The Sleepwalkers (147 page)

In
October,
he
arrived
back
in
Prague
with
his
wife
–
but
without
his
furniture
and
chattels,
which
he
had
to
leave
behind
in
Linz
as
he
had
no
money
to
pay
for
the
transport.
He
was
again
ill
with
intermittent
fever,
and
again
thought
that
he
was
suffering
from
consumption.
The
imperial
nod
of
consent
to
his
employment
was
not
followed
by
concrete
action,
so
Kepler
and
his
wife
had
to
live
entirely
on
Tycho's
bounty.
At
the
Emperor's
request,
who
wanted
his
mathematicus
close
at
hand,
Tycho
had
given
up
the
splendours
of
Benatek
and
moved
to
a
house
in
Prague,
where
the
Keplers,
having
no
money
for
rent,
were
forced
to
take
up
quarters.
During
the
next
six
months,
Kepler
had
little
time
for
astronomy,
as
he
was
fully
occupied
with
writing
the
accursed
polemics
against
Ursus
and
Craig,
and
nursing
his
real
and
imaginary
ailments.
Frau
Barbara,
who
even
in
better
days
had
not
been
a
cheerful
soul,
hated
the
alien
ways
and
narrow,
winding
streets
of
Prague,
whose
stench
was
strong
enough
"to
drive
back
the
Turks",
as
a
contemporary
English
traveller
wrote.
¹¹
The
Keplers
were
drinking
the
bitter
cup
of
refugee
existence
to
the
dregs.

In
the
spring
of
1601,
Frau
Barbara's
rich
father
died
back
in
Styria
–
he
had
paid
the
price
of
conversion
to
die
in
his
country.
This
gave
Kepler
a
welcome
pretext
to
leave
his
family
in
Tycho's
charge,
and
to
go
back
to
Gratz
to
save
the
inheritance.
In
this
he
did
not
succeed;
but
he
stayed
in
Gratz
for
another
four
months,
and
seems
to
have
had
a
wonderful
time,
dining
in
the
houses
of
the
Styrian
nobles
as
a
kind
of
distinguished
exile
on
home
leave,
climbing
mountains
to
measure
the
curvature
of
the
earth,
writing
infuriating
letters
to
Tycho
whom
he
reproached
for
not
giving
enough
money
to
Frau
Barbara,
and
thoughtfully
asking
her
whether
Elisabeth
Brahe,
who
was
at
last
allowed
to
marry
the
Junker
Tengnagel,
was
"showing
signs
of
the
baby"
–
which
arrived
three
months
after
the
ceremony.
He
returned
to
Prague
in
August,
his
mission
unaccomplished,
but
his
health
fully
restored,
and
in
radiant
spirits.
He
now
only
had
to
mark
time
for
another
two
months
till
the
decisive
turn
in
his
life.

On
the
13th
of
October,
1601,
Tycho
was
a
guest
at
supper
at
Baron
Rosenberg's
table
in
Prague.
Among
the
other
guests
was
an
Imperial
Councillor,
so
it
must
have
been
an
illustrious
company;
but
since
Tycho
had
been
in
the
habit
of
entertaining
royalty,
and
was
accustomed
to
vast
amounts
of
drink,
it
is
difficult
to
understand
why
he
was
unable
to
cope
with
the
predicament
in
which
he
found
himself.
Kepler
has
carefully
recorded
what
happened
in
the
Diary
of
Observations
–
a
kind
of
logbook
where
all
important
events
of
the
Brahe
household
were
entered:

"On
October
13,
Tycho
Brahe,
in
the
company
of
Master
Minkowitz,
had
dinner
at
the
illustrious
Rosenberg's
table,
and
held
back
his
water
beyond
the
demands
of
courtesy.
When
he
drank
more,
he
felt
the
tension
in
his
bladder
increase,
but
he
put
politeness
before
his
health.
When
he
got
home,
he
was
scarcely
able
to
urinate.

At
the
beginning
of
his
illness,
the
moon
was
in
opposition
to
Saturn
...
[follows
the
horoscope
of
the
day].

After
five
sleepless
nights,
he
could
still
only
pass
his
water
with
the
greatest
pain,
and
even
so
the
passage
was
impeded.
The
insomnia
continued,
with
internal
fever
gradually
leading
to
delirium;
and
the
food
he
ate,
and
from
which
he
could
not
be
kept,
exacerbating
the
evil.
On
October
24,
his
delirium
ceased
for
several
hours;
nature
conquered
and
he
expired
peacefully
among
the
consolations,
prayers
and
tears
of
his
people.

So
from
this
date
the
series
of
celestial
observations
was
interrupted,
and
his
own
observations
of
thirty-eight
years
have
come
to
an
end.

On
his
last
night
in
his
gentle
delirium,
he
repeated
over
and
again
these
words,
like
someone
composing
a
poem: