Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1904 — Galileo’s Wit. [ARTICLE]

Galileo’s Wit.

Galileo's wit, according to a biography, got him into trouble when he put Into the mouth of Simplicio, the foolish opponent of the Copernican theory in his “Dialogues,” an argument that Pope Urban VIII. had himself devised and insisted on Galileo incorporating in the work. Galileo made Simplicio quote it as an argument he had from a “very eminent and learned personage." The enemies of Galileo persuaded Urban that he had been “made game of,” and this was the offense of which Galileo was guilty. It was not for upholding the theory that the sun stands still and the earth moves that Galileo was tried by the Inquisition. Urban himself had supported the Copernican doctrines both as cardinal and as pope.