Page:Galileo Galilei and the Roman Curia (IA cu31924012301754).pdf/248

 there could be no question—neither could there be any of the penalty.

The prolonged deprivation of exercise in the open air, which had been so essential to the old man's health, combined with great mental agitation, at length threw him on a sick bed. He wrote on 23rd April to Geri Bocchineri:—

The second examination of Galileo took place on 30th April. It has hitherto astounded all those who have studied this famous trial; for while at the close of his first depositions, Galileo decidedly denied having defended the Copernican system in his "Dialogues," and even asserted that he had done just the contrary, at the second hearing, almost without waiting for the Inquisitor's questions, he makes a humble declaration, which, roundabout as it is, contains a penitent confession that he had defended it in his book. The cause of this change in Galileo is explained by a most