“I have communicated to Galileo what was commanded by your Eminence. He adduced as an excuse that he had only done it on account of a frightful rupture. But the villa he lives in is so near the city that he can easily have the physicians and surgeons there, as well as the medicines he requires.”[487] A passage in a letter from Galileo to Geri Bocchineri at Florence, of 27th April, shows that the excuse was no empty pretext, and that he urgently needed to have medical aid always at hand. He says:— “I am going to write to you about my health, which is very bad. I suffer much more from the rupture than has been the case before; my pulse intermits, and I have often violent palpitation of the heart; then the most profound melancholy has come over me. I have no appetite, and loathe myself; in short, I feel myself perpetually called by my beloved daughter. Under these circumstances I do not think it advisable that Vincenzo should set out on a journey now, as events might occur at any time which might make his presence desirable, for besides what I have mentioned, continued sleeplessness alarms me not a little.”[488] A letter to Diodati at Paris, from Galileo, of 25th July, is also of great interest; an insight may be gained from it, not only into his melancholy state of mind, but it also contains some remarkable indications of the motives for the fierce persecution on the part of Rome. We give the portions of the letter which are important for our subject:—