[I] She who was so precious to you
“I render . . . centuries" is adapted from Albert Van Helden’s translation of Galileo’s report to the Tuscan court, January 30, 1610 (Sidereus Nuncius, pp. 17-18).
“I have observed . . . upside down" is Stillman Drake’s translation of a letter dated September 23, 1624 (Galileo at Work, p. 286).
“A woman of exquisite mind . . . to me" comes from Galileo’s letter to Elia Diodati, July 28,1634, translated by Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli and William R. Shea (Galileo’s Florentine Residences, p. 50).
“Whatever the course . . . divine" is taken from Galileo’s third letter on sunspots, December 1, 1612, translated by Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 128).
[II] This grand book the universe
“Philosophy . . . labyrinth" is excerpted from Galileo’s The Assayer, as translated by Drake (Galileo, p. 70).
“Try, if you can . . . top of the tower" is taken from Drake’s translation of the Dialogue (p. 223), and “Imagine them . . . claimed?” is adapted from I. E. Drabkin’s translation of “De motu,” as quoted in James MacLachlan, Galileo Galilei (p. 24).
“Aristotle . . . mistake" comes from Drake’s translation of Two New Sciences (p. 68).
The letter beginning “The present I am going to make Virginia” is translated by Righini Bonelli and Shea (p. 13).
[III] Bright stars speak of your virtues
“If, Most Serene Prince . . . let alone all" is from Drake’s translation of Operations of the Geometric and Military Compass (p. 39).
“I have waited . . . reflected rays" is from a letter translated by Mario Biagioli in Galileo, Courtier (p. 20).
“Her Most Serene Highness . . . tomorrow" is translated in Righini Bonelli and Shea (p. 14).
“Regarding . . . such a position" is Biagioli’s translation (p. 29).
All quotes come from Sidereus Nuncius. “And it is like . . . valleys” is Van Helden’s translation (p. 40), and “Planets show . . . a very great deal” is Drake’s (Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics, p. 49). The sentence fragments are from Van Helden (p. 13 and p. 64, respectively).
The long passage “Your Highness . . . power and authority” is taken from Van Helden (pp. 30-32).
Kepler’s statement is taken from Van Helden (p. 94).
[IV] To have the truth seen and recogniged
Madonna Giulia’s letter translated by Olaf Pedersen in “Galileo’s Religion” (p. 86). Description of Galileo’s new house is from Righini Bonelli and Shea (pp. 17-19); as is the letter about his poor health (p. 19).
Galileo’s description of Saturn from Drake (Galileo at Work, p. 163); Kepler’s reaction to telescope from I. Bernard Cohen (Birth of a New Physics, p. 76). “In order . . . possible” is from Van Helden (p. 92).
Galileo’s letter to Salviati, “I have been . . . gardens, etc.,” translated by Giorgio de Santillana (Crime of Galileo, p. 23).
Social bulletin translated by Biagioli (p. 253). Lyncean Academy charter taken from Drake’s article in Science (p. 1195).
Comment on Galileo’s debating style is from Biagioli (p. yy), as is Cardinal Barberini’s praise (p. 332, n. 89).
Letter from Cigoli of December 16, 1611, translated by Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 146).
Cardinal del Monte’s letter from Righini Bonelli and Shea (pp. 20 and 23).
Excerpt from Bodies in Water translated by Drake (Cause, Experiment, and Science, pp. 18-20).
Comment on Italian language, “I wrote . . . them,” from a letter to Paolo Gualdo, translated by Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, p-84).
[V] In the very face of the sun
“In that part of the sky . . . brief periods" is from Drake’s translation of Galileo’s second letter on sunspots (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 119). “They wish . . . posterity” is taken from the third letter on sunspots, translated by Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 127).
Welser’s invitation to the discussion is also Drake’s translation (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 89).
Galileo’s reference to his indisposition and indecision, “The difficulty . . . proved it,” is from his first letter on sunspots (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 90). “With absolute necessity . . . the universe” is also from Drake’s translation of the first letter on sunspots (Discoveries andOpinions, p. 94). “Sunspots . . . at all” appears further on in Galileo’s first letter on sunspots (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 98).
“I do . . . by us" continues Drake’s translation (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 100). “If I may . . . recognize them” is from the first letter on sunspots (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 102). “And forgive me . . . in perfect tune” is from the closing of the first letter on sunspots (Discoveriesand Opinions, p. 103).
