CHAPTER XII

IN PARIS AGAIN. SOME NEW WORKS
Behold Bruno landed in France in as bad plight as ever, or worse ; robbed, homeless, his whilom patron no longer able to help or protect him and with no prospect of better things. Like Dante he was " a wanderer, almost a beggar," and like Dante he might have exclaimed : " Verily have I been as a ship without sail or rudder, drifted hither and thither on different refuges, straits and shores by the bitter blast, the breath of which is wretched poverty." ^
" I accompanied the Ambassador to Paris, where I stayed another year" (more exactly seven months) "boarding and lodging with the gentlemen I knew there, the greater part of the time at my own expense." ^ We may suppose that he was given food and shelter until he found employment. How he supported himself we do not know ; he may have had a little money about him ; probably he taught ; he may have read proofs. He dwelt near the College of Cambrai.*
It may be, as Tocco suggests,* that he was weary of persecution and wished to pursue his studies under the protection of some great dignitary. So, he would be able to teach unmolested. But, to this end it was necessary for him to reconcile himself with the Church, which he had never abandoned at heart. He had become an outlaw, a reprobate, a child of darkness. So he went boldly to
* Dante ; Convito, I, 3. * Doc. ix. ' Auvray, L ; op. cit., sub 6th Dec.
* Tocco J F ; Conferenza, Fir., 1888.
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Mendoza, who was now Spanish Ambassador at Paris, and who therefore represented the ruler of his native province. He judged ill of Mendoza's character: the Ambassador identified himself wholly with the interests of his Church and country, was mostly indifferent to all else, and was entirely unscrupulous in the pursuit of the ends he set before him. Bruno said to his judges : " I approached the French Nuncio, Monsignor the Bishop of Bergamo, to whom I was introduced by Don Bernardino de Mendoza, whom I had known at the English Court." ^ "Whilst I strove by means [of these gentlemen] to return to the Church, I con- sulted another Jesuit ; and they told me that they could not absolve me of apostasy and that I could not attend the divine offices." ^ "I prayed the Nuncio and sought again earnestly that he would write to His Beatitude, Sixtus V, at Rome, to obtain his grace and be received into the bosom of the Catholic Church, but that I should not be compelled to return to monkdom. Wherefore the Nuncio had no hope and would not write unless I were willing to return to my order. He referred me to the Jesuit father, Alonzo Spag- nuolo. I discussed my case with him, and he shewed me that it was necessary to procure absolution from censure from the Pope, and that nothing could be done unless I went back to my order. I was further warned by him that, being excommunicate, I could not attend the divine offices, but might very well listen to sermons and say my prayers in Church."*
Like Erasmus, like More, he hoped that in the ferment of new thought, in the clash of ancient dogma with the new passion for reason, the real government of the Church would prove sagacious and institute some modus vivendi for the genuine thinker; as if the principle of authority could ever be harmonized with intellectual freedom! He ^ Boc. xvij. ' Doc. xi, ' Doc, xvij.
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hoped to reconcile the irreconcilable: no way of mutual toleration was possible.
Bruno got himself talked about on his return to France. Arnold van Buchel, a Dutchman, names him among the eminent folk he spoke to or saw during his visit to Paris, Dec. 1585. Buchel describes him as "a philosopher who is more subtle than is good for his safety, who has taken the pseudonym of 'Lover of God' (Philotheus). He has written a little book De Arte Reminiscendi and, in Italian, Gli Heroici and // Candelajo, a comedy." *
A precious document, already quoted from, gives us a glimpse of Bruno as he appeared to an ingenuous con- temporary. Monsieur Auvray discovered in the Bibliotheque Nationale a manuscript diary which he supposes to be that of Guillaume Cotin, Librarian to the Abbey of St. Victor. It contains an account of several visits paid to him by Bruno between Dec. 6th 1585 and Feby. 2nd 1586. The Author discloses himself as very erudite and very sterile ; he is immensely interested in foreign missions and pulpit oratory ; his statements are bare matters of fact ; but matter- of-fact diaries are usually the best revealers of character. He is meticulously precise; so careful that if he has not properly caught a name or a statement he leaves a hiatus ; if in doubt as to the perfect accuracy of anything he has written, he erases it. We recognize the kind of man he must have been when we find him enquiring what particular saint the cathedral of Nola was dedicated to. He is over- weighted with learning, and, if, as is pretty certain, he was Cotin, so paralysed by his own scrupulosity that he left no books behind him. At this time Cotin was in failing health ; indeed he died not very long afterwards.^ To this pertina-
1 Utrecht Univ. Lib., M.S.Jol. 189 ; vide Vidier, M. A ; MM. de la SocieUde I'histoire de Paris etc., t. xxvj, 1899, /». 146. » Auvray, L ; op. cit., p. 288 sqq.
