The Sleepwalkers (292 page)

And,
in
order
that
a
doctrine
so
pernicious
might
be
wholly
rooted
out
and
not
insinuate
itself
further
to
the
grave
prejudice
of
Catholic
truth,
a
decree
was
issued
by
the
Holy
Congregation
of
the
Index
prohibiting
the
books
which
treat
of
this
doctrine
and
declaring
the
doctrine
itself
to
be
false
and
wholly
contrary
to
the
sacred
and
divine
Scripture.

And
whereas
a
book
appeared
here
recently,
printed
last
year
at
Florence,
the
title
of
which
shows
that
you
were
the
author,
this
title
being:
"'Dialogue
of
Galileo
Galilei
on
the
Great
World
Systems'";
and
whereas
the
Holy
Congregation
was
afterward
informed
that
through
the
publication
of
the
said
book
the
false
opinion
of
the
motion
of
the
Earth
and
the
stability
of
the
Sun
was
daily
gaining
ground,
the
said
book
was
taken
into
careful
consideration,
and
in
it
there
was
discovered
a
patent
violation
of
the
aforesaid
injunction
that
had
been
imposed
upon
you,
for
in
this
book
you
have
defended
the
said
opinion
previously
condemned
and
to
your
face
declared
to
be
so,
although
in
the
said
book
you
strive
by
various
devices
to
produce
the
impression
that
you
leave
it
undecided,
and
in
express
terms
as
probable:
which,
however,
is
a
most
grievous
error,
as
an
opinion
can
in
no
wise
be
probable
which
has
been
declared
and
defined
to
be
contrary
to
divine
Scripture.

Therefore
by
our
order
you
were
cited
before
this
Holy
Office,
where,
being
examined
upon
your
oath,
you
acknowledged
the
book
to
be
written
and
published
by
you.
You
confessed
that
you
began
to
write
the
said
book
about
ten
or
twelve
years
ago,
after
the
command
had
been
imposed
upon
you
as
above;
that
you
requested
license
to
print
it
without,
however,
intimating
to
those
who
granted
you
this
license
that
you
had
been
commanded
not
to
hold,
defend,
or
teach
the
doctrine
in
question
in
any
way
whatever.

You
likewise
confessed
that
the
writing
of
the
said
book
is
in
many
places
drawn
up
in
such
a
form
that
the
reader
might
fancy
that
the
arguments
brought
forward
on
the
false
side
are
calculated
by
their
cogency
to
compel
conviction
rather
than
to
be
easy
of
refutation,
excusing
yourself
for
having
fallen
into
an
error,
as
you
alleged,
so
foreign
to
your
intention,
by
the
fact
that
you
had
written
in
dialogue
and
by
the
natural
complacency
that
every
man
feels
in
regard
to
his
own
subtleties
and
in
showing
himself
more
clever
than
the
generality
of
men
in
devising,
even
on
behalf
of
false
propositions,
ingenious
and
plausible
arguments.

And,
a
suitable
term
having
been
assigned
to
you
to
prepare
your
defense,
you
produced
a
certificate
in
the
handwriting
of
his
Eminence
the
Lord
Cardinal
Bellarmine,
procured
by
you,
as
you
asserted,
in
order
to
defend
yourself
against
the
calumnies
of
your
enemies,
who
charged
that
you
had
abjured
and
had
been
punished
by
the
Holy
Office,
in
which
certificate
it
is
declared
that
you
had
not
abjured
and
had
not
been
punished
but
only
that
the
declaration
made
by
His
Holiness
and
published
by
the
Holy
Congregation
of
the
Index
had
been
announced
to
you,
wherein
it
is
declared
that
the
doctrine
of
the
motion
of
the
Earth
and
the
stability
of
the
Sun
is
contrary
to
the
Holy
Scriptures
and
therefore
cannot
be
defended
or
held.
And,
as
in
this
certificate
there
is
no
mention
of
the
two
articles
of
the
injunction,
namely,
the
order
not
'to
teach'
and
'in
any
way',
you
represented
that
we
ought
to
believe
that
in
the
course
of
fourteen
or
sixteen
years
you
had
lost
all
memory
of
them
and
that
this
was
why
you
said
nothing
of
the
injunction
when
you
requested
permission
to
print
your
book.
And
all
this
you
urged
not
by
way
of
excuse
for
your
error
but
that
it
might
be
set
down
to
a
vainglorious
ambition
rather
than
to
malice.
But
this
certificate
produced
by
you
in
your
defense
has
only
aggravated
your
delinquency,
since,
although
it
is
there
stated
that
said
opinion
is
contrary
to
Holy
Scripture,
you
have
nevertheless
dared
to
discuss
and
defend
it
and
to
argue
its
probability;
nor
does
the
license
artfully
and
cunningly
extorted
by
you
avail
you
anything,
since
you
did
not
notify
the
command
imposed
upon
you.