On the Threefold Minimum and Measure

ON THE SMALLEST THINGS THAT EXIST, BOOK I.

Presenting her face to that one and to you, and to yours,
She turns herself entirely toward them, through every part.
Why then should I be found to have professed my secret loves
So timidly, when Earth, Sea, and Sky celebrate them together,
And mother Nature exalts them above all things? Rather,
Burn my weary breast (O my life), I shall pray;
Burn it more, and do not spare your quiver of arrows against me;
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Let your thousand wounds make me into one single wound.
Truly, in this way I shall see myself turned into one single light,
And I shall be a single eye, seeing the whole, encompassing all things,
Beholding with a simple gaze the present, the past, and the future.
I shall look at once upon what is above, what is below, and all things around.
As for what remains: I now beseech you from the bottom of my heart
With prayers poured out from my center: Turn your mind,
Behold what Earth original: "Tellus"—amidst her better things—holds within her curved
Mass; what she compares to the great stars of heaven.
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Behold the House of Julius The "Julias" or "Iuliadem" refers to the lineage of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1564–1613), Bruno's patron., born from the high blood of Kings,
Whose martial original: "Mauortia," a poetic reference to Mars, the god of war. standards have imposed the yoke of empire
Upon the unconquered peoples of Europe; and have shaken the borders
Of burning Libya and Asia, and who once—
By Latin original: "Latiâ" valor—restored the trophies
Snatched from German men. This is Henry Julius,
Whom you know better than can be recorded
By my humble verses. You know him because the triple Grace,
The peaceful wit, the charms original: "Veneres," literally "the Venuses" or beauties., and every honor
Acknowledge you alone as the giver. Through you, all these things
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Are stored within a single breast. If you also behold sublime things
With your nourishing eyes, you know him, to whom the sister
Of the one holding the scepter of Denmark original: "Dania" is joined,
And whose wife is the excellent sister of that other nymph
Belonging to the great Hero-spouse, whom bright Britain original: "Britannia" [hails] as king.
This passage refers to the Duke's high-level political connections: Henry Julius married Elizabeth of Denmark, whose sister, Anne of Denmark, was the wife of King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England).