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cious, painstaking and somewhat dull person, comes Bruno bursting with self-confidence, naturally vain, conscious of not having received his due, and, therefore, a trifle self- assertive and even boastful. The carelessness, too, which marked the Nolan's style was present in his speech. What he has to say is of so much importance that he must out with it, whether the occasion be opportune and the hearer prepared to receive it or no. Moreover, he is loftily con- temptuous of all who have not reached his own large purview. The man "subdued to what he worked in" is obviously interested at first in Bruno, but soon the idio- syncrasies of his visitor begin to irritate him. There is not a word of comment, but a diary always has selected facts, and the facts recounted here are their own comment ; we can read between the lines how little inclination two so diverse men discover for one another ; they become a little cool ; relations are a little strained, and, finally, cease.
At the first meeting we find Bruno telling that he has lectured at Oxford; he is about to print a "Tree of Philosophers," ^ a work which certainly never appeared from the Press during the author's lifetime, but may be the " Animadversiones " ^ of which the manuscript is at Erlangen. We learn that Bruno's father is still alive at Nola ; he is himself lodging near the College of Cambrai. Further conversation turns on an edition of Lucretius.
Bruno comes again the very next day (Dec. 7th), perhaps to consult books, and recounts some passages in his history, of which I have made use. " He says he understands and could explain in an hour artificial memory, like that set forth in the first book ad Herenniuni^ which its readers do not comprehend, nor Muret,* who admires him as a
' Arbor Philosophorum.
* Animadversiones circa Lampadem Lullianam.
' The work is spoken of on p. 8, n. 2. ' Muret died a little before.
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Corsican nobleman." The diarist is told about the theses for the doctorate, and enters in Latin that Bruno told him he might skip parts of S. Augustine's disputations} This is a remark very characteristic of the hero of our theme. The few Latin words may indicate, so precise is our autho- rity, that Bruno dropped from French into Latin. Per- chance, like most Italians, he did not speak it too well, and this may account for certain erasures and hiatuses in the manuscript. There follows the usual intrepid expres- sion of most intimate opinion, and this to a stranger on the second day of their intercourse ! He " contemns the subtle- ties of the schoolmen and doctrines concerning the sacra- ments, even that of the Eucharist, which he says St. Peter and St. Paul were unacquainted with, only knowing that ' this is my body.' He says that with the removal of these questions religious turmoil would disappear, and hopes that will soon be the end of it. But above all he detests the heretics of France and England because they despise good works and preach the assurance of their faith and justifica- tion ; for Christianity tends wholly towards life well spent. He scorns Cajetanus and Pico della Mirandola and the whole philosophy of the Jesuits outside the subject-matter and intelligence of Aristotle." (Perhaps his unsatisfactory interview with Father Alonzo Spagnuolo may have intensi- fied his intellectual contempt for the Jesuits.) Next comes a side-light on the interest he took in Natural Science. " He told me much concerning the geography and cold of Tartary and Scotland and of the temperature of Ireland." Concerning this last, he may have "learned the same" from " consultacions " with some of Elizabeth's " verye wise Governours and Counsellors whom he had sometimes hearde treate thereof."
' I think the reader will detect an ironical flavour in this and the other entries which I have italicized.
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On Thursday, Dec. 12th, "Jordanus brought me his books on Mnemonic Art; he scorns the whole doctorate, notably Cujas and Passerat, but praises Bossulus for eloquence and delivery; says all the teachers of humane letters in Italy are nobodies and unprofitable, but they make money as private tutors to the children of nobles. Muret got 30CXD scudi, out of an income of 5000 scudi in money or its value, for teaching the nephew of Cardinal Colonna.^ 2000 or 3000 would be bestowed freely on the education of children." Cotin must have led the conversation on to preachers again. Bruno praises some and dispraises others, " Panigarola is without insight and futile ; Fiamma has gone off in his old age " : he should have given up three years ago. " He strongly disparages Toledo ^ and Jesuit preachers in Italy, for they commence with an over- dose of gravity and say that great mysteries are contained in the text, but, at the end, nothing has come out." But Tarcagnota of Gaeta is highly commended ; " he has written a Universal History." Bruno talked about the recent severe measures meted out to his turbulent nobles by the New Pope, Sixtus V. He took the side of the nobles.
