20 GIORDANO BRUNO PART 



The uni- Owing perhaps to some of these works, Bruno was 

 Slty ' granted an Extraordinary Readership at the university. 

 There were, however, two universities in Paris, and it 

 is uncertain at which Bruno taught : they were the 

 Sorbonne, catholic and conservative, the censorship of 

 which must have passed his Parisian works, and the 

 College of France following the liberal policy of its 

 founder, Francis II., declaring war against pedantry in 

 general, and the Jesuit Society in particular. 1 As has 

 been said, Bruno was at this time eager to be taken 

 back into the fold of the Church, and turned to the 

 Jesuits for assistance, so that the latter college could 

 hardly have been his habitation ; on the other hand, 

 his revolutionary teaching could not fail in the end to 

 excite the indignation of the Sorbonne pupils : Aristotle 

 was, here as elsewhere, " divine." Yet when Bruno 

 returned to Paris in 1585, and when he was on the 

 eve of a second departure, he recalled with pleasure 

 the humanity and kindness shown to him by rectors 

 and professors on his first visit. They had honoured 

 him by " the continued presence of the more learned 

 at his lectures both public and private, so that any 

 title rather than that of stranger was befitting him 

 with this kindly parent of letters." 2 And Nostitz, 

 one of Bruno's pupils, remembered with admiration, 

 thirty-three years later, the skill and versatility of his 

 teacher : " He was able to discourse impromptu on 

 any subject suggested, to speak without preparation 

 extensively and eloquently, and he attracted many 

 pupils and admirers in Paris." 



1 Bartholmess, i. 74. 



2 Vide Acrot. Camoer. Epistle to the Rector of the University (Filesac.). Op. Lat. 

 i. i. 56, 57. 



8 Artifictum Arist. Lull. Ram. 1615. 



