bestowed upon him by those learned societies having been amply repaid by
Milton in choice and elegant Latin verse.

Among those who resided in the vicinity of Florence was the illustrious
Galileo, who in his sorrow-stricken old age was held a prisoner of the
Inquisition for having upheld and taught scientific doctrines which were
declared to be heretical. After his abjuration he was committed to
prison, but on the intervention of influential friends was released
after a few days' incarceration, and permitted to return to his home at
Arcetri. He was, however, kept under strict surveillance, and forbidden
to leave his house or receive any of his intimate friends without having
first obtained the sanction of the ecclesiastical authorities. After
several years of close confinement at Arcetri, during which time he
suffered much from rheumatism and continued ill-health, aggravated by
grief and mental depression consequent upon the death of his favourite
daughter, Galileo applied for permission to go to Florence in order to
place himself under medical treatment. This request was granted by the
Pope subject to certain conditions, which would be communicated to him
when he presented himself at the office of the Inquisition at Florence.
These were more severe than he anticipated. He was forbidden to leave
his house or receive any of his friends there, and those injunctions
were so strictly adhered to that during Passion Week he had to obtain a
special order so that he might be able to attend mass. At the expiration
of a few months Galileo was ordered to return to Arcetri, which he never
left again.

An affliction, perhaps the most deplorable that can happen to any human
being, was added to the burden of Galileo's misfortunes and woes. A
disorder which had some years previously injured the sight of his right
eye returned in 1636. In the following year the left eye became
similarly affected, with the result that in a few months Galileo became
totally blind. His friends at first hoped that the disease was cataract,
and that some relief might be afforded by means of an operation; but it
was discovered to be an opacity of the cornea, which at his age was
considered unamenable to treatment. This sudden and unexpected calamity
was to Galileo a most deplorable occurrence, for it necessitated the
relinquishment of his favourite pursuit, which he followed with such
intense interest and delight. His friend Castelli writes: 'The noblest
ey