Kepler to Müller, 13/23 November 1629
Johannes Kepler, “Kepler to Müller, 13/23 November 1629,” Nova Kepleriana 4, November 23, 1629, 67–70, transcribed in Plain Old Text, https://sources.vjbe.net/stable/j9ged.
Nova Kepleriana 4 23 Nov, 1629, p. 67–70 Summary
Part of Die Keplerbriefe auf der Nationalbibliothek und auf der Sternwarte in Paris
Kepler thanks Müller for arranging his type and paper, and pours out his distress over a rival suitor, a secretary of the Margrave of Baden, who is pressing for his daughter Susanna's hand while her betrothed Jacob Bartsch is away.
Source: Johannes Kepler's letter to Philipp Müller written at Sagan on 13/23 November 1629, about type and paper for his press, and about the courtship of his daughter Susanna by Jacob Bartsch and a rival suitor. The original is lost; the copy is in the Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire, Paris (B, 1, 9 (89); 89, 8. L). First printed in Nova Kepleriana 4, ed. Walther von Dyck and Max Caspar, Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Math.-naturw. Abteilung 31, no. 1 (Munich, 1927), 67–70.
Transcribed from: the page images of the 1927 printing.
Only the letter is given; the editors’ German summary and notes are left out. Kepler’s marginal notes, which the 1927 edition prints as footnotes, are given as footnotes. Fractional dates (13/23, old and new style) are written with a slash.
English translation of the letter as printed in Nova Kepleriana 4 (1927), made for Plain Old Text. Each paragraph translates the corresponding paragraph of the original, including Kepler’s German postscript and the directions on the cover; his marginal notes are translated as footnotes.
S. P. D.
Many greetings.
Clarissime Excellentissimeque Vir, D. amice pretiose.
Most famous and most excellent Sir, my precious friend.
Reversi sunt ad me operarii mei 8./18. Novembris, relicto praelo Dresdae ob penuriam aurigarum, quam tamen a monetario nostro intra paucos dies pensatum iri spero. Cum igitur hac ipsa vespera se mihi obtulerit tabellarius Saganensis, Halberstadium cursurus, cui iter Torga traducitur; ego tempori consulturus breviculas hasce ei tradidi, ut eas Torga Lipsiam mitteret. Gratias ago vobis pro opera impensa; mihi plane satisfactum est, eaque de causa mitto quittantiam pro summa expensa; quam ego vel Bartschius loco praesentis pecuniae acceptare teneamur. Caeterum, quia fusor habet instructionem fundendi typos, Papyrarius etiam habet formam papyri: expectat vero uterque, ut prius rata pronunciem, quae Operarii meo nomine constituerunt: insuper Cl. Exc. T. mihi exoranda est, ut utrumque sine mora pergere jubeat; ut et scripturam Cicero dictam,Kepler's marginal note here, on the weight of the Cicero type, has signs the 1927 printing shows unclearly: the fraction of a hundredweight is perhaps ½, and the accent signs and the two star signs in the German postscript are approximated.1 etsi usque ad 150 libras excurrerit, et tres ballas papyri, cum primis aurigis Vratislaviam euntibus, Saganumque transeuntibus mittere possint. Ego interim non desistam percontari, si Saganensium aurigarum quispiam Lipsiam iturus est, ut cum eo coram contraham: eumque vobis offeram, ut vos sollicitudine hac, si fieri poterit, et si praeveneritis, liberem. Pecunia mea, quia non sufficiet, Bartschiana erit delibanda; idque ubi fuerit factum continuo Bartschium velim resciscere.
