GALILEO GALILEI 39 



allow him to exchange his lonely and out of the way dwelling 

 place, where every kind of treatment was rendered more 

 difficult, for his home in Florence, were rejected with rough 

 words and threats of a Roman prison. Finally, the Inquisi- 

 tor visited him accompanied by a doctor; he found him blind 

 beyond recovery and in so wretched a condition, that he is 

 said to have looked more like a corpse than a living man. A 

 short journey to Florence for the purpose of medical treat- 

 ment was then allowed, with the order that he should not 

 leave the house on pain of lifelong imprisonment, and should 

 speak to no one whatever concerning the forbidden doctrine 

 of the earth's motion. He returned to Arcetri and died there 

 on the 8th January, 1 642, at the age of 78. He only received a 

 worthy tomb ninety-five years later. 



The event proved the truth of what Galileo had written in a 

 letter after his first contact with the Inquisition: 'I believe 

 that there is no greater hatred in the whole world, than that 

 of ignorance for knowledge.' The progress of knowledge 

 has nevertheless proved incessant. But for the very reason 

 that knowledge continually crosses new frontiers, and that the 

 spirits of darkness in power, whose mastery is founded upon 

 ignorance, are always able again to become dangerous, that 

 hatred never dies; it simply attaches itself to new objects. 

 It must always be turned against the spirits of light when they 

 bring new knowledge, and it will always prove devastating, 

 as long as the mass of the ignorant, who are available in its 

 service, is not reduced. 



JOHANNES KEPLER 

 1571-1630 



Kepler, who was born later and died earlier than Galileo, 

 stood towards his older contemporary in much the same 

 relation - if such comparisons can ever be of value - as 



