Nor is it due simply to demonic or dia- bolical efficient causes, as is
believed
on their part by some theologians.
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? On magic
? On the bondings of spirits, and first those arising from the three conditions of agent, matter, and application
For actions actually to occur in the world, three conditions are required: (? ) an active power in the agent; (? ) a passive power or disposition in a sub- ject or patient, which is an aptitude in it not to resist or to render the action impossible (which reduces to one phrase, namely, the potency of matter); and (? ) an appropriate application, which is subject to the circumstances of time, place and other conditions.
In the absence of these three conditions, all actions are, simply speaking, always blocked. For even if a flute player is perfect, he is blocked by a bro- ken flute, and the application of the former to the latter is useless. Thus, a lack of power in the matter makes an agent impotent and an application unfitting. This is what was meant when we said that an absence of these three conditions, strictly speaking, always blocks an action.
Closer examination may show that the defect is due to only two, or even only one, of these conditions. But a defect in any one of them should be understood as meaning a defect in all three, as when the flute player and his performance are perfect but the flute is defective, or when the player and the flute are perfect but the performance is interrupted. If the whole meaning of efficient action is taken to consist in the application, then the first condition merges with the third, for the agent is nothing other than the applicator, and to do something is nothing other than to apply something.
Not all things are by nature passive, or active, in relation to all other things. Rather, as is said in the Physics,25 every passion is from a contrary, and every action is on a contrary, or more specifically, on a disposed con- trary, as is stated in the common saying, 'Active powers act on a properly disposed patient'. From this, it is clear that water mingles and mixes with water because of a similarity or awareness or sympathy, such that after they have united, no device can separate the one from the other.
Indeed, pure or unmingled wine also easily mixes with water, and vice versa, thus forming a mixture. But the parts of the wine contain some amount of heat and air and spirits, and thus the wine is not completely sympathetic with the water. As a result, they do not mix at the smallest level but survive separately to a noticeable degree in a heterogeneous compound, so that they can be separated again in various ways. The same thing
25 Aristotle, Physics, ? , ? . See also his De generatione et corruptione, ? , ? , which makes this point more explicitly.
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On magic
? happens to sea water, which yields fresh water when it is distilled or filtered through wax containers. This would not happen if the mixture had been perfect. Furthermore, oil will never mix with water because the parts of oil cohere and are glued together like lovers, and they neither penetrate nor are penetrated by the parts of water. Therefore, anyone who studies the mixing of bodies with each other should give a great deal of attention to the condition of the parts, for not everything can be mixed with everything else.
Thus, one must study the arrangement, composition and differences of the parts, for a whole can be penetrated by a whole in one direction but not in another. This happens in all things, like stones, wood and even flesh, which are penetrable, or more penetrable from one side or direction than another. This is clear when fluids are expelled by pushing along the length of fibres. And wood is more easily split lengthwise, for wood is more easily penetrated along its length than its width because the pores located between the fibres create tubes or passages in that direction.
Furthermore, one must not only examine the character and arrange- ment of the parts, but also the condition of the whole structure, for certain passions are naturally adapted to be received by one subject rather than by another. For example, a torpedo fish causes a shock to the hand of the fish- erman, but not to the net. And, as the old joke says, the fires of love burn the heart and the breast, but leave the chest cold and uncooked.
The same thing happens with thunderbolts, which have at times liqui- fied a steel sword without damaging its scabbard. An astonishing event also happened in Naples to a very beautiful and noble young girl whose pubic hair was burned, but nothing else. They also say that when the wood of a barrel was burned away, the wine remained firm and solid without it. Many such things have happened because of this ultimate occult power which resides in the atoms of this kind of fire and which acts in one place but not in another. The laurel and the eagle are used as insignia by generals and poets because they are never touched by lightning, and so like them, generals and poets are friends of Apollo and Jupiter.
What happened to that young girl does not happen to just any human being. The reason for this is that not all people have the same physical con- stitution and temperament and the same quality of spirit, and, as a result, not all have a soul that can stop the rains and command the winds and the storms. The astonishing things that happen in bodies must be related to a special constitution which, because of the innumerable differences in them,
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? is due sometimes to the laws of the whole species and sometimes to a special prerogative of the individual.
Hence, magicians carefully examine both species and individuals in order to grasp the effects of their power. Being prudent leaders, they recruit as their soldiers and gather as their military aides not those who are friends or well-known or highly recommended people, but rather those who are more favoured by fortune and those who usually are lucky enough to avoid such dangers. Likewise, by wearing and carrying and otherwise using cer- tain plants and minerals, they try, as if by means of direct contact, to appro- priate for themselves certain prerogatives of power. And thus, as leaders protected by laurel crowns, they do not fear the lightning.
Next it should be noted that for specific animals there are poisons, like hemlock generally is for humans, which usually are consumed as a very helpful nourishment by other animals, and which readily fatten them. Likewise, it should be seen that for various species there are different foods, poisons and antidotes. An important principle of magic and of medicine is to be able to distinguish the different constitutions and explanations of ill- nesses and good health, and the principles of changing or preserving their forms and dispositions by using external objects. Thus, the chemist knows that nitric acid acts on hard things, such as iron, silver and bronze, but not on gold or lead. He also knows that quicksilver absorbs oil very rapidly, but gold completely rejects and repudiates it. Furthermore, the seeds or juice of verbena plants are strong enough to break up stones in the bladder yet seem to do no damage to flesh, bones, membranes and other parts of the body.
There are those who explain these facts in terms of the pores being wide or narrow. I would readily grant this in some cases, but not in most cases, nor in the more important cases which are discussed above, for the reason why nitric acid penetrates one thing more than another is not that the one has wider pores. Likewise, the spirit of the verbena plant breaks up stones but not bones and flesh, even though the latter has larger pores. And what would they say about diamonds which are not split by fire, the smallest and most penetrating of bodies, even though they do absorb the blood of a billy goat?
Therefore, one must maintain the following general principle: not all things are influenced by everything else, and not all effects happen to every- thing in the same way. To give a proper explanation, the reason must be found in individual effects and cases. The occult forms and differences in
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? things do not have their own names. They are not observable by means of vision and touch, and explanations of their specific origins are not to be found in visual and tactile differences. All we can say about these occult forms is that they do exist. As a result, we conclude that not even the demons themselves could talk about them easily, if they were to choose to discuss them with us, using our words and the meanings which are signified by our words.
Secondly, the bondings arising from sounds and songs
A second type of bonding is based on the conformity between numbers, between measures and between times. This is the origin of those rhythms and songs which have such a very great power. Some people are affected more by tragedies, others by comic melodies, and others are affected gen- erally in all cases. Some even react like that barbarian general who, when he heard musical instruments played very skilfully, said that he preferred to hear the neighing of his horse. He clearly proved by this that he was a disgrace and was unworthy of appearing to be human.
By the term 'songs' we intend to refer to much more than harmonies, for as some have experienced, the most powerful songs and poems seem to contain more discord than harmony. Perhaps such was the condition of the soul of that subhuman general who was more easily influenced by the sounds of his horse's neighing. For just like someone who looks at the sensible har- monies of vision, the souls of humans and horses and dogs are captured by different harmonious sounds, and different things are beautiful according to the condition of each species. As is said in the proverb 'from an ass to a lyre', not all songs are well suited for everyone. And as different harmonies bind different souls, so also different magicians bind different spirits.
