Page "Life of Galileo" Paragraph 11

Galileo, old and broken, living under house arrest, is visited by one of his former pupils, Andrea.

Galileo gives him a book ( Two New Sciences ) containing all his scientific discoveries, asking him to smuggle it out of Italy for dissemination abroad.

Andrea now believes Galileo's actions were heroic and that he just recanted to fool the ecclesiastical authorities.

However, Galileo insists his actions had nothing to do with heroism but were merely the result of self-interest.