156 GIORDANO BRUNO PART 



more general term, for " in Nature, not everything that 

 is principle, is also cause : the point is principle of 

 the line, not cause ; the instant, of the event ; the 

 starting-point, of the movement ; the premisses, of 

 the argument." 1 God is both principle and cause, 

 but from different points of view : " He is first 

 principle in so far as all things are posterior to him in 

 nature, duration, or dignity ; he is first cause in so far 

 as all things are distinguished from him as effect from 

 efficient, thing produced from producer. The points 

 of view are different, for not always is the prior and 

 more worthy a cause of that which is posterior and less 

 worthy ; and not always is the cause prior and more 

 worthy than that which is caused." 2 There are really 

 two marks of a principle given by Bruno, priority in 

 worth, and internality ; but, generally, a principle is 

 that without which a thing could not come into being, 

 and which if taken away would take away also the 

 being of the thing. To a cause the latter half of this 

 description would not apply, as it remains outside of 

 the effect. Thus God as principle is immanent in all 

 things, and is the higher source from which they proceed. 

 This twofold interpretation of the relation of God to 

 nature and to natural things was already inherent in 

 the Neoplatonic doctrine which formed Bruno's starting- 

 point, since God as the source of emanation was outside 

 of the emanations themselves, and was unaffected by 

 them ; on the other hand, the gradations in the 

 different stages of emanation, and the possibility of 



1 Lag. Z 3 o. 



2 Ib. The terms correspond to Aristotle's dpX'n and afrtov, respectively j no clear 

 distinction was drawn between their meanings by Aristotle, however. Bruno's aim 

 is to contrast the inwardly active, immanent principle of life and of movement with the 



' transient, outwardly active cause, and to interpret nature, as a whole, as the mani- 

 festation of some such inward principle, rather than as a mechanical system to which 

 the impulse was given from without. 



