The Sleepwalkers (218 page)

Galileo's
style
is
again
so
convincing
that
one
is
apt
to
forget
the
facts:
that
Copernicus'
book
was
only
"accepted
by
the
Church"
with
the
qualifications
that
we
know;
that
Caccini,
who
had
preached
against
it,
was
reprimanded
by
the
Preacher
General
of
his
Order;
and
that,
according
to
the
accepted
rules
of
the
game,
the
scriptural
objections
could
not
be
refuted
on
scriptural
grounds,
only
by
the
scientific
proofs
which
Bellarmine
demanded
and
which
Galileo
was
unable
to
supply.

After
the
passage,
that
I
have
already
quoted,
about
the
stupidity
of
his
opponents,
Galileo
went
on:

"Yet
I
should
not
despair
of
overcoming
even
this
difficulty
if
I
were
in
a
place
where
I
could
use
my
tongue
instead
of
my
pen;
and
if
I
ever
get
well
again
so
that
I
can
come
to
Rome,
I
shall
do
so,
in
the
hope
of
at
least
showing
my
affection
for
the
holy
Church.
My
urgent
desire
on
this
point
is
that
no
decision
be
made
which
is
not
entirely
good.
Such
it
would
be
to
declare,
under
the
prodding
of
an
army
of
malign
men
who
understand
nothing
of
the
subject,
that
Copernicus
did
not
hold
the
motion
of
the
earth
to
be
a
fact
of
nature,
but
as
an
astronomer
merely
took
it
to
be
a
convenient
hypothesis
for
explaining
the
appearances..."

"The
army
of
malign
men
who
understand
nothing
of
the
subject"
again
obviously
included
Bellarmine,
who
had
written
that
he
had
always
understood
Copernicus
to
speak
"hypothetically
and
not
absolutely".

Perhaps
the one genuine sentiment in the letter was Galileo's wish to get to
Rome where he could use his "tongue instead of his pen".
Early in December he arrived in Rome; the final phase of the battle
had begun.

6.
The "Secret Weapon"

This
time
there
was
no
triumphant
reception
at
the
Roman
College.
Father
Grienberger
sent
word
that
it
would
be
better
for
Galileo
to
bring
convincing
scientific
proof
in
support
of
Copernicus
before
trying
to
adjust
Scripture
to
him.
³²
The
Tuscan
Ambassador
in
Rome,
Guicciardini,
had
warned
Duke
Cosmo
against
Galileo's
coming
to
Rome,
and
Bellarmine,
who
foresaw
the
consequences,
had
also
advised
against
it.
³³
But
the
Duke
had
given
in
to
Galileo,
and
on
his
instructions
Galileo
took
up
quarters
at
the
Villa
Medici
–
then
the
Tuscan
Embassy
–
"with
board
for
himself,
a
secretary,
a
valet
and
a
small
mule".
³⁴

I
have
quoted
some
samples
of
Galileo's
superb
technique
in
his
written
polemics.
According
to
his
contemporaries,
he
was
even
more
effective
when
he
used
"his
tongue
instead
of
his
pen".
His
method
was
to
make
a
laughing
stock
of
his
opponent
–
in
which
he
invariably
succeeded,
whether
he
happened
to
be
in
the
right
or
in
the
wrong.
Here
is
one
Roman
witness,
Monsignor
Querengo,
describing
Galileo
in
action:

"We
have
here
Signor
Galileo
who,
in
gatherings
of
men
of
curious
mind,
often
bemuses
many
concerning
the
opinion
of
Copernicus,
which
he
holds
for
true...
He
discourses
often
amid
fifteen
or
twenty
guests
who
make
hot
assaults
upon
him,
now
in
one
house,
now
in
another.
But
he
is
so
well
buttressed
that
he
laughs
them
off;
and
although
the
novelty
of
his
opinion
leaves
people
unpersuaded,
yet
he
convicts
of
vanity
the
greater
part
of
the
arguments
with
which
his
opponents
try
to
overthrow
him.
Monday
in
particular,
in
the
house
of
Federico
Ghisileri,
he
achieved
wonderful
feats;
and
what
I
liked
most
was
that,
before
answering
the
opposing
reasons,
he
amplified
them
and
fortified
them
himself
with
new
grounds
which
appeared
invincible,
so
that,
in
demolishing
them
subsequently,
he
made
his
opponents
look
all
the
more
ridiculous."
³⁵

It
was
an
excellent
method
to
score
a
moment's
triumph,
and
make
a
lifelong
enemy.
It
did
not
establish
his
own
point,
but
it
destroyed
his
opponent's.
Yet
by
the
force
of
circumstances,
these
were
the
only
tactics
that
he
could
adopt:
to
demonstrate
the
absurdity
of
Ptolemy's
epicycles
and
to
pass
in
silence
over
the
absurdity
of
Copernicus'
epicycles.
The
Tuscan
Ambassador
reported: