After Bruno's death, during the first half of the seventeenth century, Descartes seemed about to take the leadership of human thought. . . in promoting an evolution doctrine as regards the mechanical formation of the solar system. . . but his constant dread of persecution, both from Catholics and Protestants, led him steadily to veil his thoughts and even to suppress them. . . . Since Roger Bacon, perhaps, no great thinker had been so completely abased and thwarted by theological oppression.
There are things stronger than the strongest man.