GALILEO. 137 



tention, ever foreign to the employment of simulation or deceit in any opera- 

 tion I may engage in. I say, then, that as at that time reports were spread 

 abroad by evil-disposed persons, to the effect that I had been summoned by the 

 Lord Cardinal Bellarmine to abjure certain of my opinions and doctrines, and 

 that I had consented to abjure them, and also to submit to punishment for 

 them, I was thus constrained to apply to his Eminence, and to solicit him 

 to furnish me with a certificate, explaining the cause for which I had been 

 summoned before him; which certificate I obtained, in his own handwriting and 

 it is the same that I now produce with the present document. 



From this it clearly appears that it was merely announced to me that the 

 doctrine attributed to Copernicus of the motion of the earth and the stability 

 of the sun must not be held or defended and (here the original MS. is de- 

 faced) . . . beyond this general announcement affecting every one, any other 

 injunction in particular was intimated to me, no trace thereof appears there. 

 Having, then, as a reminder, this authentic certificate in the handwriting of 

 the very person who intimated the command to me, I made no further applica- 

 tion of thought or memory with regard to the words employed in announcing 

 to me the said order not to hold or defend the doctrine in question; so that 

 the two articles of the order — in addition to the injunction not to ' hold ' or 

 1 defend ' it — to wit the words ' nor to teach it ' 'in any way whatsoever — 

 which I heard are contained in the order intimated to me, and 

 registered — struck me as quite novel and as if I had not heard 

 them before; and I do not think I ought to be disbelieved when I urge 

 that in the course of fourteen or sixteen years I had lost all recollection 

 of them . . . whence it appears to me that I have a reasonable excuse for not 

 having notified to the Master of the Sacred Palace the command privately im- 

 posed upon me ..." [then follows a paragraph declaring that the faults 

 scattered through this book ' have not been artfully introduced ' but are in- 

 advertent, owing to a vainglorious ambition and complacency . . . which fault 

 he is ready to correct.] 



Lastly, it remains for me to pray you to take into consideration my piti- 

 able state of bodily indisposition to which, at the age of seventy years, I have 

 been reduced by ten months of constant mental anxiety . . . ; [and he hopes 

 that his judges may remit (his punishment) and may defend his honor and 

 reputation against the calumnies of ill-wishers]. 



No one can read this confession and defence without a feeling of 

 deep pity. This is even intensified if we find in it a lack of entire 

 candor as it is hard not to do—' mistrust in the truthfulness of the 

 accused' — is Getter's phrase. Galileo returned to his palace feeling 

 that his confession had served him well and that his trial was to come 

 to a favorable issue. His confession had, however, put him in the 

 power of his judges. They believed that now was the time to make 

 a signal example. It was decided by the congregation (June, 1633) 

 to bring Galileo to trial 'as to his intention and under threat of 

 torture.' 



On the morning of June 21 Galileo appeared before the Holy 

 Office, and after being sworn was questioned. His first answer was: 



A long time ago, that is before the decision of the Holy Congregation of 

 the Index ... I was indifferent and regarded both opinions, namely that of 