My workmen came back to me on 8/18 November, having left the press at Dresden for want of carters, a want I hope our mint-master will make good within a few days. Since the Sagan messenger, bound for Halberstadt by way of Torgau, offered himself this very evening, I have handed him these few lines to save time, so that he can send them on from Torgau to Leipzig. I thank you for the trouble you have taken; I am entirely satisfied, and so I send a receipt for the sum spent, which Bartsch or I am bound to honour in place of ready money. For the rest: the founder has his instructions for casting the type, and the paper-maker has the form of the paper, but each is waiting for me first to confirm what my workmen agreed in my name. I must also beg Your Excellency to tell them both to go ahead without delay, so that they can send the type called Cicero,A size of type, about 12 point, named after early editions of Cicero printed in it.1 even if it comes to 150 pounds, and three bales of paper with the first carters going to Breslau by way of Sagan. Meanwhile I shall keep asking whether any of the Sagan carters is going to Leipzig, so as to strike a bargain with him in person and send him to you, and so spare you this trouble, if I can and if you have not already seen to it. Since my own money will not be enough, Bartsch’s will have to be drawn on; and as soon as that is done I should like Bartsch to be told.
Si alteruter vestrum scripserit: rogo addite hoc ex me, quod ternis jam ad ipsum quoque scripsi, viis longinquioribus et segnioribus curatoribus; discruciari me ejus fortuna et filiae meae curis; cui alter procus imminet, qui jam Marchionis Badensis heri sui intercessorias ad me misit, qui Perneggerum conduxit, ut Bartschium dehortaretur: quod is, mirum, et praestare acceptat.2 At interim literis filiae ultimis de 7./17. octobris certus sum, illam in mea unius potestate esse velle: Ego vero fidem pactis nostris praestare et teneor et volo, dum astrorum aspectu fruor.
If either of you writes to him, please add this from me: that I too have written to him three times now, by roundabout ways and through slow agents; that I am tormented by his fortunes and by my daughter’s cares; for another suitor is pressing her, who has already sent me letters of intercession from his master, the Margrave of Baden, and who has hired BerneggerMatthias Bernegger, professor at Strasbourg and Kepler's friend, in whose care Susanna was living there. Kepler writes Pernegger. to dissuade Bartsch, which Bernegger, strange to say, even undertakes to do.2 Yet I know from my daughter’s last letter, of 7/17 October, that she wishes to be in my power alone; and I, for my part, am bound and wish to keep faith with our agreement, as long as I enjoy the sight of the stars.
Summa quidem haec et calliditas et vis est. Obsidetur filia mea, cum procus Secretarium agat Principis, ut literae ad illam nullae nisi per manus hujus Secretarii pervenire possint; neque illius ad Perneggerum, quibus de sua testaretur constantia, ad me quoque fortasse non pervenissent, nisi dedisset jungendas suas intercessoriis Marchionis, quas illa tamen impeditas cupiebat. Vicissim Perneggero sollicitudo injecta est, arte proci, quasi filia mea inclinaret magis ad visum et praesentem, qui floret gratia aulica. Summa igitur meae sollicitudinis haec est, ne Bartschius a Perneggero se sentiatur retineri. Longinqui sunt et hic et ille. Vobis fortasse compertius est, ubi sit Bartschius, aut certiores et parabiliores occasiones scribendi recta vel ad hunc vel ad illum, vel ad utrumque. Angitur mea filia super ludibrio, quod necesse est alterutri obvenire.3 Exquisitissima haec est vexatio animi et de fide sua et de utraque persona sollicitissimi: in qua tamen me sublevat haec cogitatio, quod providentiam boni angeli excubare puto, ut cujus monitu factum, ut nollem Bartschium, ut agitabat animo, suo mero periculo iter hoc ad pertentandum animum filiae meae suscipere, nisi prius inter nos irrevocabiliter convenisset. Nam profecto si vel ego vel Bartschius hoc nexu jam essemus soluti: intercessoriae istae Principis cunei loco jam essent ad diffindendos nostros animos, meum quidem, metu offensae Principis, illius vero, desperatione conditionis expetitae. Quin etiam filia mea animum patris ex authoritate intercessoris praesumens, et religione exsoluta pacti paterni antiquioris rati habendi dudum ad praesentem inclinasset.