Welser’s thanks, “You . . . lines” and his suggestion, “It would be . . . however strong,” appears in his second letter to Galileo, translated by Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, pp. 104-105).
Welser’s opening to his second letter, “I have read . . . Thy sight,” continues Drake’s translation (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 105).
[VI] Observant executrix of God ‘s commands
“Thursday morning . . . the telescope" blends two of Drake’s translations of Castelli’s letter to Galileo (Galileo at Work, p. 222, and Discoveries and Opinions, p. 151).
“After many things . . . that view" and “Now, getting back . . . never a word” continue Drake’s translation of this letter (Galileo at Work, pp. 222-23).
Galileo’s reply to Castelli, “As to the first . . . of the future,” blends Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, pp. 224-25) with others by Olney (quoted in James Brodrick, pp. y6-yy) and Pedersen (Trent, p. 23).
“Holy Scripture . . . God’s commands" also combines elements of the translations mentioned immediately above, along with an earlier one by Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 182).
Continuing Galileo’s reply to Castelli, “I believe . . . so completely,” is again an amalgamation (see Brodrick, pp. 78-79; Drake’s Galileo at Work, p. 226, and Discoveries and Opinions, pp. 183-84).
The opening of Galileo’s letter to Madama Cristina, “Some years ago . . . their purposes,” comes from Drake’s translation (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 175).
Continuing the letter, “Possibly because . . . the Bible,” still from Drake (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 177); “Let us grant . . . his edifices” (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 193); and “To ban Copernicus . . . thousands of years” (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 196).
[VII] The malico of my persecutors
From Galileo’s “Treatise on the Tides,” “To hold . . . reflections,” translated by Drake, as the passage later appeared in the Dialogue (p.419).
Bellarmino’s letter combines translations that appear in Jerome J. Langford (p. 61), Brodrick (pp. 95-96), and Richard J. Blackwell (pp.265-67).
Galileo’s letter, “I told His Holiness . . . on all occasions,” appears in Brodrick (pp. 106-7).
Bellarmino’s letter supporting Galileo, “We, Roberto . . . May 1616,” is Sturge’s 1879 translation quoted in De Santillana (Crime of Galileo, P-132).
Galileo’s letter to Leopold, “I send you . . . this chimera,” combines translations by Drake (Galileo at Work, p. 262) and De Santillana (p. 151).
[VIII] Conjecture here among shadows
“As a result . . . by perfect eyes" is from Drake’s translation of The Assayer (Controversy, p. 319). “I shall . . . among the graves” is from a letter translated by Righini Bonelli and Shea (p. 19).
“During . . . this matter" comes from Drake’s translation of The Assayer (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 236).
“Hence . . . imperfect" is taken from Drake’s translation of the Discourse on the Comets (Controversy, p. 57).
The gold quip, “If their . . . my house,” is from Drake’s translation of The Assayer (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 253; Controversy, p. 229), as is “That reply . . . duplicity” (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 241).
“I cannot . . . dray horses" is still from The Assayer (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 271; Controversy, p. 301).
From the opening of The Assayer, “I have . . . its intention,” is Drake’s (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 231).
[IX] How our father is favored
Urban’s remark about Rome is taken from his bull inaugurating the visitation, quoted in Nussdorfer (p. 21 and n. 1); the “ordinary Pope" comment is De Santillana’s translation (p. 161).
The two short passages from The Assayer are both taken from Drake’s translation (Discoveries and Opinions, p. 239).
The parable about the song of the cicada also comes from Drake’s translation of The Assayer (Discoveries and Opinions, pp. 256-58).
[X] To busy my soft in your service
The assessment of Poor Clare life by Maria Domitilla Galluzzi is taken from E. Ann Matter and John Coakley, Creative Women (p. 206).
Galileo’s comments on his “clown’s habit” are recounted by Drake (Galileo at Work, p. xiii).
Galileo’s letter to Castelli is quoted in Righini Bonelli and Shea (p.32).
[XII] Because of our zeal
Urban’s “embrace” is quoted in De Santillana (p. 171).
