Heroic Furor

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued

“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueb

“It is not a fury of black bile which sends him drifting outside of judgment, reason, and acts of prudence, and tossed by the discordant tempest, like those who, having violated certain laws of the divine Adrastia, are condemned to be scourg…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguea

“. Interlocutors: Cesarino. Maricondo. 1. Ces. It is said that the best and most excellent things are in the world when the whole universe responds from every part, perfectly, to those things; and this it is said takes place as the plan…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguel

“Besides which, because he does not believe that all which is not, could not be, he prays the divine light, that by its beauty, which ought not to be entirely concealed, at least according to the capacity of whoever beholds it, and by his lo…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguen

“So much so that whatsoever you might add thereto would appear to me superfluous. IX. Ces. Let us see what is here represented by those two radiating arrows upon a target around which is written: Vicit instans. Mar. The continual strugg…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguef

“Here the eyes imprint upon the heart, that is upon the intelligence, and rouse in the will an infinite torment of love, where there is no pain because nothing is sought which is not obtained; but it is happiness, because that which is there…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONb

“The Waldensians, who had lately been driven out of Piedmont, and had sought a shelter in the Calabrian territory, were hunted down and given over to the executioner. The convent was the only refuge from violence, and Bruno, either from rel…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONc

“Bruno also wrote a book upon the Sphere, which was lost. He expounded the system of Copernicus, and talked to his pupils with enthusiasm about the movement of the earth and of the plurality of worlds. As in that same Liguria Columbus firs…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONd

“The one surprised the world with the melody of his songs; being, as Dante says, the "dolce sirena che i marinari in mezzo al mare smaga," he lulled the anguish that lacerated Italy, and gilded the chains which bound her; the other tried to…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONe

“"Altiora Peto" was Bruno's motto, and to realize it he had gone forth with the pilgrim's staff in his hand, sometimes covered with the cowl of the monk, at others wearing the simple habit of a schoolmaster, or, again, clothed with the doubl…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONf

“He was then advised to doff the Dominican habit, which he still wore; this he was quite willing to do, only he had no money to buy other clothing, and was forced to have some made of the cloth of his monkish robes, and his new friends prese…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONg

“His extraordinary memory and his eloquence caused great astonishment; and the fame of Bruno reached the ears of King Henry III., who sent for him to the Court, and being filled with admiration of his learning, he offered him a substantial s…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONh

“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…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONi

“The life of man is more than an experience or trial; it is an effort, a struggle to reproduce and represent upon earth some of that goodness, beauty, and truth which are diffused over the universe and constitute its harmony. Long, slow, an…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONj

“The body is in the soul, the soul is in the mind, the mind is in God. The life of the soul is the true life of the man. Of all his various faculties, that which rules all, that which exalts our nature, is Thought. By means of it we rise…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONk

“Bruno returned to Paris in 1585, being at that time tutor in the family of Mauvissier, who had been recalled from England by his Sovereign. During Bruno's second sojourn in Paris efforts were made by Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, and ot…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONl

“There he passed the first day of that imprisonment which was to last for eight years. The next day he went over the lagoon in a gondola, in the company of his jailors, who took him to the prison of the Holy Office, and left him there. Lev…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguea

“. Tansillo, Cicada. Tans. The enthusiasms most suitable to be first brought forward and considered are those that I now place before you in the order that seems to me most fitting. Cic. Begin, then, to read. Tansillo. 1. Ye Muses, t…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueb

“They do not consider that those rules serve principally as a frame for the Homeric poetry, and for other similar to it, and they set up one as a great poet, high as Homer, and disallow those of other vein, and art, and enthusiasm, who in th…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguec

“Hence he cries: "O mountain of Parnassus, where I abide! Muses, with whom I converse! Fountain of Helicon, where I am nourished. Mountain, that affordest me a quiet dwelling-place! Muses, that inspire me with pro found doctrines. Fount…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguee

“What power or spell of herb or magic art Can tear thee from the centre of my heart, Since he, who with an ever-growing zest, Tormenting most, yet most does make me blest? How can I of this weight unburdened be, If pain the cure, and joy th…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguef

“One thing is certain, that he who loves wisely in youth will in age not go astray. But derision is for those of mature age, into whose hands Love puts the alphabet. Cic. Tell me now why Fate is called blind and bad. Tans. Again, blind…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueg

