Notaro - Good morning, gentlemen, and thank you for coming. You are Mr. Matt Marconi, did you?
MATT - That's right.
Notaro - But you are Mr. Tonio Berti.
TONIO - Yes, sir.
Notaro - And now we come to why I called. You should know that exactly one hundred years ago, two made an odd bet your ancestors.
MATT - A bet?
Notaro - It was Mr. Marconi Ambrose, grandfather of Mr. Mattia present here, and Mr. Christopher Berti, great grandfather of Mr. Tonio. The two were close friends your ancestors were young and full of optimism. They decided therefore to conceptualize the challenge of their lives and to achieve it, they turned to a Notary.
TONIO - Even.
Notaro - handed him a sum of money, half for each, gave him the details of the bet and gave him the job, after exactly one hundred years to trace their heirs, check the winner and award a prize to the Mail ' heir to one of them who did the winner. One hundred years have just expired today. Obviously that Notary is not longer with us, but I have found the study, and therefore the job. Any questions?
MATT - If I understand well, you'll be the judge of the bet.
Notaro - Exactly. Sole and final judge, according to the specific desire of your ancestors. Does that create problems?
MATT - For God's sake, we have no reason to doubt of your righteousness.
Notaro - Do you have any observations to make, Mr. Berti?
TONIO - Here ... I wanted to know what is the prize for the winner.
Notaro - is a big sum. Definitely interesting. You see, the initial payment of your ancestors was not very high, but yield was made with care by my predecessor. And then to me. For now, gentlemen, after deducting expenses and my skills, the amount deposited amounts to almost half a million euro!
MATTIA - Not bad ...
TONIO - Half a million. My Lovely Lady. A bet of half a million ....
Notaro - Let's go now to the actual content of the bet. This is a rather curious thing. Your two ancestors, as I already said, were time very young, optimistic, exuberant and fascinated by success. Scommisero therefore on their future life. To use their own words: "whoever among us who will win will be able to become immortal."
MATTIA - Interesting.
TONIO - Immortal, and what does this mean?
Notaro - This is not saying much. I leave you, gentlemen, the task of proving the immortality of your their ancestor. I'll just judge.
TONIO - But, but .... how are we going?
Notaro - I'm sorry, but there is no indication in this regard. This is none of your business. The document states that only have ten days to provide. Mr. Marconi, You have a few comments from do?
MATTIA - None.
Notaro - Mr Berti, some objection.
TONIO - I do not know what to say ...
Notaro - Well, gentlemen, my task is finished for now. We will meet again here in my office in ten days at the same hours. Good research, gentlemen. And good luck.
* * * * *
Notaro - So, gentlemen, the ten days have passed. Have you prepared your evidence?
MATTIA - Of course.
Notaro - Well, well. Who wants to start? You, Mr. Marconi?
TONIO - As you like.
Notaro - Force then.
MATT - I easily reconstructed the life of my grandfather, Ambrose, because it is known that it was a great architect of the last century. He designed and built many buildings and other public works, still visible and admired throughout Italy. This is the complete list, that I would give you and please watch.
MATT - I think that there is no doubt that my grandfather Ambrose was a "great". An architect who marked an era, the author of works that speak to him for decades and will continue to do it again for centuries. In a word "immortal." I finished.
Notaro - Very good. Now it's up to you, Mr. Berti.
TONIO - I am afraid that from the point Professionally, my poor grandfather certainly can not compete with his childhood friend. If Marconi Ambrose was a great Italian architect, Christopher Berti was simply an employee of Royal Mail, which went retired after a simple life, without anything to show people if not the honesty of their daily work.
Notaro - meritorious virtues, Mr. Berti. But it's a little bit for the purposes of our bet.
TONIO - I agree.
Notaro - There is no denying that the reputation of Marconi Ambrose is definitely something else.
TONIO - is another matter, of course. But ...
Notaro - Yet?
TONIO - Well, maybe there is another consideration to make.
Notaro - Dis.
TONIO - having nothing else to do in these ten days, I started to study the families of my great-grandfather and his childhood friend and I discovered a curious thing. Let me put a question to my "opponent"?
Notaro - Please.
TONIO - Mr. Marconi, I understand that you're not married and do not be children. Is this correct?
MATTIA - Unfortunately yes. But I do not see what significance might have ....
TONIO - I'll tell you soon. It has no brothers and no grandchildren. While this is correct?
MATTIA - Exactly.
TONIO - then you might be the last descendant of the family Marconi.
MATT - Yes, unfortunately. But I do not see what this has to do with the works of my grandfather.
Tonio - You see, the fact is, however, with regard to my family, things are exactly the opposite.
Notaro - Interesting.
TONIO - My great-grandfather had five sons Christopher, from which came 14 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren that followed. As is clear from this document, now the good seed of Christopher Berti has exactly 52 descendants.
MATT - This is ridiculous and alien to the contents of the bet.
TONIO - No, Mr. Marconi, think again. Your ancestor was definitely more famous than mine, do not deny it, but here we are talking about immortality, not of fame.
MATT - It 's the same thing.
TONIO - No, it is not. Mr. Notary, I ask you to pronounce the verdict. Who was the most immortal Marconi Ambrose, who has built many buildings, but whose offspring will inevitably stop a few dozen years, or my great-grandfather Christopher Berti, a humble clerk, whose blood flows in 52 people and will continue to slide still for hundreds of years?
Notaro - I am afraid, Mr. Marconi, the bet has been won by your opponent. I would say swept for 52 to 1. In fact the only thing that can really make a man immortal is his bloodline. Just that.
* * * * *
LUMEN - And no, my dear Mr. Notary, you're wrong there, as well as big.
Notaro - What do you mean?
LUMEN - That the genotype to become immortal through his lineage is unknown, but the gamble did not relate to the genotype of M. Berti against the genotype of Mr. Marconi, but only their people, and their phenotypes.
Notaro - So what?
LUMEN - So the descendants of blood is something that only affects the genotype. For the phenotype everything ends with death. So the descendants of Mr. Berti does not matter.
Notaro - But if we think so, too, the fame of Mr. Marconi does not matter.
LUMEN - Of course.
Notaro - So how do we do? Who won this blessed bet?
LUMEN - It 's simple. Who died first: Mr. Berti's great-grandfather or grandfather of Mr. Marconi?
Notaro - Mr. Christopher Berti died several years before Mr. Marconi Ambrose. On this there is no doubt.
LUMEN - And then he won the bet Mr. Marconi. E 'lived longer and that is enough for a phenotype.
Notaro - then the prize should go to his nephew, Mr. Mattia Marconi?
LUMEN - Without a doubt.
Notaro - Who would have thought ... ..
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