Karl von Gebler

“ When Galileo’s father learnt that his son was devoting himself to Euclid at the expense of Hippocrates and Galen, he did his utmost to divert him from this new, and as it seemed to him, unprofitable study. The science of mathematics was not then held in much esteem, as it led to nothing practical. Its use, as applied to the laws of nature, had scarcely begun to be recognised. But the world-wide mission for which Galileo’s genius destined him had been too imperiously marked out by fate for him to be held back by the mere will of any man. ”

“ When by the natural law of progress the nations of Europe emerged from the simplicity of childhood into the storm and stress period of youth; when inventions,—especially printing,—and above all the discovery of America, began to spread knowledge and culture among the masses, it was once more the servants of Rome who, justly estimating the spirit of the age, placed themselves, so to speak, in the van of the intellectual movement, that they might guide its course. ”

“ Angelo, the Vatican Library turned into an arsenal, the new manufactory of arms at Tivoli, and finally the costly harbour of Civita Vecchia, are so many silent testimonies to the cherished desire of this pontiff to transform the eternal city into an inviolable symbol in stone of the temporal power of the Pope, and to accredit himself as a true mediæval vicegerent of Christ with the two-edged sword of the world. His athletic physique and iron energy were ever the vigorous executors of his ideas. ”

“ I think, my Kepler, we will laugh at the extraordinary stupidity of the multitude. What do you say to the leading philosophers of the faculty here, to whom I have offered a thousand times of my own accord to show my studies, but who with the lazy obstinacy of a serpent who has eaten his fill have never consented to look at planets, nor moon, nor telescope? Verily, just as serpents close their ears, so do these men close their eyes to the light of truth. ”

“ In Tuscany, on the contrary, where they felt quite at home, their influence weighed heavily on everything affecting their own interests, and especially therefore on politics and science. Had Galileo never left the pure, wholesome air of the free city for the stifling Romish atmosphere of a court, he would have escaped the subsequent persecutions of Rome; for the republic which, not long before, had been undaunted by the papal excommunication of their doge and senate, would assuredly never have given up one of its university professors to the vengeance of the Inquisition. ”

“ He it is, as we all know, who gave to science those eternal forms now recognised as firmly established, and whose genius, by the discovery of the law of gravitation, crowned the edifice of which Copernicus laid the foundations and which Galileo upreared. ”

“ It is hard to pass an adverse judgment on such a hero of science; and yet the man who repeatedly denies before his judges the scientific convictions for which he had striven and laboured for half a century, who even proposes in a continuation of his monumental work on the two chief systems of the world to annihilate all the arguments therein adduced for the recognition of the only true system, can never be absolved by the historical critic from the charge of weakness and insincere obsequiousness. ”

“ I am quite astonished that Morin should attach so great a value to astrology, and that he should pretend to be able, with his conjectures (which seem to me very uncertain) to establish its truth. It will really be a wonderful thing, if, as he promises, he raises astrology by his acuteness to the first rank among human sciences, and I await such a startling novelty with great curiosity. As to Fromond, who proves himself to be a man of much mind, I could have wished not to see him fall into, in my opinion, a grave though wide-spread error ”

“ Castelli eagerly seized the opportunity of applauding Galileo's splendid discovery. Boscaglia, a Peripatetic of the purest water, could not master his displeasure, and whispered meanwhile to the Grand Ducal mother that all Galileo's telescopic discoveries were in accord with the truth, only the double motion of the earth seemed incredible, nay impossible, as the Holy Scriptures were clearly opposed to it. ”

“ Niccolini asked at last whether his Holiness had not seen Galileo's letter to Cardinal Barberini; and he said he had, but in spite of all that the journey to Rome could not be dispensed with. "Your Holiness incurs the danger," replied Niccolini, "considering Galileo's great age, of his being tried neither in Rome nor Florence; for I assure your Holiness that he may die on the way under all these difficulties combined with so much anxiety." "He can come very slowly (pian piano) in a litter, with every comfort, but he really must be tried here in person. ”

“ Salviati conducts the arguments for the Copernican theory with such convincing force and clearness, and annihilates so completely all the objections of the unfortunate Simplicius, that no unbiassed reader can fail to perceive the scientific superiority of the modern theory to the old. And as Galileo conscientiously puts in the mouth of the Peripatetic philosopher every possible argument in favour of the Aristotelian cause, as well as the objections to the other side, the total defeat of its advocate is a victory all the more brilliant for the immortal Canon of Frauenburg. ”

“ These are great matters; yet they do not occasion me any surprise. People of this sort think that philosophy is a kind of book like the Æneid or the Odyssey, and that the truth is to be sought, not in the universe, not in nature, but (I use their own words) by comparing texts! How you would laugh if you heard what things the first philosopher of the faculty at Pisa brought against me in the presence of the Grand Duke, for he tried, now with logical arguments, now with magical adjurations, to tear down and argue the new planets out of heaven." [22] ”

“ These learned men had been tolerated because they fought with the same weapons as the followers of Ptolemy, logic and philosophy. They did not possess the powerful lever of direct evidence, because they were not acquainted with the telescope. But Galileo, with his fatal system of demonstration by observation of nature, was far too dangerous a foe. Peripateticism was no match for the home thrusts of arguments obvious to the senses, and its defenders were well aware that if they would not yield their position they must call in some other ally than mere science. ”

“ A short time before the close of Galileo's brilliant scientific career, in spite of age, blindness, and sickness, he once more gave striking evidence of the genius which could only be quenched by death. ”