These bonds are tenacious for two reasons. First, they are perceived or encountered in the soul through hearing, just as the voices of the Marsi and the Psylli became such powerful voices when they were present in the ser- pent. 26 Second, the bonding effect is brought to completion by an occult murmur which, analogously to the relations between spirits, did not orig- inally come from the binder to the bound for the purposes of bonding. For those who are enchanted do not always hear the voice of their enchanters, and even when they do, they are not sensibly affected immediately.
? 26 Both the Marsi, a people who lived near Lago di Celano in Southern Italy, and the Psylli, a people who lived near Sidra on the North African coast, were well-known as snake charmers.
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? Further, one should note that the rhythm or characteristics of one sound can mingle with, and obscure, the rhythm of another sound. As a result, it is said that when a wolf, or some say a deer, is seen by people who are bonded to the spirit of that animal, they lose their voices and cannot easily form words. And they say that when a drum made of sheep skin is located next to a drum made of wolf skin, the former loses its sound, even though otherwise it emits strong sounds when forcefully hit. The reason for this is that the spirit which somehow remains in the dead wolf skin can bond with, and control, the spirit in the sheep skin, and thus they are subject to the same antagonism and dominance which are present in the living animals.
I have not personally experienced this. But it is a possibility and is rea- sonable, even though this relationship is not always found between living things and between species. The ass fears the wolf no less than does the sheep, and is equally frightened by its danger. Nevertheless, a drum made of the skin of a wolf does not diminish the equally strong beats from a drum made of the skin of an ass, but rather increases their loudness considerably.
Let us next consider lyres whose strings are made of the tendons of sheep and wolves, which are always opposed. It is well-known by many that if two lyres or cithers are constructed in the same way, and if a string of only one of them is plucked, its sound is not only consonant with the string of the other, but it will generate the same motion in the other. This, indeed, is quite understandable. It also happens that, through a certain sound or gesture or other such thing, the presence of one person affects the soul of another person, and thus an indissoluble friendship arises. There are those we dislike without reason as soon as we see them, and also others we love without cause. This love and hate are sometimes reciprocal and sometimes not. This happens because of the domination of the one person over the other in respect to one type of feeling, which in turn is blocked by another type of feeling in the other person. Thus, we are attracted by a feeling of love for one type of dog or bird, while they may be struck by fear, and thus avoid and dislike us.
This type of bonding also includes prayers and petitions, which some use to solicit both peers and superiors in cases where considerations of jus- tice, honesty or reason produce no results. Sometimes proposals from fools and buffoons are so effective that people who are clever try to ensnare the souls of their superiors by playing such a role rather than by using more proper means. This happened during the papacy of Julius ? ? ? , who rejected and dismissed those who would pray, beg or cry. But if someone
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? approached him with humour and wit, after kissing his foot, that person would be able to get from him whatever he wanted.
We might also consider the art of speaking and its type of spiritual bond- ing. This occurs in songs and poems and in whatever orators do to per- suade, to dissuade and to move the emotions. The orators omit the other parts of this art and try to hide them in the lap of magicians or philosophers or those versed in politics. But Aristotle has covered most of it in his Rhetorica ad Alexandrum,27 where he organizes his considerations under two headings. He examines first what the speaker needs and finds helpful, and second what is pleasing and amusing in what he says or binds, by con- sidering his habits, status, conclusions and practices. But this is not the place to recall and review all these matters.
Thirdly, the bondings arising from vision
The spirit is also bonded through vision, as has been said frequently above, when various forms are observed by the eyes. As a result, active and pas- sive items of interest pass out from the eyes and enter into the eyes. As the adage says, 'I do not know whose eyes make lambs tender for me'. 28
Beautiful sights arouse feelings of love, and contrary sights bring feel- ings of disgrace and hate. And the emotions of the soul and spirit bring something additional to the body itself, which exists under the control of the soul and the direction of the spirit. There are also other types of feel- ings which come through the eyes and immediately affect the body for some reason: sad expressions in other people make us sad and compassionate and sorry for obvious reasons.
There are also worse impressions which enter the soul and the body, but it is not evident how this happens and we are unable to judge the issue. Nevertheless, they act very powerfully through various things which are in us, that is, through a multitude of spirits and souls. Although one soul lives in the whole body, and all the body's members are controlled by one soul, still the whole body and the whole soul and the parts of the universe are vivified by a certain total spirit.
Hence, the explanation of many spiritual feelings must be found in something else which lives and is conscious in us, and which is affected and
? 27 In ? ? ? ? , Bruno wrote a commentary on this Aristotelian treatise under the title Explicatio rhetoricae Aristotelis ad Alexandrum.
28 Virgil, Eclogues, ? ? ? , ? ? ? .
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? disturbed by things which do not affect or disturb us. And sometimes we are touched and injured more significantly by those things whose assaults we are not aware of than we are by things which we do perceive. As a result, many things which are seen, and forms which are absorbed through the eyes, do not arouse any consciousness in our direct and external sensory powers. Nevertheless, they do penetrate more deeply and lethally, so that the internal spirit is immediately conscious of them, as if it were a foreign sense or living thing. Thus, it would not be easy to refute some of the Platonists and all of the Pythagoreans, who believe that one human person of himself lives in many animals, and when one of these animals dies, even the most important one, the others survive for a long time.
Hence, it would obviously be stupid to think that we are affected and injured only by those visible forms which generate clear awareness in the senses and the soul. That would not be much different from someone who thinks that he is injured more or less only by blows of which he is more or less conscious. However, we experience more discomfort and suffering by being pricked by a needle or by a thorn irritating the skin than we do by a sword thrust through from one side of the body to the other, whose effect is later felt a great deal more, but at the time we are unaware of the injury caused by its penetration of parts of the body.
So, indeed, there are many things which stealthily pass through the eyes and capture and continuously intrude upon the spirit up to the point of the death of the soul, even though they do not cause as much awareness as do less significant things. For example, seeing certain gestures or emotions or actions can move us to tears. And the souls of some faint at the sight of the spilling of another's blood or in observing the dissection of a cadaver. There is no other cause of this than a feeling which binds through vision.
Fourthly, the bondings arising from imagination
The role of the imagination is to receive images derived from the senses and to preserve, combine and divide them. This happens in two ways. First, it occurs by the free creative choice of the person who imagines, for example, poets, painters, story writers and all who combine images in some organized way. Second, it occurs without such deliberate choice. The latter also happens in two ways: either through some other cause which chooses and selects, or through an external agent. The latter, again, is
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? twofold. Sometimes the agent is mediated, as when a man uses sounds or appearances to bring about stimulations through the eyes or ears. And some- times the agent is unmediated, as when a spirit, rational soul or demon acts on the imagination of someone, asleep or awake, to produce internal images in such a way that something seems to have been apprehended by the external senses.
