The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) · 44 of 63 · tr. L. Williams
Fourth Dialogue-k
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 powers not dead?
My spirit's rival more than rivalled is If, far from sin, it unassailed may sail, If thither tending, it may waiting, wait, And up with that high object rising, rise, And if my good alone, alone I take, For which I sure remove of each defect effect, And so at last may come to enjoy with joy, As he who all foretells can tell.
[A] Pulcini.
O Destiny!
O Fate!
O divine immutable Providence!
when shall it be that I shall climb that mount—that is, that I may arrive at such altitude of mind, as transporting me shall bring me into those outer and inner courts where I may behold and count those rare beauties?
When shall it be, that he will effectually comfort my pain, loosening me from the tightened bonds of those cares in which I find myself, he, who formed and united my members, which before were disunited and disjoined: that is Love; he who has joined together these corporeal parts, which were as far divided as one opposite is divided from another; so that these intellectual powers which, through his action he has extinguished, should not be left quite dead, but be again re-animated and made to aspire on high?
When, I say, will he fully comfort me, and give my powers free and speedy flight, by which means my substance may go and nestle there, where, by my efforts, I may make amends and correct my defects, and where (if I arrive) my spirit will be made effectual or prevail over my rival, because there, no excess will oppose, no opposition overcome, no error assail?
Oh!
if by force he may arrive there, at that height which he is waiting to reach, he will remain on high, at the elevation of his object, and he will take that good that cannot be comprehended by any other than one, that is, by himself, seeing that every other has it in the measure of his own capacity, and this one alone has it in all its fulness.
Then will happiness come to me in that manner which he says, "who all foretells"; that is, at that elevation in which the saying all and the doing all is the same thing; in that manner that he says and does who all foretells, that is, who is sufficient for all things and primary, and whose word and pre-ordaining is the true doing and beginning.
This is how, in the scale of things superior and inferior, the affection of Love proceeds, as the intellect or sentiment proceeds from these intelligible or knowable objects, to those, or from those to these.
Cic.
Thus the greater number of sages believe that Nature delights in this changeful circulation which is seen in the whirling of her wheel.
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.
The passage is from Gli Eroici Furori (The Heroic Enthusiasts) and expresses the passionate, ennobling spiritual ardor that drives the soul toward divine wisdom, with the soul's rival being 'more than rivalled' by ecstatic force.
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.
[auto] The speaker directly addresses 'O divine immutable Providence' as a central figure in their destiny.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
'At that elevation in which the saying all and the doing all is the same thing; in that manner that he says and does who all foretells, that is, who is sufficient for all things and primary, and whose word and pre-ordaining is the true doing and beginning' describes God as having no parts or composite attributes.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage explicitly describes 'the scale of things superior and inferior' through which Love and intellect proceed, mapping a cascading structure of levels.
The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition.
The entire ascent is driven by Love (eros) as the operative mode of knowing: 'the affection of Love proceeds, as the intellect or sentiment proceeds,' placing emotion as co-equal with intellect in apprehending reality.
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] As a text from Gli Eroici Furori, it describes the passionate spiritual ardor driven by Love that propels the soul upward toward infinite 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.
[auto] The passage describes the affection of Love proceeding up a scale from inferior to superior intelligible objects.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
'That good that cannot be comprehended by any other than one, that is, by himself, seeing that every other has it in the measure of his own capacity, and this one alone has it in all its fulness' describes the absolutely simple, undivided first principle.
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
At the height of ascent, 'no excess will oppose, no opposition overcome, no error assail,' and the spirit is 'made effectual or prevail over my rival,' marking the dissolution of binary oppositions as a sign of spiritual completion.
The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.
Cicero's closing remark that 'Nature delights in this changeful circulation which is seen in the whirling of her wheel' names a constant oscillation or pendulum motion.
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 soul's 'pain,' 'disjointed members,' 'dying powers,' and 'tightened bonds of those cares' express the felt condition of exile from its divine origin that motivates the return.