_Urban VIII., Galileo's friend, raised to the Pontificate--Galileo
goes to Rome to offer his congratulations--The Pope loads Galileo
with presents, and promises a Pension to his Son--Galileo in
pecuniary difficulties, owing to the death of his patron,
Cosmo--Galileo again rashly attacks the Church, notwithstanding the
Pope's kindness--He composes his System of the World, to
demonstrate the Copernican System--Artfully obtains a license to
print it--Nature of the work--Its influence on the public mind--The
Pope resolves on suppressing it--Galileo summoned before the
Inquisition--His Trial--His Defence--His formal abjuration of his
opinions--Observations on his conduct--The Pope shews great
indulgence to Galileo, who is allowed to return to his own house at
Arcetri, as the place of his confinement._
The succession of the Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne,
under the name of Urban VIII., was hailed by Galileo and his friends as
an event favourable to the promotion of science. Urban had not only been
the personal friend of Galileo and of Prince Cesi, the founder of the
Lyncaean Academy, but had been intimately connected with that able and
liberal association; and it was therefore deemed prudent to secure his
favour and attachment. If Paul III. had, nearly a century before,
patronised Copernicus, and accepted of the dedication of his great work,
it was not unreasonable to expect that, in more enlightened times,
another Pontiff might exhibit the same liberality to science.
The plan of securing to Galileo the patronage of Urban VIII. seems to
have been devised by Prince Cesi. Although Galileo had not been able for
some years to travel, excepting in a litter, yet he was urged by the
Prince to perform a journey to Rome, for the express purpose of
congratulating his friend upon his elevation to the papal chair. This
request was made in October 1623; and though Galileo's health was not
such as to authorise him to undergo so much fatigue, yet he felt the
importance of the advice, and, after visiting Cesi at Acqua Sparta, he
arrived at Rome in the spring of 1624. The reception which he here
experienced far exceeded his most sanguine expectations. During the two
months which he spent in the capital he was permitted to have no fewer
than six long and gratifying audiences of the Pope. The kindness of his
Holiness was of the most marked description. He not only loaded Galileo
with presents,[32] and promised him a pension for his son Vincenzo, but
he wrote a letter to Ferdinand, who had just succeeded Cosmo as Grand
Duke of Tuscany, recommending Galileo to his particular patronage. "For
we find in him," says he, "not only literary distinction, but the love
of piety; and he is strong in those qualities by which Pontifical
good-will is easily obtained. And now, when he has been brought to this
city to congratulate us on our elevation, we have very lovingly embraced
him; nor can we suffer him to return to the country whither your
liberality recalls him, without an ample provision of Pontifical love.
And that you may know how dear he is to us, we have willed to give him
this honourable testimonial of virtue and piety. And we further
signify, that every benefit which you shall confer upon him, imitating
or even surpassing your father's liberality, will conduce to our
gratification."
[32] A fine painting in gold, and a silver medal, and "a good
quantity of agnus dei."
Not content with thus securing the friendship of the Pope, Galileo
endeavoured to bespeak the good-will of the Cardinals towards the
Copernican system. He had, accordingly, many interviews with several of
these dignitaries; and he was assured, by Cardinal Hohenzoller, that in
a representation which he had made to the Pope on the subject of
Copernicus, he stated to his Holiness, "that as all the heretics
considered that system as undoubted, it would be necessary to be very
circumspect in coming to any resolution on the subject." To this remark
his Holiness replied--"that the church had not condemned this system;
and that it should not be condemned as heretical, but only as rash;" and
he added, "that there was no fear of any person undertaking to prove
that it must necessarily be true."
The recent appointment of the Abbe Castelli, the friend and pupil of
Galileo, to be mathematician to the Pope, was an event of a most
gratifying nature; and when we recollect that it was to Castelli that
he addressed the famous letter which was pronounced heretical by the
Inquisition, we must regard it also as an event indicative of a new and
favourable feeling towards the friends of science. The opinions of
Urban, indeed, had suffered no change. He was one of the few Cardinals
who had opposed the inquisitorial decree of 1616, and his subsequent
demeanour was in every respect conformable to the liberality of his
early views. The sincerity of his conduct was still further evinced by
the grant of a pension of one hundred crowns to Galileo, a few years
after his visit to Rome; though there is reason to think that this
allowance was not regularly paid.
