GALILEO GALILEI 35 



reconciliation. Bruno finished his earthly labours at the stake. 

 Galileo's work was still to be done; what he had to give the 

 world was still stored up in him; his two most important 

 works were not yet written, but only in preparation in many 

 respects; he was able to preserve from loss discoveries that 

 were to form the foundation of all further knowledge of 

 nature on this planet, and through which the final victory 

 of truth was secured. The most careful investigator of all 

 documents relating to Galileo^ says concerning these dateful 

 hours in Galileo's life: 'No writing by his hand has preserved 

 for us a memory of those hours of deepest agitation and in- 

 ward struggle, in which we must believe if we have faith in 

 the human heart. When we hear from him again after a 

 short pause, all is over, the great transformation has taken 

 place.' Galileo was still free, and the protection of his Grand 

 Duke proved to be not quite ineffective. His activity in the 

 years following is known to us exclusively from letters, which 

 allow of no doubt that the limits set by the Inquisition were 

 not too closely observed in his intimate relations. 



In the year 1624, the choice of a new Pope brought fresh 

 hope to Galileo. He journeyed to Rome and pleaded warmly 

 with the Pope for the truth of the doctrines of Copernicus, 

 in order to obtain a revocation of the judgment of the In- 

 quisition. He also spoke in the sense of the Church, and 

 emphasised the fact that the matter would reflect upon the 

 scientific insight of the Catholics. He received a gracious 

 hearing in six interviews, which were without any result. 

 Galileo then completed one of his works that had been long 

 in preparation, Dialogues about the Two Great Systems of the 

 World, in which he stated clearly the case for the Copernican 

 system as against every imaginable objection, and supported 

 it with a series of special proofs from experience. Of the 

 three characters of these dialogues, the advocate's role is 



^ E. Wohlwill. See the work already quoted, particularly vol. I, p. 630 

 (1909). 