Bruno calls again on the 21st and tells about his early success in demonstrating artificial memory to the Pope. On the 27th there is another visit. The diarist is told about the robbery. " He cannot get the proofs of his works to order. He has three works in view, 1° the Arbor Philo- sophorum ; 2° the entire Physics of Aristotle, drawn up under a few figures, which he will teach in half an hour; ^ 3° an exposition of the Art of Lully,* more full than before, with its use, which its author (Lully) did not know."
^ He was tutor at Rome to Martin Colonna, nephew of Cardinal Marc Antonio Colonna. ^ Preacher in ordinary to the Pope.
' Figuratio Aristotelici Physici, printed by Pierre Chevillot the following year.
* De Lampade Cowbinatoria Lulliana, VitebergcB, 1587.
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Bruno is not mentioned again until 2nd Feby, 1586, when he informed the diarist "that Fabricius Saliternus is in Paris." Of whom more anon. Saliternus " is 60 years of age, stands high as a geometer, surpassing in that all pre- decessors and contemporaries, knows no Latin. Jordanus will print his researches in Latin." ^ " Also, the aforesaid Jordanus will read his sentences on Aristotle, containing all the Physics, and he is going to print them." He was already arranging for the famous tournament at the Cambrai. At the end of the entry comes another, dated Feb. 4th. Monsieur Auvray believes it to be an afterthought and refers it to the preceding interview. " Also, Jordanus told me that he knows nothing of the town built by the Duke of Florence where Latin is to be spoken; but he has heard the said Duke wishes to build a City of the Sun, so as to be sure of where the sun is shining every day of the year, seeing that there are many cities cele- brated in this way, Rome and Rhodes among them." This is a most audacious " pulling " of the diarist's " leg " : Rhodes was famous for the sunshine it enjoyed, but Rome is a misty place for Italy ; and doubtless Bruno delighted in a concealed ironic glance at the intellectual resplendence of the Apostolic See. With this parting shot, intercourse between the two men ended. Perhaps Bruno was too busy preparing for the disputation and getting his books out to visit libraries or waste his time in chatter ; perhaps, too, both men had got weary of one another.
To prepare the way for the public discussion Bruno wrote that short preliminary exposition of the peripatetic philosophy which the diarist sardonically records, " was to teach it in half an hour." "A Relation In Imagery Of The
' C/n J. B. N. Dialogi duo de Fabbricii Mordentis Salernitani prope divina adinventione ad perfectam CosmimeiricB praxim. Parisiis 1586, Peir. Chevillot.
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Physics Of Aristotle "i was printed by Pierre Chevillot, who dwelt under the sign of the Red Rose, in 1586, and was dedicated to Pierre d'Albigny, Abbot of Belleville. He compliments the Abbot on being specially well acquainted with Aristotle and knowing what he talks about, while professed peripatetics do not understand their master. All possible arguments in favour of his views ought to be presented before they are censured. The work is in two parts ; the first of these contains a synopsis of the main conceptions of the Physics under 15 mnemonic images, such as Apollo, Minerva etc. ; the second part is a sum- mary, not invariably correct, of the teaching of the same work and of minor treatises, either by Aristotle or attributed to him at that time.
We saw in the Diary how full Bruno was of Mordente, who came from a place not so far distant from his own beloved Nola. He must have rejoiced at meeting one who was, like himself, a " servant and interpreter of Nature," with a common interest in applied mathematics and possess- ing the additional attraction of being a Neapolitan. Mor- dente's mathematics were of no lasting importance ; he had invented a new form of compass of no great value, and would seem to have had some worthless ideas on incom- mensurable quantities at a time when men were feeling their way blindly towards the discovery of new calculi. Bruno got Chevillot to print " Two Dialogues Of Fabrizio Mordente Of Salerno,"^ with which was united a " Dream."* In this work Bruno, to whom moderation was little better than a vice, loads Mordente with extravagant, if generous, praise : " The geometers of the future shall raise him to the heavens and give to his house and the Salernian sky, with its limpid
1 /. B. Nolani Fig. Arisi. Phys. etc., 1586.
* Dial, duo de F.M.S. propre divina adinvent. ad perfect, cosimet. praxim. 1586. ' /. Bruni Insomnium.
