On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

...the stupidity of their minds among philosophers, moving like drones among bees. When I weighed these things with myself, the contempt that I had to fear because of the novelty and absurdity of my opinion almost drove me to abandon the work I had begun entirely.

But my friends, while I was hesitating and even resisting for a long time, pulled me back. First among these was Nicolaus Schönberg, Cardinal of Capua, renowned in every branch of learning. Closest to him was a man who holds me in great affection, Tiedemann Giese, Bishop of Culm Culm is the Latin name for Chełmno, a city in Poland where Giese served as bishop and supported Copernicus., a most devoted student of sacred and all fine literature. For he often urged me, sometimes even adding reproaches, demanding that I publish this book and finally allow it to come into the light, which had lain hidden with me not just for nine years This is a reference to the Roman poet Horace’s advice in Ars Poetica to keep a manuscript for nine years before publishing it to ensure its quality., but now into a fourth nine-year period Copernicus reveals he has been refining his theory for nearly thirty-six years.. Not a few other most eminent and learned men urged the same upon me, exhorting me that I should no longer refuse, because of the fear I had conceived, to contribute my labor for the common benefit of students of Mathematics. They argued that the more absurd my doctrine of the Earth's motion seemed to most people now, the more admiration and favor it would earn once they saw the "fog of absurdity" cleared away by the most transparent demonstrations through the publication of my commentaries. Thus, led by these persuaders and by this hope, I finally allowed my friends to proceed with the publication of the work they had so long requested of me.

Perhaps Your Holiness will not wonder so much that I have dared to bring these "night-labors" original: "lucubrationes"; a term referring to scholarly work produced late at night by lamplight. of mine into the light, after I have spent so much effort in elaborating them that I did not hesitate to commit my thoughts regarding the motion of the Earth even to writing. Rather, what you likely expect to hear from me is how it entered my mind to dare to imagine any motion of the Earth, contrary to the accepted opinion of Mathematicians and almost contrary to common sense. Therefore, I do not wish it to be hidden from Your Holiness that I was moved to think of another method of calculating the motions of the spheres of the world for no other reason than that I realized Mathematicians are inconsistent with themselves in their investigations of them. First, they are so uncertain regarding the motion of the Sun and Moon that they cannot even [determine the length of] the returning year...