Having died in the character of a prisoner of the Inquisition, this odious tribunal disputed his right of making a will, and of being buried in consecrated ground. These objections, however, were withdrawn; but though a large sum was subscribed for erecting a monument to him in the church of Santa Croce, in Florence, the Pope would not permit the design to be carried into execution. His sacred remains were, therefore, deposited in an obscure corner of the church, and remained for more than thirty years unmarked with any monumental tablet. The following epitaph, given without any remark in the Leyden edition of his Dialogues, is, we presume, the one which was inscribed on a tablet in the church of Santa Croce:-- GALILAEO GALILAEI Florentino, Philosopho et Geometrae vere lynceo, Naturae Oedipo, Mirabilium semper inventorum machinatori, Qui inconcessa adhuc mortalibus gloria Caelorum provincias auxit Et universo dedit incrementum: Non enim vitreos spherarum orbes Fragilesque stellas conflavit: Sed aeterna mundi corpore Mediceae beneficentiae dedicavit, Cujus inextincta gloriae cupiditas Ut oculos nationum Saeculorumque omnium Videre doceret, Proprios impendit oculos. Cum jam nil amplius haberet natura Quod ipse videret. Cujus inventa vix intra rerum limites comprehensa Firmamentum ipsum non solum continet, Sed etiam recipit. Qui relictis tot scientiarum monumentis Plura secum tulit, quam reliquit. Gravi enim Sed nondum affecta senectute, Novis contemplationibus Majorem gloriam affectans Inexplebilem sapientiae animam Immaturo nobis obitu Exhalavit Anno Domini MCXLII. AEtatis suae LXXVIII. At his death, in 1703, Viviani purchased his property, with the charge of erecting a monument over Galileo's remains and his own. This design was not carried into effect till 1737, at the expense of the family of Nelli, when both their bodies were disinterred, and removed to the site of the splendid monument which now covers them. This monument contains the bust of Galileo, with figures of Geometry and Astronomy. It was designed by Giulio Foggini. Galileo's bust was executed by Giovanni Battista Foggini; the figure of Astronomy by Vincenzio Foggini, his son; and that of Geometry by Girolamo Ticciati.