The Sleepwalkers (224 page)

There
exist
three
documents
bearing
on
this
point,
and
they
contradict
each
other.
One
was
found
among
the
Decreta
of
the
Congregation.
It
is
the
minutes
of
a
meeting
on
3
March,
of
which
the
relevant
passage
reads:

"The
Lord
Cardinal
Bellarmine
having
reported
that
Galileo
Galilei,
mathematician,
had
in
terms
of
the
order
of
the
Holy
Congregation
been
admonished
to
abandon
the
opinion
he
has
hitherto
held,
that
the
Sun
is
the
centre
of
the
spheres
and
immovable
and
that
the
Earth
moves,
and
had
acquiesced
therein..."

This
seems
to
indicate
that
the
absolute
injunction
foreseen
"in
case
of
his
refusal
to
obey"
was
not
served.
The
second
document
seems
to
point
to
the
same
conclusion.
To
counter
rumours
that
he
had
been
humiliated
and
punished,
Galileo
asked
Bellarmine
for
a
certificate
on
the
proceedings
that
had
taken
place,
and
Bellarmine
wrote
as
follows:

"We,
Roberto
Cardinal
Bellarmine,
having
heard
that
it
is
calumniously
reported
that
Signor
Galileo
Galilei
has
in
our
hand
abjured
and
has
also
been
punished
with
salutary
penance,
and
being
requested
to
state
the
truth
as
to
this,
declare
that
the
said
Galileo
has
not
abjured,
either
in
our
hand,
or
the
hand
of
any
other
person
here
in
Rome,
or
anywhere
else,
so
far
as
we
know,
any
opinion
or
doctrine
held
by
him;
neither
has
any
salutary
penance
been
imposed
on
him;
but
that
only
the
declaration
made
by
the
Holy
Father
and
published
by
the
Sacred
Congregation
of
the
Index
has
been
notified
to
him,
wherein
it
is
set
forth
that
the
doctrine
attributed
to
Copernicus,
that
the
Earth
moves
around
the
Sun,
and
that
the
Sun
is
stationary
in
the
centre
of
the
world
and
does
not
move
from
east
to
west,
is
contrary
to
the
Holy
Scriptures
and
therefore
cannot
be
defended
or
held
.
In
witness
whereof
we
have
written
and
subscribed
these
presents
with
our
hand
this
twenty-sixth
day
of
May,
1616."

There
is
no
mention
here
of
a
formal
injunction,
and
the
operative
words
are
that
the
Copernican
doctrine
cannot
be
defended
or
held
.
⁵¹
There
is
no
prohibition
to
discuss
it.

The
third
document
is
a
minute
in
the
Vatican
files
which
seems
to
contradict
the
previous
two
by
alleging
that
Galileo
was
formally
forbidden
"to
hold,
teach,
or
defend
in
any
way
whatsoever,
verbally
or
in
writing"
⁵²
the
Copernican
doctrine.
This
minute,
of
doubtful
reliability,
has
given
rise
to
one
of
the
most
embittered
controversies
in
the
history
of
science,
which
has
now
been
raging
for
nearly
a
century.
It
may
be
thought
that
to
attribute
such
importance
to
the
difference
between
an
absolute
injunction
and
an
admonition
is
splitting
hairs.
But
there
is,
in
fact,
a
world
of
difference
between
the
admonition
not
to
"hold
or
defend"
a
doctrine,
and
the
command
not
to
teach
or
discuss
it
"in
any
way
whatsoever".
In
the
first
case,
it
could
be
discussed
as
before,
in
terms
of
a
mathematical
hypothesis;
in
the
second
case,
not
(see
note
^52a
).

Bellarmine's
certificate, and the Minute of 3 March seem to indicate that Galileo
was under no absolute prohibition. Nevertheless, during the next few
years he had to proceed more cautiously than before.

II
THE
TRIAL
OF
GALILEO

1.
The Tides

AFTER
the
issue
had
been
formally
decided
by
the
decree
of
5
March,
Galileo
stayed
on
in
Rome
for
another
three
months.
"He
is
of
a
fixed
humour,"
the
Tuscan
Ambassador
reported,
"to
tackle
the
friars
head
on,
and
to
fight
personalities
who
cannot
be
attacked
without
ruining
oneself.
Sooner
or
later
you
will
hear
in
Florence
that
he
has
madly
tumbled
into
some
unsuspected
abyss."
¹
In
the
end,
the
alarmed
Duke
ordered
Galileo
back
to
Florence.

For
the
next
seven
years
he
published
nothing.
But
his
obsession
was
devouring
him.
It
was
the
more
self-destructive
because
he
could
not
vent
it.
He
could
mutter
about
"the
ignorance,
malice
and
impiety
of
my
opponents
who
had
won
the
day";
but
he
must
have
known,
without
admitting
it
to
himself,
that
his
defeat
was
really
due
to
the
fact
that
he
had
been
unable
to
deliver
the
required
proof.