This is cunning and force of the highest order. My daughter is besieged: since the suitor is the Prince’s secretary, no letters can reach her except through his hands; nor would her letters, in which she affirmed her constancy, have reached Bernegger, or perhaps me either, had she not given them to be enclosed with the Margrave’s letters of intercession, which she herself wished to see stopped. Bernegger in turn has been made anxious by the suitor’s art, as though my daughter leaned more towards the man she sees before her, who flourishes in the favour of the court. So the sum of my anxiety is this: that Bartsch should not feel himself held back by Bernegger. Both of them are far away. You perhaps know better where Bartsch is, or have surer and readier chances of writing straight to the one or the other, or to both. My daughter is distressed at the humiliation that must fall on one of the two.3 This is the most exquisite torment of a mind anxious both for its own good faith and for both persons; yet in it I am relieved by this thought, that a good angel’s providence, I believe, keeps watch: for at its prompting I would not let Bartsch, as he intended, undertake this journey to sound out my daughter’s mind at his own sole risk, unless it had first been irrevocably agreed between us. For truly, if either I or Bartsch were now free of this bond, the Prince’s letters of intercession would already be acting as a wedge to split our minds: mine, from fear of offending the Prince; his, from despair of the match he sought. Indeed my daughter, presuming her father’s mind from the intercessor’s authority, and released from the scruple of upholding her father’s earlier agreement, would long since have inclined to the man before her.
Ego receptis intercessoriis Principis, necdum resignatis, rem omnem ad consanguineos Bartschii perscripsi, offerens me ad omne genus conditionum, quibus periclitanti subveniri posse sibique ipsis satisfieri existiment. Quorum responsum dum expecto, has interim primas ex manibus meis emitto, de hoc negocio. Reor illos, quia non respondent per proprium tabellarium, literas meas ad se, transmissuros Perneggero, sic enim per intrusam schedam leviter monui.
Having received the Prince’s letters of intercession, and not yet unsealed them, I have written out the whole affair to Bartsch’s kinsmen, offering myself to any terms by which they think he can be helped in his danger and they themselves satisfied. While I wait for their answer, I send off these lines, the first on this business to leave my hands. I think that, since they do not answer by their own messenger, they will send my letter on to Bernegger, for so I lightly suggested on a slip put in with it.
Haec ad te, Virorum optime, quod te Bartschio parentis loco et habeam, et ab ipso haberi credam iis inductus documentis, quae nupera vestra dedit conversatio. Tu boni consule imo laboranti bene consule, et vale. Dabam Sagani 13/23. Novemb. 1629.
I write this to you, best of men, because I regard you as a father to Bartsch, and believe he regards you so, as I am led to think by the proofs your recent meeting gave. Take it in good part, or rather take good counsel for one in distress, and farewell. Given at Sagan, 13/23 November 1629.
Cl. Ex. T.
devinctissimus
Jo. Keplerus
Mathematicus.
Your Excellency’s
most devoted
Jo. Kepler,
Mathematician.
Obsecro me doceas, nullasne meas Bartschius ante abitum ultimum Lipsia receperit? et si quas, quo argumento? Primis enim exprobravi ipsi moras, edocui de rivali: alteris sedatius scripsi, cum Perneggerus me cura levasset, qui filiae meae adventum Bartschii significaverat.
I beg you to tell me: did Bartsch receive none of my letters at Leipzig before he last left? And if any, on what subject? For in the first I reproached him for his delays and told him of the rival; in the second I wrote more calmly, since Bernegger had relieved me of my worry by telling my daughter that Bartsch was coming.
Cl. V. D. Aviano me excusa, quod majoribus curis nunc occupatus ad ipsius literas non respondeo.
Make my apologies to the famous Mr Avianus for not answering his letter, being taken up now with greater cares.
