The Heroic Enthusiasts | Page 6

that he afterwards published.
Philosophical questions were discussed at the Sorbonne with much
freedom: Bruno showed himself no partisan of either the Platonic or the
Peripatetic school; he was not exclusive either in philosophy or in
religion; he did not favour the Huguenot faction more than the Catholic
league; and precisely by reason of this independent attitude, which kept

him free of the shackles of the sects, did he obtain the faculty of
lecturing at the Sorbonne. Nor can we ascribe this aloofness to religious
indifference, but to the fact that he sought for higher things and longed
for nobler ones. The humiliating spectacle which the positive religions,
both Catholic and Reformed, presented at that time--the hatreds, the
civil wars, the assassinations which they instigated--had disgusted men
of noble mould, and had turned them against these so-called religions;
so that in Naples, in Tuscany, in Venice, in Switzerland, France, and
England, there were to be found societies of philosophers, of
free-thinkers, and politicians, who repudiated every positive religion
and professed a pure Theism.
In the "Spaccio della Bestia Trionfante" he declares that he cannot ally
himself either to the Catholic or the Lutheran Church, because he
professes a more pure and complete faith than these--to wit, the love of
humanity and the love of wisdom; and Mocenigo, the disciple who
ultimately betrayed and sold him to the Holy Office, declares in his
deposition that Bruno sought to make himself the author of a new
religion under the name of "Philosophy." He was not a man to conceal
his ideas, and in the fervour of his improvisation he no doubt revealed
what he was; some tumult resulted from this free speaking of Bruno's,
and he was forced to discontinue his lectures at the Sorbonne.
Towards the end of the year 1583 the King became enthralled by
religious enthusiasm, and nothing was talked of in Paris but the
conversion of King Henry. This fact changed the aspect of affairs as far
as Bruno was concerned; he judged it prudent to leave Paris, and he
travelled to England.
The principal works published by Bruno during his stay in Paris are "Il
Candelajo" and "Umbrae Idearum." The former, says Levi, is a work of
criticism and of demolition; in this comedy he sets in groups the
principal types of hypocrisy, stupidity, and rascality, and exhibiting
them in their true colours, he lashes them with ridicule. In the "Umbrae
Idearum" he initiates the work of reconstruction, giving colour to his
thought and sketching his idea. The philosophy of Bruno is based upon
that of Pythagoras, whose system penetrates the social and intellectual

history of Italy, both ancient and modern. The method of Pythagoras is
not confined, as most philosophies are, to pure metaphysical
speculations, but connects these with scientific observations and social
practice. Bruno having resuscitated these doctrines, stamps them with a
wider scope, giving them a more positive direction; and he may with
propriety be called the second Pythagoras. The primal idea of
Pythagoras, which Bruno worked out to a more distinct development is
this: numbers are the beginning of things; in other words numbers are
the cause of the existence of material things; they are not final, but are
always changing position and attributes; they are variable and relative.
Beyond and above this mutability there must be the Immutable, the All,
the One.
The Infinite must be one, as one is the absolute number; in the original
One is contained all the numbers; in the One is contained all the
elements of the Universe.
This abstract doctrine required to be elucidated and fixed. From a
hypothesis to concentrate and reduce it to a reality was the great work
of Bruno.
One is the perfect number; it is the primitive monad. As from the One
proceeds the infinite series of numbers which again withdraw and are
resolved into the One; so from Substance, which is one, proceed the
myriads of worlds; from the worlds proceed myriads of living creatures;
and from the union of one with the diverse is generated the Universe.
Hence the progression from ascent to descent, from spirit to that which
we call matter; from the cause to the origin, and the process of
metaphysics, which, from the finite world of sense rises to the
intelligent, passing through the intermediate numbers of infinite
substance to active being and cosmic reason.
From the absolute One, the sun of the sensible and intellectual world,
millions of stars and suns are produced or developed. Each sun is the
centre of as many worlds which are distributed in as many distinct
series in an infinite number of concentric centres and systems. Each
system is attracted, repelled, and moved by an infinite, internal passion,
or attraction; each turns round its own centre, and moves in a spiral

towards the