GIORDANO BRUNO OR
THE PLEASURE OF THE DISPUTE
About a copy of Camoeracensis Acrotismus from Prague
__________________________
GUIDO DEL GIUDICE
ometimes a book’s
value has to be
appraised beyond its
content. Sometimes, mainly
when it comes to ancient
volumes, one has to pay
attention to that charming
magic for which the book
itself, as an “object”,
enriches the meaning and
the story of the work and of
the author, because it
testifies some piece of life,
that impregnates the cover,
the pages, the images, until
it prevails over the written
text. This is the case of the
copy of “Camoeracensis
Acrotismus”,
Giordano
Bruno’s Latin work, that is
kept in the National Library
in Prague. Besides the
description of an unique
event, that bonds history to
philosophy, the book bears,
on its body, the stigmatas of
the author, from the leather
of the binding till the pages
made crumbly by the time;
it expresses the soul
strength
and
the
determination
which
stimulated him; it testifies
the cultural ostracism that
S
Bruno’s portrait (19th century)
he suffered. The work refers
to one of the most
significant events in the
adventurous peregrination
of the Nolan, that is the
dispute done in the College
de Cambrai, at the end of
the second Parisian stay of
the philosopher. Bruno had
decided to put an end to his
experience in France, in
order to start a new period
of his thought in Germany.
Before leaving, as he used
to do, he decided to leave
another indelible record of
him and of his revolutionary
ideas in the academic field.
He had two options: the
leave lesson (that he will
1
later use in Wittenberg) and
the dispute. He chose the
latter, of which he was an
expert, as we know: the
ability in the ars memoriae
and the polemic and
declamatory vis made him
keep
looking
for
a
comparison
with
his
opponents. The dispute was
an academic custom of that
time, that was regulated by
a precise ceremonial and by
well-defined rules, from the
beginning and during its
development.
Bruno describes precisely
what kind of rules must be
followed in a chapter of De
Architectura lulliana, a
work published in Paris
during his first stay and
dedicated to the Venetian
ambassador Giovanni Moro.
In the chapter entitled De
definitione disputationis, he
deduces from Raimondo
Lullo the definition and the
conditions of a correct
discussion. The Conditiones
disputationis are useful to
understand Bruno’s thought
about a discussion and how
he wanted to carry it out.
.
Frontispiece of Camoeracensis
Acrotismus, printed in
Wittenberg by Zacharias Crato
in 1588, with the dedication to
Tycho Brahe written in
Giordano Bruno’s own hands.
_________________________
____
How can we define a
dispute? It is a clash of
souls, that reveals all the
differences between the
ideas of several intellects
through the words. Thus, it
is a spiritual clash, not a
physical one. It must have
the aim of convincing, not
of physically overwhelming
an opponent. What kind of
rules must be applied? First
of all, the disputant must
have a pure interest in the
search for truth and must
not be moved by a
prevention or even by a
premeditation for the clash.
2
The approval or the rejection
of an argumentation must be
based on the respective
demonstrations: one has to
conform to some specific
logic rules, without trying to
confuse
the
reasoning
jumping from one subject to
another. Furthermore, besides
the
harshness
of
the
competition,
the
most
important thing is that there
must be a mutual friendship
between the competitors,
based both on the love for the
research, by respecting the
opponent, and on the
instinctive
dislike
for
insincerity and overwhelming
at all costs.
These are the opposite
requirements of those applied
by his opponents. It has been
possible to reconstruct the
event thanks to the account
taken in two diaries: the
Journal of the librarian of
Saint
Victor’s
Abbey,
Guillaume Cotin, who had
collected
Bruno’s
confidences and followed his
exploits, and that of the
Parisian surgeon François
Rasse des Neux, who, by
chance, got to be present.
First of all, the philosopher
had the catalogue of thesis
printed ad authoris istantiam,
giving it the title of Centum
et viginti articuli de natura et
mundo
adversos
Peripateticos. The work is
divided into twelve books,
which are dedicated to the
eight parts of Physica and to
the four parts of De coelo
respectively, and which have
been suggested by the faithful
disciple Jean Hennequin,
under the Nolan Giordano
Bruno’s
protection
and
guidance. It is dedicated to
Henry III and preceded by
the letter to the Chancellor of
La Sorbonne Jean Filesac. He
had a plate written in Latin
put up in the corner of Rue
des Ecole, as they used to do
in the Collège de France, in
order to give notice of the
event programme.
Here is the text of the petit
placard, which announced
the
discussion
in
the
Cameracensis
royal
auditorium, the seat of
teaching of
the
royal
lecturers,
whom
the
philosopher was still part of:
“Affixed in the area of the
Academy 1586. After the
triduum of Whitsunday, from
Wednesday to Saturday, the
Nolan Giordano Bruno will
support, through the words of
Jean
Hennequin,
God
willing, One hundred and
twenty article about nature
and the universe against the
Peripatetics. Every day, from
morning to night”(1).
