FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[77]In Firenze nella Stamperia di Pietro Cecconcelli alle stelle Medicee, 1619.[78]Dell'Origine d'ogni Literatura: Parma, 1787.

[77]In Firenze nella Stamperia di Pietro Cecconcelli alle stelle Medicee, 1619.

[78]Dell'Origine d'ogni Literatura: Parma, 1787.

Publication of Galileo's 'System of the World'—His Condemnation and Abjuration.

Inthe year 1630, Galileo brought to its conclusion his great work, "The Dialogue on the Ptolemaic and Copernican Systems," and began to take the necessary steps for procuring permission to print it. This was to be obtained in the first instance from an officer at Rome, entitled the master of the sacred palace; and after a little negotiation Galileo found it would be necessary for him again to return thither, as his enemies were still busy in thwarting his views and wishes. Niccolo Riccardi, who at that time filled the office of master of the palace, had been a pupil of Galileo, and was well disposed to facilitate his plans; he pointed out, however, some expressions in the work which he thought it necessary to erase, and, with the understanding that this should be done, he returned the manuscript to Galileo with his subscribed approbation. The unhealthy season was drawing near, and Galileo, unwilling to face it, returned home, where he intended to complete the index and dedication, and then to send it back to Rome to be printed in that city, under the superintendence of Federigo Cesi. This plan was disconcerted by the premature death of that accomplished nobleman, in August 1630, in whom Galileo lost one of his steadiest and most effective friends and protectors. This unfortunate event determined Galileo to attempt to procure permission to print his book at Florence. A contagious disorder had broken out in Tuscany with such severity as almost to interrupt all communication between Florence and Rome, and this was urged by Galileo as an additional reason for granting his request. Riccardi at first seemed inclined to insist that the book should be sent to him a second time, but at last contented himself with inspecting the commencement and conclusion, and consented that (on its receiving also a license from the inquisitor-general at Florence, and from one or two others whose names appear on the title-page) it might be printed where Galileo wished.

These protracted negotiations prevented the publication of the work till late in 1632; it then appeared, with a dedication to Ferdinand, under the following title:—"A Dialogue, by Galileo Galilei, Extraordinary Mathematician of the University of Pisa, and Principal Philosopher and Mathematician of the Most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany; in which, in a conversation of four days, are discussed the two principal Systems of the World, the Ptolemaic and Copernican, indeterminately proposing the Philosophical Arguments as well on one side as on the other." The beginning of the introduction, which is addressed "To the discreet Reader," is much too characteristic to be passed by without notice.—"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.[79]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 thiscountry 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 endeavouring 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 Peripatetics, 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 four principles imperfectly understood."—This very flimsy veil could scarcely blind any one as to Galileo's real views in composing this work, nor does it seem probable that he framed it with any expectation of appearing neutral in the discussion. It is more likely that he flattered himself that, under the new government at Rome, he was not likely to be molested on account of the personal prohibition which he had received in 1616, "not to believe or teach the motion of the earth in any manner," provided he kept himself within the letter of the limits of the more public and general order, that the Copernican system was not to be brought forward otherwise than as a mere mathematically convenient, but in fact unreal supposition. So long as this decree remained in force, a due regard to consistency would compel the Roman Inquisitors to notice an unequivocal violation of it; and this is probably what Urban had implied in the remark quoted by Hohenzoller to Galileo.[80]There were not wanting circumstances which might compensate for the loss of Cosmo and of Federigo Cesi; Cosmo had been succeeded by his son, who, though he had not yet attained his father's energy, showed himself as friendly as possible to Galileo. Cardinal Bellarmine, who had been mainly instrumental in procuring the decree of 1616, was dead; Urban on the contrary, who had been among the few Cardinals who then opposed it as uncalled for and ill-advised, was now possessed of supreme power, and his recent affability seemed to prove that the increased difference in their stations had not caused him to forget their early and long-continued intimacy. It is probable that Galileo would not have found himself mistaken in this estimate of his position, but for an unlucky circumstance, of which his enemies immediately saw the importance, and which they were not slow in making available against him. The dialogue of Galileo's work is conducted between three personages;—Salviati and Sagredo, who were two noblemen, friends of Galileo, and Simplicio, a name borrowed from a noted commentator upon Aristotle, who wrote in the sixth century. Salviati is the principal philosopher of the work; it is to him that the others apply for solutions of their doubts and difficulties, and on him the principal task falls of explaining the tenets of the Copernican theory. Sagredo is only a half convert, but an acute and ingenious one; to him are allotted the objections which seem to have some real difficulty in them, as well as lively illustrations and digressions, which might have been thought inconsistent with the gravity of Salviati's character. Simplicio, though candid and modest, is of course a confirmed Ptolemaist and Aristotelian, and is made to produce successively all the popular arguments of that school in support of his master's system. Placed between the wit and the philosopher, it may be guessed that his success is very indifferent, and in fact he is alternately ridiculed and confuted at every turn. As Galileo racked his memory and invention to leave unanswered no argument which was or could be advanced against Copernicus, it unfortunately happened, that he introduced some which Urban himself had urged upon him in their former controversies on this subject; and Galileo's opponents found means to make His Holiness believe that the character of Simplicio had been sketched in personal derision of him. We do not think it necessary to exonerate Galileo from this charge; the obvious folly of such an useless piece of ingratitude speaks sufficiently for itself. But self-love is easily irritated; and Urban, who aspired to a reputation for literature and science, was peculiarly sensitive on this point. His own expressions almost prove his belief that such had been Galileo's design, and it seems to explain the otherwise inexplicable change which took place in his conduct towards his old friend, on account of a book which he had himself undertaken to examine, and of which he had authorised the publication.

One of the earliest notices of what was approaching, is found in the dispatches,dated August 24, 1632, from Ferdinand's minister, Andrea Cioli, to Francesco Nicolini, the Tuscan ambassador at the court of Rome.

"I have orders to signify to Your Excellency that His Highness remains greatly astonished that a book, placed by the author himself in the hands of the supreme authority in Rome, read and read again there most attentively, and in which every thing, not only with the consent, but at the request of the author, was amended, altered, added, or removed at the will of his superiors, which was again subjected here to the same examination, agreeably to orders from Rome, and which finally was licensed both there and here, and here printed and published, should now become an object of suspicion at the end of two years, and the author and printer be prohibited from publishing any more."—In the sequel is intimated Ferdinand's desire that the charges, of whatever nature they might be, either against Galileo or his book, might be reduced to writing and forwarded to Florence, that he might prepare for his justification; but this reasonable demand was utterly disregarded. It appears to have been owing to the mean subserviency of Cioli to the court of Rome, that Ferdinand refrained from interfering more strenuously to protect Galileo. Cioli's words are: "The Grand Duke is so enraged with this business of Galileo, that I do not know what will be done. I know, at least, that His Holiness shall have no reason to complain of his ministers, or of their bad advice."[81]

A letter from Galileo's Venetian friend Micanzio, dated about a month later, is in rather a bolder and less formal style:—"The efforts of your enemies to get your book prohibited will occasion no loss either to your reputation, or to the intelligent part of the world. As to posterity, this is just one of the surest ways to hand the book down to them. But what a wretched set this must be to whom every good thing, and all that is founded in nature, necessarily appears hostile and odious! The world is not restricted to a single corner; you will see the book printed in more places and languages than one; and just for this reason, I wish they would prohibit all good books. My disgust arises from seeing myself deprived of what I most desire of this sort, I mean your other dialogues; and if, from this cause, I fail in having the pleasure of seeing them, I shall devote to a hundred thousand devils these unnatural and godless hypocrites."

