patron daily, and he replied, openly expressing his opinions, without exciting any observation.[1]
While, therefore, as far as his material situation was concerned, nothing but favours unheard of in the annals of the Inquisition were shown him, nothing was left undone to find the best method of effecting his moral ruin. At the beginning of April, when the actual trial was to come on, his faithful friend and advocate, Father Castelli, who was as well versed in theology as he was in mathematics, was sent away from Rome and not recalled until Galileo, who had been meanwhile condemned, had left the city.[2]
Three days after the first examination the three counsellors of the Inquisition, Augustine Oregius, Melchior Inchofer, and Zacharias Pasqualigus delivered their opinions about the trial of Galileo. Oregius declared that "in the book superscribed 'Dialogues of Galileo Galilei,' the doctrine which teaches that the earth moves and that the sun is stationary is maintained and defended." Inchofer's statements (he drew up two) declared that "Galileo had not only taught and defended that view, but rendered it very suspicious that he was inclined to it, and even held it to this day." Both these attestations were supported by a memorial, in which the opinions given were founded on passages quoted from the "Dialogues."[3]
- ↑ See despatch of 23rd April. (Op. ix. p. 441.)
- ↑ See Op. ix. pp. 334, 339, 345, 346, 354, 355. Pieralisi tries to palliate even this act, but without much success. (Comp. pp. 134, 135.)
- ↑ Thanks to the kindness of Prof. Riccardi, of Modena, in whose valuable
the Father Commissary-General of the Holy Office, was kind enough to show us the apartments occupied by Galileo in the Palace of the Inquisition. The rooms are all large, light, and cheerful, and on one side you enjoy the prospect of the majestic dome of St. Peter's, and on the other of the beautiful gardens of the Vatican. It is worthy of note that all the rooms assigned to Galileo and his servant are entirely shut off by a single door, so that but one key was required to make the inmates of these handsome apartments prisoners. With all its consideration for Galileo's person, the Inquisition never forgot a certain prudence which had perhaps become a second nature to it. We prefix a little ground plan of the rooms, made by ourselves on the spot.