The death of Cosmo, whose liberality had given him both affluence and
leisure, threatened Galileo with pecuniary difficulties. He had been
involved in a "great load of debt," owing to the circumstances of his
brother's family; and, in order to relieve himself, he had requested
Castelli to dispose of the pension of his son Vincenzo. In addition to
this calamity he was now alarmed at the prospect of losing his salary as
an extraordinary professor at Pisa. The great youth of Ferdinand, who
was scarcely of age, induced Galileo's enemies, in 1629, to raise
doubts respecting the payment of a salary to a professor who neither
resided nor lectured in the university; but the question was decided in
his favour, and we have no doubt that the decision was facilitated by
the friendly recommendation of the Pope, to which we have already
referred.
Although Galileo had made a narrow escape from the grasp of the
Inquisition, yet he was never sufficiently sensible of the lenity which
he experienced. When he left Rome in 1616, under the solemn pledge of
never again teaching the obnoxious doctrine, it was with a hostility
against the church, suppressed but deeply cherished; and his resolution
to propagate the heresy seems to have been coeval with the vow by which
he renounced it. In the year 1618, when he communicated his theory of
the tides to the Archduke Leopold, he alludes in the most sarcastic
manner to the conduct of the church. The same hostile tone, more or
less, pervaded all his writings, and, while he laboured to sharpen the
edge of his satire, he endeavoured to guard himself against its effects,
by an affectation of the humblest deference to the decisions of
theology. Had Galileo stood alone, his devotion to science might have
withdrawn him from so hopeless a contest; but he was spurred on by the
violence of a party. The Lyncaean Academy never scrupled to summon him
from his researches. They placed him in the forlorn hope of their
combat, and he at last fell a victim to the rashness of his friends.
But whatever allowance we may make for the ardour of Galileo's temper,
and the peculiarity of his position; and however we may justify and even
approve of his past conduct, his visit to Urban VIII., in 1624, placed
him in a new relation to the church, which demanded on his part a new
and corresponding demeanour. The noble and generous reception which he
met with from Urban, and the liberal declaration of Cardinal Hohenzoller
on the subject of the Copernican system, should have been regarded as
expressions of regret for the past, and offers of conciliation for the
future. Thus honoured by the head of the church, and befriended by its
dignitaries, Galileo must have felt himself secure against the
indignities of its lesser functionaries, and in the possession of the
fullest license to prosecute his researches and publish his discoveries,
provided he avoided that dogma of the church which, even in the present
day, it has not ventured to renounce. But Galileo was bound to the
Romish hierarchy by even stronger ties. His son and himself were
pensioners of the church, and, having accepted of its alms, they owed to
it, at least, a decent and respectful allegiance. The pension thus given
by Urban was not a remuneration which sovereigns sometimes award to the
services of their subjects. Galileo was a foreigner at Rome. The
sovereign of the papal state owed him no obligation; and hence we must
regard the pension of Galileo as a donation from the Roman Pontiff to
science itself, and as a declaration to the Christian world that
religion was not jealous of philosophy, and that the church of Rome was
willing to respect and foster even the genius of its enemies.
Galileo viewed all these circumstances in a different light. He resolved
to compose a work in which the Copernican system should be demonstrated;
but he had not the courage to do this in a direct and open manner. He
adopted the plan of discussing the subject in a dialogue between three
speakers, in the hope of eluding by this artifice the censure of the
church. This work was completed in 1630, but, owing to some
difficulties in obtaining a license to print it, it was not published
till 1632.
In obtaining this license, Galileo exhibited considerable address, and
his memory has not escaped from the imputation of having acted unfairly,
and of having involved his personal friends in the consequences of his
imprudence.