At the same time, Thomas Campanella, a monk, who had already distinguished himself by an apology for Galileo (published in 1622), wrote to him from Rome:—"I learn with the greatest disgust, that a congregation of angry theologians is forming to condemn your Dialogues, and that no single member of it has any knowledge of mathematics, or familiarity with abstruse speculations. I should advise you to procure a request from the Grand Duke that, among the Dominicans and Jesuits and Theatins, and secular priests whom they are putting on this congregation against your book, they should admit also Castelli and myself." It appears, from subsequent letters both from Campanella and Castelli, that the required letter was procured and sent to Rome, but it was not thought prudent to irritate the opposite party by a request which it was then clearly seen would have been made in vain. Not only were these friends of Galileo not admitted to the congregation, but, upon some pretext, Castelli was even sent away from Rome, as if Galileo's enemies desired to have as few enlightened witnesses as possible of their proceedings; and on the contrary, Scipio Chiaramonte, who had been long known for one of the staunchest and most bigoted defenders of the old system, and who, as Montucla says, seems to have spent a long life in nothing but retarding, as far as he was able, the progress of discovery, was summoned from Pisa to complete their number. From this period we have a tolerably continuous account of the proceedings against Galileo in the dispatches which Nicolini sent regularly to his court. It appears from them that Nicolini had several interviews with the Pope, whom he found highly incensed against Galileo, and in one of the earliest he received an intimation to advise the Duke "not to engage himself in this matter as he had done in the other business of Alidosi,[82]because he would not get through it with honour." Finding Urban in this humour, Nicolini thought it best to temporize, and to avoid the appearance of any thing like direct opposition. On the 15th of September, probably as soon as the first report onGalileo's book had been made, Nicolini received a private notice from the Pope, "in especial token of the esteem in which he held the Grand Duke," that he was unable to do less than consign the work to the consideration of the Inquisition. Nicolini was permitted to communicate this to the Grand Duke only, and both were declared liable to "the usual censures" of the Inquisition in case of divulging the secret.

The next step was to summon Galileo to Rome, and the only answer returned to all Nicolini's representations of his advanced age of seventy years, the very infirm state of his health, and the discomforts which he must necessarily suffer in such a journey, and in keeping quarantine, was that he might come at leisure, and that the quarantine should be relaxed as much as possible in his favour, but that it was indispensably necessary that he should be personally examined before the Inquisition at Rome. Accordingly, on the 14th of February, 1633, Nicolini announces Galileo's arrival, and that he had officially notified his presence to the Assessor and Commissary of the Holy Office. Cardinal Barberino, Urban's nephew, who seems on the whole to have acted a friendly part towards Galileo, intimated to him that his most prudent course would be to keep himself as much at home and as quiet as possible, and to refuse to see any but his most intimate friends. With this advice, which was repeated to him from several quarters, Galileo thought it best to comply, and kept himself entirely secluded in Nicolini's palace, where he was as usual maintained at the expense of the Grand Duke. Nelli quotes two letters, which passed between Ferdinand's minister Cioli and Nicolini, in which the former intimated that Galileo's expenses were to be defrayed only during the first month of his residence at Rome. Nicolini returned a spirited answer, that in that case, after the time specified, he should continue to treat him as before at his own private cost.

The permission to reside at the ambassador's palace whilst his cause was pending, was granted and received as an extraordinary indulgence on the part of the Inquisition, and indeed if we estimate the proceedings throughout against Galileo by the usual practice of that detestable tribunal, it will appear that he was treated with unusual consideration. Even when it became necessary in the course of the inquiry to examine him in person, which was in the beginning of April, although his removal to the Holy Office was then insisted upon, yet he was not committed to close or strictly solitary confinement. On the contrary, he was honourably lodged in the apartments of the Fiscal 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. His table was still furnished by Nicolini. But, notwithstanding the distinction with which he was thus treated, Galileo was annoyed and uneasy at being (though little more than nominally) within the walls of the Inquisition. He became exceedingly anxious that the matter should be brought to a conclusion, and a severe attack of his constitutional complaints rendered him still more fretful and impatient. On the last day of April, about ten days after his first examination, he was unexpectedly permitted to return to Nicolini's house, although the proceedings were yet far from being brought to a conclusion. Nicolini attributes this favour to Cardinal Barberino, who, he says, liberated Galileo on his own responsibility, in consideration of the enfeebled state of his health.

In the society of Nicolini and his family, Galileo recovered something of his courage and ordinary cheerfulness, although his return appears to have been permitted on express condition of a strict seclusion; for at the latter end of May, Nicolini was obliged to apply for permission that Galileo should take that exercise in the open air which was necessary for his health; on which occasion he was permitted to go into the public gardens in a half-closed carriage.

On the evening of the 20th of June, rather more than four months after Galileo's arrival in Rome, he was again summoned to the Holy Office, whither he went the following morning; he was detained there during the whole of that day, and on the next day was conducted in a penitential dress[83]to the Convent of Minerva, where the Cardinals and Prelates, his judges, were assembled for the purpose of passing judgment 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.As we are not aware that this remarkable record of intolerance and bigoted folly has ever been printed entire in English, we subjoin a literal translation of the whole sentence and abjuration.

The Sentence of the Inquisition on Galileo.

