Galileo, as one of the most advanced pioneers of science, was in the highest degree inconvenient to the Jesuits; members of their order had also repeatedly measured lances with the great man in scientific discussion—Fathers Grassi and Scheiner, for instance—with very unfortunate results, by no means calculated to make the Society of Jesus more favourable to him. But now that his “Dialogues on the Two Systems of the World” had appeared, which, as every intelligent man must perceive, annihilated with its overwhelming mass of evidence the doctrines of the old school, and raised the modern system upon its ruins, the Jesuits set every lever in motion, first to suppress this revolutionary book, and then to compass the ruin of the author.
Riccardi himself remarked to Count Magalotti at that time: “The Jesuits will persecute Galileo with the utmost bitterness.”[263]
Besides, they found welcome allies in the overwhelming majority of the rest of the clergy. With them the theological considerations we have mentioned formed the motive. And the louder the applause with which the independent scientific world greeted Galileo’s latest remarkable work, the fiercer burnt the flame of ecclesiastical hate. There can be no doubt that the full significance of the “Dialogues” had not been apprehended by any of the censors to whom they had been submitted. This is obvious from the fact that they seriously thought that the diplomatic preface, and a few phrases in the work itself, would suffice to make it appear innocuous. The commotion made by the book in the scientific and theological world convinced them of their mistake.
Meanwhile, Galileo in Florence gave himself up to unmixed delight at the brilliant success of his “Dialogues.” His learned friends and followers, such as Fra Bonaventura Cavalieri, Giovan Batista Baliani, Castelli, Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio, Alfonzo Antonini, Campanella, and many others, expressed to him in repeated letters, and often with genuine enthusiasm, their admiration of his splendid work,[264] not one of them had any foreboding that it was to bring its grey-headed author before the bar of the Inquisition; and Galileo himself least of all. He expected violent opposition from his scientific opponents, and was prepared to engage in the contest, but he considered himself quite secure from ecclesiastical persecution. Had not influential personages at Rome, Cesi, Mgr. Ciampoli, Cesarini, and Castelli, been urging him for years to finish his work, the tendency of which they well knew?[265] And when it was at last complete, it was these same friends, as well meaning as they were influential, who had done their best to forward the publication. Besides, the book had appeared not only with the imprimatur and under the protection of the Inquisition at Florence, as prescribed, and with the permission of the political authorities of the city, but Galileo could show also the imprimatur of the Pater Magister Sacri Palatii, which was not at all usual with works not printed at Rome.[266] He considered this a double security; Jesuitism, on the contrary, contrived afterwards to forge an indictment out of this unusual circumstance. Not a word had appeared in print without having been read by the organs of papal scrutiny and having received the sanction of the Church. Might not the author well look forward to the publication of his work with perfect tranquillity, and feel himself secure from any collision with the ecclesiastical authorities? Undoubtedly, if he had not made the solemn promise sixteen years before, “entirely to renounce the opinion that the sun is the centre of the universe, and is stationary, and that the earth on the contrary moves, and neither to hold the same, nor in any way to teach or defend it in speaking or writing.”
Galileo’s proceedings at this time, as before and after, prove that he was totally unaware of this assumed prohibition; anyhow, he pays not the slightest attention to it. He sends copies of his work to the most eminent persons at Rome; is delighted at its immense success; arms himself for defence against the indignant Aristotelians, but never thinks of a conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities, which, sincere Catholic as he was, would have given him great pain apart from consequences. Even in June and July there were some ill-disposed persons, to the great annoyance of Riccardi, zealously trying to discover something in the book which could be formulated into an accusation against the author. The title page was adorned with a drawing of three dolphins, one with the tail of another in its mouth, with an insignificant motto above it.[267] This illustration was impugned because it had not been submitted to ecclesiastical approbation, and they expatiated with more malice than wit upon the meaning of the mysterious device. It was a great relief to Riccardi’s mind when it was pointed out by Count Magalotti that the same illustration appeared on almost all the works which issued from the press of Landini at Florence, where the “Dialogues” had been printed. This bait, then, had not taken, and Galileo’s foes, worthy members of the Society of Jesus, had to find some other mode of ensnaring him. They now brought against him the twofold reproach, that the preface was printed in different type from the rest of the book, which was true; and that several weighty arguments which the Pope had brought against the Copernican system in conversation with Galileo, though they might perhaps have been adduced in the MS., were not in the printed book; this was a lie.[268] The truth however at once came to light, for these “weighty arguments” were reduced to one, which was brought forward at the conclusion of the “Dialogues.” But Jesuitism, as we shall soon see, drew very singular conclusions from the very natural circumstance that it was mentioned by Simplicius, the defender of Ptolemy. The brethren of Father Grassi and Father Scheiner,[269]—the latter of whom had been for a few months at Rome, and was greatly incensed at the “Dialogues,”—well knew how to lay hold of the Pope by his most vulnerable points, his personal vanity and boundless ambition, which made him feel every contradiction like an attack on his authority. They were assiduous in confirming Urban in his opinion that the Copernican doctrine endangered the dogmas of the Christian Catholic faith in the highest degree, and now represented that the publication of the “Dialogues” was an incalculable injury to the Church. Besides this, they persuaded the Pope that in his latest work Galileo had again, though this time under concealment, entered into theological interpretations of Holy Scripture. They thus stigmatised him as a rebel against the papal decrees, who had only obtained the licence from Riccardi by cunning devices,—a misrepresentation of the facts which, however, did not fail of its effect on Urban. This is conclusively proved by the despatches of Niccolini to Cioli of 5th and 11th September, 1632, of which we shall have to speak more particularly.[270]
The crowning point of the intrigues of Galileo’s foes was, however, the cunning assertion that by Simplicius no other was intended than Urban VIII. himself; and they actually made him believe it. One would scarcely have thought this possible with this shrewd Pope, who was so well-disposed towards Galileo; but it is beyond all question that it was so, and it put him in a boundless rage. It is decidedly indicated by his attitude towards Galileo at the trial, especially at the beginning of it. At that time it put him in such ill humour to be spoken to about Galileo, that all who interested themselves for him agreed that it was better not to confer with Urban himself, but with Cardinal Barberini or the ministers.[271] The repeated attempts also made by Galileo and his friends, even years afterwards, to convince Urban that it had never entered his head to insult him, and that it was a cunning slander, prove that for a long time the Pope had taken Simplicius for his counterfeit.
