TO THE MOST HOLY

LORD POPE PAUL

THE THIRD, SUPREME PONTIFF,

The Preface of Nicolaus Copernicus to the Books

of the Revolutions.

A square woodcut decorative initial letter 'S' featuring two men in scholarly robes standing in an outdoor setting with a building in the background; they appear to be engaged in a serious intellectual discussion.

I can well enough imagine, Most Holy Father, that as soon as certain people hear that in these books of mine, which I have written about the Revolutions of the spheres of the universe, I attribute certain motions to the terrestrial globe, they will immediately shout that I and such an opinion should be hissed off the stage original: "explodendum"; a theatrical term meaning to be driven off the stage by booing or clapping.. For my own works do not please me so much that I do not weigh what others will judge of them. And although I know that the thoughts of a philosopher are far removed from the judgment of the common people—because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, as far as God has permitted to human reason—nevertheless, I consider that opinions entirely alien to the truth must be avoided.

And so, when I considered with myself how absurd a "thing to hear" original Greek: ἀκρόαμα (akroama); referring to a lecture or a doctrine intended for a private audience. they would judge it—those who know that the judgment of many centuries has confirmed the opinion that the Earth is placed motionless in the middle of the heavens as its center—if I, on the contrary, were to assert that the Earth moves; I hesitated for a long time whether I should bring to light my commentaries written to demonstrate its motion, or whether it would be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans: followers of the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras who often kept their advanced mathematical and philosophical teachings secret from the general public and some others, who were accustomed to hand down the mysteries of philosophy not through writing, but only from hand to hand to their relatives and friends. As the letter of Lysis to Hipparchus testifies.

And indeed, they seem to me to have done this, not as some think from a certain envy of sharing their teachings, but so that these most beautiful things, investigated with much effort by great men, should not be held in contempt by those who either find it a nuisance to devote any honest labor to literature unless it is profitable, or who, even if they are stirred to the liberal study of philosophy by the encouragement and example of others, are nevertheless of such dull-wittedness...