“"Steals it from me," he says of Jealousy, not simply in order that it may not be present to me; removing it from my eyesight, but in order that good may not be good, but an acute evil; sweet, not sweet, but an agonized longing; while the he…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguea

“. Tansillo. Now begins the enthusiast to display the affections and uncover the wounds which are for a sign in his body, and in substance or essence in his soul, and he says thus: 9. Of Love the standard-bearer I; My hopes are ice, and g…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogueb

“On the contrary, I mean that there is in these another species of foolishness and a worse. Cic. Who, then, is wise, if foolish is he who is content, and foolish he who is sad? Tans. He who is neither merry nor sad. Cic. Who? He who s…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguec

“I can very well conceive, from what you have said, the condition of that heroic enthusiast, who says, "My hopes are ice and my desires are glowing," because he is not in the temperance of mediocrity, but, in the excess of contradictions, hi…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogued

“So that, finding himself thus ascending and descending, he feels within his soul the greatest dissension that is possible to be felt, and he remains in a state of confusion through this rebellion of the senses, which urge him thither where…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee

“Herein he proves that his love is truly heroic; because he proposes to himself as the chief aim, not corporeal beauty, but rather the grace of the spirit, and the inclination of the affections in which, rather than in the beauty of the body…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguea

“. Tansillo . There are several varieties of enthusiasts, which may all be reduced to two kinds. While some only display blindness, stupidity, and irrational impetuosity, which tend towards savage madness, others by divine abstraction bec…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguec

“Here he shows his love not to be like that of the butterfly, of the stag, and of the unicorn, who would flee away if they had knowledge of the fire, of the arrow, and of the snares, and who have no other sense than that of pleasure; but he…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogued

“In this disposition, I believe, was the Nolano when he said: 14. Woe's me! my fury forces me To union with the bad within, And makes it seem a love supreme and good. Wearied, my soul cares nought That I opposing counsels entertain, And w…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguee

“Others esteem him unhappy through this appearance of an evil destiny, as being condemned to these pangs, for he will never cease from acknowledging the obligation he is under to love, nor cease from rendering thanks to him because he has pr…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguef

“Fitly, therefore, this rapture of heroic enthusiasm feeds on such "high emprise." For the object is infinite, and in action most simple, and our intellectual power cannot apprehend the infinite except in speech or in a certain manner of spe…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueg

“Such over-boldness rarely grief escapes." "Fear not the utmost ruin then," I said, "Cleave confident the clouds and die content, That heaven has destined thee to such illustrious death." Cic . I understand when you say: "Enough that thou h…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueh

“In which generation finding themselves once more through the changes which permutably succeed, they return again to the superior forms. Cic . So that they mean, that souls are impelled by the necessity of fate, and have no proper counsel…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguea

“. Tansillo . Thus is described the discourse of heroic love, in all which tends to its own object, which is the highest good; and heroic intellect, which devotes itself to the study of its own object, which is the primal verity, or absolu…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueb

“He forms intelligible conceptions in his own way and proportions them to his capacity, so that they are received according to the manner of the recipient. Tans. And does he hunt through the operation of the will, by the act of which he co…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguec

“Whence he says, "Come not back to me till thou art mine," and not unworthily may I say with that other— Thou has left me, oh, my heart, And thou, light of my eyes, art no more with me. Here he describes the death of the soul, which by the…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogued

“To be infinite, it must be infinitely pursued with that form of pursuit which is not incited physically, but metaphysically, and is not from imperfect to perfect, but goes circulating through the grades of perfection to arrive at that infin…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguee

“She dispatches the armed thoughts, which, solicited and urged by disagreement with the inferior nature, are sent to recall the heart. The soul instructs them how they should conduct themselves, so that, being allured and attracted by the o…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguef

“Hence it follows that not less do we desire to see things unknown and unseen than those known and seen. And from this it does not follow that the desire does not proceed from cognition, and that we desire something that is not known; but I…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueg

“Behold me, miserable one, deprived of heart, abandoned of thoughts, left by hope, I, who had fixed my all in them. Nothing is left to me but the sense of my poverty, my unhappiness and misery; why does not this too leave me? Why does not…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueh

“Heaven the second gift denies, To him who does the first despise. With these and similar reasons the soul, taking part with the weakest, seeks to recall the thoughts to the care of the body. And these, although late, come and show themsel…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguei

“And amongst men the same thing is seen, according as some resemble one species of brute beast and some another: these having something of the quadruped, and those of birds, and, may be, some affinity, which I will not explain, but through w…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguej

“This I understand right well, and also that which you would infer about the principal intention; that is to say, that these are the degrees of the loves, of the affections, and of the enthusiasms, according to the degrees of greater and les…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguek

“Destiny, when, shall I that mountain mount, Which, blissful to the high gates bringing, bring, Where those rare beauties I shall counting, count, When he my pain with comfort comforting, Who my disjointed members joined, And leaves my dying…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguea

“. I. Cic . Now show me how I may be able for myself to consider the conditions of these enthusiasts, through that which appears in the order of the warfare here described. Tans . Behold how they carry the ensign of their affections or…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueb

“There is a sun whose rays extend to the back of the earth, and there is a legend which says: "Idem semper ubique totum." Cic . I perceive that the interpretation of it will be difficult. Tans . The more excellent the meaning the less obv…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguec

“It means that enthusiast, signified by the naked child as simple, pure, and exposed to all the accidents of Nature and of fortune, who at the same time by the force of thought, constructs castles in the air, and amongst other things a tower…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogued

“Be it far from me to make complaint of love, Love, without whom I will not happy be, And though through him these weary toils I bear. Yet what is given my will shall not reject. Be clear the sky or dark, burning or cold, To that one ph[oe…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguee

“The degrees of contemplation are like the degrees of light, which exist not at all in the darkness, slightly in shade, more in colours, according to their orders, from one opposite which is black to the other which is white; but more fully…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguef

“I understand it all; but what is the meaning of, "May I be happy in this governance and with these bonds, and may that light not cease?" Tans. He means, and he proves, that every sort of love, the greater its dominion and the surer its hol…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueg

“This special human intelligence which influences all individuals is like the moon, which partakes of no other species but that one alone which always renews itself by the transmutation caused in it by the sun, which is the primal and univer…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueh

“That legend contains all the meaning of the thing in so far as it can be explained, for it means that he turns and is turned, that is to say movement present and accomplished. Cic. Excellent! And therefore those circles which so ill expl…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguei

“It seems to me, that it means that his particular intelligence is to the universal intelligence ever the same—that is to say, the one is ever illuminated by the other, over the whole hemisphere; notwithstanding that to the inferior powers,…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguej

“So also is the hemisphere of this earth ever equally irradiated, although from the watery surfaces she from time to time sends her splendours unequally to the moon,—which like innumerable other stars we consider as another earth—in the same…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguek

“That is a maxim of the Epicureans which, being well understood, would not be considered so unworthy as the ignorant hold it to be, seeing that it does not detract from what I have called virtue, nor does it impair the perfection of firmness…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguel

“Here are shown the pains and troubles which beset love, principally love of a low kind, which is no other than the forge of Vulcan, that smith who makes the bolts of Jove which torment offending souls. For ill-ordered love has in itself th…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguem

“In conclusion, whatever love it may be, it is ever afflicted and tormented in such a way that it cannot fail to supply material for the forge of Vulcan; because the soul, being a divine thing, and by nature, not a servant but the mistress o…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguen

“Of necessity, one is according to the sum of the other, seeing that where things are finite it may result in this, that it is more wise than beautiful or good, more good and beautiful than wise, more wise and good than powerful, and more po…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueo

“For love, while it is finite, contented, and fixed in a certain measure, is not in the form of the species of divine beauty, but as it goes on with ever higher aspirations, it may be said to verge towards the infinite. Cic. . How is brea…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguep

“So wills my fate; But blazing every hour From their meridian they burn the afflicted heart. [A] Quando il sen d'oriente il giorno sgombra. Cic. This tablet expresses with greater truth than perspicacity the sense of the figure. Tans. .…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueq

“Nec Veneris fructu caret is, qui vitat amorem, Sed potius, quæ sunt, sine poena, commoda sumit. Cic. What is meant by the meridian of the heart? Tans. That part or region of the will which is highest and most exalted, and where it becom…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguer

“But it is not so, if you consider well, for it cannot be that in one instant, which is an atom or point, love persists or endures; therefore one must of necessity understand the instant in another signification. And for the sake of getting…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogues

“Exemption I am sure you would not claim, Being subject to the common influence; Shining on earth as do the stars in heaven. Your sov'reign beauty, ladies, our austerity Cannot depreciate, nor would do so, For we have not in view a superhum…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | PREFACE

“. The second part of "The Heroic Enthusiasts" which I am now sending to the press is on the same subject as the first, namely the struggles of the soul in its upward progress towards purification and freedom, and the author makes use of low…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueb

“This is precisely the humour of a furious lover, though the same may be said of nearly all mortals who are seriously affected in any way. We cannot say that this accords with all conditions in a general way, but only with those mortals who…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguec

“And I will say, because to me this pain Is dearer than all other pleasures are. Mar. In reference to this I told you that although one should be attached to corporeal and external beauty yet he may honourably and worthily be so attached;…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued

“You see, Cesarino, how this enthusiast is justified in his anger against those who reproach him with being in captivity to a low beauty, to which he dedicates his vows, and attributes these forms, so that he is deaf to those voices which ca…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguee

“For nothing is produced absolutely from a homœogeneous (pacifico) principle, but all from opposite principles, through the victory and dominion of one part of the opposites, and there is no pleasure of generation on one side without the pai…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguef

“But Providence wills that these, instead of rising to the sky, should go together to the shades of Orcus, so that naught is the glory of him who extols and of him who is extolled; for the one has woven a statue of straw, or carved the trunk…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueg

“Wherefore not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that man, in the pre…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueh

“If one aspires to the supreme splendour, let him retire as much as he can, from union and support, into himself (Di sorte che non sia simile a molti, per che son molti; e non sia nemico di molti per che son dissimili), so that he be not lik…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguei

“"It is not," says he, "gold and silver that makes one like God, because these are not treasure to Him; nor vestments, for God is naked; nor ostentation and fame, for He shows Himself to few, and perhaps not one knows Him, and certainly many…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguej

“So that the continual movement of one part supposes and carries with it the movement of the whole, in such a way that the attraction of the posterior parts is consequent upon the repulsion of the anterior parts; thus the movement of the sup…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguek

“Equally, to be heard by the Divine, is precisely to listen to it, and to be favoured by it, is the same as to offer to it; for from the one immoveable and the same, proceed thoughts uncertain and certain, desires ardent and appeased, and re…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguem

“Thus everything has an impetus towards its beginning retrogressively, and progressively towards its end and perfection, as Empedocles well said, and from which sentence I think may be inferred that which the Nolan said in this octave: The s…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueo

“Because those lights which made present the illuminating, acting intellect and sun of intelligence found easy ingress through his eyes; that of Truth (the intellect of Truth?) through the door of the intellectual faculty; that of Goodness (…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguep

“Well do I remember having seen it expressed in the sonnet. But let us read it first. 50. Eager to find the much desired food, The eagle towards the sky spreads out his wings And warns of his approach both bird and beast, The third flight…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueq

“Solomon calls it furtive waters. Samuel named it the whisper of a gentle wind. The which three significations show with what sweetness, gentleness, and astuteness, in seas, on earth, in sky, does this fellow come and tyrannize over the wh…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguer

“But where the entire affection is all turned towards God, that is towards the Idea of Ideas, from the light of intelligible things, the mind becomes exalted to the super-essential unity, and, all love, all one, it feels itself no longer sol…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogues

“Weary and hoarse I yield me, impotent, And seek no more to elude my destiny, Or make endeavour to escape my death: Let every other life to me be null, And let not the extremest torment fail, Which my hard fate for me prescribed. Type of my…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguea

“Maricondo. Here you see a flaming yoke enveloped in knots round which is written: Levius aura; which means that Divine love does not weigh down, nor carry his servant captive and enslaved to the lowest depths, but raises him, supports him…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogueb

“Now why should we force ourselves to corrupt the state of nature which has separated the universe into things major and minor, superior and inferior, illustrious and obscure, worthy and unworthy, not only outside ourselves but also inside i…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguec

“Therefore in this present time it is proper that noble spirits equipped with truth and enlightened with the Divine intelligence, should arm themselves against dense ignorance by climbing up to the high rock and tower of contemplation.[L] [L…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogued

“The long life of Archimedes, of Euclid, of Priscian, of Donato, and others, who were found up to their death occupied with numbers, lines, diction, concordances, writings, dialectics, syllogisms, forms, methods, systems of science, organs,…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee

“Now, it must be said that the outcome of the mind is that alone which is always by it desired, sought for, and embraced, and that which is more enjoyed than anything else, with which it is filled, comforted and becomes better,—that is Truth…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguef

“[P] Number is, as the great writer (Balzac) thought, an Entity, and at the same time, a Breath emanating from what he called God, and what we call the ALL, the breath which alone could organize the physical Kosmos.—("The Secret Doctrine.")…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguea

“. Interlocutors : Liberio. Laodonio. Lib. Reclining in the shade of a cypress-tree, the enthusiast finding his mind free from other thoughts, it happened that the heart and the eyes spoke together as if they were animals and substances…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueb

“And more than that, they are equal to the ocean, not because they do pour, but because these two springing streams can pour such, and so much, that compared with them the Nile would appear a tiny stream divided into seven streamlets.[T] [T]…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguec

“First, because such an impediment cannot exist in action, if (equally?) violent opposition is not put into action;[U] second, because in so far as the waters are actually in the eyes, they can give passage to the heat as to the light; for,…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogued

“Why rather stay a pilgrim here below Than open through the air and us a way? No spark of fire from that heart Goes out through the wide atmosphere. Body of dust and ashes is not seen, Nor water-laden smoke ascends on high. All is contain…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguee

“This alone I will not leave (unsaid) that it is not without reason that the affection of the heart is said to be the infinite sea by the apprehension of the eyes.[X] For the object of the mind being infinite, and no definite object being pr…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueg

“The eyes, when they move (the heart), are dry, because they perform the office of a looking-glass, and of a representer; when they are moved, however, they become troubled and perturbed, because they perform the office of a diligent execute…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguea

“. Interlocutors : Severing. Minutolo. Sev. You will see the origin of the nine blind men, who state nine reasons and special causes of their blindness, and yet they all agree in one general reason and one common enthusiasm.[AB] [AB] May…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueb

“The other follows, who says that he became blind through having been suddenly brought out of the darkness into a great light: accustomed to behold ordinary beauties, a celestial beauty was suddenly presented before his eyes—a sun-god—in thi…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguec

“Besides which he considers that his blindness is not from constitution, but from habit, and is peculiar to himself, because the luminous fire which kindles the soul in the pupil, was for too long a time and with too much force, repressed an…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogued

“Therefore, in the sistine he would have space made for him to pass; for if anybody should be touched by his fires he would become such that he would have no more feeling of the flames of hell, for their heat would be to him as cold snow. 6…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguee

“Thou sayest well that no natural impulse or power is without strong reason; it is in fact the same rule of nature which orders things. So far, it is a thing most true and most certain to well-disposed intellects, that the human soul, whate…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguef

“Sev. In a certain way no, and in a certain way yes. There is no difference, when the Divine mind through its providence comes to communicate itself without disposition of the subject; I mean to say when it communicates itself because it s…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueg

“The fifth results from the disproportion of the means of our cognition to the knowable; seeing that in order to contemplate Divine things, the eyes must be opened by means of images, analogies and other reasonings which by the Peripatetics…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueh

“All which you have explained where it says: "When will the bright spark of the visual ray Darting, spring through each veiling obstacle." But let us return. The sixth, represented in the following, is caused only by the imbecility and unre…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguei

“As he who looks aloft sometimes is overcome by the majesty.[AG] Besides, when he comes to penetrate the Divine species, he passes it like a ray. Whence say the theologians that the Divine word is more penetrating than sharp point of sword…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguea

“. Interlocutors : Laodomia. Giulia. Lao. Some other time, oh my sister, thou wilt hear what happened to those nine blind men, who were at first nine most beautiful and amorous youths, who being so inspired by the loveliness of your face…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueb

“By her finally, they were treated in such a manner that, blind and homeless, with great labour having ploughed the seas, passed over rivers, overcome mountains, traversed plains for the space of ten years, and at the end of which time havin…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguec

“Too long, too long our limbs Have wandered o'er the terrene globe, So that to us it seems As if the shrewd wild beast, With false and flattering hopes, Our bosoms has encumbered with her wiles. Wretched henceforth, we see, though late, the…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogued

“The fourth with the viola sang : And pierced anon with such a light as this; Blindness worth more than every other sight, Pains sweeter far than other pleasures are, For to the fairest light Thou art thyself a guide, Show to the soul all lo…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguee

“"The sun is equal to thy chiefest nymph, By virtue of the everlasting laws, And pauses alternating, Amongst my stars she's equal to the sun." [AJ] Plato says that [Greek: Theos] is derived from the verb [Greek: Theein], to move, to run, as…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XV (part 5)

“When one encounters these perversions of love, one involuntarily calls to mind the words of Zarathustra: 2 Voluptuousness: unto all hair-shirted despisers of the body, a string p. 173 and stake; and cursed as "the world" by all backworldsm…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 7)

“It was in the early spring, at the beginning of his thirty-sixth year. He and two friends had spent the evening reading Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Browning, and especially Whitman. They parted at midnight and he had a long drive in a han…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 28 (part 3)

“And truth itself is motion, and can never lead to arrestment, to the cessation of search. ALL THAT ARRESTS THE MOTION OF THOUGHT—IS FALSE. Therefore the true and real progress of thought is only in the broadest striving toward knowledge,…”

◆Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | Introductionk

“The Kabalah alone consecrates the alliance of universal reason and the Divine Word; it establishes by the counterpoise of two forces in apparent opposition, the eternal balance of being; it alone reconciles reason with faith, power with lib…”

◆Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 5. The Pentagramc

“The secret of this Great Work does not remain for discovery; it has been known and practised by a great number of initiates, above all by the celebrated Apollonius of Tyana, who has left a theory concerning it, as we shall see in the “Ritua…”

◆Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | Introductionc

“If I weary in my long travellings, if my beauty be less mild than thine own, and if my garments are not unspotted, yet am I a noble daughter of heaven, even as thou art. Leave me the secret of my terrible destiny, leave me the dread which…”

◆Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 6. The Medium And Mediatorc

“Many persons will say that it is difficult and even impossible to attain such resolution, that strength in volition and energy in character are natural gifts. I do not dispute it, but I would point out also that habit can reform nature; vo…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune XIIf

“Now the minstrel, Lemminkainen, Changes both his form and stature, Passes through the inner door-ways, Enters he the spacious court-hall, And these words the hero utters: "Fine the singing quickly ending, Good the song that quickly ceases;…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune XXVId

“Never will thy hero stumble On the serpents of the Northland; With my heel I'll crush the monsters, Stamp the horrid things to atoms; I will banish them from Pohya, Drive them to Manala's kingdom, Step within Pohyola's mansion, Walk the hal…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune XXXb

“Tiera poised his mighty javelin, Launched the spear upon its errand; Hurled the shaft across the pasture, To the border of the forest, O'er the clay-fields of Pohyola, O'er the green and fragrant meadows, Through the distant bills of Northl…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune XXXVIa

“'S VICTORY AND DEATH. Kullerwionen, wicked wizard, In his purple-colored stockings, Now prepares himself for battle; Grinds a long time on his broadsword, Sharpens well his trusty weapon, And his mother speaks as follows: "Do not go, my so…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune XXXIXe

“Dost not know him at the rudder, Nor the hero at the row-locks?" Spake the wizard, Lemminkainen: "Well I know the helm-director, And I recognize the rower; Wainamoinen, old and trusty, At the helm directs the vessel; Ilmarinen does the rowi…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune XLb

“Wainamoinen, old and truthful, Thus addresses his companion: "O thou hero, Lemminkainen, Stoop and look beneath this war-ship, See on what this boat is anchored, See on what our craft is banging, In this broad expanse of water, In the broad…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 8)

“1 "When my spirit, full of sorrow, earnestly, and as if moving in a great storm, arose in God, carrying with it my whole heart and mind, with all my thoughts and with the whole of my will, and when I would not cease to wrestle with the love…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 10)

“It is itself the most secret thing, which can be known by no one except by him who has experienced it; neither do those that live entirely within the realm of animality, or within that of the speculating intellect, believe that such a state…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 2)

