Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/140

was placed in arrest in the delicious palace of . . . the Ambassador of Tuscany. The next day I received the visit of P. Lancio, Commissary of the Holy Office, who took me with him in his carriage. On the way he questioned me, showing a great desire that I should repair the scandal I had raised throughout all Italy by maintaining the opinion of the motion of the earth. To all the mathematical reasons that I could bring forward he answered one thing only. Terra autem in æternum stabit, quia terra in æternum stat, as the Scripture saith. Thus discoursing, we arrived at the palace of the Holy Office. I was presented, by the commissary, to the assessor with whom I found two Dominican monks. They notified me, with civility, that I should be permitted to explain my reasons to the congregation, and that, subsequently, my excuses would be heard if I were judged culpable. The following Sunday I appeared, in fact, before the congregation and proceeded to set forth my proofs. To my ill-fortune they were not satisfying; no matter what pains I took I could not succeed in making myself understood. My arguments were interrupted by their zeal, they spoke only of the scandal I had caused, always bringing up the passage of Scripture referring to the miracle of Joshua, as the unanswerable portion of the matter. This reminded me of another passage in which the language of the Bible is entirely conformable to popular notions—(The heavens are solid and polished like a mirror of brass). This example seemed to me to be opposite to prove that the words of Joshua could be so interpreted and the conclusion seemed to me to be entirely just. But they gave it no weight and I was answered only by shrugging of shoulders.

Galileo's own account of the proceedings gives a different impression from that of the official record. He was argumentative about texts of Scripture, and when his explanation of Joshua's miracle was not found satisfactory, he suddenly recalls another text which will convince the Inquisitors, he thinks, that Scripture is not to be interpreted literally. They answered by shrugging their shoulders and by again referring to the scandal he has created in the Church. Galileo does not seem to have, even yet, realized the situation. A letter from the commissary-general of the Inquisition to Cardinal Francesco Barberini (dated April 28, 1633) explains the events of the next weeks. The letter states that the commissary has informed the cardinals of the Holy Office regarding Galileo's case, and that they "took into consideration various difficulties with regard to the manner of pursuing the case and of bringing it to an end. More especially as Galileo has in his examination denied what is plainly evident from the book written by him; since in consequence of this denial there would result the necessity for greater rigor of procedure and less regard to other considerations belonging to this business. Finally I suggested a course, namely, that the Holy Congregation should grant me permission to treat extra-judicially with Galileo, in order to render him sensible of his error, and to bring him, if he recognizes it, to a confession of the same . . . permission was granted me. That no time might be lost, I entered into discourse with Galileo yesterday afternoon, and after many arguments and rejoinders had passed between