!
SAGREDO
Calm down. Youre thinking too fast.
GALILEO
Too fast, hell! Man, get excited!!! No one has ever seen what youre seeing right now.
Nobody!!! They were right!!!
SAGREDO
Who? The Copernicans?
III-ii-48
GALILEO
Yes! And, you know whom! The others!!! The whole world was against them, and yet
they were right!!! Andrea has to see this!! This nding is something for Andrea!
(Beside himself with excitement, he runs to the door and shouts.)
Mrs. Sarti! Signoria Sarti! Mrs. Sarti!
The Life Of Galileo

SAGREDO
(Turns the telescope aside.) Galileo, please calm yourself.

GALILEO
Sagredo, please, please get excited! Oh, Signora Sarti.
SAGREDO
Well, will you stop roaring like a lunatic fool?
GALILEO
Will you stop standing around like a stocksh dunce, when we have just discovered the
truth, the truth, Sagredo.
BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
Dus-Al-te sagt So wie ich bin, bin ich von fax, Das Neue sagt, Bist du nicht gut dann,
hehl. If youre not useful, then go.
SAGREDO
Im not standing around like a dunce. Im trembling with fear, because it appears it is the
truth.
GALILEO
What?
SAGREDO
Have you taken leave of your senses? Have you lost them? Dont you realize the danger
you are getting into if what you see is really true? And, if you go shouting over all the
market places that the earth is a planet, a star and not the center of the universe.
GALILEO
Yes, and that the whole enormous gigantic cosmos with all its stars doesnt revolve
around our puny, tiny little earth, as anyone could have guessed anyway.
SAGREDO
So that theres nothing but stars! But where does that put God?
III-ii-49
GALILEO
What do you mean?
The Life Of Galileo
SAGREDO
God! Where is God?
GALILEO
Am I a theologian? Im a mathematician.

SAGRDO
First of all youre a human being. And, I ask you: Where is God in your world system?

GALILEO
Within us or nowhere!
SAGREDO
(Shouting.) You are saying the same as the man who was burned said?
GALILEO
Yes, the man they burned said this too.
SAGREDO
Thats why he was burned! Not ten years ago!
GALILEO
Because he couldnt prove it! Because all he could do was say so! Signora Sarti! Signora
Sarti!
SAGREDO
Galileo, I know youre a clever man. For three years in Pisa and seventeen here in Padua
youve patiently instructed hundreds of students in the Ptolemaic system as advocated by
the church and conrmed by the scriptures on which the church is grounded. Like
Copernicus you thought it was wrong, but you taught it?
GALILEO
Yes, I taught it, but only because I could not prove anything.
SAGREDO
(Incredulously.) Do you thing that proving it makes any difference?
GALILEO
All the difference in the world! Look here, Sagredo! I believe in man, in human beings,
and that means I believe in reason! Without that belief I wouldnt have the strength to get
out of bed in the morning.
III-
ii-50
The Life Of Galileo
SAGREDO
Then let me tell you this: I dont believe in reason! Forty years experience of life has
taught me that human beings are not susceptible to reason. Show them a comet with a red
tail, put dark black terror into them and theyll break their legs rushing out of their
houses. But make a reasonable statement, tell them one reasonable fact, and prove it,
back it up with seven-fold proof, and theyll just laugh at you in your face.
GALILEO
That is all wrong and it is slander. I dont see how you can love science if you believe
your words. Only the dead are unmoved and impervious to argument and reason. Listen!

(GALILEO begins to sing.)
[Music Cue #22: Spirit I Believe In Reason]
GALILEO/BALLAD SINGER
(Sing.)
I believe, I believe, I believe in reason.
I believe, I believe, I really do believe in man,
I really do believe in the human being. God is within each of us.
I tell you from my heart, he must be.
Where else would reason come from, it is mans best ability.
And, I believe in reason.
Bruno burned for no proof in his words, which makes man feel doubt.
Well, I am not a magician, nor a theologian,
I am a mathematician who is able to prove his thoughts.
And, I listen, I listen, I am able to explain, I am able to explain, with reason my beliefs
create change, yes, change, change, change.
And Im not confusing cunning with reason, Ill tell you why.
They call donkeys horses when theyre selling, and a horse a donkey when they buy.
But, the old woman who the night before her journey, gives her donkey an extra bundle
of hay with calloused hands.
This lady is my hope, she listens, she prays, and she understands,
I believe in man, I believe in the human being,
Reason in humanity, even works the hard man of the sea.
The ships captain who thinks of storms and calms, when lying in provisions, he will
lead.
The Life Of Galileo
For those gentle powers of reason, have worked in his mind, he listens, he succumbs, as
all will in time. And, I, yes I, yes I, be-lieve in rea-son!
III-ii-51
GALILEO/BALLAD SINGERS (Cont.)
(Sing.)
Thinking is one of the greatest pleasures, truly the greatest pleasure, ever known to man.
It begins when we are little, listen, if you can.
The child who pulls on his cap when it is proven to him it will rain he is my hope.
For because he has been taught, when this small child listens, reasons hes got.
I believe, I believe, I believe in the human being.
I believe, I believe, I really do believe in man,
I really do believe in the human being. God is within each of us.
I tell you from my heart, he must be.
Where else would reason come from, it is mans best ability.
(Spoken.)
I believe in man, I believe in the human being, And, I believe in reason.
SAGREDO
How in the world, Galileo, can you mistake human beings contemptible, miserable
cunning for reason?
GALILEO
Im not talking about their cunning like their calling a donkey a horse when theyre
selling and a horse a donkey when theyre buying. Thats their cunning. But the old
woman with calloused hands who gives her mule an extra bunch of hay the night before
setting out on a trip; the sea captain who allows for storms and doldrums when he lays in
his stores; and again, I say, the child who puts on his cap when he realizes that it may
rain, these are my hope, they accept the law of cause and effect. Yes, I believe in the
gentle force of reason, in the long run no one can resist it. Can you watch me (He lets a
pebble fall from his hand to the oor.) drop a pebble and say, It didnt fall, and not
know that it really did fall. Nobody can do that. The seduction of proof is too strong.
Most people will succumb to it and in time they all will. Thinking, after all, is one of the
greatest pleasures of the human race.
SIGNORA SARTI
(Enters hurriedly.) Did you want something, signor Galilei?
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
(Again back at his telescope, making notes, very kindly.) Yes, I want Andrea.
SIGNORA SARTI
Andrea? But hes in bed. Hes sound asleep.
III-
ii-52
GALILEO
Cant you wake him?
SIGNORA SARTI
What do you want with him, may I ask?

GALILEO
I want to show him something thatll please him. Hes going to see something that no one
but us has ever seen since the earth, our world, began.
SIGNORA SARTI
You want to show him something through your tube again?
GALILEO
Yes, something through my tube again, Signor Sarti.
SIGNORA SARTI
And for that you want me to wake him in the middle of the night? Are you out of your
mind? Have you lost your reason? He needs his sleep. I wouldnt think of waking him.
GALILEO
Not a chance?
SIGNORA SARTI
Not a chance.
GALILEO
Signoria Sarti, in that case maybe you can help me. You see, a question has come up that
we cant agree on, perhaps because weve read too many books. Its a question about the
sky, involving the stars precisely. Here it is: Now, which seems more likely, that large
bodies turn around small bodies or small bodies around large ones?
SIGNORA SARTI
(Suspiciously.) I never know what youre up to, Signor Galilei. Is this a serious question
or are you pulling my leg again?
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
This is a serious question.
SIGNORA SARTI
Then I can give you a serious and quick answer. Do I serve your dinner or do you serve
mine?
GALILEO
You serve mine. Yesterday, it was burned.
III-ii-53
SIGNORA SARTI
And why was it burned? Because you asked me to bring you your slippers while I was
cooking it. And, didnt I bring you your slippers?

GALILEO
I presume you did.
SIGNORA SARTI
And why? Because its you who went to school and can pay! (She goes out amused.)
GALILEO
And such people are supposed not to be able to grasp the truth? They snatch at it!
(The matins bell, the bell for early mass, has begun to ring. VIRGINIA
enters wearing a cloak and carrying a shaded candle. )
VIRGINIA
Good morning, Father!
GALILEO
Up so early?
VIRGINIA
Im going to matins, early mass, with Mrs. Sarti. Ludovico will be there too. How was
the night, father?
GALILEO
Clear and bright1
VIRGINIA
May I look through it?

GALILEO
Why? What for? (Virginia has no answer.) Its not a toy!
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
I know, father.
GALILEO
By the way, the tubes a big op. Youll hear all about soon. Its being sold on the street
for three scudi. It was invented in Holland.
VIRGINIA
Did you nd anything new in the sky with it?
III-ii-54
GALILEO
Nothing for you! Only a few dim specks on the left side of a big star, Ill have to nd a
way of calling attention to them. (Speaking to SAGREDO over his daughters head.)
Maybe I will call and Christian them the Medicean Stars to please the Grand Duke of
Florence. (Again aside to Virginia.) It may be of interest to you, Virginia, to know that
well most likely be moving to Florence. Ive written to ask if the Grand Duke can use
me as court mathematician.
VIRGINIA
(Beaming radiance.) At court?
SAGREDO
Galileo!
GALILEO
I need leisure, peace and quiet, old friend. I need proofs. And I want the eshpots. With a
position like that I wont have to ram the Ptolemaic System down the throats of private
students, Ill have time time, time, time! to work out my proofs. What Ive got now
isnt enough. Its nothing; its just bits and pieces. I cant stand up to the whole world
with that. Theres still no proof that any celestial heavenly body revolves around the sun.
But Im going to nd the proofs, proofs for everybody from Signoria Sarti all the way on
up to the Pope. The only thing that worries me is that the court may not accept me or
want me.
VIRGINIA
Oh, Im sure theyll take you, father, with your new stars and all.
GALILEO
Go to you mass.
(Virginia leaves.)
VIRGINIA
All right, Father!
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Im not used to writing letters to important people. (He hands SAGREDO a letter.) Do
you think this will do? Tell me what you think of it.
SAGREDO
(Reading aloud the end of the letter which GALILEO has handed him.) Withal I am
yearning for nothing so much as to be nearer to Your Highness, the rising sun which will
illuminate this age. The Grand Duke of Florence is nine years old.

III-ii-55
GALILEO
I know. I see, you think my letter is too servile. I wonder if its servile enough, not too
formal, as if I were lacking in genuine devotion. A more restrained letter might be all
right for someone with the distinction of having proved the truth of Aristotle, not for me.
A man like me can only get a halfway decent position by crawling on his belly. And you
know I despise men whose brains are incapable of lling their stomachs.
(SIGNORIA SARTI and VIRGINIA walk past the TWO MEN on their
way to mass.)
SAGREDO
Dont go to Florence, Galileo!
GALILEO
Why not?
SAGREDO
Why not? Florence is ruled, ruled, by monks.
GALILEO
There are distinguished scholars at the Florentine court.
SAGREDO
Toadies! Mere lackeys!
GALILEO
Ill take them by the scruff of their necks and drag them to my tube. Even monks are
human beings, Sagredo. Even monks can be seduced by proofs. Copernicus- dont forget
that wanted them to trust his gures, Im only asking them to trust the evidence of their
eyes. When truth is too weak to defend itself, it has to lead the attack. Ill take them by
the scrugg of their necks and make them look through this tube.
The Life Of Galileo
SAGREDO
Galileo, youre setting out on a dangerous path. Its a bad luck when a man sees the truth.
It leads to disaster! And its sheer delusion to believe in the rationality of the human race.
Who do we say walks with open eyes? The man who is headed for perdition! How can
the high and mighty allow a man at large who knows the truth to wander freely, even if it
concerns only the most remotest and distant stars? Do you think the Pope will listen to
your truth when you tell him he is wrong, and not hear you saying he is wrong? No, hell
hear only one thing, that youve said hes wrong. Do you think he will calmly write in his
diary: January 10, 1610, Heaven abolished? How can you want to leave the republic with
the truth in your pocket and walk straight into the trap of the monks and princes with
your tube in your hands? You may be very skeptical in your science, but youre as
gullible as a child about anything that looks like help in pursuing it. You may not believe
in Aristotle, but you believe in the Grand Duke of Florence. A moment ago when I saw
III-ii-56
SAGREDO (Cont.)
you at your telescope, looking at the new stars, I thought I saw you on a aming pyre.
And when you said you believed in proofs I smelled burnt esh. I love science, but I love
you more, my old friend. Galileo, please dont go to Florence.

GALILEO
If they will have me, I will go.
(The BALLAD SINGERS come on stage carrying copies of his letter
and hum a CHORAL A CAPPELLA to the music of WERE MOVING
IN FULL SAIL.)
[Music Cue #23: Spirit Were Moving In Full Sail Music Only]
GALILEO
In assigning and bestowing the sublime and illustrious name of the Medicean line to these
stars newly discovered by me I am fully aware that when gods and heroes were elevated
to the rmament, the starry skies, they were thereby gloried, but that in the present case
the reverse is true, the reverse is true!!! It is the stars that will be gloried by receiving
and having bestowed upon them, the illustrious name of the Medici. With this I
recommend myself to you, one among many, as one of your most humble, faithful,
devoted and obedient servants who counts it the highest honor to have been born your
subject. Withal I yearn, I long, for nothing so much as to be nearer to Your Highness, the
rising sun that will illuminate this age. Galileo Galilei.
(CURTAIN)
The Life Of Galileo
(END OF ACT)
IV-i-57
ACT IV
Scene 1
SETTING: GALILEOS house in Florence.
AT RISE: SIGNORA SARTI is getting GALILEOS new
study in Florence ready to receive guests. Her son
Andrea is seated, putting celestial charts away.
GALILEO has moved from the Republic of Venice
to the Florentine Court. Discoveries made with his
telescope cause disbelief among the scholars there.
BALLAD SINGERS are singing.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
The old says: What Ive always done, Ill always do.
The new says: If youre useless, you must go.
The old says: As I am, Ive been from the beginning.
The new says: If youre not useful, then you must go.
If youre not useful, then you must go.
If youre not useful, then you must go.
The Life Of Galileo
SIGNORA SARTI
Ever since we arrived in the marvelous Florence Ive seen nothing but bowing and
scraping. The whole town les past this tube and I can scrub the oor afterwards. But it
wont do us a bit of good. If these discoveries amounted to anything, the reverend fathers
would know it, wouldnt they? For four years I was in service with Monsignor Filippo, I
never managed to dust the whole of his library which had leather-bound volumes up to
the ceiling, and no love poems either. And the good monsignor had two pounds of boils
on his behind from poring over all that learning. Wouldnt a man like that know whats
what? The big demonstration today will be another op and tomorrow I wont be able to
look the milkman in the face. I knew what I was sating when I told him to give the
gentlemen a good dinner rst, a nice piece of lamb, before they start in on his tube. Oh,
no! (She imitates GALILEO.) Ive got something better for them.
(She hears a knocking downstairs, and looks in the window-mirror.)
Goodness, theres the Grand Duke already. And, Galileo still at the university!
(She runs downstairs and admits Cosmo de Medici, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, accompanied by the lord chamberlain and two ladies-in-
waiting.)
IV-
i-58
COSMO
I want to see the tube.

THE LORD CHAMBERLIN
Perhaps Your Highness would prefer to wait until Mr. Galilei and the other gentlemen
have returned from the university. (To SIGNORA SARTI.) Mr. Galilei wanted the
professors of astronomy to examine the newly discovered stars that he calls the Medicean
stars.
COSMO
They dont believe in the tube, far from it. Where is it?
SIGNORA SARTI
The tube is upstairs in his workroom.

(COSMO nods, points to the staircase, and upon a nod from
SIGNORA SARTI dashes up the stairs.)
THE LORD CHAMBERLIN
(A very old man.) Your Highness! (To SIGNORA SARTI.) Must we go up there? I only
came because the tutor is ill.
The Life Of Galileo
SIGNORA SARTI
Nothing can happen to the young gentleman. My boys upstairs.
COSMO
(Entering the room above.) Good evening.
(COSMO and ANDREA ceremoniously bow to each other. Pause. Then
ANDREA goes back to his work.)
ANDREA
(In a manner much like his teacher, GALILEO.) This place is as busy as a pigeon house.
COSMO
Lots of visitors?
ANDREA
Yes and they stumble about and gape and dont know beans about anything.
COSMO
I see. Is that. . . ? (He points at the telescope.)
ANDREA
Yes, thats it. But dont touch it. It is not allowed.
IV-
i-59
COSMO
And whats that? (He indicates the wooden model of the Ptolemaic system.)
ANDREA
Thats the Ptolemaic system.
COSMO
It shows how the sun moves, doesnt it?
ANDREA
Yes, so they say.
COSMO
(Sitting down in a chair, he takes the model on his knees.) My tutor has a cold. So, I was
able to get away early. Its nice here.
ANDREA
(Is becoming quite restless, he ambles about irresolutely, throwing suspicious glances at
the strange boy, and at last, unable to resist the temptation any longer, takes from behind
The Life Of Galileo
the star charts another wooden model representing the Copernican system.) But of
course it is really like this.
COSMO
What is like this?
ANDREA
(Pointing at the model on Cosmos knee.) Thats the way people think it is and thats
(Pointing at his model.) the way it really is. The earth turns around the sun. See?
COSMO
You really think so?
ANDREA
Of course, it has been proven.

COSMO
You dont say! I wish I knew why they didnt let me go in to see the old man. Last night
he was at dinner as usual.
ANDREA
You dont seem to believe it, or do you?
COSMO
Why certainly, I do.
IV-i-60
ANDREA
(Pointing at the model on COSMOS knees.) Give it back! You dont even understand that
one!
COSMO
But you do not need two.
ANDREA
Give it back this minute. Its not a toy for little boys.
COSMO
I dont mind giving it back but you ought to be a little more polite, you know.
ANDREA
Youre stupid and I dont care about being polite. Give it back or you will see.
The Life Of Galileo
COSMO
Hands off, do you hear me?
(ANDREA and COSMO start ghting and are soon rolling on the
oor.)
ANDREA
Ill show you how to treat a model. Give up!
COSMO
Youve broken it! You are twisting my hand.
ANDREA
We will see who is right and who isnt. Say it turns or Ill box your ears.
COSMO
I wont! Ouch! You redhead! Ill teach you good manners!
ANDRE
Redhead? Am I a redhead?
(ANDREA and COSMO continue to ght in silence. In the study below,
GALILEO and SEVERAL UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS enter. Behind
them FEDERZONI.)
THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN
Gentlemen, a slight illness has prevented Mrs. Sarti, His Highness tutor, from
accompanying His Highness.
IV-i-61
THE THEOLOGIAN
Nothing serious, I hope?
No, no, by no means.
(GALILEO enters, looks around and appears disappointed.)
GALILEO
Isnt His Highness here?
His Highness is upstairs. May I ask you gentlemen to proceed? The court is so very
anxious to hear the opinion of our illustrious university about Mr. Galileis extraordinary
The Life Of Galileo
instrument and those marvelous new stars.
(ALL get up to go upstairs.)
(Upstairs the BOYS lie still. They have heard the sounds from
downstairs.)
COSMO
Here they come! Let me up!
(The BOYS quickly get up!)
THE GENTLEMEN
(As ALL le upstairs.) No, No, theres nothing to worry
about. The faculty of medicine has declared that the cases in the inner city cant possibly
be plague. The miasma would freeze at the present temperature. The worst danger in
these situations is panic. We can always expect an epidemic of colds at this time of year.
No ground for suspicion. Nothing to worry about!
(Salutations upstairs!)

GALILEO
Your Highness! I am so extremely pleased, and delighted that you should be present
while I communicate our new discoveries to the gentlemen of your university.

(COSMO bows formally in all directions to ALL, including ANDREA.)
THE THEOLOGIAN
(Seeing the broken Ptolemaic model on the oor.) There seems to have been some
breakage here.

(COSMO stoops quickly and hands the model politely to ANDREA. At
the same time GALILEO slyly puts away the other model.)
IV-i-62
GALILEO
(At the telescope.) As your Highness no doubt knows, we astronomers have for some time
now been in great difculty in our calculations. We using a very old system that, though
it accords with agreement with philosophy, does not, unfortunately accord with fact.
According to this old system, the Ptolemaic system, the movements of the planets are
extremely complicated. Venus, for instance, is supposed to move something like this.
(GALILEO sketches on a blackboard the epicyclic course of Venus
according to Prolemy.)
But if we predicate these complicated movements, we are unable to calculate the position
of any star accurately in advance. We do not nd it in the place where it should be.
The Life Of Galileo
Furthermore there are stellar motions for which the Prolemaic system has no explanation
at all. According to my observations, certain small stars I have discovered describe
motions of this kind around the planet Jupiter, the Medicean stars. These are certain
movements of the stars that the Ptolemaic system does not account for. If it is agreeable,
would the gentlemen care to begin with an observation of the satellites of Jupiter, known
as the Medicean Stars?
ANDREA
(Pointing to the stool in front of the telescope.) Kindly, please sit here.

