Wohlwill has clearly shown the discrepancies between this document and that of 26th February; he has pointed out that even if, as Martin thinks, "the secrets of the Inquisition had to be kept at any price, even at the expense of truth,"1 it would not have put forth so downright a lie in optima forma as the cardinal's testimony contained, if the assumed prohibition had really been given to Galileo by the Commissary-General of the Inquisition. This prohibition might easily have been passed over in silence, while the calumnious reports might have been refuted. But the cardinal was not content with that, and stated expressly that Galileo had "only" been personally informed of the decree of the Congregation of the Index about the Copernican system. While this attestation of Bellarmine's glaringly contradicts the second part of the note of 26th February, it not only entirely accords with the papal ordinance of the 25th, but also with Bellarmine's report of the proceedings of 26th February in the private sitting of the Congregation of 3rd March. This proves that the cardinal certified nothing more nor less than what had actually taken place. It leads therefore to the following conclusions:

I. Galileo did not receive any prohibition, except the cardinal's admonition not to defend nor hold the Copernican doctrine.

2. Entire silence on the subject was therefore not enjoined upon him.

3. The second part of the note in the Vatican MS. of 26th February, 1616, is therefore untrue.

These three facts are indisputable, and the subsequent course of historical events will confirm them step by step, while it can by no means be made to tally with the assumed strict injunction of the Commissary-General. Next however,

la presete di nra propria mano questo di 26 di Maggio, 1616. Il me desimo di sopra, Roberto Card: Bellarmino. (Vat. MS., 423 ro and 427 ro.)

1 Martin, pp. 79, 80.

the question immediately arises, Through whose means did the falsehood get into the acts of the trial, and was it bona or mala fide? Historical research can only partially answer this question. All these notifications were entered by a notary of the Inquisition, and probably that of 26th February, 1616, also. Did he, perhaps merely from officious zeal, enter a note of an official proceeding as having actually taken place, which undoubtedly was to have taken place under certain circumstances, but in their absence did not occur, or even were not to be permitted at all in consequence of papal instructions? Or was the notary simply the tool of a power which had long been inimical to Galileo, and which, incensed at the failure for the time of its schemes against him, sought to forge secret fetters for future use by the entry of the fictitious note? We have no certain knowledge of the motives and influences which gave rise to the falsification; as however we can scarcely believe in the officious zeal of, or independent falsification by, the notary himself, the conjecture gains in probability that we are concerned with a lying, perfidious trick of Galileo's enemies,1 which, as we shall see later on, signally fulfilled its purpose.

Wohlwill, Gherardi, Cantor, and we ourselves have long been of opinion that this note originated, not in 1616, but in 1632, in order to legalise the trial of Galileo. But after having repeatedly and very carefully examined the original acts of the trial, preserved among the papal secret archives, we were compelled to acknowledge that the material nature of the document entirely excludes the suspicion of a subsequent falsification. The note was not falsified in 1632; no, in 1616 probably, with subtle and perfidious calculation, a lie was entered which was to have the most momentous consequences to the great astronomer.

1 Prof. Riccardi has stated this conjecture in the Introduction (p. 17) to his valuable collection of documents relating to the trial of Galileo, published in 1873.

* For the particulars, see Appendix, "Estimate of the Vat. MS."

CHAPTER VII.

EVIL REPORT AND GOOD REPORT.

Galileo still lingers at Rome.-Guiccardini tries to effect his recall.Erroneous idea that he was trying to get the Decree repealed.—Intrigues against him.-Audience of Pope Paul V.-His friendly assurances. His Character.-Galileo's return to Florence.

