Galileo Revisited v9.5, by Diana Prechter, c. 2022
[Narrator:]
[Song:]
Humanity seeks to see infinity.
Humanity seeks to see the stars.
Humanity seeks to know the truth.
Humanity seeks to feel transcendence.
Humanity seeks to reach the heavens.
Humanity seeks to see beauty.
Epilogue:
We see Galileo now near the end of his life. It is 1642. He is 77 years old.
His final days were not dark, although he did become completely blind. His son came often to care for him and to assist him in his newest invention: the pendulum clock.
A devoted and brilliant former student was given permission to visit. He aided Galileo's writings and discourse. Together they were working on a new book about mathematical ratios.
A teenage boy named Viviani became Galileo's live-in companion, student and disciple. To Viviani, Galileo opened up and re-told the stories of his youth, the developments of his early ideas. Viviani later became a prominent mathematician but also an important biographer of Galileo, helping to preserve the memory of the great man for generations to come.
Galileo always had some allies among the clergy. He always considered himself to be a devout Catholic. He petitioned the Church fathers and, in his final years, was given permission to attend Mass on high holy days.
His final book "Discourses on Two New Sciences" was, uncensored, published in Holland and is considered his greatest accomplishment: the foundation of modern physics and materials science.
Upon Galileo's death, the Vatican Librarian wrote this tribute to him:
"Now, envy ceasing, the sublimity of that intellect will begin to be known which will serve all posterity as guide in the search for truth."
We say goodbye to Galileo with a song:
Surrender your pride. Surrender your wit.
Cold clear winter nights quietly moonlit.
Surrender your knowledge of how the Heavens go.
Surrender your thoughts, your bravissimo.
Surrender your friends, surrender your foes.
All your obsessions, passions that you chose.
Surrender the sword you tried to bury to the hilt;
pools of innocence, rivers of guilt.
Surrender your sight, surrender the chase,
exquisite beauty of infinite outer space.
Lay down your poetry, you no longer need to rhyme.
Surrender to the forces of time.
[church bells ring]
[bell]
Welcome. This is Galileo Revisited.
SCENE 1:
It begins in Venice in the year 1564. Two men are standing on a rooftop, gazing up at the dark night sky.
One says - "Come, look in this direction. There: Streaks of light. A cascade of stars, they seem to be racing across the sky."
The second says - "I have heard of such, but this is the first I see for myself: Falling stars. An omen of some kind."
They discuss the nature of the Universe: How the crystal spheres hold everything in place: a fixed framework of infinite perfection. Yet some stars do wander: The Sun — the Moon — Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn.
They've been told that the math is complicated — but that Aristotle and Ptolemy assure us that wandering stars are not actually cracking the crystal Heavens.
One by one, local residents step out of their homes into the street to admire the moon and the stars. They discuss what they believe to be true: that Earth is full of chaos because humanity has sinned -- but the Heavens are the domain of God. The Heavens are divine perfection. The Moon's a perfect pearl and, in the middle of the swirling motions of the Heavens, the Earth stands still.
They say:
“Heaven's above and Hell's below. That's all that we need to know!”
They are concerned with "How to go to Heaven" -- not "How the Heavens go."
[A Venetian citizen sings]
I believe and I’ve been told
that Earth, this domi-sil [sic],
is at the center of the Universe,
and that the Earth stands still.
But on this Earth you'll find
chaos, hunger, need, deception, greed;
Natural sometimes pitiful.
It’s a wonder we survive at all!
Find comfort in the stars!
Find comfort in the stars
for that’s where Heaven dwells.
The crystal spheres hold things in place,
the Moon’s a perfect pearl.
I believe God’s omnipotence
when I can just see the evidence!
Perfection I can ponder — though
some stars do like to wander.
I believe and I’ve been told
Heaven’s above and Hell’s below;
I believe ‘cause I’ve been told
that’s all that I need to know.
I believe and I’ve been told
Heaven’s above and Hell’s below;
I believe ‘cause I’ve been told
that’s all that I need to know
They return to their homes and, one by one, their candle lights go dark.