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and majestic horizon, greater renown than befel remarkable Egypt, laborious Persia or subtle Arabia." Let us believe that the " god among geometers " ^ had some wider empire of thought than is indicated by oblivion.^ Bruno was always ready enough to break away from the current worship of antiquity to the admiration of modern men, and it would seem that he got impressed, through his intercourse with Mordente,^ by two facts : that no quantity, however small, is negligible in calculation ; and that the concept of a mini- mum is relative in such wise that an instrument used for taking the altitude of the stars may involve a minimum greater than the whole diameter of the earth. He also learned from Mordente that the same kind of reasoning is appli- cable to fractions as to whole numbers, and that in physical investigations the indefinite regress must halt at a minimum — propositions which he was to develop later on. The dialogues between Mordente and Bottero turn on the Physics of Aristotle and are condensed, dispersed and dry.
In the " Dream " there is obscurely revealed to Bruno a triangular instrument for determining degrees of latitude. He would seem to have had some dim foresight of instru- ments which were not then invented.
" A Hundred And Twenty Theses Concerning Nature And The Universe, Directed Against The Peripatetics " was also printed at the Red Rose " at the solicitation of the Author."* It was apparently issued before the public wrangle took place in order that the audience might have a
^ Auvray ; op. cit., sub 2nd Feb.
« Cjr. Berti ; op. cit., Cap. X.
' He renews his eulogies of Mordente in later works.
" Discovered by Miss Frith in the British Museum, catalogued under Hennequin, J ; Centum et viginti articuU de natura et mundo adv. peripat. per J. H. Lutetie prop, sub clipeo et moderamine J. B. N. infra oct. Pentec. Imp. Par. ad authoris instantiam, 1 586. — Cfr. Frith, I ; Life ofG. B., 1887, pp. 324-5.
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summary of the arguments before them. There are only twenty pages. First comes a dedicatory address to Henry III and then an epistle to Filesac, the Rector of the Univer- sity, in which Bruno expresses, in warm terms, his sense of the hospitality and kindness he had received at the Univer- sity. He informs Filesac that he is about to leave Paris. Theses attacking the Aristotelian Physics and Cosmogony follow.
Cotin's diary furnishes us with much needed information concerning the debate. He heard a somewhat coloured account of Bruno's misadventure at Geneva from one John Vincent on March 20th, which he carefully sets down, and the next reference to Bruno is as follows : " 28th and 29th May, which were the Wednesday and Thursday of Pente- cost, Jordanus invited the Royal Lecturers and everyone to hear him inveigh against seven (sic) errors of Aristotle at Cambrai. At the end of the lesson or oration he bade defiance, urging anyone who might wish to do so to defend Aristotle or attack Brunus, and, no one having come for- ward, he shouted still louder, as having gained the victory. Then a young advocate, Rodolphus Calerius, rose and, in a lengthy speech, defended Aristotle against the aspersions of Brunus, beginning by saying that the professors were silent because they did not deem Brunus worthy of a reply ; finally, he called on Brunus to reply and defend himself, who was silent and left. The students caught hold of Brunus, saying that they would not let him go unless he replied or withdrew the calumnies he had cast on Aristotle. Nevertheless, ultimately, he escaped from their hands, I know not if on condition that he should return next day to reply to the advocate. The advocate, having summoned an assembly for the next day by placards, got into the pulpit and followed up the defence of Aristotle and the jugglings of Brunus in fine style, still calling on him to answer. But
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Brunus did not appear ; and, since then, he would seem to be dwelling in this town no longer.
Jordanus was in a little pulpit, near the garden-door, and in the big pulpit sat John Hennequin, his disciple, sustain- ing the theses of Jordanus, of which Jordanus claimed to be judge, as it were. The disciple could only reply to the first argument of Calerius. Then Brunus was asked to reply himself, which he would not do, saying that the proper time had gone by ; and next day he would not appear, saying that already they had struck him yesterday. Also note that Calerius is a freshman, a Gascon they think, young, who was an advocate but is so no longer, having withdrawn with Monsieur du Perron, the king's orator and chronicler."
It is evident that someone has brought the news to will- ing ears.
Bruno, in his letter to Filesac,^ said that many of the pro- fessors had attended his lectures ; he did not think the University would always hold by the Peripatetic philosophy, for Aristotle owed more to Paris than Paris to Aristotle. He counted on a favourable hearing, since philosophers should be willing to reason philosophically, that is, freely. He hoped, in his new philosophy, to accomplish work worthy of the University.
