2nd January, 1635, Barberini wrote a long letter in reply,[1] in which he was prolix enough on many subjects, but about Galileo he only made the dry remark, towards the end of the letter, that he would not fail to speak to his Holiness about it, but Peiresc must excuse him if, as a member of the Holy Office, he did not go into the subject more particularly. In spite of this, however, only four weeks later, Peiresc again urged Barberini, in a letter of 31st January,[2] to exert his powerful influence on behalf of Galileo. Peiresc justified his zeal by saying, "that it arose as much from regard for the honour and good name of the present pontificate, as from affection for the venerable and famous old man, Galileo; for it might well happen, by a continuance of the harsh proceedings against him, that some day posterity would compare them with the persecutions to which Socrates was subjected."[3]
Galileo, who had received copies of these letters, thanked Peiresc most warmly in a letter of 21st February, 1635, for his noble though fruitless efforts, and added the following remarkable words:—
- ↑ Op. x. pp. 96-98. In Albèri this letter is dated 1636 instead of 1635.
- ↑ Op. x. pp. 98, 99. Date wrongly given in Albèri as 13th instead of 31st Jan. See Pieralisi, pp. 313-317.
- ↑ These words were written in a truly prophetic spirit; for such a parallel was actually drawn by Voltaire in (vol. iv. p. 145) his "Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations, et sur les principaux faits de l'histoire, depuis Charlemagne jusquà Louis XIII."
