258 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that has just been quoted is profoundly significant: events in them- 

 selves are small affairs; it is their effect on the public consciousness 

 that remains and is permanent. Galileo's private life was essentially 

 peaceful, as a whole even ' enviable.' To the world in general he is, on 

 the other hand, the protomartyr. His trials have opened new roads for 

 human thought, given liberty to science and philosophy, and were the 

 occasion of a final delimitation of the provinces of the church and of 

 philosophy. The modern attitude of mind may be said to take its date 

 from him. It is in this that his greatest service to mankind consists. 

 The astonishing discoveries that we owe to his genius are small matters 

 in comparison. 



In what follows the events of his life will be recited. Where there 

 is doubt it will be pointed out. There is no space to discuss contro- 

 verted points at length. Volumes have already been written on the his- 

 tory of his trial by the Inquisition; on the documents, genuine or 

 fabricated, of this process; on the question whether or no he was put 

 to the torture.* To these volumes reference must be made, once for 

 all, for the original documents and for a discussion of their authen- 

 ticity. The object of the present chapter is, first, to tell the story of 

 his life, second, and most important, to exhibit its effect upon his own 

 and succeeding centuries. It will conduce to clearness if his private 

 and personal life be separated in thought from his services to mankind 

 in general; if the story of his experience be discriminated from the 

 legend. 



The popular legend in its crudest form declared that Galileo, a 

 martyr of science, languished in the dungeons of the Inquisition; 

 defended his doctrines boldly; was tortured; and under bodily torture 

 recanted and abjured; saying, however, at the last, E pur si muove 

 before he was again removed to his prison, where his eyes were 

 blinded. If the legend had not taken on this crude shape it would, 

 perhaps, have been less efficacious in the century immediately following 

 his death. As it stands it is almost entirely devoid of truth. The 

 real history is hardly less distressing, but the facts are utterly different. 



Galileo was born at Pisa on February 18, 1564, of the noble family 

 of the Bonajuti which since 1343 had been known as the Galilei. In 

 1445 a representative of the family was Gonfalonier of Florence, and 

 no less than fifteen of its members had served in the Signoria. The 

 father of Galileo, Vincenzio, was skilled in mathematics and espe- 

 cially in music, on which he wrote several treatises. He was poor and 



* Among these the reader may wish to consult Martin, ' Galilee, etc.,' 1868; 

 Wohlwill, 'Der Inquisitions Process des Galileo Galilei, etc.,' 1870; L'Epinois, 

 'Galilee, son proces, etc.,' 1867; Gebler, 'Galileo Galilei, etc' (English edition), 

 1879; Galileo, ' Opere, edizione nazionale,' 1890-8. 



