Aquilecchia has also
provided
a critical edition of La Cena de le Ceneri (Turin: Einaudi, ?
Bruno-Cause-Principle-and-Unity
The original unity of the All, therefore, establishes the conditions for the suc- cess of magical action, because it allows us to understand how a magus can restore an existing apparent multiplicity to its underlying unity.
Human beings, too, are presented as matter over whose surface pass infinite forms, and clearly each one of them is a vinculum, one of the many which we all, in fact, encounter.
If we can give the right form to things we encounter, we can begin to operate on them according to the same magical scheme which we have found to be in operation on every other level of nature.
This process can be guided artificially but does not go beyond the framework of nature, since it does no more than encapsulate in a unique form what are the guiding laws of nature itself.
Once again, this is the myth of metamorphosis, that metamorphosis of all things which made possible on the operational level the recognition of the unity which underlies all things and their development.
The action which one exercises on oneself (thus making oneself somehow one's own object) is aimed at transforming oneself into a subject of an ever higher form.
Magical action is another instance of the coincidence between act and potency which the supreme contemplator has translated into the ability to become omniformis and which here, because of the potency of the vincula and, in particular, the most powerful of them all (love), is the ability to transform the other by actualizing the potency which is within him.
One's action will thus have various levels according to one's capacity to give form to that potency by which one is linked to the vinculum.
Finally, at the highest level, the vincu- lum reveals its deepest nature, transforming potency into act, act into potency, whence it follows that the operator is transformed in his turn into an object, and the vinciendum into vinciens.
xxix
Chronology
? ? ? ? Born at Nola, near Naples
? ? ? ? Ordained priest in the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).
Began studies in theology
? ? ? ? Fled to Rome following proceedings brought against him for
serious dissent about dogmatic theology
? ? ? ? Following several stays in northern Italian cities, went to
Geneva where he became a Calvinist. However, he was charged with defamation and threatened with excommunication. He admitted his guilt and was pardoned
? ? ? ? Having taught at Toulouse, went to Paris. Interested the French court in his theory of memory and maintained con- tact with the court for five years, due to close links with the politiques who supported the King of Navarre. De Umbris Idearum (The Shadows of Ideas) (? ? ? ? ), which was dedicated to Henry ? ? ? , Cantus Circaeus (The Circean Melody) and the Italian play, Candelaio (The Candle Maker), were published during this period
? ? ? ? In England as guest of the French Ambassador to Elizabeth ? , Michel de Castelnau, perhaps entrusted with a political mission. Proposed Copernicanism in public lectures in Oxford, and introduced the philosophical and scientific themes of subsequent works in Italian. Rejected by the acad- emic circles at Oxford, he returned to London where Sigillus Sigillorum (The Figure of Figures) was published
? ? ? ? In London, at the house of Fulke Greville, expounded the Copernican theory in a debate which is echoed in the first of
xxx
Chronology
? his Italian dialogues, La Cena de le Ceneri (The Ash Wednesday Supper). The debate provoked opposition, but did not dam- age his relations with Philip Sidney and the circle of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Bruno later defends himself in the first dialogue of De la Causa, principio e uno [Cause, Principle and Unity]
? ? ? ? -? Published, in London, the Italian dialogues: La Cena de le Ceneri; De la causa, principio e uno; De l'infinito, universo e mondi (The Infinite, the Universe, and Worlds); Lo Spaccio de la bestia trionfante (The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast); Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo (The Cabala of Pegasus); Eroici furori (The Heroic Frenzies) - all published by J. Charlewood with an incorrect place of publication. Expulsion and The Heroic Frenzies were dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney
? ? ? ? Returned to Paris, where he found a changed atmosphere which was unfavourable to him. Disputed the one hundred and twenty Articuli de natura et mundo adversus peripateticos (Articles about nature and the world against the Peripatetics) at the College of Cambrai; these articles were rewritten and published at Wittenberg under the title Camoeracensis Acrotismus (? ? ? ? )
