i8 GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 



a conversation on the subject of Galileo and his 

 teaching, the result being that they both agreed 

 on this one point : that Galileo ought to avoid enter- 

 ing on the interpretation of Scripture, this being a 

 matter reserved to the ecclesiastical authorities. 



Galileo was not then at Eome ; and two influential 

 friends of his, Mgr. Dini and Prince Cesi, advised 

 him to be quiet and silent ; such advice, however, 

 was not to his taste, and he, on the contrary, 

 thrust his head into the lion's mouth, confident of 

 ultimate success. He came personally to Kome, 

 mixed in society, and endeavoured by the use of 

 such arguments as occurred to him in conversation 

 to refute the ancient opinions. Several of his friends, 

 including some of the Cardinals, advised moderation, 

 but in vain ; and such was his confidence in his cause, 

 that in the early part of the year 1616 he actually 

 began to complain of the delay in the process. 



The Pope looked upon his conduct with evident 

 displeasure, and it is stated in a letter of Guicciardini 

 that on one occasion Cardinal Orsini spoke to him 

 in favour of Galileo, and he answered that the 

 Cardinal would do well to persuade his friend to 

 abandon his opinion adding that the affair was 

 placed in the hands of the Cardinals of the Holy 

 Office. After this incident, it is said, the Pope sent 

 for Bellarmine, talked the matter over with him, 

 and agreed that Galileo's opinion was erroneous 

 and heretical. A decided step was now taken : 

 on the 19th February, 1616, there was sent to 



