ii "VERIFICATIONS" OF COINCIDENCE 179 



infinite ; therefore that which is minimum is also maxi- 

 mum, and any degree between these." Besides the 

 coincidence of contraries in God as the monad of 

 monads, the examples are given of the indifference of 

 all dimensions in the universe, and the^ubiquity of its 

 centre ; the indifference of the radial directions from 

 the centre of a particular sphere ; the indifference of all 

 points in the diurnal rotation of the earth, so that any 

 point whatever is east, west, north, or south ; the " sub- 

 jective " coincidence of concave and convex in the circle 

 ("subjective" meaning "in the thing itself"); the 

 coincidence of the acute and the obtuse angle in the 

 inclination of one line to another ; that of smallest arc and 

 chord as of greatest arc and chord, " whence it follows 

 that the infinite circle and the infinite straight line, also 

 the infinite diameter, area, and centre are one and the 

 same." Lastly, we have the coincidence of swiftest 

 motion with slowest, or with rest, " for the absolutely 

 swift (swift ' simpliciUTy i.e. "in its highest possible 

 manifestation, without any degree of the contrary, slow- 

 ness) which moves from A to B, and from B to A, is 

 at once in A, and in B, and in the whole orbit, therefore, 

 it stands still." 



These coincidences are again of two kinds : some 

 " subjective " in the modern sense, e.g. the coincidences 

 of directions in the globe ; any one may be taken as 

 depth according to the spectator's standpoint ; others 

 are " objective," e.g. when in God the one and the 

 many are said to coincide. According as the stress 

 is laid on one or on the other, the theory may be 

 regarded as either dualistic (as Cusanus' really was) or 

 as pantheistic. There is no doubt, however, that it 

 was in the latter sense that Bruno held the coincidence 

 of contraries. 