Consequently,somepossessedpeopleseemtoseecertainsightsandhear certain sounds and words which they truly think are caused by external subjects. Hence, they strongly and persistently assert that what they have seen and heard is true, when it is their reason which is deceived, and not their senses, for they do hear what they hear, and they do see what they see. But the very same thing which they think they see as derived from exter- nal sounds in their ears and from external sights absorbed by their vision are fantasy images presented to their internal sense. However, they think that these impressions of the internal sense are the real things. Thus, it hap- pens that they refuse to be recalled to a healthier point of view by actual witnesses, whom they prefer to reject in favour of their own imagination, and who they truly think are deaf and dumb. Medically these matters are cases of mania and melancholy, and are called 'the dreams of the wakeful'.
Further, this type of bonding is not due simply to a material principle, as is believed by certain well-known medical people with an obstinacy which is most crude and oppressive.
Nor is it due simply to demonic or dia- bolical efficient causes, as is believed on their part by some theologians. Rather, both causes co-operate. The material factor is a melancholic humour, which we call the kitchen or the bathhouse of the saturnalian demons. But the efficient cause and moving spirit is a demon who does not have a completely immaterial substance, because these demons seem to be endowed with many animal affections and have definite properties of denseness. Although they are spiritual substances, nature has given them a body which is very thin and is not endowed with senses. They belong to that genus of animal which, as was said, has more species than do living, composite and sensory animals.
Now, a specific soul comes to a specific seed which has been properly deposited in a specific place, or conversely, a body makes or produces from itself, as it were, a specific animal form or living thing. For example, from one seed the olive is born, from another a dog, from another a human, and in general one thing or another is suited to be born from a body which is structured in one way or another. As the poet says, 'The eggs come more
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? readily to where the seed is sown'. 29 As a result, like the proper seed being sown in the proper field, good and evil spirits and the beginnings of con- sciousness are born from a proper mixture and combination of specific hearts or brains or animal spirits, and conversely, improper mixtures pro- duce disturbances. These results are mutual: certain souls bring certain bodies into existence, and certain bodies bring certain souls into existence, in accordance with what are called the substantial and the specific difference and subsistence.
When two spirits approach and come near to each other, either because of an accidental combination or because of objects attached to the body, then the dominance of a raging spirit can be removed safely and methodi- cally. This is done either by incantations, that is, by rhetorical and friendly and curing persuasions which restore the besieged spirit; or by the expul- sion and evacuation of noxious material with purgative medicines; or by foods and a happy, sunny atmosphere which are agreeable to human life, and which introduce better matter for the spirit; or by soothing and moderating the harmful materials which sometimes enter into the mix.
As a result, the spirit alone does not produce these living animal opera- tions, nor does the body do this without the spirit. Rather, for these things to occur, whether they be good or bad, or in accord with or in opposition to the nature of the species, what is required is both a material principle and a formal or efficient cause of the needed type. Further, it is reasonable to say that a simple purgation of humours and a simple diet are adequate to cure disturbed images and to free the internal senses which are bound in this way.
However, from this, one cannot accept the conclusion drawn by a most stupid and dull-witted medical man in his book De occultis naturae mirac- ulis30 (On the Hidden Miracles of Nature), which presents more nonsense than words and sentences can describe. He concludes that spirits are the same thing as humours because the expulsion and evacuation of humours also expels and evacuates these spirits with their marvellously independent and structured powers. In this way, with equal justice, one could say that, because the excellence of the soul forces it to leave the body and be many souls in succession, he should think that the soul, itself, is a humour or excrement. Or if he himself were to decide to abandon his house and coun- try because a shortage of food and water made him ignorant of medicine and of the obvious colours and sounds of nature, we should conclude that
29 Virgil, Georgics, ? , ? ? . 30 Levinus Lemnius, De miraculis occultis naturae (Anterpiae, ? ? ? ? ). ? ? ?
? On magic
? he himself belongs to the same species as the things which expelled him. Since the senses happen to be bound and obligated in all these ways, magic and medicine must pay very special attention to the workings of the imagination. For this is the doorway and entrance for all the actions and passions and feelings of animals. And to that linkage is tied the more
profound power of thought.
Fifthly, the bondings arising from thought
The bondings of the imagination would not be very significant in them- selves if they did not duplicate the powers of thought, for those appear- ances which bind and obligate the souls of those who are simple-minded, stupid, credulous and superstitious, are derided and condemned as empty shadows by those who have a sober, disciplined and well-bred mind. As a result, all practitioners of magic, medicine and prophesy produce no results without a pre-given faith,31 and unless they act according to the rules of that faith. (We use the word 'faith' here in the more general sense in which it is used by these people, individually and as a group. )
This faith arises in some people from their pre-given powers, which are well disposed and organized, and in others, it comes from a disturbance of their powers. Indeed, great results are produced by those bonds which come from the words of a man of eloquence, by which a certain disposition arises and flourishes in the imagination, which is the only entrance for all inter- nal feelings and is the bond of bonds. This is the point of Hippocrates' say- ing, 'The most effective doctor is the one whom most believe'. The reason for this is that he binds many people with his eloquence or presence or fame. This applies not only to medicine but to any type of magic or to any power identified by a different title, for, in the act of binding, the imagination must be stimulated or else one can hardly motivate anyone by other means.
In regard to the notion that it is possible for a person to do everything on his own, the theologians believe, agree and state publicly that it is impossible to help those who do not believe the minister. The reason for their lack of power lies in the imagination which they cannot bind. Indeed, kinsmen reject and laugh at physicians and divines because they know about their humble origins and education. As the well-known adage states, 'No one is a prophet in his own land'.
31 In his De magia mathematica, ? , Bruno claims that even Christ could not cause miracles when the disciples around him had too little faith. See Matthew, ? ? :? ? .
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? Thus, someone who is less well-known can bind people more easily. Given a good general impression and a disposition to be believed, he can somehow use the power of his soul to arrange, disclose and explain things for them, as if windows which had been closed are opened to receive the light of the sun. This opens the door to those other impressions which the art of binding seeks in order to establish further bonds, namely, hope, com- passion, fear, love, hate, indignation, anger, joy, patience, disdain for life, for death, for fate, and all of the powers which cross over from the soul to change the body.
There is no need for a more detailed investigation and consideration of the changes which occur to the types of bondings which follow upon faith and a good impression, and which were just listed above. Further, it is not our business at present to examine the more spiritual powers of the soul which follow next: namely, memory, reason, experience, intellect and mind, because the acts of these powers do not flow over into the body and change it. Rather, all physical changes originate from the powers which are prior to thought and which are its principal and efficient causes.
As a result, all magical powers, active and passive, and their species are dependent upon magical bondings. As Plotinus has asserted, both the wise man and the fool can be bound by the natural principles residing in them, unless the subject also contains some principle which can reject and dis- miss magical influences. For as was said above, not everything enters into everything else, and not everything mixes with everything else, as, for example, water and oil do not mix. As Plotinus himself has stated, and as Porphyry confirms in his Vita Plotini [Life of Plotinus], the evil spells with which a certain Egyptian tried to bind and injure Plotinus were turned back against him. 32 These things are discussed in our De vinculis in genere [A General Account of Bonding].
? 32 The incident related here can be found in Porphyry's On the Life of Plotinus and the Arrangement of his Work, ? ? ? , in Plotinus, The Enneads, translated by Stephen MacKenna, Third Edition (London: Faber and Faber Ltd. , ? ? ? ? ) ? .
