far as it was treated as a hypothesis, but had made the just remark that the earth, if it revolved round the sun, must be a star, an idea "which was too far opposed to theological truth." Castelli appeased the cardinal by assuring him that Galileo had weighty arguments against this, and it is characteristic of the prevailing confusion of ideas on astronomical subjects, that Barberini thought this possible, and that Castelli wrote to Galileo that he would not find it hard to steer clear of this rock. Another instance of the trammels placed by religion on the advancement of science.
A second letter of Castelli's to Galileo of 16th March, 1630, contains far more important and encouraging intelligence. According to this, Thomas Campanella[1] had told the Pope at an audience, that a short time before he had tried to convert some German nobles to the Catholic faith, that he had found them favourably disposed, but when they heard of the prohibition of the Copernican system, they were so indignant that he could do nothing more with them. To this Urban
- ↑ This celebrated Dominican monk, who in 1599 had been condemned by Spanish despotism to imprisonment for life, ostensibly for having taken part in the insurrection in Calabria, but in fact for his liberal opinions, had been released by Urban VIII. in 1626, under pretext of a charge of heresy. After having been detained for three years for appearance's sake, in the palace of the Holy Office, he had, after 1629, been at large in Rome. Campanella was one of Galileo's most zealous adherents, and, so far as his imprisonment permitted, he had corresponded with him for years. A letter of his to Galileo of 8th March, 1614, is noteworthy (Op. viii. pp. 305-307), in which he entreats him to leave all other researches alone and to devote himself solely to the decisive question of the system of the universe. In conclusion he makes the singular offer to cure Galileo, who was then lying ill, by means of "the astrological medicine"! In 1616, when the Copernican theory had been denounced by the Inquisition as heretical, the Inquisitor Cardinal Gaetani applied to Campanella, who was widely known for his learning, to give his opinion on the relation of the system to Holy Scripture. In compliance with this demand, Campanella wrote a brilliant apology for Galileo, in which the expert theologian and mathematician brought the system into agreement with the Bible. But even the zealous demonstrations of the imprisoned philosopher did not avail to avert the decree of the Sacred Congregation.
