Is there not something very grand in the attitude of this solitary man, something which human nature cannot help admiring, as he stands in the gloomy hall before his inexorable judges?
No accuser, no witness, no advocate is present, but the familiars of the Holy Office, clad in black, are stealthily moving about.

The tormentors and the rack are in the vaults below.

He is simply told that he has brought upon himself strong suspicions of heresy, since he has said that there are other worlds than ours.

He is asked if he will recant and abjure his error.

He cannot and will not deny what he knows to be true, and perhaps--for he had often done so before--he tells his judges that they, too, in their hearts are of the same belief.