122 GIORDANO BRUNO PART 



prevented him, however, from taking a just view of the 

 system as a whole : it was not the Aristotle of Greek 

 philosophy whom he rejected, and against whom he 

 wielded the powerful weapons of his armoury, but the 

 Aristotle of his own day, a living force with which no 

 one could avoid a reckoning,.the influence of which was no 

 longer for good, but which formed, as Bruno felt, a barrier 

 against the progressive thought and spirit of the time. 

 In the introductory letter to the Figuratio Arist. Phys. 

 Auditus, Bruno gave three reasons for undertaking the 

 work : 1 (i) " that he might not appear, like so many 

 others, to be taking up the office of censor without a 

 sufficient knowledge of his subject ; (2) that he might 

 present to his opponents the philosophy of Aristotle 

 as it really was, for the majority of the Aristotelians 

 admired it rather from their faith in the man Aristotle 

 than from discriminate judgment concerning the 

 principles of the philosophy ; (3) that he might seem 

 not an audacious caviller against thoughts that were 

 beyond his depth, but a genuine and legitimate disputant 

 on doctrines that were clear to himself." The name 

 of Aristotle was a charm ; his opinion final not in matters 

 of pure philosophy alone, but equally in natural theory ; 

 his natural philosophy had been harmonised with 

 scriptural authority, and was the accepted doctrine of 

 the Church. The cry which his critic heard had weight 

 behind it : " You against Aristotle against so many 

 authorities, so great names ? I would rather be in 

 error along with them, than find truth with you ! " 3 

 The danger lay not so much in the error of Aristotle's 

 theory of nature, or of his metaphysical theories, as in 

 his authority ; " many of the Peripatetics," Bruno says 



1 A compendium of Aristotle's Physics. 2 Of. Lat. i. 4. 131 ff. 



3 (De Immenso, iii. 3), Op. Lat. i. i. 340. 



