39 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



inquisitors contented themselves with an examination of the copy sent 

 by Lorini, in which they discovered a few ill-sounding phrases, but, on 

 the whole, nothing clearly contradictory of the language of Scripture. 

 Still they continued to note the words of Galileo ; they questioned 

 two Tuscan ecclesiastics about the speeches that he might have uttered 

 in their hearing; they scrutinized the letters he had published on the 

 subject of observing sun-spots. 



Galileo, though quite ignorant of the strict watch kept on him by 

 the Inquisition, had a vague apprehension of imminent danger. To 

 ward it off, he adopted the expedient of going again to Rome in 1615, 

 and of pleading his cause in person in the quarter where a successful 

 defense was most to be desired. It has been asserted that Galileo 

 was summoned before the bar of the Holy Office, but they who so assert 

 are in error as to the date ; it was not till a much later period, viz., 

 the beginning of his second trial, that he was ordered to appear in 

 Rome. On the present occasion he went of his own accord, no longer 

 possessed of the fearless assurance with which he made his first jour- 

 ney, yet confidently hoping that he would disarm his opponents by 

 the clearness of his explanations. Perchance he rested his expecta- 

 tion of convincing them as much upon the graces and charms of his 

 wit, and the personal attractiveness which won for him all hearts, as 

 upon the strength of his arguments. 



Besides, he had taken more pains than even he did in 1611 to pre- 

 pare the ground : he had, in urgent letters, rekindled the zeal of his 

 friends, and had again obtained for himself all the external tokens of 

 the official protection of the grand-duke. As before, he went down to 

 the embassador's palace, the villa of the Trinita, de' Monti, where 

 now the Academy of France has its seat, and, the day after his arrival, 

 went into the country. What with detailed explanations made in the 

 presence of numerous auditors, keen and lively disputations in which 

 he plainly showed the weakness of his opponents, frequent visits to 

 distinguished personages, brief tractates in which he demonstrated 

 the truth of the Copernican system, he omitted nothing that could 

 influence in his own favor those currents of opinion which judges 

 themselves cannot withstand. 



Unfortunately for Galileo, the tribunal of the Inquisition was but 

 little affected by external influences ; it imposed laws on opinion, and 

 took no advice from it. The members of the Holy Office, heedless of 

 the steps taken by the illustrious astronomer, and of the ardor with 

 which his ideas were espoused by a portion of Roman society, went 

 on quietly with their work. In examining the letters on the sun-spots, 

 they found therein two propositions worthy of censure. On the 24th 

 of February, 1616, they unanimously pronounced it absurd and hereti- 

 cal to assert that the sun is motionless, and that the earth revolves. 

 The sovereign pontiff immediately ordered Cardinal Bellarmin to sum- 

 mon Galileo, and to have him promise that he would no longer uphold 



