The Sleepwalkers (223 page)

Galileo's
followers,
whom
his
brilliant
ways
of
arguing
had
converted,
had
(with
a
handful
of
exceptions)
only
the
haziest
notions
of
astronomy.
But
Bellarmine
was
in
constant
touch
with
the
astronomers
of
the
Roman
College.
He
was
sufficiently
open-minded
to
know
–
and
to
say
so
in
his
letter
to
Foscarini
–
that
Christianity
could
be
reconciled
with
the
earth's
motion,
as
it
had
been
reconciled
with
its
rotundity.
But
he
also
knew
that
this
would
be
a
difficult
readjustment,
a
metaphysical
reorientation
on
a
major
scale,
which
must
be
undertaken
only
in
the
case
of
absolute
necessity.
And
that
necessity,
so
far,
did
not
exist.

The
situation
is
summed
up
in
a
passage
by
Professor
Burtt,
which
I
have
already
quoted
in
part:

"It
is
safe
to
say
that
even
had
there
been
no
religious
scruples
whatever
against
the
Copernican
astronomy,
sensible
men
all
over
Europe,
especially
the
most
empirically
minded,
would
have
pronounced
it
a
wild
appeal
to
accept
the
premature
fruits
of
an
uncontrolled
imagination,
in
preference
to
the
solid
inductions,
built
up
gradually
through
the
ages,
of
men's
confirmed
sense
experience.
In
the
strong
stress
on
empiricism,
so
characteristic
of
present-day
philosophy,
it
is
well
to
remind
ourselves
of
this
fact.
Contemporary
empiricists,
had
they
lived
in
the
sixteenth
century,
would
have
been
the
first
to
scoff
out
of
court
the
new
philosophy
of
the
universe."
⁴⁷

It
is
not
surprising
then,
that
the
decree
of
5
March,
however
fateful
its
consequences
proved
to
be,
and
however
much
dismay
it
caused
to
the
Galileans,
was
greeted
with
a
sigh
of
relief
by
others,
and
not
only
by
the
fanatics
and
backwoodsmen.
It
is
reflected
in
a
letter
by
Monsignor
Querengo,
that
sharp-witted
observer
whom
I
have
quoted
before:

"The
disputes
of
Signor
Galileo
have
dissolved
into
alchemical
smoke,
since
the
Holy
Office
has
declared
that
to
maintain
this
opinion
is
to
dissent
manifestly
from
the
infallible
dogmas
of
the
Church.
So
here
we
are
at
last,
safely
back
on
a
solid
Earth,
and
we
do
not
have
to
fly
with
it
as
so
many
ants
crawling
around
a
balloon..."
⁴⁸

8.
The Injunction

Galileo's
name had not been mentioned in public. Immediately after the decree
had been issued, he wrote nonchalantly to the Tuscan Secretary of
State:

"As
may
be
seen
from
the
very
nature
of
this
business,
I
am
not
in
the
least
concerned,
nor
would
I
have
been
involved
had
it
not
been
for
my
enemies,
as
I
have
said
before."
⁴⁹

Six
days
after
the
decree,
Galileo
was
received
by
the
Pope,
in
an
audience
which
lasted
three
quarters
of
an
hour.
But
while
everything
was
done
to
spare
him
public
humiliation,
he
had
been
confidentially
but
firmly
enjoined
to
keep
within
the
prescribed
limits.
This
had
happened
between
the
session
of
the
Qualifiers
on
23
February,
and
the
publication
of
the
decree.
On
Thursday,
25
February,
there
is
the
following
entry
in
the
Inquisition
file
(my
italics):

"Thursday,
25
February
1616.
The
Lord
Cardinal
Mellini
notified
the
Reverend
Fathers,
the
Assessor,
and
the
Commissary
of
the
Holy
Office
that
the
censure
passed
by
the
theologians
upon
the
propositions
of
Galileo
–
to
the
effect
that
the
Sun
is
the
centre
of
the
world
and
immovable
from
its
place,
and
that
the
Earth
moves,
and
also
with
a
diurnal
motion
–
had
been
reported;
and
His
Holiness
has
directed
the
Lord
Cardinal
Bellarmine
to
summon
before
him
the
said
Galileo
and
admonish
him
to
abandon
the
said
opinion;
and,
in
case
of
his
refusal
to
obey
,
that
the
Commissary
is
to
enjoin
on
him,
before
a
notary
and
witnesses,
a
command
to
abstain
altogether
from
teaching
or
defending
this
opinion
and
doctrine
and
even
from
discussing
it;
⁵⁰
and,
if
he
do
not
acquiesce
therein,
that
he
is
to
be
imprisoned."

One
of
the
principal
points
of
controversy
about
the
trial
of
Galileo
in
1633
hinges
on
the
question
whether
the
procedure
envisaged
"in
case
of
his
refusal
to
obey,"
took
place
or
not.
If
it
did,
Galileo
was
bound
by
an
unconditional
and
absolute
injunction
not
only
not
to
defend,
but
not
even
to
discuss
Copernicanism.
If
it
did
not
take
place,
the
obligation
placed
on
him
could
be
interpreted
elastically.