? ? ? ? At Wittenberg, where he gave lectures on the Organon
? ? ? ? Published a series of Lullian works
? ? ? ? Went to Prague, then to Helmstedt, where he remained until
April ? ? ? ? , despite disputes with the Lutherans and a new excommunication. De Rerum Principiis (On the Principles of Things) was sketched or finished during this period, and the works on magic, De Magia; Theses de magia, De magia math- ematica (On Magic; Theses on Magic; Mathematical Magic), were completed, together with De Vinculis in genere (A General Account of Bonding)
? ? ? ? Went to Frankfurt to await publication of the three great Latin poems, De Minimo; De Monade; De Immenso (On the Minimal; On Monads; On the Boundless) (Wechel, ? ? ? ? )
? ? ? ? During a second stay at Frankfurt, received an invitation from the Venetian patrician, Giovanni Mocenigo, to go to Venice to teach him the secrets of his art of memory. In Venice dur- ing August, perhaps hoping to get the chair of mathematics
xxxi
Chronology
? left vacant since ? ? ? ? (to which Galileo was subsequently appointed). A climate of hope for toleration prevailed in Europe, and perhaps the teaching of Francesco Patrizi at La Sapienza, Rome, deluded him about the possibility of enjoying a reprieve in Italy
? ? ? ? Imprisoned following three denunciations by Mocenigo to the Holy Office. The Venetian phase of his trial, which is well documented, was thus initiated; Bruno defended him- self, claiming that his teaching was purely philosophical, that he was penitent and was prepared to renounce his errors
? ? ? ? Confined in the Roman jail of the Holy Office; the Roman Inquisition had obtained, with some difficulty, a transfer of the trial from the Venetian Senate
? ? ? ? Following a new denunciation and new depositions, Bruno's position became acute. He re-affirmed the line of defence adopted in Venice and presented a lengthy submission of eighty pages (since lost) which was a turning-point in the trial towards an unfavourable outcome
? ? ? ? A commission of theologians examined his published works which had not previously been used, to censure heretical propositions which they allegedly included and to report them to the trial. Included were propositions concerning the first principles of reality, the necessary connection between an infinite cause and an infinite effect, the conception of the individual soul and its relationship with the world-soul, the motion and soul of the earth, the identification of angels with the stars and of the Holy Spirit with the world-soul, and belief in pre-adamites
? ? ? ? Summary of the trial ready
? ? ? ? After a long interruption, trial re-activated; on the suggestion
of Cardinal Bellarmine, eight heretical propositions were submitted to him for his unconditional repudiation. In a series of petitions and depositions, he claimed that he was agreeable to the renunciation; however, he also became entan- gled in the merits of the incriminating propositions by mak- ing various distinctions. Thus, his position deteriorated until the tribunal required him to acknowledge his errors. On
xxxii
Chronology
? ? ? December, he said he would not agree to retract and that
he did not know what should be retracted
? ? ? ? On ? ? January, Clement ? ? ? ordered that he be condemned
as an 'impenitent, stubborn and obstinate' heretic. The sentence was read to him on ? February; it listed among his errors the denial of transubstantiation, the thesis of the transmigration of souls, the infinity of the world, the eternity of the universe, the allegation that Moses and Christ were magicians and impostors, and belief in pre-adamites. On ? ? February, he was burned alive in Rome at the Campo de' Fiori
xxxiii
Further reading
The Latin works of Bruno are found in Opera latine conscripta, ? vols in ? parts, ed. by F. Fiorentino et al. (Naples: Morano, ? ? ? ? -? ? ), reprinted by Frommann, Stuttgart-bad Cannstatt, ? ? ? ? . The Italian works are collected in Dialoghi italiani. Dialoghi metafisici e dialoghi morali nuovamente ristam- pati con note da G. Gentile, ? rd ed. edited by G. Aquilecchia (Rome and Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ). Other works by Bruno are Candelaio, ed. by V. Spampanato (Bari: Laterza, ? ? ? ? ); Due dialoghi sconosciuti e due dialoghi noti, ed. by G. Aquilecchia (Rome: Ediz. di Storia e Letteratura, ? ? ? ? ); Praelectiones geometricae e Ars deformationum, (Rome: Ediz. di Storia e Letteratura, ? ? ? ? ). G.
Aquilecchia has also provided a critical edition of La Cena de le Ceneri (Turin: Einaudi, ? ? ? ? ), and of De la Causa, principio e uno (Turin: Einaudi, ? ? ? ? ). There is an Italian translation of the Latin poems by C. Monti, Opere latine (Turin: UTET, ? ? ? ? ).
