Galileo returned to Florence, and prosecuted his studies with his usual ardour and success. The opinions which he had disavowed, acquired additional strength from every new discovery. Ile resolved, therefore, to publish them to the world, but in such an indirect manner as to prevent, if possible, any interference on the part of the inquisition. He accordingly published at Florence, in 1632, his great work, entitled, Dialogo di Galileo Galilei delle clue massime Sisteme del Monde, Tolemaico e Copernicano. The subject of the Ptolemaic and Copernican system is here discussed by three speakers, Sagredo, Salviatus, and Simplicius, a Pe ripatetic philosopher, who defends the Ptolemaic system with much ingenuity against the overwhelming arguments of the other speakers.t The church of Rome again took alarm at the publica tion of this work, and Galileo was a second time summoned to appear before the holy inquisition in the year 1633. Al though lie had now entered the 70th year of his age, yet he was compelled to repair to Rome ; and upon his arrival in that city, he was confined to the apartments of the fiscal of the inquisitorial tribunal. By the intercession of the Grand Duke, however, he was permitted to reside in the house of his ambassador during the trial, which lasted about two months. At the end of this period he was brought up to receive the sentence of the court, which was signed by se ven cardinals. This sentence, which is one of the most re markable documents which the history of superstition can present, begins by recounting the former heresies of Gali leo, and reminding him of the gentle punishment which had been inflicted. It accuses him of having obtained disho nourably a license for printing his book at Florence, and ordains that he shall, in the most solemn manner, abjure the Copernican system, as contrary to the scriptures ; and bind himself by oath never to maintain or support it, either in his conversation or his writings. In order that this great heresy should not pass altogether without punishment, the court also ordained, that the sale of his Dialogues should be prohibited by a public edict ; that he should be detained in the prison of the inquisition ; and that he should for three years recite once in the week the seven penitentiary psalms, the court reserving to itself the power of modifying or rc moving this sentence.
The abjuration of Galileo, a copy of which we have given below,f was signed on the 22d June 1633, and exhibits a mortifying picture of human imbecility. if the ignorant zeal of the assembly of cardinals has met with universal condemnation, what must we think of the conduct of a phi losopher, who, for the sake of a few years of freedom, could solemnly abjure and renounce opinions which he implicit ly believed, and which he had himself established by years of incessant labour ? He who has the boldness to maintain opinions in opposition to the vulgar prejudices of the age in which he lives, should have also the fortitude to bear the consequences to which they may expose him. The fame of discovering and defending truth, is in no small degree tarnished by the meanness of afterwards abjuring it ; and yet the history of persecution affords more than one exam ple of science having exposed herself to this worst of in dignities.
I Tad Galileo maintained with firmness the truth of his doctrines, he might even have succeeded in disarming the bigotry of his enemies; and if he failed in this, he would have at least secured the approbation of future ages. The truth of the Copernican system was at that time admitted by numerous distinguished and pious individuals, and there were many members even of the Catholic church who found no difficulty in reconciling it with the apparently opposite language of scripture. It is a curious fact, which has not been noticed in any of the lives of Galileo which we have seen, that, dnring the first persecution of Galileo in 1615, or rather before it, an illustrious Neapolitan noble man, Vincenzio Caraffa, had requested the opinion of Paul Antony Fosearinus, a learned Carmelite, respecting the Pythagorean and Copernican doctrine of the mobility of the earth. In his letter upon this subject, he reconciles the various passages of scripture with the new system, which he considers as well founded. He notices, with
praise, the opinions of Galileo and Kepler ; and he dedi cates his epistle to the chief of the order of the Carme lites. This learned epistle was dated at Naples on the 6th January 1615, and was printed by permission at Florence on the Ilth September 1630, three years before the second persecution of Galileo.
When we consider, therefore, that the new system had been promulgated more than a century before the time of Galileo, by Copernicus, who was himself a Roman Catho lic clergyman ; that the book which contained it was dedi cated to the Popc himself ; that the Copernican doctrines were embraced by Roman Catholic bishops and cardinals; and that they were maintained with impunity in Italy by some pious Catholics, at the very time when Galileo de fended them ; we can scarcely hesitate to believe, that Ga lileo had been a habitual and marked enemy of the Catho lic faith, and that the inquisition had seized the opportunity of punishing him for his astronomical opinions, when they were irritated only at his irreligious sentiments.* Through the influence of some distinguished individuals at Rome, Pope Urban VIII. softened the rigour of the sentence, and confined him for a while to the palace of the Garden de Medici at Rome. On account of his state of health, Galileo was allowed to leave Rome ; and as the plague then raged at Florence, he was sent to the archi episcopal palace at Sienna, the residence of the Arch bishop Piccolomini, where he continued the prosecution of his studies, and demonstrated the propositions respecting the resistance of solids. After remaining about five months at Sienna, when the plague at Florence had disappeared, lie was allowed to retire to his villa at Bellosguardo, and afterwards to that at Arcetri, in the neighbourhood of Flo rence, where he spent the remainder of his life.
In this tranquil spot, he observed the phenomena of the moon's iibration, he continued his observations on the mo tions of Jupiter's satellites, and he proposed a new method of finding the longitude at sea, by observing on different meridians the frequent eclipses of these secondary planets. This important subject had occupied his attention before the year 1615, and the secretary of state to Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had communicated the invention to the Tuscan Ambassador at Madrid, for the information of Phi lip king of Spain but no attempt seems to have been made by the Spanish government to adopt it in their navy. Galileo, however, persuaded of its practicability, offered the use of his discovery to the States General of Holland, through Grotius ambassador to the Queen of Sweden, at Paris. The negoeiation with the States of Holland was carried on by Al. Diodatus, a celebrated French lawyer. The States General eagerly embraced the proposal, and returned a polite letter in answer to Galileo's offer, accom panied with a golden chain as a testimony of their grati tude. Four of the most distinguished Dutch navigators, astronomers, and geographers, were appointed as a com mittee to examine both the theory of the new method, and the proposal which Galileo had made of a method of dimi nishing the agitation of a ship, for the purpose of observ ing the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. Martin Hortensius, a mathematician at Amsterdam, and William Bleau, a geo grapher, and both members of the committee, were ap pointed commissioners to visit Galileo, and receive instruc tions from him respecting the theory and practice of his discovery. When they arrived at Arcetri, they had the mortification to find that Galileo had recently been depriv ed of his sight. He communicated to them, however, his views respecting the determination of the longitude, and occupied his hours of study in computing tables of the motions of the satellites of Jupiter. We are not distinctly informed what was the result of this interview ; but astro nomical instruments were then in an imperfect state, and Galileo's method, though admirable in itself, could be of no practical use, till the eclipses of the satellites could be computed from accurate Tables of their motions.