Galileo's Cage

GALILEO [describing a 17th century model of the cosmos to his student, ANDREA]: Here is a band with the sun on it and on the inside band is the moon.
ANDREA: Crystal spheres?
GALILEO: Like huge soap bubbles one inside the other and the stars are supposed to be tacked onto them. Spin the band with the sun on it. [Andrea does so]. You see the ball fixed in the middle?
ANDREA: Yes.
GALILEO: That's the earth. For two thousand years man has had faith that the sun and all the host of stars circle about him. Well. The Pope, the cardinals, the princes, the scholars, captains, merchants...all pictured mankind squatting in the middle of an affair like that.
ANDREA: Like in a cage?
GALILEO: So you sensed that. From 'Galileo' by Berthold Brecht. I'd sure like to see a stage production of this. I am getting a lot out of reading this a few times in the past few mind-boggling weeks.