SCENE 2:
It is the same night in 1564 in the small town of Pisa.
We meet Vincenzo Galilei, the father of Galileo. He is a trailblazing musician and composer who, in a few years, will publish a controversial book on music theory that significantly breaks with the past. He is a scientist, an acoustic scientist, who performs experiments on acoustic strings using mathematics.
Vincenzo is also looking out at the night sky.
V- "Falling stars. An omen of some kind."
When a midwife enters the room with a baby in her arms.
M - "Your firstborn is a boy. What shall his name be?"
V - "Galileo. Galileo Galilei, after his great ancestor the famous doctor and nobleman of Florence more than a hundred years ago. It is an old name, a revered name."
Time passes. The child grows older.
V - " Come here, son. It's time for your lute lessons."
Galileo excels at playing the lute.
Time passes. The child grows older.
G - "Look, father: my drawings and paintings."
Galileo excels in art.
Time passes. The child grows older.
V - "It's time for you to go to college and become a doctor. Are you doing well in your astrology class?"
G - "Yes father, I can draw your horoscope. But I don't want to become a doctor: I've found a book by Euclid called Geometry. I want to become a mathematician."
V - "Ah. How will you ever support yourself? I always wanted you to become a doctor!"
But Galileo goes to college and becomes a brilliant mathematician.
And he’s able to assist his father with his acoustic mathematical experiments.
[Galileo sings : The Cub of a Lion]
Everyone thinks that I’m so original.
That I cracked the code of science.
But you should have met my father.
I am but the cub of a lion!
He wrote a controversial book, just like me,
and he made enemies.
He is the one who taught me these very words:
that knowledge by authority alone
is absurd.
By stretching the strings he discovered new things
Using math to explain what he heard.
He broke with the past -- made his old teachers mad,
but on this, he and I concurred:
that knowledge by authority alone
is absurd.
Should knowledge be accepted only on faith?
Subject to polite or circuitous debate?
Vincenzo showed me how knowledge made sense
if you properly set up your experiments!
Those experiments he called: a search for truth.
The ideals he gave me strengthened my pursuits.
SCENE 3:
Time passes again. It is 1610. We are in the fine pink palace in Venice, the home of Gianfrancesco Sagredo. Sagredo is Galileo's best friend. Galileo is now 46 years old; he is not in attendance at this gathering…
Although the guests are mostly devoted friends and patrons of Galileo's. General del Monte, a patron; Paolo Sarpi -- the brilliant and influential Venetian statesman and theological counsellor to the Doge; and various intellectuals: a student of Professor Galileo, a humanist historian, a glass blower from Murano, a poet, an artist. It's quite a party! The wine has been flowing, tongues are getting loose.
Two guests are unknown to the others: two Jesuit priests visiting from Rome.
The student and Sagredo are laughing about a prank that Galileo made to embarrass another university professor. Galileo wrote a letter feigning to be an amateur mathematician and asking the professor a particularly devilish problem; to which the professor answered quickly but incorrectly. Many in the room laugh.
Overhearing this, the Jesuit priests are disturbed, saying that this prank was meant to embarrass the professor but in fact exposes the egotistical and malicious core of Galileo. For his vanity is well known even in Rome. Galileo has contempt for noble reputations! He cares not even for his own reputation: Has your man Galileo fathered three bastard children with his Venetian Madame? What sort of reputation can such a man boast?
Sarpi intervenes: "Ah brother, forgive our man Galileo for his eccentricities and passions -- for he is a free man. If there is a point you would like to argue with him, let us go fetch him and bring him to you -- for his brilliant arguments we find exceedingly delightful."
[Shock!]
Galileo's friends don't stop there. They press on, talking about Galileo's brilliant discoveries, astonishing inventions, a proof he's working on, "he's a wonderful professor."
Sarpi says - "Who among the Jesuit priests can be recommended as his equal?"
