The distinctively ethical teaching of Bruno is contained in the two dialogues--the _Spaccio della Bestia Trionfante_, and the _Heroici Furori_. The latter describes the struggles and aspirations of the "heroic" or generous human soul in its pursuit of the infinitely beautiful and good--its efforts towards union with the divine source of all things. To this more constructive work, in which moral philosophy was to be treated according to "the inward light with which the divine sun of intelligence had irradiated" the soul of the writer, the _Spaccio_ was to form an introduction. "It seemed well to begin with a kind of prelude, after the manner of musicians; to draw some dim and confused lines, as painters do; to lay deep bases and dark foundations, as do the great builders; and this end seemed best achieved by putting down in number and in order all the primary forms of morality which are the capital virtues and vices."[436] The _Spaccio_, with its shorter appendage, the _Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo_, contained a bitter attack upon the prevalent forms of Christian religion; it especially attacked the doctrine of the all-sufficiency of faith, which, interpreted as it then was, might stand as the formula of mediaeval corruption and stagnation; and it was upon this dialogue, almost solely, that the reputation Bruno long enjoyed--that of being an atheist--was based. It is therefore well to remember the introductory nature of the work. Had not "atheism" been frequently synonymous with "unorthodoxy," the _Heroic Enthusiasms_ would have shown on how shallow a foundation the charge rested, for that dialogue breathes the purest religious emotion and aspiration. Bruno had, however, a premonition of the fate that was to befall his memory. He protested, perhaps with a touch of sarcasm, that nothing in his work was said "_assertively_,"--that he had no wish either directly or indirectly to strike at the truth, to send a shaft against anything that was honourable, useful, natural, and, consequently, divine.[437] His own religion was that which had its beginning, its growth, and its continuance in "the raising of the dead, making whole the sick, and giving of one's goods"; and not that in the spirit of which the goods of others were seized, the whole maimed, and the living put to death.[438] The conclusions of the _Spaccio_ were not therefore to be regarded as presenting a finished system, but as mere suggestions, to be tested "when the music should be given in concert, the picture finished, the roof put on the building." On the other hand, it is clear also that in the _Spaccio_ Bruno intended to present a popular moral philosophy, or to point out the degree of virtue which might be attained without the influence of the divine _afflatus_ described in the _Enthusiasms_. As in the philosophy of Aristotle before Bruno, and in that of Spinoza after him, the perfection of this customary morality formed at the same time the ante-chamber through