Significarunt operarii, habere te in animo, materiam typis fundendis redimere pretio viliori a quodam oeconomo. Id equidem et quicquid infra 33 imperiales pactus fueris aut, si etiam irrito laboraveris, beneficii mihi loco erit, si curandum susceperis. Et quia immixta est Scriptura Graeca, quae seorsim venalis est: scire cupio, num illa plena sit; num decurtari ad Saganensium altitudinem possit. Scribat pretium et mittat exemplum. Forte enim et illud residuum redempturus sum alia occasione.
My workmen reported that you have it in mind to buy metal for casting type more cheaply from a certain steward. I shall count it a kindness if you take this in hand, at any price you agree below 33 imperials,Imperial thalers (imperiales). or even if your efforts come to nothing. And since Greek type is mixed in with it, which is for sale separately, I should like to know whether that is complete, and whether it can be cut down to the Sagan height. Let him write the price and send a specimen; for perhaps I shall buy that remainder too on another occasion.
Der Gießer wölle nit vergeßen, die zween Characteres ✳ und ✷ zu schneiden und jedes bey 60 oder 100; auf den niedern Garemond-Kegel und zu der Ephemerides Schrifft zu güßen, nit auf die Saganische Höhe, wie Ime dan des Kegels form gelaßen worden.
The founder should not forget to cut the two characters ✳ and ✷, and to cast about 60 or 100 of each, on the low Garamond bodyA smaller size of type, about 10 point, named after the French punchcutter Claude Garamond. and for the type of the Ephemerides, not to the Sagan height, as the form of the body has been left with him.
Clarissimo Excellentissimoque Viro D.
Philippo Millero, Medicinae Licentiato,
Matheseos in Academia Lipsiana Professori, Stipendiariorumque
Electoralium
inspectori, D. amico meo colendissimo.
To the most famous and most excellent Mr
Philipp Müller, Licentiate of Medicine,
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Leipzig, and Inspector of
the Elector’s Scholars,
my most honoured friend.
Zu Torga bey einen gewißen nach Leipzig lauffenden Botten neben einem Drinckgeldt abzulegen.
To be left at Torgau with a reliable messenger going to Leipzig, with a tip.
Leipzig.
alda dem Torgischen Botten noch ein Drinckgeld zuzustellen.
Leipzig.
There the Torgau messenger is to be given another tip.
[Margin:] Die Cicero Schrifft an Ir selber ½ Centners, die Ziffer aber auf gleiche Kegel heuffig sampt puncten, accenten ) / v κ langen und kurtzen divisen — — — — — und quadraten, zusammen auch ½ Centners.↩︎
[Margin:] Missis ad manus filiae meae dehortatoriis ad Bartschium, quibus filia mea uteretur si vellet, et ut vellet, secundis ad illam scriptis insistit: Significavit etiam, se Bartschio authorem futurum, ut Durlachio praeterito, Argentinam potius nisi Putzbachii subsistat, primum adire velit.↩︎
[Margin:] Et cogita quale tormentum puellae, differri inter praesens placitum, et incognitum necessarium. Utinam nunquam Bartschius Halberstadium excurrisset; literas meas quibus filiae communico pacta nostra, sine mora tradidisset, quas etsi in itinere esse filia mea a Perneggero est edocta, nondum tamen legit: solas copias invitationis meae ad paciscendum coram legit.↩︎
[Margin:] The Cicero type by itself half a hundredweight; but the figures on the same body, in plenty, together with points, accents ) / v κ, long and short dashes — — — — — and quads, also half a hundredweight altogether.↩︎
[Margin:] Having sent into my daughter’s hands a letter dissuading Bartsch, for her to use if she wished and as she wished, he presses her in a second letter to her. He has also let it be known that he will advise Bartsch to pass Durlach by and go first to Strasbourg instead, unless he stops at Butzbach.↩︎
[Margin:] And think what torment for a girl, to be pulled between a present liking and an unknown duty. If only Bartsch had never gone off to Halberstadt, and had handed over without delay my letters in which I tell my daughter of our agreement! Bernegger has told her they are on their way, but she has not yet read them: she has read only the copies of my invitation to come to terms in person.↩︎