[Music Cue #25: Spirit Who Is Authority, Is It Important]
(Song intertwines with speeches.)
THE PHILOSPHER
(Sings.)
Thank you, my child. Im afraid it will not be so simple.
Signor Galilei, before we apply ourselves to your famous instrument, let us be humble.
We should like to request the pleasure of a disputation.
Can such planets exist? Or is this some fantasy wish?
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing in a chant while conversations continue.)
Who is the authority? Who is the authority?
MATHEMATICIAN
(Sings.)
A formal disputation! A formal disputation, is requested, is requested, of this strange
situation.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Continue singing in a chant while conversations continue.)
Who is the authority? Who is the authority?
IV-i-63
GALILEO
I should hope, you would be convinced, if you simply looked, through my telescope, and
you would see for yourselves.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Continue to Sing growing louder and louder in a chant while
conversations continue.)
Who is the authority? Who is the authority? Authority! Authority! Who is the authority?
Who will it be? Which man clearly sees?
If only man could y, the truth unknown lies.
Will it be uncovered under a stone?
The Life Of Galileo
Or will we have to look up high to uncover it in the sky?
To whom must we listen? Who will win this case of what is really up in space?
Who is taller? Who is bigger? Who has the mind to really gure?
(Sing.)
Basta! Basta! Basta! Basta! Basta! Time! The Fathers! The Church! Time! In-Stru-Ments!
Basta! Basta! Who is the authority? Who is the authority?
The telescope! The telescope! The telescope! The telescope!
An instrument . . . what does it prove or behove?
ANDREA
(Spoken.) Here, please.
THE MATHEMATICIAN
(Sings.)
Yes, yes. You are aware, of course, of course, as it goes without saying that in the view of
the ancients no star can revolve around any center other than the earth and that there can
be no stars without rm support in the sky. You are familiar with the ancients? That stars
only, only, only, revolve around the earth, or so, at least according to these great men, and
in fact, that not one, not one, can be unsupported, in their heaven?
GALILEO
(Spoken.) Yes.
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.)
And, quite apart, from the possibility of such stars, I, as a philosopher, would humbly like
to raise the question regarding these heavens you see a far regardless of whether such
stars are possible, a proposition that the mathematician (He bows to the mathematician.)
seems to doubt, and, I, yes, I, as a philosopher should like with all due modesty to raise
this question: Are such stars necessary?
(Sings.)
Aristotelis divini universum . . . querie! Aristotelis divini universum . . . querie!

IV-i-64
GALILEO
(Spoken.)
Oughtnt we to continue in the vernacular? My colleague, Mr. Federzoni, doesnt
understand Latin. Isnt that clear?
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.)
Does it matter whether he understands us?
The Life Of Galileo
(Sings.)
Is it important? Is it important? I ask you? Who is the Authority?
Is it important that he understands us, and what we do?
Is it important, is it important, I ask you again, that he understand us, and what we do?
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Yes, it is important. Yes, it is important, I tell you, yes, yes, yes.
It is important that he understand us, and what we do.
It is important. It is important, who is the Authority.
So do not amuse yourself with my friend or make him your fool, for always you will lose.
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) I beg your pardon, Signor Galileo. I thought he was your lens grinder and not a
scholar.
ANDREA
Signor Federzoni is a lens grinder and a scholar. He is a friend, he is important!
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) Thank you, my child. (Sings.) If Signor Federzoni insists . . . I shall ght the
temptation not to resist.
GALILEO
(Sings.) I insist. I Insist. (Spoken.) You must resist.
THE PHILOSOPHER
The debate will lack in brilliance, but this is your house and my resilience.
The cosmos of the divine Aristotle with its . . .
mystically musical spheres, just listen . . .
its crystal vaults and the gyrations of its circular courses of its heavenly bodies,
and with the oblique angle of the suns course, the mysteries of its tables of satellites and
the wealth of stars in the catalog of the southern hemisphere and the inspired construction
of the celestial globe . . . well . . . it is an edice of such order and beauty that we shall be
well advised not to, not to, I say, not to disturb its harmony.
IV-
i-65
BALLAD SINGERS
(In a soft chant, with each singer taking a line, conversations
continue.)
Who is the authority? Who is the authority? Authority! Authority! Who is the authority?
Who will it be? Which man clearly sees? Is it important, oh yes indeed!
The Life Of Galileo
If only man could y, the truth unknown lies.
Will it be uncovered under a stone?
Or will we have to look up high to uncover it in the sky?
To whom must we listen?
Who will win this case of what is really up in space?
Who is taller? Who is bigger?
Who has the mind to really gure?
GALILEO
(Spoken.)
Your Highness, just look, just look, Your Highness, would you please care to observe
those impossible and unnecessary stars of lightness though the telescope for yourself?
Just look, just look, Your Highness. You will see things you will never see in a BOOK!
THE MATHEMATICIAN
One might be tempted to reply that if your tube shows something that cannot exist it must
be a rather unreliable tube.

GALILEO
What do you mean by that?
THE MATHEMATICIAN
(Sings.)
One might be tempted to reply however I feel you are trying to be very sly.
And, that your telescopes magical delight may be causing a delusion with my sight.
That unreliable tube may consist and possess powers, showing what cannot exist.
Your rather unreliable tube, telescope, call it what you want, I think, it could be xed, or
even possibly hexed.
(Spoken.)
I would prefer and it certainly would be much more to the point, Mr. Galilei, if you were
to tell us your reasons for supposing that there can be free-oating stars moving about in
the highest sphere of the immutable heavens.
GALILEO
(Spoken.) What do you mean by that? I cant believe what you have said, my dear man,
have you lost your head? Have you lost your head? Have you lost your head?

IV-i-66
THE MATHEMATICIAN
(Sings.)
It would be much more suitable, if you would be more inscrutable!
The Life Of Galileo
Signor Galilei, if you could give us your reasons, your reasons,
For assuming that in the highest regions of the immutable heavens,
Youre presuming, youre presuming, stars are able to move wildly throughout the space,
(Spoken.) held bridly! Please give us your reasons, for going against the authorities.
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) Reasons, Mr. Galilei, reasons!
(Sings.)
Use your reason! Use your reason! Reason that higher part of your being.
Because when I look through your telescope, I dont see what youre seeing.
Please give us your reasons, for going against the authorities.
GALILEO
(Spoken.) My reasons?
(Sings.)
All it takes is a simple look at these stars, a simple look, I say, all it takes is a simple look
at the stars themselves . . . and with my calculations I can demonstrate the phenomenon, I
have found with my instrumentations.
(Spoken.) This debate is getting absurd, sir.
THE MATHEMATICIAN
(Spoken.) If it were not to be feared that you would get even more excited than you are,
one might suggest that what you have gathered in your tube and what is in the heavens,
the sky, are two quite different things.
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Sings.)
It would be difcult to scarcely be put more politely,
that this matter must not be taken lightly.
For what you see in that tube, nightly,
I believe must be halted blight-ly, as un-slightly and absolutely not right-ly.
(Spoken.) Heaven is where God lives and the Heavens do not move!
FEDERZONI
(Spoken.) You think we painted the Medicean stars on the lens?
GALILEO
(Spoken.) In the name of God, in the name of God, are you accusing me of fraud?
Are you really, as reasonable men, accusing me of fraud?
Are you accusing me disrupting God?
IV-
i-67
The Life Of Galileo
BALLAD SINGERS
(Chanted!)
Basta! Basta! Basta! Basta! Basta! Time! The Fathers! The Church! Time! In-Stru-Ments!
Basta! Basta! Who is the authority? Who is the authority? They are important, you see.
The telescope! The telescope! The telescope! The telescope! How important does it be?
An instrument . . . what does it prove or behove? Oh, Galileo, the authority, you oppose!
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) We wouldnt dream of accusing you of fraud! In the presence of His Highness,
of his royal, kind, Highness!
THE MATHEMATICIAN
(Spoken.) Your instrument however, whether we call it your own or your adoptive child,
is a most severalty, tetherly, destructive device that has doubtlessly been very cleverly
constructed. No doubt about that!

THE PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) And we are fully convinced, Signor Galilei, regarding the existence of our
universe system that neither you nor anyone else would ever dare to grace stars with the
illustrious name of the ruling house if there were the slightest or remotest doubt of their
existence.
(ALL bow deeply to the GRAND DUKE.)
COSMOS
(Turning to the ladies-in-waiting.) My stars! My stars! Is there something wrong with my
stars?
ONE BALLAD SINGER
(Sing.)
They say one can see the cloak on Orion,
Where lies the great hunter still stalking the lion.

COSMOS
There cannot be something wrong with my stars. I can see my gems and they are way
past Mars.
THE OLDER LADY-IN-WAITING
(To the GRAND DUKE.) Your Highness your stars are ne. The gentlemen are only
wondering whether they really and truly exist.
(Pause.)
THE YOUNGER LADY-IN-WAITING
They say you can see the scales of the Dragon with this instrument.

FEDERZONI
The Life Of Galileo
Yes, and you can see all sorts of things on the Bull.
IV-i-68
COSMOS
There cannot be something wrong with my stars!
GALILEO
Are you gentlemen going to look through it, or not? I havent time for this silliness, what
naught!
THE PHILOSOPHER
Certainly! Certainly! Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course!

THE MATHEMATICIAN
Certainly! Of course!

Chorus Only
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
The telescope! The telescope! The telescope! The telescope! A mere instrument! What
does it prove, or behove, that interestingly strange, truth telling? Telescope! (Very quietly
to audience.) Oh, How important is it to the Authority! Who is really the authority? Those
who think they are, are important, you see! But they may not be, the real authority!
(Pause. Suddenly ANDREA turns around and walks stify out through
the length of the room. SIGNORA SARTI, his mother intercepts him.)
SIGNORA SARTI
Whats got into you? What is wrong with you?
ANDREA
Theyre stupid! Theyre stupid! Theyre stupid! (Tears himself loose and runs off.)
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Stately.) A deplorable child!
Your Highness, gentlemen, may I remind you that the state ball will begin in three
quarters of an hour?
THE MATHEMATICIAN
Why beat about the bush? Sooner or later Mr. Galilei will have to reconcile himself and
face up to the facts. His moons of Jupiter, his planets revolving around Jupiter, would
The Life Of Galileo
pierce through the crystal sphere with a giant crack! Thats all there is to it. It is all very
simple!
FEDERZONI
There are no crystal spheres. I know this matter all seems quite queer!
IV-i-69
MATHEMATICIAN
Any textbook will tell you otherwise, my good man. Have you got that perfectly clear?
Any textbook. Do you now understand?
FEDERZONI
Then we need new textbooks so it wont be confusing because this debate to me has
gotten absurdly amusing.
THE PHILOSOPHER
Your Highness, my distinguished and esteemed colleagues and I are supported and base
our evidence by no less an authority than the divine Aristotles assuming.
GALILEO
(Almost obsequiously.) Gentlemen, belief in the authority of Aristotle is one thing,
observable facts, facts held in the hand, are another. You say that according to Aristotle
there are crystal spheres up there and that certain motions are impossible because the
stars would have to pierce the spheres. But what if you observed these motions? Wouldnt
that suggest to you that the spheres do not exist? What if the crystal spheres do not exist
and the stars are free to move around becoming lovers. Oh, Gentlemen, I humbly beseech
you to trust your own eyes and your own virility.
THE MATHEMATICIAN
My dear, Galilei, though it may seem dreadfully old-fashioned to you, Im in the habit of
reading Aristotle now and then, from time to time, and I can assure you that when I read
Aristotle I do, I do, I do, I do, trust my eyes, and my mind.
GALILEO
Im used to seeing the gentlemen of all faculties close their eyes to all facts and act as if
nothing had happened. I show them my calculations, and they smile; I make my telescope
available to help them see themselves, and they quote Aristotle.
FEDERZONI
Even if Aristotle was a great man, dont you understand, today we have hope with the
telescope? Aristotle had no telescope! The man had no telescope! (Quietly.) You dope!
THE MATHEMATICIAN
The Life Of Galileo
Exactly! Most assuredly, not, most assuredly not, most assuredly not, most assuredly not,
so please my fellow man, dont just dont put me on the spot. (Pause.) Just please tell me,
have you created a devious trick?
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Grandly.) If Aristotle, an authority acknowledged not only by all the scientists of
antiquity but by the holy church fathers themselves, is to be dragged through the mire, a
IV-i-70
THE PHILOSOPHER (Cont.)
continuation of this discussion seems superuous, at least to me. I refuse to take part in
irrelevant arguments. Basta! As far as I am concerned there is no more desire!
[Music Cue #27: Spirit Truth]
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Truth is the child of time, not of anyone elses mind. Ignorance is innite, stop pretending
to be ignorant.
(Speaks.)
Our ignorance, it never ceases to amaze me. Lets whittle away and reduce it by just one
cubic millimeter, I say. Why should we still want to be so clever when at long last we
have a chance of being a little less stupid? Ive had the unspeakable good fortune to lay
hands on a new instrument with which we can observe a tiny corner of the universe a
little more closely and clearly. Make use of it!!! Make use of it!!! Make use of it!!!
BALLAD SINGERS
(Chant and slowly fade out.)
Time! The Fathers! The church! Time! Time! Time! Instruments! The Telescope! A ne
instrument so some say. Basta! Basta! Basta! Who is the authority? Who is the authority?
The real authority!
GALILEO
(Sings.)
to be ignorant.
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Sings.)
The Life Of Galileo
Your Highness, ladies and gentlemen, I can only wonder what all this will lead to. I ask
myself where . . . is the truth. Oh where, is the truth.

BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
Where? Where? Where?
THE PHILOSOPHER
(Sings.)
Where will all this end? Who will win? Who stands in truth, the child of time.

IV-i-71
GALILEO
(Sings.)
I submit that as scientists we have dont ask, ever, where the truth will lead. We cannot do
so. We just must know that what we nd, may be the real truth, that should be in all
minds. The truth will lead us there.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
Lead! Lead! Lead!
GALILEO
(Sings.)
We dont ask where truth will lead! We allow the truth to embellish, to encumber, to
saturate our mind, and that will lead us to all truth in time.

THE PHILOSOPHER
(In wild alarm. In a rage!) Signor Galilei, the truth can lead to all sorts of things!
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Where will the truth lead to in time? Where will the truth lead to in time? Where will the
truth lead to in time?
PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) Your truth will lead us to God knows where!

BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Where, Oh where, Oh where! God knows where!!!

PHILOSOPHER
(Spoken.) Yes, this truth might lead us to God knows where.
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
(Spoken.)Your Highness, on nights like this one, telescopes are being directed at the sky,
at the heavens, all over Italy. The moons of Jupiter dont lower the price of milk. But they
have never been seen before, and yet they exist. The man in the street will conclude that a
good many other things may exist if only he opens his eyes. And, you ought to back him
up. You ought to support him in that! Its not the motions of some remote stars that make
Italy sit up and take notice, but the news that doctrines believed to be unshakeable are
beginning to totter, and we all know that of these there are far too many. Gentlemen, we
oughtnt to be defending shaky, dying doctrines!
FEDERZONI
You are teachers. You ought to be doing the shaking.
IV-i-72
THE PHILOSOPHER
I wish your man there would keep out of a scientic debate.
GALILEO
Your Highness! My work in the great arsenal of Venice brought me into daily contact
with draftsmen, architects and instrument makers. Those people taught me many new
ways of doing things. They may not read books but they trust the testimony and evidence
of their ve senses, most of them without fear as to where it will lead them . . .
THE PHILOSOPHER
Fancy that! Oho! Oho! Oho!
GALILEO
I am very much like our seamen who left our shores a hundred years ago, without the
slightest idea of what other shores, if any, they might reach. I trust what I have found! It
looks as if we have to go to the shipyards nowadays to nd the high curiosity that was the
glory of ancient Greece.
THE PHILOSOPHER
After what we have heard here today, I have no doubt that Signor Galilei will indeed nd
admirers in the shipyards.
Your Highness, I note to my great dismay that this exceedingly instructive conversation
has taken a little longer than foreseen and has exceeded its schedule. Your Highness must
rest a while before the court ball.

(At a signal, the GRAND DUKE bows to GALILEO. The COURT
quickly prepares to leave.)
The Life Of Galileo
SIGNORA SARTI
(Stepping in the way of the GRAND DUKE and offering him a plate of pastries.) Would
you care for a pastry, Your Highness?
(The OLDER LADY-IN-WAITING leads the GRAND DUKE away.)
GALILEO
(Running after them.) But all you gentlemen need to do is look through the instrument.
Just look through it, please!
IV-i-73
His Highness will not fail to obtain an expert opinion on your statements by consulting
our greatest living astronomer, Father Christopher Clavius, Astronomer-in-Chief at the
Papal College in Rome.
GALILEO
Oh goodness. What happened to reason? What is wrong with these human beings? Why
cant they see the truth?
GALILEO
(Sings.)
to be ignorant. Let truth be told in time.
(BLACKOUT)
(END OF SCENE)

The Life Of Galileo
IV-iia-74
ACT IV
Scene 2, A
SETTING: GALILEOS study in his home in Florence.
TIME: Early morning.
AT RISE: Undaunted even by the plague, GALILEO
continues his investigations. GALILEO is bending
over his notes at the telescope. VIRGINIA comes in
with a traveling bag.
GALILEO
Virginia! Is anything wrong?
VIRGINIA
The convent is closed. They sent us home. There are ve cases of plague in Arcetri.
GALILEO
(Calling out!) Signora Sarti!
VIRGINIA
And, last night our market was roped off. They say two people have died in the old city,
And there is three more dying in the hospital.
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
As usual, theyve hushed it up until the last minute.
SIGNORA SARTI
(Comes in.) What are you doing here, Virginia?
VIRGINIA
The plague.
SIGNORA SARTI
My God! Id better pack. (Sits down.)
GALILEO
No need to pack. Take Virginia and Andrea. Ill go get my notes.
(GALILEO hurries back to the table and gathers his papers in
great haste. SIGNORA SARTI puts a coat on ANDREA as he runs in
and goes to get some food and bedding. One of the GRAND DUKES
LACKEYS enter.)
IV-iia-75
LACKEY
His Highness has left the city for Bologna because of the raging disease. Before leaving
he insisted that Mr. Galilei should be given an opportunity to escape. The coach will be
here in two minutes.
SIGNORA SARTI
(To VIRGINIA and ANDREA.) Go right outside, you two. Here take this coat.
ANDREA
Why? If you dont tell my why, I wont go.
SIGNORA SARTI
It is the plague, my child.
VIRGINIA
Well wait for father.
SIGNORA SARTI
Signor Galilei, are you ready?
GALILEO
(Wrapping the telescope in a tablecloth.) Put Virginia and Andrea in the coach. Ill join
you in a minute.
VIRGINIA
The Life Of Galileo
No, we wont leave without you. Youll never be ready if you start packing your books.
SIGNORA SARTI
The carriage is here.
GALILEO
Be reasonable, Virginia. If no one gets in, the coachman will just drive away. The plague
is no joke.
VIRGINIA
(Protesting as SIGNORA SARTI leads he and ANDREA out.) Help him with his books
or he wont come.
SIGNORA SARTI
(Calls out from the house door.) Signor Galilei! The coachman says he wont wait.
GALILEO
Signora Sarti, I dont think I should leave. Everything is in such a muddle here, you know
all my notes of the last three months I might as well throw them away if I dont
go on with them for a night or two. And anyway the plague is
everywhere.
IV-
iia-76
SIGNORA SARTI
Mr. Galilei! Come this minute! You are out of your mind.
GALILEO
You go with Virginia and Andrea. Ill come later.
SIGNORA SARTI
In another hour they wont let anyone leave the city. You must come!
(Listens.) Hes driving off! Ive got to stop him. (Out.)

(GALILEO walks back and forth. SIGNORA SARTI returns, very pale,
without her bundle.)
GALILEO
Dont stand around like that! The coach with the children will leave without you.
SIGNORA SARTI
Theyve left. They had to hold Virginia down. The children will be taken care of in
Bologna. But whod get you your meals?
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Youre crazy. Staying in the city to cook! . . . (Takes up his papers.) You mustnt take me
for a fool, Signora Sarti. I cant interrupt my observations. I have powerful enemies. Ive
got to supply proofs for certain propositions.
SIGNORA SARTI
You do not need to apologize. But its not reasonable.

(CURTAIN)
(END OF SCENE)
IV-iib-77
ACT IV
Scene 2, B
SETTING: GALILEOS house in Florence. Outside.
TIME: Early morning.
AT RISE: GALILEO comes out of the door and looks down
the street. TWO NUNS are passing by.
GALILEO
(Addresses the NUNS.) Sisters, could you tell me where I can buy milk? This morning the
milk woman did not come, and my housekeeper is away.
THE FIRST NUN
Only the shops in the lower city are open.

The Life Of Galileo
THE OTHER NUN
Did you come out of this house? (GALILEO nods.) This is the street!

(The TWO NUNS cross themselves, mumble an Ave Maria and run. A
MAN passes.)
GALILEO
(Addresses the BAKER.) Arent you the baker who brings us our bread? (The
MAN nods.) Have you seen my housekeeper? She must have gone out last night. She
hasnt been here all morning.
(The MAN shakes his head. A window across the street is opened and a
WOMAN looks out.)

THE WOMAN
(Screaming.) Run! Quick! Theyve got the plague!
(Frightened the MAN runs away!)

GALILEO
Do you know anything about my housekeeper?
THE WOMAN
Your housekeeper collapsed in the street. Up there! She must have known.
That is why she left you. How can people be so inconsiderate? (She bangs the window
shut.)