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A General Account of Bonding
A general account of bonding
Anyone who has the power to bind must to some degree have a universal theory of things in order to be able to bind humans (who are, indeed, the culmination of all things). As we have said elsewhere, in this highest species, it is possible to see, and especially to rank, the species of all things. For example, some humans are like fish, others like birds, others like snakes, and still others like reptiles, whether it be in the latters' species or in their genera. Also, different people have different functions, habits, pur- poses, inclinations, understandings and eras. And so, as was imagined by Proteus and Achelous, the same material object can be changed into different forms and figures, such that to bind them continuously one should always use differing kinds of knots. In addition to this, let us notice the conditions of human life: being young and then old; being of a moder- ate station, or noble, or rich, or powerful, or happy, or, indeed, even envi- ous and ambitious; or being a soldier or a merchant, or one of the many other officials who play a role in different ways in the administration of a state, and thus who must be bonded to each other because they function as agents and instruments of the state. In effect, it seems that nothing can fall outside of an examination of civil life when it is considered in this way (whether it be bonding, or being bonded, or the bonds themselves, or their circumstances). This is the reason why we have assembled the following considerations, which are entitled A general account of bonding.
On bonding agents in general
? . Types of bonding agents. Taken universally, bonding agents are God,
demons, souls, animals, nature, chance, luck and, finally, fate. This universal
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A general account of bonding
? force of bonding, which cannot be designated by one name, does not bind because of the nature or the sensitivity of matter. A body does not have any feeling on its own, but only because of a certain force which resides in it and which emanates from it. This force is called, metaphorically, the 'hand which binds', and it is oriented and adapted to bonding in multiple ways.
? . Effects of the bonding agent. As the Platonists say, it is this bonding agency which adorns the mind with orderly ideas; which fills the soul with sequen- tial arguments and harmonious discourse; which makes nature fertile for various seeds; which structures matter in innumerable ways; which vivi- fies, soothes, caresses and activates all things; which orders, generates, rules, attracts and inflames all things; and which moves, reveals, illuminates, purifies, pleases and completes all things.
? . How art binds. An artisan binds with his art, for art is the excellence of the artisan. Even someone who is stupid and dull witted will see the beauty of natural and artificial things, even though he cannot at the same time grasp and admire the talent which has generated all things. For him, 'the stars do not speak of the glory of God'. 1 Rather, like a brute animal, he will shower his affections not on God but on His effects.
? . Humans are bound in many ways. Of all the things which bind, certainly more of them bind humans than brute animals, and more of them bind those who have an active character than those who are dull witted; those who are well endowed in their faculties and powers are aware of more details, circumstances and purposes, and thus, they are moved by more desires.
? . How the senses are panderers for the bonding agent. Dull witted people are bound by lusts, which are aroused infrequently and by natural impulses, and which are few in number and limited to base nourishments. Such peo- ple are not soothed by eloquent speech, nor are they won over by beauty, music, painting or by any of the other attractions of nature.
? . Why only one bond is not enough. As I am bound by more things, I become aware of the many things which bind me, for there are many different kinds of beauty. Thus, I am inflamed and bound in a relationship by one thing in one way and by other things in other ways. If every relationship were reduced to one, then perhaps one thing would be welcomed for all purposes
1 This is the first line of Psalm ? ? , to which Bruno has added the negative. ? ? ?
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? and for all occasions. But up to now, this has not happened in nature, which has spread about many bonds of beauty, happiness, goodness, and the var- ious contraries of these dispositions, and which widely distributes them separately according to the numerous types of matter. But it does some- times happen that a person is so tied to one object that his awareness of other things is weakened, overwhelmed and suppressed, either because of the dullness of the senses which are blind to and neglectful of all other things, or because one bond is so strong that it weakens and distorts him. But this is extraordinary and happens rarely and in only a few cases. For example, there are some whose souls seem to be so carried away by the hope of eternal life and by a vivid faith and credulousness, and seem to be so sep- arated from the body in some way, and so strongly bound and controlled by some object in their fantasies and in their opinions, that they do not seem to be aware of the most horrible torments. This clearly happened to the philosopher Anaxarchus, to Andrew2 the Galilean, to the priest Lawrence,3 and to others up to our own day, who were murdered by rulers and kings for the sake of their religion. This also happened for the sake of reason to Diogenes the Cynic and to Epicurus, who argued that they could banish all awareness of pain and pleasure by binding their souls, according to natural laws and principles, with a contempt of all things and of every type of opinion . . . They thought they would attain the highest good avail- able in this life to the human species by preserving their souls in a state of heroic pleasure above sorrow, fear, anger and other feelings. They claimed that, by holding in contempt the ignoble things in this very transitory life, they could attain a life similar to the gods even while in this mortal body. They thought that they had actually attained this highest good and sublime virtue, and that they had shown this to others.
? . What power contributes to a bonding agent. There are those who say that a bonding agent of greater power binds something else which in turn does not bind it; if the powers are equal, then there is a reciprocal bond which consists in a balance of that quality. But it would follow from this opinion that bond- ing powers are continually changed and altered as forms, circumstances and natures are altered, for a young man does not bind the same things which he bound as a boy, and a woman does not bind the same things which she bound as a girl. Hence, a bonding power is not simple or reducible to only one thing, but is composite, variable in nature and composed of contraries.
2 St Andrew the Apostle, brother of Simon Peter. 3 St Laurentius, third-century Christian martyr.
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? ? . What is bound more easily. A person who is more truly human is bound most strongly by the most worthy things, and he prefers much more to seek out more worthy things than to possess base things, for certainly, we are easily irritated by base things and more ardently seek for things which we do not easily attain.
? . That the same thing bonds contraries in the same way. Bonding agents which pertain to the same type of bonding seem to be confusing, and in a sense even contradictory, when one considers the contrasting effects and circumstances of the bonds. Consider, for example, the bonds of physical love, which seem to be both a fire and snare at the same time, which drive one to shout and to be silent, to joy and to sorrow, to hope and to despera- tion, to fear and to boldness, to anger and to gentleness, to weeping and to laughter. Hence the verses:
I, who carry high the standard of love,
have frozen hopes and burning desires:
at the same time I tremble and freeze, burn and spark, I am mute and fill heaven with ardent cries.
From the heart I sparkle and from my eyes I shed water; I live and I die, laugh and lament.
The waters live and the fire does not die,
for in my eyes I have Thetis and in my heart, Vulcan. 4
? ? . A bonding agent does not bind different things with the same bond. A thing is not absolutely beautiful if it binds only playfully; it is not absolutely good if it binds only usefully; it is not absolutely large if it is limited. Regarding beauty, notice how monkeys and horses please each other; indeed, not even Venus pleases some types of humans and heroes. Regarding goodness, notice how all things contain contraries, and how different animals find what is good for them under the seas or on dry land, in mountains or in fields, in abysses or on summits.
? ? . He who binds. Therefore, he who knows how to bind needs to have an understanding of all things, or at least of the nature, inclination, habits, uses and purposes of the particular things that he is to bind.
? 4 The translation of these two quatrains is taken from John Charles Nelson, Renaissance Theory of Love (New York: Columbia University Press, ? ? ? ? ) ? ? ? . Bruno quotes these verses, with slight variations, from his Eroici furori, Part ?
