showed no disposition to take these plain hints, and we learn from his further correspondence that his tarriance at Rome was fully approved by the Tuscan Court. Thus we read in a letter of 26th March: "As to my return, unless his Highness wishes it otherwise, I shall, in accordance with your commands, await the arrival of his Reverence the Cardinal." And further on: "After the arrival of the Cardinal I shall stay here as long as his Highness or the Cardinal pleases."[1]
To the great annoyance of Guiccardini, Galileo remained three months longer at Rome—beneath those skies which, according to the ambassador, must prove dangerous to him in consequence of his vehement temperament, "especially at a time when the ruler of the eternal city hates science and polite scholars, and cannot endure these innovations and subtleties." This portrait of Paul V. was undoubtedly a correct one. He cared very little for learning, and displayed a harsh and sometimes savage character; while the inviolability of the dogmas of the Church, ecclesiastical privileges, and blind obedience to the faith, were supreme in his eyes. We will just remind our readers that it was Paul V. who, just after his elevation to the papacy, had a poor wretch, named Piccinardi, beheaded, because, for his private amusement, he had written a biography of Clement VIII., in which he was not very aptly compared with the Emperor Tiberius, although the work was not intended for publication,—a sentence which occasioned great consternation.
At a time, therefore, when the tiara was worn by a man of this character, the atmosphere of Rome might certainly have been dangerous to an ardent explorer in the fields of natural science. But as Galileo did not suffer any sort of papal persecution during his stay there, it is obvious that the character drawn of him by Guiccardini was very much exaggerated. This also refutes the constantly reiterated fable that Galileo was eagerly trying to get the decree of 5th March repealed. The vehement agitation imputed to him by
- ↑ Op. vi. pp. 235-237.
