No More Learning

Third dialogue
? sometimes they confound one with another, sometimes becoming dimin- ished, mutilated and maimed by the incompatibility of one being with another and by their occupation of the same matter. Getting back to our theme, the first absolute principle is greatness and magnitude, and it is a greatness and magnitude such that it is all it can be. It is not great with a greatness that can be superior or inferior, nor can it be divided, as can be every other greatness that is not all it can be. Hence, it is together maxi- mum, minimum, infinite, indivisible by any measure. It is minimum, yet with nothing greater; maximum, yet with nothing smaller. It is beyond every equality, because it is everything it can be. And what I say of the greatness must also be understood for everything that can be said of it, because it is similarly the goodness which is every possible goodness, the beauty which is every possible beauty. There is no other beautiful thing that is all that it can be except for this one. The unity is that which is all, and can be all absolutely. Moreover, among natural things, we see none which is other than what it is in act; it is through the act that it is what it can be, from the fact that it possesses one kind of actuality. Nevertheless, even in its unique, specific being, no particular thing is all it can be. Take the sun: it is not all the sun can be, nor is it everywhere it can be. When it is east of the earth, it is not to the west, nor at midday, nor any other point. But if we want to show how God is sun, we will say (since he is all that he can be) that he is simultaneously in the east, west, noon, midnight and any other point whatsoever of the convexity of the earth. And so, if we wish to understand that our sun (either because of its own revolution or that of the earth) moves and changes position, because it cannot be found now at one point without being found potentially at all other points, and hence possesses a disposi- tion to be at those points, if, therefore, the sun were all that it could be and possessed all that it was inclined to possess, it would be simultaneously everywhere and in all things; it would be so perfectly mobile and rapid that it would also be absolutely stable and immobile. Therefore, we find, in divine maxims, that the divinity is said to be eternally stable and absolutely rapid in its course from one end to the other. 17 For by immobile, we under- stand that which departs from and returns in the same instant to the east- ern point, and which is not seen any less in the east than in the west or any other point of its circuit. That is why there is no basis on which to affirm that it goes and returns or has gone and returned from and towards such and such a point, rather than from and towards any other of the infinitely 17 Book of Wisdom, ? , ? ? and ? , ? ? .
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Cause, principle and unity
? numerous points. It will, therefore, be found entirely, and always, in the totality of the circle as well as in any of its parts; consequently, each indi- vidual point of the ecliptic contains the entire diameter of the sun. Thus, an indivisible is found to contain the divisible, and this is brought about not through any natural possibility, but through supernatural possibility - I mean, if one supposes this sun to be that which is in act all it can be. This absolute potency is not only what the sun can be, it is also what everything is and what everything can be. Potency of all potencies, act of all acts, life of all lives, soul of all souls, being of all beings; from whence the profound saying of the author of Revelation, 'He who is hath sent me to you; He who is speaks thus. '18 And so, what is elsewhere contrary and opposed is one and the same in him, and every thing in him is the same. And you must reason regarding the differences of time and duration in the same manner as regarding the differences of actuality and possibility. He is, therefore, neither ancient, nor new, so that the author of Revelation describes him rightly as 'first and last'. 19
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . This absolute act, which is identical with absolute potency, cannot be comprehended by the intellect, except by way of negatives: I mean, it cannot be grasped either in so far as it can be all, nor in so far as it is all things, for when the intellect wants to understand, it must try to form an intelligible species, and to assimilate and measure itself with that species. But this is an impossible task, for the intellect is never so great that it can- not be more so, while the absolute act, because it is immense on all sides and in all ways, cannot be greater. There is, then, no eye capable of approaching it or gaining access to such a sublime light and so profound an abyss.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . The coincidence of this act with absolute potency has been very plainly described by the divine spirit, when it says, 'Tenebrae non obscurabuntur a te. Nox sicut dies illuminabitur. Sicut tenebrae eius, ita et lumen eius' [Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee]. 20 In conclusion, you see, then, how great is the excellence of the potency, and if you like to des- ignate it the essence of matter, into which the vulgar philosophers have not penetrated, you may, without detracting from the divinity, treat it in a man- ner more lofty than has Plato in his Republic and his Timaeus. These works
? 18 The author of the Revelation is the Holy Spirit speaking through scripture; the quote is adapted from Exodus, ? , ? ? .
