WEBVTT NOTE Flexible Glass: All That Glitters Is Not Gold 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 The recorded history of human beings begins with the art of writing. 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 In general, historic times are said to cover the last 6,000 years. 3 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:18.000 But the history of glass manufacture is known to have begun at least 12,000 years ago. 4 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:23.000 It may well be the first substance ever manufactured by men. 5 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:28.000 Glass is so common today, and so much a part of our civilization, 6 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:49.000 In spite of the everyday nature of glass windows and glass bottles and other items made from glass, there is a possibility that a few ancient people knew more about its manufacture than we do, and conceivably could have developed a better type of glass than anything available now. 7 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:55.800 This is a story about one such discovery which, as early as two thousand years ago, produced 8 00:00:55.800 --> 00:01:02.680 a non-breakable glass that responded to pressure by bending rather than shattering. 9 00:01:02.680 --> 00:01:06.260 The setting is the island of Capri, just off the coast of Italy. 10 00:01:06.260 --> 00:01:08.680 The year is 34 A.D. 11 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:15.400 The emperor of Rome is the great aristocrat and patrician Nero Claudius Tiberius Caesar, 12 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.880 ruler of all the known civilized world. 13 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:24.180 Forward with life in the capital city, Tiberius had ordered the construction of a dozen pleasure 14 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:29.780 palaces, one of them on the Isle of Capri. When affairs of state wearied him, Tiberius 15 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:35.640 and a number of young men, whose company he seemed to favor above that of young women, 16 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:41.760 would journey to Capri for what today would be known as a bash. His parties can only 17 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:47.360 be described as lavish. The actual nature of the entertainments is perhaps best left 18 00:01:47.360 --> 00:01:49.400 to the imagination. 19 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:55.440 On one such evening, a keen eye might have noticed a small skiff being rowed from the 20 00:01:55.440 --> 00:02:00.120 Italian shore toward the island where a party was in progress. 21 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:04.780 This was a long and perilous trip for so small a vessel, and the lone occupant of the boat 22 00:02:04.780 --> 00:02:10.780 was readily observed by the centurion whose task was to stand guard at the quay to prevent 23 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:13.600 any uninvited guest from intruding. 24 00:02:13.600 --> 00:02:18.540 The landing on the island, with its marble steps going down into the water, was centred 25 00:02:18.540 --> 00:02:24.140 by a half-dozen soldiers and by twice the number of statues. In an economy move, Tiberius 26 00:02:24.140 --> 00:02:29.420 had reduced the size of his military force and had ordered statues to be made, which 27 00:02:29.420 --> 00:02:34.720 were painted in lifelike colours and which stood guard in company with living troops. 28 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:40.100 Roman discipline made the statues and the men indistinguishable, creating the impression 29 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:46.940 of extensive police power, where actually a handful of troops was all that was necessary. 30 00:02:46.940 --> 00:02:50.820 As the rowboat bumped the bottom step, the centurion sprang into action. 31 00:02:50.820 --> 00:02:53.600 His short sword drawn, he collared the oarsman. 32 00:02:53.600 --> 00:02:54.600 Who was he? 33 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:56.260 Why the intrusion? 34 00:02:56.260 --> 00:03:00.900 The old man, clad in the poorest of workers' robes, trembled in great fear. 35 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:06.900 O mighty captain, he whined, I am a harmless Venetian, a glass-blower by trade. 36 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:09.620 I have come because I have a wonderful gift for Caesar. 37 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.180 I must present it to him. 38 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:16.540 The centurion demanded a glimpse of the gift, and the frightened man complied. 39 00:03:16.540 --> 00:03:21.520 From the folds of his rough garment, he produced a sparkling goblet that caught and reflected 40 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:23.560 the rays of the moon. 41 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:26.460 It is this, great captain, it is very special. 42 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:28.540 I have made it with my own hands. 43 00:03:28.540 --> 00:03:32.420 In all of Rome, there is no goblet to equal it. 44 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:35.700 A command and one of the nearby statues brings to life. 45 00:03:35.700 --> 00:03:39.100 The intruder is searched for possible weapons, nothing is found. 46 00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:44.360 Apparently his request to see the Emperor is both simple and sincere. 47 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:45.760 Another order is given. 48 00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:50.040 The old man is propelled up the hill with the soldier behind him, sword gleaming in 49 00:03:50.040 --> 00:03:51.640 readiness. 