Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/145

Rh

but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is equally absurd and false philosophically, and theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith.

But whereas at the same time it was our pleasure to proceed against you with benignity, ''it was decided in the Holy Congregation. . . February 25, 1616, that the Very Eminent Cardinal Bellarmine should enjoin you to quit entirely the said false doctrine, not to teach it to others, not to defend it, never to treat it, under penalty that, if you failed to agree to this precept you would be thrown into a prison, and for the execution of this decree, on the following day, in the Palace, in presence of the said Cardinal Bellarmine, after having been benignly admonished by him, you received from the Commissary of the Holy Office, in the presence of a notary and of witnesses the injunction to desist entirely from the said opinion and for the future it was forbidden to you to defend it, or to teach it in any way, whether by word of mouth or by writing; and having promised obedience, you were dismissed. . . and, whereas, there appeared last year, at Florence, a book whose title named you as the author. . . in which was found a manifest transgression of the aforesaid ordinance intimated to you, and as in that book you defended the opinion that had been condemned'', although, in the book, by various devices, you endeavored to persuade that you left that opinion undecided and expressly probable, which is in itself a very grave error, since an opinion cannot be probable when it has been declared and defined to be contrary to Holy Writ:

It is for this reason that, by our order, you have been called to this Holy Office, where, examined upon oath, you, admitted that the said book was written and published by you; you confessed that it was commenced about twelve years ago, after having received the injunction above-named, and that you asked permission to publish it without signifying to those who were empowered to grant permission, that you had been enjoined from holding, defending or teaching such doctrine in any manner whatsoever.

You also confessed that the said book in several places is so written that the arguments in favor of a false opinion may appear to be of a nature to force agreement, rather than such as to be easily refutable; you excused yourself for falling into an error foreign to your intention on account of the dialogue form and because of one's natural inclination to show oneself more acute and more subtle than the generality of men. . ..

And whereas delay had been granted you to prepare your defense you produced a letter from Cardinal Bellarmine, that you had obtained from him in order to defend yourself from the calumnies of your enemies who had spread abroad that you had abjured and that you had been punished by the Holy Office. This letter declares that you did not abjure nor were you punished; that you had only been notified of the declaration. . . that the doctrine of the motion of the earth. . . is contrary to the Holy Scriptures and that it can not be held or defended; and that as no mention was made in it of the prohibition of teaching in any manner whatever, it is to be believed that in the course of fourteen or sixteen years, this especial thing escaped your memory, and that this is the reason you said nothing of it when asking permission to print, and that in so speaking, you do not wish to excuse your error which should be imputed to a vainglorious ambition rather than to ill intention. But even this certificate, produced in your defense, only makes your cause worse, since it is there said that the said opinion is contrary to Holy Writ, and nevertheless you have dared to treat and defend it, etc., and the permission (to print) ''that you obtained by ruse cannot help you. . . .''

And as it appeared to us that you did not speak the whole truth concerning your intentions, we judged it necessary to proceed to a rigorous