There are bibliographies by V. Salvestrini, Bibliografia di G. Bruno, ? ? ? ? -? ? ? ? , edited by L. Firpo (Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ), and R. Sturlese, Bibliografia censimento e storia delle antiche stampe di G. Bruno (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, ? ? ? ? ).
Among the works of Bruno in English translation are The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, trans. A. Imerti (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, ? ? ? ? ; rprt. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, ? ? ? ? ); The Ash Wednesday Supper, trans. S. Jaki (The Hague: Mouton, ? ? ? ? ); there is another edition of the same work, trans. E. Gosselin and L. Lerner (Hamden, Conn. : Archon Books, ? ? ? ? ; rprt. Toronto: Toronto University Press, ? ? ? ? ); Cause, Principle, and Unity, trans. J. Lindsay (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, ? ? ? ? ); On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas, trans. D. Higgins (New York: Willis Locker and Owens, ? ? ? ? ); The
xxxiv
Further reading
? Heroic Frenzies, trans. P. Memmo (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ? ? ? ? ; rprt. ? ? ? ? ).
Works about Bruno in English include F. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ? ? ? ? ); F. Yates, The Art of Memory (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, ? ? ? ? ); D. Singer, Giordano Bruno: His Life and Thought: With Annotated Translation of his Work, On Infinite Universe and Worlds (New York: Greenwood Press, ? ? ? ? ); P. Michel, The Cosmology of Giordano Bruno, trans. R. Maddison (London: Methuen, ? ? ? ? ); William Boulting, Giordano Bruno: His Life, Thought and Martyrdom (New Hampshire: Ayer Company Publishers, ? ? ? ? ); J. Bossy, Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, ? ? ? ? ); N. Ordine, Giordano Bruno and the Philosophy of the Ass (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, ? ? ? ? ); A. Koyre? , From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, ? ? ? ? ); B. Copenhaver and C. Schmitt, A History of Western Philosophy ? . Renaissance Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ? ? ? ? ); C. Schmitt, Q. Skinner, E. Kessler, and J. Kraye, The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, ? ? ? ? ).
Other useful works about Bruno include F. Tocco, Le opere latine di G. Bruno esposte e confrontate con le italiane (Florence, ? ? ? ? ); G. Gentile, G. Bruno e il pensiero italiano del Rinascimento (Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ); V. Spampanato, Documenti della vita di G. Bruno (Florence, ? ? ? ? ); A Mercati, Il Sommario del processo di G. Bruno (Vatican City, ? ? ? ? ); A. Corsano, Il pensiero di G. Bruno nel suo svolgimento storico (Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ); L. Firpo, Il processo di G. Bruno (Naples: Ed. Scientifiche Italiane, ? ? ? ? ); N. Badaloni, La filosofia di G. Bruno (Florence: Parenti, ? ? ? ? ); H. Ve? drine, La conception de la nature chez G. Bruno (Paris: Vrin, ?
xxix
Chronology
? ? ? ? Born at Nola, near Naples
? ? ? ? Ordained priest in the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).
Began studies in theology
? ? ? ? Fled to Rome following proceedings brought against him for
serious dissent about dogmatic theology
? ? ? ? Following several stays in northern Italian cities, went to
Geneva where he became a Calvinist. However, he was charged with defamation and threatened with excommunication. He admitted his guilt and was pardoned
? ? ? ? Having taught at Toulouse, went to Paris. Interested the French court in his theory of memory and maintained con- tact with the court for five years, due to close links with the politiques who supported the King of Navarre. De Umbris Idearum (The Shadows of Ideas) (? ? ? ? ), which was dedicated to Henry ? ? ? , Cantus Circaeus (The Circean Melody) and the Italian play, Candelaio (The Candle Maker), were published during this period
? ? ? ? In England as guest of the French Ambassador to Elizabeth ? , Michel de Castelnau, perhaps entrusted with a political mission. Proposed Copernicanism in public lectures in Oxford, and introduced the philosophical and scientific themes of subsequent works in Italian. Rejected by the acad- emic circles at Oxford, he returned to London where Sigillus Sigillorum (The Figure of Figures) was published
? ? ? ? In London, at the house of Fulke Greville, expounded the Copernican theory in a debate which is echoed in the first of
xxx
Chronology
? his Italian dialogues, La Cena de le Ceneri (The Ash Wednesday Supper). The debate provoked opposition, but did not dam- age his relations with Philip Sidney and the circle of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Bruno later defends himself in the first dialogue of De la Causa, principio e uno [Cause, Principle and Unity]