"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 immoveable in the centre of the world, and that the earth moves, and also with a diurnal motion; also, for having pupils whom 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 hypotheses of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scripture: 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, werequalifiedby theTheological Qualifiersas follows:"1st. The proposition that the Sun is in the centre of the world and immoveable from its place, is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture."2dly. The proposition that the Earth is not the centre of the world, nor immoveable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least 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 25th 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, nor ever mention it, and in default of 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 farther to the heavy detriment of the Catholic truth, a decree emanated from the Holy Congregation of the Index[84]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 shewed 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 the printing of 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 havedefended the said opinion, already and in your presence condemned; although in the said book you labour 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 the 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 favour of false propositions, ingenious and apparently probable arguments."And, upon a convenient time being given to you for making your defence, you produced a certificate in the hand-writing of His Eminence the Lord Cardinal Bellarmine, procured, as you said, by yourself, that you might defend yourself against the calumnies of your enemies, who reported that you had abjured your opinions, and had been punished by the Holy Office; in which certificate it is declared, that you had not abjured, nor had been punished, but merely that the declaration made by His Holiness, and promulgated by the Holy Congregation of the Index, had been announced to you, which declares that the opinion of the motion of the earth, and stability of the sun, is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, and, therefore, cannot be held or defended. Wherefore, since no mention is there made of two articles of the order, to wit, the order 'not to teach,' and 'in any manner,' you argued that we ought to believe that, in the lapse of fourteen or sixteen years, they had escaped your memory, and that this was also the reason why you were silent as to the order, when you sought permission to publish your book, and that this is said by you not to excuse your error, but that it may be attributed to vain-glorious ambition, rather than to malice. But this very certificate, produced on your behalf, has greatly aggravated your offence, since it is therein declared that the said opinion is contrary to the Holy Scripture, and yet you have dared to treat of it, to defend it, and to argue that it is probable; nor is there any extenuation in the licence artfully and cunningly extorted by you, since you did not intimate the command imposed upon you. But whereas it appeared to Us that you had not disclosed the whole truth with regard to your intentions, We thought it necessary to proceed to the rigorous examination of you, in which (without any prejudice to what you had confessed, and which is above detailed against you, with regard to your said intention) you answered like a good Catholic."Therefore, having seen and maturely considered the merits of your cause, with your said confessions and excuses, and every thing else which ought to be seen and considered, We have come to the underwritten final sentence against you."Invoking, therefore, the most holy name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His Most Glorious Virgin Mother Mary, by this Our final sentence, which, sitting in council and judgment for the tribunal of the Reverend Masters of Sacred Theology, and Doctors of both Laws, Our Assessors, We put forth in this writing touching the matters and controversies before Us, between The Magnificent Charles Sincerus, Doctor of both Laws, Fiscal Proctor of this Holy Office of the one part, and you, Galileo Galilei, an examined and confessed criminal from this present writing now in progress as above of the other part, We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo, by reason of these things which have been detailed in the course of this writing, and which, as above, you have confessed, have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy: that is to say, that you believe and hold the false doctrine, and contrary to the Holyand Divine Scriptures, namely, that the sun is the centre of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the centre of the world; also that an opinion can be held and supported as probable after it has been declared and finally decreed contrary to the Holy Scripture, and consequently that you have incurred all the censures and penalties enjoined and promulgated in the sacred canons, and other general and particular constitutions against delinquents of this description. From which it is Our pleasure that you be absolved, provided that, first, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, in Our presence, you abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies, and every other error and heresy contrary to the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome, in the form now shown to you."But, that your grievous and pernicious error and transgression may not go altogether unpunished, and that you may be made more cautious in future, and may be a warning to others to abstain from delinquencies of this sort, We decree that the book of the dialogues of Galileo Galilei be prohibited by a public edict, and We condemn you to the formal prison of this Holy Office for a period determinable at Our pleasure; and, by way of salutary penance, We order you, during the next three years, to recite once a week the seven penitential psalms, reserving to Ourselves the power of moderating, commuting, or taking off the whole or part of the said punishment and penance."And so We say, pronounce, and by Our sentence declare, decree, and reserve, in this and in every other better form and manner, which lawfully We may and can use."So We, the subscribing Cardinals, pronounce.Felix, Cardinal di Ascoli,Guido, Cardinal Bentivoglio,Desiderio, Cardinal di Cremona,Antonio, Cardinal S. Onofrio,Berlingero, Cardinal Gessi,Fabricio, Cardinal Verospi,Martino, Cardinal Ginetti."

"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 immoveable in the centre of the world, and that the earth moves, and also with a diurnal motion; also, for having pupils whom 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 hypotheses of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scripture: 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, werequalifiedby theTheological Qualifiersas follows:

"1st. The proposition that the Sun is in the centre of the world and immoveable from its place, is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture.

"2dly. The proposition that the Earth is not the centre of the world, nor immoveable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least 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 25th 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, nor ever mention it, and in default of 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 farther to the heavy detriment of the Catholic truth, a decree emanated from the Holy Congregation of the Index[84]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 shewed 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 the printing of 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 havedefended the said opinion, already and in your presence condemned; although in the said book you labour 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 the 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 favour of false propositions, ingenious and apparently probable arguments.

"And, upon a convenient time being given to you for making your defence, you produced a certificate in the hand-writing of His Eminence the Lord Cardinal Bellarmine, procured, as you said, by yourself, that you might defend yourself against the calumnies of your enemies, who reported that you had abjured your opinions, and had been punished by the Holy Office; in which certificate it is declared, that you had not abjured, nor had been punished, but merely that the declaration made by His Holiness, and promulgated by the Holy Congregation of the Index, had been announced to you, which declares that the opinion of the motion of the earth, and stability of the sun, is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, and, therefore, cannot be held or defended. Wherefore, since no mention is there made of two articles of the order, to wit, the order 'not to teach,' and 'in any manner,' you argued that we ought to believe that, in the lapse of fourteen or sixteen years, they had escaped your memory, and that this was also the reason why you were silent as to the order, when you sought permission to publish your book, and that this is said by you not to excuse your error, but that it may be attributed to vain-glorious ambition, rather than to malice. But this very certificate, produced on your behalf, has greatly aggravated your offence, since it is therein declared that the said opinion is contrary to the Holy Scripture, and yet you have dared to treat of it, to defend it, and to argue that it is probable; nor is there any extenuation in the licence artfully and cunningly extorted by you, since you did not intimate the command imposed upon you. But whereas it appeared to Us that you had not disclosed the whole truth with regard to your intentions, We thought it necessary to proceed to the rigorous examination of you, in which (without any prejudice to what you had confessed, and which is above detailed against you, with regard to your said intention) you answered like a good Catholic.

"Therefore, having seen and maturely considered the merits of your cause, with your said confessions and excuses, and every thing else which ought to be seen and considered, We have come to the underwritten final sentence against you.

"Invoking, therefore, the most holy name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His Most Glorious Virgin Mother Mary, by this Our final sentence, which, sitting in council and judgment for the tribunal of the Reverend Masters of Sacred Theology, and Doctors of both Laws, Our Assessors, We put forth in this writing touching the matters and controversies before Us, between The Magnificent Charles Sincerus, Doctor of both Laws, Fiscal Proctor of this Holy Office of the one part, and you, Galileo Galilei, an examined and confessed criminal from this present writing now in progress as above of the other part, We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo, by reason of these things which have been detailed in the course of this writing, and which, as above, you have confessed, have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy: that is to say, that you believe and hold the false doctrine, and contrary to the Holyand Divine Scriptures, namely, that the sun is the centre of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the centre of the world; also that an opinion can be held and supported as probable after it has been declared and finally decreed contrary to the Holy Scripture, and consequently that you have incurred all the censures and penalties enjoined and promulgated in the sacred canons, and other general and particular constitutions against delinquents of this description. From which it is Our pleasure that you be absolved, provided that, first, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, in Our presence, you abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies, and every other error and heresy contrary to the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome, in the form now shown to you.

"But, that your grievous and pernicious error and transgression may not go altogether unpunished, and that you may be made more cautious in future, and may be a warning to others to abstain from delinquencies of this sort, We decree that the book of the dialogues of Galileo Galilei be prohibited by a public edict, and We condemn you to the formal prison of this Holy Office for a period determinable at Our pleasure; and, by way of salutary penance, We order you, during the next three years, to recite once a week the seven penitential psalms, reserving to Ourselves the power of moderating, commuting, or taking off the whole or part of the said punishment and penance.

"And so We say, pronounce, and by Our sentence declare, decree, and reserve, in this and in every other better form and manner, which lawfully We may and can use.

"So We, the subscribing Cardinals, pronounce.

We cannot suppose that Galileo, even broken down as he was with age and infirmities, and overawed by the merciless tribunal to whose power he was subjected, could without extreme reluctance thus formally give the lie to his whole life, and call upon God to witness his renunciation of the opinions which even his bigoted judges must have felt that he still clung to in his heart.