50 00:03:51.640 --> 00:03:55.360 Inside the rotunda, Tiberius is reclining in state. 51 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:00.600 His friends are about him in similar indolent postures, dining as servants bustle about 52 00:04:00.600 --> 00:04:05.320 with trays and flagons, intent on anticipating every wish. 53 00:04:05.320 --> 00:04:10.000 The guard turns the old man over to another legionnaire and approaches the royal couch 54 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.080 raised upon a platform. 55 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:16.640 His clenched fist thuds against his chest in a Roman salute. 56 00:04:16.640 --> 00:04:23.400 Mighty Caesar, we have captured an intruder, an old man, who says he is a Phoenician glassblower. 57 00:04:23.400 --> 00:04:25.640 He has a gift for you. 58 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:29.960 Is it your pleasure to see this man, or is it your august will that we run him through 59 00:04:29.960 --> 00:04:32.600 and drop his body in the bay? 60 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:39.260 Tiberius has had more wine than is good for him, but the haze swims away and he focuses 61 00:04:39.260 --> 00:04:45.120 on the questioning trooper. The room grows still. Attention goes from Caesar to the ragged 62 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:52.420 workman in the archway. The night is young, and Caesar is quite mellow. 63 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:57.920 Let the workman come forward. Instantly the old man is pushed into the centre of the room. 64 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:09.920 In abject humility he kneels at Caesar's feet. Hastily he fumbles in his garments and produces the goblet in his unlovely hand. Then, still shaking, he holds it out in offering. 65 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:16.920 It is a delicate bit of glass of exquisite design. Tiberius smiles and reaches for it. 66 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:24.920 Then, and the onlookers were never quite certain, the Venetian appeared to deliberately let the glass slip from his fingers. 67 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:32.920 It dropped to the stones of the paved rotunda, and it bounced, and rang like a bit of silver. 68 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:38.920 There's a gasp in the room, and all eyes are now welded to the glassblower to watch his every move. 69 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:42.920 He retrieves the goblet. There is a dent on the rim. 70 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:49.920 With a tool which he had contrived to conceal in spite of the search, he hammers the bent edge back into its original shape, 71 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:53.920 and now, dropping again to his knees, he hands the goblet to Tiberius. 72 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:02.920 There is a look of pride on the Phoenician's face, but he bows so that the gleam in his eye will be unnoticed in the event Caesar is disturbed. 73 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:15.920 But the emperor of all the Romans is on his feet. He is examining the glass with great care, turning it in his fingers, gazing through it at his guests and at the flaring torches which cast a ruddy glow over the assembly. 74 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.420 Where did you get this, he demands? 75 00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:22.320 Have you stolen it from the villa of some senator? 76 00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:25.800 Oh, I am no thief, great Caesar, Stammers the glassmaker. 77 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:29.720 I am a poor, though honest workman, a Phoenician and a glassblower. 78 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:33.640 My father was a glassblower, and before him his father. 79 00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:39.400 Always we have tried to make better glass, and hopefully we have tried to make a glass 80 00:06:39.400 --> 00:06:44.240 that will not break but will respond flexibly to ill usage. 81 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:49.400 This goblet I have made by my own hands, and it will do this. 82 00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:51.600 Tiberius is impressed. 83 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.000 It is a remarkable piece of work. 84 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.480 He gazes about the room again, looking through the goblet. 85 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:00.640 And it shows no sign that it has been dropped. 86 00:07:00.640 --> 00:07:04.680 But perhaps this fine workmanship is nothing but a lucky accident. 87 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:08.960 Fortune smiled upon you, but it would be impossible to make a second one. 88 00:07:08.960 --> 00:07:11.900 The glassblower's face shines in excitement. 89 00:07:11.900 --> 00:07:14.740 Surely his fortune has now been made. 90 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:18.180 I am an untutored man and I cannot read, the workman admits. 91 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:22.620 But insofar as glass is concerned, I have more knowledge than any living man. 92 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:25.660 I can duplicate this goblet over and over. 93 00:07:25.660 --> 00:07:27.420 Oh, you have a formula. 94 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:32.220 Yes, great Caesar, I know the secret and it can be reproduced. 95 00:07:32.220 --> 00:07:35.360 But surely you are not the only man who knows this thing. 96 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:36.900 You work with others. 