The situation of master of the palace was, fortunately for Galileo's
designs, filled by Nicolo Riccardi, a friend and pupil of his own. This
officer was a sort of censor of new publications, and when he was
applied to on the subject of printing his work, Galileo soon found that
attempts had previously been made to thwart his views. He instantly set
off for Rome, and had an interview with his friend, who was in every
respect anxious to oblige him. Riccardi examined the manuscript, pointed
out some incautious expressions which he considered it necessary to
erase, and returned it with his written approbation, on the
understanding that the alterations he suggested would be made. Dreading
to remain in Rome during the unhealthy season, which was fast
approaching, Galileo returned to Florence, with the intention of
completing the index and dedication, and of sending the MS. to Rome, to
be printed under the care of Prince Cesi. The death of that
distinguished individual, in August 1630, frustrated Galileo's plan, and
he applied for leave to have the book printed in Florence. Riccardi was
at first desirous to examine the MS. again, but, after inspecting only
the beginning and the end of it, he gave Galileo leave to print it
wherever he chose, providing it bore the license of the
Inquisitor-General of Florence, and one or two other persons whom he
named.
Having overcome all these difficulties, Galileo's work was published in
1632, under the title of "_The System of the World of Galileo Galilei_,
&c., in which, in four dialogues concerning the two principal systems of
the world--the Ptolemaic and the Copernican--he discusses,
indeterminately and firmly, the arguments proposed on both sides." It is
dedicated to Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and is prefaced by an
"Address to the prudent reader," which is itself characterised by the
utmost imprudence. He refers to the decree of the Inquisition in the
most insulting and ironical language. He attributes it to passion and to
ignorance, not by direct assertion, but by insinuations ascribed to
others; and he announces his intention to defend the Copernican system,
as a pure mathematical hypothesis, and not as an opinion having an
advantage over that of the stability of the earth absolutely. The
dialogue is conducted by three persons, Salviati, Sagredo, and
Simplicio. Salviati, who is the true philosopher in the dialogue, was
the real name of a nobleman whom we have already had occasion to
mention. Sagredo, the name of another noble friend of Galileo's,
performs a secondary part under Salviati. He proposes doubts, suggests
difficulties, and enlivens the gravity of the dialogue with his wit and
pleasantry. Simplicio is a resolute follower of Ptolemy and Aristotle,
and, with a proper degree of candour and modesty, he brings forward all
the common arguments in favour of the Ptolemaic system. Between the wit
of Sagredo, and the powerful philosophy of Salviati, the peripatetic
sage is baffled in every discussion; and there can be no doubt that
Galileo aimed a more fatal blow at the Ptolemaic system by this mode of
discussing it, than if he had endeavoured to overturn it by direct
arguments.
The influence of this work on the public mind was such as might have
been anticipated. The obnoxious doctrines which it upheld were eagerly
received, and widely disseminated; and the church of Rome became
sensible of the shock which was thus given to its intellectual
supremacy. Pope Urban VIII., attached though he had been to Galileo,
never once hesitated respecting the line of conduct which he felt
himself bound to pursue. His mind was, nevertheless, agitated with
conflicting sentiments. He entertained a sincere affection for science
and literature, and yet he was placed in the position of their enemy. He
had been the personal friend of Galileo, and yet his duty compelled him
to become his accuser. Embarrassing as these feelings were, other
considerations contributed to soothe him. He had, in his capacity of a
Cardinal, opposed the first persecution of Galileo. He had, since his
elevation to the pontificate, traced an open path for the march of
Galileo's discoveries; and he had finally endeavoured to bind the
recusant philosopher by the chains of kindness and gratitude. All these
means, however, had proved abortive, and he was now called upon to
support the doctrine which he had subscribed, and administer the law of
which he was the guardian.
It has been supposed, without any satisfactory evidence, that Urban may
have been influenced by less creditable motives. Salviati and Sagredo
being well-known personages, it was inferred that Simplicio must also
have a representative. The enemies of Galileo are said to have convinced
his Holiness that Simplicio was intended as a portraiture of himself;
and this opinion received some probability from the fact, that the
peripatetic disputant had employed many of the arguments which Urban had
himself used in his discussions with Galileo. The latest biographer of
Galileo[33] regards this motive as necessary to account for "the
otherwise inexplicable change which took place in the conduct of Urban
to his old friend;"--but we cannot admit the truth of this supposition.
