after the death of Copernicus himself before a single text-book
expounded his theory. The text-book which then appeared, under
date of 1622, was written by the famous Kepler, who perhaps was
shielded in a measure from the papal consequences of such
hardihood by the fact of residence in a Protestant country. Not
that the Protestants of the time favored the heliocentric
doctrine--we have already quoted Luther in an adverse sense--but
of course it was characteristic of the Reformation temper to
oppose any papal pronouncement, hence the ultramontane
declaration of 1616 may indirectly have aided the doctrine which
it attacked, by making that doctrine less obnoxious to Lutheran
eyes. Be that as it may, the work of Kepler brought its author
into no direct conflict with the authorities. But the result was
quite different when, in 1632, Galileo at last broke silence and
gave the world, under cover of the form of dialogue, an elaborate
exposition of the Copernican theory. Galileo, it must be
explained, had previously been warned to keep silent on the
subject, hence his publication doubly offended the authorities.
To be sure, he could reply that his dialogue introduced a
champion of the Ptolemaic system to dispute with the upholder of
the opposite view, and that, both views being presented with full
array of argument, the reader was left to reach a verdict for
himself, the author having nowhere pointedly expressed an
opinion. But such an argument, of course, was specious, for no
one who read the dialogue could be in doubt as to the opinion of
the author. Moreover, it was hinted that Simplicio, the character
who upheld the Ptolemaic doctrine and who was everywhere worsted
in the argument, was intended to represent the pope himself--a
suggestion which probably did no good to Galileo's cause.