? On magic
? On the bondings of spirits, and first those arising from the three conditions of agent, matter, and application
For actions actually to occur in the world, three conditions are required: (? ) an active power in the agent; (? ) a passive power or disposition in a sub- ject or patient, which is an aptitude in it not to resist or to render the action impossible (which reduces to one phrase, namely, the potency of matter); and (? ) an appropriate application, which is subject to the circumstances of time, place and other conditions.
In the absence of these three conditions, all actions are, simply speaking, always blocked. For even if a flute player is perfect, he is blocked by a bro- ken flute, and the application of the former to the latter is useless. Thus, a lack of power in the matter makes an agent impotent and an application unfitting. This is what was meant when we said that an absence of these three conditions, strictly speaking, always blocks an action.
Closer examination may show that the defect is due to only two, or even only one, of these conditions. But a defect in any one of them should be understood as meaning a defect in all three, as when the flute player and his performance are perfect but the flute is defective, or when the player and the flute are perfect but the performance is interrupted. If the whole meaning of efficient action is taken to consist in the application, then the first condition merges with the third, for the agent is nothing other than the applicator, and to do something is nothing other than to apply something.
Not all things are by nature passive, or active, in relation to all other things. Rather, as is said in the Physics,25 every passion is from a contrary, and every action is on a contrary, or more specifically, on a disposed con- trary, as is stated in the common saying, 'Active powers act on a properly disposed patient'. From this, it is clear that water mingles and mixes with water because of a similarity or awareness or sympathy, such that after they have united, no device can separate the one from the other.
Indeed, pure or unmingled wine also easily mixes with water, and vice versa, thus forming a mixture. But the parts of the wine contain some amount of heat and air and spirits, and thus the wine is not completely sympathetic with the water. As a result, they do not mix at the smallest level but survive separately to a noticeable degree in a heterogeneous compound, so that they can be separated again in various ways. The same thing
25 Aristotle, Physics, ? , ? . See also his De generatione et corruptione, ? , ? , which makes this point more explicitly.
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On magic
? happens to sea water, which yields fresh water when it is distilled or filtered through wax containers. This would not happen if the mixture had been perfect. Furthermore, oil will never mix with water because the parts of oil cohere and are glued together like lovers, and they neither penetrate nor are penetrated by the parts of water. Therefore, anyone who studies the mixing of bodies with each other should give a great deal of attention to the condition of the parts, for not everything can be mixed with everything else.
Thus, one must study the arrangement, composition and differences of the parts, for a whole can be penetrated by a whole in one direction but not in another. This happens in all things, like stones, wood and even flesh, which are penetrable, or more penetrable from one side or direction than another. This is clear when fluids are expelled by pushing along the length of fibres. And wood is more easily split lengthwise, for wood is more easily penetrated along its length than its width because the pores located between the fibres create tubes or passages in that direction.
Furthermore, one must not only examine the character and arrange- ment of the parts, but also the condition of the whole structure, for certain passions are naturally adapted to be received by one subject rather than by another. For example, a torpedo fish causes a shock to the hand of the fish- erman, but not to the net. And, as the old joke says, the fires of love burn the heart and the breast, but leave the chest cold and uncooked.
The same thing happens with thunderbolts, which have at times liqui- fied a steel sword without damaging its scabbard. An astonishing event also happened in Naples to a very beautiful and noble young girl whose pubic hair was burned, but nothing else. They also say that when the wood of a barrel was burned away, the wine remained firm and solid without it. Many such things have happened because of this ultimate occult power which resides in the atoms of this kind of fire and which acts in one place but not in another. The laurel and the eagle are used as insignia by generals and poets because they are never touched by lightning, and so like them, generals and poets are friends of Apollo and Jupiter.
What happened to that young girl does not happen to just any human being. The reason for this is that not all people have the same physical con- stitution and temperament and the same quality of spirit, and, as a result, not all have a soul that can stop the rains and command the winds and the storms. The astonishing things that happen in bodies must be related to a special constitution which, because of the innumerable differences in them,
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? is due sometimes to the laws of the whole species and sometimes to a special prerogative of the individual.
Hence, magicians carefully examine both species and individuals in order to grasp the effects of their power. Being prudent leaders, they recruit as their soldiers and gather as their military aides not those who are friends or well-known or highly recommended people, but rather those who are more favoured by fortune and those who usually are lucky enough to avoid such dangers. Likewise, by wearing and carrying and otherwise using cer- tain plants and minerals, they try, as if by means of direct contact, to appro- priate for themselves certain prerogatives of power. And thus, as leaders protected by laurel crowns, they do not fear the lightning.
Next it should be noted that for specific animals there are poisons, like hemlock generally is for humans, which usually are consumed as a very helpful nourishment by other animals, and which readily fatten them. Likewise, it should be seen that for various species there are different foods, poisons and antidotes. An important principle of magic and of medicine is to be able to distinguish the different constitutions and explanations of ill- nesses and good health, and the principles of changing or preserving their forms and dispositions by using external objects. Thus, the chemist knows that nitric acid acts on hard things, such as iron, silver and bronze, but not on gold or lead. He also knows that quicksilver absorbs oil very rapidly, but gold completely rejects and repudiates it. Furthermore, the seeds or juice of verbena plants are strong enough to break up stones in the bladder yet seem to do no damage to flesh, bones, membranes and other parts of the body.
There are those who explain these facts in terms of the pores being wide or narrow. I would readily grant this in some cases, but not in most cases, nor in the more important cases which are discussed above, for the reason why nitric acid penetrates one thing more than another is not that the one has wider pores. Likewise, the spirit of the verbena plant breaks up stones but not bones and flesh, even though the latter has larger pores. And what would they say about diamonds which are not split by fire, the smallest and most penetrating of bodies, even though they do absorb the blood of a billy goat?
Therefore, one must maintain the following general principle: not all things are influenced by everything else, and not all effects happen to every- thing in the same way. To give a proper explanation, the reason must be found in individual effects and cases. The occult forms and differences in
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? things do not have their own names. They are not observable by means of vision and touch, and explanations of their specific origins are not to be found in visual and tactile differences. All we can say about these occult forms is that they do exist. As a result, we conclude that not even the demons themselves could talk about them easily, if they were to choose to discuss them with us, using our words and the meanings which are signified by our words.
Secondly, the bondings arising from sounds and songs
A second type of bonding is based on the conformity between numbers, between measures and between times. This is the origin of those rhythms and songs which have such a very great power. Some people are affected more by tragedies, others by comic melodies, and others are affected gen- erally in all cases. Some even react like that barbarian general who, when he heard musical instruments played very skilfully, said that he preferred to hear the neighing of his horse. He clearly proved by this that he was a disgrace and was unworthy of appearing to be human.
By the term 'songs' we intend to refer to much more than harmonies, for as some have experienced, the most powerful songs and poems seem to contain more discord than harmony. Perhaps such was the condition of the soul of that subhuman general who was more easily influenced by the sounds of his horse's neighing. For just like someone who looks at the sensible har- monies of vision, the souls of humans and horses and dogs are captured by different harmonious sounds, and different things are beautiful according to the condition of each species. As is said in the proverb 'from an ass to a lyre', not all songs are well suited for everyone. And as different harmonies bind different souls, so also different magicians bind different spirits.
