The Sleepwalkers (237 page)

I
have
thought
it
my
duty
at
once
to
acquaint
your
Eminence
with
this
matter,
having
communicated
it
to
no
one
else;
for
I
trust
that
His
Holiness
and
your
Eminence
will
be
satisfied
that
in
this
way
the
affair
is
being
brought
to
such
a
point
that
it
may
soon
be
settled
without
difficulty.
The
court
will
maintain
its
reputation;
it
will
be
possible
to
deal
leniently
with
the
culprit;
and,
whatever
the
decision
arrived
at,
he
will
recognise
the
favour
shown
him,
with
all
the
other
consequences
of
satisfaction
herein
desired.
Today
I
think
of
examining
him
in
order
to
obtain
the
said
confession;
and
having,
as
I
hope,
received
it,
it
will
only
remain
to
me
further
to
question
him
with
regard
to
his
intention
and
to
receive
his
defence
plea;
that
done,
he
might
have
his
house
assigned
to
him
as
a
prison,
as
hinted
to
me
by
your
Eminence,
to
whom
I
offer
my
most
humble
reverence.

Your Eminence's most humble and
most obedient servant,

FRA VINCO. DA FIRENZUOLA

Rome, April 28, 1633."

____________________

The
letter
speaks
for
itself:
the
tradition
of
the
sacred
cows
was
still
alive,
in
spite
of
everything.

Two
days
after
the
interview
on
30
April,
Galileo
was
called
for
examination
a
second
time,
and
was
asked
whether
he
had
anything
to
say.
He
made
the
following
statement:

"In
the
course
of
some
days'
continuous
and
attentive
reflection
on
the
interrogations
put
to
me
on
the
twelfth
of
the
present
month,
and
in
particular
as
to
whether,
sixteen
years
ago,
an
injunction
was
intimated
to
me
by
order
of
the
Holy
Office,
forbidding
me
to
hold,
defend,
or
teach
'in
any
manner'
the
opinion
that
had
just
been
condemned
–
of
the
motion
of
the
Earth
and
the
stability
of
the
Sun
–
it
occurred
to
me
to
re-peruse
my
printed
Dialogue
,
which
for
three
years
I
had
not
seen,
in
order
carefully
to
note
whether,
contrary
to
my
most
sincere
intention,
there
had,
by
inadvertence,
fallen
from
my
pen
anything
from
which
a
reader,
or
the
authorities,
might
infer
not
only
some
taint
of
disobedience
on
my
part,
but
also
other
particulars
which
might
induce
the
belief
that
I
had
contravened
the
orders
of
the
Holy
Church.

Being,
by
the
kind
permission
of
the
authorities,
at
liberty
to
send
about
my
servant,
I
succeeded
in
procuring
a
copy
of
my
book,
and,
having
procured
it,
I
applied
myself
with
the
utmost
diligence
to
its
perusal
and
to
a
most
minute
consideration
thereof.
And,
as
owing
to
my
not
having
seen
it
for
so
long,
it
presented
itself
to
me,
as
it
were,
like
a
new
writing
and
by
another
author,
I
freely
confess
that
in
several
places
it
seemed
to
me
set
forth
in
such
a
form
that
a
reader
ignorant
of
my
real
purpose
might
have
had
reason
to
suppose
that
the
arguments
brought
on
the
false
side,
and
which
it
was
my
intention
to
confute,
were
so
expressed
as
to
be
calculated
rather
to
compel
conviction
by
their
cogency
than
to
be
easy
of
solution.

Two
arguments
there
are
in
particular
–
the
one
taken
from
the
solar
spots,
the
other
from
the
ebb
and
flow
of
the
tide
–
which,
in
truth,
come
to
the
ear
of
the
reader
with
far
greater
show
of
force
and
power
than
ought
to
have
been
imparted
to
them
by
one
who
regarded
them
as
inconclusive,
and
who
intended
to
refute
them,
as
indeed
I
truly
and
sincerely
held
and
do
hold
them
to
be
inconclusive
and
admitting
of
refutation.
And,
as
an
excuse
to
myself
for
having
fallen
into
an
error
so
foreign
to
my
intention,
not
contenting
myself
entirely
with
saying
that
when
a
man
recites
the
arguments
of
the
opposite
side
with
the
object
of
refuting
them,
he
should,
especially
if
writing
in
the
form
of
dialogue,
state
these
in
their
strictest
form
and
should
not
cloak
them
to
the
disadvantage
of
his
opponent
–
not
contenting
myself,
I
say,
with
this
excuse,
I
resort
to
that
of
the
natural
complacency
which
every
man
feels
with
regard
to
his
own
subtleties
and
in
showing
himself
more
skilful
than
the
generality
of
men
in
devising,
even
in
favour
of
false
propositions,
ingenious
and
plausible
arguments.
With
all
this,
although
with
Cicero
'
avidior
six
gloriae
quam
sat
est
',
if
I
had
now
to
set
forth
the
same
reasonings,
without
doubt
I
should
so
weaken
them
that
they
should
not
be
able
to
make
an
apparent
show
of
that
force
of
which
they
are
really
and
essentially
devoid.
My
error,
then,
has
been
–
and
I
confess
it
–
one
of
vainglorious
ambition
and
of
pure
ignorance
and
inadvertence.