97 00:07:36.900 --> 00:07:41.820 Others too are privy to this knowledge so that they too can produce goblets like it. 98 00:07:41.820 --> 00:07:48.420 Ah, it is true that others know something of it. I have two helpers who understand something 99 00:07:48.420 --> 00:07:55.180 of what I know, but they cannot do this. Only I can make flexible glass. The secret is locked 100 00:07:55.180 --> 00:08:03.140 in my head. You have not reduced it to writing? The workman bows in humility. I have no skill 101 00:08:03.140 --> 00:08:08.260 at letters. I am untutored. But locked in your head is the knowledge so that you can 102 00:08:08.260 --> 00:08:10.660 And make this goblet again and again. 103 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:12.780 That is true, mighty Caesar. 104 00:08:12.780 --> 00:08:13.780 Quite so. 105 00:08:13.780 --> 00:08:17.060 I simply wanted to make certain. 106 00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:20.940 Tiberius makes an almost imperceptible motion to the legionnaire, who had been standing 107 00:08:20.940 --> 00:08:22.520 by at attention. 108 00:08:22.520 --> 00:08:27.460 The Roman short sword flashes in the ruddy glow of torches, and the old man falls to 109 00:08:27.460 --> 00:08:32.460 the floor, blood gushing from a dreadful mortal wound. 110 00:08:32.460 --> 00:08:36.580 The faces of the guests turn pale, and here and there one turns away. 111 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:39.260 they dare not show displeasure. 112 00:08:39.260 --> 00:08:43.340 Finally the favorite of the emperor lisps what the others feel. 113 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:49.060 O mighty Caesar, it is not for us to question your divine judgment. 114 00:08:49.060 --> 00:08:54.980 We are mute and marvel at the decision, which we know was rightfully deduced. 115 00:08:54.980 --> 00:09:00.840 But if Caesar wills it, could he explain to us poor and ignorant mortals why such ultimate 116 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:05.300 punishment was visited upon a man who appears to be but an honest workman? 117 00:09:05.300 --> 00:09:11.780 Was he a spy, a thief, or some other villain? If you didn't like the goblet, you could have 118 00:09:11.780 --> 00:09:17.180 flogged him for our pleasure. But Tiberius is still examining the goblet. Finally he 119 00:09:17.180 --> 00:09:21.540 gives a short laugh and turns to his guests. 120 00:09:21.540 --> 00:09:26.660 Apparently none of you has seen the danger implicit in this sparkling bauble. Know, then, 121 00:09:26.660 --> 00:09:32.820 that I have just saved the Roman economy. To the looks of incredulity, he continues, 122 00:09:32.820 --> 00:09:39.060 This pretty piece of glass is, perhaps, the most valuable item in Rome, as of this moment. 123 00:09:39.060 --> 00:09:44.860 It is far more valuable than gold or jewels. It has no price. Had I permitted this workman 124 00:09:44.860 --> 00:09:50.020 to make more of them, it is entirely likely that merchants and common people would have 125 00:09:50.020 --> 00:09:56.220 valued goblets such as this above the value they place on gold. And what then? Do you 126 00:09:56.220 --> 00:10:02.780 not realize that the Roman economy is based on gold? Shall we stand by and let glass replace 127 00:10:02.780 --> 00:10:09.780 Today, modern glass-making is now approaching the point where it may ultimately make its 128 00:10:32.780 --> 00:10:39.620 make a glass as flexible and as lasting as that purported to have been made in 34 A.D. 129 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:45.120 But we may quite properly reflect upon this incident to marvel at the ways government 130 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:51.220 extends itself to serve what it calls the common good. 131 00:10:51.220 --> 00:10:58.500 Once a government, any government, obtains centralized control over a population and the 132 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:05.500 Those in government begin to decide which businesses should be conducted, which goods sold, and which services offered. 133 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:15.500 There are some who contend that government has invariably acted in restraint of business and trade, that, in fact, it is the only chore to which it is totally dedicated. 134 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:22.500 This practice is carried on under the term pro bono publico, or for the good of the public. 135 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:28.500 and how often such government programming and control has been wrong. 136 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:33.500 Whenever a people begin to believe in the divinity of their particular Caesar, 137 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:36.500 and imagine that his judgments are always good, 138 00:11:36.500 --> 00:11:41.500 they will find themselves reduced to mere puppets carrying out his will, 139 00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:44.500 and scenes like the one described will take place. 140 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:49.500 Such has been the tragic fate of many, and such will be the fate of more. 141 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:55.500 Certainly, any man, whether private businessman or politician, can be wrong. 142 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:59.500 Anyone can and will make mistakes. All of us do. 143 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:09.500 One of the great merits of a private enterprise system is that when mistakes are made, the persons suffering are those who made the error. 144 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:16.500 When government takes control of the economy, the results of error are visited upon those who have not committed them. 145 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:24.500 Perhaps one day we will recognize the great advantage of private management of private affairs.