The
Inquisition seemed certainly inclined to clemency, but the Pope was
not satisfied. Galileo was accordingly summoned again on the 21st
June. He was to be threatened with torture if he did not forthwith
give satisfactory explanations as to the reasons which led him to
write the Dialogue. In this proceeding the Pope assured the Tuscan
ambassador that he was treating Galileo with the utmost consideration
possible in consequence of his esteem and regard for the Grand Duke,
whose servant Galileo was. It was, however, necessary that some
exemplary punishment be meted out to the astronomer, inasmuch as by
the publication of the Dialogue he had distinctly disobeyed the
injunction of silence laid upon him by the decree of 1616. Nor was
it admissible for Galileo to plead that his book had been sanctioned
by the Master of the Sacred College, to whose inspection it had been
again and again submitted. It was held, that if the Master of the
Sacred College had been unaware of the solemn warning the philosopher
had already received sixteen years previously, it was the duty of
Galileo to have drawn his attention to that fact.
On the 22nd June, 1633, Galileo was led to the great hall of the
Inquisition, and compelled to kneel before the cardinals there
assembled and hear his sentence.
Pages:
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108