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Copenhagen

The capital of Denmark, Hafnia in Latin, from which Duracotus sailed home to Iceland.

Today: Copenhagen, Denmark

The Dream: a journey to the Moon

Johannes Kepler, Somnium, published by his son Ludwig Kepler (Sagan and Frankfurt, 1634) · Written in Prague about 1609; notes added 1620–30; published 1634

9

Etenim exactis annis aliquot in hac Insula, tandem me cupiditas incessit revisendæ patriæ; rebar enim non grave mihi futurum ob acquisitam scientiam; emergere ad aliquam in mea gente rudi dignitatem. Salutato igitur patrono, et veniâ discessus impetratâ, veni Hafniam; nactusque socios itineris, qui me ob linguæ et regionis cognitionem libenter in suum patrocinium susceperunt: redij in patriam, quinto postquam excesseram anno.

After some years on this island, I began to long to see my homeland again. I thought that with the knowledge I had gained, it would not be hard to rise to some high place among my rough people. So I said goodbye to my patron, got his leave to go, and came to Hafnia [Copenhagen]. There I found traveling companions, who gladly took me under their protection because I knew the language and the country. I came home in the fifth year after I had left.