C. E ; Bohemia, London, 1896, chap. xv. ^ Oratio V aledictoria.

' De specierum Scruiinio, dedicatio.
* De specierum Scrutinio et Lampade Combinatoria R. Lulli ; doctoris omniscii, propemodumque divini. Pragae. Excudebat Georgius Nigrinus.
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of Georgius Daczenus a work dedicated to the Emperor, and entitled " One Hundred And Sixty Articles Directed Against The Mathematicians And Philosophers Of The Day." ^ The dedication is lofty and bold. He tells Rudolf that he looks forward to " a religion of love which shall be no cause of con- troversy and above dispute, being the desire of the soul and required by the reasonable covenants of the nation and of society." He protests against conflicting sects and intoler- ance of every kind. But he did not limit opprobrium to those who, to use the words of a modern seer, are " wont to vilify the sun because it will not light their cigar," for he detested still more those who "enforce their own prejudices with fire and sword." Bruno's ideal was the transformation of Catholic Christianity, purged of parasitic absurdities, into a true progressive religion. He had not the knowledge or interest to criticize Christianity ; but he saw how " authority usually binds and deceives in countless ways " ; and that the thinker must set himself free from " subjection to any other mind." ^ " It is sheer prejudice to settle a matter with small consideration ; it is an evil deed to follow obsequiously the lead of another man ; corrupt, slavish and traitorous to the dignity of free men to consent and surrender ; wholly stupid to believe because of wont and usage; and imbecile to assent to the opinion of the mob." " We wish this law to be vigorously observed, that reason is as true as it is necessary, and the authority of no men, howsoever true and excellent persons they may be, is admissible as an argu- ment." "Thus do we go forth to the most delightful splendour of light, understand Nature (which is crying aloud to be heard) and follow wisdom (which we hold supreme above all) with singleness of spirit and an honest heart." He
^ J. B. N. AHiculi centum et sexaginta adversus huius temporis mathemaiicos atque philosophos. . . . Ad divum Rodulphum II imperatorem. ^ Articuli centum et sexaginta, dedicatio.
AT PRAGUE AND HELMSTEDT 213
speaks of a new spirit which shall animate the future. Of himself he says : " In the free field of philosophy I shall shelter me from the ever-moving flood and seek the society of them that open their eyelids." He asserts with the Kantists that all measure is determined by the prior measure of mind ; and we seem to be listening to Descartes when we are told that " everything, however men may deem it assured and evident, proves, when it is brought under dis- cussion, to be no less doubtful than are extravagant and absurd beliefs." 1
A brief introduction follows the dedication, and then come 160 articles and 180 constructions which are but bare out- lines of much which Bruno dealt with later in the De Minima and De Monade. One object of the articles was to show that the propositions of Euclid can be intuited in three figures. Bruno's mathematics are crude and fallacious, but they have never received the attention of a capable mathematician ; who, it is quite possible, might detect some germs of valuable ideas amid much inaccuracy and miscon- struction. Very important is his statement that we must assume a physical unit which is not to be appreciated by sense any more than is a true sphere. He holds that mathematical science starts from multiple units according to the kind of mathematical consideration involved — a , doctrine which he tried to develop later.
The Emperor rewarded him with less than, in all prob- ability, he expected ; a treatise on alchemy or astrology would have- procured him a far richer reward. " I stayed six months at Prague, and whilst I maintained myself there I got a book on Geometry printed, which I presented to the Emperor, who gave me three hundred dollars; and, pos- sessed of these, I left Prague." ^
In 1576, Helmstedtin the duchy of Brunswick suddenly
* Articuli centum et sexaginta, dedicatio. ' Doc. ix.
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found itself in a position which it failed to keep very many years. In that year a university was opened there which became one of the chief seats of learning in Ger- many.^ Its founder, Duke Julius of that ancient house of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, which traced descent from Ason, marquis of Este, was a somewhat effusive, stimulating potentate who took the fancy of his people. His policy was conservative and directed by dynastic and personal motives, although his motto declared : " I spend myself in succouring others." A Protestant, he allowed his son and successor, Henry Julius, to become the nominally Catholic Bishop of Halberstadt at the age of fourteen ; but it is to his credit that when he abolished monastic houses he abstained from enriching himself thereby.^ The articles of this new university aimed at controlling angry con- troversialists. The establishment was adorned by fifty professors. Whether the constitution of the Academy attracted Bruno we do not know. All that he tells us is : " Providence, not Chance, conducted me to this place." * He matriculated Jan. 13th, 1589. Julius died shortly after his arrival, and Bruno was so far successful that some time after the funeral he was allowed to deliver and print a funeral oration. In it, he spoke of being an exile for truth's sake; he "had suffered from the hungry tooth of the Roman wolf, but is now in the enjoyment of complete freedom."* Bruno did not stop with the word "wolf": uncalculating, unguarded, headlong as ever, he casts the
