Three copies of the " Dialogues," which were printed at Florence, found their way to Rome, and being brought to the notice of Urban VIII., that pontiff manifested great displeasure, and summoned Galileo to appear a second time in Rome ; failing which, "a doctor and a commissioner of the Holy Office would repair to Florence at his expense, have him arrested, and brought to Rome in chains." There can be no doubt that Galileo's courage gave way, and on June 22, 1633, he read his recantation in the church of Sta Maria Sopra Minerva. Three out of the ten judges, including the Pope's own nephew, abstained from signing the sentence, which, moreover, never received the Papal ratification.

The following is an authentic translation of the instructions for his trial : " Galileo must be interrogated as to his intentions, under threat of torture ac si sustinuerit, be made to abjure at a plenary sitting of the Holy Office doctrines strongly tainted with heresy, condemned to a term of imprisonment at the pleasure of the Holy Congregation, and enjoined never at any future time, either by word or by writing, to say anything about the motion of the earth and the fixity of the sun, under pain of fresh punishment." It should be added that, notwithstanding all that has been written by Signor Berti, M. Mezieres, and others, we have no certain proof as to whether or not Galileo was put to the torture ; and M. Jules Loiseleur has recently argued, with much show of plausibility, that he was not. The words ac si sustinuerit may be used in either sense, for while one side applies them to the torture itself (" if he can bear it," argues Signor Berti), the partisans of Urban VIII. interpret them as meaning "if he persists."

The conclusion of the judgment runs : "And as it appeared to us that you had not spoken the whole truth, we, knowing your intention, have deemed it meet to make a rigorous examination of you (rigorosum examen tui), in which you have replied properly, leaving out of the question those things which you have confessed and those which have been deduced against you above relative to the said intention."

M. Loiseleur says that Galileo had not the stuff of martyr in him, and that in all his answers he shows spirit of ready submission. If so we must suppose that the famous exclamation, "E pur si muove," is only a legend ; but whether we take the side of the Church or that of science, it is painful to think that this old man, whose life had been spent in the search after truth, should, when his frame was too weak to endure physical torture, have undergone such moral torture as to repudiate the doctrines in which he had placed a lifelong faith.

OTTAVIO RINUCCINI. -(1550-1621.)

Ottavio bore a name which had already been made famous by Filippo Alamanno Rinuccini, who was one of the earliest academicians of the Ruccellai Gardens, and he claims the distinction of being one of the earliest composers of the recitative of the modern opera, or lyric poem. The name opera was not given until later, but in 1580, at the festivals to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, with Princess Christine of Lorraine, he wrote the verses for five musical interludes, the subject being the victory of Apollo over the Python. In order to connect the various musical parts, composers went back to the melopoea of the ancients, and the name of "recital" is still given to it in Italy.

He made a further step forward in the " Pastoral of Daphne," which was represented in the Corsi Palace before the leading members of Florence society. He next wrote Eurydice, which he himself styled a "Tragedia per Musica," and this opera was given with great pomp and splendor at the marriage rejoicings of Henri IV. and Maria de' Medici.

Ottavio owed much to the patronage of this princess, who induced him to come to the French Court; but his new mode of life was so distasteful to him that he soon returned to Florence, where, in 1608, he wrote Ariadne at Naxos for the wedding of Gonzaga, Prince of Mantua, and the Infante Margaret of Savoy.

The form of these poems is perfect, and the verses go very well to music, while there is more passion and life in them than in the somewhat artificial compositions of Quinault.

Besides these lengthy works, Rinuccini composed some very clever Anacreontic odes in the Concetti style, and he was much appreciated in the best society of Florence for his ever-ready wit.

He was collecting his works, with the intention of dedicating them to Louis XIII. of France, at the time of his death, and his son, Piero Francesco, completed the task.

This brings to a close the list of the men who contributed the most to the propagation of the new ideas: for the seventeenth century belongs to the modern era, which cannot be treated of here. Moreover, the supremacy of Florence declined after the sixteenth century; and in the next chapter, I shall speak of the art to which that supremacy was due.