We know indeed that his friends were unanimous in recommending an unqualified acquiescence in whatever might be required, but some persons have not been able to find an adequate explanation of his submission, either in their exhortations, or in the mere dread of the alternative which might await him in case of non-compliance. It has in short been supposed, although the suspicion scarcely rests upon grounds sufficiently strong to warrant the assertion, that Galileo did not submit to this abjuration until forced to it, not merely by the apprehension, but by the actual experience of personal violence. The arguments on which this horrible idea appears to be mainly founded are the two following: First, the Inquisitors declare in their sentence that, not satisfied with Galileo's first confession, they judged it necessary to proceed "to the rigorous examination of him, in which he answered like a good Catholic.[85]" It is pretended by those who are more familiar with inquisitorial language than we can profess to be, that the wordsil rigoroso esame, form the official phrase for the application of the torture, and accordingly they interpret this passage to mean, that the desired answers and submission had thus been extorted from Galileo, which his judges had otherwise failed to get from him. And, secondly, the partisans of this opinion bring forward in corroboration of it, that Galileo immediately on his departure from Rome, in addition to his old complaints, was found to be afflicted with hernia, and this was a common consequence of the torture of the cord, which they suppose to have been inflicted. It is right to mention that no other trace can be found of this supposed torturing in all the documents relative to the proceedings against Galileo, at least Venturi was so assured by one who had inspected the originals at Paris.[86]

Although the arguments we have mentioned appear to us slight, yet neither can we attach much importance to the contrast which the favourers of the opposite opinion profess to consider so incredible between the honourable manner in which Galileo was treated throughout the rest of the inquiry, and the suspected harsh proceeding against him. Whether Galileo should be lodged in a prison or a palace, was a matter of far other importance to the Inquisitors and to their hold upon public opinion, than the question whether or not he should be suffered to exhibit a persevering resistance to the censures which they were prepared to cast upon him. Nor need we shrink from the idea, as we might from suspecting of some gross crime, on trivial grounds, one of hitherto unblemished innocence and character. The question may be disencumbered of all such scruples, since one atrocity more or less can do little towards affecting our judgment of the unholy Office of the Inquisition.

Delambre, who could find so much to reprehend in Galileo's former uncompromising boldness, is deeply penetrated with the insincerity of his behaviour on the present occasion. He seems to have forgotten that a tribunal which finds it convenient to carry on its inquiries in secret, is always liable to the suspicion of putting words into the mouth of its victims; and if it were worth while, there is sufficient internal evidence that the language which Galileo is made to hold in his defence and confession, is rather to be read as the composition of his judges than his own. For instance, in one of the letters which we have extracted,[87]it may be seen that this obnoxious work was already in forward preparation as early as 1610, and yet he is made to confess, and the circumstance appears to be brought forward in aggravation of his guilt, that he began to write it after the prohibition which he had received in 1616.

The abjuration was drawn up in the following terms:—

The Abjuration of Galileo."I Galileo Galilei, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei, of Florence, aged 70 years, being brought personally to judgment, and kneeling before you, Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals, General Inquisitors of the universal Christian republic against heretical depravity, having before my eyes the Holy Gospels, which I touch with my own hands, swear, that I have always believed, and now believe, and with the help of God will in future believe, every article which the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome holds, teaches, and preaches. But because I had been enjoined by this Holy Office altogether to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the sun is the centre and immoveable, and forbidden to hold, defend, or teach, the said false doctrine in any manner, and after it had been signified to me that the said doctrine is repugnant with the Holy Scripture, I have written and printed a book, in which I treat of the same doctrine now condemned, and adduce reasons with great force in support of the same, without giving any solution, and therefore have been judged grievously suspected of heresy; that is to say, that I held and believed that the sun is the centre of the world and immoveable, and that the earth is not the centre and moveable. Willing, therefore, to remove from the minds of Your Eminences, and of every Catholic Christian, this vehement suspicion rightfully entertained towards me, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I abjure, curse, and detest, the said errors and heresies, and generally every other error and sect contrary to the said Holy Church; and I swear, that I will never more in future say or assert anything verbally, or in writing, which may give rise to a similar suspicion of me: but if I shall know any heretic, or any one suspected of heresy, that I will denounce him to this Holy Office, or to the Inquisitor and Ordinary of the place in which I may be. I swear, moreover, and promise, that I will fulfil, and observe fully, all the penances which have been, or shall be laid on me by this Holy Office. But if it shall happen that I violate any of my said promises, oaths, and protestations, (which God avert!) I subject myself to all the pains and punishments, which have been decreed and promulgated by the sacred canons, and other general and particular constitutions, against delinquents of this description. So may God help me, and his Holy Gospels, which I touch with my own hands. I, the above-named Galileo Galilei, have abjured, sworn, promised, and bound myself, as above, and in witness thereof with my own hand have subscribed this present writing of my abjuration, whichI have recited word for word. At Rome in the Convent of Minerva, 22d June, 1633. I, Galileo Galilei, have abjured as above with my own hand."

The Abjuration of Galileo.

"I Galileo Galilei, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei, of Florence, aged 70 years, being brought personally to judgment, and kneeling before you, Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals, General Inquisitors of the universal Christian republic against heretical depravity, having before my eyes the Holy Gospels, which I touch with my own hands, swear, that I have always believed, and now believe, and with the help of God will in future believe, every article which the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome holds, teaches, and preaches. But because I had been enjoined by this Holy Office altogether to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the sun is the centre and immoveable, and forbidden to hold, defend, or teach, the said false doctrine in any manner, and after it had been signified to me that the said doctrine is repugnant with the Holy Scripture, I have written and printed a book, in which I treat of the same doctrine now condemned, and adduce reasons with great force in support of the same, without giving any solution, and therefore have been judged grievously suspected of heresy; that is to say, that I held and believed that the sun is the centre of the world and immoveable, and that the earth is not the centre and moveable. Willing, therefore, to remove from the minds of Your Eminences, and of every Catholic Christian, this vehement suspicion rightfully entertained towards me, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I abjure, curse, and detest, the said errors and heresies, and generally every other error and sect contrary to the said Holy Church; and I swear, that I will never more in future say or assert anything verbally, or in writing, which may give rise to a similar suspicion of me: but if I shall know any heretic, or any one suspected of heresy, that I will denounce him to this Holy Office, or to the Inquisitor and Ordinary of the place in which I may be. I swear, moreover, and promise, that I will fulfil, and observe fully, all the penances which have been, or shall be laid on me by this Holy Office. But if it shall happen that I violate any of my said promises, oaths, and protestations, (which God avert!) I subject myself to all the pains and punishments, which have been decreed and promulgated by the sacred canons, and other general and particular constitutions, against delinquents of this description. So may God help me, and his Holy Gospels, which I touch with my own hands. I, the above-named Galileo Galilei, have abjured, sworn, promised, and bound myself, as above, and in witness thereof with my own hand have subscribed this present writing of my abjuration, whichI have recited word for word. At Rome in the Convent of Minerva, 22d June, 1633. I, Galileo Galilei, have abjured as above with my own hand."

It is said that Galileo, as he rose from his knees, stamped on the ground, and whispered to one of his friends,E pur si muove—(It does move though).