1 Ludewig ; Geschichte u. Beschreibung d. Stadt Helmstedt, Helm. 1821.
' Heinemann, O. von ; Gesch.v. Braunschweg u. Hannover, Gotha, 1886 s?.— Bodermann, E ; Herzog Julius, Zeitschr. d. hist. Ver. /. Niedersachen, No. 932, Hannover, 1887. — Beste, J; Gesch. d. b. Landekirche, Wolfenbuttel, 1889.
■ Oratio Consolatoria. . . . Prima mens. Jul. 1589. Helmstadii apud Joh. Lucium. « ibid.
AT PRAGUE AND HELMSTEDT 215
Papal tyranny among the constellations, which here as in the Spaccio, are allegorically treated. There it is "the Gorgon's head, nourishing snakes for hair and infecting the world with the rank venom of ignorance and vice." Such words were not calculated to make any easier his desired reconciliation with Mother Church, nor would they add to the safety of that return to Italy which he soon had the temerity to effect.
He told the Inquisitors that he had delivered an oration on the death of Julius. In the margin of the document is the ominous record : " he was a heretic." " For this speech," adds Bruno, "his son and successor" (Henry Julius) " gave me 80 scudi." ^
The new duke was a highly educated and many-sided man, who adopted Lutheran Imperialistic policy, but did not concern himself overmuch with the University and such like matters. Ws_do not know if Bruno had any relations with him aftefv^the gift. But, as in the case of Henry III, he bore the prince's generosity in mind ; and in 1 591, when he was in Frstekfurt, and later in the same year, when he was in Italy, two of his greatest works appeared dedicated to Henry Julius, duke of Brunswick and Bishop of Halberstadt.^ The first contains a highly ornamented eulogium of the duke on the occasion of his marriage with Elizabeth, the sister of' James I's consort, Anne of Denmark. His eulogies of such heretic princes were remembered against him.^
It may have been because he found so much attention paid to occult and astrological subjects at Prague that Bruno's interest was directed to the obscure operations
' T)oc. ix.
2 De triplici minima ei mensura. — De monade, numero ei figura. Item de innumerabilis, immenso et infigurabili, seu de universo et mundis. ' Docs, ix, xiii.
2l6 GIORDANO BRUNO
of the mind in mathematics and those subtle sympathies in Nature concerning which the age was ready to believe almost anything. Magic meant to Bruno natural opera- tions which are obscure and surprising but of which, eventually, we may hope to learn the real character and laws. His mnemonic systeni was regarded as a species of occult science, for, quite apart from the Black Art, magical sciences were recognised as properly occupied with mathe- matics, physical sympathies, obscure causes and effects, such divine subjects as inspiration and prophecy, judicial astrology, metaphysical speculation etc., Bruno had already exhibited interest in what the Church held to be a dangerous borderland between the lawful and unlawful : in England he had written concerning the extraordinary effects wrought by the One Spirit in all things.^ He dedicated his De Magia to a pupil named Besler, a youth from Niirnberg, whose father had studied under Luther and whose brother gained distinction as a botanist. Besler continued to act as Bruno's copyist, and either accompanied or followed him to Padua.^ In 1866 the manuscripts of nine treatises and a larger work of Bruno's were put on the market at Paris and are now in the Moscow Library. These, known as the NorofF MSS., are for the most part in Besler's hand; but a little was written by Bruno himself. A copy of the De Magia is at Moscow, dated 1590, and a later MS. by the same copyist is preserved in the Augustan Library at Erlangen, together with the two codices of "Aristotle's Physics expounded by the illustrious Jordanus Bruno the Nolan," of which one is from the same hand. All these
' Causa, Dial. II, III.
' For Besler, see Stolzle, Remigius; Die Erlanger G. B. MS, Archiv JUr Geschichfe der Phil, iv, p. 573 sqq. — Tocco, F ; Opere inedite di G. B, Napoli, 1891.— Frith, I ; Life of G. B, pp. 343 sqq.— Mclntyre; G. B, p. 114 s??.— Berti, D ; Vita di G. B, Processo, Doc. xi.
AT PRAGUE AND HELMSTEDT 2 17
hitherto unpublished writings are now available in the State Edition.