? ? ? ? -? Published, in London, the Italian dialogues: La Cena de le Ceneri; De la causa, principio e uno; De l'infinito, universo e mondi (The Infinite, the Universe, and Worlds); Lo Spaccio de la bestia trionfante (The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast); Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo (The Cabala of Pegasus); Eroici furori (The Heroic Frenzies) - all published by J. Charlewood with an incorrect place of publication. Expulsion and The Heroic Frenzies were dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney
? ? ? ? Returned to Paris, where he found a changed atmosphere which was unfavourable to him. Disputed the one hundred and twenty Articuli de natura et mundo adversus peripateticos (Articles about nature and the world against the Peripatetics) at the College of Cambrai; these articles were rewritten and published at Wittenberg under the title Camoeracensis Acrotismus (? ? ? ? )
? ? ? ? At Wittenberg, where he gave lectures on the Organon
? ? ? ? Published a series of Lullian works
? ? ? ? Went to Prague, then to Helmstedt, where he remained until
April ? ? ? ? , despite disputes with the Lutherans and a new excommunication. De Rerum Principiis (On the Principles of Things) was sketched or finished during this period, and the works on magic, De Magia; Theses de magia, De magia math- ematica (On Magic; Theses on Magic; Mathematical Magic), were completed, together with De Vinculis in genere (A General Account of Bonding)
? ? ? ? Went to Frankfurt to await publication of the three great Latin poems, De Minimo; De Monade; De Immenso (On the Minimal; On Monads; On the Boundless) (Wechel, ? ? ? ? )
? ? ? ? During a second stay at Frankfurt, received an invitation from the Venetian patrician, Giovanni Mocenigo, to go to Venice to teach him the secrets of his art of memory. In Venice dur- ing August, perhaps hoping to get the chair of mathematics
xxxi
Chronology
? left vacant since ? ? ? ? (to which Galileo was subsequently appointed). A climate of hope for toleration prevailed in Europe, and perhaps the teaching of Francesco Patrizi at La Sapienza, Rome, deluded him about the possibility of enjoying a reprieve in Italy
? ? ? ? Imprisoned following three denunciations by Mocenigo to the Holy Office. The Venetian phase of his trial, which is well documented, was thus initiated; Bruno defended him- self, claiming that his teaching was purely philosophical, that he was penitent and was prepared to renounce his errors
? ? ? ? Confined in the Roman jail of the Holy Office; the Roman Inquisition had obtained, with some difficulty, a transfer of the trial from the Venetian Senate
? ? ? ? Following a new denunciation and new depositions, Bruno's position became acute. He re-affirmed the line of defence adopted in Venice and presented a lengthy submission of eighty pages (since lost) which was a turning-point in the trial towards an unfavourable outcome
? ? ? ? A commission of theologians examined his published works which had not previously been used, to censure heretical propositions which they allegedly included and to report them to the trial. Included were propositions concerning the first principles of reality, the necessary connection between an infinite cause and an infinite effect, the conception of the individual soul and its relationship with the world-soul, the motion and soul of the earth, the identification of angels with the stars and of the Holy Spirit with the world-soul, and belief in pre-adamites
? ? ? ? Summary of the trial ready
? ? ? ? After a long interruption, trial re-activated; on the suggestion
of Cardinal Bellarmine, eight heretical propositions were submitted to him for his unconditional repudiation. In a series of petitions and depositions, he claimed that he was agreeable to the renunciation; however, he also became entan- gled in the merits of the incriminating propositions by mak- ing various distinctions. Thus, his position deteriorated until the tribunal required him to acknowledge his errors. On
xxxii
Chronology
? ? ? December, he said he would not agree to retract and that
he did not know what should be retracted
? ? ? ? On ? ? January, Clement ? ? ? ordered that he be condemned
as an 'impenitent, stubborn and obstinate' heretic. The sentence was read to him on ? February; it listed among his errors the denial of transubstantiation, the thesis of the transmigration of souls, the infinity of the world, the eternity of the universe, the allegation that Moses and Christ were magicians and impostors, and belief in pre-adamites. On ? ? February, he was burned alive in Rome at the Campo de' Fiori
xxxiii
Further reading
The Latin works of Bruno are found in Opera latine conscripta, ? vols in ? parts, ed. by F. Fiorentino et al. (Naples: Morano, ? ? ? ? -? ? ), reprinted by Frommann, Stuttgart-bad Cannstatt, ? ? ? ? . The Italian works are collected in Dialoghi italiani. Dialoghi metafisici e dialoghi morali nuovamente ristam- pati con note da G. Gentile, ? rd ed. edited by G. Aquilecchia (Rome and Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ). Other works by Bruno are Candelaio, ed. by V. Spampanato (Bari: Laterza, ? ? ? ? ); Due dialoghi sconosciuti e due dialoghi noti, ed. by G. Aquilecchia (Rome: Ediz. di Storia e Letteratura, ? ? ? ? ); Praelectiones geometricae e Ars deformationum, (Rome: Ediz. di Storia e Letteratura, ? ? ? ? ). G.
