GALILEO. 141 



the foregoing documents are to be taken as correct statements of the 

 circumstances before and during the trial, or not. It is assumed in 

 this paper that they are, in this respect, correct. 



It seems impossible to make any thing more than a verbal dis- 

 tinction between an injunction ' not to teach ' and one ' not to hold 

 or defend.' An opinion that is held and defended to others is an 

 opinion taught to them. 



The words of Galileo's judges appear to mean precisely what they 

 say. There was no need to distort them, for his confession of April 

 30 placed him completely at the mercy of his judges. 



A discussion by Gebler (pp. 234-239) of the legality of the pro- 

 ceedings against Galileo and of the effect of the sentence against him 

 brings out with complete demonstration the propositions that: 'the 

 sentence of Galileo rests again and again, even on the principles of 

 the ecclesiastical court itself, on an illegal foundation ' ; that ' Eoman 

 Catholic posterity can say to this day ' — with truth — " that Paul V. 

 and Urban VIII. were in error e as men ' about the Copernican sys- 

 tem, but not ' as Popes ' " ; and that " the conditions which would 

 have made the decree of the congregation, or the sentence against 

 Galileo, of dogmatic importance were wholly wanting. Both Popes 

 had been too cautious to endanger (the) highest privilege of the 

 papacy, by involving their infallible authority in the decision of a 

 scientific controversy." 



There can be no doubt of the validity of these conclusions. The 

 purpose of the prosecution was to check the spread of Copernican 

 doctrines among the faithful and to utterly ruin the authority of 

 Galileo. This purpose was fully attained when notice of his abjura- 

 tion and punishment was sent to all vicars " so that it may come to 

 the knowledge of all professors of philosophy and mathematics . . . 

 that they may understand the gravity of the fault he has committed 

 as well as the punishment they will have to undergo should they 

 (likewise) fall into it." (July 2, 1633). 



There is no need to trace the further history of Galileo's life in 

 detail. He was permitted to return to the neighborhood of Florence 

 and there he lived until his death in 1612 — the year of Newton's 

 birth. 



His friend and pupil Castelli writes of his death: 



The noblest eye which nature ever made is darkened; an eye so privileged, 

 and gifted with such rare powers that it may truly be said to have seen more 

 than the eyes of all that are gone, and to have opened the eyes of all that are 

 to come. 



The year 1638 was marked by the publication of his epoch-making 

 book ' Discourses on two new Sciences appertaining to Mechanics and 

 Motion.' This contained the foundation of the modern doctrine of 



