Is Galileo a Sellout?

It seems to me that Galileo does not adequately defend the views that he clearly holds so strongly. Rather than stand defiantly in front of the Inquisition and defend his beliefs as Martin Luther did, Galileo ultimately recants what he has said and does so with very little convincing. In fact, he actually contends that he never believed in the Copernican system and that his dialogue is actually a defense of the Ptolemaic system. Not even his Inquisitors believed him to be sincere in saying these things, though, as they asked him several times to tell the truth when he continued to give them this answer. I can certainly understand Galileo renouncing his views aftewr being formally condemned by the Church and I can also understand that being investigated by the Inquisition must have been a very intimidating experience for him. However, since he was never going to convince himself or the Inquisition that he did not believe in the Copernican system, it seems to me that it would have been better to simply own up to what he had written and defend it as best he could.