These bonds are tenacious for two reasons. First, they are perceived or encountered in the soul through hearing, just as the voices of the Marsi and the Psylli became such powerful voices when they were present in the ser- pent. 26 Second, the bonding effect is brought to completion by an occult murmur which, analogously to the relations between spirits, did not orig- inally come from the binder to the bound for the purposes of bonding. For those who are enchanted do not always hear the voice of their enchanters, and even when they do, they are not sensibly affected immediately.
? 26 Both the Marsi, a people who lived near Lago di Celano in Southern Italy, and the Psylli, a people who lived near Sidra on the North African coast, were well-known as snake charmers.
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On magic
? Further, one should note that the rhythm or characteristics of one sound can mingle with, and obscure, the rhythm of another sound. As a result, it is said that when a wolf, or some say a deer, is seen by people who are bonded to the spirit of that animal, they lose their voices and cannot easily form words. And they say that when a drum made of sheep skin is located next to a drum made of wolf skin, the former loses its sound, even though otherwise it emits strong sounds when forcefully hit. The reason for this is that the spirit which somehow remains in the dead wolf skin can bond with, and control, the spirit in the sheep skin, and thus they are subject to the same antagonism and dominance which are present in the living animals.
I have not personally experienced this. But it is a possibility and is rea- sonable, even though this relationship is not always found between living things and between species. The ass fears the wolf no less than does the sheep, and is equally frightened by its danger. Nevertheless, a drum made of the skin of a wolf does not diminish the equally strong beats from a drum made of the skin of an ass, but rather increases their loudness considerably.
Let us next consider lyres whose strings are made of the tendons of sheep and wolves, which are always opposed. It is well-known by many that if two lyres or cithers are constructed in the same way, and if a string of only one of them is plucked, its sound is not only consonant with the string of the other, but it will generate the same motion in the other. This, indeed, is quite understandable. It also happens that, through a certain sound or gesture or other such thing, the presence of one person affects the soul of another person, and thus an indissoluble friendship arises. There are those we dislike without reason as soon as we see them, and also others we love without cause. This love and hate are sometimes reciprocal and sometimes not. This happens because of the domination of the one person over the other in respect to one type of feeling, which in turn is blocked by another type of feeling in the other person. Thus, we are attracted by a feeling of love for one type of dog or bird, while they may be struck by fear, and thus avoid and dislike us.
This type of bonding also includes prayers and petitions, which some use to solicit both peers and superiors in cases where considerations of jus- tice, honesty or reason produce no results. Sometimes proposals from fools and buffoons are so effective that people who are clever try to ensnare the souls of their superiors by playing such a role rather than by using more proper means. This happened during the papacy of Julius ? ? ? , who rejected and dismissed those who would pray, beg or cry. But if someone
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? approached him with humour and wit, after kissing his foot, that person would be able to get from him whatever he wanted.
We might also consider the art of speaking and its type of spiritual bond- ing. This occurs in songs and poems and in whatever orators do to per- suade, to dissuade and to move the emotions. The orators omit the other parts of this art and try to hide them in the lap of magicians or philosophers or those versed in politics. But Aristotle has covered most of it in his Rhetorica ad Alexandrum,27 where he organizes his considerations under two headings. He examines first what the speaker needs and finds helpful, and second what is pleasing and amusing in what he says or binds, by con- sidering his habits, status, conclusions and practices. But this is not the place to recall and review all these matters.
Thirdly, the bondings arising from vision
The spirit is also bonded through vision, as has been said frequently above, when various forms are observed by the eyes. As a result, active and pas- sive items of interest pass out from the eyes and enter into the eyes. As the adage says, 'I do not know whose eyes make lambs tender for me'. 28
Beautiful sights arouse feelings of love, and contrary sights bring feel- ings of disgrace and hate. And the emotions of the soul and spirit bring something additional to the body itself, which exists under the control of the soul and the direction of the spirit. There are also other types of feel- ings which come through the eyes and immediately affect the body for some reason: sad expressions in other people make us sad and compassionate and sorry for obvious reasons.
There are also worse impressions which enter the soul and the body, but it is not evident how this happens and we are unable to judge the issue. Nevertheless, they act very powerfully through various things which are in us, that is, through a multitude of spirits and souls. Although one soul lives in the whole body, and all the body's members are controlled by one soul, still the whole body and the whole soul and the parts of the universe are vivified by a certain total spirit.
Hence, the explanation of many spiritual feelings must be found in something else which lives and is conscious in us, and which is affected and
? 27 In ? ? ? ? , Bruno wrote a commentary on this Aristotelian treatise under the title Explicatio rhetoricae Aristotelis ad Alexandrum.
28 Virgil, Eclogues, ? ? ? , ? ? ? .
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On magic
? disturbed by things which do not affect or disturb us. And sometimes we are touched and injured more significantly by those things whose assaults we are not aware of than we are by things which we do perceive. As a result, many things which are seen, and forms which are absorbed through the eyes, do not arouse any consciousness in our direct and external sensory powers. Nevertheless, they do penetrate more deeply and lethally, so that the internal spirit is immediately conscious of them, as if it were a foreign sense or living thing. Thus, it would not be easy to refute some of the Platonists and all of the Pythagoreans, who believe that one human person of himself lives in many animals, and when one of these animals dies, even the most important one, the others survive for a long time.
Hence, it would obviously be stupid to think that we are affected and injured only by those visible forms which generate clear awareness in the senses and the soul. That would not be much different from someone who thinks that he is injured more or less only by blows of which he is more or less conscious. However, we experience more discomfort and suffering by being pricked by a needle or by a thorn irritating the skin than we do by a sword thrust through from one side of the body to the other, whose effect is later felt a great deal more, but at the time we are unaware of the injury caused by its penetration of parts of the body.
So, indeed, there are many things which stealthily pass through the eyes and capture and continuously intrude upon the spirit up to the point of the death of the soul, even though they do not cause as much awareness as do less significant things. For example, seeing certain gestures or emotions or actions can move us to tears. And the souls of some faint at the sight of the spilling of another's blood or in observing the dissection of a cadaver. There is no other cause of this than a feeling which binds through vision.
Fourthly, the bondings arising from imagination
The role of the imagination is to receive images derived from the senses and to preserve, combine and divide them. This happens in two ways. First, it occurs by the free creative choice of the person who imagines, for example, poets, painters, story writers and all who combine images in some organized way. Second, it occurs without such deliberate choice. The latter also happens in two ways: either through some other cause which chooses and selects, or through an external agent. The latter, again, is
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? twofold. Sometimes the agent is mediated, as when a man uses sounds or appearances to bring about stimulations through the eyes or ears. And some- times the agent is unmediated, as when a spirit, rational soul or demon acts on the imagination of someone, asleep or awake, to produce internal images in such a way that something seems to have been apprehended by the external senses.
