The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) · 20 of 63 · tr. L. Williams
First Dialogue-g
"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 heart—that is, the will, has joy by the great force of love, whatever may be the result; the mind—that is, the intellectual part, has pain through the Fear of Fate, which fate does not favour the lover; the spirit—that is, the natural affections, are cold because they are snatched from the object which gives joy to the heart, and which might give pleasure to the mind; the soul—that is, the suffering and sensitive soul, is heavy—that is, finds itself oppressed with the heavy burden of jealousy which torments it.
To this consideration of his state he adds a tearful lament, and says: "Who will deliver me from war, and give me peace?
or who will separate that which pains and injures me from that which I so love, and which opens to me the gates of heaven, so that the fervid flames in my heart may be acceptable, and fortunate the fountains of my tears?" Continuing this proposition, he adds: 8.
Ah me!
oppress some other, spiteful Fate!
Jealousy, get thee hence—begone!
away!
These may suffice to show me all the grace Of changeful Love, and of that noble face.
He takes my life, she gives me death, She wings, he burns my heart, He murders it, and she revives the soul: My succour she, my grievous burden he!
But what say I of Love?
If he and she one subject be, or form, If with one empire and one rule they stamp One sole impression in my heart of hearts, Then are they two, yet one, on which do wait The mirth and melancholy of my state!
Four beginnings and extremes of two opposites he would reduce to two beginnings and one opposite: he says, then, oppress others—that is, let it suffice thee, O my Fate!
that thou hast so much oppressed me; and since thou canst not exist without exercise of thyself, turn elsewhere thy anger.
Get thee hence out of the world, thou Jealousy, because one of those two others which remain can supply your functions and offices; yet, O Fate!
thou art none other than my love; and thou, Jealousy, art not external to the substance of the same.
He alone, then, remains to deprive me of life, to burn me, to give me death, and to be to me the burden of my bones; for he delivers me from death—wings, enlivens, and sustains.
Then two beginnings and one opposite he reduces to one beginning and one result, exclaiming: But what do I say of Love?
If this presence, this object, is his empire, and appears none other than the empire of Love, the rule of Love and its own rule; the impression of Love which appears in the substance of my heart, is then no other impression than its own, and therefore after having said "Noble face," replies "Inconstant Love."[A] [A] Vago amore.
Ecstatic irrational rapture — Plato's mania, Bruno's furore — by which the soul transcends ordinary reason and attains direct contact with divine reality; madness reframed as higher knowledge.
[auto] The text describes the 'fervid flames' and ecstatic suffering of love as a higher state of knowledge, aligning with Bruno's reframing of madness as divine furor.
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 Bruno's Gli Eroici Furori and explicitly describes the passionate spiritual ardor and internal turmoil characteristic of this concept.
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.
As a passage from Bruno's Eroici Furori, it depicts the lover's struggle and ascent toward 'gates of heaven' through eros.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
[auto] The text employs a specific numerical reduction ('Four beginnings... reduce to two... reduce to one') as a structural element of the spiritual argument.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The lover describes being 'snatched from the object which gives joy' and oppressed by a burden, reflecting exile from the divine beloved.