The passages from Galileo’s “Reply to Ingoli” are all taken from Maurice A. Finocchiaro (Galileo Affair): “Eight years . . . that time” (p. 154); “However . . . against my will” (p. 155); “Note, Signor . . . authority” (p. 155); "I am thinking . . . faith” (p. 156); “Thus . . . put together” (p. 156); “For, Signor . . . the universe” (pp. 156-57); “If any place . . . therein” (p. 179).
[XIII] Through my memory of their eloquence
The first quote from the Dialogue, “The constitution . . . works,” is from Drake’s translation (pp. 3-4).
The excerpt from the Dialogue’s preface, “Many years . . . speculations,” is Finocchiaro’s translation (World Systems, p. 81). “Now, since . . . reflections” is a mix of Drake and Finocchiaro (Dialogue, p. 7, and World Systems, p. 82).
The comment on the diagrams is from Drake (Dialogue, p. 80). “Some . . . prohibitions” is Drake’s translation (Dialogue, p. 5).
“Upon hearing . . . mind as well" continues Drake’s translation of the Dialogue’s preface (p. 5).
“For my part . . . nonexistent" is from Drake (Dialogue, pp. 58-59). “The deeper . . . they are” (Drake’s Dialogue, p. 59).
Galileo’s critique of the invention is Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 297). [ 3 8 7 ]
[XIV] A small and trifling body
All quotations from the Dialogue in this chapter come from Drake’s translation.
“I act . . . the stage” (p. 131).
“The air . . . forever asleep” (p. 183). “Shut. . . standing still” (pp. 186-87).
“We encounter . . . violence” (p. 120).
Michelangelo’s letter is from Righini Bonelli and Shea (p. 32).
[XV] On the right path, by the grace of God
Galileo’s letter to Elia Diodati is Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 310).
All the excerpts from the Dialogue in this chapter are Drake’s translation:
“But another effect . . . mighty marvel” (p. 345).
“I might . . . unbounded” (p. 319).
“It seems to . . . serve us” (p. 368).
“I believe . . . corpses” (p. 368).
“Besides . . . mankind” (pp. 368-69).
[XVI] The tempest of our many torments
Again drawing on Drake’s translation of the Dialogue for the quotations in this chapter:
The anecdote about Aristotle is from Day Four (p. 433). p. 177 “In the . . . tides” (p. 462).
“As to . . . his own” (p. 464).
[XVII] It hile seeking to immortalize your fame
Castelli’s letter is quoted in Pedersen (“Religion,” p. 94).
Father Riccardi’s imprimatur for The Assayer is Drake’s translation (Controversy, p. 152).
Galileo’s letter (to Baliani, August 6, 1630) is Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 313).
[XVIII] Since the Lord chastises us with these whips
Petrarca’s comment on “happy posterity” is quoted from Epistolae Familiaris in Philip Ziegler, The Black Death (p. 45).
[XX] That I should be begged to publish such a work
All the official correspondence in this chapter is translated by Finocchiaro in The Galileo Affair.
The sentence fragment describing the ideas in the Dialogue as “chimeras, dreams,” et cetera, is drawn from Galileo’s letter to the Tuscan secretary of state, March 7, 1631 (p. 207). Two more excerpts from the above letter: “Indeed . . . such a work” (pp. 207-8) and “In the meantime . . . ill health” (p. 208).
Father Riccardi’s letter of May 24, “I want . . . revised” (Galileo Affair, p. 212).
Father Riccardi’s July 19 letter, “In . . . content” (p. 213); his instructions for the ending (p. 354, n. 57).
Ambassador Niccolini’s letter, “After . . . Most Serene House” (p. 214). Galileo’s dedication to Ferdinando II, “These dialogues . . . publication,” is Drake’s translation (Dialogue, pp. 3-4).
Castelli’s letter of May 29, 1632, “I still . . . to myself,” is translated by Drake (Galileo at Work, pp. 336-37).
The commissioners’ report to the pope, “We think . . . printed book,” is Finocchiaro’s translation (p. 219). Ambassador Niccolini’s views of the pope: “I feel. . . rage” (p. 229) and “When . . . a troublesome affair” (pp. 231-32).
Galileo’s letter to Diodati of January 15, 1633, is De Santillana’s translation (pp. 215-16 n. 18).
[XXI] How anxiously I live, awaiting word from you
All of the diplomatic correspondence in this chapter is translated by Finocchiaro, and all page numbers in parentheses refer to The Galileo Affair.
