284 HISTORY OF FORMAL ASTRONOMY. 



gram in the ear of a cardinal's secretary, with a full knowledge tL it it 

 would be immediately repeated to his master. 



[2d Ed.] [Throughout the course of the proceedings against him, 

 Galileo was treated with great courtesy and indulgence. He was con- 

 demned to a formal imprisonment and a very light discipline. " Te 

 damnamus ad formalem carcerem hujus S. Officii ad tempus arbitrio 

 nostro limitandum ; et titulo poenitentise salutaris prcecipimus ut tribus 

 annis futuris recites semil in hebdomada septem psalmos penitentiales." 

 But this confinement was reduced to his being placed under some 

 slight restrictions, first at the house of Nicolini, the ambassador of his 

 own sovereign, and afterwards at the country seat of Archbishop Pic- 

 colomini, one of his own warmest friends. 



It has sometimes been asserted or insinuated that Galileo was sub- 

 jected to bodily torture. An argument has been drawn from the ex- 

 pressions used in his sentence : " Cum vero nobis videretur non esse a 

 te integram veritatem pronunciatam circa tuam intentionem ; judica- 

 vimus necesse esse venire ad rigorosum examen tui, in quo respondisti 

 catholice." It has been argued by M. Libri (Hist, des Sciences Ma- 

 thematiques en Italie, vol. iv. p. 259), and M. Quinet (Z' Ultramonta- 

 nisme, iv. Lecon, p. 104), that the rigorosum examen necessarily implies 

 bodily torture, notwithstanding that no such thing is mentioned by 

 Galileo and his contemporaries, and notwithstanding the consideration 

 with which he was treated in all other respects : but M. Biot more 

 justly remarks (Biogr. Univ. Art. Galileo), that such a procedure is 

 incredible. 



To the opinion of M. Biot, we may add that of Delambre, who re- 

 jects the notion of Galileo's having been put to the torture, as incon- 

 sistent with the general conduct of the authorities towards him, and as 

 irreconcilable with the accounts of the trial given by Galileo himself, 

 and by a servant of his, who never quitted him for an instant. He 

 adds also, that it is inconsistent with the words of his sentence, " ne 

 tuns iste gravis et perniciosus error ac transgressio remaneat omnino 

 impunitus ;" for the error would have been already very far from im- 

 punity, if Galileo had been previously subjected to the rack. He adds, 

 very reasonably, " il ne faut noircir personne sans preuve, pas memo 

 1'Inquisition ;" we must not calumniate even the Inquisition.] 



The ecclesiastical authorities having once declared the doctrine of 

 the earth's motion to be contrary to Scripture and heretica., long ad- 

 hered in form to this declaration, and did not allow the Copernican 

 system to be taught in any other way than as an " hvDothesis." The 