19 Frequent affirmation in the Bible, e. g. in Isaiah ? ? , ? . 20 Psalms ? ? ? , ? ? .
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Third dialogue
? have scandalized certain theologians because they have placed matter too highly. This has occurred either because these works were lacking in expression, or because the theologians, having been bred on Aristotle's opinions to consider matter solely in the sense of the substratum of natural things, have not understood them well. They do not see that, according to others, matter is understood as being common to the intelligible and sen- sible worlds (to use their terms, which give an equivocal meaning to mat- ter based on an analogy). This is why opinions should be examined with great care before being condemned, and why it is necessary to distinguish terms as much as thoughts, for even if thinkers sometimes agree on a generic idea of matter, they go on to differ in their specific concepts. As for our argument, it is impossible that any theologian should be found (if we suppress the term 'matter', and however captious and malevolent his way of thinking) who would accuse me of impiety for what I say and think of the coincidence between potency and act, taking both terms in an absolute sense. Whence I would like to infer (in the measure allowed) that, in the simulacrum of that act and that potency, insofar as it is in specific act all that it can be in specific potency, the universe being all that it can be (let it be as it will in terms of the particular act and potency), there is a potency that is not separated from the act, a soul which is not separated from that which is animated - I mean, the simple, not the composite, so that the universe has a first principle taken as a unity, and no longer considered dou- bled into material principle and formal principle. This principle may be inferred by comparison with the aforesaid, which is absolute potency and act, so that it is neither difficult nor harmful to admit definitively that as a substance, the whole is one, as Parmenides, treated ignobly by Aristotle, perhaps conceived it.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . You, therefore, hold that although, in descending along the ladder of nature, there are two substances, one spiritual and one material, both are eventually reduced to one being and one root.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Yes,ifyouthinkthatitcanbetoleratedbythosewhodonot penetrate into the matter.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Very easily, provided that you do not raise yourself beyond the limits of nature.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Thishasalreadybeendone. Sinceourconceptionordefini- tion of the divinity differs from the common one, we have our personal definition, which is yet not so contrary or unfavorable to the other, and perhaps clearer and more explicit from the point of view of reason, which
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Cause, principle and unity
? does not go beyond our subject matter, and from which I did not promise you I would abstain.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Butenoughhasbeensaidaboutthematerialprinciple,from the point of view of possibility or potency. For tomorrow, please prepare to go on to the consideration of the same principle from the point of view of being a substratum.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Iwill.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Goodbye.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Bonisavibus[Maytheomensbefavourableforyou].
End of third dialogue Fourth dialogue
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Et os vulvae nunquam dicit: sufficit: id est, scilicet, videlicet, utpote, quod est dictu, materia [And the womb never says, 'enough'. That is, namely, to wit, so to speak, that is to say, matter], which is designated by these terms, recipiendis formis numquam expletur [is never sated with receiv- ing forms]. 1 But since there is no one else in this Lyceum, vel potius [or rather] in this Anti-Lyceum, solus (ita, inquam, solus, ut minime omnium solus) deambulabo, et ipse mecum confabulator [I will stroll alone (in a soli- tude, I mean, in which I am anything but alone) conversing with myself]. Matter, then, is called by the prince of Peripatetics, of the great Macedonian,2 the professor of transcendent genius, non minus [no less] than by the divine Plato and by others, chaos, or hyle, or sylva [chaos, mate- rial, abundant material], or mass, or potency, or aptitude, or privationi admixtum [mixed with privation], or peccati causa [cause of sin], or ad mal- eficium ordinata [disposed to evil], or per se non ens [not existing in itself], or per se non scibile [unknowable in itself], or per analogiam ad formam cognoscibile [knowable by analogy with form], or tabula rasa [a blank tablet], or indepictum [unmarked], or subiectum [subject], or substratum, or subster- niculum [litter], or campus [field], or infinitum, or indeterminatum, or prope nihil [almost nothing], or neque quid, neque quale, neque quantum; tandem [neither what, nor which, nor how many; finally] after having taken aim with several comparisons between various disparate terms (in order to define its nature), it is called 'woman' ab ipsis scopum ipsum attingentibus [by those who hit right on target]; tandem, inquam (ut una complectantur omnia 1 Et . . . sufficit: from Proverbs ? ? , ? ? . 2 Aristotle, teacher of Alexander the Great.
