For example, Jean d'Alembert's views on the despotisme théologique of the Inquisition are precisely what we might expect of an Enlightenment rationalist:. Un tribunal devenu puissant dans le midi de l'Europe, dans les Indes, dans le Nouveau-Monde, mais que la foi n'ordonne point de croire, ni la charité d'approuver, ou plutôt que la religion réprouve, quoique occupé par ses ministres, et dont la France n'a pu s'accoutumer encore à prononcer le nom sans effroi, condamna un célèbre astronome pour avoir soutenu le mouvement de la terre, et le déclara hérétique…. C'est ainsi que l'abus de l'autorité spirituelle réunie à la temporelle for&çait la raison au silence; et peu s'en fallut qu'on ne défendît au genre humain de penser. A court which has become powerful in Southern Europe, in the Indies, and in the New World, but in which faith does not require us to believe, nor charity to approve, but rather one which religion condemns although staffed by its own Ministers, and which France cannot accustom itself to name without fear, condemned a famous astronomer for having upheld the mobility of the Earth, and declared him a heretic…. That is how the abuse of spiritual authority, strengthened by its temporal arm, forced reason into silence; and human beings were almost prohibited from thought. See d'AlembertJean, Discours préliminaire de l'Encyclopédie (Bibliothèque Méditations, Paris, 1965), 89. It is notable that at this point D'Alembert does not refer to Galileo by name, though in Part 2 of the same work (p. 101) he does praise Galileo for his discoveries in both astronomy and dynamics.
2.
The “Galileo Affair” has spawned a huge critical industry. He has been subjected to scrutiny from a wide variety of perspectives, to the extent that explanation of his theories and the events of his life can be confused as much as clarified by that very variety of criticism. The definitive edition of Galileo's works remains Antonio Favaro's magisterial Le opere di Galileo Galilei (Florence, 1890–1909), hereafter referred to as Opere; documents relating to the hearings of 1616, to the trial of 1633 and to post-trial correspondence from both the Inquisition and European Papal Nuncios, can be found in vol. xix. The essential texts and documents relating to Galileo's trial have been collated, translated and commented in Maurice Finocchiaro, The Galileo Affair: A documentary history (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1989).
3.
The Dominican Order was founded in the thirteenth century by Saint Dominic de Guzman, and became one of the great preaching Orders of mendicant friars. They dressed (and dress) in a simple white woollen tunic, over which they wore a black cape on formal occasions. The Order acquired a fearsome reputation as the Domini canes, the “hounds of God”, and were the chief enforcers of decisions taken by the Holy Office, or Inquisition.
4.
Banti is now a relatively unknown artist, but was much better known in his own day as a Professor at the Accademia di Firenze, and a painter who specialized in historical subject-matter. For details on his life and career, see the Dizionario biografico degli Italiani (Rome, 1963), v, 758–9. This picture is now in a Florentine private collection, with no possibility of obtaining rights to reproduction. But it was copied by L. Paradisi, and his copy is reproduced here.
5.
Galileo's abjuration is given in Opere, xix, 406–7. The relevant text reads:. Io Galileo figlio del q. Vincenzo Galilee di Fiorenza, dell'etàmia d'anni 70, constituto personalmente in giuditio, et inginocchiato avanti di voiEminentissimi et Reverendissimi Cardinali, in tutta la republica Christiana contro l'heretica pravità generali Inquisitori; havendo davanti gl'occhi miei li Sacrosancti Vangeli, quali tocco con le proprie mani, giuro che sempre ho creduto, credo adesso, e con l'aiuto di Dio crederò per l'avvenire, tutto quello che tiene, predica et insegna la Santa Cattolica et Apostolica Chiesa … e contravenendo ad alcuna delle dette mie promesse e giuramenti, il che Dio non voglia, mi sottometto a tutte le pene e castighi che sono da'sacri canoni et altre constitutioni generali e particolari contro simili delinquenti imposte e promulgate. Così Dio m'aiuti e questi suoi santi Vangeli, che tocco con le proprie mani [my italics]. Finocchiaro (p. 292) translates this text as follows as follows (my italics):. I, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei, Florentine, seventy years of age, arraigned personally for judgement, kneeling before you, Most Eminent and Most Reverend Cardinals, Inquisitors-General against heretical depravity in all of Christendom, having before my eyes and touching with my hands the Holy Gospels, swear that I have always believed, I believe now, and with God's help I will believe in the future all that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church holds, preaches and teaches … and should I fail to keep any of these promises and oaths, which God forbid, I submit myself to all the penalties and punishments imposed and promulgated by the sacred canons and other particular and general laws against similar delinquents. So help me God, and these Holy Gospels of His, which I touch with my hands. Interestingly, this abjuration excluded two points from the text originally put to Galileo, namely that he was not a good Catholic, and that he had deceived others in publishing the Dialogo.
6.
Traditionally, Galileo is supposed to have left the room muttering the words “Eppur si muove” (“And yet it does move”), in support of geokinesis, though there is no actual proof that he ever did so. Barabino's scene does convey the impression that the scientist is talking to himself, which would turn this depiction of defeat into a signal of ultimate victory for science.
7.
Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to trace a French engraver with these initials.
8.
The major events in Galileo's life and career became popular artistic subjects of public art in the nineteenth century. For example, the fresco of Galileo Giuseppe Bezzuoli (1784–1855) in the Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale, Florence, portrays Galileo in Pisa. In April 1610, Galileo travelled to Pisa, where he showed the newly-discovered satellites of Jupiter to Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. As a reward, in July 1610 Cosimo appointed Galileo “Chief Mathematician of the University of Pisa and Philosopher and Mathematician to the Grand Duke” of Tuscany. In the same series Bezzuoli also portrayed Galileo showing his telescope to the Venetian Senators in 1609.
9.
Opere, v, 309–48 (p. 320). Translation given in Finocchiaro, op. cit. (ref. 2), 87–118 (p. 96).
10.
It appears that the slate contains a drawing of a planet's elliptical orbit about a central point. This may be a reference to Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion, but that in itself would be a highly imaginative detail.