Niccolini on the secrecy of the Holy Office (p. 240).
Niccolini’s report on the first week, “The latter . . . to him” (pp.243-44).
Niccolini’s dispatch of March 6, “About. . . the matter” (p. 246).
Niccolini’s letter, “I reiterated . . . these subjects” (p. 247).
[XXII] In the chambers of the Holy office of the Inquisition
The trial transcript, which appears in this chapter in its entirety, is drawn mostly from Finocchiaro’s translation published in The Galileo Affair. Several passages, however, are blended with the partial translation by Drake in Galileo at Work, and the whole is informed by De Santillana’s treatment of the transcript in The Crime of Galileo.
The first deposition combines Drake (pp. 344-47), Finocchiaro (pp. 256-62), and De Santillana (pp. 237-40). The first excerpt from the Inquisition’s dossier, “His Holiness . . . imprisoned” (Finocchiaro, p. 247, and De Santillana, pp. 125-56).
The February 26 entry, “In the Palace . . . against him” (Drake, p. 348).
The continuation of the first deposition is a mix of Drake (p. 347), as well as of another partial translation in Langford’s Galileo, Science, and the Church (p. 139), and Finocchiaro (pp. 260-62). The close of the first (April 12, 1633) deposition (Finocchiaro, p. 262).
[XXIII] I ainglorious, pure ignorance, and inadvertence
Inchofer’s statements on the Dialogue are Finocchiaro’s translations (Galileo Affair, p. 264 and p. 266). The continuation of the statements, “If Galileo . . . in mind,” is a mix of Finocchiaro (Galileo Affair, p. 268) and De Santillana (pp. 246-47).
The excerpts from the Father Commissary’s letter are taken from Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, pp. 349-50).
Galileo’s second deposition (April 30) remarks are a blend of De Santillana (pp. 255-56), Langford (pp. 144-45), and Finocchiaro (Galileo Affair, p. 278).
Niccolini’s observation, “It is . . . alive,” is De Santillana’s translation (p. 258).
The excerpts from Galileo’s written defense statement are drawn from Finocchiaro’s translation (Galileo Affair, pp. 279-281) with a few minor editorial changes. The quote “Lastly . . . prospect” contains some part of F. S. Taylor’s translation as cited in Langford (p.147).
Niccolini’s letter, “In regard . . . myself,” is Finocchiaro’s translation (Galileo Affair, p. 253).
[XXIV] Faith vested in the miraculous Madonna of Impruneta
Galileo’s deposition of June 21, 1633, is a mix of Finocchiaro (Galileo Affair, pp. 286-87) and De Santillana (pp. 302-3), with two minor editorial adjustments.
[XXV] Judgment passed on your book and your person
Galileo’s sentence is a blend of Langford (pp. 152-53) and the text posted on the Web site of the Istituto e Museo della Storia di Scienza (galile o. imss. firenze. it).
The text of Galileo’s abjuration is a combination of De Santillana (pp. 312-13) and Righini Bonelli and Shea (pp. 48-49).
[XXVI] Not knowing how to refuse him the keys
Piccolomini’s letter to Galileo is from De Santillana’s translation (p. 200).
Galileo’s letter (to Nicole Fabri de Peiresc) is De Santillana’s translation (p. 324).
[XXVII] Terrible destruction on the fast of san Lorengo
The Archbishop’s assessment of the bell casting is from Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 355).
The quote about “MOTION” (p. 147)—and all other excerpts from Two New Sciences in this chapter—are drawn from Drake’s translation.
“Just as . . . his books” (p. xiii). “There will . . . still deeper” (p.147).
[XXVIII] Recitation of the penitential psalms
“The constant . . . mechanics" is from Henry Crew and Alfonso de Salvio’s translation of Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences (p. 1).
Sagredo’s comments on large structures are a mix of Crew and de Salvio (p. 1) and Drake (Two New Sciences, p. 11).
Salviati’s response, “Please observe . . . manifest error,” is mostly from Crew and de Salvio (pp. 4-5), with measurement figures from Drake.
Simplicio’s satisfaction is quoted from Drake (Two New Sciences, p. 93). “To illustrate . . . own size” is from Crew and de Salvio (p.131).
Excerpt from Galileo’s letter to Peiresc is translated by Mary Allan-Olney (Private Life of Galileo, pp. 278-79) and cited in Drake’s Galileo (pp. 92-93).
