The garden of the Imperial Palace. To the right a summer house, to the left the tower of the observatory. In front of the tower a large balcony with Kepler’s writing desk, chair and astronomical instruments. Lucifer, as Kepler’s apprentice, is discovered standing on the balcony. In the garden courtiers and ladies are walking about, among them Eve, as Barbara, Kepler’s wife. The Emperor, Rudolph, is engaged in conversation with Adam, as Kepler. In the background a heretic is being burned at the stake. The time is evening, and later on, night. Two courtiers are walking across the front of the stage.
1ST COURTIER
Who’s being roasted at the stake today?
A witch or heretic?
2ND COURTIER
I couldn’t say.
It isn’t the fashion now to watch the show.
Only the riff-raff hang around the stake,
and even they have lost their zest for it:
they look morose and grumble discontent.
1ST COURTIER
O, in my time it was a great occasion:
royalty came along and all the nobles.
But times have changed: good customs, happier days…
[Exeunt.]
LUCIFER
A welcome sight of many a chilly night!
O, yes, this glow has been a lasting comfort.
For shame, it’s dying out - not smothered by
humane considerations, to be sure,
or by unlikely vogues of tolerance.
Downright inertia is to blame for it:
there’s no ambition left to stoke the fire.
This leaves me cold. Alas, great enterprise,
you’ve reached an anticlimax by default!
Lucifer exit. Rudolph and Adam move to the front of the stage.
RUDOLPH
Kepler, I want my horoscope examined.
I’ve had disturbing dreams. I want to know
what cosmic forces bear upon my star.
Last time we found an ominous conjunction
appearing in the Sign of Scorpion.
ADAM
Indeed, Your Majesty. I’ll do my best.
RUDOLPH
Once these climacteric days are behind us,
we must resume that great experiment
which proved abortive on the last occasion.
Since then I’ve studied Hermes Trismegistos,
Synesius, Albertus, Paracelsus,
the Code of Solomon and sundry works,
and found the error in our calculations.
That Royal Substance was correctly heated,
with both the Raven and the Lion ascendant,
and with the power of Mercury doubly potent,
so under these concerted influences
Philosophers’ stone was precipitated.
But then, because we misconstrued the purpose
of key words like “dry water”, “humid fire”,
we couldn’t achieve our goal, that sacred nuptial,
whose essence could rejuvenate the old,
and had the power to turn base lead to gold.
ADAM
I see, Your Majesty.
RUDOLPH
And, by the way,
I’ve heard you lately mentioned up at Court.
They say you’ve taken to new-fangled doctrines
and that you query teachings of the Church.
Now, given that your mother’s apprehended,
charged with the crime of witchcraft as she is,
you may not find yourself above suspicion
if ill-advisedly, I can assure you,
you keep on canvassing for her release.
ADAM
Surely, my gracious Lord, I am her son.
RUDOLPH
Make sure the Holy Church remains your mother.
This world does well; you leave it well alone
and don’t presume to make it any better.
Think of the favours I have heaped upon you:
your father was a publican, you know,
and yet I’ve given you rank and noble status,
confirmed your title, with no little trouble,
I’ve raised you to my throne, which went a long way,
if truth be told, to win your Barbara’s hand…
So be advised, my friend, and watch your move.
Exit Rudolph. Adam, left standing by the foot of the stairs leading to the balcony, is lost in thought. Two courtiers enter talking.
3RD COURTIER
See that astrologer? He’s rapt in thought.
4TH COURTIER
That fellow is consumed with jealousy -
being out of place in fine society.
He is a peasant still, but for the title.
3RD COURTIER
He’ll never understand our knightly precepts,
that woman to us is - divinity,
and we would give our lives and spill our blood
to save her virtue from a hint of blemish.
In our chivalry he suspects a motive.
Eve, with another group, joins the courtiers in the foreground. Laughing, she playfully taps the 2nd Courtier on the shoulder with her fan.
EVE
Enough, my Lord! For Goodness’ sake, have mercy!