IV-iib-78
(CHILDREN come down the street. When they see GALILEO they run
away screaming. As GALILEO turns around, TWO SOLDIERS in full
armor come rushing in.)
THE SOLDIERS
Get back in that house! (With their long lances they
push GALILEO back into his house. they bolt the door behind him.)
GALILEO
(At a window.) Can you tell me whats happened to the woman?
THE SOLDIERS
They take em to potters eld.
The Life Of Galileo
THE WOMAN
(Appears at her window, again.) The whole street
balk there is infected. Why dont you close it off?
(THE SOLDIERS stretch a rope across the street.)
THE WOMAN
But now nobody can get into our house! Dont put your rope there. Were all well here.
Stop! Stop! Cant you hear? My husbands gone to the city. He wont be able to get back.
You beasts! You beasts!
(Her sobbing and screaming are heard from inside. The SOLDIERS
leave. An OLD WOMAN appears at another window.)
GALILEO
There seems to be a re back there.
THE OLD WOMAN
The remen wont touch it is there is any suspicion of plague. All they can think about is
the plague.
GALILEO
Just like them! Their whole system of government is like that. They curse us off like a
withered g branch that is stopped bearing fruit.
THE OLD WOMAN
You mustnt say that. Theyre helpless, thats all.

GALILEO
Are you alone in your house?
IV-iib-79
THE OLD WOMAN
Yes, my son sent me a note. Thank God he heard last night that someone had
died around here, so he didnt come home. Thereve been eleven cases in the
neighborhood during the night.
GALILEO
I cant forgive myself for not sending my housekeeper away in time. I had
urgent work to nish, but she had no reason to stay.
THE OLD WOMAN
We cant go away either. Who would take us in? You mustnt reproach yourself. I saw
her. She left this morning at about seven oclock. She was sick, because when she saw me
The Life Of Galileo
step out to bring in the bread she circled around me. I suppose she didnt want your house
to be sealed off. But they get wise to everything.
(A rattling sound is heard.)

GALILEO
What is that?
THE OLD WOMAN
Theyre making noise to drive away the clouds that carry the seeds of the plague.
(GALILEO roars with laughter.)
How can you laugh?
(A MAN comes down the street and nds it roped
off.)
GALILEO
Hey, you! The street is closed and there is nothing to eat in the house!
(The MAN has already run away.)
GALILEO
You cant just let us starve here. Hey! Hey!
THE OLD WOMAN
Maybe they will bring us something. If they dont, I can put a pitcher of milk on your
doorstep, if youre not afraid, but not until after dark.
GALILEO
Hey! Hey! Somebody ought to hear us.

(Suddenly ANDREA stands at the rope. His face is
stained with tears.)
Andrea! How did you get here?
IV-
iib-80
ANDREA
I was here this morning. I knocked, but you didnt open. People told me . . .
GALILEO
Didnt you go away?

The Life Of Galileo
ANDREA
I did. But I managed to jump out. Virginia went on. Can I come in?
THE OLD WOMAN
No, you cannot. You must go to the Ursulines. Maybe your mother is there
too.
ANDREA
Ive been there. But they wouldnt let me see her. Shes too sick.

GALILEO
Did you walk the whole way back? Youve been gone for three days.
ANDREA
Thats how long it took. Please dont be angry. And once they caught me.
GALILEO
(Helpless.) Dont cry Andrea. You know, Ive found out a few things in the
meantime. Shall I tell you? (Andrea nods, sobbing.) But listen carefully, or you wont
understand. Remember when I showed you the planet Venus? Dont listen to that noise.
Its nothing. Remember? You know what I saw? Its like the moon. I saw it as a half-
circle and I saw it as a crescent. What do you think of that? I can show you the whole
thing with a little ball and a lamp. It proves that Venus has no light of its own either. And,
it describes a simple circle around the sun, isnt that marvelous?
ANDREA
(Sobbing!) Yes, and that is a fact.
GALILEO
(Softly.) I didnt stop her from leaving.
(ANDREA is quiet now.)
But of course if I hadnt stayed it wouldnt have happened.

ANDREA
Will they have to believe you now?
GALILEO
Ive got all the proofs I need. You know what? When all this is over, Ill go to Rome and
show them.
IV-iib-81
(TWO MUFFLED MEN with long poles and buckets come down the
street. With the poles they hold out bread to GALILEO and THE OLD
WOMAN in their window.)
The Life Of Galileo

THE OLD WOMAN
Theres a woman with three children over there. Give her some too.
GALILEO
Ive nothing to drink Theres no water in the house.
(The TWO MEN shrug their shoulders.)
Will you be back tomorrow?
THE MAN
(With a mufed voice, his mouth covered by a cloth.) Who knows what tomorrow
might bring?
(CURTAIN)
(END OF ACT)
V-i-82
ACT V
The Life Of Galileo
Scene 1
SETTING: 1616: A Large Hall in The Collegium Romanum,
the research institute of the Vatican in Rome.
TIME: Night.
AT RISE: The Collegium Romanum research institute of the
Vatican conrms Galileos discoveries. High
ecclesiastics, monks, scholars, church dignitaries,
are in groups. Galileo stands on one side, alone.
Great merriment prevails the mood. Before the
scene opens bursts of boisterous laughter is heard.
[Music Cue #31: Spirit Nr.5]
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
This has the world not often seen, the teachers themselves to learning, turn.
Things take indeed a wondrous scene,
When these leaned men do stop to learn, Clavius, the servant of God,
Gave Galileo Galilei his approval, we are pleased to say,
Clavius upheld, Galileo Galilei
A FAT PRELATE
(Holding his belly with laughter.) Oh Stupidity! Oh Stupidity! Please, someone give us a
proposition that will not be believed.
A SCHOLAR
What about the proposition that you have an unconquerable aversion to food, monsignor?

A FAT PRELATE
That will be believed, never fear. They will believe it!!!! Only reasonable statements that
make sense are not believed! The existence of the devil is being doubted. But they
believe that the earth spins round like marble in the gutter. Santa simplicitas!!!
A MONK
(Acting out a comedy.) Im dizzy. The earth is turning too fast. Permit me to hold on tyou,
professor. (He pretends to stagger and holds on to a scholar.)
THE SCHOLAR
(Joining in the fun.) Yes, poor Mother Earths hitting the bottle again. The ole hag is dead
drunk. (He grabs hold of someone else.)
The Life Of Galileo
V-i-83
THE FIRST MONK
Stop, Stop! Were sliding off! Stop, I say.
ANOTHER SCHOLAR
Venus is on the incline, again. I can only see half of her behind. Help!
(A cluster of monks is forming who with much laughter pretend to be
on a storm-tossed ship, struggling to avoid being thrown overboard.)
THE SECOND MONK
If only hope we dont get thrown on the moon. Brothers, they say it bristles with sharp
mountain peaks!

THE FIRST SCHOLAR
Steady yourself with your feet.

THE FIRST MONK
And, dont look down! Im getting dizzy! I feel as sick as a monkey!
THE FAT PRELATE
(Pointedly loud in Galileos direction.) What monkey business in the Collegium
Romanum? Impossible! Dizziness!
(Bursts of laughter. Two astronomers of the Collegium come out of a
door. Quiet sets in as silence falls.)
A MONK
Still investigating? It is a scandal!
THE FIRST ASTRONOMER
(Angry.) Not us!
THE SECOND ASTRONOMER
Whats to come of it all! I cant understand Clavius . . .. Are all the claims in the last fty
years to be taken at face value? In 1572 a new star appeared in the highest sphere, the
eighth, the sphere of the xed stars. It was rather larger and brighter than its neighbors
and a year and a half later it was gone, overtaken by perdition. Is that any reason to
question the eternal immutability of the heavens?
THE
PHILOSOPHER
The Life Of Galileo
If we let them, theyll destroy and smash up the whole universe around us.
V-i-84
Yes, that is what the world is coming to! Five years later, Tycho Brahe, a Dane,
determined the trajectory of a comet. It started above the moon and broke through all the
spheres, the material carriers of all movable celestial bodies. It met with no resistance. Its
light was not deected. Is that any reason to doubt the existence of the spheres?
THE PHILOSOPHER
Out of the question! How can Christopher Clavius, the greatest astronomer of Italy and of
the church, lower himself to investigating such stuff!
THE FAT PRELATE
Scandalous!
But there he is, investigating. There he sits, gaping through that devils tube.
Principuiis obsta! The whole trouble began years ago when we started using the tables of
Copernicus a heretic for calculating such things as the length of the solar year, the
dates of solar and lunar eclipses, the positions of the celestial bodies.
A MONK
I ask you: What is better, to get a lunar eclipse three days behind schedule or to miss out
on eternal salvation altogether?
A VERY THIN MONK
(Steps forward with an open Bible, fanatically stabbing his ner at a passage.) What
does the Book say? What say the scriptures? Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and
thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. How can the sun stand still if it never moves as these
heretics claim? Does the Book lie?
No, and thats why were leaving!
There are phenomena that present perplex difculties to us astronomers, but does man
need to understand everything?
The Life Of Galileo
(Both ASTRONOMERS go off.)

THE VERY THIN MONK
They degrade the very home of mankind, they saying it is a planet, a wandering star.
Man, animals plants, the earth itself, they pack onto a car and chase through a circle in an
V-i-85
THE VERY THIN MONK (Cont.)
empty sky. Heaven and earth, they say, no longer exist. Earth because it is now just a star
in the sky, and heaven, now is just the sky, because it is made up of many earths. Theres
no longer any difference between above and below, between eternal and transient. That
we are transient, that we know. But now they tell us that heaven itself is transient. There
are sun, moon, and stars, but we live on this earth, thats what weve learned and what the
Book says; but now according to them, the earth is just another star. One day theyll be
saying theres no difference between man and beast that man himself is an animal and
only animals exist. Indeed!
THE FIRST SCHOLAR
(To GALILEO.) Signor Galilei, youve dropped something.
GALILEO
(Who took his pebble from out of his pocket during the preceding speech, played with it,
and then let it fall to the oor, as he stoops to pick it up.) Dropped Monsignor? No, it
didnt drop; it rose up to me.
THE FAT PRELATE
(Turns his back on him.) The insolence of the man! The impudence!
(A very old CARDINAL comes in, supported by a monk. The others
reverentially make room for him.)
THE VERY OLD CARDINAL
Are they still in there? Cant they get this trivial foolishness dispensed with any faster?
Surely Clavius knows his astronomy. I hear this Mr. Galilei moves man from the center
of the universe and banishes him to somewhere on the edge. Obviously hes an enemy of
mankind. And, ought to be treated as such. Man is the crown of creation, every child
knows that, hes Gods highest and most beloved creature. Would God have put His most
marvelous work, His masterpiece and supreme effort on a little, insignicant, far-away
star thats constantly on the move eternally moving? Would He have sent His Son to such
a place? How can there be men so perverse as to believe these slaves of their
mathematical tables? How can any one of Gods creatures put up and endure with such a
thing?
The Life Of Galileo
THE FAT PRELATE
(In a soft undertone.) The gentleman is present.
(To GALILEO.) Oh, so you are the man? You know, I dont see too well anymore, but I
can see that you look remarkably like the man what was his name again, the man whom
we burned a few years ago?
V-i-86
THE MONK
Your Eminence, you mustnt excite yourself. The doctor . . .

(Brushing him off; to GALILEO.) You want to degrade our earth, though you live on it
and receive all manner of everything from it. You are befouling your own nest! But I for
one will not stand for it. I will not have it! (He pushes the monk out of the way and struts
proudly back and forth.) Im not some nondescript inconsequential being on some little
inconsequential star that briey circles around somewhere for a time. I walk with a rm
step with assurance on a rm earth, that stands still, it has no motion, it is the center of
the universe, I am in the center, and the Creators eye rests on me, on me alone. Around
me, xed to eight crystal spheres, revolve the xed stars and the mighty sun, which was
created to illumine my surroundings. And myself as well, in order that God may see me
and behold me. Hence obviously and irrefutable, because everything depends on me,
man, the supreme work of God, the creature in the center, the image of God, immortal,
imperishable and . . . (He collapses.)
THE MONK
Your Eminence has you have overtaxed yourself.
(At this moment the door in the rear is opened and the great CLAVIUS
comes in at the head of his ASTRONOMERS. Quickly, without a word
or a glance aside, he traverses the hall without looking to right or left,
and, near the exit upon leaving, speaks to a MONK.)

CLAVIUS
Hes right.
(He goes out followed by his ASTRONOMERS. The door in the rear
remains open. Deadly silence. THE VERY OLD CARDINAL revives,)
What happened? Has there been a decision?
The Life Of Galileo
(No one dares to tell him.)
THE MONK
Your Eminence, you must let them take you home.
(The VERY OLD CARDINAL is helped out. ALL leave the hall,
perturbed and bewildered. A LITTLE MONK, a member of CLAVIUS
investigating commission, stops beside GALILEO.)
V-i-87
THE LITTLE MONK
(Furtively.) Signor Galilei, before Father Clavius left, he said: Now the theologians can
see about setting the heavenly spheres right again. You have prevailed. (Out.)
GALILEO
(Trying to hold him back.) Reason has won! Not I, but reason, reason has won!
(The LITTLE MONK has already left. GALILEO is leaving too. In the
doorway he meets a tall CLERIC, the CARDINAL INQUISITOR,
accompanied by an ASTRONOMER. GALILEO bows. Before going
out, he whispers a question to a DOORKEEPER.)
DOORKEEPER
(Whispering back.) His Eminence, the Cardinal Inquisitor!
(The ASTRONOMER leads the CARDINAL INQUISITOR to the
telescope.)

(CURTAIN)
(END OF SCENE)
(INTERMISSION)
The Life Of Galileo

VI-i-88
ACT VI
Scene 1
SETTING: March 5, 1616 (The Inquisition places the
Copernican doctrine on the Index.): The house of
Cardinal Bellarmine in Rome.
TIME: Early evening.
AT RISE: A ball is in progress. In the vestibule, where TWO
ECCLESIASTICAL SECRETARIES are playing
chess and exchanging observations about the guests,
GALILEO accompanied by his daughter
VIRGINIA and her anc LUDOVICO MARSILI
is received by an applauding group of MASKED
LADIES and GENTLEMEN.
BALLAD SINGERS/CHORUS
(Sing.)
When Galileo was in Rome, A Cardinal asked him to his home.
He wined and dined him as his guest, and only made one small request.
VIRGINIA
I wont dance with anyone else but you, Ludovico.
LUDOVICO
Your shoulder clasp is loose.
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
(Sing.)
Fret not, daughter, if perchance, you attract a wanton glance.
The eyes that catch a trembling lace will guess the heartbeats quickened pace.
Lovely woman still may be careless with felicity.

Your tucker, Thais, is askew, dont set it straight.
For preciously it shows others and me too some deeper disorder.
In the candlelight of the swirling ballroom,
It makes them dream of darker coigns in the expectant park.

VIRGINIA
(To GALILEO.) Feel my heart.

VI-i-89
GALILEO
(Puts his hand on her heart.) Its beating!
VIRGINIA
I want to look beautiful!
GALILEO
Youd better, or else theyll start doubting again that the earth revolves.
LUDOVICO
What do you mean the earth revolves? It doesnt revolve at all. (GALILEO laughs.) All
Rome is talking of nothing but you, sir. But after tonight all of Rome will be talking
about your daughter.
GALILEO
Everybody agrees that its easy to look beautiful in the Roman spring. I myself probably
look like a paunchy overweight Adonis. (To the SECRETARIES.) Im to wait here for the
cardinal. (To the COUPLE.) Run along and enjoy yourselves!
(Before VIRGINIA and LUDOVICO reach the ballroom in the rear
VIRGINIA skips back once more to see her father.)
VIRGINIA
Father, the hairdresser on Via del Trionfo took me rst and made four ladies wait. He
knew your name right away. (Out.)
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
(To the SECRETARIES playing chess.) How can you go on playing chess the old way?
Too conned. As its played now, the larger pieces can range over many elds. The rook
goes like this (He demonstrates it.) and the bishop like this, and the queen like this and
this. That gives you plenty of room and you can plan ahead.
THE FIRST SECRETARY
It doesnt t in with our small salaries. We can only afford to move like this. (He makes a
short move.)
GALILEO
Its the other way round, my friend. If you live grandly, you can get away with anything.
You must go with the times, gentlemen. You mustnt keep hugging the shore, one ne day
you must venture out on the high seas.
(The VERY OLD CARDINAL of the previous scene crosses the stage,
steered by his MONK. He notices GALILEO, passes him by, then turns

VI-i-90
(Cont.)
uncertainly and greets him. GALILEO sits down. The beginning of
Lorenzo de Medicis famous poem about the transience of the world is
heard from the ballroom, spoken by one boy with a vocal harmony
hummed in background by group of boys.)

[Music Cue #33: Spirit Summer]
MALE BALLAD SINGER/S
(Spoken with Harmony Song in Background.)
I who have seen the summers roses die and all their petals pale and shriveled lie.
Upon the chilly ground, I know the truth: How evanescent is the ower of youth.
GALILEO
Rome. Big Party?
THE FIRST SECRETARY
Its the rst carnival after the years of plague! All the great families of Italy are
represented here tonight. The Orsinis, the Villanis, the Nuccolis, the Soldanieris, the
Canes, the Lecchis, the Estensis, the Colombinis . . .
THE SECOND SECRETARY
(Interrupts.) Their Eminences, Cardinal Bellarmine and Barberini.
The Life Of Galileo
(Enter CARDINAL BELLARMINE and CARDINAL BARBERINI. They
hold respectively a lambs and a doves mask mounted on sticks before
their faces.)
BARBERINI
(Pointing his index nger at GALILEO.) The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,
and hasteth to his place where he arose. So says Solomon, and what does Galileo say?
GALILEO
When I was this big, this high! (He shows with his hand.), Your Eminence, Your
Excellency, I stood on a deck of a ship, and I cried out: The shore is moving away! -
Today I know that the shore stood still and the ship moved away.
BARBERINI
Clever! Clever! What we see, Bellarmine, to wit, that the stars in heaven are turning, need
not be so, witness ship and shore. And what is true, to wit, that the earth turns, cannot be
observed! Very clever! On the other hand, his satellites of Jupiter are hard nuts for our
astronomers to crack. Unfortunately, I too, once read a little bit astronomy, Bellarmine. It
clings to you like the itch and is more difcult to get rid of than the itch.
VI-i-91
BELLARMINE
We must go with the ow of the times, Barberini. If star charts based on a new hypothesis
make navigation easier for our seamen, then lets use them. We disapprove only of
doctrines that put scripture in the wrong. We only dislike teachings that contradict the
Bible. (He waves a greeting to the ballroom.)
GALILEO
Scripture. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. Proverbs of
Solomon!
BARBERINI
A prudent and wise man concealeth knowledge. Proverbs of Solomon!
GALILEO
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
BARBERINI
He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.
GALILEO
But a broken spirit drieth the bones. (Pause.) Doth not truth and wisdom cry?
The Life Of Galileo
BARBERINI
Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? Welcome to Rome, my dear
friend Galileo! You remember the founding of Rome? Two little boys, the legend goes,
received milk and shelter from a she-wolf. And from that day to this one all the she-
wolfs children and all of us have had to pay for their milk. In return, however, the she-
wolf provides all manner of pleasures, spiritual and worldly, from conversations with my
learned friend Bellarmine to three or four ladies of international reputed reputation. May I
show them to you? (He leads GALILEO toward the rear to show him the ballroom.
GALILEO follows reluctantly.) No? He prefers a serious discussion. Very well, good! Are
you sure, my friend Galilei, that you astronomers arent simply just trying to make
astronomy a little easier for yourselves? (He leads him back to the front, downstage.) You
like to think in circles or ellipses and in equal uniform velocities, in simple motions that
commensurate and can comprehend with your minds. But what if God had been pleased
to make His stars move like this? (He moves his nger through the air in a very
complicated course with varying velocity in the air.) What would become of your
calculations then?
GALILEO
Your Eminence, if God had created the world like this (He retraces BARBERINIS course
of motion.) then He would have constructed our brains like this too (He repeats the same
course of motion.) to enable them to recognize these motions as the simplest possible. I
believe in reason!
VI-i-92
BARBERINI
I nd reason inadequate. No answer. Hes silent. Hes too polite to say he considers mine
inadequate. (Laughs and returns to the balustrade.)
BELLARMINE
Reason, my friend, goes only so far. All around us we see nothing but falsehood, crime
and weakness. Where is the truth?
GALILEO
(Angrily.) I believe in reason.
BARBERINI
(To the SECRETARIES.) Dont take anything down. This is a scientic discussion among
friends.
BELLARMINE
Consider for a moment the intellectual effort it cost the church fathers and many after
them to make some sense out of this world (Abominable, isnt it?). Consider the cruelty
of those who have their peasants whipped half-naked around their estates in the
Campagna and the stupidity of the wretches who kiss their feet in return.
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Shameful! On my way here I saw . . .
BELLARMINE
Weve transferred the responsibility for such conditions (The very stuff of life.) which we
cannot understand to a higher being, we say that certain purposed are served thereby, that
a master plan is being followed. Not that our minds are set entirely at ease. But now you
come along and accuse this supreme being of not knowing how the planets move, when
its perfectly clear to you. Is that wise?
GALILEO
(Launching into an explanation.) Im faithful son of the church . . .
BARBARINI
Hes really dreadful. Hes incorrigible! In all innocence he accuses God of being the
biggest bungler and one of the juiciest boners in the history of astronomy! I suppose God
didnt study hard enough or work hard enough at His astronomy before He wrote Holy
Scripture? My dear friend!
BELLARMINE
Dont you think it likely that the Creator knows more about His creation than any of His
creatures? That He knows more about His creation than the created.
VI-
i-93
GALILEO
But, gentlemen, after all, man can misinterpret not only the movements of the heavenly
bodies, but he can misrepresent the stars as easily as he can the Bible as well.
BELLARMINE
But, wouldnt you say that after all, the interpretation of the Bible is the business of the
Holy Church?
(GALILEO is silent!)
Quiet, at last? (BELLARMINE makes a sign to the SECRETARIES.) Signor Galilei, the
Holy Ofce has decided tonight that the doctrine of Copernicus, according to which the
sun is the center of the cosmos and motionless, whereas the earth moves and is not the
center of the cosmos, is inane, absurd, and heretical. I have been charged to admonish
you to relinquish this opinion. I am cautioning you to renounce this opinion. (To the
FIRST SECRETARY.) Repeat that!
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
What does this mean?
(From the ballroom another verse of the poem is heard, sung by boys.)

