I. The Threefold Least

The earlier Greek philosophers wrote in hexameters, and Lucretius, impressed by the intrinsic dignity of a cosmic conception, followed their example. Bruno, essentially poet as well as thinker, regarded with deep emotion the glowing life and stupendous intelligence displayed in an Infinite Universe. Science was to him Revelation, and, in the fulness of his heart, he renewed the attempt to combine poetry with science. It would be a great achievement, were it possible to unfold the secrets of the Universe in music and re-invest what we have painfully disinterred from Nature with the warm beauty of her life. But who shall endow the cold conclusions of logic with the passion of poetry ? For the essence of poetry is emotion caught at its intensest moment; while metaphysical and scientific enquiry is ab- stract and impassive.
Three closely related Latin poems appeared in 1591 in two volumes. These contain much of their author's ripest thought. The first volume, which was for sale at the Frankfurt Spring Fair, was entitled " The Threefold Least And Measure Of The Three Speculative Sciences And The Principle Of Many Practical Arts." ^ The work is in five books divided into chapters, each of which begin with verses followed by explanatory annotations in prose. The two
^ De triplici minima et mensura ad trium speculaiivarum scienti-
arum et multarum activarum artium principia.
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first books contain a restatement of the teachings of the Causa, somewhat improved and more detailed. The remain- ing three are chiefly mathematical. The main argument is concerned with the threefold unity of three speculative sciences, which are of God, who is " both the greatest and the least that may be " ; of the unitary individual soul, and of the material atom or physical unit.^ As successive works of Bruno appear one finds in them a gradual disappearance of mere Neo-Platonism and theory of emanation, less mere admiration of the transcendency of God and deeper con- templation of His immanence in Nature.^ These Latin poems are chiefly concerned with the operations of a Living Universe.
Five years before Descartes was born, we find declared here that " whoso itcheth to Philosophy must set to work by putting all things to the doubt." *
The thinker seeks the Universal ; he would have know- ledge of some underlying principle, some supporting sub- stance underlying the flux of things. Such a substance must be simple, that is to say, without parts, for if it had parts these would again require a single, simple principle or substrate. Thought necessitates the unchanging amid change, ever at one with itself. Differences of number, the opposition of good and evil, all contraries, in a word, must be at one, as Cusanus taught. The greatest must be at one with the least ; the maximum coincide with the minimum. So is it with God. He is "a unit, the source of all numbers, wholly simple, the substance of magnitude and composition, a dignity above every phase, not to be computed, infinitely great." * " He is the unit of units." ^ But we must not
' Tocco, F ; Op. lat. di G. B. exposte etc., Fir., 1889, p. 138. « Tocco, F; Conferenza, Fir., 1886.
3 De minima, I, i. * Ibid., I, i, schol.
' " Deus est monadum monas," ibid., I, iv.
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regard the Absolute One as bare unity. In a work written just before this one was published our author writes : " In themselves things change, and, in the material world, are effects and imperfect. They are rather not-beings than beings, for they issue from the void and, so far from truly being, they depart into the void. Their true existence must be where they cannot but be, in that first cause and perfect principle wherein lies the will and the power for their pro- duction at pleasure. Wherefore their true being is in the Monad itself, wherein, consequently, they are truly known, in simplicity and concurrence ; for there all things are one, without distinction or dispersion or number ; but this in an ineffable way." ^
Bruno regards the unit from metaphysical, physical and critical points of view.^ Metaphysically considered, the soul is an eternal minimum, the possibility of change. He was resolved to treat fully of metaphysics and of the soul " if it should please God to bestow on him time." To our loss, it was not permitted. There are minima of spirit, which are not further reducible and wherein absolute spirit manifests itself. The relation of these minima to absolute spirit is not shown, nor could it be, since one term of the relation at least remains quite ineffable. Bruno would seem in another work to incline to the opinion that they cannot be regarded as mere parts or divisions of the one spirit, but " truly it remains in doubt." '
No less than minima of spirit, souls or centres of ex- perience, must we posit minima in the physical world. Bruno definitely adopts an atomic theory. The material
^ Summa terminorum. Cfr. Bradley, F. H ; op. cit. chapters xiij-xv.
^ Lasswitz ; G. B. und die Atomistik, Vierteljahrschriftfiir Wissen- schaft. Philosophie, 1884. — Mclntyre ; Op. cit., p. 246 sqq.
' Lampas triginta staiuarum, op. lat., cura Tocco and Vitelli,
p.ss.
