Galileo’s Daughter
A drama of science, faith and love
Dava Sobel
To the fathers,
Galileo Galilei
&
Samuel Hillel Sobel, MD,
in loving memory
Table of 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 recognised
[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
[IX] How our father is favoured
[X] To busy my self 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 immortalise 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 Care of the Tuscan Embassy, Villa Medici, Rome
[XXI] How anxiously I live, awaiting word from you
[XXII] In the comfort of the Holy Office of the Inquisition
[XXIII] Vainglorious ambition, pure ignorance and inadvertence
[XXIV] Faith rested in the miraculous Madonna of Imprueta
[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
[I] She who was so precious to you
MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD FATHER
WE ARE TERRIBLY SADDENED by the death