It was bold to approach Filesac in this matter. The Rector had just been elected to his office (Mar. 24) ; he was a priest, and renowned for his knowledge of theology and the history of the theological faculty of the Sorbonne. But Filesac's contemporaries gave him no less praise for his dis- position and character than for his attainments.^ We can well believe, from the tittle-tattle concerning the affair at Geneva which John Vincent brought to Cotin, that Bruno's
' Centum et viginti articuli — Ad Filesac.
^ Du Boulay ; Hist, de la Univ. de Paris. — Biog. Universelle, art. Filesac,
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unfriends had not been idle, either among professors or students. Liberty to philosophize freely was insecure at Paris, and the eighth war of religion was at hand. Indeed Bruno was on the point of leaving Paris " on account of disorders " ^ when the disputation took place.
We may suppose that there was tension in the air when, according to custom, the pupil, John Hennequin, took the big chair to read Bruno's theses, while their author, as moderator, took a lower seat. Hennequin must have been a lad of courage to take up a cudgel for his master's and for truth's sake against every astronomer and mathema- tician of his age. He belonged to a great family, nicknamed " the big-pots." ^ The glib young Gascon, Raoal Callier, who started the fray, might have been just the kind of im- pertinent youth to make a successful advocate had he not abandoned the law for the better prospects of courtly office. He was related to Rapin, the poet-scholar.
Man is a combative animal, and the students of Paris were as keenly interested in an intellectual fencing-bout as were the ancients in the palaestrum, our Georgians in a cock- fight, or the youth of our own day in the athletic field. We can imagine the crowded hall ; the seniors sardonically restless, only half-attending to the new doctrine ; the youths full of the ebullient prejudice which always accompanies ignorance and is ready to demonstrate its force by noise. The behaviour of the Professors, so different from their former en treatment of Bruno, disgusts him, and it would have been below his dignity, as a former professor, to reply to Callier. The students have an opportunity to begin a " rag," and carry it out to their entire satisfaction. After the manner sanctioned by its antiquity, they were wont to
> Cfr. Cent, et vig. art. ; Ad Filesac and Doc. ix. ' " La grande maignde." Auvray ; op. cit., p. 301, wofe.— Biblio- th^que Nat. MS.fr. 31,411, dossier Hennequin, fol. 117.
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express their contempt for any novelty by " turning up their noses, gibing, blowing out their cheeks and banging at the desks " ; ^ but on this occasion they surpassed themselves. For Aristotle's science had been attacked; and therefore they were insulted as Christians. " I have not taught in direct opposition to the Catholic Religion," Bruno told the Inquisitors, " but I was judged to do so indirectly at Paris, where I was permitted to engage in a disputation under the title of '120 articles against the Peripatetics' and other popular philosophers, printed by permission of the Heads." *
Latitudinarian England had proved itself indifferent to the new science ; Calvinistic Geneva had persecuted its apostle, and now Catholic France definitely rejected his theses before considering them, not without show of physical violence. He had resolved to leave disturbed France and try his fortunes elsewhere before that unhappy end to the disputation.* Shall he seek some generous asylum in Germany, Catholic or Protestant?
The intrepidity of the traveller in the sixteenth century was indeed admirable. He hardly noticed discomfort and he despised danger. Everywhere he had to run the risk of plague, ague, smallpox, treacherous landlords and wayside murder. In Germany he was usually called upon to share his bed with dirty, disagreeable wanderers ; all classes sat together at the common table, and filthy fingers fished in the common bowl for the choicest pieces. Vermin were a matter of course.* Yet there was no lack of company. Courtiers and scholars, monks and merchants, serving-men and mendicants trooped all over Western Europe and jostled
^ De Lampade Comb., Dedicatio. ^ Doc. XI,
' Centum et vig. articuli ; Ep. ad Filesac ; repeated in A crotismus,
1587. * Gratarolus, G ; De regimine iter agentium, 1561, p. 19. — Florio,
G ; Second Frutes, 1591, p. 95.— Spelman, W ; A dialogue, ed. J. E. L.
Pickering, 1896, p. 42.
N
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each other in every considerable town.^ It was an heroic age. Bruno was far too zealous a missionary to be squeamish ; German bandits could hardly prove worse than British boors.
' Even in Erasmus' time many people spent their lives in perpetual pilgrimage, not from piety, but from love of change. De utilitate colloquiorum, ad lectorem.