Priest - "Your challenge poses no threat to us. We need not name his equal or better. Galileo's success will simply be cursed if he fails to make a few more friends in the Church."
With this hiss of the snake, they take their leave. The General and Sarpi exit, discussing the political tensions between Venice and Rome. It’s now late in the afternoon and some are getting hungry. The young men decide to get a meal together. Perhaps they would be welcomed across the water in nearby Padua at the home of Galileo? Sagredo, left alone in his fine pink palace, steps onto the balcony, is embraced by the twilight in Venice, and gazes up as the Moon begins to rise.
SCENE 4:
It is the same night across the water in Padua at the home of Galileo. The five young men have been welcomed and fed. And Galileo asks if they'd like to see his new spyglass. They notice it's a crafty looking object and they ask how he came to possess it.
[Galileo explains:]
"News came from the Netherlands of the invention of the spyglass. Sarpi says he told me in the spring, but I forgot. Then I learned that a man was coming to present a spyglass to the Doge of Venice. Sarpi held him back. He gave me two weeks to invent a better spyglass. Two weeks later, I was ready: my own presentation to the Doge. To the rooftop we climbed. On horizon we saw distant ships. On the other side of Venice we saw women walking up church steps. We could read the church inscription overhead.
I recognized that this spyglass could be useful for generals to see their soldiers at war or merchants watching for their ships at sea. "
[A young man] "Well, I believe you will make a fortune with this novelty. Generals and merchants pay well!"
[Galileo] "I would not decline a lucrative opportunity. However, I have set my sights on something grander. I spent months improving the spyglass -- what you see here is much more. With this telescope, I see the stars and the Heavens. I see the face of God."
[Guest ] "Oh dear. The face of God... What exactly have you seen?"
[Galileo] "I have seen the craggy surface of the Moon with craters, mountains and valleys, light and shadow. I've seen four moons of Jupiter locked in an elliptical orbit. Could it be an elliptical orbit like the Earth and Sun?
I've seen Venus -- and imagine this: Venus has phases! If Venus has phases then it can't be a star. Could it be like our Moon, reflecting the light of the Sun?
And there are many more stars than the eye can see. And the distance of those stars: an enormity. Of all mankind, I have been the first to gaze into infinity."
[A young man says] "You have passed through the crystal spheres.
[Young man says] “You are leaving behind those ancient astronomers, Aristotle and Ptolemy."
[Galileo] "Indeed, and I tell you this: Through the telescope I have come to believe Copernicus. The cosmos follows mathematical rules. The Sun is at the center. The Earth moves!"
SCENE 5:
Time passes again. Ten years have passed. Galileo explains:
“What was I to think when — after the telescope, after my discoveries in astronomy, after the crisis of 1616 when I was admonished and sternly cautioned by the Roman Inquisition — what was I to think in 1620 when I was shown a poem about… me! Written by none other than the powerful and ambitious Cardinal Barberini.”
“By your art, O Galileo.
You’re so smart, Galileo.
With the glass you made so fine.
You’ve seen the light, the light Divine.”
“Then in 1623, I found reason to hope. For Barberini, the poet, became the Pope!
I see the time approaching when science will not be silenced.
I see the time approaching when the Temple might crack.
Dominicans and Jesuits claim their scientific careers are being trashed —
but science requires thinking that they lack.
I see the Church, a ship on a troubled sea, sailing toward disaster!
Who better than me to come to her aid?
I, the best debater, can try to explain and to persuade.
I have friends in the clergy; and powerful friends at home,
Perhaps I can explain my discoveries now that I’ve been called to Rome.
I know not how it will end.
Perhaps the poet-Pope is still my friend?”
SCENE 6:
Time passes again.
It is 1633. We are in a giant library in Rome. Galileo is now 69 years old. He is not in this room for he is held in a prison cell below.
A formal procedure is about to begin, the participants still milling about before they take their seats. Cardinals most of them; others Jesuit priests; some of these priests are now famous for their extreme loyalty to the post-reformation state. Some Cardinals are feared — revered — feared and revered for their willingness to order abduction, torture and even murder to preserve the spirit of the kingdom of knowledge held in that room, that library. We are about to witness today's proceedings of the Roman Inquisition.
