In January, 1639, as his health had so far improved as to allow the hope to be indulged that he might be spared some time longer, he returned to his villa at Arcetri, not to leave it again alive. Was this move a voluntary one? We have no document which finally settles the question. But we hold ourselves justified in doubting it. Not only because it is difficult to reconcile a voluntary return to Arcetri with his previous efforts to obtain permission to reside in Florence, but there is a later letter from him bearing the expressive date: “From the Villa Arcetri, my perpetual prison and place of exile from the city.”[567] And when the wife of Buonamici, who was distinguished for her mental powers, gave him a pressing invitation to Prato, which is only four miles from Florence, he reminds her in his reply of 6th April, 1641, that “he was still a prisoner here for reasons which her husband was well aware of”; he then presses her to visit him at Arcetri, adding: “Do not make any excuses, nor fear that any unpleasantness may accrue to me from it, for I do not trouble myself much how this interview may be judged by certain persons, as I am accustomed to bearing many heavy burdens as if they were quite light.”[568] From such utterances it is clear that Galileo had little pleasure in residing at Arcetri, and that therefore his second banishment from Florence was not voluntary, but was the result of a papal order.[569] CHAPTER III. _LAST YEARS AND DEATH._ Refusal of some Favour asked by Galileo.—His pious Resignation.—Continues his scientific Researches.—His pupil Viviani.—Failure of attempt to renew Negotiations about Longitudes.—Reply to Liceti and Correspondence with him.—Last Discussion of the Copernican System in reply to Rinuccini.—Sketch of its Contents.—Pendulum Clocks.—Priority of the discovery belongs to Galileo.—Visit from Castelli.—Torricelli joins Viviani.—Scientific discourse on his Deathbed.—Death, 8th Jan., 1642.—Proposal to deny him Christian Burial.—Monument objected to by Urban VIII.—Ferdinand II. fears to offend him.—Buried quietly.—No Inscription till thirty-two years later.—First Public Monument erected by Viviani in 1693.—Viviani directs his Heirs to erect one in Santa Croce.—Erected in 1738.—Rome unable to put down Copernican System.—In 1757 Benedict XIV. permits the Clause in Decree forbidding Books which teach the new System to be expunged.—In 1820 permission given to treat of it as true.—Galileo’s Work and others not expunged from the Index till 1835. We now come to the last three years of Galileo’s life.