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universe, he says, is composed of irreducible units or atoms, which enter into composition as do the letters of the alphabet into the formation of words.^ It must be so, since there cannot be infinite divisibility ; for could we go on subdividing for ever there would be no substance : there must be some minimum which has no parts. And if it were not so, every- thing would be penetrable: there would be no resistance of body to body. Composition changes, but the absolute minimum or substance is immortal: it is the possibility of change. Physical differences depend on this possibility being realized in the composition of these simple, homo- geneous atoms. Each minimum is the centre of an energy which is an external quality and which is endlessly ex- tended. It is indestructible, endlessly in motion, and this activity it derives from the operation of final causes which issue from the individual soul or from the Soul of the World. Each minimum or least thing is also the possibility of its own maximum, drawing all the other minima it may into connexion with itself.^ And most of all must this be said of the Unit of Units, wherein the maximum and minimum and all qualities coincide and are at one.^ Bruno's Absolute is self-conscious Spirit, containing and knowing all that is within itself.*
An atom is spherical.* Atoms come into contact at points on their superficies, leaving curved triangular spaces be- tween them.® Since they touch with a limited surface only, we must be careful to distinguish between body and limit, and not to confuse these as Aristotle does.'' In other words, we must not confound mathematical intuitions with
1 De minimo, I, ij, v. 26. * Ibid., I, iij, v. 23-29, 50-55.
' Ibid., I, iv, V. 10 sqq.
* Carrifere, M ; Weltanschauung d. Reformationzeii, p. 470. ' De minimo, I, xij ; xiv ; II, ij.
• Ibid., I, xj. ' Ibid., I, vij, v. 19-25 ; 40-43.
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physical being. The physical atom is a constant centre of God's operation; that by means of which the complexity of nature becomes possible.
Critically considered, the minimum may be such abso- lutely or relatively. An absolute minimum, such as a mathematical point, is irreducible, in whatever way the mind approaches it; but a relative minimum, such as bone, cartilage etc. is reducible.^ Sense is the source of our information, but it needs correction by reason.^ Without a unit or minimum, there can be no measurement ; and it is by the exercise of reason that we arrive at the conception of a unit ; but we must not forget that indiscernibles possess differences in actual existence.^ The minimal standard varies according to that which is measured; the unit of physics is very different from that of the surgery, and the unit of the physician lies far from that of the mathema- tician.* For each division of knowledge there is a mini- mum ; there is the point for mathematics, unity for arithmetic, atoms for physics — the latter being simple in themselves and without difference.^ These minima depend on the mind and purpose of the thinker.* In Nature numbers do not exist: "ten horses are not equal to ten men." Everywhere we find a minimum but not a maximum : the unit is a relative concept leading us on towards the last and greatest. Everything is unique, and change of any kind never absolutely repeats itself; there are no perfect geometrical forms in Nature ; ' for there is a constant exodus and immigration of the particles of every material body.*
It is definitely stated that the minimum, whether spirit or
I De minimo, I, x. ' Ibid., I, xiv, schol.
'' Ibid., II, ij, V, i. sqq. ' Ibid., I, x, schol.
6 Ibid., I, ix. ^ Ibid., I, ix.
' Ibid., II, iv, V. 36 sqq. ° Ibid., II, v ; V, ij.
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physical atom, is immortal.* From this and one or two similar remarks elsewhere, some writers have supposed that Bruno came at last to throw over the teaching of the Causa and to believe in personal immortality. Here, he speaks of the transformations of the soul as not following one another in haphazard fashion, but as depending on the kind of life which has been led. Taken au pied de la lettre, this is an explicit assertion of personal immortality. But one often has to read the real Bruno between the written lines, and, above all, to compare every one of his utterances on a subject before one can form a conclusive judgment as to his real meaning. He repeats in this work that there is one Soul of the World, manifesting itself in manifold forms, and the passage may be merely his way of expressing the " secret sympathies " of nature which produce such facts as heredity, the transmission of ideas through space and time, definite tendencies in matter and mind etc. etc. Professor Mclntyre thinks Bruno came to accept personal immor- tality.^ Tocco, the completest and minutest of Brunian scholars, once thought so too,' but, since he had access to the manuscript works which have now been published, partly under his care, he has completely changed his opinion. He maintains that, in Bruno's philosophy, while Matter is resolved into insensible, irreducible atoms. Spirit is not thus fractionized, but remains always one with itself in quality and substance.* It may be questioned whether Bruno ever regarded the atomic theory as other than a relative one for human knowledge. But Tocco charges him with incon- sistency and dualism in applying one principle to brute-
1 De minima, I, iv, 10 sqq.
^ Mclntyre; op. cit., pp. 307, 313 sqq.
' Tocco, F ; Conferema., Fir, i886.
* Tocco, F ; Op. ined. di G. B, Napoli, 1891. CJr. the last few pages of his study of the Lampas triginti statuarum, and the Intro- duction, p. 7.
