f 132] The Second Condemnation of Galilei 171 



The story of the trial reflects little credit either on 

 Galilei or on his persecutors. For the latter, it may be 

 urged that they acted with unusual leniency considering 

 the customs of the time ; and it is probable that many 

 of those who were concerned in the trial were anxious to 

 do as little injury to Galilei as possible, but were practically 

 forced by the party personally hostile to him to take some 

 notice of the obvious violation of the decree of 1616. It 

 is easy to condemn Galilei for cowardice, but it must be 

 borne in mind, on the one hand, that he was at the time 

 nearly seventy, and much shaken in health, and, on the 

 other, that the Roman Inquisition, if not as cruel as the 

 Spanish, was a very real power in the early iyth century; 

 during Galilei's life-time (1600) Giordano Bruno had been 

 burnt alive at Rome for writings which, in addition to 

 containing religious and political heresies, supported the 

 Coppernican astronomy and opposed the traditional 

 Aristotelian philosophy. Moreover, it would be unfair to 

 regard his submission as due merely to considerations of 

 personal safety, for apart from the question whether his 

 beloved science would have gained anything by his death 

 or permanent imprisonment there can be no doubt that 

 Galilei was a perfectly sincere member of his Church, and 

 although he did his best to convince individual officers 

 of the Church of the correctness of his views, and to 

 minimise the condemnation of them passed in 1616, yet 

 he was probably prepared, when he found that the con- 

 demnation was seriously meant by the Pope, the Holy 

 Office, and others, to believe that in some senses at least 

 his vie\vs must be wrong, although, as a matter of observa- 

 tion and pure reason, he was unable to see how or why. 

 In fact, like many other excellent people, he kept water- 

 tight compartments in his mind, respect for the Church 

 being in one and scientific investigation in another. 



Copies of the sentence on Galilei and of his abjuration 

 were at once circulated in Italy and in Roman Catholic 

 circles elsewhere, and a decree of the Congregation of the 

 Index was also issued adding the Dialogue to the three 

 Coppernican books condemned in 1616, and to Kepler's 

 Epitome of the Coppernican Astronomy (chapter vn., 145), 

 which had been put on the Index shortly afterwards. It 



