The Sleepwalkers (138 page)

Life
at
Uraniburg
was
not
exactly
what
one
would
expect
to
be
the
routine
of
a
scholar's
family,
but
rather
that
of
a
Renaissance
court.
There
was
a
steady
succession
of
banquets
for
distinguished
visitors,
presided
over
by
the
indefatigable,
hard-drinking,
gargantuan
host,
holding
forth
on
the
variations
in
the
eccentricity
of
Mars,
rubbing
ointment
on
his
silver
nose,
and
throwing
casual
titbits
to
his
fool
Jepp,
who
sat
at
the
master's
feet
under
the
table,
chattering
incessantly
amidst
the
general
noise.
This
Jepp
was
a
dwarf,
reputed
to
have
second
sight,
of
which
he
seemed
to
give
spectacular
proof
on
several
occasions.

Tycho
is
really
a
refreshing
exception
among
the
sombre,
tortured,
neurotic
geniuses
of
science.
He
was,
it
is
true,
not
a
creative
genius,
only
a
giant
of
methodical
observation.
Still,
he
displayed
all
the
vanity
of
genius
in
his
interminable
poetic
outpourings.
His
poetry
is
even
more
dreadful
than
Canon
Koppernigk's,
and
more
abundant
in
quantity
–
Tycho
was
never
in
want
of
a
publisher,
since
he
had
his
own
paper
mill
and
printing
press.
Even
so,
his
verses
and
epigrams
overflowed
onto
the
murals
and
ornaments
of
Uraniburg
and
Stjoerneburg,
which
abounded
in
mottoes,
inscriptions
and
allegorical
figures.
The
most
impressive
of
these,
adorning
the
wall
of
his
chief
study,
represented
the
eight
greatest
astronomers
in
history,
from
Timocharis
to
Tycho
himself,
followed
by
"Tychonides",
a
yet
unborn
descendant
–
with
a
caption
expressing
the
hope
that
he
would
be
worthy
of
his
great
ancestor.

4.
Exile

Tycho
stuck
it
out
on
his
Scarlet
Island
for
twenty
years;
then,
at
fifty-one,
he
took
up
his
wanderings
again.
But
by
that
time
the
bulk
of
his
life's
work
was
done.

In
looking
back
at
it,
he
divided
his
observations
into
"childish
and
doubtful
ones"
(during
his
student
days
at
Leipzig),
into
"juvenile
and
habitually
mediocre
ones"
(up
to
his
arrival
at
Hveen),
and
into
"virile,
precise
and
absolutely
certain
ones"
(made
at
the
Uraniburg).
⁸
The
Tychonic
revolution
in
astronomical
method
consists
in
the
previously
unequalled
precision
and
continuity
of
his
observations.
The
second
point
is
perhaps
even
more
important
than
the
first:
one
could
almost
say
that
Tycho's
work
compares
with
that
of
earlier
astronomers,
as
a
cinematographic
record
with
a
collection
of
still
photographs.

In
addition
to
his
remarkable
survey
of
the
solar
system,
his
re-mapping
of
the
firmament
comprised
a
thousand
fixed
stars
(of
which
the
positions
of
777
were
determined
accurately,
and
the
remaining
223
places
were
hastily
thrown
in
just
before
he
left
Uraniburg,
to
make
up
a
round
thousand).
His
proof
that
the
nova
of
'72
was
a
true
star
and
that
the
comet
of
'77
moved
in
an
orbit
far
outside
the
moon's,
disposed
of
the
already
shaken
belief
in
the
immutability
of
the
skies
and
the
solidity
of
the
celestial
spheres.
Lastly,
his
system
of
the
world,
which
he
offered
as
an
alternative
to
the
Copernican,
though
without
much
scientific
value,
played,
as
we
shall
see,
a
historically
important
part.
^8a

The
reasons
which
made
Tycho
abandon
his
island
realm
were
of
a
rather
sordid
character.
Tyge,
the
Scandinavian
squire,
was
as
high-handed
in
his
dealings
with
men
as
he
was
humble
towards
scientific
fact;
as
arrogant
towards
his
like
as
he
was
delicate
and
tender
in
handling
his
instruments.
He
treated
his
tenants
appallingly,
extracting
from
them
labour
and
goods
to
which
he
was
not
entitled,
and
imprisoning
them
when
they
demurred.
He
was
rude
to
all
who
evoked
his
displeasure,
including
the
young
King,
Christian
IV.
The
good
King
Ferdinand
had
died
in
1588
(of
too
much
drink,
as
Vedel
dutifully
pointed
out
in
his
funeral
oration)
and
his
successor,
though
well
disposed
to
Tycho,
on
whose
sorcerer's
island
he
had
spent
a
delightful
day
as
a
boy,
was
unwilling
to
close
his
eyes
to
Tycho's
scandalous
rule
of
Hveen.
By
this
time,
Tycho's
arrogance
seemed
to
be
verging
on
mania
of
grandeur.
He
left
several
letters
of
the
young
King
unanswered,
flaunted
the
decisions
of
the
provincial
courts,
and
even
of
the
High
Court
of
Justice,
by
holding
a
tenant
and
all
his
family
in
chains.
As
a
result,
the
great
man
who
had
been
Denmark's
glory,
became
a
personage
thoroughly
disliked
throughout
the
country.
No
direct
steps
were
taken
against
him,
but
his
fantastic
sinecures
were
reduced
to
more
reasonable
proportions,
and
this
gave
Tyge,
who
was
becoming
increasingly
bored
and
restless
on
his
Scarlet
Island,
the
needed
pretext
to
resume
his
wanderings
again.