Galileo's Daughter
Read Galileo's Daughter Online
Authors: Dava Sobel
DAVA SOBEL
GALILEO’S
DAUGHTER
A Historical
Memoir of Science,
faith, and love
CONTENTS
[I]
She who was so precious to you
[II]
This grand book the universe
[III]
Bright stars speak of your virtues
[IV]
To have the truth seen and recognized
[V]
In the very face of the sun
[VI]
Observant executrix of God’s commands
[VII]
The malice of my persecutors
[VIII]
Conjecture here among shadows
[X]
To busy myself in your service
[XI]
What we require above all else
[XIII]
Through my memory of their eloquence
[XIV]
A small and trifling body
[XV]
On the right path, by the grace of god
[XVI]
The tempest of our many torments
[XVII]
While seeking to immortalize your fame
[XVIII]
Since the lord chastises us with these whips
[XIX]
The hope of having you always near
[XX]
That I should be begged to publish such a work
PART FOUR. IN CARE OF THE TUSCAN EMBASSY,VILLA MEDICI, ROME
[XXI]
How anxiously I live, awaiting word from you
[XXII]
In the chambers of the Holy office of the inquisition
[XXIII]
Vainglorious ambition, pure ignorance, and inadvertence
[XXIV]
Faith vested in the miraculous Madonna of Impruneta
[XXV]
Judgment passed on your book and your person
[XXVI]
Not knowing how to refuse him the keys
[XXVII]
Terrible destruction on the feast of San Lorenzo
[XXVIII]
Recitation of the penitential psalms
[XXIX]
The book of life, or, A prophet accepted in his own land
[XXXI]
Until I have this from your lips
[XXXII]
As I struggle to understand
[XXXIII]
The memory of the sweetnesses
Florentine Weights, Measures, Currency
To the fathers,
Galileo Galilei
&
Samuel Hillei Sobel, M.D.
in loving memory.
Italy in 1603
To
Florence
She who was
so precious
to you
MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD FATHER
We are terribly saddened by the death of your cherished sister, our dear aunt; but our sorrow at losing her is as nothing compared to our concern for your sake, because your suffering will be all the greater, Sire, as truly you have no one else left in your world, now that she, who could not have been more precious to you, has departed, and therefore we can only imagine how you sustain the severity of such a sudden and completely unexpected blow. And while I tell you that we share deeply in your grief, you would do well to draw even greater comfort from contemplating the general state of human misery, since we are all of us here on Earth like strangers and wayfarers, who soon will be bound for our true homeland in Heaven, where there is perfect happiness, and where we must hope that your sister’s blessed soul has already gone. Thus, for the love of God, we pray you, Sire, to be consoled and to put yourself in His hands, for, as you know so well, that is what He wants of you; to do otherwise would be to injure yourself and hurt us, too, because we lament grievously when we hear that you are burdened and troubled, as we have no other source of goodness in this world but you.
I will say no more, except that with all our hearts we fervently pray the Lord to comfort you and be with you always, and we greet you dearly with our ardent love.
FROM SAN MATTEO, THE 10TH DAY OF MAY 1623.
Most affectionate daughter,
The day after his sister Virginia’s funeral, the already world-renowned scientist Galileo Galilei received this, the first of 124 surviving letters from the once-voluminous correspondence he carried on with his elder daughter. She alone of Galileo’s three children mirrored his own brilliance, industry, and sensibility, and by virtue of these qualities became his confidante.
