"[142]
He was vanquished indeed, for he had been forced, in the face of
all coming ages, to perjure himself. To complete his dishonour, he
was obliged to swear that he would denounce to the Inquisition any
other man of science whom he should discover to be supporting the
"heresy of the motion of the earth."
Many have wondered at this abjuration, and on account of it have
denied to Galileo the title of martyr. But let such gainsayers
consider the circumstances. Here was an old man--one who had
reached the allotted threescore years and ten--broken with
disappointments, worn out with labours and cares, dragged from
Florence to Rome, with the threat from the Pope himself that if he
delayed he should be "brought in chains"; sick in body and mind,
given over to his oppressors by the Grand-Duke who ought to have
protected him, and on his arrival in Rome threatened with torture.
What the Inquisition was he knew well. He could remember as but of
yesterday the burning of Giordano Bruno in that same city for
scientific and philosophic heresy; he could remember, too, that
only eight years before this very time De Dominis, Archbishop of
Spalatro, having been seized by the Inquisition for scientific and
other heresies, had died in a dungeon, and that his body and his
writings had been publicly burned.
Pages:
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294