imposed upon him, as they maintain that he has transgressed the command communicated to him by Cardinal Bellarmine in 1616. I have not yet told him all this, because I want to prepare him for it by degrees, in order not to distress him. It will also be advisable to observe silence about this in Florence, that he may not hear it from his friends there; and the more so, as it may turn out otherwise."[1] It was indeed "to turn out otherwise," but in a way that even Niccolini did not in the least suspect.
A momentary lull now took place in Galileo's trial—the preparation for the great catastrophe that was to take all the world by surprise. Sultry silence reigned for four weeks. No one, not even Niccolini, could learn anything about the progress of the affair; the thunderbolt had already fallen which was to crush the accused before it was known to anyone beyond the Holy Congregation. His fate had been sealed in a private meeting of it presided over by the Pope. Unfortunately we have no written notes of the proceedings of this highly interesting sitting. From two documents, which agree entirely in essentials, we simply know what the decrees were which minutely prescribed the final proceedings to be taken against Galileo. One of these documents is derived from the Vatican collection of the acts of Galileo's trial; the other is reproduced in Gherardi's collection of documents, and belongs to the MS. originals of the decrees drawn up in the sittings of the Holy Congregation in the archives of the Inquisition.
It is decreed in both documents[2] which agree almost verbatim: To try Galileo as to his intention, and under threat of
- ↑ Op. ix. pp. 442, 443.
- ↑ "Feria V. Die XVI. Junii 1633.Galilaei de Galileis Florentini in hoc S. Off carcerati et ob ejus adversam valetudinem ac senectutem cum praecepto de non discedendo de domo electae habitationis in urbe, ac de se repraesentando toties quoties sub poenis arbitro Sacrae Congregationis habilitati proposita causa relato processu et auditis notis, S.mus decrevit ipsum Galilaeum interrogandum esse super intentione et comminata el tortura, et si sustinuerit, previa abjuratione de vehementi in plena Congregatione S. Off condemnandum