Note that this is a library with many books. It has been over 150 years since the invention of the printing press. Books once printed only in Latin can now be found in every language.
And a priest says:
"including scientific books written in Italian by the impertinent Galileo."
Art can be printed in a book, enjoyed by everyone.
And a priest says:
"including drawings of the imperfect surface of the Moon published by the impertinent Galileo."
Theology, once the ivory tower from which the Catholic Church ruled most of western mankind, can now be read in the Bible and discussed by commoners in conversation in any coffee shop.
And a priest says:
"you will find theological arguments in the pathetic letters of the impertinent Galileo."
"And here is the subject of today's discussion: Galileo's recently published tome, Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican."
They all take their seats. There is turmoil in the room.
The Chief Inquisitor enters.
"This inquiry seeks to reverse the recent judgement that gave permission for Galileo to publish his Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems. Galileo has enemies in Rome; their objections to the book have reached the ears of the Pope. It is not too late for us to intervene.
Galileo has been in Rome for several months under house arrest. But today he sits in a prison cell beneath this room. He seeks not to recant. He seeks to explain. He desires an audience with the Pope — who does not return the favor.
Let me reassure you that my decision tomorrow will be sufficient to satisfy all here. It shall be Rome's final judgement in the case of Galileo Galilei."
And with this promise of a solution, they all exit the library.
SCENE 7:
Galileo stands in a cold, small, dark cell with only a bed of straw on the floor.
In a desperate tone he speaks aloud to himself — to no one. He is trying to explain his innocence -- with more examples, experiments, logical arguments. His mind is racing against time, arguing against imaginary opponents.
[Galileo] If only I could have an audience with the Pope! For isn't the Pope an ally, an admirer? Perhaps even a friend?
[Galileo’s sings his imagined audience with the Pope]
"Oh can't I make you see. That I and many others like yourselves came first with devotion to Aristotle and Ptolemy. Made our careers upon it, though in many ways it was gradually proving unsatisfactory. We have not overturned our views lightly. Only through strong evidence and mathematics have we become convinced that the Earth moves. That the Sun stands still.
Let me give you one example. Imagine you are on a ship, the ship sails on the sea. You are in the captain's room below the deck. A glass sits on a table. Is the glass moving?
The perception of motion is always relative.
Those who say that the Earth stands still have many reasons. But each of these reasons have failed the scientific test. You will find the logic and evidence precisely detailed by Copernicus.
And with devout consideration for the Holy Bible, I have trusted that: one truth cannot contradict another truth.
[spoken] And there were elements of your decree of 1616 that perhaps I did not understand fully."
SCENE 8:
We are in the home of General del Monte, friend and patron of Galileo's.
The guests arrive one by one.
The student of Galileo who is now his trusted laboratory assistant.
The glass blower from Murano, who is now a famous supplier of lenses.
A poet and artist, they are among the many who have enjoyed a meal and entertainment at the home of Master Galileo.
The ghost of Sagredo, Galileo's dearest friend.
The ghost of Paolo Sarpi, Galileo's most influential advocate
Last to arrive is the humanist historian.
Now that they are all together, the historian speaks.
"Enormous danger spreads today like a dark cloud. Our friend and mentor, the master Galileo, sits in prison in Rome. The judgement of the Inquisitor can be expected at any moment. If our friend is condemned, then by association we are all guilty in the eyes of the Church -- we can all fall under the crushing power of Rome.
Giordano Bruno, that Dominican friar of great imagination but little science, was tried, tortured and murdered by the Inquisitors. Yes, the threat of death to Galileo is great!
But death is not the worst that might befall our friend. For Galileo, there is a danger worse than death."
And with this thought, they draw together -- and make a plan.
