But the completion of this afterwards famous rejoinder was delayed for two years, and its publication, which, according to custom with all works by members of the Accadémia dei Lincei, was undertaken by the Society, was delayed fully another year owing to the scruples of Prince Cesi and other “lynxes.” Galileo’s procrastination is to be explained partly by his continued ill health, but more so by the position of affairs at Rome as well as in Tuscany, which was by no means encouraging for a contest with a Jesuit.
The imperious Paul V. was still the reigning Pope, and his good will towards Galileo would certainly only have lasted so long as he was entirely submissive. His dialectic reply, which was pervaded by cutting irony aimed at a father of the order of Jesuits, even sometimes making him appear ridiculous, could not have been much to the taste of a Pope to whom the inviolability of the Church and her ministers was all in all. It is characteristic of this pontiff that, as appears from the negotiations with James I., he seriously claimed the right of deposing kings, and called every attempt to make him relinquish this claim “a heretical proceeding,” and pronounced the writings of some Venetian ecclesiastics who disputed it, to be worse than Calvinistic. Just as this stern pontiff was gathered to his fathers (16th January, 1621), in consequence of an attack of apoplexy on the occasion of the celebration of the victory on the Weissenberg, and the good-natured and infirm old man, Gregory XV., ascended the papal chair, Galileo sustained a blow which was most disastrous to him. This was the death, on 28th February, 1621, of his kind protector and patron, Cosmo II. The protection of an energetic prince who sincerely respected him, which he had hitherto enjoyed, was replaced by the uncertain favour of a feminine government, as the widowed Grand Duchess, whose tendencies were thoroughly Romish, assumed the regency for Ferdinand II., who was still in his minority.
Under these circumstances Galileo was but little inclined to bring out his reply; and perhaps the time when they were founding the Propaganda at Rome, and enrolling Loyola and Xavier among the saints, did not seem very opportune. From the new Pope personally there was nothing to fear. The phlegmatic little man, who was so bowed down by age and sickness that those about him often feared to lay complicated business matters before him, lest he should entirely break down, was certainly not likely to inspire awe; besides, Gregory had expressed himself to Ciampoli very favourably of Galileo.[169] But the Pope’s infirmities made it all the more necessary to proceed with caution; for they allowed the Romish administration to exercise full sway. And the man who guided it with almost sovereign authority was the Pope’s nephew, Cardinal Lodovico Lodovisi, a former pupil and therefore zealous friend of the Jesuits.