GALILEO had humbly submitted, had witnessed the issue of the decree of 5th March by the august council; he knew that the only correct doctrine of the system of the universe had been reduced to the shadow of a hypothesis, and yet he could not make up his mind to leave the capital of the hierarchy where such a slap in the face had been given to science. The story told in most works on Galileo, that though he had submitted to the Holy Office he afterwards used his utmost endeavours to effect a reversal of the decree, is another of the firmly rooted and ineffaceable mistakes of history. It originated in the reports of the Tuscan ambassador, Guiccardini, to the Grand Duke.1

This diplomatist, who was no great friend of Galileo's, found himself in an awkward position; he had been, on the one hand, enjoined by his sovereign to support Galileo as far as it lay in his power, while on the other he knew that the influential female members of the house of Medici were very anxious to maintain the good relations of Tuscany with the Holy See; and he tried to extricate himself from this dilemma by urgently seeking to effect the recall of the inconvenient guest to Florence. This object runs through all the ambas

1 Pietro Guiccardini had relieved his predecessor, Giovanni Sicculini, of his post on 14th May, 1611, when Galileo was still at Rome. Guiccardini remained there till 27th November, 1621.

sador's despatches to Cosmo II. He could not depict in colours too glaring the passion, fanaticism, and pertinacity with which, in spite of all advice to the contrary, Galileo defended the Copernican cause at Rome, though he was thereby doing it more harm than good. The long report of Guiccardini to the Grand Duke, of 4th March, 1616,1 held to be authentic by most of Galileo's biographers, is couched in this tone. Among other things a dramatic scene is narrated which was the immediate cause of the condemnation of the Copernican system. Cardinal Orsini, one of Galileo's warmest friends, to whom the Grand Duke had sent an autograph letter of introduction, had spoken to the Pope in favour of Galileo in the consistory of 2nd March. The Pope replied that it would be well if he would persuade Galileo to give up this opinion. Orsini then tried to urge the Pope further, but he cut him short, saying that he had handed over the whole affair to the Holy Office. No sooner had Orsini retired than Bellarmine, the celebrated Jesuit theologian, was summoned to the Pope, and in the conversation that ensued it was determined that this opinion of Galileo's was erroneous and heretical.

Guiccardini must have been greatly misinformed to send reports so incorrect to his court. As we have seen, on 19th February the Qualifiers of the Holy Office were summoned to pronounce an opinion on the Copernican doctrines, and as the result Galileo was summoned seven days later to appear before Bellarmine, who informed him of the decree, and admonished him to renounce the prohibited doctrine. But all this seems to have escaped the acuteness of the Tuscan ambassador. He supposes that the catastrophe had been brought about by a fit of papal anger! On 4th March he only knows what was known the next day to all the world. -by the decree of the Congregation of the Index-that the writings of Copernicus and other authors on the subject of the double motion were to be partly condemned, partly corrected, and partly prohibited.

1 1 Op. vi. pp. 227-230.

Guiccardini in this despatch represented, on the one hand, the difficulties into which the imprudent astronomer "might" bring himself by his vehemence, and on the other the embarrassment in which those who took his part would be placed; he reminded the Grand Duke of the attitude which his house had at all times assumed in the past towards such attacks on the Church of God, and of the services it had rendered to the Inquisition, adding that he "could not approve that we should expose ourselves to such annoyances and dangers without very good reason, and a different prospect from that of great damage." The most potent argument, however, which he saved for the close of his long epistle of 4th March, as the climax, was the endeavour to inspire Cosmo II. with the fear that his brother, Cardinal Carlo de' Medici, who was just coming to Rome, would compromise himself by his relations with Galileo.

From Galileo's correspondence with Picchena, we learn in contradiction to this despatch what it was that induced him to linger at Rome after the issue of the decree of 5th March. He did not wish to return to Florence under the impressions produced by the alarming reports of Guiccardini and the rumours spread by many of his opponents. It is evident that he was aware of what was said of him from a passage in a letter to Picchena of 6th March. After expressing a fear that "somebody not friendly to him might represent his affairs to the Tuscan Secretary of State and others in a false light, he entreats Picchena to maintain, until his return, the good opinion of him which his sincerity deserves. He is convinced that the arrival of Cardinal de' Medici will relieve him from the need of uttering one word of self-justification, as he will hear at once what an excellent reputation he enjoyed at the Court of Rome. He then goes on, as if directly refuting Guiccardini's accusations :

"Then your Grace will learn, above all, with what composure and moderation I have conducted myself, and what regard I have had for the honour and good repute of those who have eagerly tried to injure mine