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? Fourth dialogue
? vocula), a melius rem ipsam perpendentibus faemina dicitur [it has finished, I repeat, by being called woman (to gather everything into a single term) by those who have most effectively evaluated its very reality]. Et mehercle [And by Hercules], it is not without good reason that the senators of Pallas' realm3 have judged it well to set matter and woman side by side, for they have been pushed to extremes of rage and frenzy by their dealings with the rigours of women - but just now an apt rhetorical flourish comes to mind. Women are a chaos of irrationality, a hyle [wood] of wickedness, a forest of ribaldry, a mass of uncleanliness, an inclination to every perdition (another rhetorical flourish here, called by some complessio [complexion])! 4 Whence existed, in potency, non solum remota [not only remote], but etiam propinqua [also proximate], the destruction of Troy? In a woman. Who was the instrument of the destruction of Samson's strength?
Of that hero, I mean, who became unvanquished conqueror of the Philistines with the famous ass's jawbone that he had found? A woman. 5 Who tamed, at Capua, the might and violence of that great captain and perpetual enemy of the Roman republic, Hannibal? A woman! (Exclamatio! ) Tell me, O cytharist prophet, the reason for your weakness. 'Quia in peccatis concepit me mater mea' ['in sin did my mother conceive me']. 6 O ancient forefather, first-made man, gardener of Paradise and cultivator of the Tree of Life, of what malice were you victim, to have been propelled with the entire human race into the bot- tomless gulf of perdition? 'Mulier quam dedisti mihi: ipsa, ipsa me decepit' ['The woman that you gave me, it is she, she who deceived me']. 7 Procul dubio [Without doubt], form does not sin, and no form is a source of error unless it is joined to matter. That is why form, symbolized by the man, entering into intimate contact with matter, being composed or coupling with it, responds to the natura naturans8 with these words, or rather this sentence: 'Mulier, quam dedisti mihi', idest, matter, which was given me as consort, ipse me decepit; hoc est, she is the cause of all my sins. Behold, behold, divine spirit, how the great practitioners of philosophy and the acute anatomists of nature's entrails, in order to show us nature plainly, have found no more appropriate way than to confront us with this analogy, which shows that matter is to the order of natural things what the female sex is to economical, political and civil order. Open, open your eyes and . . .
? 3 Philosophers.
4 A complexion is a rhetorical figure in which the members of a period begin and end with the same
term.
5 Delilah, as told in Judges ? ? . 6 Psalms ? ? , ? . 7 See Genesis ? , ? ? -? ? .
8 Scholastic formula designating nature as active power and producer.
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Cause, principle and unity
? Oh! I see that colossal idler, Gervasio, coming to snap the thread of my sinewy oration. I am afraid he has heard me, but what matter?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Salve, magister doctorum optime [Good day, O great master of wise men]!
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Ifyoudonotintend,(tuomore)[asisyourcustom],tojeer at me, tu quoque, salve [good day to you as well]!
