The Sleepwalkers (272 page)
Authors: Arthur Koestler
Both
versions
of
Copernicus'
treatise
are
printed
in
Prowe
II,
pp.
21-29,
and
analyzed
in
Prowe
I,
1,
pp.
139-152
and
193-201.
It
is
amazing
to
note
that
even
this
subject
has
been
dragged
into
the
Polish-German
controversy.
Thus
Rudnicki
(op.
cit.,
p.
24),
in
spite
of
Prowe's
exhaustive
treatment
of
the
matter,
flatly
states,
"it
is
noteworthy
that
the
Germans
pass
over
Copernicus'
economic
treatises
in
silence",
and
considers
the
treatise
as
further
proof
that
Copernicus'
"outlook
is
Polish
to
the
core"
(p.
26)
because
he
suggested
that
the
new
coins
of
Polish
Prussia
should
bear
as
crest
the
royal
crown
of
Poland;
but
he
omits
to
mention
the
fact
that
the
treatise
itself
was
written
in
German.
On the other hand, Zinner omits to
mention that one of the first teachers of Copernicus was apparently a
master with the indubitably Polish name Mikolaj Vodka – who later
latinized his name into Abstemius... Cf. L. A. Birkenmajer ,
Mikolaj
Wodka z Kwidz yna zwany Abstemius lekarz i astronom polski XV – go
stulecia
( Thorn, 1926). See also notes 10 and 89.
Quoted
by Prowe I, 2, p. 177.
Flosculorum
Lutheranorum
de
fide
et
operibus
ανδηλογιχον
(
Cracow),
1525,
quoted
by
Prowe
I,
2,
p.
172.
Compare
below
p.
156
seq.,
the
equally
complicated
compromise
formula
for
the
publication
of
Rheticus'
Narratio
prima.
The
date
of
the
Commentariolus
is
uncertain,
but
internal
evidence
points
to
the
years
1510-14.
See
Zinner
op.
cit.
,
p.
185,
and
A.
Koyré,
Nicolas
Copernic
Des
Revolutions
des
Orbes
Célestes
(
Paris,
1934),
p.
140.
Nicolai
Copernici
de
hypothesibus
motuum
coelestium
a
se
constitutis
commentariolus
.
I
have
translated
"Commentariolus"
as
"Brief
outline".
Hand-written
copies
of
it
were
still
circulating
among
scholars
towards
the
end
of
the
century.
Then
the
treatise
vanished
from
sight
until
two
copies
were
found
independently
in
1878
and
1881
in
Vienna
and
Stockholm.
The
full
text
was
first
published
by
Prowe,
together
with
a
German
translation
of
the
opening
section.
_A
complete
English
translation
was
published
by
Edward
Rosen
(
op.
cit.
).
That
is
to
say,
the
planet's
angular
velocity
is
not
uniform
relative
to
the
centre
of
its
epicycle;
it
is
only
uniform
relative
to
another
point,
the
puncture
equans
situated
on
the
axis
major
of
its
orbit.
See
below
p.
202
f.
seq.
Epistolae
diuersorum
philosophorum,
oratorum,
rhetorum
sex
et
viginti
(
Padua,
1499).
Bessarionis
Cardinalis
Niceni
et
Patriarchae
Constantinopolitani
in
calumniatorem
Platonis
libri
quatuor
(
Padua,
1503).
Quoted
by Prowe II, pp. 132-137.
De
revolutionibus, prefatory matter.
Quoted
by Prowe I, 2, p. 274.
"There
is
talk
of
a
new
astrologer
who
wants
to
prove
that
the
earth
moves
and
goes
round
instead
of
the
sky,
the
sun
and
moon,
just
as
if
somebody
moving
in
a
carriage
or
ship
might
hold
that
he
was
sitting
still
and
at
rest
while
the
earth
and
the
trees
walked
and
moved.
But
that
is
how
things
are
nowadays:
when
a
man
wishes
to
be
clever
he
must
needs
invent
something
special,
and
the
way
he
does
it
must
needs
be
the
best!
That
fool
wants
to
turn
the
whole
art
of
astronomy
upside-down.
However,
as
Holy
Scripture
tells
us,
so
did
Joshua
bid
the
sun
to
stand
still
and
not
the
earth."
(
Luther
Tischreden
,
ed.
Walch,
p.
2260.
quoted
by
Prowe
I,
2,
p.
232.)
Quoted
by Prowe I, 2, p. 233.
Georg
Joachim
Rheticus,
Narratio
prima
–
Encomium
Borussiae
(
Danzig,
1540),
transl.
Rosen,
op.
cit.
,
p.
191.
In
subsequent
quotations
from
the
Narratio
prima
I
have
followed
E.
Rosen's
translation
except
for
some
minor
paraphrasings.
Op.
cit.
,
transl.
Rosen,
pp.
192-5.
Cf.
above, p. 144, and note 31.
Op.
cit.
,
transl.
Rosen,
p.
186
f.
