Moral Fables by Giacomo Leopardi

Author:Giacomo Leopardi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alma Books
Published: 2017-09-12T15:59:58+00:00

Copernicus

A Dialogue

Scene One

The First Hour of the day and the Sun are the speakers.

FIRST HOUR: Good day, Your Majesty.

SUN: Yes; or rather goodnight.

FIRST HOUR: The horses are ready.*

SUN: Good.

FIRST HOUR: The day star has been visible a while.

SUN: Good: she may come and go as she pleases.

FIRST HOUR: What does Your Majesty mean?

SUN: I mean that you should leave me alone.

FIRST HOUR: But, Your Majesty, the night has already lasted so long that it cannot last any longer. And if we were to delay, Your Majesty, you would have to take care that some disorder did not result.

SUN: Come what may, I am not moving.

FIRST HOUR: Oh, Your Majesty, what is this? Do you feel unwell?

SUN: No, no! I don’t feel anything, except that I have no wish to move. So you just go about your own business.

FIRST HOUR: How can I do that if you don’t come, since I am the First Hour of the day? And how can it be daytime if Your Majesty does not deign to come out as usual?

SUN: If you are not the First Hour of the day, you will be the First Hour of the night; or rather the Hours of the Night will do double duty, and you and your companions will be sitting at leisure. Because – do you know what? – I am tired of this continual going round and round in order to provide light for two or three little beasties who live on a handful of mud so very tiny that I, who have good eyesight, cannot manage to see it. And tonight I have decided that I don’t want to put any more effort into this; and if men want light they must keep their fires lit, or supply light in some other way.

FIRST HOUR: And what way, Your Majesty, do you think the poor creatures will find? To keep their lamps burning, or provide enough candles to burn throughout the day, will cost too much. If the discovery had already been made of that kind of air that serves to heat, and to illuminate the streets, the rooms, the shops, the taverns and everything else,* and all at little cost, well then, I would say that the situation was not so bad. But the fact is that there are three hundred years still to go, more or less, before men discover that cure for their ills;* and meanwhile they will be short of oil and wax and pitch and tallow, and they’ll have nothing left to burn.

SUN: Let them hunt for fireflies and those little worms that shine.

FIRST HOUR: And how will they manage in the cold? For without that help which they had from Your Majesty, the fire from all their forests will not suffice to warm them. Besides which, they will die of hunger, because the earth will not bear its fruits any more. And so, at the end of a few years, the seed of those poor animals will be lost; for, when

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.