r the publication of the 'Dialogues' Galileo was
summoned before the Inquisition, and, notwithstanding his feeble health
and the infirmities of advanced age, he was, after a long and tedious
trial, condemned to abjure by oath on his knees his scientific beliefs.

'The ceremony of Galileo's abjuration was one of exciting interest and
of awful formality. Clothed in the sackcloth of a repentant criminal,
the venerable sage fell upon his knees before the assembled cardinals,
and, laying his hand upon the Holy Evangelists, he invoked the Divine
aid in abjuring, and detesting, and vowing never again to teach the
doctrines of the Earth's motion and of the Sun's stability. He pledged
himself that he would nevermore, either in words or in writing,
propagate such heresies; and he swore that he would fulfil and observe
the penances which had been inflicted upon him.' 'At the conclusion of
this ceremony, in which he recited his abjuration word for word and then
signed it, he was conveyed, in conformity with his sentence, to the
prison of the Inquisition.'[2]

Galileo's sarcasm, and the bitterness which he imparted into his
controversies, were more the cause of his misfortunes than his
scientific beliefs. When he became involved in difficulties he did not
possess the moral courage to enable him to abide by the consequences of
his acts; nor did he care to become a martyr for the sake of science,
his submission to the Inquisition having probably saved him from a fate
similar to what befell Bruno. Though it would be impossible to justify
Galileo's want of faith in his dealings with the Inquisition, yet one
cannot help sympathising deeply with the aged philosopher, who, in this
painful episode of his life, was compelled to go through the form of
making a retractation of his beliefs under circumstances of a most
humiliating nature.

But the persecution of Galileo did not delay the progress of scientific
inquiry nor retard the advancement of the Copernican theory, which,
after the discovery by Newton of the law of gravitation, was universally
adopted as the true theory of the solar system.

Ferdinand, Duke of Tuscany, having exerted his influence with Pope Urban
on behalf of Galileo, he was, after a few days' incarceration, released
from prison, and permission was given him to reside at Siena, where he
remained for six months. He was afterwards allowed to return to his
villa at Arcetri, and, though regarded as a prisoner of the Inquisi