The church had been placed in hostility to a powerful and liberal party,
which was adverse to its interests. The dogmas of the Catholic faith had
been brought into direct collision with the deductions of science. The
leader of the philosophic band had broken the most solemn armistice with
the Inquisition: he had renounced the ties of gratitude which bound him
to the Pontiff; and Urban was thus compelled to entrench himself in a
position to which he had been driven by his opponents.
[33] Library of Useful Knowledge, Life of Galileo, chap. viii.
The design of summoning Galileo before the Inquisition, seems to have
been formed almost immediately after the publication of his book; for
even in August 1632, the preliminary proceedings had reached the ears of
the Grand Duke Ferdinand. The Tuscan ambassador at Rome was speedily
acquainted with the dissatisfaction which his Sovereign felt at these
proceedings; and he was instructed to forward to Florence a written
statement of the charges against Galileo, in order to enable him to
prepare for his defence. Although this request was denied, Ferdinand
again interposed, and transmitted a letter to his ambassador,
recommending the admission of Campanella and Castelli into the
congregation of ecclesiastics by whom Galileo was to be judged.
Circumstances, however, rendered it prudent to withhold this letter.
Castelli was sent away from Rome, and Scipio Chiaramonte, a bigotted
ecclesiastic, was summoned from Pisa to complete the number of the
judges.
It appears from a despatch of the Tuscan minister, that Ferdinand was
enraged at the transaction; and he instructed his ambassador, Niccolini,
to make the strongest representations to the Pope. Niccolini had several
interviews with his Holiness; but all his expostulations were fruitless.
He found Urban highly incensed against Galileo; and his Holiness begged
Niccolini to advise the Archduke not to interfere any farther, as he
would not "get through it with honour." On the 15th of September the
Pope caused it to be intimated to Niccolini, as a mark of his especial
esteem for the Grand Duke, that he was obliged to refer the work to the
Inquisition; but both the prince and his ambassador were declared liable
to the usual censures if they divulged the secret.
From the measures which this tribunal had formerly pursued, it was not
difficult to foresee the result of their present deliberations. They
summoned Galileo to appear before them at Rome, to answer in person the
charges under which he lay. The Tuscan ambassador expostulated warmly
with the court of Rome on the inhumanity of this proceeding. He urged
his advanced age, his infirm health, the discomforts of the journey, and
the miseries of the quarantine,[34] as motives for reconsidering their
decision: But the Pope was inexorable, and though it was agreed to relax
the quarantine as much as possible in his favour, yet it was declared
indispensable that he should appear in person before the Inquisition.
[34] The communication between Florence and Rome was at this time
interrupted by a contagious disease which had broken out in
Tuscany.
Worn out with age and infirmities, and exhausted with the fatigues of
his journey, Galileo arrived at Rome on the 14th of February, 1633. The
Tuscan ambassador announced his arrival in an official form to the
commissary of the holy office, and Galileo awaited in calm dignity the
approach of his trial. Among those who proffered their advice in this
distressing emergency, we must enumerate the Cardinal Barberino, the
Pope's nephew, who, though he may have felt the necessity of an
interference on the part of the church, was yet desirous that it should
be effected with the least injury to Galileo and to science. He
accordingly visited Galileo, and advised him to remain as much at home
as possible, to keep aloof from general society, and to see only his
most intimate friends. The same advice was given from different
quarters; and Galileo, feeling its propriety, remained in strict
seclusion in the palace of the Tuscan ambassador.
During the whole of the trial which had now commenced, Galileo was
treated with the most marked indulgence. Abhorring, as we must do, the
principles and practice of this odious tribunal, and reprobating its
interference with the cautious deductions of science, we must yet admit
that, on this occasion, its deliberations were not dictated by passion,
nor its power directed by vengeance. Though placed at their
judgment-seat as a heretic, Galileo stood there with the recognised
attributes of a sage; and though an offender against the laws of which
they were the guardian, yet the highest respect was yielded to his
genius, and the kindest commiseration to his infirmities.