SCENE 9:
It is the next day. We return to the library. For hours, the Chief Inquisitor has sat alone at his desk, ruminating, fuming. For hours, Galileo has been anxiously waiting in his cell below. He is finally brought into the Library.
Angrily, the Chief Inquisitor speaks:
[Chief Inquisitor’s SONG]
“The universe is God's creation. The Earth stands still. A wheel of perfect crystal spheres hold the lights up in the sky. God made it so. God made it so, Galileo!
The Pope like our Lord has stepped aside and I alone am here to deal with you.
The Pope is angered by your audacity and it’s most likely our Lord is too!
It's not your place to tell the Church what to believe and what to say!
We stand on the rock where Peter stood and on this rock we'll stay.
We are not here to listen to your arguments. We are not here to be convinced.
We care not what you preach to us of logic or debate. We are here for one purpose:
To set the record straight.
[spoken] Do you know that you were ordered by decree in 1616 that you may not hold or defend the beliefs Copernican?
With lies and logic you try to circumvent.
When will you admit your true intent?
Would you speak the truth under threat of torture?"
SCENE 10:
The scene in the library freezes.
We see Galileo's home, a villa in the hills outside Florence. In Galileo's absence, it is lovingly tended by an old woman and a teenage boy. Yet -- there lies Galileo's treasure: His meticulously collected library with copies and originals of his published books, his correspondence, his mathematical notes, his experimental equipment, his inventions in progress, his catalogs of painstaking observations. His life's work, finished and unfinished, sits unprotected in that villa on a hill above Florence.
At the foot of the hill, lies a convent. It is no surprise that Galileo lives adjacent to this particular convent, for this has been the home of his two daughters since their youth. His most loyal and devoted child, his daughter Virginia, lives there and helps to manage the affairs at the villa, during her father's absence in Rome, as best she can.
Virginia, though locked inside the convent, has a set of keys to the villa.
The housekeeper and the boy have been sent away.
Two men arrive at the convent after dark, after most have already gone to bed and blown out their candles. Then, on this moonless night, they ascend the hill. They have two strong horses and two empty wagons.
SCENE 11:
The scene in the library continues.
[Inquisitor] I have not chosen death for you. Death may only make you more famous, a martyr. Instead, I have a better plan: to make you so small that you disappear.
The Inquisitor reads the final proclamation:
Galileo's Dialogue is banned; it and all of his previous works prohibited from republishing.
Under threat of torture, Galileo shall be forced to swear an Oath.
[aside] An oath which Galileo despises!
By this Oath Galileo is obliged to become an informant of the Inquisition.
By this Oath he must report and denounce any other suspected heretics to the Holy Office.
[aside] By this Oath, Galileo, friend of many scientists, could become accomplice to their arrest, their torture, their murder.
Galileo's friends would have much to fear.
Galileo shall be under house arrest all the remaining years of his life.
The final judgment was complete. The loss of his life's work-- his published books and correspondence -- the loss of all friends and followers, house arrest. No one would be permitted to come to his aid -- and there was no way for him to defend himself.
They would make life itself small and unbearable for him by crushing his spirit and physical health.
A man, once vivacious and proud, a towering mind of his age -- was finally brought low. He would not be martyred. He would just disappear.
SCENE 12:
Galileo explains his conflict with the Pope:
[Galileo song]
Religion itself might have been a mere ruse to distract and deflect.
In the end I believe that the Pope made some calculated moves to protect himself.
For under his rule, the Papal debt was doubled —
religious battles lost were giving him trouble.
While superstitious shenanigans clouded his eyes,
Spanish Cardinals were plotting his demise
and Jesuits argued loudly - that they were compromised.
“It is much safer to be feared than to be loved.” —Machiavelli
The Pope chose to protect his own political interests.
The Pope was angered by my attempts at logical defense.
The Pope cast aside my innocence.
SCENE 13:
[Time passes] Five years have passed. We see Galileo at home under house arrest in his villa in the hills above Florence. He is now 74 years old.