Copies of Galileo's sentence and abjuration were immediately promulgated in every direction, and the professors at several universities received directions to read them publicly. At Florence this ceremony took place in the church of Sta. Croce, whither Guiducci, Aggiunti, and all others who were known in that city as firm adherents to Galileo's opinions, were specially summoned. The triumph of the "Paper Philosophers" was so far complete, and the alarm occasioned by this proof of their dying power extended even beyond Italy. "I have been told," writes Descartes from Holland to Mersenne at Paris, "that Galileo's system was printed in Italy last year, but that every copy has been burnt at Rome, and himself condemned to some sort of penance, which has astonished me so much that I have almost determined to burn all my papers, or at least never to let them be seen by any one. I cannot collect that he, who is an Italian and even a friend of the Pope, as I understand, has been criminated on any other account than for having attempted to establish the motion of the earth. I know that this opinion was formerly censured by some Cardinals, but I thought I had since heard, that no objection was now made to its being publicly taught, even at Rome."

The sentiments of all who felt themselves secured against the apprehension of personal danger could take but one direction, for, as Pascal well expressed it in one of his celebrated letters to the Jesuits—"It is in vain that you have procured against Galileo a decree from Rome condemning his opinion of the earth's motion. Assuredly, that will never prove it to be at rest; and if we have unerring observations proving that it turns round, not all mankind together can keep it from turning, nor themselves from turning with it."

The assembly of doctors of the Sorbonne at Paris narrowly escaped from passing a similar sentence upon the system of Copernicus. The question was laid before them by Richelieu, and it appears that their opinion was for a moment in favour of confirming the Roman decree. It is to be wished that the name had been preserved of one of its members, who, by his strong and philosophical representations, saved that celebrated body from this disgrace.

Those who saw nothing in the punishment of Galileo but passion and blinded superstition, took occasion to revert to the history of a similar blunder of the Court of Rome in the middle of the eighth century. A Bavarian bishop, named Virgil, eminent both as a man of letters and politician, had asserted the existence of Antipodes, which excited in the ignorant bigots of his time no less alarm than did the motion of the earth in the seventeenth century. Pope Zachary, who was scandalized at the idea of another earth, inhabited by another race of men, and enlightened by another sun and moon (for this was the shape which Virgil's system assumed in his eyes), sent out positive orders to his legate in Bavaria. "With regard to Virgil, the philosopher, (I know not whether to call him priest,) if he own these perverse opinions, strip him of his priesthood, and drive him from the church and altars of God." But Virgil had himself occasionally acted as legate, and was moreover too necessary to his sovereign to be easily displaced. He utterly disregarded these denunciations, and during twenty-five years which elapsed before his death, retained his opinions, his bishopric of Salzburg, and his political power. He was afterwards canonized.[88]

Even the most zealous advocates of the authority of Rome were embarrassed in endeavouring to justify the treatment which Galileo experienced. Tiraboschi has attempted to draw a somewhat subtle distinction between the bulls of the Pope and the inquisitorial decrees which were sanctioned and approved by him; he dwells on the reflection that no one, even among the most zealous Catholics, has ever claimed infallibility as an attribute of the Inquisition, and looks upon it as a special mark of grace accorded to the Roman Catholic Church, that during the whole period in which most theologians rejected the opinions of Copernicus, as contrary to the Scriptures, the head of that Church was never permitted to compromise his infallible character by formally condemning it.[89]

Whatever may be the value of thisconsolation, it can hardly be conceded, unless it be at the same time admitted that many scrupulous members of the Church of Rome have been suffered to remain in singular misapprehension of the nature and sanction of the authority to which Galileo had yielded. The words of the bull of Sixtus V., by which the Congregation of the Index was remodelled in 1588, are quoted by a professor of the University of Louvain, a zealous antagonist of Galileo, as follows: "They are to examine and expose the books which are repugnant to the Catholic doctrines and Christian discipline, and after reporting on them to us, they are to condemn them by our authority.[90]" Nor does it appear that the learned editors of what is commonly called the Jesuit's edition of Newton's "Principia" were of opinion, that in adopting the Copernican system they should transgress a mandate emanating from any thing short of infallible wisdom. The remarkable words which they were compelled to prefix to their book, show how sensitive the court of Rome remained, even so late as 1742, with regard to this rashly condemned theory. In their preface they say: "Newton in this third book supposes the motion of the earth. We could not explain the author's propositions otherwise than by making the same supposition. We are therefore forced to sustain a character which is not our own; but we profess to pay the obsequious reverence which is due to the decrees pronounced by the supreme Pontiffs against the motion of the earth."[91]

This coy reluctance to admit what nobody any longer doubts has survived to the present time; for Bailli informs us,[92]that the utmost endeavours of Lalande, when at Rome, to obtain that Galileo's work should be erased from the Index, were entirely ineffectual, in consequence of the decree which had been fulminated against him; and in fact both it, and the book of Copernicus, "Nisi Corrigatur," are still to be seen on the forbidden list of 1828.

The condemnation of Galileo and his book was not thought sufficient. Urban's indignation also vented itself upon those who had been instrumental in obtaining the licence for him. The Inquisitor at Florence was reprimanded; Riccardi, the master of the sacred palace, and Ciampoli, Urban's secretary, were both dismissed from their situations. Their punishment appears rather anomalous and inconsistent with the proceedings against Galileo, in which it was assumed that his book was not properly licensed; yet the others suffered on account of granting that very licence, which he was accused of having surreptitiously obtained from them, by concealing circumstances with which they were not bound to be otherwise acquainted. Riccardi, in exculpation of his conduct, produced a letter in the hand-writing of Ciampoli, in which was contained that His Holiness, in whose presence the letter professed to be written, ordered the licence to be given. Urban only replied that this was a Ciampolism; that his secretary and Galileo had circumvented him; that he had already dismissed Ciampoli, and that Riccardi must prepare to follow him.

As soon as the ceremony of abjuration was concluded, Galileo was consigned, pursuant to his sentence, to the prison of the Inquisition. Probably it was never intended that he should long remain there, for at the end of four days, he was reconducted on a very slight representation of Nicolini to the ambassador's palace, there to await his further destination. Florence was still suffering under the before-mentioned contagion; and Sienna was at last fixed on as the place of his relegation. He would have been shut up in some convent in that city, if Nicolini had not recommended as a more suitable residence, the palace of theArchbishopPiccolomini, whom he knew to be among Galileo's warmest friends. Urban consented to the change, and Galileo finally left Rome for Sienna in the early part of July.

Piccolomini received him with the utmost kindness, controlled of course by the strict injunctions which were dispatched from Rome, not to suffer him on any account to quit the confines of the palace. Galileo continued at Sienna in this state of seclusion till December of the same year, when the contagion having ceased in Tuscany, he applied for permission to return to his villa at Arcetri. This was allowed, subject to the same restrictions under which he had been residing with the archbishop.

