TEXT:
MARCELLUS
What, has this thing appeared again to-night?
BERNARDO
I have seen nothing.
MARCELLUS
Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore I have entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night;
That if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
HORATIO
Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.
BERNARDO
Sit down awhile;
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story
What we have two nights seen.
HORATIO
Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
BERNARDO
Last night of all,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one...
NOTES:
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, noted as much for developing many fine astronomical instruments as for his near-accurate positioning of stars without the aid of telescope. He was born in the sixteenth century to a powerful noble family of Denmark. Although he was groomed for a career in the civil service, his interest turned to astronomy, and later even to alchemy. He built laboratories and observatories on the family property, and eventually discovered a new star on 11 November 1572. He eventually published a paper on the star the following year, becoming the then equivalent of an overnight sensation. (The paper is called "On the New Star".) Subsequently, thanks to the royal patronage, he built two fine observatories at Hven, where he continued with his astronomical studies, until circumstances forced him to go into exile. He spent the last years of his life at the Imperial Court of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, occupying the position of Imperial Mathematician and Astrologer.
Doubting Thomas
The episode between Thomas and the risen Jesus appears only in the Gospel according to John.