Galileo was forced to humble himself before ignorant and arrogant monks, and to hide his head in a country villa.

Sarpi felt the knife of an assassin, and would certainly have perished at the instigation of his Roman enemies but for the protection guaranteed him by the Signory of Venice.

In this way did Italy--or rather, let us say, the Church which dominated Italy--devour her sons of light.

It is my purpose in the present chapter to narrate the life of Bruno and to give some account of his philosophy, taking him as the most illustrious example of the school exterminated by reactionary Rome.
Giordano Bruno was born in 1548 at Nola, an ancient Greek city close to Naples.

He received the baptismal name of Filippo, which he exchanged for Giordano on assuming the Dominican habit.