The Listeners
Page 24
And thence we issued out, again to see the stars.
Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno
Nil desperandum.
There's no cause for despair.
Horace, Odes, Book I
Je m'en vay chercher un grand Peut-être.
I am going to seek a great Perhaps.
Rabelais on his deathbed
O lente, lente currite, noctis equi!
Oh, slowly, slowly run, horses of the night!
Marlowe, Dr. Faustus
(Faustus is quoting Ovid. He waits for Mephistopheles to appear to claim his soul at midnight. The next line: “The devil will come and Faustus must be damn'd.")
Ful wys is he that can himselven knowe!
Very wise is he that can know himself!
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, “The Monk's Tale”
Chapter 2
L'amor che muove il sole e l'altro stelle.
The love that moves the sun and the other stars.
Dante, The Divine Comedy, Paradiso
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.
Leave all hope, ye that enter.
Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno
(These are the words at the entrance to hell.)
Chapter 3
[F]ungar vice cotis, acutum
Reddere quae ferrum valet exsors ipsa secandi.
So I will play the part of a whetstone which can make steel sharp, though it has no power itself of cutting.
Horace, Ars Poetica
Chapter 5
Nous n'irons plus aux bois les lauriers sont coupés.
We'll to the woods no more, the laurel trees are cut.
French saying
Es un entreverado loco, lleno de lúcidos intervalos.
He's a muddled fool, full of lucid intervals.
Cervantes, Don Quixote
In freta dum fluvii current dum montibus umbrae
Lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet,
Semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt.
While the rivers shall run to ocean, while the
shadows shall move in the mountain valleys, while
the sky shall feed the stars, always shall thy
honor, and thy name, and thy glory abide.
Virgil, Aeneid
Acknowledgements
The letter by Giuseppe Cocconi to Sir Bernard Lovell is reprinted by permission of Professor Cocconi.
The poem attributed to Kirby Congdon is “The Exploration,” published in inside outer space, Anchor Books copyright 1970 Robert Vas Dias, and is reprinted by permission by the author.
The epigraphs for each chapter are taken from “The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare. Permission to include the excerpts has been granted by The Literary Trustees of Walter de la Mare, and the Society of Authors as their representative.
Quotations attributed to Freeman J. Dyson dated 1964 are from a letter in the April 1964 Scientific American and are reprinted by permission by Dyson and Scientific American.
Quotations attributed to Herman Kahn and Anthony J. Wiener are from their book, THE YEAR 2000, copyright © 1967 The Hudson Institute, Inc., published by the Macmillan Company, and are reprinted by permission of the publisher.
The poem attributed to Alice Meynell is “Christ in the Universe.” “Christ in the Universe” is reprinted by permission of Charles Scribner's Sons from LATER POEMS by Alice Meynell.
The quotation attributed to Carl Sagan dated 1966 are taken from INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE by I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan, published by Holden-Day, Inc., copyright 1966 Holden-Day, Inc,. and are reprinted by permission of Dr. Sagan and the publisher.
The lines of poetry attributed to William Butler Yeats are from “The Song of Wandering Aengus” and “The Second Coming,” and are reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Company from COLLECTED POEMS by William Butler Yeats. Copyright 1906 The Macmillan Company, renewal copyright 1934 William Butler Yeats; and copyright 1924 The Macmillan Company, renewal copyright 1952 Bertha Georgie Yeats.
(The Following page constitutes an extension of this copyright page.)
“Robert MacDonald” was first published in Galaxy Magazine,
September 1968, as “The Listeners.”
“George Thomas” was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1972, as “The Voices.”
“William Mitchell” was first published in Galaxy Magazine, May-June 1971, as “The Message.”
“Andrew White” was first published in Galaxy Magazine, January-February 1972, as “The Answer.”
“The Computer” was first published in Galaxy Magazine, May-June 1972, as “The Reply.”
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