The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) · 45 of 63 · tr. L. Williams
Fifth Dialogue-a
.
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 fortunes.
Let us leave the consideration of their names and habits; enough that we stand upon the meaning of the undertaking and the intelligibility of the writing, alike that which is put for the form of the body of the figure, as well as that which is mostly put as an elucidation of the undertaking.
Cic .
Thus will we do.
Here then is the first, who carries a shield divided into four colours, and in the crest is depicted a flame under the head of bronze, from the holes in which, issue in great force a smoky wind, and about it is written: "At regna senserunt tria." Tans .
For the explanation of this I would say: that the fire there is that which heats the globe, inside of it is the water, and it happens that this humid element, being rarefied and attenuated by virtue of the heat, and thus resolved into vapour, it requires much greater space to contain it, therefore if it does not find easy exit, it goes on with extreme force, noise, and destruction to break the vessel; but if it finds space and easy exit, so that it can evaporate, it goes out with less violence, little by little, and, according as the water is resolved into vapour, it is dissipated in puffs into the air.
Here is signified the heart of the enthusiast where, by a cleverly planned allurement being caught by the amorous flame, it happens that some of the vital substance sparkles with fire, while some in the form of tearful cries rends the bosom, and some other by the expulsion of gusty sighs agitates the air.
Therefore he says: "At regna senserunt tria." Now this "at" supposes a difference, or diversity, or opposite; as one might almost say there exists something which might have the same sense, but has it not, which is very well explained in the following rhymes: 25.
From these twin lights of me—a little earth— My wonted tears stream freely to the sea.
The greedy air receives from out my breast No niggard part of all that breast contains; And from my heart the lightnings are unlocked That rise to heaven, and yet diminish not.
Thus pay I to the air, the sea, the fire, The tribute of my sighs, my tears, my zeal.
The sea, the air, the fire, accept a part of me, But my divinity no favour shows.
Unkind she turns away.
Near her My tears find no response; My voice she will not hear, Nor pitifully will she turn to note my zeal.
Here the subject matter signified by "earth" is the substance of the enthusiast, which is poured from the twin lights—that is, from the eyes—in copious tears that flow to the sea; he sends forth from his breast into the wide air sighs in a great multitude, and the lightnings from his heart, not like a little spark or a weak flame, which, cooling itself in the air, smokes, and transmigrates into other beings; but, potent and vigorous—rather acquiring from others than losing of its own—it joins its congenial sphere.
Cic .
I understand it all.
To the next.
II.
Tans .
Close by is portrayed one who has on his shield a crest, also divided into four colours.
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The explanation uses alchemical imagery of fire heating water to create vapor and transformation of substance.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The internal state of the enthusiast is mapped legibly onto the external elements (tears to sea, sighs to air).
John of the Cross's stage of contemplative purgation: a felt absence and aridity of God that strips the soul of attachments to its own consolations en route to deeper union.
The divine beloved shows 'no favour' and the lover's tears find no response, reflecting a stage of aridity and absence.
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 'enthusiast' experiencing an ecstatic state where vital substance sparkles with fire and lightnings rise from the heart, aligning with the definition of ecstatic irrational rapture.
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 an excerpt from Bruno's 'Heroic Enthusiasts' and explicitly details the state of the enthusiast driven by amorous flame and spiritual ardor.
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 details the ascent through 'amorous flame' and 'zeal' rising to heaven, grounding Bruno's specific scala amoris.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
[auto] The text explicitly describes the enthusiast as 'a little earth' whose internal elements (tears, sighs, heart) mirror the external cosmos (sea, air, fire).
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 experiences the divine as 'Unkind' and turning away, creating a felt condition of exile and rejection.