_Inquisitor_: “You must state what his Eminence Cardinal Bellarmine told you about the aforesaid decision, and whether he said anything else on the subject, and what?” _Galileo_: “Signor Cardinal Bellarmine signified to me that the aforesaid opinion of Copernicus might be held as a conjecture, as it had been held by Copernicus, and his eminence was aware that, like Copernicus, I only held that opinion as a conjecture, which is evident from an answer of the same Signor Cardinal to a letter of Father Paolo Antonio Foscarini, provincial of the Carmelites, of which I have a copy, and in which these words occur: ‘It appears to me that your reverence and Signor Galileo act wisely in contenting yourselves with speaking _ex suppositione_, and not with certainty.’ This letter of the cardinal’s is dated 12th April, 1615.[354] It means, in other words, that that opinion, taken absolutely, must not be either held or defended.” Galileo was now requested to state what was decreed in February, 1616, and communicated to him. _Galileo_: “In the month of February, 1616, Signor Cardinal Bellarmine told me that as the opinion of Copernicus, if adopted absolutely, was contrary to Holy Scripture, it must neither be held nor defended, but that it might be held hypothetically, and written about in this sense. In accordance with this I possess a certificate of the said Signor Cardinal Bellarmine, given on 26th May, 1616, in which he says that the Copernican opinion may neither be held nor defended, as it is opposed to Holy Scripture, of which certificate I herewith submit a copy.”[355] _Inquisitor_: “When the above communication was made to you, were any other persons present, and who?” _Galileo_: “When Signor Cardinal Bellarmine made known to me what I have reported about the Copernican views, some Dominican fathers were present, but I did not know them, and have never seen them since.” _Inquisitor_: “Was any other command communicated to you on this subject, in the presence of those fathers, by them or any one else, and what?”