This new view of the scheme of nature had
been encountered with the most furious opposition. It may possibly
have been that Galileo himself had not felt quite confident in the
soundness of the Copernican theory, prior to the discovery of the
satellites of Jupiter. But when a picture was there exhibited in
which a number of relatively small globes were shown to be revolving
around a single large globe in the centre, it seemed impossible not
to feel that the beautiful spectacle so displayed was an emblem of
the relations of the planets to the sun. It was thus made manifest
to Galileo that the Copernican theory of the planetary system must be
the true one. The momentous import of this opinion upon the future
welfare of the great philosopher will presently appear.
It would seem that Galileo regarded his residence at Padua as a state
of undesirable exile from his beloved Tuscany. He had always a
yearning to go back to his own country and at last the desired
opportunity presented itself. For now that Galileo's fame had become
so great, the Grand Duke of Tuscany desired to have the philosopher
resident at Florence, in the belief that he would shed lustre on the
Duke's dominions. Overtures were accordingly made to Galileo, and
the consequence was that in 1616 we find him residing at Florence,
bearing the title of Mathematician and Philosopher to the Grand Duke.
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