ii INTEREST IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY 125 



1 infinite/ ' matter,' { form,' * demonstration/ ' being,' 

 always building on the faith of his own definition, which 

 gives the name a new sense." 



The close study of Aristotle himself, which was one The p re 

 of the greatest results of the Humanist movement, had lians. 

 the effect of bringing into greater prominence the 

 earlier Greek philosophers, whose doctrines Aristotle 

 states and criticises in many of his works notably the 

 Physics and Metaphysics. The rediscovery of antiquity 

 included that of ancient philosophy ; and Bruno's dis- 

 satisfaction with Aristotle led him into greater sympathy 

 with the nature -philosophers whom Aristotle decried. 

 Towards these earlier Greeks, as towards other 

 philosophers, his attitude is wholly that of an Eclectic : 

 he does not attempt to appreciate their relative value, 

 nor to discover any evolution of thought through the 

 successive systems. From each he takes that which 

 agrees or appears to agree with his own philosophy, and 

 treats it as an anticipation of, or as an authority for, 

 the latter. The " universal intelligence," for example, 

 as the universal efficient cause in nature, is a doctrine 

 ascribed in the Causa indiscriminately to the Pythago- 

 reans, the Platonists, the Magi, Orpheus, Empedocles, 

 and Plotinus. 2 The belief in an infinite ether (Hera- 

 clitus' Fire) surrounding the earth, and containing 

 innumerable worlds within it, in the Cena is attributed, 

 equally without discrimination, to Heraclitus, Democ- 

 ritus, Epicurus, Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Melissus. 3 

 Xenophanes represented for Bruno the static aspect of 

 Pantheism the Absolute One as in itself, apart from 

 all reference to the finite ; 4 Heraclitus its dynamic 



1 (De V Infinite), Lag. 314. 2 Lag 2 ^ l 



3 Ib. 183. Cf. Op. Lat. i. i. 282, 288. 

 4 Cf. Of. Lat. i. i. 96, 3. 26, 3. 271 j i. i. 291 ; i. 3. 26 } iii. 70, etc. 



