Le Opere Italiane di Giordano Bruno

comes, what is done, what is said, how it is understood, how it can be understood;
for certainly, contemplating these human actions and discourses with the spirit of Heraclitus or Democritus Heraclitus was known as the "weeping philosopher" and Democritus as the "laughing philosopher"—two opposing ways of viewing the absurdity of human life., you will have occasion for much laughter or weeping.
Here it is before your eyes: Idle beginnings, weak weavings, vain
thoughts, frivolous hopes, burstings of the chest, baring of
[24] | hearts original: "corde"; can mean heartstrings or the heart itself., false assumptions, alienation of the mind, poetic furies original: "poetici furori"; Bruno’s term for a state of divine or creative madness.,
clouding of the senses, perturbation of the imagination, the lost pilgrimage
of the intellect. Unbridled faiths, senseless cares, uncertain studies, untimely
sowings, and the glorious fruits of madness.
You will see in a lover sighs, tears, gapings, tremors,
dreams, erections original: "rizzamenti"; Bruno often mixes high-flown poetic language with crude anatomical reality.: and a heart roasted in the fire of love. Thoughts,
abstractions, rages, melancholies, envies, complaints, and hoping least for what
is most desired. Here you will find for the soul shackles, bonds, chains,
captivity, prisons; also eternal pains, martyrdoms, and death. At the heart's
retreat: arrows, darts, bolts, fires, flames, ardors, jealousies,
suspicions, slights, stubbornness, rages, and oblivions, sores, wounds, "alas"es, bellows,
tongs, anvils, and hammers. The quivered archer, blind and naked A description of Cupid, the god of love..
[25] Then the object | of the heart: a "heart of mine," "my good," "my life," "my
sweet wound and death," "god," "deity," "hill," "repose," "hope," "fountain,"
"spirit," "North Star" original: "tramontana stella"; the guiding star for sailors., and "a beautiful sun that never sets for the soul"; and
on the other hand: "cruel heart," "firm column," "hard stone," "breast of
diamond," and "cruel hand that holds the keys to my heart," and "my enemy," and
"my sweet warrior" These are standard Petrarchan metaphors used to describe a beloved lady, which Bruno is listing here to mock their cliché nature., "target," "sun of all my thoughts." And "how beautiful are
my loves, and not those of others." You will see in one of these women
celestial gazes, fiery sighs, watery thoughts, earthly desires,
and airy fuckings original: "fottimenti."—with all due reverence for chaste ears—and one who
takes it with a white and clean piece of laundry. You will see her assaulted by
a lover armed with a will that warms, desire that cooks, charity that
kindles, love that inflames, longing that blazes, and an greed that to the heavens
[26] glitters and sparks. You will see also (so that you do not fear | a universal
deluge) the bow of love, which is similar to the bow of the sun The rainbow. Bruno is punning on the "bow" of the sun (rainbow) appearing after a flood and the "bow" of Cupid.
which is not seen by those who stand beneath it, but by those outside of it; because
among lovers, one sees the folly of the other, but no one sees his own.
You will see another of these women, a prioress of the "penitents" original: "repentite"; these were typically former prostitutes who had entered a convent. for the
omission of sins she did not commit when she was "green" Meaning when she was young.. Now
grieving like the donkey that carries the wine A proverb for someone who works for the pleasure of others without enjoying it themselves.; but what else? An angel, an
ambassadress, secretary, counselor, reporter, storyteller, seller,
weaver, maker, negotiator, and guide. A merchant of hearts and a second-hand
dealer, who buys and sells them by weight, measure, and count. She who in—