De Magia " Concerning Magic " treats of mathematics as hidden or occult operations to be found both in Mind and in Nature. Action and reaction at a distance are accounted for on Neo-Platonic principles of universal ani- mism and mutual influences. Many marvels of a miracu- lous nature are accepted as due to natural operations, the precise nature of which remains undiscovered.'^ Everything may be reduced to the antagonistic yet co-operative prin- ciples of love and hate, or attraction and repulsion. There is one Soul of the World, of which finite souls are passing phases, and all things are derived from the Divine, but exist in successively decreasing degrees of reality and truth.
There are also MS. excerpts from Agrippa and other authors with annotations by Bruno : all belong to this period.
" The Principles, Elements And Causes Of Things," * dated Mar. i6th, 1590, is a work showing great respect for and acceptance of tradition. The magician is said to operate with his soul, and belief helps the effect ; wherefore the Son of God could not work miracles where there was incre- dulity.* Light is a spiritual substance which exists in all things.* Air, the principle which causes movement, is within the body of the world.^ He expresses belief in planetary influences. He intended to study judicial astrology; but he had little respect for the usual pretenders to that science and had nothing but contempt for conjuration, in- cantation etc.* The importance of this work lies in its full
1 It is worthy of note that, while Bruno placed little value on the testimony of miracles, he accepted those of Christ without question, as well as His birth from a Virgin-mother. Docs, xij, xiij.
^ De Rerum Principiis et Elementis et Causis.
' Op. Latin., p. 455 ; Cfr. Matth. xiii, 58; xvij, 20.
* Op. Latin., p. S^isq. = Ibid., p. 522. * Doc, xiij.
2l8 GIORDANO BRUNO
acceptance of physical minimal particles or atoms, a view derived from antiquity and elaborated in the great Latin poem. The whole book is an adventure into the un- known : everywhere he crosses the borderland of exact knowledge.
Pursuing a similar theme, comes the " LuUian Medicine, Drawn Partly From Mathematical, Partly From Physical Principles." ^ It was dictated at Helmstedt immediately after the " Principles." There are two codices, one being an incomplete emendation of the other. Most of the work is derived from the rare medical works of Lully.^
One of the conditions under which professors might teach at Helmstedt was an obligation to set forth the "true ancient philosophy without disguise, display or innovation." * Bruno was nothing if not an innovator, especially in cosmo- logy, and the subversion of ancient geocentric theory reflected severely on the Christian scheme. So one is not surprised to find a letter which exhibits him in trouble again. It is preserved in the Archives of the University, is written in Bruno's own hand and is addressed to a certain pro-rector Hofmann, who was at that time Professor of Philosophy and leader of a religious party. It runs : " Very Illustrious and Reverend Pro-rector : Jordanus Bruno, the Nolan, being excommunicated by the chief pastor and supervisor of the Church at Helmstedt " (one Boethius), " (who, without any public defence allowed, made himself both judge and executor in his own cause) humbly protests to your Magni- ficence and the very potent dignities of the Senate against the public execution of a . personal and highly iniquitous decree. He demands to be heard, so that he may know if
1 De Medicina Lulliana, partim ex mathematicis, partim ex physicis principiis educta.
* Lutoslaski, V ; Archiv f. G. d. Ph., II, p. 566. ' Bartholomfess, C ; op. cit., I, p. 170, n. 2.
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the attack on his position and reputation be just; for, as Seneca saith, ' He who judgeth, hearing one side only, is not just, even should his judgment be so.' Wherefore he begs your excellence to summon the worthy pastor, in order that, if God please, he may show cause and prove his fulmi- nation to be that of a good shepherd and not the effect of private malice."
We must not take this document any more than that of Geneva as implying that Bruno was a member of the Pro- testant Church; but such formal excommunication would carry serious disabilities with it ; for what student would be bold enough to pursue his studies under the direction of a denounced heretic ? There exists no notice of the appeal, which, we have reason to believe, was rejected. For Bruno's indignation would seem to be recorded in the De Mininio and De Immenso, on which he was probably engaged at the time. The " priest and grammarian " is embalmed therein like a fly in amber.^ Hofmann has not the shadow of an idea concerning the philosophy he professes ; he poses as the Rhadamanthus of boys; why, the very crumbled dust of ancient philosophers is worth more than his living soul.
The prospect of making a living at Helmstedt disap- peared. Bruno indicates that the gift of the duke enabled him to proceed to Frankfurt " to get two books printed, namely De Minima and De Nuniero, Monade Et Figura." ^ He left Helmstedt towards the middle of 1590. A year later his enemy, Hofmann, after being ejected from his chair, had also to pack his goods and depart. Later still, Boethius was also overthrown. So fiercely did academic passions rage in the sixteenth century !
1 De minimo, lib. V ; De immenso, lib IV, c. x. " Doc. ix.