Consequently,somepossessedpeopleseemtoseecertainsightsandhear certain sounds and words which they truly think are caused by external subjects. Hence, they strongly and persistently assert that what they have seen and heard is true, when it is their reason which is deceived, and not their senses, for they do hear what they hear, and they do see what they see. But the very same thing which they think they see as derived from exter- nal sounds in their ears and from external sights absorbed by their vision are fantasy images presented to their internal sense. However, they think that these impressions of the internal sense are the real things. Thus, it hap- pens that they refuse to be recalled to a healthier point of view by actual witnesses, whom they prefer to reject in favour of their own imagination, and who they truly think are deaf and dumb. Medically these matters are cases of mania and melancholy, and are called 'the dreams of the wakeful'.
Further, this type of bonding is not due simply to a material principle, as is believed by certain well-known medical people with an obstinacy which is most crude and oppressive.
Nor is it due simply to demonic or dia- bolical efficient causes, as is believed on their part by some theologians. Rather, both causes co-operate. The material factor is a melancholic humour, which we call the kitchen or the bathhouse of the saturnalian demons. But the efficient cause and moving spirit is a demon who does not have a completely immaterial substance, because these demons seem to be endowed with many animal affections and have definite properties of denseness. Although they are spiritual substances, nature has given them a body which is very thin and is not endowed with senses. They belong to that genus of animal which, as was said, has more species than do living, composite and sensory animals.
Now, a specific soul comes to a specific seed which has been properly deposited in a specific place, or conversely, a body makes or produces from itself, as it were, a specific animal form or living thing. For example, from one seed the olive is born, from another a dog, from another a human, and in general one thing or another is suited to be born from a body which is structured in one way or another. As the poet says, 'The eggs come more
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On magic
? readily to where the seed is sown'. 29 As a result, like the proper seed being sown in the proper field, good and evil spirits and the beginnings of con- sciousness are born from a proper mixture and combination of specific hearts or brains or animal spirits, and conversely, improper mixtures pro- duce disturbances. These results are mutual: certain souls bring certain bodies into existence, and certain bodies bring certain souls into existence, in accordance with what are called the substantial and the specific difference and subsistence.
When two spirits approach and come near to each other, either because of an accidental combination or because of objects attached to the body, then the dominance of a raging spirit can be removed safely and methodi- cally. This is done either by incantations, that is, by rhetorical and friendly and curing persuasions which restore the besieged spirit; or by the expul- sion and evacuation of noxious material with purgative medicines; or by foods and a happy, sunny atmosphere which are agreeable to human life, and which introduce better matter for the spirit; or by soothing and moderating the harmful materials which sometimes enter into the mix.
As a result, the spirit alone does not produce these living animal opera- tions, nor does the body do this without the spirit. Rather, for these things to occur, whether they be good or bad, or in accord with or in opposition to the nature of the species, what is required is both a material principle and a formal or efficient cause of the needed type. Further, it is reasonable to say that a simple purgation of humours and a simple diet are adequate to cure disturbed images and to free the internal senses which are bound in this way.
However, from this, one cannot accept the conclusion drawn by a most stupid and dull-witted medical man in his book De occultis naturae mirac- ulis30 (On the Hidden Miracles of Nature), which presents more nonsense than words and sentences can describe. He concludes that spirits are the same thing as humours because the expulsion and evacuation of humours also expels and evacuates these spirits with their marvellously independent and structured powers. In this way, with equal justice, one could say that, because the excellence of the soul forces it to leave the body and be many souls in succession, he should think that the soul, itself, is a humour or excrement. Or if he himself were to decide to abandon his house and coun- try because a shortage of food and water made him ignorant of medicine and of the obvious colours and sounds of nature, we should conclude that
29 Virgil, Georgics, ? , ? ? . 30 Levinus Lemnius, De miraculis occultis naturae (Anterpiae, ? ? ? ? ). ? ? ?
? On magic
? he himself belongs to the same species as the things which expelled him. Since the senses happen to be bound and obligated in all these ways, magic and medicine must pay very special attention to the workings of the imagination. For this is the doorway and entrance for all the actions and passions and feelings of animals. And to that linkage is tied the more
profound power of thought.
Fifthly, the bondings arising from thought
The bondings of the imagination would not be very significant in them- selves if they did not duplicate the powers of thought, for those appear- ances which bind and obligate the souls of those who are simple-minded, stupid, credulous and superstitious, are derided and condemned as empty shadows by those who have a sober, disciplined and well-bred mind. As a result, all practitioners of magic, medicine and prophesy produce no results without a pre-given faith,31 and unless they act according to the rules of that faith. (We use the word 'faith' here in the more general sense in which it is used by these people, individually and as a group. )
This faith arises in some people from their pre-given powers, which are well disposed and organized, and in others, it comes from a disturbance of their powers. Indeed, great results are produced by those bonds which come from the words of a man of eloquence, by which a certain disposition arises and flourishes in the imagination, which is the only entrance for all inter- nal feelings and is the bond of bonds. This is the point of Hippocrates' say- ing, 'The most effective doctor is the one whom most believe'. The reason for this is that he binds many people with his eloquence or presence or fame. This applies not only to medicine but to any type of magic or to any power identified by a different title, for, in the act of binding, the imagination must be stimulated or else one can hardly motivate anyone by other means.
In regard to the notion that it is possible for a person to do everything on his own, the theologians believe, agree and state publicly that it is impossible to help those who do not believe the minister. The reason for their lack of power lies in the imagination which they cannot bind. Indeed, kinsmen reject and laugh at physicians and divines because they know about their humble origins and education. As the well-known adage states, 'No one is a prophet in his own land'.
31 In his De magia mathematica, ? , Bruno claims that even Christ could not cause miracles when the disciples around him had too little faith. See Matthew, ? ? :? ? .
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On magic
? Thus, someone who is less well-known can bind people more easily. Given a good general impression and a disposition to be believed, he can somehow use the power of his soul to arrange, disclose and explain things for them, as if windows which had been closed are opened to receive the light of the sun. This opens the door to those other impressions which the art of binding seeks in order to establish further bonds, namely, hope, com- passion, fear, love, hate, indignation, anger, joy, patience, disdain for life, for death, for fate, and all of the powers which cross over from the soul to change the body.
There is no need for a more detailed investigation and consideration of the changes which occur to the types of bondings which follow upon faith and a good impression, and which were just listed above. Further, it is not our business at present to examine the more spiritual powers of the soul which follow next: namely, memory, reason, experience, intellect and mind, because the acts of these powers do not flow over into the body and change it. Rather, all physical changes originate from the powers which are prior to thought and which are its principal and efficient causes.
As a result, all magical powers, active and passive, and their species are dependent upon magical bondings. As Plotinus has asserted, both the wise man and the fool can be bound by the natural principles residing in them, unless the subject also contains some principle which can reject and dis- miss magical influences. For as was said above, not everything enters into everything else, and not everything mixes with everything else, as, for example, water and oil do not mix. As Plotinus himself has stated, and as Porphyry confirms in his Vita Plotini [Life of Plotinus], the evil spells with which a certain Egyptian tried to bind and injure Plotinus were turned back against him. 32 These things are discussed in our De vinculis in genere [A General Account of Bonding].
? 32 The incident related here can be found in Porphyry's On the Life of Plotinus and the Arrangement of his Work, ? ? ? , in Plotinus, The Enneads, translated by Stephen MacKenna, Third Edition (London: Faber and Faber Ltd. , ? ? ? ? ) ? .