It was probably read by more
people than the Nolan
expected, so at the first
lesson, on the 28 May 1586,
there was an incredible
amount of people: his noisy
students, the actual readers
and also some spoilsports that
wanted to give battle. The
dispute suddenly turned into
a
violent
clash.
His
opponents made an ambush,
inciting the mass of students
against him, without giving
him the chance to support his
thesis and, at a certain point,
they lifted him up bodily and
threw him out of the room. In
order
to
avoid
other
problems, Bruno had to
promise he would come back
the following day to answer,
but before the sun rose he had
already flown to Germany.
Since he had not been
frightened by that dissent,
two
years
later,
in
Camoeracensis Acrotismus
seu rationes articulorum
physicorum
adversus
Peripateticos,
Bruno
reproposes a new revised
edition of One hundred and
twenty articles, explained in
the light of the objections
made during the dispute and
of its result.
The work, from its title and
the apologetic oration, has
caused a dispute within the
3
dispute, this time of a
philological kind, which has
turned out to be a perfect way
to distinguish the sterile
academic pedantry from a
faithful exegesis of the actual
meanings of the work.
As I always do, following my
research method, I am
convinced that what a
“wandering thinker”, like
Bruno, has written, might be
completely understood only
paying attention to his human
vicissitude and to the
particular existential moment
of which his works are
testimony. Thus, I have
chosen to translate the
neologism “acrotismus” with
the word “dispute”, since it is
an
example
of
the
philosopher’s
habit
of
summarizing more than one
concept in just one term. In
this I am supported by the
opinion
of
the
great
philologist Felice Tocco,
who, in the monograph Le
opera latine di Giordano
Bruno esposte e commentate
con le italiane, wrote: “The
word acrotismus is obscure,
in vain one can look for it in
Stefano or Ducange. I don’t
know if Bruno got it his own
way from the word àkròasis,
which can be used as a title
for Aristotle’s physics, with
the meaning of assembly,
conference, or anything of
that kind; or, but this is very
unlikely, from the word
àkrotes, which means top,
peak, referring to the
climaxes with which the
discussion had to deal.”
Thus, the word “acrotismus”
means that it happens in an
Aristotelian field, and that it
is not a lesson but a
confrontation among opposite
opinions. “The dispute of
Cambrai” (2) seemed to me
the most suitable translation
for expressing the importance
that Bruno gave to the event
that represented his coming
into action, in the official
language of the wise men,
against the peripatetics. The
correctness
of
this
interpretation has finally
become popular, despite the
resistance of an academy that
is often insensitive to the
argumentations linked to the
historical actuality of the
work, even in the precise
philological study.
The same goes for the title of
Excubitor given to the
declamatio
apologetica,
whose lecture was entrusted
by Bruno to his faithful
disciple Jean Hennequin. In
this case too I have decided
to give the word the exact
meaning of Awakener, that
Bruno had already given him
in Oxford, in his letter to the
vice-chancellor
of
the
university, as an introduction
to
Explicatio
Triginta
Sigillorum of 1583, defining
himself
“dormitantium
animorum excubitor”. The
Nolan claims here again his
purpose, that is waking the
drowsy souls, the idle and
sleeping intelligences in
order to guide them towards a
superior
condition
of
conscience, which means
passing from sleeping to
waking. Bartholmess too
used to translate this term
with Réveiller, referring to
this function of mathesis. The
interpretation is reinforced by
the gist of the oration, that is
a specific critic to those that,
being used to believing, tend
to trust some thesis, which
often are not Aristotelian at
all, since they have been
misunderstood. The rejection
of the consuetudo credendi is
the guiding thread of the
whole Acrotismus, since the
dispute, mainly in the first
part of the work , is less
based on Aristotle than on
those that, without even
reading
the
Master’s
doctrines, passively accept
and support them, giving
them out as a poison: “Here
we are not considering
Aristotle’s ignorance, but
that of almost all the
Aristotelians”. Excubitor is
the most evident expression
of the importance that Bruno
used to give to this work.
There he recalls, through a
sort of literal translation,
4
some of the fundamental
passages of Cena de le
ceneri, those in which he
describes his astronomical
prophetism in the most
triumphal way. It is also,
together with the dedication
to Rudolph II of One hundred
and sixty articles against the
mathematicians, the most
explicit and strict claim of the
libertas philosophandi. Thus,
the work turns out to be an
ideal complement of the
frankfurter poems in which
Bruno translates in Latin, in
order to make them eternal in
the language of the wise men,
some significant extracts of
some of his Italian works,
such as De la causa and De
infinito. Bruno is proud of his
Acrotismus and he finds
always an occasion to pride
himself. The great amount of
copies circulating (almost
fifty, scattered anywhere, of
which only eight can be
found in Italian libraries)
makes us believe that they
were commissioned by the
printer Zacharias Crato, in
order to be used as a sort of
“visiting card” which had to
be spread as much as
possible.
