"Some years ago, a salutary edict was promulgated at Rome, which, in order to obviate the perilous scandals of the present age, enjoined an opportune silence on the Pythagorean opinion of the earth's motion. Some were not wanting, who rashly asserted that this decree originated, not in a judicious examination, but in ill-informed passion; and complaints were heard, that counsellors totally inexperienced in astronomical observations ought not, by hasty prohibitions, to clip the wings of speculative minds. My zeal could not keep silence when I heard these rash lamentations, and I thought it proper, as being fully informed with regard to that most prudent determination, to appear publicly on the theatre of the world, as a witness of the actual truth. I happened at that time to be in Rome: I was admitted to the audiences, and enjoyed the approbation, of the most eminent prelates of that court; nor did the publication of that decree occur without my receiving some prior intimation of it. Wherefore, it is my intention, in this present work, to show to foreign nations, that as much is known of this matter in Italy, and particularly in Rome, as ultramontane diligence can ever have formed any notion of, and collecting together all my own speculations on the Copernican system, to give them to understand that the knowledge of all these preceded the Roman censures; and that from this country proceed not only dogmas for the salvation of the soul, but also ingenious discoveries for the gratification of the understanding. With this object, I have taken up in the 'Dialogue' the Copernican side of the question, treating it as a pure mathematical hypothesis; and endeavoring, in every artificial manner, to represent it as having the advantage, not over the opinion of the stability of the earth absolutely, but according to the manner in which that opinion is defended by some, who indeed profess to be Aristotelians, but retain only the name, and are contented, without improvement, to worship shadows, not philosophizing with their own reason, but only from the recollection of the four principles imperfectly understood."
Although the Pope himself, as well as the Inquisitors, had examined Galileo's manuscript, and, not having the sagacity to detect the real motives of the author, had consented to its publication, yet, when the book was out, the enemies of Galileo found means to alarm the court of Rome, and Galileo was summoned to appear before the Inquisition. The philosopher was then seventy years old, and very infirm, and it was with great difficulty that he performed the journey. His unequalled dignity and celebrity, however, commanded the involuntary respect of the tribunal before which he was summoned, which they manifested by permitting him to reside at the palace of his friend, the Tuscan Ambassador; and when it became necessary, in the course of the inquiry, to examine him in person, although his removal to the Holy Office was then insisted upon, yet he was not, like other heretics, committed to close and solitary confinement. On the contrary, he was lodged in the apartments of the Head of the Inquisition, where he was allowed the attendance of his own servant, who was also permitted to sleep in an adjoining room, and to come and go at pleasure. These were deemed extraordinary indulgences in an age when the punishment of heretics usually began before their trial.
About four months after Galileo's arrival in Rome, he was summoned to the Holy Office. He was detained there during the whole of that day; and on the next day was conducted, in a penitential dress, to the Convent of Minerva, where the Cardinals and Prelates, his judges, were assembled for the purpose of passing judgement upon him, by which this venerable old man was solemnly called upon to renounce and abjure, as impious and heretical, the opinions which his whole existence had been consecrated to form and strengthen. Probably there is not a more curious document in the history of science, than that which contains the sentence of the Inquisition on Galileo, and his consequent abjuration. It teaches us so much, both of the darkness and bigotry of the terrible Inquisition, and of the sufferings encountered by those early martyrs of science, that I will transcribe for your perusal, from the excellent 'Life of Galileo' in the 'Library of Useful Knowledge,' (from which I have borrowed much already,) the entire record of this transaction. The sentence of the Inquisition is as follows:
"We, the undersigned, by the grace of God, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Inquisitors General throughout the whole Christian Republic, Special Deputies of the Holy Apostolical Chair against heretical depravity:
"Whereas, you, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei of Florence, aged seventy years, were denounced in 1615, to this Holy Office, for holding as true a false doctrine taught by many, namely, that the sun is immovable in the centre of the world, and that the earth moves, and also with a diurnal motion; also, for having pupils which you instructed in the same opinions; also, for maintaining a correspondence on the same with some German mathematicians; also, for publishing certain letters on the solar spots, in which you developed the same doctrine as true; also, for answering the objections which were continually produced from the Holy Scriptures, by glozing the said Scriptures, according to your own meaning; and whereas, thereupon was produced the copy of a writing, in form of a letter, professedly written by you to a person formerly your pupil, in which, following the hypothesis of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures: therefore, this Holy Tribunal, being desirous of providing against the disorder and mischief which was thence proceeding and increasing, to the detriment of the holy faith, by the desire of His Holiness, and of the Most Eminent Lords Cardinals of this supreme and universal Inquisition, the two propositions of the stability of the sun, and motion of the earth, were qualified by the Theological Qualifiers, as follows:
"1. The proposition that the sun is in the centre of the world, and immovable from its place, is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scriptures.
"2. The proposition that the earth is not the centre of the world, nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, equally erroneous in faith.
"But whereas, being pleased at that time to deal mildly with you, it was decreed in the Holy Congregation, held before His Holiness on the twenty-fifth day of February, 1616, that His Eminence the Lord Cardinal Bellarmine should enjoin you to give up altogether the said false doctrine; if you should refuse, that you should be ordered by the Commissary of the Holy Office to relinquish it, not to teach it to others, nor to defend it, and in default of the acquiescence, that you should be imprisoned; and in execution of this decree, on the following day, at the palace, in presence of His Eminence the said Lord Cardinal Bellarmine, after you had been mildly admonished by the said Lord Cardinal, you were commanded by the acting Commissary of the Holy Office, before a notary and witnesses, to relinquish altogether the said false opinion, and in future neither to defend nor teach it in any manner, neither verbally nor in writing, and upon your promising obedience, you were dismissed.
"And, in order that so pernicious a doctrine might be altogether rooted out, nor insinuate itself further to the heavy detriment of the Catholic truth, a decree emanated from the Holy Congregation of the Index, prohibiting the books which treat of this doctrine; and it was declared false, and altogether contrary to the Holy and Divine Scripture.
"And whereas, a book has since appeared, published at Florence last year, the title of which showed that you were the author, which title is, 'The Dialogue of Galileo Galilei, on the two principal Systems of the World, the Ptolemaic and Copernican;' and whereas, the Holy Congregation has heard that, in consequence of printing the said book, the false opinion of the earth's motion and stability of the sun is daily gaining ground; the said book has been taken into careful consideration, and in it has been detected a glaring violation of the said order, which had been intimated to you; inasmuch as in this book you have defended the said opinion, already, and in your presence, condemned; although in the said book you labor, with many circumlocutions, to induce the belief that it is left by you undecided, and in express terms probable; which is equally a very grave error, since an opinion can in no way be probable which has been already declared and finally determined contrary to the Divine Scripture. Therefore, by Our order, you have been cited to this Holy Office, where, on your examination upon oath, you have acknowledged the said book as written and printed by you. You also confessed that you began to write the said book ten or twelve years ago, after the order aforesaid had been given. Also, that you demanded license to publish it, but without signifying to those who granted you this permission, that you had been commanded not to hold, defend, or teach, the said doctrine in any manner. You also confessed, that the style of said book was, in many places, so composed, that the reader might think the arguments adduced on the false side to be so worded, as more effectually to entangle the understanding than to be easily solved, alleging, in excuse, that you have thus run into an error, foreign (as you say) to your intention, from writing in the form of a dialogue, and in consequence of the natural complacency which every one feels with regard to his own subtilties, and in showing himself more skilful than the generality of mankind in contriving, even in favor of false propositions, ingenious and apparently probable arguments.