[Music Cue #34: Spirit Summer]
BALLAD SINGERS/ MALE
I said, the seasons do not stay. Pluck the roses while its May.
(BARBERINI motions GALILEO to keep quiet while the singing
continues. They ALL listen.)
THE FIRST SECRETARY
(Speaks.)
His Eminence, Cardinal Bellarmine, to the aforesaid Galilei:
[Music Cue #35: Spirit The Holy Ofce]
THE BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
The Holy Ofce, has determined, that the teaching of Copernicus,
Is foolish, Is absurd, Is Heretical, It has determined!
The Holy Ofce, has determined, that the teaching of Copernicus
According to which the sun is the center of the universe,
According to which the sun is unmoving.
The Holy Ofce, has determined, that the teaching of Copernicus
According to which the earth revolves around the sun
According to which the earth is not the center of the universe.
VI-i-94
THE BALLAD SINGERS (Cont.)
The Holy Ofce, has determined, that the teaching of Copernicus,
Is foolish, Is absurd, Is Heretical, It has determined!
THE FIRST SECRETARY
The Holy Ofce has determined that the teaching of Copernicus . . . .according to which
the sun is the center of the universe and unmoving and the earth revolves around the sun
and is not the center of the universe, is foolish, absurd and heretical.
BELLARMINE
. . . I am charged with cautioning you to renounce this opinion.
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
What about the facts? I understand that the astronomers of the Collegium Romanum have
conrmed my observations.
BELLARMINE
And expressed their profound satisfaction, in a manner most complimentary to you which
you should nd most attering.
GALILEO
But the satellites, the moons, of Jupiter, the phases of Venus . . .
BELLARMINE
The Holy Congregation has arrived at its decision without taking these particulars into
account.
GALILEO
In other words, all further scientic research . . .
BELLARMINE
Is completely assured, and is guaranteed, Signor Galilei. In keeping with the church tenet
that we cannot know but we may investigate and do research. (Again BELLARMINE
greets guests in the ballroom.) You are at liberty to deal with this doctrine and accept this
teaching as a mathematical hypothesis. Science is the legitimate and most beloved
daughter of the church, Signor Galilei. None of us seriously believes that you wish to
undermine mans trust in the Churchs authority.
GALILEO
(Angrily.) To invoke trust too often is to exhaust it.
VI-i-95
BARBERINI
Really? Oh? (Laughing heartily, he slaps GALILEOS on the back. Then with a sharp
look at him, BARBERINI speaks, not unkindly.) Dont throw the baby out with the bath
water, my friend, Galilei. Nor shall we. We need you more than you need us.
BELLARMINE
I cant wait to introduce Italys greatest mathematician to the commissioner of the Holy
Ofce who has the highest regard and the most profound respect for you.
BARBERINI
The Life Of Galileo
(Taking one of GALILEOS arms.) Whereupon he is transformed back into a lamb! You
too, my friend, should have come here in disguise as a respectable doctor of scholastic
philosophy and academic tradition. Its my mask that allows me a little freedom tonight.
When I wear it, you may even hear me murmuring: If God did not exist, we should have
to invent Him. Well, lets put our masks on again. Poor Galilei has none.
(They take GALILEO between them and lead him into the ballroom.)
FIRST SECRETARY
Did you get the last sentence?
SECOND SECRETARY
Almost, I am putting it down. (The SECRETARIES write eagerly.) What was that part
about his believing in reason?
(Enter the CARDINAL INQUISTITOR.)
THE CARDINAL INQUISITOR
Has the interview taken place?
FIRST SECRETARY
(Mechanically.) First Signor Galilei arrived with his daughter. She was betrothed today to
Mr. . . . (The INQUISITOR motions him to skip it.) Signor Galilei went on to tell us about
the new method of playing chess in which, contrary to the rules, the pieces are moved
over many squares.
(Again beckons no.) The minutes.
(A SECRETARY hands the CARDINAL INQUISITOR the minutes and
he sits down to skim through them. Two YOUNG LADIES wearing
masks cross the stage and curtsy to the CARDINAL INQUISITOR.)
VI-i-96
THE FIRST LADY
Whos that?
THE SECOND LADY
The Cardinal Inquisitor.
(The LADIES giggle and leave. Enter VIRGINIA, looking around for
someone.)
The Life Of Galileo

(From his corner.) Well, my daughter?
VIRGINIA
(With a little startle as she has not seen him.) Oh, your, Eminence.
(The CARDINAL INQUISITOR, without looking up, tenders his right
hand. VIRGINIA approaches, kneels down, and kisses his ring.)
A glorious and superb night! Allow me to congratulate you on your engagement. Your
anc comes of a distinguished family. Will you be staying with us in Rome?
VIRGINIA
Not just yet, Your, Eminence. Theres so much to be done and prepare for the wedding.
Ah, then youre returning to Florence with your father. Im glad to hear it. I imagine your
father needs you. Mathematics is a cold companion, I should say. A woman of esh and
blood in such surroundings makes all the difference. It must be so easy for a man to lose
himself in the universe among all those very immense stars, especially if one happens to
be a great man.
VIRGINIA
(Breathless.) Youre very kind, Your, Eminence. I really know practically nothing about
these things or matters.
Indeed? Really? (He laughs.) Well, I suppose they dont eat sh in the shermans house.
It will amuse your father to hear that, when it comes right down to it you learned what
you know about the heavenly bodies from me. (Leang through the minutes.) I read here
that our innovators whom acknowledged your father as the leader a great man, one of
the greatest - regard our present ideas about the importance of our good earth as
somewhat exaggerated. Well then, from the age of Ptolemy, a sage of antiquity, to the
VI-
i-97
THE CARDINAL INQUISITOR (Cont.)
present day, the whole of creation, that is, the entire crystal globe with the earth at its
center, has been computed to measure approximately two thousand earth diameters. Quite
a lot of space, but not enough, not nearly enough, for the innovators. They maintain, or so
I hear, that the universe extends further than we can imagine or conceive and that the
The Life Of Galileo
distance between earth and sun a rather considerable distance, we always thought is
so negligibly small when compared with the distance between our poor earth and the
xed stars on the outermost crystal sphere, that there is no need whatever to consider it in
our calculations. Yes, our innovators it seems live on a very grand scale.
(VIRGINIA laughs. The CARDINAL INQUISITOR, too, laughs.)
And, indeed, certain gentlemen of the Holy Ofce, not so long ago, came very close to
taking offence at such a picture of the world, compared to which our old picture is a mere
miniature that might well be hanging from the charming neck of a certain young lady.
The gentlemen of the Holy Ofce are worried that a prelate or even a cardinal might get
lost in such enormous spaces. Why, God Almighty Himself might even lose sight of the
Pope himself. Yes, its all very amusing, of course. But even so, my dear child, Im glad
that youll be staying with your eminent illustrious father, whom we all hold in the
highest esteem. I wonder whether if I know you father confessor . . .
VIRGINIA
Father Christopher of St. Ursula.
Yes. Well, Im glad youll be accompanying your father. He will need you soon, perhaps
you cant conceive of such a thing, and you may nd it difcult to believe just now, but
the time will come. Youre very young and so very much alive, full of life, and the gift of
greatness bestowed is not always an easy thing to bear for those to whom God has given
it, no, not always. No mortal is too great to be included in a prayer, none of us. But Im
keeping you, my dear child, and perhaps Im even making your anc jealous and as well
as your father too by telling you something about the heavenly bodies which may, to be
sure, be quite obsolete. Now, you hurry back to the ball, to your dance, but dont forget to
give Father Christopher my very best regards.
(VIRGINIA after a deep curtsy leaves quickly. LUDOVICO grabs her,
and they dance to THE SOUND TRACK FOR NOW WERE
MOVING. ALL dance. GALILEO watches quietly.)
(CURTAIN)
(END OF ACT)

VII-i-98
ACT VII
The Life Of Galileo
Scene 1
SETTING: Palace of the Florentine Ambassador to Rome.
TIME: Afternoon.
AT RISE: In a conversation, GALILEO listens to the LITTLE
MONK, who after the session of the Collegium
Romanum, repeated Father Clavius remark to him
in a whisper.
ONE BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
Galileo read the proverb,
Galileo feeling grim,
Galileo had a young monk come to visit him.
The Monk was born of common folk.
The Monk was a poor peasants child,
The Monk he wanted to know, how one, knowledge nds
He wanted to know,
Oh, how he wanted to know, Yes, The Monk, he wanted to know,
All that the Monk wanted, was he wanted to know.
So, It was of science, it was all about science,
Yes it was entirely about science,
That Galileo, Signor Galilei, and The Little Monk spoke.
GALILEO
Speak up! Speak up! Lets hear! Lets hear! The cloth, the habit, you wear entitles you to
say whatever you please and want.

THE LITTLE MONK
Ive studied mathematics, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
That might be a good thing if it led you to admit that two times two is sometimes makes
four.
VII-i-99
The Life Of Galileo
THE LITTLE MONK
For three nights I havent been able to sleep, Signor Galilei. I cant gure out how to
reconcile the decree of the Holy Ofce that Ive just read, with the moon satellites of
Jupiter that I have seen. So I decided to say mass this morning and come to see you.
GALILEO
To tell me that Jupiter has no moons, no satellites?
THE LITTLE MONK
No, I recognized the wisdom of the decreed. It showed me the inherent danger of
unrestricted inquiry can be to mankind, and Ive decided to give up astronomy. Still, I felt
I had to acquaint you with the motives that compel me, even though Im an astronomer,
to desist from pursuing a certain doctrine and abandon research on a particular subject.
GALILEO
I can assure you that such motives are quite well known to me.
THE LITTLE MONK
I understand your bitterness. Youre thinking of certain exceptional means of pressure
exerted by the church, of the powers the Church has at its command?
GALILEO
Dont beat about the bush: just call them as they are, call them the instruments of torture.
THE LITTLE MONK
Yes, but Id like to speak of other motives. I hope you dont mind and forgive me if I talk
about myself.
(A pause of absolute silence.)
I grew up as the son of peasants in the Campagna. My parents are peasants, simple
people. They knew all about olive trees, but very little else. As I observe the phases of
Venus, I can see my parents in front of me sitting by the stove with my sister, eating their
meal of lasagna and cheese.
I see the beams over their heads, blackened by the smoke of centuries. I see distinctly
their work worn old hands, and the little spoons they hold in them. Theyre very poor, but
even in their misery there is a certain order in their imagined land.
There are cyclic rhythms, various routines such as scrubbing the oor, tending the olive
trees in their seasons and paying taxes. Theres even a routine in the calamities that
descend on them that are disasters.
The Life Of Galileo
My fathers back wasnt bowed all at once, no, it becomes a little more bent with every
spring he works in the olive grove, just as my mother at regular intervals becomes more
VII-i-100
THE LITTLE MONK (Cont.)
and more sexless with every child she bears and behooves. What gives them the strength
to sweat their way up stony paths with heavy baskets on their backs, to bear children,
even to eat, is the feeling of stability, a sense of continuity and necessity they get from
what others may consider mundane, such as the simple sight of the soil, of the trees
turning green every year in the spring, of their little church building, standing there, and
from hearing Bible verses read there every Sunday. They are assured and have no doubt
that the eye of God is xed upon them, searching, almost anxious, that the whole
worldwide stage, the pageant of the universe, is built around them in order that they, the
players, the actors, may prove themselves in their great or small roles with their passion.
What would my people say if I were to tell them they were conned living on a small
chunk of stone that moves around another star, turning incessantly in empty space, one
among many or more or less signicant? What would be the good or necessity of their
patience, of their acquiescence in their misery? What would be the good of the Holy
Scripture that explains everything and demonstrates the necessity of all their sweat,
patience, hunger and submission, if it turns out to be full of errors?
[Music Cue #37: Spirit My Little Orbs]
(A lute begins to play an instrumental softly MY LITTLE ORBS)
No, I can see their eyes waver with fright, I can see them slowly rest their spoons on the
table, I can see how cheated and betrayed they feel. In that case, they will say, no one is
watching over us after all. Must we, untaught, old and exhausted as we are, look out for
our ignorant selves? No one has given us a part to play, only this wretched unplanned role
on a tiny, earthly miserable, insignicant star that is wholly dependent, around which
nothing turns? There is no sense in our misery, hunger means no more than going without
food, it is no longer a test of strength; effort means no more than bending and carrying,
there is no virtue in it. Can you understand now that in the decree of the Holy
Congregation I discern a noble motherly compassion, a great goodness of soul?
(A rupturing HANS SPIRIT musical interlude occurs, rising to a
deafening sound. Then STOPS as GALILEO begins to speak.)

GALILEO
Goodness of soul! Dont you simply mean that theres nothing left, the wines been
drunk, their lips are parched, so let them kiss the cassock, they might as well. But why is
there nothing left? Why is there no order in this country but the order in an empty drawer,
and no necessity but the necessity of working oneself to death amid overowing, bursting
The Life Of Galileo
vineyards and wheat elds? Your peasants in the Campagna are paying for the wars that
the Vicar of Gentle Jesus is waging in Spain and Germany.
Why does he put the earth at the center of the universe? Because he wants the Throne of
St. Peter to be in the center of the world! Thats the crux of the matter. Youre right! The
VII-i-101
GALILEO (Cont.)
question is not the planets, but the peasants of the Campagna. And dont talk to me about
the beauty of phenomena in the golden halo glow from the face of the aged. Do you know
how the Margaritifera oyster produces pearls? By contracting a near-fatal disease, by
enveloping an unassailable foreign body, a grain of sand, for instance, in a ball of mucus.
It almost dies in the process. To hell with the pearl, give me the healthy oyster. Virtue is
not bound up with misery, my friend. If your people were prosperous and happy, they
could develop the virtues of prosperity and happiness. But today the virtues of exhausted
people derive from exhausted elds, and I reject those virtues. Yes, sir, my new water
pumps can work more miracles than your preposterous, ludicrous, superhuman, slave
driving toil. Be fruitful and multiply, because your elds are barren and you are
decimated by wars. Do you want me to lie to your people?
[Music Cue #38: Spirit Rich Man, Poor Man]
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
Some are born with much, and some are born without.
One man does the work, while another rests in the sun about.
If one is rich, one must be poor,
If one is rich, If one is rich, one must be poor.
Rich man, Poor man, Rich man, Poor man, who, works in the sun?
I guess I aint the rich man, no, I aint the rich man, who, all his work gets done.
(Sings.)
I guess I aint the rich man, no, I aint the rich man, who all his work gets done.
,
ALL BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
The Life Of Galileo
I guess I aint the rich man, no, I aint the rich man, who, all his work gets done.
VII-i-102
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
I am the poor man, who does all the rich mans work, all his work, all his work, I get
done in the sun.
THE LITTLE MONK
(In great agitation.) The very highest motives bid us keep silent: the peace of mind of the
wretched and lowly, the inward peace of our unfortunate people.
GALILEO
Would you care to see a Cellini clock that Cardinal Belarmines coachman left here in a
delivery this morning? You see, my friend, as a reward for my letting your good parents
have their inward peace of mind, the government authorities offer me the wine that they
press in the sweat of their countenance, which as you know was fashioned in the image of
God. If I agreed to keep silent, my motives would undoubtedly be rather sordid: an easy
life with comfort, no persecution, and so on.
THE LITTLE MONK
Signor Galilei, I am a priest.
GALILEO
Youre also a physicist! And you can see that Venus has phases. Look out there. (He
points out the window.) Can you see the little Priapus by the laurel tree at the well? The
god of gardens, birds, and thieves, rustic, obscene, two thousand years old. He wasnt so
much of a liar. All right, well skip that! I too am a son of the Church. But do you know
the Eighth Satire of Horace? Ive been rereading him lately. He gives me a certain
balance. (He reaches for a small book.) He puts words in the mouth of this same Priapus,
a little statue that used to stand in the Esquiline Gardens.
Heres how it starts: I was a g tree stump, wood of little use, when once a carpenter,
pondering whether to fashion a Priapus or a footstool decided on the God . . . Do you
think Horace would have let anyone forbid him the footstool and put a table in the poem
instead? Sir, a cosmology in which Venus has no phases violates my esthetic sense! We
cant devise new machines for pumping river water if were forbidden to study the
The Life Of Galileo
greatest machine before our eyes, the mechanism of the heavenly bodies. The sum total
of the angles in a triangle cant be changed to suit the requirements of the Curia. Nor can
I calculate the courses of freely ying moving bodies in such a way as to account, nor
accommodate, for witches riding on broomsticks.
THE LITTLE MONK
Dont you think the truth will prevail and truimph, even without us, if it is the truth?
VII-i-103
GALILEO
No! No! No! Truth prevails only when we make it prevail. The triumph of reason can
only be the triumph of reasoning men. You describe your peasants in the Campagna as if
they were moss on their huts. How can anyone imagine that the sum of the angles of a
triangle runs counter to their needs? But if they dont rouse themselves and learn how to
think, the best, most beautiful, irrigations systems in the world wont do them any good.
Damn it, I see the divine patience of your people, but where is their divine wrath and
fury?
THE LITTLE MONK
Theyre tired!
GALILEO
(Throws a bundle of manuscripts in front of the LITTLE MONK.) Are you a physicist, my
son? Here youll nd the reasons for the ebb and ow of the oceans tides. But dont read
it, do you hear? Ah, youre reading already? See, I see youre a physicist.
(THE LITTLE MONK has immersed himself in the papers and is
completely engrossed.)
[Music Cue #39: Spirit Tree Of Knowledge]
(GALILEO sings.)
An apple from the tree of knowledge!
Watch the man, Watch the man, Watch the man wolf it down!
He gobbles it up. He wolfs it down. He gobbles it up. He wolfs it down.
An apple, an apple,
Yes, watch the man wolf it down, the apple, the apple
Watch the man gobble it up, the apple, the apple
From the tree of knowledge.
Man will be damned, for all eternity, just from seeking the apple from the tree.
Hes got to bolt it down, the hapless glutton that suddenly, he be.
Hes got to devour it, as he cannot stop, you see. . . he is unhappy, and to nd the truth he
needs to seek so he can nd the truth, the seeds that be.
The Life Of Galileo
So, as his obsession now consumes and lls his needs, his pursuit only leads him to a
desire of greed, to nd more and more apples and more seeds from the tree.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Knowledge! Knowledge! What is it be? What does it be?
To think! To read! To write! Oh, yes, and To see?
To nd the truth, only the truth, we seek, from the apple, and its seeds, in the tree?
The tree of knowledge, so it be. So they say if we seek, we will be free.
By looking at the past, the new world is found with freedom of a personal decree,
And a future of truths lets new dreams open abound, bringing peace with knowledge,
That is what it be, that is what is does, it be, and we will see.
VII-i-104
GALILEO
(Sings.)
Sometimes I think Id gladly be locked up in a dungeon ten fathoms below the ground,
imprisoned deep in the earth under the sea, if in return I could nd out one thing, you see.
What is light? What is light? What is the nature of light?
And, the worst of it is: What I know I must tell others. Like a lover, like a drunkard, like a
traitor: Its a vice, Its a miraculously vice, a vice that can bring me true insight.
I know, and it leads to ruin, oh disaster, to be sure. It is a sin, simple and pure.
How long can I go on shouting into empty air that is the question, my dear!
How long? How long? How long? How long?
I wonder will I be content to be assured to talk only to myself about this matter,
To talk all night to me as I lie in bed and watch the stars shine bright.
With the question I ponder, for no matter where I am, my mind constantly wonders, going
astray as it strays. For the answer to the question remains,
as it be, what does the apple hold for me.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Knowledge! Knowledge! What is it be? What does it be?
To think! To read! To write! Oh, yes, and To see?
To nd the truth, only the truth, we seek, from the apple, and its seeds, in the tree?
The tree of knowledge, so it be. So they say if we seek, we will be free.
By looking at the past, the new world is found with freedom of a personal decree,
And a future of truths lets new dreams open abound, bringing peace with knowledge,
That is what it be, that is what is does, it be, and we will see.
THE LITTLE MONK
(Points at a passage in the papers.) I dont understand this sentence.
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Ill explain it to you! Ill explain it to you!
(CURTAIN)
[Music Cue #40: Spirit My Little Orbs (Instrumental Only)
(BALLAD SINGERS walk across downstage with signs that show the
passing of the eight years, and with some of the singers holding a
notepad, and pencil, writing, but making sure no one is watching. The
music plays from the song MY LITTLE ORBS.)
(END OF ACT)
VIII-
i-105
ACT VIII
Scene 1
SETTING: Galileos House in Florence.
TIME: Afternoon
AT RISE: Galileos pupils, FEDERZONI, THE LITTLE
MONK and ANDREA SARTI, now a young man,
are gathered for an experimental lecture.
GALILEO, standing, is reading a book. VIRGINIA
and SIGNORA SARTI are sewing bridal linen.
ONE BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
After a silence of eight years GALILEO feels encouraged by the enthronement of a new
Pope, himself a scientist, to resume his research in the forbidden eld: The Sunspots.
(Sings.)
With eight long years with tongue in cheek, of what he knew he did not speak.
This it was for him too long, for the temptations grew too great, too strong.
Galileo, the truth haunting his esh, but with his life at stake, he, Galileo, challenged fate.
(Silence.)
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
Sewing a trousseau is fun. This is for the long dining table. Ludovico loves to have
guests. But it has got to be right and carefully done. His mother notices and inspects
every stitch. She is not too happy about fathers books. Neither is Father Christopher.
SIGNORA SARTI
He hasnt written a book in years.
VIRGINIA
I think he realized that he was mistaken and had made a mistake. In Rome, a very high
ecclesiastic explained a lot of things about astronomy to me. And, the distances are just
too great.
ANDREA
(Writes the program for the days schedule on a blackboard and reads aloud.) Thursday
afternoon: Floating bodies. That means ice again; a bucket of water; scales; an iron
needle; Aristotle. (He fetches and assembles the various objects while FEDERZONI, the
LITTLE MONK and other PUPILS look things up in books.)
VIII-i-106
(Enter FILIPPO MUCIUS, a scholar in his middle years. He appears
to be upset.)
MUCIUS
Would you tell Signor Galilei that he must see me? He has condemned me without a
hearing.
SIGNORA. SARTI
Ive told you he doesnt wish to see you.