FOOTNOTES:[79]Delambre quotes this sentence from a passage which is so obviously ironical throughout, as an instance of Galileo's mis-statement of facts!—Hist. de l'Astr. Mod., vol, i. p. 666.[80]Page 54.[81]Galuzzi. Storia di Toscana. Firenze, 1822.[82]Alidosi was a Florentine nobleman, whose estate Urban wished to confiscate on a charge of heresy.—Galuzzi.[83]S'irrito il Papa, e lo fece abjurare, comparendo il pover uomo con uno straccio di camicia indosso, che faceva compassione, MS. nella Bibl. Magliab. Venturi.[84]The Index is a list of books, the reading of which is prohibited to Roman Catholics. This list, in the early periods of the Reformation, was often consulted by the curious, who were enlarging their libraries; and a story is current in England, that, to prevent this mischief, the Index itself was inserted in its own forbidden catalogue. The origin of this story is, that an Index was published in Spain, particularizing the objectionable passages in such books as were only partially condemned; and although compiled with the best intentions, this was found to be so racy, that it became necessary to forbid the circulation of this edition in subsequent lists.[85]Giudicassimo esser necessario venir contro di te al rigoroso esame nel quale rispondesti cattolicamente.[86]The fate of these documents is curious; after being long preserved at Rome, they were carried away in 1809, by order of Buonaparte, to Paris, where they remained till his first abdication. Just before the hundred days, the late king of France, wishing to inspect them, ordered that they should be brought to his own apartments for that purpose. In the hasty flight which soon afterwards followed, the manuscripts were forgotten, and it is not known what became of them. A French translation, begun by Napoleon's desire, was completed only down to the 30th of April, 1633, the date of Galileo's first return to Nicolini's palace.[87]Page18.[88]Annalium Bolorum, libri vii. Ingolstadii, 1554.[89]La Chiesa non ha mai dichiarati eretici i sostenitori del Sistema Copernicano, e questa troppo rigorosa censura non usci che dal tribunale della Romana Inquisizione a cui niuno tra Cattolici ancor piu zelanti ha mai attribuito it diritto dell'infallibilità. Anzi in cio ancora è d' ammirarsi la providenza di Dio à favor della Chiesa, percioche in un tempo in cui la maggior parte dei teologi fermamente credavano che il Sistema Copernicano fosse all' autorità delle sacre Carte contrario, pur non permise che dalla Chiesa si proferisse su cio un solenne giudizio.—Stor. della Lett. Ital.[90]Lib. Fromondi Antaristarchus, Antwerpiæ, 1631.[91]Newtoni Principia, Coloniæ, 1760.[92]Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne.

[79]Delambre quotes this sentence from a passage which is so obviously ironical throughout, as an instance of Galileo's mis-statement of facts!—Hist. de l'Astr. Mod., vol, i. p. 666.

[80]Page 54.

[81]Galuzzi. Storia di Toscana. Firenze, 1822.

[82]Alidosi was a Florentine nobleman, whose estate Urban wished to confiscate on a charge of heresy.—Galuzzi.

[83]S'irrito il Papa, e lo fece abjurare, comparendo il pover uomo con uno straccio di camicia indosso, che faceva compassione, MS. nella Bibl. Magliab. Venturi.

[84]The Index is a list of books, the reading of which is prohibited to Roman Catholics. This list, in the early periods of the Reformation, was often consulted by the curious, who were enlarging their libraries; and a story is current in England, that, to prevent this mischief, the Index itself was inserted in its own forbidden catalogue. The origin of this story is, that an Index was published in Spain, particularizing the objectionable passages in such books as were only partially condemned; and although compiled with the best intentions, this was found to be so racy, that it became necessary to forbid the circulation of this edition in subsequent lists.

[85]Giudicassimo esser necessario venir contro di te al rigoroso esame nel quale rispondesti cattolicamente.

[86]The fate of these documents is curious; after being long preserved at Rome, they were carried away in 1809, by order of Buonaparte, to Paris, where they remained till his first abdication. Just before the hundred days, the late king of France, wishing to inspect them, ordered that they should be brought to his own apartments for that purpose. In the hasty flight which soon afterwards followed, the manuscripts were forgotten, and it is not known what became of them. A French translation, begun by Napoleon's desire, was completed only down to the 30th of April, 1633, the date of Galileo's first return to Nicolini's palace.

[87]Page18.

[88]Annalium Bolorum, libri vii. Ingolstadii, 1554.

[89]La Chiesa non ha mai dichiarati eretici i sostenitori del Sistema Copernicano, e questa troppo rigorosa censura non usci che dal tribunale della Romana Inquisizione a cui niuno tra Cattolici ancor piu zelanti ha mai attribuito it diritto dell'infallibilità. Anzi in cio ancora è d' ammirarsi la providenza di Dio à favor della Chiesa, percioche in un tempo in cui la maggior parte dei teologi fermamente credavano che il Sistema Copernicano fosse all' autorità delle sacre Carte contrario, pur non permise che dalla Chiesa si proferisse su cio un solenne giudizio.—Stor. della Lett. Ital.

[90]Lib. Fromondi Antaristarchus, Antwerpiæ, 1631.

[91]Newtoni Principia, Coloniæ, 1760.

[92]Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne.

Extracts from the Dialogues on the System.

Afternarrating the treatment to which Galileo was subject on account of his admirable Dialogues, it will not be irrelevant to endeavour, by a few extracts, to convey some idea of the style in which they are written. It has been mentioned, that he is considered to surpass all other Italian writers (unless we except Machiavelli) in the purity and beauty of his language, and indeed his principal followers, who avowedly imitated his style, make a distinguished group among the classical authors of modern Italy. He professed to have formed himself from the study of Ariosto, whose poems he passionately admired, insomuch that he could repeat the greater part of them, as well as those of Berni and Petrarca, all which he was in the frequent habit of quoting in conversation. The fashion and almost universal practice of that day was to write on philosophical subjects in Latin; and although Galileo wrote very passably in that language, yet he generally preferred the use of Italian, for which he gave his reasons in the following characteristic manner:—

"I wrote in Italian because I wished every one to be able to read what I wrote; and for the same cause I have written my last treatise in the same language: the reason which has induced me is, that I see young men brought together indiscriminately to study to become physicians, philosophers, &c., and whilst many apply to such professions who are most unfit for them, others who would be competent remain occupied either with domestic business, or with other employments alien to literature; who, although furnished, as Ruzzante might say, with adecent set of brains, yet, not being able to understand things written ingibberish, take it into their heads, that in these crabbed folios there must be some grandhocus pocusof logic and philosophy much too high up for them to think of jumping at. I want them to know, that as Nature has given eyes to them just as well as to philosophers for the purpose of seeing her works, she has also given them brains for examining and understanding them."

The general structure of the dialogues has been already described;[93]we shall therefore premise no more than the judgment pronounced on them by a highly gifted writer, to supply the deficiencies of our necessarily imperfect analysis.

"One forms a very imperfect idea of Galileo, from considering the discoveries and inventions, numerous and splendid as they are, of which he was the undisputed author. It is by following his reasonings, and by pursuing the train of his thoughts, in his own elegant, though somewhat diffuse exposition of them, that we become acquainted with the fertility of his genius—with the sagacity, penetration, and comprehensiveness of his mind. The service which he rendered to real knowledge is to be estimated, not only from the truths which he discovered, but from the errors which he detected—not merely from the sound principles which he established, but from the pernicious idols which he overthrew. The dialogues on the system are written with such singular felicity, that one reads them at the present day, when the truths contained in them are known and admitted, with all the delight of novelty, and feels one's self carried back to the period when the telescope was first directed to the heavens, and when the earth's motion, with all its train of consequences, was proved for the first time."[94]