[XXIX] The book of life, or, A prophet accepted in his own land
Galileo’s defense of Girolamo Fabrici of Acquapendente is from Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, pp. 172-73), with minor changes.
The anonymous denunciation of the archbishop is De Santillana’s translation (p. 325, n.4), with minor changes based on my reading of the original in Pagano.
[XXX] My soul and its longing
Most of the quotes from Two New Sciences in this chapter come from Crew and de Salvio:
Salviati’s description of the ball-rolling trials (pp. 178-79).
“For the . . . results” (p. 179).
“One cannot . . . curve” (p. 250). “Your demonstration . . . from true” (p. 248). “The force . . . repeated experiment” (p. 276). “The cause . . . investigation” actually comes from Kline (p. 333) but resembles Crew and de Salvio (p. 166).
[XXXI] Until I have this from you r lips
Galileo’s letter to Cardinal Barberini of December 17, 1633, is my own translation.
Aggiunti’s letter is translated by Pedersen (“Religion,” p. 88), with slight modifications.
The condolence letters from the ambassadress, the archbishop, and Signor Geri are my own translations.
“I feel . . . to me" is Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 360); while “I do . . . afraid” is Pedersen’s (“Religion,” p. 88).
Galileo’s letter to Diodati is a blend of Righini Bonelli and Shea (p.50) and De Santillana (p. 223).
[XXXII] Its I struggle to understand
“The treatise . . . there" is from Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 362). “I find . . . younger” is a mix of Drake (Galileo at Work, p.375) and Sharratt (p. 185).
“You have . . . all sides" is De Santillana’s translation (p. 324) of Galileo’s letter to Peiresc, March 16, 1635.
Fra Micanzio’s comment on transcription is from Drake (Galileo at Work, p. 382). “I shall . . . not be lost,” is also from Drake (Galileo at Work, p. 375).
Galileo’s preface to Two New Sciences is taken from Drake’s translation (pp. 5-6).
The excerpts from letters of the pope’s brother to the Florentine inquisitor are Pedersen’s translations (“Religion,” p. 100).
Galileo’s comments on the Moon’s libration are translated by Drake (Galileo at Work, p. 385), with a few word substitutions.
“This universe . . . my body" is my translation.
[XXXIII] The memory of the sweetnesses
Vincenzio’s recollections of his father are translated in Francesco Bertola (Da Galileo alle Stelle, p. 101).
“The falsity . . . easily discovered" is from Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 417).
“Bereft . . . with you" is Pedersen’s translation (“Religion,” p.83). “I have . . . pilgrim minds” is from Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 397), as is “I hope . . . of mine” (Galileo at Work, p. 421).
Lucas Holste’s eulogy is Drake’s translation (Galileo at Work, p. 436, and Galileo, p. 93).
Endnotes
* Opera grew out of their efforts, officially flowering in Florence in 1600 with the first performance of Euridice.
* Then, as now, astrology depended on precise determinations of the positions of the wandering stars against the fixed, in order to divine the course of human events. Astronomy, which was limited in Galileo’s youth to mathematical analysis of planetary motions, expanded during his lifetime to include the structure and origin of all heavenly bodies.
* Indeed, as any amateur astronomer today knows, stars twinkle whereas planets shine with a steady light.
* Although Kepler erred here, two moons did turn up in telescopic views of Mars more than two centuries later, when Asaph Hall at the U.S. Naval Observatory detected the Martian satellites he named Phobos and Deimos.
* This is the actual speed of the Earth’s rotation at the Equator. Its speed of revolution about the sun exceeds seventy thousand miles per hour.
* Modern astronomers define a nova as the sudden dramatic brightening of an otherwise unseen star. What Galileo saw in 1604 would today be termed a “supernova”—the fireball explosion of a dying star.
* Given the longevity of the council, its membership naturally changed considerably over the years, while ultimate approval of its decisions passed from Paul III to Julius III to Pius IV.
* His successor, Sir Isaac Newton, born the year Galileo died (1642), dignified the idea of action at a distance in 1687 when he published his law of universal gravitation. In fact, the Moon’s gravity would create tides in the Earth’s oceans even if the Earth itself did not rotate or revolve.