MUCIUS
God will reward you if you ask him again. I must speak to him.
VIRGINIA
(Goes to the staircase.) Father!
GALILEO
What is it?
VIRGINIA
Signor Mucuis!
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
(Looks up brusquely, goes to head of the stairs, his PUPILS trailing behind him.) What
do you want?
MUCUIS
Signor Galilei, I request permission to explain the passages in my book that seem to
indicate a condemnation of the Copernican doctrine that the earth rotates and revolves. I
beg to be allowed to explain to you what I wrote in my passage. I have . . .
GALILEO
What is there to explain? You are in full agreement with the Holy Congregations decree
of 1616. You are perfectly within your rights. Its true, you studied mathematics with us,
but we have no authority to make you say that two times two is four. You have every right
to say that this stone (He takes a small pebble from his pocket and throws it down to the
ground oor.) has just own up to the ceiling.
MUCIUS
Signor Galilei, I . . .
GALILEO
Dont talk to me about difculties! The plague didnt prevent me from going on
continuing with my observations.
VIII-i-107
MUCIUS
Signor Galilei, the plague is not the worst.
GALILEO
Let me tell you this: Not to know the truth is just stupid. But to know the truth and call it
a lie is criminal! Leave my house at once! (He stares at Signor Mucuis.) Get out of my
house, I said!
MUCIUS
(Tonelessly.) You are right. (He goes out.)

(GALILEO returns to his study.)
FEDERZONI
Thats how it is, Im afraid. He doesnt amount to much and no on could pay any
attention to him if he hadnt been your pupil. But now of course they all say: Hes heard
everything Galileo had to say and is forced to admit that everything heard is false and all
wrong.
SIGNORA SARTI
I feel sorry for the gentlemen.
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
Father was too fond of him.
SIGNORA SARTI
I wanted to talk to you about your marriage, Virginia. Youre still such a young thing, and
you have no mother, and your father oats little pieces of ice in water. Anyway, I
wouldnt ask him questions about your marriage if I were you. He would say the most
dreadful things for a week naturally at meals when the young people are there, because he
hasnt half a scudos worth of shame in him, never did have. Thats not what I had in
mind, Im thinking you need to inquire what the future has in store. Not that I know
anything, Im only an ignorant woman. But marriage is a very serious matter. You
mustnt enter into it blindly. I do think you should go to a proper astronomer at the
university and consult him about your horoscope cast. Then youll know what to expect.
Why are you laughing?
VIRGINIA
Because Ive already been!
SIGNORA SARTI
(Very curious.) What did he say?
VIII-i-108
VIRGINIA
For three months I must be careful because the sun will be in Aries/Capricorn, but then I
get a very good ascendant and the clouds will part. As long as I dont lose sight of Jupiter,
I can go on any journey I please, because Im an Aries/Capricorn
(Note Is this meant to mean there is no value to the horoscopes, as
Galileo wrote a horoscope for her and states she is a Libra, however, according to the
zodiac for the date of birth, Aug 13, 1600, she should be Leo.)
SIGNORA SARTI
And Ludovico?
VIRGINIA
Hes a Leo. (After a brief pause.) That means hes sensual, I think. (Pause.) I know that
step. (She listens.) Its Signor Gaffone, the Rector of the university.
(Enter SIGNOR GAFFONE, the Rector of the university.)
GAFFONE
The Life Of Galileo
Just thought Id bring you a book that might be of interest to your father. But for heavens
sake, dont disturb him, please. I cant help feeling that every minute taken from that
great man is a minute stolen from Italy. Ill just put the book in your lovely, little hands,
and steal away, just disappear, on tiptoe.
(GAFFONE goes out. VIRGINA hands the book to FEDERZONI.)
GALILEO
Whats it about?
FEDERZONI
I dont know. (Spelling it out.) De Maculis in Sole.
ANDREA
On the sunspots! Another one!
(FEDERZONI angrily hands it to ANDREA)
Listen to this dedication! To the greatest living authority on physics, Galileo Galilei.
(GALILEO has immersed himself once more in his book.)
ANDREA (Cont.)
Ive read the treatise by Fabricius in Holland. He believes the spots are clusters, swarms,
of stars passing between the earth and the sun.
THE LITTLE MONK
Isnt that doubtful, Signor Galilei?
VIII-i-109
(GALILEO does not answer.)
ANDREA
In Paris and Prague theyre saying theyre vapors from the sun.
FEDERZONI
Hm.
ANDREA
Federzoni has his doubts about that.
FEDERZONI
Kindly leave me out of this conversation. I said Hm, thats all. Im the lens grinder, I
grind lenses, you people look through them and observe the sky, the heavens, and what
you see is not spots, but maculis. How can I doubt anything? How many times do I
have to tell you I cant read these books, theyre in Latin. (In his anger of rage he
The Life Of Galileo
gesticulates with the scales. A pan falls to the oor. GALILEO quietly walks over and
silently picks it up.)
THE LITTLE MONK
Its blissful to doubt; I nd great happiness in it; I wonder why.
ANDREA
Every sunny day in the last two weeks Ive crawled up into the attic, right under the roof.
A thin beam of light comes down through a tiny crack in the tiles. With that beam you
can catch the reverse image of the sun on a sheet of paper. I saw a spot as big as a y and
blurred like a small cloud, lmy. It moved. Why dont we investigate these sunspots,
Signor Galilei?
GALILEO
Because were working on oating bodies!
ANDREA
Mother has whole wash baskets stuffed full of letters. All of Europe wants your opinion.
With the great reputation youve built up, you cant be silent.
GALILEO
Rome has allowed me to build up a great reputation because Ive kept silent.
FEDERZONI
But you cant afford to be silent anymore.
GALILEO
Nor can I afford to be roasted and smoked over a wood re like a ham.
VIII-i-110
ANDREA
Do you think the spots come into it or have anything to do with it? (GALILEO does not
answer.) All right, lets stick to our little bits and pieces of ice. They cant hurt or harm
you.
GALILEO
Exactly! That is exactly our proposition, Andrea!
ANDREA
We assume that whether a body oats or not depends essentially not on its shape, but on
whether it is lighter or heavier than water. Whats lighter than water, oats; whats
heavier, sinks.
GALILEO
What does Aristotle say?
The Life Of Galileo
THE LITTLE MONK
Discus latus platique . . .
GALILEO
Translate! Translate!
THE LITTLE MONK
A broad, at disk of ice oats in water, whereas an iron needle sinks.
GALILEO
Why then, according to Aristotle, doesnt ice sink?
THE LITTLE MONK
Because, being broad and at, it cannot divide the water.
GALILEO
Very well. (A piece of ice is handed to him and he puts it into the bucket.) Now I press the
ice rmly down to the bottom of the bucket. I release the pressure of my hands. What
happens?
THE LITTLE MONK
It rises to the surface.
GALILEO
Correct. In rising it seems to be able to divide the water. Fulganzio!
THE LITTLE MONK
But why then does it oat at all? Ice is heavier than water, because it is condensed water.
VIII-i-111
GALILEO
What if it were diluted water?
ANDREA
It must be lighter than water, or it wouldnt oat.
GALILEO
Aha!

ANDREA
Just as an iron needle cant oat. Everything lighter than water oats! Everything heavier
sinks! Which is what we set out to be proved!
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Andrea, you must learn to think carefully. Give me the iron needle and a sheet of paper. Is
iron heavier than water?
ANDREA
Yes.

(GALILEO places the needle on a sheet of paper and lets it gently
slide onto the surface of the water, where it oats. Pause.)
GALILEO
What happens?
FEDERZONI
The needles oating! Holy Aristotle, they never bothered to check up on him!
(ALL laugh!)
GALILEO
One of the main reasons for the poverty of science is that it is supposed to be so rich. The
aim of science is not to open the door to everlasting wisdom, but to set a limit to
everlasting error. Take that down!
VIRGINIA
Whats the matter? What is wrong?
SIGNORA SARTI
Every time they laugh, a fright comes over me. I shiver! I wonder what theyre laughing
about.
VIII-i-112
VIRGINIA
Father says theologians have their church bells and physicists have their laughter.
SIGNORA SARTI
At least Im glad he doesnt look through his tube so much any more. That was even
much worse.
VIRGINIA
No, he only puts pieces of ice in water, which cant be that terrible. No harm can come of
that, I wouldnt think.
The Life Of Galileo
SIGNORA SARTI
Who knows?
(Enter LUDOVICO MARSILI in traveling garb, followed by a
manservant with luggage in hand. VIRGINIA runs toward LUDOVICO
and embraces him.)
VIRGINIA
Why didnt you let us know you were coming?
LUDOVICO
I was near here in the region inspecting our vineyards at Bucciole, and I just couldnt stay
away.
GALILEO
(As though nearsighted.) Who is that?
VIRGINIA
Ludovico!
THE LITTLE MONK
Cant you see him?
GALILEO
Oh yes, Ludovico. (Goes toward him.) How are the horses?
LUDOVICO
Theyre ne sir.
GALILEO
Sarti, lets celebrate. Bring us a jug of that Sicilian wine, the old one!
(SIGNORA SARTI goes out with ANDREA.)
VIII-i-113
LUDOVICO
(To VIRGINIA.) You look pale. Country living will do you good. Mother is expecting you
in September.
VIRGINIA
Wait, I want to show you my wedding dress. (Runs out.)
GALILEO
Sit down.
The Life Of Galileo
LUDOVICO
Signore, I hear you have more than a thousand students in your lectures at the university.
What are you working on at the moment?
GALILEO
Routine stuff. The same old things! Did you come through Rome?
LUDOVICO
Yes. Before I forget, mother congratulates you on your admirable tact in connection
with all that fuss over the sunspot orgy going on in Holland.
GALILEO
(Drily.) Thats kind of her. Thanks.
(SIGNORA SARTI and ANDREA bring wine and glasses. ALL gather
around the table.)
LUDOVICO
Rome has found a topic of conversation for February. Christopher Clavius said he was
afraid the whole earth-around-the-sun circus would are up again and resurface because
of those sunspots.
ANDREA
Dont let it worry you.
GALILEO
Is there any other news from the Holy City apart from hopes for new sins on my part? Is
there any other gossip about how I may be plunging headlong into sin?
LUDOVICO
(Ignoring GALILEO.) You heard, of course, that the Holy Father is dying?
THE LITTLE MONK
Oh!
VIII-i-114
GALILEO
Whos mentioned as successor?
LUDOVICO
Mostly Barberini. He is high on the list.
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GALILEO
Barberini?
ANDREA
Signor Galilei knows Barberini personally.
THE LITTLE MONK
Cardinal Barberini is a mathematician.
FEDERZONI
A scientist on the throne of Saint Peter!
(Pause.)
GALILEO
I see, now they need men like Barberini whove read a little bit of mathematics. Things
will start moving, Federzoni, we may live to see the day when we wont have to glance
over our shoulders like criminals every time we say that two times two is four. (To
LUDOVICO.) I like this wine, Ludovico. What do you think of it?
LUDOVICO
Its good.
GALILEO
I know the vineyard. The slope is steep and stony. The grapes are almost blue. I love this
wine.
LUDOVICO
Yes, sir.
GALILEO
There are little shadows in it. And its almost sweet, but stops at the almost. Andrea,
clear that stuff away, the ice and bucket and needle. I treasure the consolations of the
esh. I have no patience with cowards who speak of indulgences and pleasures as
weakness. I say: To enjoy yourself is an achievement.
THE LITTLE MONK
What are you taking up next?
VIII-i-115
FEDERZONI
Were starting in again, excitedly, on the earth-around-the-sun circus.
[Music Cue #42: Spirit Take Your Stand]
The Life Of Galileo
ANDREA
(Singing in an undertone.)
The Book, The Bible, says the earth stands still, plus the Pope says so too,
And each learned doctor thinking it is denitely proved.
The Holy Father takes it by the ears, and holds it fast. Yet, this earth does move.
I hope, I hope, I hope, I do, Galileo, gets his chance now, to prove this to be not true,
Cause his long time coming to reveal the truth is long overdue.
It moves, It moves, It moves,
Oh, come Galileo, come and take your stand, the world is awaiting for your command.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
Even though years have gone by, the question remains the same,
Is the Bible right, or Galileos sight?
Or is he simply insane?
It moves, It moves, It moves, so Galileo says.
Oh, come on Galileo, come and take your stand, the world is awaiting for your command.
ANDREA
(Sings.)
To prove the standing of those who dont believe, they will take the earth by its ears,
And hold it till its blue, but this earth still moves, for me and you.
Oh, I know Galileo he may look old and act a bit cuckoo,
But what is inside his little head, will tell the world a tale of two,
As all his thoughts, all his words, stand as the truth.
It moves, It moves, It moves,
Oh, come Galileo, come and take your stand, the world is awaiting for your command.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
Even though years have gone by, the question remains the same,
Is the Bible right, or Galileos sight?
Or is he simply insane?
It moves, It moves, It moves, so Galileo says.
Oh, come on Galileo, come and take your stand, the world is awaiting for your command.
VIII-i-116
(ANDREA, FEDERZONI and THE LITTLE MONK hurry to the
workbench and clear it off.)
The Life Of Galileo
ANDREA
We might even nd out that the sun revolves and turns too. How would you like that,
Marsili?
LUDOVICO
Whats all the excitement about?
SIGNORA SARTI
Youre not going back to those hellish abominations again, Signor Galilei?
GALILEO
(Ignoring SIGNORNIA SARTI.) Now, I know why your mother sent you here. Barberini
is on the ascendant. Knowledge will be a passion; and research a delightful pleasure.
Clavius is right! Yes, these sunspots do interest me. You like my wine, Ludovico?
LUDOVICO
I said I did, sir.
GALILEO
You really like it?
LUDOVICO
(Stify.) I like it.
GALILEO
Would you go so far as to accept a mans wine or his daughter without asking him to give
up and abandon his profession? What has my astronomy got to do with my daughter? The
phases of Venus dont affect my daughters rear end.
SIGNORA SARTI
Dont be so vulgar. Dont be so common. Ill get Virginia!
LUDOVICO
(He holds her back.) In families like mine, marriages are not decided or arranged by
sexual considerations alone.
GALILEO
Did they prevent you from marrying my daughter for the last eight years because I was
on probation? Am I the reason for your delay?
VIII-i-117
The Life Of Galileo
LUDOVICO
My wife will also have to cut a gure on our village Church! She must take her place in
the family pew.
GALILEO
In other words, you mean your peasants wont pay their rent if the lady of the manor is
insufciently saintly or isnt sufciently pious?
LUDOVICO
In a way! You might say so.
GALILEO
Andrea, Fulganzio, get the brass mirror and the screen! Well project the suns image
onto it to protect our eyes. Thats your method, Andrea.
(ANDREA and THE LITTLE MONK get the mirror and screen.)
LUDOVICO
Years ago in Rome, sir, you signed a pledge, a document, to stay away from, and never
again to get yourself involved in this earth-around-the-sun circus business.
GALILEO
Oh well. Oh that! We had a reactionary Pope in those days.
SIGNORA SARTI
Had! His Holiness isnt even dead yet!
GALILEO
Pretty near, pretty near. Lay a squared grid over the screen. Well proceed
methodically. And then well be able to answer all those letters, wont we, Andrea?
SIGNORA SARTI
Pretty near! fty times that man weighs his silly pieces of ice, fty times over, but
when something happens that suits his purposes he believes, swallows it, blindly!
(The screen is set up.)
LUDOVICO
Signor Galilei, if His Holiness should die, the next Pope no matter who he is or how
much he loves science will have to take account of how much the countrys leading
important families love him.
THE LITTLE MONK
The Life Of Galileo
God made the physical world, Ludovico; God made the human brain; God will allow
physics.
VIII-i-118
SIGNORA SARTI
All right, Galileo, now let me tell you something. Ive watched my son fall into sin for
the sake of these experiments and theories and observations of yours and I havent
been able to do anything about it, nor have I said anything. You set yourself against the
authorities and they gave you a warning once. The greatest cardinal spoke to you the way
youd speak to a sick horse. It worked for a while, but two months ago, right after the
Immaculate Conception, the great Feast of the Annunciation, I caught you sneaking back
to your observations going so secretly in the attic! I didnt say anything, no, no, but I
knew. I ran out and lit a candle to St. Joseph.
Its just more than I can bear or handle. When were alone together you show some sense,
some understanding, you say youve got to behave, to control yourself, because its
dangerous, but two days of experiments and youre as bad as ever. If I lose my eternal
salvation because I stand by a heretic, thats my business, but you have no right to
trample all over your daughters happiness with your big feet and stupidity!
GALILEO
(Grufy.) Get the telescope!
LUDOVICO
Giuseppe, put the luggage back in the coach.
(The MANSERVANT picks up the luggage, and goes out.)
SIGNORA SARTI
Shell never get over this. You can tell her yourself.
(SIGNORA SARTI runs out, still holding the pitcher.)
LUDOVICO
I see youve made your preparations. Signor Galilei, three quarters of the year my mother
and I live on our estate in the Campagna and I can assure you that our peasants lost no
sleep and are completely not disturbed over your treatises on the moons of Jupiter. They
work too hard in the elds. It might upset them, though, if they heard that frivolous
attacks on the holy doctrine of the Church were going unpunished. Dont forget that those
poor pitiable, brutalized wretches get everything mixed up. They really are just brutes,
like dumb animals! You have no idea! You cant imagine. A rumor that somebodys seen
a pear growing on an apple tree makes all of them run away from their work to gab and
babble on and on about it.
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
(With interest.) Really?
VIII-i-119
LUDOVICO
Animals. When they come up the manor with a triing complaint, mother has to have a
hound whipped in front of their eyes to remind them of civility, discipline and order and
good manners. You, Signor Galilei, you may occasionally see blossoming, owering corn
elds from your traveling coach, or absent mindedly eat our olives and our cheese, but
you have no idea how much effort it takes to raise all these things all the supervision!
GALILEO
Young man, I never eat my olives absent-mindedly. (Rudely.) Youre wasting my time,
keeping me from my work. (Calls toward outside.) Is the screen ready?
ANDREA
Yes. Are you coming?
GALILEO
You whip more than hounds to keep discipline, dont you, Marsili?
LODOVICO
Signor Galilei, you have a marvelous brain. Too bad! What a pity.
THE LITTLE MONK
(Amazed.) Hes threatening you.
GALILEO
Yes, I might stir up his peasants to think new thoughts, and his servants and his overseers.
FEDERZONI
How? They dont know or read Latin!
GALILEO
I could write in the vernacular for the many instead of in Latin for the few. For our new
ideas we need people who work with their hands. Who else wants to know the causes of
everything? People who never see bread except on their tables have no desire to know
how its baked; those bastards would rather thank God than the baker. But the men who
make the bread will understand that nothing can move unless something moves it.
Fulganzio, your sister at the olive press wont be much surprised shell probably laugh
when she hears that the sun is not a gold escutcheon, but a lever: The earth moves
because the sun moves it.
The Life Of Galileo
LUDOVICO
Youll always be a slave to your passions. Convey my apologies to Virginia. Its better, I
think, if I dont see her just now.
VIII-i-120
GALILEO
The dowry is at your disposal. At any time!
LUDOVICO
Good day. (He goes.)
ANDREA
Our best regard to all the Marsilis!
FEDERZONI
Who tell and demand the earth to stand still so their castles wont fall off!
ANDREA
And to the Cencis and Villanis!
FEDERZONI
The Cervillis!
ANDREA
The Lecchis!
FEDERZONI
The Pierleonis!
ANDREA
Wholl only kiss the Popes foot as long as he tramples the people with it!
THE LITTLE MONK
(Also at the instrument apparatus.) The new Pope will be an enlightened man.
GALILEO
And now lets start observing these spots in the sun which interest us at our own risk,
fully aware of the danger involved, and not counting too much on the protection of a new
Pope . . .
ANDREA
The Life Of Galileo
(Interrupting.) But fully condent of dispelling Mr. Fabricius star shadows and the solar
vapors of Prague and Paris, and of proving that the sun rotates!
GALILEO
Being reasonably condent that the sun rotates, my aim is not to prove that Ive been
right, but to nd our whether or not I have been. I say: Abandon hope, all ye who enter
upon observation. Maybe its vapors, maybe its spots, but before we assume that theyre
VIII-i-121
GALILEO (Cont.)
spots, though it would suit us quite nicely if they were, wed do better to assume theyre
shtails. Yes, we shall start allover again from scratch and question everything from the
beginning. We wont rush ahead with seven-league boots, but crawl at a snails pace. And
what we nd today well wipe from the blackboard tomorrow, and not write it down
again until we nd it a second time. And if theres something we hope to nd, well
regard it with particular distrust when we do nd it. Accordingly let us approach our
observation of the sun with the inexorable resolve to prove that the earth stands still!
Only after we have failed, after we have been totally and hopelessly defeated and are
licking our wounds in utter dejection, only then shall we begin to ask whether the earth
does not indeed move! (With a twinkle.) But then, when every other hypothesis has gone
up in smoke, then there will be no mercy for those who have never observed or
researched anything, and yet go on running off at the mouth talking. Take the cloth off the
tube and focus it on the sun! (He adjusts the brass mirror.)
THE LITTLE MONK
I knew you had taken up your work again. I knew it when you didnt recognize Mr.
Marsili.
(In silence they begin their examinations. When the aming image of
the sun appears on the screen VIRGINIA in her bridal gown runs in.)
VIRGINIA
Father! Youve sent him away! (She faints. ANDREA and THE LITTLE MONK rush to
her aid.)
GALILEO
I have got to know! I have to.
Instrumental Only.
(MUSICIANS come out one by one, as a HANS SPIRIT SCORE is
heard in the background. First out is a drummer, then a lute player,
and an assortment of instruments come forth for that will lead us to the
The Life Of Galileo
market place of the next act. Background is changed, but MUSICIANS
keep playing as next act is entered.)
(CURTAIN)

