Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

world, a new world not only unknown but not dreamed of before, even by

the ancients,’Descartes focused his attention on disputes much closer

to home. In the immediate aftermath of inheriting and selling various

properties, Descartes set off once again to travel, this time to Italy.

In March, Descartes heard of the death of Ren ́e Sain, a cousin

of Descartes’ mother, who had been commissary general of provisions for

the French army stationed near Turin. He travelled to Italy to wind up his

affairs and, perhaps, to look into purchasing the vacant post of intendant

of the army. Thus, despite his mathematical discussions with Beeckman

and his alleged dream about the foundations of an admirable new science,

Descartes was still considering the possibility of a royal administrative

appointment in which he could use his legal training to earn a secure

salary. However, he first took time to put his own affairs in order by selling

some inherited properties, and he then set out for the Alps and Italy [in

September?].Heseems to have travelled first to Basel and Zurich in

Switzerland, where he was delayed by troop movements in Valtellina, a

strip of land that the Spanish had opened up into provide a land link,

onthe border of Italy and France, between Spain and the Habsburg empire.

Sincehad been declared a Holy Year for the Catholic Church, which

included special indulgences for those who visited Rome and prayed in

prescribed churches, Baillet assumes that Descartes reached Rome before

the beginning of Advent in, and that he was present at the official

opening of the Holy Year on New Year’s Eve,.

When visiting Rome, Descartes may have heard about the condem-

nation of Marco Antonio de Dominis, although the frequency of such

convictions may have made them less newsworthy at the time than they

appear in retrospect. De Dominis, a former Jesuit and archbishop of

Spoleto, fell afoul of the Holy Office for views expressed in a book on

the rainbow. He was arrested and imprisoned, and he died while still in

prison in Rome in December.Evenhis fortuitous demise in custody

did not satisfy the punitive ambitions of the Vatican. His body and writ-

ings were burned publicly, in the Campo de’ Fiori, on the eve of the Feast

of St. Thomas.

There is no evidence that, on this occasion, Descartes fulfilled his earlier

promise to make a pilgrimage to Loreto. He reported thirteen years later,

in a letter to Mersenne,that he had never met Galileo, and one can only

surmise that he travelled on this occasion primarily for personal reasons

and to acquire experiences in the more general sense discussed in the