* No clear, close-up view of any comet could be obtained until 1986, when several spacecraft observed Halley’s comet during its recent return. Images revealed the body to be a dark clump of icy debris—a “dirty snowball"—that sprouts a great head and tail of glowing gas and dust whenever its highly elliptical orbit carries it near the Sun.
* This was the Latinized name of thirteenth-century English astronomer John of Holywood, who authored the influential textbook Sphere of Sacrobosco.
* Galileo read and admired the 1600 opus De magnete by English scientist William Gilbert (1544-1603).
* In 1838, German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel finally discerned annual parallax for the star called 61 Cygni, thus demonstrating the Earth’s orbital motion and gauging the greatness of the distance to even the nearest stars.
* Galileo’s efforts here increased his familiarity with clockwork and helped lead him to his invention, some ten years later in 1641, of a prototype pendulum clock. Vincenzio helped his father by drawing a blueprint and building a model, but the work was never completed by either of them. When Christiaan Huygens later patented a pendulum clock in Amsterdam in 1656, Galileo’s followers accused Huygens, albeit unjustly, of plagiarism.
* Galileo had tried to attach himself to the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga at Mantua, in 1603, but the salary the duke offered him fell short of his professor’s pay at Padua, so he stayed put until he secured a better position with the Medici.
* The microbe was finally identified in 1894 by French bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin of the Pasteur Institute.
* Torricelli (1608-47) is remembered today as the inventor, in 1643, of the barometer.
* Rondinelli’s book, Report on the Contagion in Florence During the Years 1630 and 1633, was published in 1634, the year after the epidemic ended in a miracle.
* Her cousin Vincenzio Landucci had apparently found some pretext for filing a lawsuit against Galileo.
* Even today, the Madonna is kept hidden during ordinary times. Visitors to the Impruneta church, which was rebuilt following bomb hits during World War II, must content themselves with simply being near the icon, as it reposes inside a marble shrine, behind a blue gilt-embroidered curtain.
* Galileo’s last book, Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning Two New Sciences indeed ignited later physicists: Sir Isaac Newton transformed Galileo’s ideas into laws of motion and universal gravitation.
* The English translations of these Latin phrases, respectively, are “from the book of the living” and “No one is accepted [as] prophet in his own country.”
* Later, Galileo thanked him by dedicating Two New Sciences “To the very illustrious nobleman, my Lord the Count de Noailles, Councilor to his Most Christian Majesty; Knight of the Holy Ghost; Field Marshal of the Armies,” et cetera, et cetera.
* Posterity completely agrees with Galileo in this assessment of his merits. As Albert Einstein noted, “Propositions arrived at purely by logical means are completely empty as regards reality. Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern physics—indeed of modern science altogether.”
* Galileo invented a rudimentary thermometer, around 1593, for approximating room temperature, but it took until 1714 for Daniel Fahrenheit to improve on the device by sealing mercury in glass and marking the tube with a degree scale calibrated by the freezing and boiling points of water.
* In 1644, in his prose polemic Areopagitica defending freedom of the press, Milton wrote: “I have sat among their learned men and been counted happy to be born in such a place of philosophic freedom as they supposed England was, while they themselves did nothing but bemoan the servile condition into which learning amongst them was brought; that this was it which had damped the glory of Italian wits, that nothing had been there written now these many years but flattery and fustian. There it was that I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown old, a prisoner of the Inquisition.”
* It remained thus hidden until the start of the space age, when the unmanned Russian Luna 3 spacecraft radioed the first views of the Moon’s far side from lunar orbit in 1959.
* Pisan tour guides to this day point out “Galileo’s lamp,” though the cathedral contains at least a dozen likely candidates, and the designated attraction was installed in 1587, after Galileo reportedly experienced his epiphany in 1582. Regardless, all lamps swing in obedience to the same laws of physics Galileo discerned.
* When Urban died on July 29, 1644, the people of Rome expressed their resentment of his last expensive war, begun in Castro in 1641, by demolishing a statue of him in the courtyard of the Collegio Romano. “The pope died at quarter past eleven,” a diarist noted, “and by noon the statue was no more.” The Thirty Years’ War, which had raged on despite Urban’s interventions, finally ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia.
* Within one more generation, the great chain of government that had dominated Tuscany’s political structure since the fourteenth century would die out with the last Medici grand duke, Gian Gastone, in 1737.