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matter and another principle to mind. In the Lampas, written at Wittenberg, in the Spaccio and elsewhere, Bruno writes that neither body nor soul need fear death, since both are eternal and constant principles. But the reduction of the Universe to two distinct principles — matter and spirit, if in some measure anticipatory of Descartes, is not made absolute. There remains the all-inclusive, all-comprehen- sive Unity which is at once Divine Intuition and Divine Power and all things else. No category is really ultimate for the Nolan. If he divides matter and spirit, he does not finally divorce them. And he were a bold thinker to day who should be so assured of the certainties of science and of his own metaphysical power as to interpret electrons in terms of spirit or spirit in terms of electrons. Bruno's atoms would seem to be virtually active spirit under the direction of individual souls. Thus, animal centres of experience direct the atomic evolution of the body from the heart as a centre.^
With regard to Bruno's assertions, often so obscure, concerning immortality, we must remember that it was his wont, as indeed was necessary, even for an unguarded person, to speak in guarded language. He employs current conceptions to rise above them; he makes use of any aspect of the Pythagorean or any other philosophy which approximates towards his own and which will give his own view some measure of authoritative support ; he is fond of suggestive mythology, and lures the learner onward with "language of accommodation " ; for is there not in all things some trace of truth, more or less clearly discernible ? The reflective student can usually penetrate through the mask, which is at once an incitement and a clue. Just here there are considerable difficulties in the way of interpreta- tion. We have seen that, in the Wittenberg " Lamp," he > De minimo, I, if, schol; iij, v. 22-29, 50-55 ; Causa, Dial. II.
234 GIORDANO BRUNO
wrote of how some think particular beings to be particular manifestations of the Soul of the World ; others, that the Soul of the World is divided into parts ; " truly it remains in doubt, but we incline to the first opinion." ^ A little further on he writes that multiplication falls on the side of brute- matter, the soul remaining one.* Of an underlying identi- fication of the individual centre of experience with the Universal Experience, Bruno felt sure. And that implies a higher, fuller immortality than mere personal continuance with memory-synthesis, or mere continued being-in-flux without memory. Yet neither of these is inconsistent with Bruno's central conception. Probably he formed no definite conclusion about matters which he would regard as of minor importance and unsupported by conclusive evidence. Tocco writes : " The individualisation of the soul is for Bruno a fleeting event which in the infinite bosom of time has but the stability and duration of a flash."* But assuredly Bruno meant much more than this. As has been shown, he identifies the human spirit with the Absolute Spirit in the last resort, and of the Absolute Spirit he writes in a work of approximately the same date that " past is not present to it as past, or future as future, but the whole of time is present to it wholly, at once and complete." * " To die," he says elsewhere, " is to spring into life." And in the great poem published at the autumn fair, after such pieces of Pythagorean metaphor as, " the organs of a horse may await those of a man and all other creatures in regular or irregular progression " he immediately adds, " present organic death has nothing to do with the count- less forms of enduring life. Were the Spirit but aware of
' Op. lat., ed. Tocco and Vitelli, iij, p. 58.
^ Ibid., p. 59. Cfr. Causa, Dial. II ; Cabala, II, ij.
' Tocco, F ; op. ined. di G. B. p. vij.
' Summa ierminorum meiaphysicorum.
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this it would not suffer apprehension. For the wise fear not death, but may even desire and set out to embrace it. Every substance shall endure throughout eternity, have infinity for its dwelling place and all forms for its reali- zation." ^
Bruno's phrase " God is the monad of monads " or " unit of units, ''^-)which was afterwards employed by Leibnitz, together with the similarity of their views concerning every living being containing a vast number of other living beings,' and many other resemblances or pseudo-resem- blances led to the belief that Leibnitz was indebted to Bruno. But this is quite a blunder:* Leibnitz derived nothing from the earlier thinker. The Monadology, com- pared with Bruno's more comprehensive philosophy, is not merely one-sided, but, in its theory of pre-established harmony, is far more patently and extravagantly unsound. The earlier thinker did not indulge in the construction of a Pluralistic Universe. J v ' ■-/ '1 ^, >. ~
All the latter part of De Minimo is occupied with a hopeless attempt to remodel Mathematics on the concept of monads or the various mathematical minima which he would have to be irreducible. While he almost anticipated the innovation of Kant by enquiring into the conditions of knowledge and in perceiving the intuitive character of mathematics, he was by no means abreast with the mathematics of his own day, and he quite failed to see the direction which that science had already taken. He further committed the fatal blunder of forgetting his own
1 De immenso, I, j.
' De minimo, I, iv, schol. Leibnitz fell on the phrase quite independently. " - — ._.^
' Cfr. Cena,Dial. Ill : Leibnitz, G. W; Monadology, §70.
* Stein, L ; Leibnitz und Spinoza, Ein Beitrag zur Entwickelunge- geschichter der Leibnizchen Philosophie, 1890, p. 197 sqq. — Mclntyre ; op. cit., pp. 224, 343 sqq.
236 GIORDANO BRUNO
distinction between limit or boundary and the physical body which it bounds. For example, he treats of the line as a file of atoms.^ He tried to simplify geometry by making the greater part of it intuitively comprehensible through three vastly involved figures.