Restrain your wit, or I shall die with laughter…
Now, look at these! How very serious.
My Lords, you haven’t caught by any chance
the pestilence of new philosophies?
For if you have, stand back! It’s so depressing
to hear those people vent their bitter notions
about this peaceful life, this beautiful
and happy world - and brood upon the future.
3RD COURTIER
We plead not guilty to that charge, my lady.
In your presence who would desire a change?
1ST COURTIER
But I believe I see a person up there
whose face betrays the signs of dark forebodings.
EVE
My husband? Ah! Poor thing. Now, gentlemen,
for my sake - no suspicions! Please, remember
that I’m in holy wedlock bound to him.
Besides, he isn’t well. Not well at all.
2ND COURTIER
He’s languishing for - someone, you might say?
3RD COURTIER
Quite so, Madam. Such gross effrontery
to taint your honour with his jealousy.
I wish I were your chosen champion
to fling my gauntlet in the offender’s face.
[Meanwhile they come to Adam.]
Ah, master, what a stroke of luck to meet you.
I’m bound for my estates. I’d like to know
what weather to expect.
1ST COURTIER
I’d like to order
a star-prognosis for my first-born son.
Born after midnight.
ADAM
Thank you, gentlemen!
I’ll have them ready both tomorrow morning.
4TH COURTIER
The party is dispersing: time to go.
3RD COURTIER
This way, my lady! Sweet good night to you!
[in a whisper]
I’ll see you later.
EVE
In the summer-house.
[aloud]
Good night, my Lords! You’re coming, John, my dear?
Exeunt Courtiers. Adam and Eve move to the balcony where Adam sinks into an armchair. Eve stands facing him. The scene grows darker.
EVE
It’s hard to say, John, but I need some money.
ADAM
I’ve nothing left; you’ve taken all I had.
EVE
Shall I forever live in penury?
I must look like a pauper up at Court,
while other women flaunt their rich attire.
When every now and then a courtier
comes up to me and bows, politely smiling,
and calling me the queen amongst them all,
truly I feel ashamed for you who let
this “queen” appear in Court as poorly dressed…
ADAM
Do I not labour day and night for you,
and prostitute my art, and sell my learning?
Do I not fabricate weather predictions
and worthless horoscopes, the shame of it,
concealing my most sacred understanding
to advocate what I know to be false?
O, I’ve become far worse, I blush to say,
than those sibyls who did at least believe
their prophecies, for though I don’t believe them,
I still concoct those lies - and all for you!
No, not for me the wages of my sin.
I’ve no desire, not one, left in the world,
except the night, the glimmering, starlit sky,
except the distant music of the spheres…
The rest is yours. However, my requests
for payment have been mostly disallowed:
the Treasury itself is nearly bankrupt.
You may have all that I’ll get in the morning,
ungrateful though you are - which hurts a little.
EVE
[crying]
You would reproach me with your sacrifices.
Was it not sacrifice enough for you,
when I, a daughter with an ancient lineage,
was married to your questionable title?
If you’re accepted in society,
it is on my account. Now, who’s ungrateful?
ADAM
Learning, knowledge - a questionable title?
This light upon my forehead from the skies,
does this denote a doubtful origin?
What else, besides this, is nobility?
Would you affix that name to decadent
decaying puppets whom their souls disown,
while this, my title, holds forever strong?
O, woman, if you could but understand me,
if only your soul were akin to mine,
as your first kisses made me vainly hope,
you would be proud to share this life of mine;
elsewhere you would not seek your happiness;
nor would you have the sweetness of your being
so wantonly bestowed upon the world,
only to leave your hearth - the bitterness.
Woman, how infinitely did I love you!
I love you still, but it’s a bitter sting
mixed with the honey, fills the heart with poison,
because you lack the true nobility
of womanhood, corrupted by this age,
which holds woman in bogus adoration,
as once chivalry held her pure, divine,
while faith prevailed and times were generous.
But in these paltry days, with faith declining,
this cult of woman smacks of lechery.