The first Dialogue is opened by an attack upon the arguments by which Aristotle pretended to determineà priorithe necessary motions belonging to different parts of the world, and on his favourite principle that particular motions belong naturally to particular substances. Salviati (representing Galileo) then objects to the Aristotelian distinctions between the corruptible elements and incorruptible skies, instancing among other things the solar spots and newly appearing stars, as arguments that the other heavenly bodies may probably be subjected to changes similar to those which are continually occurring on the earth, and that it is the great distance alone which prevents their being observed. After a long discussion on this point, Sagredo exclaims, "I see into the heart of Simplicio, and perceive that he is much moved by the force of these too conclusive arguments; but methinks I hear him say—'Oh, to whom must we betake ourselves to settle our disputes if Aristotle be removed from the chair? Whatother author have we to follow in our schools, our studies, and academies? What philosopher has written on all the parts of Natural Philosophy, and so methodically as not to have overlooked a single conclusion? Must we then desolate this fabric, by which so many travellers have been sheltered? Must we destroy this asylum, this Prytaneum wherein so many students have found a convenient resting-place, where without being exposed to the injuries of the weather, one may acquire an intimate knowledge of nature, merely by turning over a few leaves? Shall we level this bulwark, behind which we are safe from every hostile attack?' I pity him no less than I do one who at great expense of time and treasure, and with the labour of hundreds, has built up a very noble palace; and then, because of insecure foundations, sees it ready to fall—unable to bear that those walls be stripped that are adorned with so many beautiful pictures, or to suffer those columns to fall that uphold the stately galleries, or to see ruined the gilded roofs, the chimney-pieces, the friezes, and marble cornices erected at so much cost, he goes about it with girders and props, with shores and buttresses, to hinder its destruction."

Salviati proceeds to point out the many points of similarity between the earth and moon, and among others which we have already mentioned, the following remark deserves especial notice:—

"Just as from the mutual and universal tendency of the parts of the earth to form a whole, it follows that they all meet together with equal inclination, and that they may unite as closely as possible, assume the spherical form; why ought we not to believe that the moon, the sun, and other mundane bodies are also of a round figure, from no other reason than from a common instinct and natural concourse of all their component parts; of which if by accident any one should be violently separated from its whole, is it not reasonable to believe that spontaneously, and of its natural instinct, it would return? It may be added that if any centre of the universe may be assigned, to which the whole terrene globe if thence removed would seek to return, we shall find most probable that the sun is placed in it, as by the sequel you shall understand."

Many who are but superficially acquainted with the History of Astronomy, are apt to suppose that Newton's great merit was in his being the first to suppose an attractive force existing in and between the different bodies composing the solar system. This idea is very erroneous; Newton's discovery consisted in conceiving and proving the identity of the force with which a stone falls, and that by which the moon falls, towards the earth (on an assumption that this force becomes weaker in a certain proportion as the distance increases at which it operates), and in generalizing this idea, in applying it to all the visible creation, and tracing the principle of universal gravitation with the assistance of a most refined and beautiful geometry into many of its most remote consequences. But the general notion of an attractive force between the sun, moon, and planets, was very commonly entertained before Newton was born, and may be traced back to Kepler, who was probably the first modern philosopher who suggested it. The following extraordinary passages from his "Astronomy" will shew the nature of his conceptions on this subject:—

"The true doctrine of gravity is founded on these axioms: every corporeal substance, so far forth as it is corporeal, has a natural fitness for resting in every place where it may be situated by itself beyond the sphere of influence of its cognate body. Gravity is a mutual affection between cognate bodies towards union or conjunction (similar in kind to the magnetic virtue), so that the earth attracts a stone much rather than the stone seeks the earth. Heavy bodies (if in the first place we put the earth in the centre of the world) are not carried to the centre of the world in its quality of centre of the world, but as to the centre of a cognate round body, namely the earth. So that wheresoever the earth may be placed or whithersoever it may be carried by its animal faculty, heavy bodies will always be carried towards it. If the earth were not round heavy bodies would not tend from every side in a straight line towards the centre of the earth, but to different points from different sides. If two stones were placed in any part of the world near each other and beyond the sphere of influence of a third cognate body, these stones, like two magnetic needles, would come together in the intermediate point, each approaching the other by a space proportionalto the comparative mass of the other. If the moon and earth were not retained in their orbits by their animal force or some other equivalent, the earth would mount to the moon by a fifty-fourth part of their distance, and the moon fall towards the earth through the other fifty-three parts, and would there meet, assuming however that the substance of both is of the same density. If the earth should cease to attract its waters to itself, all the waters of the sea would be raised, and would flow to the body of the moon."[95]

He also conjectured that the irregularities in the moon's motion were caused by the joint action of the sun and earth, and recognized the mutual action of the sun and planets, when he declared the mass and density of the sun to be so great that the united attraction of the other planets cannot remove it from its place. Among these bold and brilliant ideas, his temperament led him to introduce others which show how unsafe it was to follow his guidance, and which account for, if they do not altogether justify, the sarcastic remark of Ross, that "Kepler's opinion that the planets are moved round by the sunne, and that this is done by sending forth a magnetic virtue, and that the sun-beames are like the teethe of a wheele taking hold of the planets, are senslesse crotchets fitter for a wheeler or a miller than a philosopher."[96]Roberval took up Kepler's notions, especially in the tract which he falsely attributed to Aristarchus, and it is much to be regretted that Roberval should deserve credit for anything connected with that impudent fraud. The principle of universal gravitation, though not the varying proportion, is distinctly assumed in it, as the following passages will sufficiently prove: "In every single particle of the earth, and the terrestrial elements, is a certain property or accident which we suppose common to the whole system of the world, by virtue of which all its parts are forced together, and reciprocally attract each other; and this property is found in a greater or less degree in the different particles, according to their density. If the earth be considered by itself, its centres of magnitude and virtue, or gravity, as we usually call it, will coincide, to which all its parts tend in a straight line, as well by their own exertion or gravity, as by the reciprocal attraction of all the rest." In a subsequent chapter, Roberval repeats these passages nearly in the same words, applying them to the whole solar system, adding, that "the force of this attraction is not to be considered as residing in the centre itself, as some ignorant people think, but in the whole system whose parts are equally disposed round the centre."[97]This very curious work was reprinted in the third volume of theReflexiones Physico-Mathematicæof Mersenne, from whom Roberval pretended to have received the Arabic manuscript, and who is thus irretrievably implicated in the forgery.[98]The last remark, denying the attractive force to be due to any property of the central point, seems aimed at Aristotle, who, in a no less curious passage, maintaining exactly the opposite opinion, says, "Hence, we may better understand what the ancients have related, that like things are wont to have a tendency to each other. For this is not absolutely true; for if the earth were to be removed to the place now occupied by the moon, no part of the earth would then have a tendency towards that place, but would still fall towards the point which the earth's centre now occupies."[99]Mersenne considered the consequences of the attractive force of each particle of matter so far as to remark, that if a body were supposed to fall towards the centre of the earth, it would be retarded by the attraction of the part through which it had already fallen.[100]Galileo had not altogether neglected to speculate on such a supposition, as is plain from the following extract. It is taken from a letter to Carcaville, dated from Arcetri, in 1637. "I will say farther, that I have not absolutely and clearly satisfied myself that a heavy body would arrive sooner at the centre of the earth, if it began to fall from the distance only of a single yard, than another which should start from the distance of a thousand miles. I do not affirm this, but I offer it as a paradox."[101]

It is very difficult to offer any satisfactory comment upon this passage; it may be sufficient to observe that this paradoxical result was afterwards deducedby Newton, as one of the consequences of the general law with which all nature is pervaded, but with which there is no reason to believe that Galileo had any acquaintance; indeed the idea is fully negatived by other passages in this same letter. This is one of the many instances from which we may learn to be cautious how we invest detached passages of the earlier mathematicians with a meaning which in many cases their authors did not contemplate. The progressive development of these ideas in the hands of Wallis, Huyghens, Hook, Wren, and Newton, would lead us too far from our principal subject. There is another passage in the third dialogue connected with this subject, which it may be as well to notice in this place. "The parts of the earth have such a propensity to its centre, that when it changes its place, although they may be very distant from the globe at the time of the change, yet must they follow. An example similar to this is the perpetual sequence of the Medicean stars, although always separated from Jupiter. The same may be said of the moon, obliged to follow the earth. And this may serve for those simple ones who have difficulty in comprehending how these two globes, not being chained together, nor strung upon a pole, mutually follow each other, so that on the acceleration or retardation of the one, the other also moves quicker or slower."