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Iwouldliketoknowwhatyouwereinthemiddleofmulling over alone.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . AsIwasinmylittleinteriortempleoftheMuses,ineum, qui apud Aristotelem est, locum incidi [I fell upon this passage in Aristotle], in the first book of the Physics, at the end, where the philosopher, wishing to elucidate what primary matter is, compares it to the female sex - that sex, I mean, which is intractable, frail, capricious, cowardly, feeble, vile, ignoble, base, despicable, slovenly, unworthy, deceitful, harmful, abusive, cold, misshapen, barren, vain, confused, senseless, treacherous, lazy, fetid, foul, ungrateful, truncated, mutilated, imperfect, unfinished, deficient, inso- lent, amputated, diminished, stale, vermin, tares, plague, sickness, death:
Messo tra noi da la natura e Dio per una soma e per un grave fio. 9
[By nature and by God among us sent As a burden and heavy punishment. ]
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . I know you say this more to exercise yourself in the art of elocution and to show how ample and eloquent you are, than because you actually feel what you put into words. You humanists, who dub yourselves professors of the liberal arts, when you have gorged to the breaking point on notions, are in the habit of discharging them on poor women; just as when some other bile weighs on you, you pour it out onto the first student of yours who makes a mistake. But beware, you Orpheuses, of the furious wrath of the Thracian women.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . IamPoliinnio,notOrpheus.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Then,youdonotreallycondemnwomen?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Minime, minime quidem [Not at all, indeed not at all]: I
speak truly and mean nothing but what I say; for I do not (sophistarum more) [following the Sophists' custom], make a profession of demonstrating that white is black.
9 Ariosto, Orlando furioso, ? ? ? ? ? , ? ? ? , quoted from memory. The actual lines run: 'Credo che t'abbia la Natura e Dio / prodotto, o scelerato sesso, al mondo / per una soma, per un grave fio'.
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Fourth dialogue
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Whydoyoudyeyourbeardthen?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Ingenue loquor [I speak sincerely], however, and I say that a man without a woman is like one of the intelligences; qui non duxit uxorum [he who has not taken a wife] is a hero, a demigod.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Heisalsolikeanoyster,amushroom,atruffle. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Whencethelyricpoethasdivinelydeclared:
Credite, Pisones, melius nil caelibe vita. 10
[Believe me, O Pisones, there is no happier life than that of a celibate. ]
And if you want to know the reason, listen to Secundus11 the philosopher: 'Woman', he says, 'is an obstacle to calm, a continual havoc, daily warfare, a life-prison, a domestic storm, the shipwreck of man. ' The man from Biscay12 confirmed this when, angered by a terrible and furious storm at sea, at his wit's end he turned on the waves with a fierce and menacing look, saying, 'Ah, sea, sea, if only I could saddle you with a wife! ' - to imply that woman is the tempest of tempests. That is why Protagoras, when asked why he had given his daughter to one of his enemies, replied that he could do him no greater harm than to furnish him with a wife. What is more, that good Frenchman won't call me to task when I say that when he received the order from Cicala,13 the ship's master (with all those on board during a dangerous storm at sea), to throw their heaviest things overboard, he heaved his wife over at once.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . But you do not report the opposing cases of those who are very satisfied with their wives, among whom, under this very roof (to avoid going further), Monsieur Mauvissie`re. He has met with one who is not only endowed with uncommon physical beauty, which is veil and mantle of her soul, but who, furthermore, thanks to the triumvirate of penetrating judgement, heedful modesty, and very noble courtesy, holds her spouse's spirit bound with an indissoluble knot and has the ability to captivate all who meet her. And what will you say of her noble daughter, who has seen the light for scarcely a lustre and a year? You cannot tell whether his wife is from Italy, France or England, such is her linguistic talent; as for her touch with musical instruments, you cannot tell if she is a corporeal or incorporeal being; as regards her gifted manners, you wonder if she has really come of earth or dropped from the heavens. Everyone sees that
10 Horace, Epistles, ?