In the beginning of April, when his examination in person was to
commence, it became necessary that he should be removed to the holy
office; but instead of committing him, as was the practice, to solitary
confinement, he was provided with apartments in the house of the fiscal
of the Inquisition. His table was provided by the Tuscan ambassador, and
his servant was allowed to attend him at his pleasure, and to sleep in
an adjoining apartment. Even this nominal confinement, however,
Galileo's high spirit was unable to brook. An attack of the disease to
which he was constitutionally subject contributed to fret and irritate
him, and he became impatient for a release from his anxiety as well as
from his bondage. Cardinal Barberino seems to have received notice of
the state of Galileo's feelings, and, with a magnanimity which posterity
will ever honour, he liberated the philosopher on his own
responsibility; and in ten days after his first examination, and on the
last day of April, he was restored to the hospitable roof of the Tuscan
ambassador.
Though this favour was granted on the condition of his remaining in
strict seclusion, Galileo recovered his health, and to a certain degree
his usual hilarity, amid the kind attentions of Niccolini and his
family; and when the want of exercise had begun to produce symptoms of
indisposition, the Tuscan minister obtained for him leave to go into the
public gardens in a half-closed carriage.
After the Inquisition had examined Galileo personally, they allowed him
a reasonable time for preparing his defence. He felt the difficulty of
adducing any thing like a plausible justification of his conduct; and he
resorted to an ingenious, though a shallow artifice, which was regarded
by the court as an aggravation of the crime. After his first appearance
before the Inquisition in 1616, he was publicly and falsely charged by
his enemies with having then abjured his opinions; and he was taunted as
a criminal who had been actually punished for his offences. As a
refutation of these calumnies, Cardinal Bellarmine had given him a
certificate in his own handwriting, declaring that he neither abjured
his opinions, nor suffered punishment for them; and that the doctrine of
the earth's motion, and the sun's stability, was only denounced to him
as contrary to Scripture, and as one which could not be defended. To
this certificate the Cardinal did not add, because he was not called
upon to do it, that Galileo was enjoined not _to teach in any manner_
the doctrine thus denounced; and Galileo ingeniously avails himself of
this supposed omission, to account for his having, in the lapse of
fourteen or sixteen years, forgotten the injunction. He assigned the
same excuse for his having omitted to mention this injunction to
Riccardi, and to the Inquisitor-General at Florence, when he obtained
the licence to print his Dialogues. The court held the production of
this certificate to be at once a proof and an aggravation of his
offence, because the certificate itself declared that the obnoxious
doctrines had been pronounced contrary to the Holy Scriptures.
Having duly weighed the confessions and excuses of their prisoner, and
considered the general merits of the case, the Inquisition came to an
agreement upon the sentence which they were to pronounce, and appointed
the 22d of June as the day on which it was to be delivered. Two days
previous to this, Galileo was summoned to appear at the holy office; and
on the morning of the 21st, he obeyed the summons. On the 22d of June he
was clothed in a penitential dress, and conducted to the convent of
Minerva, where the Inquisition was assembled to give judgment. A long
and elaborate sentence was pronounced, detailing the former proceedings
of the Inquisition, and specifying the offences which he had committed
in teaching heretical doctrines, in violating his former pledges, and in
obtaining by improper means a license for the printing of his Dialogues.
After an invocation of the name of our Saviour, and of the Holy Virgin,
Galileo is declared to have brought himself under strong suspicions of
heresy, and to have incurred all the censures and penalties which are
enjoined against delinquents of this kind; but from all these
consequences he is to be held absolved, provided that with a sincere
heart, and a faith unfeigned, he abjures and curses the heresies he has
cherished, as well as every other heresy against the Catholic church. In
order that his offence might not go altogether unpunished, that he might
be more cautious in future, and be a warning to others to abstain from
similar delinquencies, it was also decreed that his Dialogues should be
prohibited by public edict; that he himself should be condemned to the
prison of the Inquisition during their pleasure, and that, in the
course of the next three years, he should recite once a week the seven
penitential psalms.
