Galileo had not entered upon this discussion till driven to it by a most indecent attack, made on him from the pulpit, by a Dominican friar named Caccini, who thought it not unbecoming his habit or religion to play upon the words of a Scriptural text for the purpose of attacking Galileo and his partisans with more personality.[75] Galileo complained formally of Caccini's conduct to Luigi Maraffi the general of the Dominicans, who apologised amply to him, adding that he himself was to be pitied for finding himself implicated in all the brutal conduct of thirty or forty thousand monks. In the mean time, the inquisitors at Rome had taken the alarm, and were already, in 1615, busily employed in collecting evidence against Galileo. Lorini, a brother Dominican of Caccini, had given them notice of the letter to Castelli of which we have spoken, and the utmost address was employed to get the original into their hands, which attempt however was frustrated, as Castelli had returned it to the writer. Caccini was sent for to Rome, settled there with the title of Master of the Convent of St. Mary of Minerva, and employed to put the depositions against Galileo into order. Galileo was not at this time fully aware of the machinations against him, but suspecting something of their nature, he solicited and obtained permission from Cosmo, towards the end of 1615, to make a journey to Rome, for the purpose of more directly confronting his enemies in that city. There was a rumour at the time that this visit was not voluntary, but that Galileo had been cited to appear at Rome. A contemporary declares that he heard this from Galileo himself: at any rate, in a letter which Galileo shortly afterwards wrote to Picchena, the Grand Duke's secretary, he expresses himself well satisfied with the results of this step, whether forced or not, and Querenghi thus describes to the Cardinal d'Este the public effect of his appearance: "Your Eminence would be delighted with Galileo if you heard him holding forth, as he often does, in the midst of fifteen or twenty, all violently attacking him, sometimes in one house, sometimes in another. But he is armed after such fashion that he laughs all of them to scorn—and even if the novelty of his opinions prevents entire persuasion, at least he convicts of emptiness most of the arguments with which his adversaries endeavour to overwhelm him. He was particularly admirable on Monday last, in the house of Signor Frederico Ghisilieri; and what especially pleased me was, that before replying to the contrary arguments, he amplified and enforced them with new grounds of great plausibility, so as to leave his adversaries in a more ridiculous plight when he afterwards overturned them all."