What
better
presentation could he have
for the summa of his antiAristotelian critic and, most
of all, for his nova
cosmology? He gave a copy
of this work to a certain
Caspar Kegler, with the
affectionate dedication: “To
my dear and most erudite
mister M. Caspar Kegler
from Rostock, my eminent
and well-deserving friend,
Nolan
Giordano
Bruno
donates and dedicates as
homage
and
for
his
memory”. Anyhow, the most
famous model is the one from
Prague, that the Nolan sent to
the
famous
Danish
astronomer Tycho Brahe,
after
affixing
on
the
5
frontispiece a dedication full
of admiration and respect: To
Mister Tycho from Denmark,
eminent and most famous for
every kind of nobility,
renowned and most excellent,
as a demonstration of
On the left: The last page of Camoeracensis
Acrotismus, with (particular) the comment
of Tycho Brahe.
On the right: The incipit of Excubitor.
__________________________________
benevolence and respect. (3)
Surely Brahe received it before
the 17 August 1588, because
on that day, in a letter to the
astronomer
Cristoph
Rothmann, he describes Bruno
in a waywhich is not flattering
at all, since he calls him for the
first time by the derogatory
word Nullanus: “… et nuper
Jordanus Nullanus in quodam
scripto de Mundo contra
Peripateticos”(4). Obviously,
the brave theories of the
philosopher
were
not
appreciated by the astronomer.
After he started to highlight,
with some crosses in the
6
margin, the parts of Excubitor
in which Bruno developed
histheory
of
consuetudo
credendi, that clearly bothered
him too, he began to be
dismayed, as he went on,
because of the subversive
significance
of
Bruno’s
theories.
He
felt
his
astronomical building falling
under his feet, which he had
patiently built during his whole
life, and with which he will
try, in vain, to convince
Kepler. The continuous air, the
uncountable worlds of Bruno,
the refusal “of that absurd fifth
essence”, they all dismantled
completely the tyconic system,
that imagined, not even in an
original way (it had been
suggested by Paul Wittich),
that the Earth was stationary at
the centre of the universe, the
Sun and Moon turning around
it and all the planets around the
Sun. Thus, he reacted with the
usual haughtiness, reiterating
his ferocious pun on the last
page of the book: Nullanus
nullus et nihil, Conveniunt
rebus nomina saepe suis (5).
Bruno didn’t ever come to
know it (the fate spared him at
least this sorrow!), since in De
immenso he repeated his
praises to Tycho, defining him
a shrewd intellectual and the
most noble prince of the
astronomers. In all sincerity,
we have to say that, even if he
had read the scornful comment
of the Dane, he wouldn’t have
had much to complain about.
In this case one could easily
say “we reap as we sow!”
Tycho had the same attitude as
Bruno had had years before
towards one of his colleagues
in the office in Toulouse, the
Portuguese Francisco Sanchez,
the author of Quod nihil scitur.
In this work, even if he did not
abandon the research and the
improving of the methods of
learning, the author shows an
absolute scepticism about the
possibility that they could lead
a man to a true knowledge.
Sanchez started to feel a great
admiration towards Bruno,
after hearing his lessons. One
of the few books of the Nolan
that we now have, which
ended in a mysterious way in
Wroclaw, is a copy of Quod
nihil scitur, published in 1581
by Antoine Gryphe, which
shows
an
enthusiastic
dedication of the frontispiece:
“To the dear Giordano Bruno,
doctor in theology and most
sharp philosopher, Francisco
Sanchez made this present as a
demonstration of friendship
and reverence”(6). One can
understand if Bruno returned
these feelings by reading his
disdainful comment written on
the frontispiece of the volume:
“It is unbelievable that this ass
should be called doctor” (7).
The sentence shows a severe
critique: what is the point of
aiming to teach only the
human weaknesses and the
impossibility of getting to have
an
universal
knowledge?
According to Bruno, the only
insuperable limit of the human
knowledge is represented by
the unknowableness and the
ineffableness of God, while the
world, that is His shadow,
through study, contemplation
and exercise of virtue, can be
fully understood by men. Thus,
we might probably explain the
second ironic note that he
wrote on the following page,
with an annoyed superior tone:
“It is incredible that he might
want to teach” (8). Goodness
knows how the Nolan reacted
when he got to know that,
thanks to the reputation
received with Quod nihil
scitur, Sanchez became Royal
Professor of philosophy in the
University of Toulouse in
1585! Only in 1612 he will
start to teach medicine, until
his death.
