GALILEO GALILEI. 19 



There are none so great that they can live without 

 affection. 



At the end of the seven years, Urban VIII. came 

 to the pontifical throne, and Galileo and other 

 scientists rejoiced, for he had seemed liberal in 

 thought and generous in heart. When he was 

 cardinal, he had sent a letter to Galileo, saying, 

 " The esteem which I always entertain for yourself 

 and your great merits has given occasion to the 

 enclosed verses. If not worthy of you, they will 

 serve at any rate as a proof of my affection, while 

 I purpose to add lustre to my poetry by your 

 renowned name. Without wasting words, then, in 

 further apologies, which I leave to the confidence 

 which I place in you, I beg you to receive with 

 favor this insignificant proof of my great affec- 

 tion." 



At Easter, 1624, Galileo, now sixty years old, re- 

 solved to proceed to Home, to welcome the new 

 pope, and urge his approval of the Copernican 

 theory. Frail in health, he was carried most of 

 the way in a litter. During a visit of six weeks, 

 he had six long audiences with Urban VIII. ; but, 

 though he was affably received, the pope was in no 

 wise convinced, but rather tried to convince Galileo 

 that he was in error. 



Yet so kind was he that Galileo went back to 

 Florence with the hope and belief that he could 

 bring out his great work, " Dialogues on the Two 

 Principal Systems of the World, the Ptolemaic and 

 Copernican," without opposition from the church. 