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A General Account of Bonding
A general account of bonding
Anyone who has the power to bind must to some degree have a universal theory of things in order to be able to bind humans (who are, indeed, the culmination of all things). As we have said elsewhere, in this highest species, it is possible to see, and especially to rank, the species of all things. For example, some humans are like fish, others like birds, others like snakes, and still others like reptiles, whether it be in the latters' species or in their genera. Also, different people have different functions, habits, pur- poses, inclinations, understandings and eras. And so, as was imagined by Proteus and Achelous, the same material object can be changed into different forms and figures, such that to bind them continuously one should always use differing kinds of knots. In addition to this, let us notice the conditions of human life: being young and then old; being of a moder- ate station, or noble, or rich, or powerful, or happy, or, indeed, even envi- ous and ambitious; or being a soldier or a merchant, or one of the many other officials who play a role in different ways in the administration of a state, and thus who must be bonded to each other because they function as agents and instruments of the state. In effect, it seems that nothing can fall outside of an examination of civil life when it is considered in this way (whether it be bonding, or being bonded, or the bonds themselves, or their circumstances). This is the reason why we have assembled the following considerations, which are entitled A general account of bonding.
On bonding agents in general
? . Types of bonding agents. Taken universally, bonding agents are God,
demons, souls, animals, nature, chance, luck and, finally, fate. This universal
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A general account of bonding
? force of bonding, which cannot be designated by one name, does not bind because of the nature or the sensitivity of matter. A body does not have any feeling on its own, but only because of a certain force which resides in it and which emanates from it. This force is called, metaphorically, the 'hand which binds', and it is oriented and adapted to bonding in multiple ways.
? . Effects of the bonding agent. As the Platonists say, it is this bonding agency which adorns the mind with orderly ideas; which fills the soul with sequen- tial arguments and harmonious discourse; which makes nature fertile for various seeds; which structures matter in innumerable ways; which vivi- fies, soothes, caresses and activates all things; which orders, generates, rules, attracts and inflames all things; and which moves, reveals, illuminates, purifies, pleases and completes all things.
? . How art binds. An artisan binds with his art, for art is the excellence of the artisan. Even someone who is stupid and dull witted will see the beauty of natural and artificial things, even though he cannot at the same time grasp and admire the talent which has generated all things. For him, 'the stars do not speak of the glory of God'. 1 Rather, like a brute animal, he will shower his affections not on God but on His effects.
? . Humans are bound in many ways. Of all the things which bind, certainly more of them bind humans than brute animals, and more of them bind those who have an active character than those who are dull witted; those who are well endowed in their faculties and powers are aware of more details, circumstances and purposes, and thus, they are moved by more desires.
? . How the senses are panderers for the bonding agent. Dull witted people are bound by lusts, which are aroused infrequently and by natural impulses, and which are few in number and limited to base nourishments. Such peo- ple are not soothed by eloquent speech, nor are they won over by beauty, music, painting or by any of the other attractions of nature.
? . Why only one bond is not enough. As I am bound by more things, I become aware of the many things which bind me, for there are many different kinds of beauty. Thus, I am inflamed and bound in a relationship by one thing in one way and by other things in other ways. If every relationship were reduced to one, then perhaps one thing would be welcomed for all purposes
1 This is the first line of Psalm ? ? , to which Bruno has added the negative. ? ? ?
? A general account of bonding
? and for all occasions. But up to now, this has not happened in nature, which has spread about many bonds of beauty, happiness, goodness, and the var- ious contraries of these dispositions, and which widely distributes them separately according to the numerous types of matter. But it does some- times happen that a person is so tied to one object that his awareness of other things is weakened, overwhelmed and suppressed, either because of the dullness of the senses which are blind to and neglectful of all other things, or because one bond is so strong that it weakens and distorts him. But this is extraordinary and happens rarely and in only a few cases. For example, there are some whose souls seem to be so carried away by the hope of eternal life and by a vivid faith and credulousness, and seem to be so sep- arated from the body in some way, and so strongly bound and controlled by some object in their fantasies and in their opinions, that they do not seem to be aware of the most horrible torments. This clearly happened to the philosopher Anaxarchus, to Andrew2 the Galilean, to the priest Lawrence,3 and to others up to our own day, who were murdered by rulers and kings for the sake of their religion. This also happened for the sake of reason to Diogenes the Cynic and to Epicurus, who argued that they could banish all awareness of pain and pleasure by binding their souls, according to natural laws and principles, with a contempt of all things and of every type of opinion . . . They thought they would attain the highest good avail- able in this life to the human species by preserving their souls in a state of heroic pleasure above sorrow, fear, anger and other feelings. They claimed that, by holding in contempt the ignoble things in this very transitory life, they could attain a life similar to the gods even while in this mortal body. They thought that they had actually attained this highest good and sublime virtue, and that they had shown this to others.
? . What power contributes to a bonding agent. There are those who say that a bonding agent of greater power binds something else which in turn does not bind it; if the powers are equal, then there is a reciprocal bond which consists in a balance of that quality. But it would follow from this opinion that bond- ing powers are continually changed and altered as forms, circumstances and natures are altered, for a young man does not bind the same things which he bound as a boy, and a woman does not bind the same things which she bound as a girl. Hence, a bonding power is not simple or reducible to only one thing, but is composite, variable in nature and composed of contraries.
2 St Andrew the Apostle, brother of Simon Peter. 3 St Laurentius, third-century Christian martyr.
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A general account of bonding
? ? . What is bound more easily. A person who is more truly human is bound most strongly by the most worthy things, and he prefers much more to seek out more worthy things than to possess base things, for certainly, we are easily irritated by base things and more ardently seek for things which we do not easily attain.
? . That the same thing bonds contraries in the same way. Bonding agents which pertain to the same type of bonding seem to be confusing, and in a sense even contradictory, when one considers the contrasting effects and circumstances of the bonds. Consider, for example, the bonds of physical love, which seem to be both a fire and snare at the same time, which drive one to shout and to be silent, to joy and to sorrow, to hope and to despera- tion, to fear and to boldness, to anger and to gentleness, to weeping and to laughter. Hence the verses:
I, who carry high the standard of love,
have frozen hopes and burning desires:
at the same time I tremble and freeze, burn and spark, I am mute and fill heaven with ardent cries.
From the heart I sparkle and from my eyes I shed water; I live and I die, laugh and lament.
The waters live and the fire does not die,
for in my eyes I have Thetis and in my heart, Vulcan. 4
? ? . A bonding agent does not bind different things with the same bond. A thing is not absolutely beautiful if it binds only playfully; it is not absolutely good if it binds only usefully; it is not absolutely large if it is limited. Regarding beauty, notice how monkeys and horses please each other; indeed, not even Venus pleases some types of humans and heroes. Regarding goodness, notice how all things contain contraries, and how different animals find what is good for them under the seas or on dry land, in mountains or in fields, in abysses or on summits.
? ? . He who binds. Therefore, he who knows how to bind needs to have an understanding of all things, or at least of the nature, inclination, habits, uses and purposes of the particular things that he is to bind.
? 4 The translation of these two quatrains is taken from John Charles Nelson, Renaissance Theory of Love (New York: Columbia University Press, ? ? ? ? ) ? ? ? . Bruno quotes these verses, with slight variations, from his Eroici furori, Part ?
