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Rh to Niccolini that Galileo's affairs would be handed over to the Inquisition, and Galileo himself was cited to appear before the Commissary-General at Rome in October. Galileo was in very poor health, and had been suffering from severe ophthalmia, and moreover, the plague was raging again, so being now of an advanced age he appealed to Cardinal F. Barberini, the Pope's nephew, to try and avoid the necessity of going to Rome, suggesting that the Inquisition should appoint delegates in Florence to investigate his case. Niccolini did his utmost to obtain this concession, but the Pope insisted that Galileo must come to Rome himself, in a litter, and as slowly as might be necessary for his health. The journey was postponed on account of a fresh attack of illness, and time dragged on till the end of December. The Pope then announced that no further evasion could be tolerated, and that Galileo must be brought in irons if necessary, unless he was declared unfit to travel, a commissioner with a physician, being sent to report on this point.

The Grand Duke, helpless to protect Galileo against the Inquisition, arranged for him to be transported in Grand Ducal litters to the Tuscan Embassy at Rome. As we have remarked before, Venice was the only state in Italy that would have dared to defy the Inquisition, and Galileo was now reaping the bitter fruits of his leaving Padua. Even so late as the beginning of these proceedings he had received the offer of reinstatement at Padua on his own terms, his Dialogues to be printed in Venice. Apparently the offer came too late, or Galileo underestimated the danger he was in, or else felt too strongly bound to the service of the Grand Duke.

After a miserable journey at the most inclement time of the year, and a twenty-day quarantine at the frontier, Galileo reached the Tuscan Embassy at Rome, and by special favour was allowed to remain there in seclusion,