The Sleepwalkers (234 page)

Visconti
was
equally
unfit
for
the
task.
He
made
some
minor
corrections
which
aimed
at
making
the
pro-Copernican
arguments
appear
more
"hypothetical",
then
handed
the
text
back
to
his
superior.

Riccardi
felt
even
more
helpless
than
before.
He
played
for
time,
and
finally
decided
that
he
must
shoulder
his
responsibilities
and
revise
the
text
himself.
But
he
now
met
with
the
concerted
pressure
of
Galileo
and
his
allies:
to
wit,
the
Papal
Secretary
Ciàmpoli,
who
indirectly
represented
the
will
of
His
Holiness,
and
the
new
Tuscan
Ambassador,
Niccolini,
who
was
married
to
the
Father
Monster's
favourite
cousin,
Caterina.

The
result
of
this
pressure
was
that
Riccardi
agreed
to
make
an
unusual
deal:
to
save
time,
he
granted
the
imprimatur
for
the
book
in
advance,
on
condition
that
he
would
revise
it
himself,
and
then
pass
on
each
revised
sheet
to
the
printer.
He
was
to
be
assisted
in
his
task
by
the
universally
respected
President
of
the
Linceian
Academy,
Prince
Cesi.

As
soon
as
this
agreement
was
concluded,
Galileo
returned
to
Florence
to
escape
the
heat
of
Rome,
on
the
understanding
that
he
would
be
back
in
the
autumn.
But
soon
after
his
departure,
Prince
Cesi
died.
Another
few
weeks
later,
the
plague
broke
out,
and
the
strict
quarantine
made
communications
between
Rome
and
Florence
difficult.
This
provided
a
welcome
opportunity
for
Galileo
to
wriggle
out
of
the
conditions
under
which
the
imprimatur
had
been
granted:
he
demanded
that
the
book
be
printed
in
Florence
out
of
Riccardi's
control.
The
devoted
Castelli
again
played
a
fateful
part
in
this
manoeuvre,
by
feeding
Galileo's
suspicions
with
dark
hints
about
"most
weighty
reasons
which
he
did
not
wish
to
commit
to
paper"
²⁹
–
just
as
he
had
done,
years
ago,
by
the
exaggerated
importance
he
had
given
to
the
dinner
talk
with
the
Grand
Duchess
Christina.

Riccardi
at
first
flatly
refused
to
grant
permission
for
printing
the
book
in
Florence
without
revising
it;
he
demanded
that
Galileo
should
send
the
manuscript
to
Rome
for
this
purpose.
Galileo
answered
that
quarantine
regulations
made
the
safe
dispatch
of
the
manuscript
impossible,
and
insisted
that
the
final
revision
should
be
done
by
a
Florentine
censor.
He
enlisted
the
support
of
the
Grand
Duke
(to
whom
Riccardi,
as
a
Florentine,
owed
allegiance).
The
Tuscan
Ambassador,
Niccolini,
and
the
Papal
Secretary,
Ciàmpoli,
also
renewed
the
pressure.
The
Father
Monster
was
a
constant
guest
at
the
Niccolinis';
in
the
end
it
was
his
beautiful
Cousin
Caterina
who
made
him
yield,
over
a
bottle
of
Chianti
at
her
dinner
table.
He
agreed
that
the
work
should
be
revised
and
printed
in
Florence,
except
for
the
preface
and
concluding
paragraphs
which
must
be
submitted
to
himself.

The
revision
was
to
be
done
by
the
Florentine
Inquisitor,
Father
Clemente
Egidii.
But
this
was
not
to
Galileo's
taste,
who
proposed
Father
Stefani
instead
of
Egidii.
Riccardi
again
agreed.
Evidently
Father
Stefani
was
entirely
under
Galileo's
sway,
for
he
was
"moved
to
tears
at
many
passages
by
the
humility
and
reverend
obedience"
of
the
book.
Stefani
made
a
few
corrections,
for
form's
sake,
and
the
printing
began
early
in
1631.
Riccardi,
who
had
dark
forebodings,
still
tried
to
play
for
time
by
withholding
the
preface
and
concluding
sections.
Once
again
the
Niccolinis'
help
was
enlisted.
They
managed
to
wrench
the
revised
preface
and
conclusion
from
their
cousin,
though
he
only
consented
"dragged
by
the
hair",
as
Niccolini
himself
described
it.
And
thus,
in
February
1632,
the
first
printed
copies
of
the
Dialogue
came
from
the
press.

It
took
only
a
few
weeks
for
Urban
and
the
Holy
Office
to
discover
that
they
had
been
outwitted.
By
August,
the
book
was
confiscated,
and
in
October
Galileo
was
summoned
to
appear
before
the
Inquisition
in
Rome.
He
succeeded
in
delaying
his
journey
on
grounds
of
ill
health
and
other
pretexts
for
four
months;
but
in
February
'33,
he
had
to
go.
He
took
up
quarters
at
the
Tuscan
Embassy,
as
before;
but
for
another
three
months
nothing
happened.
It
was
on
12
April
that
his
first
interrogation
at
the
Holy
Office
took
place.