_______________________
On the left: Frontispiece of Quod
nihil scitur, printed in Lyon by
Antoine Gryphe in 1581, with the
dedication written in Francisco
“anchez’ own hands to Giordano
Bruno, and (particular) Bruno’s
comment.
_______________________
7
Bruno’s autograph found on the first page of the Acrotismus of Prague.
________________________________________________________________________________
But let’s get back to
Acrotismus. The copy of the
National Library of Prague has
had an eventful story and,
even if it has been examined
several times, it keeps making
us surprised and giving
interesting hints. First, Ivo
Koȓán,
the
man
who
discovered it, noticed on the
last page Tycho’s cruel
comment. It was Rita Pagnoni
Sturlese who published, in
1985, a precise analysis of the
volume, which showed his
whole
philosophical
and
historical value (9). During the
researches I have made for the
Italian translation of the work,
I could examine the book in
the
ancient
rooms
of
Klementinum, where a plaque
bears these words: “Giordano
Bruno,
philosopher
and
astronomer”. Consulting that
book, besides the excitement
for holding in my hands an
original work of the Nolan,
made
me
find
other
particulars, which had not
been noticed before, and
which
deserve
further
investigations. In the last page,
under Tycho’s comment, there
are three other sentences, of
unclear hand, period and
meaning. The handwriting is
different and the meaning is
apparently incomprehensible:
they look like small verses
separated by two slashes.
Koȓán, who was the first to
examine the dedication on the
frontispiece, said he could
read at the bottom of the page
the word author, which now is
completely erased because of
the time passed. In the same
way, some years later Bruno
will sign also the last of the
dedications that we now have,
the one inserted on De
Lampade combinatorial given
to the young student Jacob
Cuno: “Admodum generoso,
nobili studiosissimoque D.
Iacobo Cunoni Francofurtensi
benevolentiae ergo et in sui
8
memoriam dedicavit author”
(10). In the case of the tribute
to the famous astronomer,
whom he really cared about,
one could expect to find his
name, considering his habit of
writing it clear, often with
resounding titles, as he used to
do when he signed himself in
the
registries
of
the
universities or when he signed
the album amicorum of his
students. So, the Nolan loved
to give autograph, even if we
do not have many of them
today. Examining the back
part of the first page of the
book, which was damaged and
used-up by time too, I have
caught a glimpse of another
faded
extract,
mostly
undecipherable, which clearly
starts
with
the
word
“Jordanus”. Thanks to the
help of the National Library of
Prague, I have been able to do
a computerized analysis of the
reproductions of the page and
make a comparison between
them and the other rare
autographs of Bruno that still
exist,
noticing
several
calligraphic concordances. We
can notice, in particular, the
shape of the “r” and, most of
all, that of the “d” and the
final “s”, which show such
analogies with the autograph
of
the
xylography
of
Wittenberg as to make me
think that it might be a
Nolan’s original sign, which
would complete the dedication
on the frontispiece.
_____________________________________________________________________________
NOTE
1 “Affixum per Academie
Compita 1586. Iordanus
Brunus
Nolanus,
post
triduum Pentecostes e die
Mercurii usque ad diem
Sabbathi
,Deo
volente,
Centum et viginti articulos
de natura et mundo Johanne
Hennequino
Dicente
&
respondente,
ad
versus
Peripateticos
tuebitur.
Quotidie ab hora prima
usque ad vesperam.”.
2 BRUNO, Giordano.
La disputa di Cambrai.
Camoeracensis Acrotismus,
edited by and with an
introductive essay of Guido
del Giudice, Di Renzo 2008.
3 “Omni nobilitatis genere
insigni et famosis.o illustri et
excell.o D. Tichoni Dano in
signum benevolentiae et
obsequii”.
4 “… and recently Jordano
Nullano, in a certain work de
Mundo
against
the
peripatetics”.
5 “Nullano, null and
nothing. Names are often
worth the people who bear
them.”.
6 “Clarissimo Viro domino
Jordano Brunus Nolano
Theologiae
Doctori
Philosopho
Acutissimo
familiaritatis gratia honoris
9
causa dono dedit F. Sanchez.”
7 “Mirum quod onager iste
appellat se doctorem”.
8 “Mirum
docere”.
quod
presumi
9 PAGNONI STURLESE,
Maria Rita. Su Bruno e Tycho
Brahe
in
Rinascimento,
Firenze,
Olschki
1985,
Seconda serie, Vol. XXV,
pagg. 309-333.
10 “To the most generous,
noble and most studious Mr
Jacopo Cuno Frankfurter, the
author
dedicated as a
demonstration of benevolence
and for his own memory”.