Le Opere Italiane di Giordano Bruno

1

The book to those who have drunk from the Hippocrene spring.

original: "fonte Caballino." This refers to the Hippocrene, the fountain of the Muses on Mount Helicon, which was said to have been struck open by the hoof of the winged horse Pegasus (the "horse-spring").

You who suckle from the Muses as from a mother,
And who swim in their fatty broth
5

With your snouts: let your Excellence hear me,
If faith and charity inflame your heart.
I weep, I ask, I beg for an epigram,
A sonnet, an encomium, a hymn, an ode
That might be placed at my stern, or at my bow,
10

To make me return happy to daddy and mommy.
Alas, in vain I desire to go about clothed,
Alas, I go about naked as a pauper;
original: "vn Bia." This is likely a reference to a beggar or a specific character known for his poverty, or perhaps a truncated form of "biacco" (a poor wretch).
And worse: it will perhaps behoove me, wretched as I am,
To show uncovered to my Lady
15

The "zero" and the "staff" just like father Adam,
original: "Il zero et menchia." Crude Renaissance slang for female and male genitalia. Bruno uses this ribaldry to underscore the "nakedness" of his work, stripped of formal academic protection.
When he was good inside his abbey.
original: "badia." Here used as a humorous metaphor for the Garden of Eden.
A beggarly rag
Of breeches I ask for; but from the valleys
I see a great fury of horses rising.

To Lady Morgana. B. Her Ladyship's Servant.

Morgana may refer to the sorceress Morgan le Fay, symbolizing the fickle and deceptive nature of the world, or it may be a pseudonym for a specific Neapolitan woman.

20

And to whom shall I dedicate my Candle-Bearer? To whom (O great destiny) does it please you that I entitle my beautiful best man, my good leader?
original: "paranympho" (one who conducts the bride) and "corypheo" (the leader of a Greek chorus).
To whom shall I send that which the celestial influence of Sirius, in these most burning days and most distilling hours, which they call the Dog Days,
Caniculari — original: "Caniculari." The "Dog Days" of summer, associated with the rising of the Dog Star (Sirius), traditionally thought to cause madness or extreme heat.
25

has made rain down into my brain? The fixed stars, the wandering fireflies of the firmament have sifted over me, the decan of the twelve signs has shot into my head, and into my inner ears the seven wandering lights
original: "sette lumi erranti." The seven "planets" of classical astronomy: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
have blown? To whom is it turned, I say? To whom does it look? At whom does it take aim? To his Holiness? No. To his Imperial Majesty? No. To his—