The Sleepwalkers (228 page)

Though
anticipated
by
the
Greek
atomists,
it
is
for
the
first
time
in
the
modern
age
that
this
distinction
is
made
in
such
concise
terms,
the
first
formulation
of
the
mechanistic
view
of
the
universe.
But
on
most
contemporary
readers
of
The
Assayer
the
significance
of
that
passage
was
lost.
They
saw
Galileo
only
in
the
role
of
the
toreador,
and
the
consensus
was
that
Father
Grassi
had
to
be
dragged
out
of
the
arena
sprawling
on
his
back.

Grassi
was
a
prominent
Jesuit
scholar,
and
not
at
all
the
fool
that
Galileo
made
him
out
to
be.
He
had
drawn
the
plans
for
the
Church
of
St.
Ignazio
in
Rome
and
had
designed
a
submarine,
based
on
a
suggestion
of
Leonardo's.
The
treatment
meted
out
to
him,
added
to
the
equally
unprovoked
attacks
upon
Scheiner,
turned
these
two
influential
members
of
the
Jesuit
Order
into
implacable
enemies
of
Galileo.
A
third
Jesuit
whom
he
had
attacked
without
necessity
(on
a
question
of
military
engineering,
of
all
things)
was
Father
Firenzuola,
who
built
the
fortifications
of
the
Castle
St.
Angelo.
Twenty-five
years
later,
Firenzuola
was
the
Inquisition's
Commissary
General
at
Galileo's
trial.
The
result
of
all
this
was
that
the
Jesuits
as
a
body
turned
against
Galileo.
Father
Grienberger,
who
succeeded
Clavius
as
head
of
the
Roman
College,
was
to
remark
later
that
"if
Galileo
had
not
incurred
the
displeasure
of
the
Company,
he
could
have
gone
on
writing
freely
about
the
motion
of
the
earth
to
the
end
of
his
days."
⁸

The
clash
with
the
Aristotelians
was
inevitable.
The
clash
with
the
Jesuits
was
not.
This
is
not
meant
as
an
apology
for
the
vindictiveness
with
which
Grassi
and
Scheiner
reacted
when
provoked,
nor
of
the
deplorable
manner
in
which
the
Order
displayed
its
esprit
de
corps
.
The
point
to
be
established
is
that
the
attitude
of
the
Collegium
Romanum
and
of
the
Jesuits
in
general
changed
from
friendliness
to
hostility,
not
because
of
the
Copernican
views
held
by
Galileo,
but
because
of
his
personal
attacks
on
leading
authorities
of
the
Order.

Other
great
scientists,
including
Newton,
became
embroiled
in
bitter
polemics.
But
these
were
peripheral
to
their
work,
skirmishes
around
a
solidly
established
position.
The
particular
tragedy
of
Galileo
was
that
his
two
major
works
were
only
published
after
his
seventieth
year.
Up
to
then,
his
output
consisted
in
pamphlets,
tracts,
manuscripts
circulated
privately,
and
oral
persuasion
–
all
of
it
(except
the
Star
Messenger
)
polemical,
ironically
aggressive,
spiced
with
arguments
ad
hominem
.
The
best
part
of
his
life
was
spent
in
these
skirmishes.
Until
the
end
he
had
no
fortress
in
the
form
of
a
massive
and
solid
magnum
opus
to
fall
back
upon.
The
new
conception
of
science
and
philosophy
which
he
brought
into
the
world
is
diffused
in
passages
here
and
there
among
the
polemics
of
the
Letters
on
Sunspots
or
The
Assayer
–
hidden
between
tangles
of
barbed
wire,
as
Kepler's
laws
were
among
his
harmonic
labyrinths.

3.
Dangerous Adulation

While
he
was
writing
Il
Saggiatore
,
Galileo's
loyal
patron,
Cosmo
II,
died
and
the
formidable
Dowager
Christina
became
Regent.
Bellarmine,
who
had
been
a
restraining
influence
at
the
head
of
the
Jesuit
Order,
died
in
the
same
year.
But
against
these
losses,
fate
threw
into
the
assayer's
balance
the
most
unexpected
and
powerful
ally:
Maffeo
Barberini
was
elected
to
the
papacy
in
1623
–
just
in
time
for
Galileo
to
dedicate
Il
Saggiatore
to
him.

Maffeo
Barberini
was
something
of
an
anachronism:
a
Renaissance
Pope
transplanted
into
the
age
of
the
Thirty
Years
War;
a
man
of
letters
who
translated
passages
from
the
Bible
into
hexameters;
cynical,
vainglorious,
and
lusting
for
secular
power.
He
conspired
with
Gustavus
Adolphus,
the
Protestant
heretic,
against
the
Holy
Roman
Empire;
and
on
learning
of
the
death
of
Richelieu,
remarked:
"If
there
is
a
God,
Cardinal
Richelieu
will
have
much
to
answer
for;
if
not,
he
has
done
very
well."
He
fortified
the
Castle
St.
Angelo,
and
had
guns
cast
out
of
the
bronze
ceilings
of
the
Pantheon
–
which
gave
rise
to
the
epigram:
"What
the
barbarians
have
not
done,
Barberini
did."
He
founded
the
"Office
of
the
Propaganda"
(for
missionaries),
built
the
Barberini
Palace,
and
was
the
first
Pope
to
allow
a
monument
to
be
erected
to
him
in
his
lifetime.
His
vanity
was
indeed
monumental,
and
conspicuous
even
in
an
age
which
had
little
use
for
the
virtue
of
modesty.
His
famous
statement
that
he
"knew
better
than
all
the
Cardinals
put
together"
was
only
equalled
by
Galileo's
that
he
alone
had
discovered
everything
new
in
the
sky.
They
both
considered
themselves
supermen
and
started
on
a
basis
of
mutual
adulation
–
a
type
of
relationship
which,
as
a
rule,
comes
to
a
bitter
end.