68 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Galileo's letters to Florence in 1616 do not mention the prohibition 

 to himself for two good reasons, first, to divulge the proceedings of 

 the Holy Office would have been a serious matter; second, Galileo had 

 every reason for convincing his friends that the Holy Office had only 

 come to decisions ' purely public ' regarding the Copernican doctrine, 

 and ' not affecting my [his] personal interests ' (letter of March 6, 

 1616). 



Again, the protocol of February 25 gives the orders of the Pope 

 that certain things should be done ' in case of his refusal to obey.' It 

 does not explicitly enjoin or prohibit the same action after his promise 

 of obedience. Cardinal Bellarmine had full power in such a matter. 

 If Galileo had refused to obey he would have been imprisoned. When 

 he had promised to abandon the opinion of Copernicus the obvious 

 step for Cardinal Bellarmine was to bind him to effective silence by a 

 formal promise before witnesses. The protocol of February 26 re- 

 cites that this was done. The words mean, I am obliged to conclude, 

 precisely what they say. It must not be forgotten that Galileo, like 

 every other good Catholic, had been forbidden to hold the Copernican 

 opinion by the general prohibition of March 5, 1616. 



The reigning Pope was Paul V., who hated ' science and polite 

 scholars.' He was very civil to Galileo, however, received him 

 graciously (March 11, 1616) and promised him safety from his 

 enemies. Galileo was a celebrity; by his submission to authority he 

 had averted a great scandal in the church; accordingly the Pope 

 was gracious. For the next seven years (1616-23) Galileo's conduct 

 precisely agrees with the supposition that he recognized that he must 

 not teach the Copernican doctrines. He published nothing during 

 this period. The authorities at Eome were engaged in ' correcting ' 

 the work of Copernicus. Galileo eagerly waited for the corrections, 

 for they would be authoritative and would exhibit the limits within 

 which it would be permitted to ' teach.' 



In May, 1618, he sent a MS. copy of his treatise on the tides to 

 Archduke Leopold of Austria, who was friendly to him. It im- 

 plicitly assumes the truth of the Copernican doctrine " which I then 

 (1616) held to be true* until it pleased those gentlemen to prohibit 

 the work and to declare that opinion (of Copernicus) to be false and 

 contrary to Scripture. Now, knowing as I do, that it behoves us to 

 obey the decisions of the authorities, and to believe them, since they 

 are guided by a higher insight than any to which my humble mind 

 can attain, I consider this treatise which I send you merely to be a 

 poetical conceit, or a dream, and desire that your Highness may take 

 it as such . . . ." The words are ironical. They will have less effect 



* In this letter Galileo declares that he ' held ' the opinion till 1616. He 

 then 'relinquished' it (February 26), but never 'abjured' it (May 26). 



