A last conversation at Arcetri

Galileo is old, blind in one eye, and confined to his house at Arcetri, but his mind is as combative as ever. Descartes, who has avoided publishing on the motion of the Earth for fear of the same condemnation, comes to visit, and the conversation circles the question of how far a philosopher should go in the face of authority.

Galileo argues that the evidence for a moving Earth is overwhelming and that silence is a kind of lie; Descartes answers that a truth held privately is worth more than a truth retracted under threat. They disagree without rancour, over salt cod fritters, buttered peas, and a tart. Galileo's Two New Sciences is being smuggled out of Italy even as they speak.