Aquilecchia has also provided a critical edition of La Cena de le Ceneri (Turin: Einaudi, ? ? ? ? ), and of De la Causa, principio e uno (Turin: Einaudi, ? ? ? ? ). There is an Italian translation of the Latin poems by C. Monti, Opere latine (Turin: UTET, ? ? ? ? ).
There are bibliographies by V. Salvestrini, Bibliografia di G. Bruno, ? ? ? ? -? ? ? ? , edited by L. Firpo (Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ), and R. Sturlese, Bibliografia censimento e storia delle antiche stampe di G. Bruno (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, ? ? ? ? ).
Among the works of Bruno in English translation are The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, trans. A. Imerti (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, ? ? ? ? ; rprt. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, ? ? ? ? ); The Ash Wednesday Supper, trans. S. Jaki (The Hague: Mouton, ? ? ? ? ); there is another edition of the same work, trans. E. Gosselin and L. Lerner (Hamden, Conn. : Archon Books, ? ? ? ? ; rprt. Toronto: Toronto University Press, ? ? ? ? ); Cause, Principle, and Unity, trans. J. Lindsay (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, ? ? ? ? ); On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas, trans. D. Higgins (New York: Willis Locker and Owens, ? ? ? ? ); The
xxxiv
Further reading
? Heroic Frenzies, trans. P. Memmo (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ? ? ? ? ; rprt. ? ? ? ? ).
Works about Bruno in English include F. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ? ? ? ? ); F. Yates, The Art of Memory (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, ? ? ? ? ); D. Singer, Giordano Bruno: His Life and Thought: With Annotated Translation of his Work, On Infinite Universe and Worlds (New York: Greenwood Press, ? ? ? ? ); P. Michel, The Cosmology of Giordano Bruno, trans. R. Maddison (London: Methuen, ? ? ? ? ); William Boulting, Giordano Bruno: His Life, Thought and Martyrdom (New Hampshire: Ayer Company Publishers, ? ? ? ? ); J. Bossy, Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, ? ? ? ? ); N. Ordine, Giordano Bruno and the Philosophy of the Ass (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, ? ? ? ? ); A. Koyre? , From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, ? ? ? ? ); B. Copenhaver and C. Schmitt, A History of Western Philosophy ? . Renaissance Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ? ? ? ? ); C. Schmitt, Q. Skinner, E. Kessler, and J. Kraye, The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, ? ? ? ? ).
Other useful works about Bruno include F. Tocco, Le opere latine di G. Bruno esposte e confrontate con le italiane (Florence, ? ? ? ? ); G. Gentile, G. Bruno e il pensiero italiano del Rinascimento (Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ); V. Spampanato, Documenti della vita di G. Bruno (Florence, ? ? ? ? ); A Mercati, Il Sommario del processo di G. Bruno (Vatican City, ? ? ? ? ); A. Corsano, Il pensiero di G. Bruno nel suo svolgimento storico (Florence: Sansoni, ? ? ? ? ); L. Firpo, Il processo di G. Bruno (Naples: Ed. Scientifiche Italiane, ? ? ? ? ); N. Badaloni, La filosofia di G. Bruno (Florence: Parenti, ? ? ? ? ); H. Ve? drine, La conception de la nature chez G. Bruno (Paris: Vrin, ?
