Produced by Sjaani, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE HEROIC ENTHUSIASTS (_GLI EROICI FURORI_) An Ethical poem BY GIORDANO BRUNO PART THE FIRST TRANSLATED BY L. WILLIAMS _WITH AN INTRODUCTION, COMPILED CHIEFLY FROM DAVID LEVI'S GIORDANO BRUNO O LA RELIGIONE DEL PENSIERO_ LONDON GEORGE REDWAY YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 1887 PREFACE. When this Translation was begun, more than two years ago, for my own pleasure, in leisure hours, I had no knowledge of the difficulty I should find in the work, nor any thought of ever having it printed; but as "Gli Eroici Furori" of Giordano Bruno has never appeared in English, I decided to publish that portion of it which I have finished. I wish to thank those friends who have so kindly looked over my work from time to time, and given me their help in the choice of words and phrases. I must, moreover, confess that I am keenly alive to the shortcomings and defects of this Translation. I have used the word "Enthusiasts" in the title, rather than "Enthusiasms," because it seemed to me more appropriate. L. W. FOLKSTONE, _September 1887_. ERRATA Page 3, line 10, _for_ "also mother" _read_ "also my mother." Page 47, line 9, _for_ "poisons" _read_ "poison." INTRODUCTION. Nola, a city founded by the Chalcidian Greeks, at a short distance from Naples and from Vesuvius, was the birth-place of Giordano Bruno. It is described by David Levi as a city which from ancient times had always been consecrated to science and letters. From the time of the Romans to that of the Barbarians and of the Middle Ages, Nola was conspicuous for culture and refinement, and its inhabitants were in all times remarkable for their courteous manners, for valour, and for keenness of perception. They were, moreover, distinguished by their love for and study of philosophy; so that this city was ever a favourite dwelling-place for the choice spirits of the Renaissance. It may also be asserted that Nola was the only city of Magna Graecia which, in spite of the persecutions of Pagan emperors and Christian princes and clergy, always preserved the philosophical traditions of the Pythagoreans, and never was the sacred fire on the altar of Vesta suffered to become entirely extinct. Such was the intellectual and moral atmosphere in which Bruno passed his childhood. His paternal home was situated at the foot of Mount Cicada, celebrated for its fruitful soil. From early youth his pleasure was to pass the night out on the mountain, now watching the stars, now contemplating the arid, desolate sides of Vesuvius. He tells how, in recalling those days--the only peaceful ones of his life--he used to think, as he looked up at the infinite expanse of heaven and the confines of the horizon, with the towering volcano, that this must be the ultimate end of the earth, and it appeared as if neither tree nor grass refreshed the dreary space which stretched out to the foot of the