The second Dialogue is appropriated chiefly to the discussion of the diurnal motion of the earth; and the principal arguments urged by Aristotle, Ptolemy, and others, are successively brought forward and confuted. The opposers of the earth's diurnal motion maintained, that if it were turning round, a stone dropped from the top of a tower would not fall at its foot; but, by the rotation of the earth to the eastward carrying away the tower with it, would be left at a great distance to the westward; it was common to compare this effect to a stone dropped from the mast-head of a ship, and without any regard to truth it was boldly asserted that this would fall considerably nearer the stern than the foot of the mast, if the ship were in rapid motion. The same argument was presented in a variety of forms,—such as that a cannon-ball shot perpendicularly upwards would not fall at the same spot; that if fired to the eastward it would fly farther than to the westward; that a mark to the east or west would never be hit, because of the rising or sinking of the horizon during the flight of the ball; thatladies'ringlets would all stand out to the westward,[102]with other conceits of the like nature: to which the general reply is given, that in all these cases the stone, or ball, or other body, participates equally in the motion of the earth, which, therefore, so far as regards the relative motion of its parts, may be disregarded. The manner in which this is illustrated, appears in the following extract from the dialogue:—"Sagredo.If the nib of a writing pen which was in the ship during my voyage direct from Venice to Alexandria, had had the power of leaving a visible mark of all its path, what trace, what mark, what line would it have left?—Simplicio.It would have left a line stretched out thither from Venice not perfectly straight, or to speak more correctly, not perfectly extended in an exact circular arc, but here and there more and less curved accordingly as the vessel had pitched more or less; but this variation in some places of one or two yards to the right or left, or up or down in a length of many hundred miles, would have occasioned but slight alteration in the whole course of the line, so that it would have been hardly sensible, and without any great error we may speak of it as a perfectly circular arc.—Sagred.So that the true and most exact motion of the point of the pen would also have been a perfect arc of a circle if the motion of the vessel, abstracting from the fluctuations of the waves, had been steady and gentle; and if I had held this pen constantly in my hand, and had merely moved it an inch or two one way or the other, what alteration would that have made in the true and principal motion?—Simpl.Less than that which would be occasioned in a line a thousand yards long, by varying here and there from perfect straightness by the quantity of a flea's eye.—Sagred.If then a painter on our quitting the port had begun to draw with this pen on paper, and had continued his drawing till we got to Alexandria, he would have been able by its motion, to produce an accurate representation of many objects perfectly shadowed, and filled up on all sides with landscapes, buildings, and animals, although all the true, real, and essential motion of the point of his pen would have been no other but a verylong and very simple line; and as to the peculiar work of the painter, he would have drawn it exactly the same if the ship had stood still. Therefore, of the very protracted motion of the pen, there remain no other traces than those marks drawn upon the paper, the reason of this being that the great motion from Venice to Alexandria was common to the paper, the pen, and everything that was in the ship; but the trifling motion forwards and backwards, to the right and left, communicated by the painter's fingers to the pen, and not to the paper, from being peculiar to the pen, left its mark upon the paper, which as to this motion was immoveable. Thus it is likewise true that in the supposition of the earth's rotation, the motion of a falling stone is really a long track of many hundreds and thousands of yards; and if it could have delineated its course in the calm air, or on any other surface, it would have left behind it a very long transversal line; but that part of all this motion which is common to the stone, the tower, and ourselves, is imperceptible by us and the same as if not existing, and only that part remains to be observed of which neither we nor the tower partake, which in short is the fall of the stone along the tower."

The mechanical doctrines introduced into this second dialogue will be noticed on another occasion; we shall pass on to other extracts, illustrative of the general character of Galileo's reasoning:—"Salviati.I did not say that the earth has no principle, either internal or external, of its motion of rotation, but I do say that I know not which of the two it has, and that my ignorance has no power to take its motion away; but if this author knows by what principle other mundane bodies, of the motion of which we are certain, are turned round, I say that what moves the Earth is something like that by which Mars and Jupiter, and, as he believes, the starry sphere, are moved round; and if he will satisfy me as to the cause of their motion, I bind myself to be able to tell him what moves the earth. Nay more; I undertake to do the same if he can teach me what it is which moves the parts of the earth downwards.—Simpl.The cause of this effect is notorious, and every one knows that it is Gravity.—Salv.You are out, Master Simplicio; you should say that every one knows that it is called Gravity; but I do not ask you the name but the nature of the thing, of which nature you do not know one tittle more than you know of the nature of the moving cause of the rotation of the stars, except it be the name which has been given to the one, and made familiar and domestic, by the frequent experience we have of it many thousand times in a day; but of the principle or virtue by which a stone falls to the ground, we really know no more than we know of the principle which carries it upwards when thrown into the air, or which carries the moon round its orbit, except, as I have said, the name of gravity which we have peculiarly and exclusively assigned to it; whereas we speak of the other with a more generic term, and talk of the virtue impressed, and call it either an assisting or an informing intelligence, and are content to say that Nature is the cause of an infinite number of other motions."

Simplicio is made to quote a passage from Scheiner's book of Conclusions against Copernicus, to the following effect:—"'If the whole earth and water were annihilated, no hail or rain would fall from the clouds, but would only be naturally carried round in a circle, nor would any fire or fiery thing ascend, since, according to the not improbable opinion of these others, there is no fire in the upper regions.'—Salv.The foresight of this philosopher is most admirable and praiseworthy, for he is not content with providing for things that might happen during the common course of nature, but persists in shewing his care for the consequences of what he very well knows will never come to pass. Nevertheless, for the sake of hearing some of his notable conceits, I will grant that if the earth and water were annihilated there would be no more hail or rain, nor would fiery matter ascend any more, but would continue a motion of revolution. What is to follow? What conclusion is the philosopher going to draw?—Simpl.This objection is in the very next words—'Which nevertheless (says he) is contrary to experience and reason.'—Salv.Now I must yield: since he has so great an advantage over me as experience, with which I am quite unprovided. For hitherto I have never happened to see theterrestrialearth and water annihilated, so as to be able to observe what the hail and fire did in the confusion. But does he tell us for our information at least what they did?—Simp.No, he does not say any thing more.—Salv.I would give something to have a word or two with this person, to ask him whether, when this globe vanished, it also carried away the common centre of gravity, as I fancy it did, in which case I take it that the hail and water would remain stupid and confounded amongst the clouds, without knowing what to do with themselves.... And lastly, that I may give this philosopher a less equivocal answer, I tell him that I know as much of what would follow after the annihilation of the terrestrial globe, as he could have known what was about to happen in and about it, before it was created."

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