“1 "It was the will of God to transmute humanity, after it had become earthly, again into the celestial quality, to turn the human earth (material element) into heaven, to make out of the four elements only one, and to transform the wrath of…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 4)

“There was then no earthly food or drink, and the soul of Christ knew very well that she was in God, and that she could make terrestrial bread out of stones, as there was no other bread there. But she did not desire to eat with her celestia…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn X (part 1)

“X. TO PAN * The FUMIGATION from VARIOUS ODORS I Call strong Pan, the substance of the whole, Etherial, marine, earthly, general soul, Immortal fire; for all the world is thine, And all are parts of thee, O pow'r divine. p. 131 Come, bles…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXXVII. THE CURETES +

“XXXVII. TO THE CURETES + . The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Brass-beating Salians, ministers of Mars, Who guard his arms the instruments of wars p. 168 Whose blessed frames, heav'n, earth, and sea compose, And from whose breath all animals…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXV. THE MUSES (part 1)

“LXXV. TO THE MUSES. The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Daughters of Jove, dire-sounding and divine, 1 Renown'd Pierian, sweetly speaking Nine; p. 206 To those whose breasts your sacred furies fire Much-form'd, the objects of supreme desi…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXV. THE MUSES (part 3)

“So in the poetic chain, it is requisite there should be something divine, which, through proper mediums, may connect the last to the first monad. This Fury Homer, as well as Plato, calls at one time in the plural number Muses, and at anoth…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1m

“For prophecy is a madness, and the prophetess at Delphi and the priestesses at Dodona when out of their senses have conferred great benefits on Hellas, both in public and private life, but when in their senses few or none. And I might also…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1f

“For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his b…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1z

“Marvel not then at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love and interest is for the sake of immortality." I was astonished at her words, and said: "Is this really true, O thou wise Diotima?" And she answered w…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1€

“In the prosecution of this design, when I next went to him, I sent away the attendant who usually accompanied me (I will confess the whole truth, and beg you to listen; and if I speak falsely, do you, Socrates, expose the falsehood). Well,…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIl

“Opinion, likewise, and the phantasy, are said thus to energize when they discover arts, and accomplish admirable works, such, for instance, as Phidias effected in the formation of statues, and another in another art, as also Homer says [157…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIp

“It causes us, therefore, to pass through life in an irreprehensible manner; just as the internal prophetic mania contracts and elevates all the multiplied and many powers and lives of the soul to the one , in order that it may in a greater…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIx

“κᾳν επι του ωκεανου ελθῃς τας ηϊονας, κᾳκει θεοι, τοις μεν ανισχοντες αγχου μαλα, τοις δε καταδυομενοι. Dissert. i. Edit. Princ. 4 . “Diogenes Laertius says of Pythagoras, that he charged his disciples not to give equal degrees of hon…”

◆The Mabinogion | Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWCv

““I am the chief miller,” said he, “of all the mills yonder.” “Wilt thou give me lodging?” said Peredur. “I will, gladly,” he answered. And Peredur came to the miller’s house, and the miller had a fair and pleasant dwelling. And Peredur a…”

◆The Mabinogion | Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWCx

“And her figure was very thin and spare, except her feet and her legs, which were of huge size. And she greeted Arthur and all his household except Peredur. And to Peredur she spoke harsh and angry words. “Peredur, I greet thee not, seein…”

◆The Poetic Edda: Hovamol | Section 1b

“Hail to the giver! | a guest has come; Where shall the stranger sit? Swift shall he be who, | with swords shall try The proof of his might to make. [1. This stanza is quoted by Snorri, the second line being omitted in most of the Prose…”

◆The Poetic Edda: Voluspo | Section 1g

“Lines 5-6, one or both of them probably interpolated, seem to symbolize the refining of gold by fire. Hor ("The High One"): Othin. 22. Heith ("Shining One"?): a name often applied to wise women and prophetesses. The application of this…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1b

“Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand [even] with fullest strain of body and of sight. 4. Tat: Into fierce frenzy and mind-fury hast thou plunged me, father, for now no longer do I see myself. Hermes: I…”

◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUEa

“HEARKEN to the reed-flute, how it complains, Lamenting its banishment from its home: "Ever since they tore me from my osier bed, My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears. I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs, And t…”