The ceremony of Galileo's abjuration was one of exciting interest, and
of awful formality. Clothed in the sackcloth of a repentant criminal,
the venerable sage fell upon his knees before the assembled Cardinals;
and laying his hands upon the Holy Evangelists, he invoked the Divine
aid in abjuring and detesting, and vowing never again to teach, the
doctrine of the earth's motion, and of the sun's stability. He pledged
himself that he would never again, either in words or in writing,
propagate such heresies; and he swore that he would fulfil and observe
the penances which had been inflicted upon him.[35] At the conclusion of
this ceremony, in which he recited his abjuration word for word, and
then signed it, he was conveyed, in conformity with his sentence, to the
prison of the Inquisition.
[35] It has been said, but upon what authority we cannot state,
that when Galileo rose from his knees, he stamped on the ground,
and said in a whisper to one of his friends, "_E pur si muove._"
"It does move, though."--Life of Galileo, Lib. Useful Knowledge,
part ii. p. 63.
The account which we have now given of the trial and the sentence of
Galileo, is pregnant with the deepest interest and instruction. Human
nature is here drawn in its darkest colouring; and in surveying the
melancholy picture, it is difficult to decide whether religion or
philosophy has been most degraded. While we witness the presumptuous
priest pronouncing infallible the decrees of his own erring judgment, we
see the high-minded philosopher abjuring the eternal and immutable
truths which he had himself the glory of establishing. In the ignorance
and prejudices of the age--in a too literal interpretation of the
language of Scripture--in a mistaken respect for the errors that had
become venerable from their antiquity--and in the peculiar position
which Galileo had taken among the avowed enemies of the church, we may
find the elements of an apology, poor though it be, for the conduct of
the Inquisition. But what excuse can we devise for the humiliating
confession and abjuration of Galileo? Why did this master-spirit of the
age--this high-priest of the stars--this representative of science--this
hoary sage, whose career of glory was near its consummation--why did he
reject the crown of martyrdom which he had himself coveted, and which,
plaited with immortal laurels, was about to descend upon his head? If,
in place of disavowing the laws of Nature, and surrendering in his own
person the intellectual dignity of his species, he had boldly asserted
the truth of his opinions, and confided his character to posterity, and
his cause to an all-ruling Providence, he would have strung up the
hair-suspended sabre, and disarmed for ever the hostility which
threatened to overwhelm him. The philosopher, however, was supported
only by philosophy; and in the love of truth he found a miserable
substitute for the hopes of the martyr. Galileo cowered under the fear
of man, and his submission was the salvation of the church. The sword of
the Inquisition descended on his prostrate neck; and though its stroke
was not physical, yet it fell with a moral influence fatal to the
character of its victim, and to the dignity of science.
In studying with attention this portion of scientific history, the
reader will not fail to perceive that the Church of Rome was driven into
a dilemma, from which the submission and abjuration of Galileo could
alone extricate it. He who confesses a crime and denounces its
atrocity, not only sanctions but inflicts the punishment which is
annexed to it. Had Galileo declared his innocence, and avowed his
sentiments, and had he appealed to the past conduct of the Church
itself, to the acknowledged opinions of its dignitaries, and even to the
acts of its pontiffs, he would have at once confounded his accusers, and
escaped from their toils. After Copernicus, himself a catholic priest,
had _openly_ maintained the motion of the earth, and the stability of
the sun:--after he had dedicated the work which advocated these opinions
to Pope Paul III., on the express ground that the _authority of the
pontiff_ might silence the calumnies of those who attacked these
opinions by arguments drawn from Scripture:--after the Cardinal
Schonberg and the Bishop of Culm had urged Copernicus to publish the new
doctrines;--and after the Bishop of Ermeland had erected a monument to
commemorate his great discoveries;--how could the Church of Rome have
appealed to its pontifical decrees as the ground of persecuting and
punishing Galileo? Even in later times, the same doctrines had been
propagated with entire toleration: Nay, in the very year of Galileo's
first persecution, Paul Anthony Foscarinus, a learned Carmelite monk,
wrote a pamphlet, in which he illustrates and defends the mobility of
the earth, and endeavours to reconcile to this new doctrine the passages
of Scripture which had been employed to subvert it. This very singular
production was dated from the Carmelite convent at Naples; was dedicated
to the very reverend Sebastian Fantoni, general of the Carmelite order;
and, sanctioned by the ecclesiastical authorities, it was published at
Naples in 1615, the very year of the first persecution of Galileo.
