The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) · 19 of 63 · tr. L. Williams
First Dialogue-f
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 and bad is not said of Destiny itself, because it is of the same order and number and measure as the universe; but as to the subjects it is said to be blind, for they are blind to fate, she being so uncertain.
So also is Fate said to be evil, because every living mortal who laments and complains, blames her.
As the Apulian poet says: How is it, or what means it, Mæcenas, That none on earth contented with that fate appear, Which Reason or Heaven has assigned to them?
In the same way he calls the object the highest beauty, as it is that alone which has power of attracting him to itself; and thus he holds it more worthy, more noble, and feels it predominant and superior as he becomes subject and captive to it.
"My death itself," he says of Jealousy, because as Love has no more close companion than she, so also he feels he has no greater enemy; as nothing is more hurtful to iron than rust, which is produced by it.
Cic.
Now, since you have begun so, continue to show bit by bit that which remains.
Tans.
So will I.
He says next of Love: he shows me Paradise, in order to prove that Love himself is not blind, and does not himself render any lovers blind, except through the ignoble characteristics of the subject; even as the birds of night become blind in the sunshine.
As for himself, Love brightens, clears, and opens the intellect, permeating all and producing miraculous effects.
Cic.
Much of this, it seems to me, the Nolano demonstrates in another sonnet: 7.
Love, through whom high truth I do discern, Thou openest the black diamond doors; Through the eyes enters my deity, and through seeing Is born, lives, is nourished, and has eternal reign; Shows forth what heaven holds, earth and hell: Makes present true images of the absent; Gains strength: and drawing with straight aim, Wounds, lays bare and frets the inmost heart.
Attend now, thou base hind unto the truth, Bend down the ear to my unerring word; Open, open, if thou canst the eyes, foolish perverted one!
Thou understanding little, call'st him child, Because thou swiftly changest, fugitive he seems, Thyself not seeing, call'st him blind.
Love shows Paradise in order that the highest things may be heard, understood, and accomplished; or it makes the things loved, grand—at least in appearance.
He says, Fate takes love away; because, often in spite of the lover, it does not concede, and that which he sees and desires is distant and adverse to him.
Every good he sets before me, he says of the object, because that which is indicated by the finger of Love seems to him the only thing, the principal, and the whole.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Destiny is described as being of the same order and measure as the universe, implying an ordered cosmic governance.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
[auto] Fate is defined as not inherently evil but only perceived as such due to human ignorance and complaint.
Bruno's eroici furori — a passionate, ennobling spiritual ardor that drives the soul toward divine wisdom; distinguished from base or animal passions by its orientation to infinite truth.
[auto] The passage is from the work defining this concept and describes Love's power to elevate the intellect toward divine truth.
Diotima's staged ascent from love of beautiful bodies → beautiful souls → beautiful pursuits → beautiful knowledge → Beauty itself; the canonical scala amoris that grounds Plotinus's On the Beautiful and Bruno's Eroici Furori — distinct from generic spiritual_ascent in that eros is the specific motive force.
Love is depicted as showing Paradise and enabling the understanding of highest things, implying an ascent through eros.