As this manifest falsehood is revived by certain writers, even at this time of day, as having been Galileo’s real intention, it seems necessary to throw a little more light on it. The telling remarks which Albèri makes on the subject might well suffice to show the absurdity of the imputation. He says that in the first place the attachment and devotion always shown by Galileo towards Urban, to the sincerity of which numerous letters bear witness, exclude all idea of so perfidious an act; and in the second, that it was Galileo’s own interest to retain the goodwill of his powerful patron, and not frivolously to fritter it away.[272] But we pass from this argument ad absurdum to one ad concretum. Simplicius is said to be Urban VIII. But not appropriately, for he was no such headstrong Peripatetic as is represented by Simplicius; had he been so, it was impossible that in 1624 he should have enjoyed having “Il Saggiatore” read to him at table, that cutting satire on the Aristotelian wisdom in general, and the wisdom of Father Grassi in particular; and that in the next year he should have been so much pleased with Galileo’s reply to Ingoli.
Galileo’s enemies founded their assertion on the circumstance that at the end of the work Simplicius employs an argument which the Pope himself had brought forward in repeated conversations in 1624 with Galileo, and on the weight of which he plumed himself not a little.[273] It consisted of the reflection, undoubtedly more devout than scientific, that God is all-powerful, so that all things are possible to Him, and that therefore the tides could not be adduced as a necessary proof of the double motion of the earth without limiting His omnipotence. This pious objection is received by both Salviati and Sagredo with the utmost reverence. The former calls it heavenly and truly admirable, and the latter thinks that it forms a fitting conclusion to the discussion, which opinion is acted upon.[274] The Pope’s argument is thus by no means made to appear ridiculous, but quite the contrary. As to the main point, Simplicius says expressly that “he had this argument from a very eminent and learned personage.” If this means Urban VIII., it is plain that Simplicius cannot be Urban VIII. Q.E.D.[275]
In writing his “Dialogues,” Galileo found himself in a difficult position. As he brought forward all the arguments of the disciples of Ptolemy against the new system, the vain pontiff would have been sorely offended if he had not introduced his. But who should mention it, if not Simplicius? Galileo might think that Urban would not perhaps like to see his argument treated as the original suggestion of Simplicius, who did not appear in a brilliant light, and devised the expedient of making him quote it, as that of “a very eminent and learned personage,” whereby he would imagine that he had steered clear of every obstacle. But there was no security against calumny. How little idea Galileo could have had of making Urban ridiculous under the guise of Simplicius appears also from the fact that in 1636, when seeking full pardon from the Pope, and when he would be most anxious not to irritate him, he had just completed his famous work, “Dialogues on the Modern Sciences,” in which Simplicius again plays the part of defender of the ancient principles; and that he published it in 1638, just when, in view of the unfavourable answer of 1636, he was begging at least for the favour of being nursed at Florence. There can be no doubt that this suspicion materially contributed to injure Galileo’s cause. Pieralisi, indeed, makes an assertion as novel as it is untenable, that this bold slander was first heard of in 1635, and therefore not until after the famous trial; and in his book, “Urban VIII. and Gal. Galilei,”[276] he devotes a chapter of forty-six pages to prove this latest novelty. But all his arguments are upset by the following passage by Galileo in a letter to his friend Micanzio on 26th July, 1636:—
“I hear from Rome that his Eminence Cardinal Antonio Barberini and the French ambassador have seen his Holiness and tried to convince him that I never had the least idea of perpetrating so sacrilegious an act as to make game of his Holiness, as my malicious foes have persuaded him, and which was the primary cause of all my troubles.”[277]