(END OF SCENE)
VIII-ii-122
ACT XIII
Scene 2
SETTING: Carnival of 1632, A Market Place Outside the
Palace of the Florentine
TIME: Day
AT RISE: A HALF-STARVED COUPLE of show people with
a FIVE-YEAR OLD GIRL and AN INFANT enter a
market place where many PEOPLE. Some with
masks are awaiting the carnival procession. They
carry bundles, a drum and other props. GALILEO is
also on stage, to himself, studying his observation.
HUSBAND OF COUPLE (SINGER)
(Speaks.)
In the course of these last ten years Galileos doctrine is disseminated among the common
people, his teaching spread everywhere. Pamphleteers and ballad singers everywhere are
seizing upon the new ideas. In the carnival of this year 1632 the guilds in many Italian
cities take astronomy as the theme for their carnival processions, as we do here in
Florence.
[Music Cue #44: Spirit Much Ado]
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
Ah, it is April Fools Day, of Sixteen Thirty-Two, and of science there is much ado.
People, how the have learned from Galilei, using his teachings, in their very own ways.
(Drumming. Speaks.)
The Life Of Galileo
Citizens, ladies and gentlemen! Before the great carnival procession of the guilds arrives
we bring you the latest Florentine song that is being sung all over upper northern Italy.
Weve imported it here at great expense. The title is: The Horrendous Doctrine and
Terrible Teachings and Opinions of court physicist, Galileo Galilei or A Foretaste of the
Future.
[Music Cue #45: Spirit Stand Still Based on Spirit Nr.9]
(He begins to sing while being joined by OTHER BALLAD SINGERS.)
HUSBAND
(Sing.)
When the God Almighty spoke his great let be, he made the universe, dont you see.
He made the earth, then the sea, and then he made the sun for his command to be
VIII-ii-123
HUSBAND/BALLAD SINGERS (Cont.)
A lamp for him to carry round in as may, he said, Sun, circle round the earth, like a little
maid in an orderly way.
Thats in the Bible, Genesis, Chapter One, please look today.
For his wish was that each one circle henceforth round, they say,
That which better, is to himself, and they began to turn around and all about.
And from that time all beings here below were in obedient circles meant to go.
They all began to turn around, the little fellows round the big shots,
The important round the inferior, and, the hindmost round the foremost,
As it is in heaven, so also be the earth. And ever since all creatures here below,
Have turned in faithful circles, fast and slow. Stand Still!
(DANCERS enter. CHORUS joins in.)
Around the popes the cardinals; around the cardinals the bishops;
Around the bishops the secretaries; around the secretaries the aldermen;
Around the aldermen the craftsmen; around the craftsmen the servants;
And, Around the servants the dogs, the chickens and the geese.
Then the beggars turn, at last, and least.
(Speaks.)
That, my friends, you good people, is the Great Order, ordo ordinum, as the Lord, and as
the theologians call it, regula aethernis; the Rule of Rules! And then, my dear, dear
friends, please listen to what happened then?
HUSBAND/BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
The Life Of Galileo
Up stood the learned Doctor Galileo, threw the Bible out, snatched history for himself,
Cast a look at the universe . . .
(Chucked the Bible, pulled out his telescope, and took a look at the
universe.)
And, told the sun: Stand still! Stop! What you are doing is wrong.
You, sun, will stand still, and let the earth go round. Stand Still!
God got it mixed up in Genesis One, Trade places now, I say, you sun.
And, earth round sun forever stray!
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
Whats this? Whats this, my friends I say, change scripture to you will on any day?
What will become of order? Gods sun must stand still or servants daily will become
bolder! This is just too much for people. It is not joke, It is no joke!
VIII-ii-124
HUSBAND
(Sings.)
From this time on, the wheels shall turn the other way.
Henceforth the mistress, ho! Shall turn around the maid.
Now that was rash, my friends, it is no matter small:
For heresy will spread today like foul diseased.
Change Holy Writ, forsooth? What will be left at all?
Why: each of us would say and do just what he pleases!
EACH SINGER
(Each SINGER speaks this line.)
Esteemed citizens, such doctrines are utterly impossible.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
For one thing is true, fun is certainly rare, and hand on heart.
Who wouldnt also like for a change like to be; his own lord and master!
His own lord and master! Stand Still!
ALL BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Good people, worthy citizens, what will come to pass if Galileos teachings spread?
Teachings like that are quite impossible.
The server will not serve at mass. No servant girl will make the bed at last,
The Life Of Galileo
Who wouldnt like to be his own lord, and master, his own lord and master!
The knave will turn lazy it is said, and only want to get ahead.
What will happen when the alter boy comes no more to Moses and sleeps at Mass?
When the serving girl turns fashionable and grows lazy at last.
And, the apprentice will simply stay in bed, it is also said.
The farmer will give his landlord the boot,
and his wife will give her milk to her babies, instead of to the priest, what a hoot.
Now that is grave, my friends, it is no matter small:
For independent spirit spreads like diseases of foul, a plague to fall!
Yet life is sweet and man is weak, and after all
How nice it is, for once, to do just as one pleases, and stand proudly tall. Stand still!
VIII-ii-125
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
So, for you, go your own way, ignore, yes, ignore what your masters say.
(Speaks.)
Now, my good friends, here, cast a look into the future and see what the most learned
Doctor Galileo Galilei predicts!
ALL BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Two ladies at a shwifes stall are in for quite a shock.
The shwife takes a loaf of bread and gobbles up all her stock.
The carpenters take wood and build houses for themselves, not pews.
And member of the cobblers guild now walk around in shoes!
Oh, how can it be? How can it be?
(Speaks.)
Is this permitted? NO, it is no matter small:
For independent spirit spreads like diseases of foul!
(Sings.)
Yet life is sweet and man is weak and after all
How nice it is, for once, to do just as one pleases, and stand proudly tall. Stand still!
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sings.)
The Life Of Galileo
His own lord and master!
THE SINGERS WIFE
(Sings.)
The other day I tried it too, and did my husband frankly tell.
Lets see now if what you can do, other stars can do as well.
I said to my husband, I want to see, what you can do for me.
Or perhaps I should pursue that another could do better for that matter.
I feel I need a change, I said, maybe its time I went my own sweet way,
I told my husband that in bed, and kicked him in the hay, olay!
THE HUSBAND OF THE COUPLE (SINGER)
(Sings.)
No, no, no, no, no, no, stop, Galileo, stop!
For independent spirits spreads like foul diseases!
People must keep their place, some down and some on top!
Though it is nice for once to do just as one pleases.
VIII-ii-126
HUSBAND
(Speaks.)
No, no, no, no, no, no, stop, Galileo, stop!
Un-muzzle a mad dog, and he will place himself on top, if things dont stop.
HUSBAND and WIFE
(Sing.)
Good people who have trouble here below in serving cruel lords and gentle Jesus.
Who bids you turn the other cheek just so while they prepare to strike the second blow:
Obedience will never cure your woe, so each of you wake up and do just as he pleases!
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
Is the Bible a toy? No, no, no, no, no, stop, you people, stop with this Bible hoax.
No one should play games that mess with the brain
If the rope around our necks is made but not too thick, for then it will tear.
But be sure the rope is strong, or it could break from wear.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
The Life Of Galileo
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
But as for you; go your own way; ignore what your masters says . . .
THE WIFE
(Sings.)
The farmer kicks gladly in the backside, the landlord with shame.
All of you who live on earth in pain, and torment, get up, collect your weak lifes spirits.
All of you who lay near death, raise yourself up, before you die a heretic.
Learn a lesson from the good Doctor Galilei, The ABCs of earthly delight and ecstasy.
Obedience, Obedience, was mans cross, from the beginning.
So, why not run your own live, ignore what your masters say, and start singing.
HUSBAND
(Speaks.)
No, no, no, no, no, no, Galilei, enough, enough, enough.
VIII-ii-127
HUSBAND (Cont.)
Take a mans dogs muzzle away, and he will bite,
(Sings.)
Zippity do dah- day! Zippity do dah day! Zippity do dah day!
(Speaks.)
Yes, the dog will bite. The dog will bite, if you take his muzzle away!

BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
His own lord and master!
Yes, indeed, it is true, fun is simply rare, and hand on heart.
Who wouldnt also for a change like to be; his own lord and master!
His own lord and master! Stand Still, Stand Still.
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
Esteemed citizens, behold Galileo Galileis phenomenal discovery: The earth revolving
around the sun!

The Life Of Galileo
BALLAD SINGERS
(Speak, One by One.)
The earth revolving around the sun!
Oh my, the earth revolving around the sun!
The earth revolving around the sun!
Oh glorious day, let it behold, the great discovery of this great one. Stand Still!

(The HUSBAND belabors his drum violently, with a wild pounding!
His WIFE and CHILD, step forward. The WIFE holds a crude replica
of the sun, and the CHILD, holding a gourd, the image of the earth,
over her head, circles around the woman. The HUSBAND excitedly
points at the LITTLE GIRL CHILD as if she were performing a
dangerous, death-defying acrobatic feat in jerkily taking step after step
in rhythm with the drumbeats. Then drumming from the rear is heard.)
A DEEP VOICE
(Calls out!)
The procession!
VIII-ii-128
(Enter TWO MEN in rags drawing a little cart. The Grand Duke of
Florence, a gure in sackcloth with a cardboard crown, sits on a
ridiculous throne and peers through a telescope. Over the throne a
painted sign Looking for trouble. Next, FOUR MASKED MEN
march in carrying a huge tarpaulin, a large baldachin. They stop and
toss into the air a large doll representing a cardinal. A DWARF has
posted himself to one side with a sign The New Age. Among the
crowd a BEGGAR raises himself by his crutches and stomps the
ground in a dance until he collapses and falls in a heap. Enter a
STUFFED FIGURE, more than life-size, of Galileo Galilei, which
bows to the audience. In front of it a CHILD displays a gigantic open
Bible whose pages have been crossed-out with a large- X.)
THE HUSBAND OF THE COUPLE (SINGER)
(Speaks.)
Galileo Galilei, the Bible-smasher! Galileo Galilei, the Bible Killer.
(An outburst of laughter comes from among the CROWD.)
The Life Of Galileo
(CURTAIN)
(END OF ACT)

(Note: BALLAD SINGERS are Pro-Galileo, and the OTHERS are against him, or
frightened of him, really.)

IX-i-129
ACT IX
Scene 1
SETTING: 1633 Antechamber and staircase of the Medici
Palace, Florence.
TIME: Day
AT RISE: GALILEO and his daughter, VIRGINIA, are
waiting to be admitted to the Grand Duke.
BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
The inquisition summons the world-famous scholar to Rome.
(Sings.)
The depths are hot! The heights are chill!
The streets are loud! The court is still! The court is still! The court is still!
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
Its been a long wait.
GALILEO
Yes.
VIRGINIA
Theres that same man again whos been following us. (She points at a shady individual
who passes by without paying attention to them.)
GALILEO
(Whose eyesight is now becoming impaired.) I dont know him. I cant recognize him!
VIRGINIA
Ive seen him several times lately. He gives me the shivers. He really frightens me!
GALILEO
Nonsense. Were in Florence, not among Corsican robbers.
VIRGINIA
Here comes Rector Gaffone.
GALILEO
He frightens me. The blockhead will draw me into another interminable conversation.
IX-i-130
(MR. GAFFONE, the rector of the university, descends the stairs. He is
visibly startled when he sees GALILEO and walks stify and quickly
past VIRGINIA and GALILEO, with a rigidly averted head and barely
nodding.)
GALILEO (Cont.)
Whats got into him? My eyes are bad again today. Did he greet us at all?
VIRGINIA
Just barely! What have you said in your book? Anything they can think is heretical?
GALILEO
You hang around church too much. All this getting up before dawn and running to mass is
ruining your complexion. You pray for me, dont you?
VIRGINIA
The Life Of Galileo
Theres Signor Vanni, the iron founder, the one you designed the smelting furnace for.
Dont forget to thank him for the quails.
(SIGNOR VANNI has come down the stairs.)
VANNI
How did you like the quails I sent you, Mr. Galileo? Did you enjoy them?
GALILEO
Maestro Vanni, the quails were excellent. Again many thanks.
VANNI
Theyre talking about you upstairs. They claim youre responsible for those pamphlets
against the Bible that are being sold all over.
GALILEO
I know nothing about pamphlets. My favorite books are the Bible and Homer.
VANNI
Even if that were not the case: let me take this opportunity of assuring you that we
manufacturers are on your side. I dont know much about the movement of stars, but the
way I look at it, youre the man who is ghting for the freedom to teach new knowledge.
Just take that mechanical cultivator from Germany that you described to me. Last year
alone ve works on agriculture were published in London. Here wed be grateful for one
book about the Dutch canals. Its the same people who are making trouble for you and
preventing the physicians in Bologna from dissecting corpses for research.
IX-i-131
GALILEO
Your vote carries great weight, and counts, Maestro Vanni.
VANNI
I hope so. Do you know that in Amsterdam and London they have money markets? And
trade schools too. And newspapers that appear regularly. Here were not even free to
make money. Theyre against iron foundries because they claim too many workers in one
place promote immorality. I swim or sink with men like you, Mr. Galilei! If ever they try
to harm you, please remember that you have friends in every branch of industry. The
cities of northern Italy are behind you, sir.
GALILEO
As far as I know no one has any intention of harming me.
The Life Of Galileo
VANNI
Really? No?
GALILEO
Really! No!
VANNI
I believe youd be better off in Venice. Not so many cassocks. Youd be free to carry on
the ght. I have a coach and horses, Mr. Galilei.
GALILEO
I cant see myself as a refugee. I love and treasure my comfort.
VANNI
I understand, of course, but to judge by what I heard up there, theres no time to be lost. I
got the impression that right now theyd prefer not to have you in Florence.
GALILEO
Nonsense. The Grand Duke is a pupil of mine, not to mention the fact that if anyone tries
to trip me up the Pope himself will tell him where to get off and hasten to my defense.
VANNI
You dont seem able to distinguish your friends from your enemies, Mr. Galilei.
GALILEO
Im able to distinguish power from lack of power. (He brusquely steps away.)
VANNI
Very well, I wish you lots of luck! (Goes out.)
IX-i-132
GALILEO
(Back at VIRGINIAS side.) Every Tom, Dick and Harry with a grievance picks me as his
spokesman, especially in places where it doesnt exactly help me. Ive written a book on
the mechanism of the universe, thats all. What people make or dont make of it is no
concern of mine.
VIRGINIA
(In a loud voice.) If people only knew how you condemned the goings-on at last years
carnival.
GALILEO
Yes. Give a bear honey if its hungry and hell take your arm off with it.
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
(In an undertone.) Did the Grand Duke summon you here today?
GALILEO
No, but I sent in my name. He wants the book! Hes paid for it. Go ask somebody what is
taking so long; complain about this long wait.
VIRGINIA
(Goes to talk to an ATTENDANT, followed by THE INDIVIDUAL.) Mr. Mincio, has His
Highness been informed that my father wishes to speak to him?
THE ATTENDANT
How should I know?
VIRGINIA
Thats no answer!
THE ATTENDANT
Really!
VIRGINIA
You ought to be polite.
(The ATTENDANT half turns his back on her and yawns while looking
at the SHADY INDIVIDUAL.)
VIRGINIA
(Has come back.) He says the Grand Duke is still busy.
GALILEO
I heard you say something about polite. What was it?
IX-i-133
VIRGINIA
I thanked him for his polite answer, thats all. Cant you just leave the book for him?
Youre wasting your time.
GALILEO
Im beginning to wonder what my time is wroth. Maybe I should accept Sagredos
invitation to go to Padua for a few weeks. My health hasnt been up to snuff.
VIRGINIA
The Life Of Galileo
You couldnt live without your books.
GALILEO
We could take some of the Sicilian wine, one or two cases.
VIRGINIA
You always say it doesnt travel well. And the court still owes you three months salary.
They wont forward it.
GALILEO
Thats true.
VIRGINIA
(Whispers.) The cardinal inquisitor!

(The CARDINAL INQUISITOR descends the stairs. Passing them, he
bows low and deeply to GALILEO.)
VIRGINIA
Whats the Cardinal Inquisitor doing in Florence, father?
GALILEO
I dont know. His attitude was respectful, I think. I knew what I was doing when I came
to Florence and held my peace all these years. Their praises have raised me so high that
they have to take me as I am.
THE ATTENDANT
(Announces.) His Highness, the Grand Duke!
(COSMO DE MEDICI comes down the stairs. GALILEO approaches
him. COSMO, slightly embarrassed, stops.)
GALILEO
May I present Your Highness with my Dialogues on the Two Chief and Great
Astronomical Syst . . .
IX-i-134
COSMO
I see, I see. How are your eyes?
GALILEO
Not too good, Your Highness. With Your Highness permission, I should like to present
my book. . .
The Life Of Galileo
COSMO
The state of your eyes alarms me. Yes, it alarms me a good deal. Havent you been using
your splendid tuber a little too much, too frequently? (He walks off without accepting the
book.)
GALILEO
He didnt take the book, did he?
VIRGINIA
Father, Im afraid.
GALILEO
(Subdued, but rmly!) Dont show your feelings. We are not going home from here, but to
Volpi, the glasscutters. Ive arranged with him to have a cart with empty wine casks
ready in the tavern yard next door, to take me out of the city and away at any time.
VIRGINIA
Then you knew . . .
GALILEO
Dont look back.
(They start to leave.)
A HIGH OFFICIAL
(Descending the stairs.) Signor Galilei, I have orders to inform you that the court of
Florence is not longer in a position to oppose the request of the Holy Inquisition for your
interrogation in Rome. Signor Galilei, the coach of the Holy Inquisition is waiting for
you.