It is late in the afternoon, the dining table is set for two as Galileo is expecting a rare visitor: 30 year old John Milton. Milton is an English man of letters, but he has not yet written Paradise Lost. Milton has not yet described Satan's shield as the surface of the Moon, spotted and imperfect with rivers and mountains. He has not yet described the Archangel Raphael as seeing the heavens clearly, like seeing them through the glass of Galileo.
John Milton arrives. Practicing his Italian, he says:
M-"Signore Galilei, it is an honor. Tell me, how are you doing under house arrest?"
G-"It is lonely. I miss my friends -- and you are brave to visit me. Please make yourself comfortable. You are a friend of my son's, is that right?
M-"Yes, we are friendly acquaintances. He was kind to suggest that I visit you. And I am only a little brave for I feel that the power of Rome will not be sufficient to reach me when I return to England. Please speak to me of whatever you wish, I am grateful to be your audience."
[Galileo] "This house arrest, it undercuts me in all directions. I still have friends who plead on my behalf, but my case goes nowhere in Rome. I expect no relief. A criminal may be treated with clemency, but I have committed no crime.
This war against me has been made under the lying mask of religion. They feign a theological argument against me -- a theological argument that is thin and weak in the face of scientific evidence. To God I claim my innocence.
Some say I am punished for the sin of pride. My discoveries, my inventions, my rigorous logic and experiments. I have been trapped by a spider's web of jealousy.
Their intent was to destroy every avenue for me: my work, my friends.
But look about you in this room.
You see my published books, my manuscripts, my letters: my life’s work was not destroyed.
My library of books - the foundation of knowledge and inquiry.
My experimental equipment - meticulously, painstakingly handcrafted.
Decades of observational data, a lifetime of effort. The foundation of my discoveries and discoveries yet to come.
These are treasures greater to me than the jewels of the Vatican.
Had these treasures been destroyed by the bandits of the Inquisition, it would have been — for me — a fate worse than death.
Instead, these treasures were preserved by the hands of my dearest friends.
Not all of my friends have abandoned me.
My eyes have suffered: I am now nearly blind. In this darkness, I often consider that the Universe which I, with my astonishing observations had enlarged a thousandfold, is now for me so diminished, it has shrunk to the meager confines of my body.
Yet there is a consolation. I have time itself, and quiet for concentration. I continued my life's work. With these years, and this laboratory, I have finished one more book in which the Universe is explained:
Of time, distance, acceleration;
On how to measure the speed of light;
On how to measure the weight of air;
On how to gauge the diameters of stars and the distances between celestial bodies.
The experiments and the proofs are all there.
My new book is called 'Discourses on Two New Sciences.' Uncensored, it has been secretly smuggled to a brave publisher in Holland where, like a bird, it shall spread its wings freely under an open sky.
"Would my guest like to step out on the roof to see my telescope?"
SCENE 12:
The two are now on the rooftop, a flat parapet where the telescope sits in its frame pointed at the dark night sky.
Prologue: Humanity seeks to see infinity.
John Milton's hand trembles as he takes hold of the base, placing his eye upon the piece.
Humanity seeks to see the stars.
He fears that he will only be looking into blackness, but instead he see stars, more than can be numbered.
Humanity seeks to know the truth.
He now turns the telescope towards the Moon. He sees that, in reality, the Moon is no pearl: it has mountains, valleys, craters; light and shadow; a Moon that matches Galileo's famous pen-and-ink drawings published nearly 30 years before.
Humanity seeks to feel transcendence.
Something magical begins to happen to John Milton,
now transfixed,
touching Galileo’s telescope,
gazing at the Moon.
Humanity seeks to reach the heavens.
He loses all sense of his body.
In his imagination, he is lifted up, up, to the surface of the Moon,
longing to be near Heaven,
longing to see the heavens clearly.
Humanity seeks to see beauty.
From this vantage point, Milton now turns to see the Earth below.
He glimpses: Is it real or imagined? … that he sees the exquisite blue and green planet dotted with white clouds.
<ahhh> [He gasps. Astonished. Whispers:] Paradise!