“ Galileo Galilei, most humble servant of your most worthy Eminence, most respectfully showeth that whereas, by command of the Holy Congregation, he was imprisoned outside Florence four years ago, and after long and dangerous illness, as the enclosed medical certificate testifies, has entirely lost his eyesight, and therefore stands in urgent need of medical care: he appeals to the mercy of your most worthy Eminences, urgently intreating them in this most miserable condition and at his advanced age to grant him the blessing of his liberty. ”

“ By attentively observing their motions on the sun’s disk he afterwards discovered the sun’s motion on its own axis, a fatal blow to the Ptolemaic system. Although to science it may be quite indifferent whether Galileo, or Fabricius, or the Jesuit father Scheiner first espied the spots on the sun (for they all lay claim to the discovery) , for us it has its importance, because the bitter contention between Galileo and Scheiner on the subject materially contributed to set the stone rolling which, in its fall, was no less disastrous to the moral greatness of Galileo than to the erudition of Rome. ”

“ Niccolini then, Galileo's noblest, most devoted, and indefatigable friend, who was at his side in every difficulty, and certainly did more for him at Rome than was ordered at Florence, and perhaps even more than was approved,—this historical figure, worthy of our utmost reverence,—was a liar! ”

“ And it is done in so sparkling and spirited a style, and the reasoning, pervaded by cutting sarcasm, is so conclusive, that "Il Saggiatore" certainly deserves to be called a model of dialectic skill. Our limits preclude going further into its scientific contents. For our purpose it will suffice to say that Galileo took occasion in it to lash many errors in Grassi's work unmercifully, and thereby incurred the eternal hatred of the all powerful Jesuit party. Thus it was to a great extent the purely scientific "Saggiatore" which subsequently conjured up the tragic element in Galileo's fate. ”

“ The very triumphs of Galileo and his telescopic discoveries were the causes, to a great extent, of those ceaseless and relentless persecutions which were to restrict his labours and embitter his life. The Aristotelians perceived with rage and terror that the revolutionary discoveries of this dangerous innovator were surely, if slowly, gaining ground. Every one of them, with its inevitable logical consequences, pulled down some important stone in the artistic structure of their views of nature ”

“ This must be averted at any price, even at the price of knowledge of the acts of nature. If Galileo’s reformed physics offered no point of attack, his astronomy did; not indeed in the honourable contest of scientific discussion, but by bringing theology into the field against science.
Galileo had never openly proclaimed his adoption of the earth’s double motion, but the demonstration of his telescopic observations alone sufficed to make it one of the burning questions of the day. ”

“ The lofty genius with which nature had endowed Galileo never displayed itself in so striking and surprising a manner as during these last three years. No sooner were his physical sufferings in some measure relieved, than he occupied himself in scientific speculations, the results of which he partly communicated to his great pupil and subsequent biographer, Viviani, by word of mouth, and partly dictated them to some of those about him. ”

“ To forbid astronomy altogether would be like rejecting hundreds of passages of Scripture which teach us how the glory of God is revealed in all His works, which are best to be studied in the open book of nature. ”

“ The multitude of the learned, who still adhered entirely to the old system of the universe, and regarded the theories of Copernicus (not yet based on ocular demonstration) as mere fantasies, were really aghast at the telescopic discoveries of Galileo which threatened to overturn all their previous belief. The learned, and still more the semi-learned, world of Italy felt the ground tremble beneath their feet ”

“ It is the desire of every author, every prosecutor of research, that the products of his labours, the results of his studies, should be widely circulated. This desire arises, especially in the case of one who has devoted himself to research, not only from a certain egotism which clings to us all, but from the wish that the laborious researches of years, often believed to refute old and generally-received errors, should become the common property of as many as possible. ”

“ Many learned men who intended to refute the Copernican theory have been changed, by examination, from opponents to enthusiastic defenders of it. In order to banish it from the world, as many desired, it would not be enough to shut the mouth of any one individual, it would be necessary to prohibit not only the writings of Copernicus and his followers, but astronomy altogether. But to suppress his work now, after it has been quietly submitted to for so many years, appears to Galileo like opposition to truth itself ”

“ The comet question was for the time a secondary matter with Grassi, and he begins with a personal attack on Galileo, by disputing the priority of several of his most important discoveries and inventions, and reproaching him, with pious indignation, with obstinate adherence to a doctrine condemned by theologians. Up to this point he is only angry and spiteful, but as he goes on he becomes cunning. He sets up for a warm defender of the Peripatetic physics, and attacks the Copernican system, and its advocate Galileo, to compel him either to ignominious silence or dangerous demonstrations. ”

“ Is the work less noble or less excellent than the word? If Fromond, or any one else, had settled that the opinion that the earth moves is a heresy, and if afterwards demonstration, observation, and necessary concatenation should prove that it does move, into what embarrassment he would have brought himself and the holy Church. But if, on the contrary, the works are indisputably proved to vary from the literal meaning of the words, and we give the Scriptures the second place, no detriment to Scripture results from this. ”

“ One is for him to write a minute and conscientious vindication of all that he has said, written, or done since the day when the conflict began on Copernicus’s book and his new system. He is certain that his sincerity and his pure, zealous, and devout attachment to the holy Church and its supreme head, would be so obvious from this statement, that every one, if he were free from passion and party malice, must confess that he had behaved so piously and like a good Catholic, that not even any of the fathers of the Church to whom the epithet holy is applied, could have shown more piety. ”