Nor was this the only defence of the Copernican system which issued from
the bosom of the Church. Thomas Campanella, a Calabrian monk, published,
in 1622, "_An Apology for Galileo_," and he even dedicates it to D.
Boniface, Cardinal of Cajeta. Nay, it appears from the dedication, that
he undertook the work at the command of the Cardinal, and that the
examination of the question had been entrusted to the Cardinal by the
Holy Senate. After an able defence of his friend, Campanella refers, at
the conclusion of his apology, to the suppression of Galileo's writings,
and justly observes, that the effect of such a measure would be to make
them more generally read, and more highly esteemed. The boldness of the
apologist, however, is wisely tempered with the humility of the
ecclesiastic, and he concludes his work with the declaration, that in
all his opinions, whether written or to be written, he submits himself
to the opinions of the Holy Mother Church of Rome and to the judgment of
his superiors.
By these proceedings of the dignitaries, as well as the clergy of the
Church of Rome, which had been tolerated for more than a century, the
decrees of the pontiffs against the doctrine of the earth's motion were
virtually repealed; and Galileo might have pleaded them with success in
arrest of judgment. Unfortunately, however, for himself and for science,
he acted otherwise. By admitting their authority, he revived in fresh
force these obsolete and obnoxious enactments; and, by yielding to their
power, he riveted for another century the almost broken chains of
spiritual despotism.
It is a curious fact in the annals of heresy and sedition, that opinions
maintained with impunity by one individual, have, in the same age,
brought others to the stake or to the scaffold. The results of deep
research or extravagant speculation seldom provoke hostility, when
meekly announced as the deductions of reason or the convictions of
conscience. As the dreams of a recluse or of an enthusiast, they may
excite pity or call forth contempt; but, like seed quietly cast into the
earth, they will rot and germinate according to the vitality with which
they are endowed. But, if new and startling opinions are thrown in the
face of the community--if they are uttered in triumph or in insult--in
contempt of public opinion, or in derision of cherished errors, they
lose the comeliness of truth in the rancour of their propagation; and
they are like seed scattered in a hurricane, which only irritates and
blinds the husbandman. Had Galileo concluded his _System of the World_
with the quiet peroration of his apologist Campanella, and dedicated it
to the Pope, it might have stood in the library of the Vatican, beside
the cherished though equally heretical volume of Copernicus.
In the abjuration of his opinions by Galileo, Pope Urban VII. did not
fail to observe the full extent of his triumph; and he exhibited the
utmost sagacity in the means which he employed to secure it. While he
endeavoured to overawe the enemies of the church by the formal
promulgation of Galileo's sentence and abjuration, and by punishing the
officials who had assisted in obtaining the license to print his work,
he treated Galileo with the utmost lenity, and yielded to every request
that was made to diminish, and almost suspend, the constraint under
which he lay. The sentence of abjuration was ordered to be publicly read
at several universities. At Florence the ceremonial was performed in the
church of Santa Croce, and the friends and disciples of Galileo were
especially summoned to witness the public degradation of their master.
The inquisitor at Florence was ordered to be reprimanded for his
conduct; and Riccardi, the master of the sacred palace, and Ciampoli,
the secretary of Pope Urban himself, were dismissed from their
situations.
Galileo had remained only four days in the prison of the Inquisition,
when, on the application of Niccolini, the Tuscan ambassador, he was
allowed to reside with him in his palace. As Florence still suffered
under the contagious disease which we have already mentioned, it was
proposed that Sienna should be the place of Galileo's confinement, and
that his residence should be in one of the convents of that city.
Niccolini, however, recommended the palace of the Archbishop Piccolomoni
as a more suitable residence; and though the Archbishop was one of
Galileo's best friends, the Pope agreed to the arrangement, and in the
beginning of July Galileo quitted Rome for Sienna.
After having spent nearly six months under the hospitable roof of his
friend, with no other restraint than that of being confined to the
limits of the palace, Galileo was permitted to return to his villa near
Florence under the same restrictions; and as the contagious disease had
disappeared in Tuscany, he was able in the month of December to re-enter
his own house at Arcetri, where he spent the remainder of his days.