The cell that Bruno had occupied was his and he was 

 also taken to the spot where Bruno was burned the 

 place was there, but where was Bruno ! 

 He realized how utterly impossible it was to teach 

 truth to those who did not desire truth, and the vanity 

 of replying to men for whom a pun answered the pur- 

 poses of fact. 



As he could neither teach nor lecture at Florence, his 

 services to the court were valueless. He was a dis- 

 graced and silenced man. 



He retired to a village a few miles from the city, and 

 in secret continued his studies and observations. 

 The Grand-Duke supplied him a small pension and 

 suggested that it would be increased if Galileo would 

 give lectures on Poetry and Rhetoric, which were not 

 forbidden themes, and try to make himself either com- 

 monplace or amusing. 



We can imagine the reply Galileo had but one theme, 

 the wonders of the heavens. 



LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



O the years went by, and Galileo was sixty- 

 seven years old, impoverished & forgotten, 

 yet in his proud heart burned the embers of 

 ambition. He believed in himself; he be- 

 lieved in the sacredness of his mission. 

 Pope Paul had gone on his long journey, 

 for even infallible popes die. Cardinal Barberini had 

 become Pope Urban VIII. Years before Galileo and 

 Barberini had taught together at Padua, and when 



57 