(BLACKOUT)
(END OF SCENE)

IX-ii-135
ACT IX
Scene 2
SETTING: The Popes Dressing Room in the Vatican in Rome.
The Life Of Galileo
TIME: Day
AT RISE: POPE URBAN VIII (formerly Cardinal Barberini)
has received the CARDINAL INQUISITOR. Firing
the audience the POPE is being dressed in
traditional papal garb. From outside the shufing of
many feet is heard.
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
The Pope, Pope Urban The VIII speaks,
THE POPE
(Very loud.) No! No! No!
THE INQUISITOR
Then Your Holiness really means to tell the doctors of all the faculties, the representatives
of all the religious orders and of the entire clergy, who have come here guided by their
childlike faith in the Word of God as recorded in Scripture to hear Your Holiness conrm
them in their faith you mean to inform them that Scripture can no longer be considered
true?
THE POPE
I wont permit the multiplication tables to be broken. No!
THE INQUISITOR
Yes, these people say it is only a matter of the multiplication tables, not of the spirit of
rebellion and doubt. But it is not the multiplication tables. It is an alarming unrest that has
come over the world. It is the unrest of their own minds, which they transfer to the
immovable earth. They cry out:
[Music Cue #47: Spirit Doubt]
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Doubt, Doubt, I Shout, I Shout! The gures force our hands, with doubt, the source, and
we nd consumes our minds!
THE INQUISITOR
Everyone knows these gures come from doubt. These people doubt everything.
IX-ii-136
A BALLAD SINGER
(Sings.)
The Life Of Galileo
Is our human community, the whole of our entire humanity, to be built on doubt and no
longer on faith, is this not becoming insanity, no it is glorious, glorious, I sayeth? Doubt,
Doubt, I Shout, I Shout! The gures force our hands, with doubt, the source, and we nd
consumes our minds!
(Sings.)
You are my master, my master, my master, but I doubt, I doubt, hereafter, hereafter,
hereafter, yes, I doubt you being my master, my master, is truly a good arrangement for
me hereafter. (Speaks.) Is this situation for the best, or perhaps it is just a test.
(Sing.)
This is your house, my friendly neighbor, and your wife is your wife, no doubt, but I
doubt whether they should not be mine, why not I think, at least for a short period of
time. Doubt, Doubt, I Shout, I Shout! The gures force our hands, with doubt, the
source, and we nd consumes our minds!
THE INQUISITOR
On the other hand, as we can read on the house walls of Rome, disgraceful interpretations
are being put on Your Holiness great love for art, to which we owe such marvelous
collections: The Barberinis are stripping Rome of what the barbarians failed to take.
And abroad? It has pleased God to visit heavy tribulation upon the Holy Sea. Your
Holiness policy in Spain has taken to be misunderstood by so many persons lacing in
insight. Your rift with the emperor is deplored. For fteen years Germany has been a
shambles, people have been slaughtering one another with Bible quotations on their lips.
And at a time when under the onslaught of plague, war and reformation, Christianity is
being reduced to a few disorganized bands, a few outposts remain, as a rumor is
spreading through Europe that you are in secret league with Lutheran Sweden to waken
the Catholic emperor. (He chuckles.)
This is the moment these mathematicians, these worms, choose to turn their tubes to the
sky and inform the world that even here, the one place where your authority is not yet
contested and stands secure, Your Holiness is on shaky ground. Why, one is tempted to
ask, this sudden interest in so recondite a science as astronomy? Does it make any
difference how these bodies move? Yet, thanks to the bad example of that Florentine, all
Italy, down to the last stable boy, is prattling about the phases of Venus and thinking at
the same time of many irksome things that are held in our schools and elsewhere to be
immutable.
IX-ii-137
The Life Of Galileo
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Oh, Where will it end they say, if all of us people no longer pray, but we listen and hear
a new way, Oh, we who are weak in the esh and inclined to excess, may come to solely
rely, to rest, exclusively on their own reason, and oh, of course, we could be held in
treason. Reason, reason, treason, treason, they call our great thinker, the man who cares
for us, a madman, how dare they say, they can . . . as he has taught, a great thinker always
does doubt, for a man who leads the way, he cannot halt, or stop, he has no default, for as
we declare he may just be the ultimate authority. Doubt, Doubt, I Shout, I Shout! The
gures force our hands, with doubt, the source, and we nd consumes our minds!
THE INQUISITOR
(Speaks.)
They begin by doubting whether the sun stood still at Gibeon and end up directing their
unclean, lthy doubts at the church collections. Since they began sailing the high seas
to which I have no objection they have been putting their trust in a brass sphere that
they call a compass, and no longer in God. Even as a young man this Galileo wrote about
machines. With machines they expect to work miracles. What kind of miracles?
Of course they have no more use for God, but what is to be the nature of these miracles?
For one thing, they expect to do away with Above and Below. They dont need it any
more. Aristotle, whom in other respects they regard as a dead dog, said and this they
quote -: If the shuttle were to weave by itself and the plectron to pluck by itself, masters
would no longer need apprentices nor lords servants. They believe that this time has
come. This evil man knows what he is doing when he writes his astronomical works not
in Latin but in the idiom of shwives and wool merchants.
THE POPE
Its certainly in bad taste. Ill tell him.
THE INQUISITOR
Some he incites, others he bribes. The north Italian ship owners keep clamoring for
Signor Galileis star chars. We shall have to yield to them, since material interests are
involved.
THE POPE
But these star charts are based on his heretical statements, on the movements of certain
heavenly bodies that become impossible if his doctrine is rejected. You cant reject the
doctrine and accept the star charts.
THE INQUISITOR
Why not? Its the only solution.
The Life Of Galileo
IX-ii-138
THE POPE
This shufing makes me nervous. Forgive me if I seem distracted, but I am always
listening.
THE INQUISITOR
Perhaps it speaks to you more clearly than I can Your Holiness. Are all these people to go
home with doubts in their hearts when they leave here?
THE POPE
Well, after all the man, without any doubt, is the greatest physicist of our time, a beacon
for Italy, and not some good-for nothing crank, scattered brained fool. He has friends.
Theres Versailles. Theres the Court in Vienna. They will call the Holy Church a
cesspool of rotten, decayed prejudices. Hands off him!
THE INQUISITOR
Actually, we wouldnt have to go very far in his case. He is a man of the esh. He would
cave in very quickly, and fall apart.
THE POPE
He gets pleasure out of more things than any moan I ever met. Even his thinking is
sensual. He can never say no to an old wine or a new idea. I will not stand for any
condemning of physical facts, any battle cry of Church against Reason. I gave him
leave to write his book provided it ended and concluded with a statement that the last
word to rest is not with science but with faith. He has complied.
THE INQUISITOR
But how did he comply? His book is an argument between a simpleton who naturally
propounds and espouses the opinions of Aristotle and an intelligent man just as naturally
voicing Signor Galileis opinions and the concluding remark Your Holiness, is made by
whom?
THE POPE
What was that again? Who states our opinion?
THE INQUISITOR
Not the intelligent one.
THE POPE
That is impudence. This stamping and trampling in the halls is insufferable. Is the whole
world coming here?
The Life Of Galileo
THE INQUISITOR
Not the whole world, but the best part of it.
(Pause.)
IX-ii-139
(The POPE is now fully robed.)
THE POPE
At the very most the instruments may be shown to him. That is all you may do.
THE INQUISITOR
That will sufce, Your Holiness. Signor Galilei is well versed in instruments.
(CURTAIN)
(END OF SCENE)
The Life Of Galileo
X-i-140
ACT X
Scene 1
SETTING: June 22, 1633 Palace of The Florentine Ambassador
in Rome.
TIME: Day
AT RISE: THE LITTLE MONK and FEDERZONI are trying
to play the new chess with its sweeping movements.
VIRGINIA kneels in a corner saying an AVE
MARIA. Galileos STUDENTS are waiting for
news.
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
On this day, June 22, 1633, Galileo Galilei abjures his doctrine of the motion of the earth
before the Inquisition.
(Sings.)
June twenty-second, sixteen thirty-three, this day stands as momentous for you and me.
Of all the days that could have been, this was the one an age of reason, yes reason, yes
reason, could have begun for you and me, you see!
And it is on this June day, that fast slipped by, Galileo Galilei, recants his teachings of the
sky, which is shy, this very day, is important for you and I.
Yes, this day shall always be, most important for you and me, for you and me, for you
and me, for you see, from out of darkness, stepped forth reason, and for one whole day,
for one whole day, she stood outside the door, outside the door, not lying down as being
called treason. Oh, Galileo Galilei, Oh Galileo, Galilei, how will the answer lie?
[Music Cue #50: Spirit Prayer]
(VIRGINIA is heard praying.)
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus
ventris tui Iesus. Sacta Maria mater Dei, ora ppro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora
mortis nostrae. Amen. (She continues to repeat this over and over with her rosary in
hand, and others begin to speak.)
X-i-141
THE LITTLE MONK
The Pope refused to see him and refused Signor Galileo an audience. No more scientic
debates.
FEDERZONI
The Pope was his last hope. I guess Cardinal Barberini was right when he said to him
years ago: we need you. Now theyve got him.
ANDREA
Theyll kill him. The Discorsi will never be nished.
FEDERZONI
(With a furtive glance at him.) You think so?
ANDREA
Yes, because hell never recant.
(Pause.)
THE LITTLE MONK
You know how when you lie awake at night you chew on the most useless ideas and your
mind wanders onto the most insignicant things? Last night I couldnt get rid of the
thought that he should never have left the Republic of Venice.
ANDREA
He couldnt write his book there.
FEDERZONI
And in Florence he couldnt publish it.
(Pause.)
THE LITTLE MONK
I also kept wondering whether theyd let him keep the stone he always carries in his
pocket. His touchstone, his little pebble stone.
FEDERZONI
Where they are taking him, people do not wear pockets.
The Life Of Galileo
(Pause.)
ANDREA
(Screaming.) They wont dare! And even if they do, hell never recant. Not to know the
truth is just stupid. To know the truth and call it a lie is criminal.
FEDERZONI
I dont think so either, and I wouldnt want to go on living if he did, but they have the
power.

X-i-142
ANDREA
Power isnt everything.
FEDERZONI
Maybe not!
THE LITTLE MONK
(Softly.) Hes been in prison for twenty-three days. Yesterday was the great interrogation.
Today the judges are in session. (As ANDREA is listening, he raises his voice.) When I
came to see him here two days after the decree, we were sitting over there; he showed me
the little Priapus by the sundial in the garden you can see it from here and compared
his own work with a poem by Horace, in which it is also impossible to change anything.
He spoke of his esthetic sense, which compels him to look for the truth. And he told me
his motto: Hieme et aestate, et prope et porcul, usque dum vivam et ultra. He was
referring to the truth.
ANDREA
(To the LITTLE MONK.) Did you tell him what he did in the Collegium Romanum while
they were examining his tube? Tell him! (THE LITTLE MONK shakes his head.) He
acted the same as always. He put his hands on his hams, stuck out his belly and said:
Gentlemen, I beg for reason! (Laughingly he imitates GALILEO.)
(Pause.)
(Referring to VIRGINIA.) Shes praying for him to recant.
VIRGINIA
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus
ventris tui Iesus. Sacta Maria mater Dei, ora ppro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora
mortis nostrae. Amen. (She continues to repeat this over and over with her rosary in
hand, and others begin to speak.)
The Life Of Galileo
FEDERZONI
Let her pray. Shes all mixed up since they talked to her. They brought her father
confessor down from Florence.
(Enter the SHADY INDIVIDUAL from the Grand Duke palace in
Florence.)
THE SHADY INDIVIDUAL
Signor Galilei will be here soon. He may need a bed.
FEDERZONI
Has he been released?

X-i-143
Signor Galilei is expected to recant at ve oclock before the plenary session of the
Inquisition. The great bell of St. Marks will be rung, and the wording of the abjuration,
his recantation, will be proclaimed publicly.
ANDREA
I dont believe it.
Because of the crowds collecting in the streets, Signor Galilei will be conducted to the
postern on this side of the palace near the garden door. (Out.)
ANDREA
(Suddenly shouting in a loud voice.) The moon is an earth and has no light of its own.
And Venus has no light of its own either and is like the earth and moves around the sun.
And four moons revolve around the planet Jupiter that is as far away as the xed stars
and not fastened to any sphere. And the sun is the center of the universe and immovable
in its place, and the earth is not the center and not immovable. And he was the man who
proved it.
THE LITTLE MONK
No force can make what has been seen unseen.
(Silence.)
FEDERZONI
(Looks at the sundial in the garden.) Five oclock.
(VIRGINIA prays louder.)
The Life Of Galileo
VIRGINIA
(Saying the OUR FATHER prayer.) Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem
nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos
dimittimus debitoribus nostris.Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. In
nominee Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
ANDREA
I cant stand it! Theyre beheading the truth!
(ANDREA holds his hands to his ears, so does THE LITTLE MONK.
The bell is not rung. It is silent. After a pause lled with VIRGINIAS
murmured prayers FEDERZONI shakes his head in the negative. The
OTHERS drop their heads and let their hands sink slowly.)

X-i-144
FEDERZONI
(Hoarsely.) Nothing. Its three minutes past ve.
ANDREA
Hes resisting.
THE LITTLE MONK
He hasnt recanted!
FEDERZONI
No! Oh, my friends!
(They embrace deliriously. They are wildly happy.)
ANDREA
You see! I told you! They cant do it with force! Force isnt everything! Hence ergo:
Stupidity is defeated, its not invulnerable! Hence ergo: Man is not afraid of death!
FEDERZONI
Now the age of knowledge, the age of science, will begin in earnest. This is the hour of
its birth. Just think, if he had recanted!
THE LITTLE MONK
I didnt say anything but I was very worried and afraid. I was faint of heart. Oh ye of little
faith!
The Life Of Galileo
ANDREA
Well, I knew it!
FEDERZONI
It would have been as if morning had turned back to night.
ANDREA
As if the mountain said: Im water.
THE LITTLE MONK
(Kneels down in tears.) Lord, I thank Thee. Oh, Lord, I thank Thee.
ANDREA
But now everything has changed. Man is lifting his head, tormented man, and saying: I
can live. All this is accomplished when one man gets up and says No!

X-i-145
(At this moment the big bell of St. Marks begins to boom. ALL stand
transxed.)
VIRGINIA
(Getting up.) The bell of St. Marks! He hasnt been condemned.
(From the street THE ANNOUNCER is heard reciting GALILEOS
recantation.)
ANNOUNCERS VOICE
I, Galileo Galilei, professor of mathematics and physics in Florence, hereby abjure what
I have taught, to wit, that the sun is the center of the world and motionless in its place,
and the earth is not the center and not motionless. Out of a sincere heart and unfeigned
faith, I abjure, renounce, condemn and execrate all these error and heresies as I do all
other errors and all other opinions in opposition to the Holy Church.
(Darkness.)
(When it grows light again, the bell is still booming, then it stops.
VIRGINIA has left. GALILEOS PUPILS are still there.)
FEDERZONI
The Life Of Galileo
He never paid you properly for your work. You couldnt buy a pair of pants or publish
anything of your work. You had to put up with all that because you were working for
science!
ANDREA
I cant look at him. I wish hed go away. Unhappy is the land that has no heroes!
FEDERZONI
Calm yourself.

[Music Cue #53: Spirit Heroes] Instrumental In Background
BALLAD SINGERS
(Spoken in a Chant with Instrumental playing in background.)
The land, the land that has no heroes, is an unhappy one, an unhappy one for lifes
burrows. Are heroes what give a man his blistening sun, his hopes, ideals and spirit for
everyday to move on and be strong? Do heroes give the essence that lights each mans
way, day by day? Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, I do say. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, I do declare
today!
ANDREA
(Screams at GALILEO.) Wine barrel! Snail eater! Have you saved your precious skin?
(Sits down.) I feel sick. Unhappy is the land that has no heroes!

X-i-146
(GALILEO has entered, completely altered by the trial, almost to the
point of being unrecognizable. He has heard ANDREAS remarks.
GALILEO pauses for a moment at the gate, waiting to be greeted.
When no greeting is forthcoming, and his students shrink from him, he
slowly walks, and because of his bad eyesight, uncertainly, downstage
where he nds a stool to sit on.)
GALILEO
(Calmly, regarding ANDREA.) Get him a glass of water.
(THE LITTLE MONK goes out to get ANDREA a glass of water. The
OTHERS pay no attention to GALILEO who sits on his footstool,
listening. From far off the ANNOUNCERS voice is heard again
reading GALILEOS recantation.)
ANNOUNCERS VOICE
I, Galileo Galilei, professor of mathematics and physics in Florence, hereby abjure what
I have taught, to wit, that the sun is the center of the world and motionless in its place,
The Life Of Galileo
and the earth is not the center and not motionless. Out of a sincere heart and unfeigned
faith, I abjure, renounce, condemn and execrate all these error and heresies as I do all
other errors and all other opinions in opposition to the Holy Church.
ANDREA
I can walk now if youll help me.
(They lead ANDREA to the door. When they reach it, GALILEO begins
to speak.)
GALILEO
No! Unhappy is the land that needs a hero!
(BLACKOUT
(GALILEO remains speaking, but goes downstage and speaks to
audience.)

GALILEO
Is it not obvious that a horse falling from a height of three or four ells will break its legs,
whereas a dog would not suffer any damage, nor would a cat when dropped from a height
of eight or nine ells, or a cricket from a tower, or an ant even if it were to fall from the
moon? And just as smaller animals are comparatively stronger than larger ones, so small
plants too stand up better: an oak tree two hundred ells high cannot sustain its branches in
the same proportion as a small oak tree . . .

X-i-147
BALLAD SINGERS
(Speak.)
Galileo Galilei, Discorsi.)
[Music Cue #54: Spirit Heroes]
(Sing.)
The land, the land that has no heroes, is an unhappy one for lifes burrows, for heroes
give man his glistening sun, a glimpse of hope, ideals, and spirits, truth be, to move on
each day, you see.
Heroes give the essence that lightens each mans way, and make life worth living, I say
day by day.
Heroes, heroes, our fantasy man, make him into everything as fast as you can, for heroes,
heroes, they can be, all that we cant, cant you see,

GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
. . . nor can nature let a horse grow as large as twenty horses or produce a giant ten times
the size of man unless it changes all the proportions of the limbs and especially of the
bones, which would have to be strengthened far beyond the size demanded by mere
proportion. The common assumption that large and small machines are equally durable
is apparently erroneous.
BALLAD SINGERS
(Sing.)
Galileo may just be right, in what he speaks, size is important in what a man reaps,
believing in his thought, but sometimes it is not enough for what gets sought.
For to ght, for to ght, for a belief today, is difcult if youre the one to pave the way.
Heroes, heroes, our fantasy man, make him into everything as fast as you can, for heroes,
heroes, they can be, all that we cant, cant you see.
The land, the land that has no heroes, is an unhappy one, an unhappy one for lifes
burrows. Are heroes what give a man his blistening sun, his hopes, ideals and spirit for
everyday to move on and be strong? Do heroes give the essence that lights each mans
way, day by day? Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, I do say. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, I do declare
today!
(Speak.)
Oh my hero, oh my hero, Galileo Galilei, I believed you were heaven sent. Galileo
Galilei, Discorsi.

(CURTAIN)
(END OF ACT)
XI-i-148
ACT XI
Scene 1
SETTING: 1633-1642 A large room with a table, a leather chair
and a globe in a Villa near Florence where
GALILEO lives as a prisoner of the Inquisition.
TIME: Day
AT RISE: GALILEO, now old and almost blind, is
experimenting carefully with a small wooden ball
rolling on a curved wooden rail. In the anteroom A
MONK is sitting on guard. A knock is heard at the
The Life Of Galileo
door. THE MONK opens and A PEASANT comes
in carrying two plucked geese. VIRGINIA emerges
from the kitchen. She is now about forty. (She
actually died April 2,1634.)
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
From sixteen hundred thirty-three to the year of sixteen hundred forty-two, Galileo
Galilei has been spending his life in a villa near Florence, as a prisoner of the Inquisition,
and will remain a prisoner of the church, until his death of January 8, 1642.
THE PEASANT
Im supposed to deliver these.
VIRGINIA
Who from? I didnt order any geese.
THE PEASANT
I was told to say from someone thats passing through. (Out.)
(VIRGINIA looks at the geese in astonishment. THE MONK takes them
from her and examines them suspiciously. Satised, he gives them back
and she carries them by the necks to GALILEO in the large room.)
VIRGINIA
A present, dropped off by someone whos passing through.
GALILEO
What is it?

XI-i-149
VIRGINIA
Cant you see?
GALILEO
No. (He goes closer.) Geese. Was there any name?
VIRGINIA
No.
GALILEO
(Taking one goose from her.) Heavy. Maybe Ill have some now, that would be nice.
VIRGINIA
The Life Of Galileo
You cant be hungry again. You just nished dinner. And whats wrong with your eyes
today? You ought to be able to see them from where you are.
GALILEO
Youre standing in the shadow.
VIRGINIA
Im not in the shadow. (She carries the geese out.)
GALILEO
Put in some thyme and apples.
VIRGINIA
(To THE MONK.) We must send for the eye doctor. Father couldnt see the geese from his
table.
THE MONK
Ill need permission from Monsignor Carpula. Has he been writing again?
VIRGINIA
No. Hes dictating his book to me. You know that. You have pages 131 and 132. They
were the last ones written.

THE MONK
Hes an old fox!
VIRGINIA
He doesnt do anything against the rules. His repentance is real. I keep an eye on him.
(She gives him the geese.) Tell them in the kitchen to roast the liver with an apple and an
onion. (THE MONK goes off and VIRGINIA comes back in to the large room.) And now
were going to think of our eyes and stop playing with that ball and dictate a little more of
our weekly letter to the archbishop.

XI-i-150
GALILEO
I dont feel up to it. Read me some Horace.
VIRGINIA
Only last week Monsignor Carpula, to whom we owe so much like those vegetables the
other day told me the archbishop keeps asking him what you think of the questions and
quotations hes been sending you, if you like them? (She has sat down ready for
dictation.)
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Where was I?
VIRGINIA
Paragraph four: Concerning the reaction of the church to the unrest in the Great |Arsenal
in Venice, I agree with Cardinal Spolettis attitude concerning the rebellious rope
makers . . .
GALILEO
Yes. (Dictates.) . . . I agree entirely with Cardinal Spolettis attitude concerning the
rebellious rope makers, to wit, that it is better to dispense soup to them in the name of
Christian charity than to pay them more wages for their ship cables and bell ropes. All the
more so, since it seems wiser to strengthen their faith than their greed. The Apostle Paul
says: Charity never faileth. How does that sound?
VIRGINIA
Its wonderful, Father!
GALILEO
You dont think it could be mistaken for irony?
VIRGINIA
No, the archbishop will be very pleased. Hes a practical man. He will be delighted.
GALILEO
I rely on your judgment. Whats the next point?
VIRGINIA
A very beautiful saying: When I am weak then I am strong.
GALILEO
No comment.
VIRGINIA
Why not?