I would divorce you, I would break my heart,
hoping the pain would buy my peace of mind,
and you could also find your happiness,
but our established order blocks the way,
and that authority, the Church decrees:
we must endure together - to the grave.
He buries his head in his hands, while Eve, not unmoved, caresses him.
EVE
O, John, don’t let my words upset you too much.
I may speak thoughtlessly from time to time
and still don’t mean to hurt you. But, you see,
though life in Court is ever so exciting,
those women there are foppish and disdainful.
I must conform, or I may be the loser.
You aren’t too angry with me, are you, John?
Good night! - I’ll have that money in the morning.
[She goes downstairs into the garden.]
ADAM
What puzzling blend of gentleness and baseness
distils in woman? Honey mixed with poison.
What’s their attraction? Their inherent goodness
that’s overlaid with vices of the times.
Apprentice, hey!
Lucifer enters with a lamp which he places on Kepler’s writing desk.
LUCIFER
I heard you call me, master.
ADAM
A horoscope’s required and some predictions
about the weather. Will you make them up?
LUCIFER
Most certainly, with all the puff and sparkle.
No ready cash is rendered for the truth.
ADAM
Control your sparkle: no absurdities.
LUCIFER
There’s no outrageous praise I could invent
which doting parents wouldn’t take for granted.
Their every new-born babe’s a new Messiah,
their dynasty’s illustrious star ascending,
until he proves the villain that he is.
Lucifer starts writing. Meantime Eve reaches the summer-house in the garden where she is met by the 3rd Courtier.
3RD COURTIER
How cruel to have kept me yearning for you.
EVE
I see. You find it too objectionable
to feel exposed to breezes, evening air?
Think: I deceive a kind and goodly husband,
exposed to Heaven’s wrath, my fickle Sir,
and to the censure of the world for you.
3RD COURTIER
No Heaven’s wrath, no censure of the world
can penetrate the secrets of the garden.
ADAM
The age I dreamed of - with my battles over -
in which, a pre-condition sacrosanct,
the wonted pattern of the social order
would be allowed to stand inviolate,
when I could rest in calm indifference
and leave my aching battle-wounds to heal -
that age has come, and yet to no avail,
for in this human breast there lives a soul,
a Heaven-born, troublesome inheritance,
which spurs me on, and will not let me be,
but wages war against that slothful ease.
Apprentice, bring some wine! I’m shivering.
This is a cold world, let me warm it up.
For dwarfish times a fitting inspiration
to help escape the dust that clings to us.
Lucifer brings him some wine which Adam continues to drink until the end of the scene.
Unfold, unfold yourselves you boundless skies,
reveal your hallowed mysteries to me.
If only I could read your secret message,
I would forget this age of turpitude.
Up there’s eternal life; here, brief existence:
while that exalts the soul, this weighs it down.
3RD COURTIER
Ah, Barbara, how I wish you could be mine!
May Heavens send your husband speedy summons
for closer study of the firmament.
Let him fulfill his highest aspiration.
EVE
I’ll none of that, Sir! It would break my heart.
My kisses would be drowned in floods of tears.
3RD COURTIER
You’re joking!
EVE
No, I speak the honest truth.
3RD COURTIER
Your fits of fancy leave me quite dumbfounded.
How can you say you love me if you mean that?
Suppose that I were exiled, destitute,
what would you do to show your love for me?
EVE
To be quite candid, Sir, I couldn’t say.
ADAM
O, come new epoch, youthful, vigorous,
and break this mould of cold indifference!
Come, sweep away the lumber of the past;
pronounce your judgement: punish and reward!
He rises and staggers to the edge of the balcony.
Relentless in your use and means of power,
unflinching to declare the latent slogan,
engulf us in your fateful avalanche,
which down its course of pain and devastation
may crush the very man who set it off.
[The tune of the Marseillaise is heard.]
I hear the anthem of this age to come:
I’ve found the words, the potent alchemy,
which shall rejuvenate the aged earth.