TO THE DISCREET

READER.

A decorative woodcut headpiece consisting of a horizontal band of symmetrical floral and foliate scrolls centered around a central blossom.

Years ago, a salutary Edict The 1616 Decree of the Index, which prohibited the teaching of the Copernican system as a physical fact to prevent it from contradicting Scripture. was promulgated in Rome which, in order to prevent the dangerous scandals of the present age, imposed a timely silence upon the Pythagorean opinion The ancient Greek belief that the Earth moves, a concept Galileo uses here to refer to the Copernican heliocentric model. of the mobility of the Earth. There were those who rashly asserted that this decree was the result not of judicious examination, but of poorly informed passion; and complaints were heard that Advisors, totally inexperienced in astronomical observations, should not have clipped the wings of speculative intellects with a sudden prohibition. My zeal could not remain silent upon hearing the audacity of such complaints. Being fully informed of that most prudent determination, I decided to appear publicly on the Theater of the World A common Baroque metaphor for the public stage of human history and intellectual debate. as a witness to the sincere truth. I was present in Rome at that time; I received not only audiences, but even applause from the most eminent Prelates of that Court; nor did the publication of that Decree follow without some prior information from me. Therefore, it is my intention in the present work to show to foreign nations that as much is known of this matter in Italy, and particularly in Rome, as Ultramontane Literally "beyond the mountains," referring to scholars in Northern Europe, particularly Protestant regions, where the Copernican theory was more openly discussed. diligence could ever have imagined. By gathering together all the specific speculations concerning the Copernican System, I wish to make it known that the knowledge of all of them preceded the Roman censure; and that from this climate there emerge not only Dogmas for the salvation of the soul, but also ingenious discoveries for the delight of the intellect.

For this purpose, I have taken the Copernican side in the discourse, proceeding by pure Mathematical Hypothesis Mathematical Hypothesis: A method of calculating planetary positions without asserting that the model represents physical reality; this was a common way for scientists to discuss forbidden ideas while remaining obedient to the Church., seeking by every clever means to represent it as superior—not to the absolute stability of the Earth, but according to how it is defended by some who, Peripatetics Followers of the philosophy of Aristotle, who taught that the Earth was the unmoving center of the universe. by profession, retain only...