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CHAPTER I.

GALILEO AT SIENA AND ARCETRI.


Arrival at Siena.—Request to the Grand Duke of Tuscany to ask for his release.—Postponed on the advice of Niccolini.—Endeavours at Rome to stifle the Copernican System.—Sentence and Recantation sent to all the Inquisitors of Italy.—Letter to the Inquisitor of Venice.—Mandate against the Publication of any New Work of Galileo's or New Edition.—Curious Arguments in favour of the Old System.—Niccolini asks for Galileo's release.—Refusal, but permission given to go to Arcetri.—Anonymous accusations.—Death of his Daughter.—Request for permission to go to Florence.—Harsh refusal and threat.—Letter to Diodati.—Again at work.—Intervention of the Count de Noailles on his behalf.—Prediction that he will be compared to Socrates.—Letter to Peiresc.—Publication of Galileo's Works in Holland.—Continued efforts of Noailles.—Urban's fair speeches.


Galileo arrived safely at Siena on 9th July, and was most heartily welcomed by Ascanio Piccolomini.[1] But neither his devoted kindness, nor stimulating converse with his friend, who was well versed in science, and the learned Alessandro Marsili, who lived at Siena, could make him forget that he was still a prisoner of the Inquisition, and that his residence there was compulsory. He longed for liberty, the highest earthly good, and next to this for Florence, which had become a second home to him. In order to attain this fervent desire, on 23rd July he addressed a letter to Cioli,[2] with an urgent request that his Highness the Grand Duke, to please whom Urban VIII. had done so much, would be graciously pleased to ask the Pope, on whose will alone it depended, for his release. Only five days afterwards, Galileo received tidings from Cioli that Ferdinand II. had in the

  1. Op. ix. p. 372.
  2. Op. vii. pp. 31, 32.