XI-i-151
GALILEO
Whats next?
VIRGINIA
The Life Of Galileo
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Paul to the Ephesians three
nineteen!
GALILEO
I say . . . . I must especially thank Your Eminence for the magnicent quotation from the
epistle to the Ephesians. Inspired by it, I found the following in our incomparable
Imitation: (He quotes from memory.) He to whom speaketh the eternal word is free
from much questioning. May I seize this opportunity to say something on my own
behalf? To this day I am being reproached for once having written a book on celestial
bodies in the language of the market place. In so doing, I did not mean to suggest, or to
express my approval of the writing of book on such important subjects as theology in the
jargon of spaghetti vendors. The argument in favor of the service in Latin that the
universality of this language enables all nations to hear mass in exactly the same way
seems less than fortunate since the scoffers, who are never at a loss, may well argue that
the use of this language prevents all nations from understanding the text. I for my part
prefer to forego the cheap intelligibility of things Holy. The Latin tongue, which protects
the eternal verities of the church from the prying of the ignorant, inspires condence
when recited by priests, sons of the lower classes, in the pronunciation of their local
dialects. No, strike that out.
VIRGINIA
The whole thing, you say?
GALILEO
Everything after the spaghetti vendors!
(Hearing a knocking at the door, VIRGINIA goes into the anteroom.
THE MONK opens the door. ANDREA SARTI appears. He is a man in
his middle years now.)
ANDREA
Good evening. I am leaving Italy to do scientic work in Holland. I was asked to see him
on my way through and bring the latest news of him.
VIRGINIA
I dont know if hell want to see you. You never came to visit us.
ANDREA
Ask him.

XI-i-152
The Life Of Galileo
(GALILEO has recognized the voice. He sits motionless. VIRGINIA
goes in to him.)
GALILEO
Is it Andrea?
VIRGINIA
Yes. Should I send him away?
GALILEO
(After a pause.) Bring him in.
(VIRGINIA leads ANDREA inside.)
VIRGINIA
(To the MONK.) Hes harmless. He was his pupil. So now hes his enemy.
GALILEO
Leave us alone, Virginia.
VIRGINIA
I want to hear what he says. (She sits down.)
ANDREA
(Cool.) How are you?
GALILEO
Come closer. What are you doing? Tell me about your work. I hear youre on hydraulics.
ANDREA
Fabricius in Amsterdam has asked me to inquire about your health.
(Pause.)
GALILEO
Im well. I receive every attention.
ANDREA
I shall be glad to report that you are well.
GALILEO
Fabricius will be glad to hear it. And you may add that I am living in reasonable comfort.
The depth of my repentance has moved my superiors to allow me limited scientic
pursuits under clerical Church control.
The Life Of Galileo

XI-i-153
ANDREA
Oh, yes! We too have heard that the Church is pleased with you. Your total submission
has borne fruit. The authorities, I am told, are most gratied to note that since your
submission no work containing any new hypothesis has been published in Italy.
GALILEO
(Listening in the direction of the anteroom.) Unfortunately there are countries that elude
the protection of the Church. I fear the condemned doctrines are being perpetuated in
those countries.
ANDREA
There too your recantation has resulted in a setback most gratifying to the Church.
GALILEO
You dont say. (Pause.) Nothing from Descartes, huh? No news from Paris?
ANDREA
Oh, yes! When he heard you had recanted he stuffed his treatise on the nature of light in
his desk drawer.
(Long pause.)
GALILEO
I keep worrying about some of my scientic friends whom I led down the path of error.
Has my recantation helped them to mend their ways and enlightened them?
ANDREA
I am going to Holland to carry on my scientic work. The ox is not allowed to do what
Jupiter denies himself.
GALILEO
I understand.
ANDREA
Federzoni is back at his lens grinding, in some shop in Milan.
GALILEO
(Laughs.) He doesnt know Latin.
(Pause.)
ANDREA
Fulganzio, our little monk, has given up science, deserted his research, and returned to
the fold, to the bosom of the Church.
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Yes. (Pause.) My superiors are looking forward to my complete spiritual recovery. Im
making better progress than expected.

XI-i-154
ANDREA
I see!
VIRGINIA
The Lord be praised.

GALILEO
(Grufy.) Attend to the geese, Virginia.
(VIRGINIA leaves angrily. In passing she is addressed by THE
MONK.)
THE MONK
I dont like that man.
VIRGINIA
Hes harmless. You heard what he said. (On her way out.) Weve got fresh goat cheese.
(THE MONK follows her out.)
ANDREA
Im going to travel through the night so as to cross the border by morning. May I go
now?
GALILEO
I cant see why youve come, Sarti. To stir me up! Ive been living prudently since I came
here. I live cautiously, and try to think cautiously, but I have my relapses even so.
ANDREA
I have no desires to upset you, Signor Galilei.
GALILEO
Barberini called it the itch. He wasnt entirely free from it himself. Ive been writing
again.
ANDREA
You have?
The Life Of Galileo
GALILEO
Ive nished the Dicorsi.
ANDREA
What? The Discorses Concerning Two New Sciences: Mechanics and Local Motion, The
Law of Falling Bodies? Here?

XI-i-155
GALILEO
Oh, they let me have paper and pen. My superiors arent stupid. Theyre not blockheads!
They know that ingrained vices cant be uprooted and cured overnight. They protect me
from unpleasant and hazardous consequences by locking up page after page.
ANDREA
Oh God!
GALILEO
Did you say something?
ANDREA
They let you plow water! They give you pen and paper to quiet you and calm you down!
How could you ever write under such conditions?
GALILEO
Oh, Im a slave of habit!
ANDREA
The Discorsi in the hands of monks! When Amsterdam and London and Prague are
clamoring for them with hunger!
GALILEO
I can just hear Fabricius wailing, demanding his pound of esh, while he himself sits
safely in Amsterdam.
ANDREA
Two new branches of science as good as lost!
GALILEO
No doubt he and some others will feel uplifted when they hear that I jeopardized the last
pitiful remnants of my comfort to make a copy, behind my own back so to speak, for six
months using up the last ounces of light on the clearer and brighter nights.
The Life Of Galileo
ANDREA
You have a copy?
GALILEO
So far my vanity has prevented me from destroying it.
ANDREA
Where is it?

XI-i-156
GALILEO
If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. Whoever wrote that knew more about comfort
than I do. Im sure its the height of folly to let it out of my hands. But since Ive been
unable to leave science alone, you may just as well have it. The copy is in the globe.
Should you consider taking it to Holland, you would of course have to bear full
responsibility. In which case, youd say you bought it from someone with access to the
Holy Ofce in Rome.
(ANDREA has gone to the globe. He takes out the copy.)
ANDREA
The Discorsi! (He leafs through the manuscript. He reads.) It is my purpose to establish
an entirely, totally, new science in regard to a very old problem, namely, motion. By
means of experiments I have discovered some of its properties, which are worth
knowing.
GALILEO
I had to do something with my time.
ANDREA
This will be the foundation of a new physics.
GALILEO
Put it under your coat.
ANDREA
And we thought you had deserted us! My voice was the loudest against you! I
condemned you!
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
And you were absolutely right. I taught you science, and I denied the truth.
ANDREA
This changes everything. Everything!
GALILEO
You think so?
ANDREA
You were hiding the truth, simply concealing it from the enemy. Even in ethics you were
centuries ahead of us.
GALILEO
Explain that to me, Andrea.

XI-i-157
ANDREA
With the man on the street we said: Hell die, but hell never recant. You came back and
said: Ive recanted but I shall live. Your hands are stained, we said. You said: Better
stained than empty.
GALILEO
Better stained than empty. Sounds realistic. Sounds like me. A new science, a new ethics!
ANDREA
I should have known better than anyone else. I was eleven when you sold another
mans telescope to the senate in Venice. And I watched you make immortal use of that
instrument. Your friends shook their heads when you humbled yourself to that child in
Florence: But science found an audience. Youve always laughed at heroes. People who
suffer bore me, you said. Bad luck and misfortune come from faulty calculations and
insufcient planning, and If there are obstacles the shortest line between two points
may well be a crooked line.
GALILEO
I remember.
ANDREA
And in sixteen thirty-three when you decided to abjure a popular item of your doctrine, I
should have known that you were merely withdrawing from a hopeless political brawl in
order to further and carry on the true interests of science.
GALILEO
Which consist in . . .
The Life Of Galileo
ANDREA
. . . the study of the properties of motion, the mother of machines, which alone will make
the earth so good and so wondrous to live on that we shall be able to do without heaven.
GALILEO
Hm! Aha!
ANDREA
You won the leisure to write a scientic work that only you alone could write. Had you
perished in the ery halo ame of the stake, the others would have been the victors.
GALILEO
They are the victors! Besides, there is no scientic work that one man alone can write.
ANDREA
Then why did you recant?

XI-i-158
GALILEO
I recanted because I was afraid of physical pain.
ANDREA
No!
GALILEO
They showed me the instruments.
ANDREA
Then it was not premeditated?
GALILEO
It was not! It was not planned!
(Pause.)
ANDREA
(Loud.) In science only one-thing counts, contribution to knowledge: And that there is the
only one commandment: contribute to knowledge.
GALILEO
And that I have supplied! Welcome to the gutter, brother in science and cousin in treason!
You like sh? I have sh. What stinks is not my sh; its me. Im selling you out! I sold
me out and you are the buyer. Oh, irresistible sight of a book, that hallowed commodity.
The mouth waters, the curses are drowned. The great Babylonian whore, the murderous
The Life Of Galileo
beast, the scarlet woman, opens her thighs, and everything is different! Hallowed by our
haggling, whitewashing, death shunning, fearing community!
ANDREA
To shun death is human. Human weaknesses are no concern of science.
GALILEO
No?! My dear Sarti, even in my present condition I believe I am justied to give you a
few hints about the science you are devoting yourself to.
(A short pause.)
(In lecture style, hands folded over his paunch.) In my free time, and Ive plenty of that, I
have reviewed my case and asked myself how the world of science, of which I no longer
consider myself a member, will judge it. Even a wool merchant, in addition to buying
cheap and selling dear, has to worry about the obstacles that may be put in the way of the
wool trade itself. In this sense, the pursuit of science seems to call for special courage.
Science trades in knowledge distilled from doubt. Providing everybody with knowledge
of everything, science aims at making doubters of everybody. But princes, landlords and
priests keep the majority of the people in a pearly haze of superstition and outworn words

XI-i-159
GALILEO (Cont.)
to cover up their own machinations. The misery of the many is as old as the hills and is
proclaimed in Church and university lecture hall to be as indestructible as the hills.
Our new art of doubting delighted the common people. They grabbed the telescope out of
out hands and focused it on their tormentors princes, landlords, priests, etc. Those self-
seeking violent men greedily exploited the fruits of science for their own ends but at the
same time they felt the cold stare of science focused upon the millennial, yet articial
miseries which mankind could obviously get rid of by getting rid of them. The people
cried out, We will eliminate our thousand-year-old articial misery by eliminating those
who make us miserable. But then the tormentors showered us with threats and bribes,
which weak souls cannot resist. But can we turn our backs on the masses of humanity and
still remain scientists?
The movements of the heavenly bodies have become more comprehensible; clearer to us.
But the movements of their rulers remain unpredictable and unfathomable to the people.
The battle to measure the sky, the heaven, was won by doubt; but credulity still prevents
the Roman housewife from winning her battle for milk for her children is lost over and
over again through faith.
The Life Of Galileo
Science! Science, Sarti, takes up arms in both battleelds. If mankind goes on stumbling
in a pearly, stupeed, haze of superstition and outworn words and remains too ignorant to
make full use of its own strength, it will never be able to use the forces of nature which
science has discovered.
What end are you scientists working for? To my mind, the only purpose of science is to
lighten the toil of the misery of human existence. If scientists, browbeaten by selsh
rulers, conne them selves to the accumulation of knowledge for the sake of knowledge,
science will be crippled and your new machines will only mean new hardships. Given
time, you may well discover everything there is to discover, but your progress will be a
profession away from humanity. The gulf between you and humanity may one day be so
wide that the response to your exultation, your jubilant cry, about some new achievement
will be a universal outcry of horror.
As a scientist, I had a unique opportunity. In my time astronomy reached the market
place. Under these very special circumstances, on mans steadfastness might have had
tremendous repercussions. If I had held out, scientists might have developed something
like the physicians Hippocratic oath, the vow to use their knowledge only for the good of
mankind. As things stand now, the best we can hope for is a generation of inventive
dwarfs who can be hired for a song for any purpose. Furthermore, Sarti, I have come to
the conclusion that I was never in any real danger. For a few years I was a strong as the
authorities. And yet I handed the powerful, my knowledge to use, or not to use, or to
misuse as served their purposes.

XI-i-160
(VIRGINIA has come in with a dish and remains standing.)
GALILEO
I have betrayed my calling. A man who does what I have done cannot be tolerated in the
ranks of science.
VIRGINIA
You have been received in the ranks of the faithful.
(She walks on and sets the dish down on the table.)
GALILEO
Yes. I must eat now.
(ANDREA offers him his hand. GALILEO sees it, but does not take it.)
GALILEO
The Life Of Galileo
You are teaching now yourself. Can you afford to shake a hand such as mine? (He goes to
the table.) Somebody on the way through has sent me two geese. I still like to eat.
ANDREA
Then you no longer believe that a new era has dawned?
GALILEO
I do. Take care of yourself when you pass through Germany with the truth under your
coat.
ANDREA
(Unable to leave.) Regarding your opinion of the author we discussed I cannot answer
you. But I refuse to believe that your devastating analysis can be the last word.
GALILEO
Thank you, sir. (He begins to eat.)
VIRGINIA
(Seeing ANDREA out.) We dont like visitors from the past. They upset him.
(ANDREA leaves. VIRGINIA comes back.)
GALILEO
Do you have any idea who could have sent the geese?
VIRGINIA
Not Andrea.

XI-i-161
GALILEO
Maybe not! How is the night?
VIRGINIA
(At the window.) Clear and bright!
(CURTAIN)
(END OF SCENE)
The Life Of Galileo
XI-
ii-162
ACT XI
Scene 2
SETTING: 1637. The Patrol Station at a small northern Italian
border town.
TIME: Early Morning.
AT RISE: CHILDREN are playing by the turnpike near the
guardhouse. ANDREA, beside a COACHMAN, is
The Life Of Galileo
waiting for his papers to be examined by the
GUARDS so he can get out of Italy, and get to
Holland. He is sitting on a small box reading in
Galileos manuscript. The COACH is on the far side
of the turnpike. SEVERAL BORDER PATROL
GUARDS march back and forth, some stand at
attention armed.
[Music Cue #56: Spirit Finale]
A BALLAD SINGER
(Speaks.)
Sixteen hundred and thirty-seven Galileos book Discorsi crosses the Italian border. . .
The great book oer the border went, and good folk, that was the end. But we hope youll
keep in mind you and I were left behind. May you now guard science light, keep it up
and use it right lest it be a blame to fall one day to consume us all.
[Music Cue #57: Spirit Mary]
CHILDREN
(Sing.)
Mary sat upon a stone, had a pink shift of her own.
The shift was full of shit but when cold weather came along, Mary put her shift back on.
Shitty is better than split.
THE BORDER GUARD
Why are you leaving Italy?
ANDREA
Im a scholar.
THE BORDER GUARD
(To the clerk.) Write under Reason for Leaving: Scholar.
(The CLERK does so.)

XI-ii-163
THE FIRST BOY
(To ANDREA.) Dont sit there. (He points at the hut in front of which ANDREA is sitting.)
A witch lives there.
THE SECOND BOY
Old Marina isnt a witch.
The Life Of Galileo
THE FIRST BOY
Want me to twist your arm?
THE THIRD BOY
She is too. She ies through the air at night.
THE FIRST BOY
If shes not a witch, why cant she get any milk anywhere in town?
THE SECOND BOY
How can she y through the air? Nobody can do that. (To ANDREA.) Or can they?
THE FIRST BOY
(Referring to the SECOND BOY.) Thats Giuseppe. He doesnt know anything, because
he doesnt go to school, because his pants are torn.
THE BORDER GUARD
Whats that book?
ANDREA
(Without looking up.) Its by Aristotle, the great philosopher.
THE BORDER GUARD
(Suspiciously.) Whats he up to?
ANDREA
Hes dead.
(To tease ANDREA, the BOYS walk around him in a way indicating
that they too are reading books.)
THE BORDER GUARD
(To the CLERK.) See if there is anything about religion in it.
THE CLERK
(Turning leaves.) Cant see anything.

XI-ii-164
THE BORDER GUARD
Anyway, theres no point in looking. Nobodyd be so open about anything he wanted to
hide. (To ANDREA.) Youll have to sign a paper saying we examined everything.
The Life Of Galileo
(ANDREA hesitantly gets up and reading all the time goes into the
house with the GUARDS.)
THE THIRD BOY
(To the clerk, pointing at the box.) Look, theres something else.
THE CLERK
Wasnt it here before?
THE THIRD BOY
The devil has put it there. Its a box.
THE SECOND BOY
No, it belongs to the traveler.
THE THIRD BOY
I wouldnt go near it. Shes bewitched Passi the coachmans horses. I looked through the
hole in the roof that the snowstorm made, and I heard them coughing.
THE CLERK
(Almost at the box hesitates and goes back.) Witchery, ha? Well, we cant examine
everything. Wed never get through.

(ANDREA returns with a pitcher of milk. He sits down on the box
again and continues to read.
THE BORDER GUARD
(Following him with papers.) Close the boxes. Is that all?
THE CLERK
Yes.
THE SECOND BOY
(To ANDREA.) You say youre a scholar. Then tell me: Can people y through the air?
ANDREA
Just a moment!
THE BORDER GUARD
You may proceed.

XI-ii-165
The Life Of Galileo
(The COACHMAN picks up the luggage. ANDREA takes his box and
prepares to go.)
ANOTHER BORDER GUARD
Wait! Whats in the box?
ANDREA
(Taking up his book again.) Books.
THE FIRST BOY
Its the witch box.
THE BORDER GUARD
Nonsense. How could she hex a box?
THE THIRD BOY
If the devils helping her!
THE BORDER GUARD
(Laughs.) Not in our rulebook! (To the CLERK.) Open it!
(The box is opened.)
THE BORDER GUARD
(Listlessly.) How many?
ANDREA
Thirty-four.
THE BORDER GUARD
(To the CLERK.) How long will it take you?
THE CLERK
(Who has started rummaging supercially through the box.) All printed stuff. Youd have
no time for breakfast, and when do you expect me to collect the overdue toll from Passi
the coachman when his house is auctioned off, if I go through all these books?
THE BORDER GUARD
Youre right! Weve got to get that money. (He kicks at the books.) What could be in them
anyway? (To the COACHMAN.) Pfftt!
(ANDREA, and the COACHMAN who carries the box, cross the
border. Beyond it ANDREA puts GALILEOS manuscript in his bag.)
THE THIRD BOY
(Points at the pitcher that ANDREA had left behind.) Look!
The Life Of Galileo

XI-ii-166
THE FIRST BOY
And the box is gone! Now do you see it was the devil?
ANDREA
(Turning around.) No, it was me! You must learn to use your eyes. The milk and the
pitcher are paid for. Give them to the old woman. Oh, yes, Giuseppe, I havent answered
your question. No one can y through the air on a stick. Unless it has some sort of
machine attached to it. Such machines dont exist yet. Maybe they never will because
man is too heavy. But of course, we dont know. We dont know nearly enough,
Giuseppe. Weve hardly begun.
[Music Cue #58: Spirit Guard Your Scientists]
BALLAD SINGERS
Guard your, sciences, and sciences light, use it, and misuse it not, just allow it to shine
bright. Dear people, consider the end, knowledge ed across the border with revenge.
We, who are thirsty for knowledge, you and I we remained behind, but one never knows
if we may tomorrow shine.
bright. So that it not become a re fall, that one-day darkens eternal call, for knowledge
lies only in tomorrows thoughts, what we believe today, is tomorrows history taught.
bright. Look around you, above you, and see what you see, you may not be living in
reality. And when you think, and unusual thing for man to do, and do, when you think of
something new, so new, write it down, so it wont disappear for the futures sound, it just
may be that your thoughts are right. (Pause) Have a nice evening, oh yes, and have a
great bright night! (Pause.) Goodnight everyone all over the world!
[Music Cue #59: Spirit Goodnight] (In ITALIAN)
(MEDLEY Musical compilation plays while ALL take bows.)
Goodnight My Someone
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Brahms Lullaby
Somewhere Over the Rainbow . . . .
[Music Cue #60: Spirit Heavenly Harmony] Instrumental Only
HEAVENLY ORBS.
The Life Of Galileo
(CURTAIN)
(END OF PLAY)

The Life Of Galileo

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THE LIFE OF GALILEO

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