198 GIORDANO BRUNO PART 



time. There is no absolute norm of time, said Bruno, 

 whether arithmetical, geometrical, or physical ; for in 

 this kind we cannot fix a minimum, and least of all on 

 Peripatetic principles ; there is always a less than any 

 given period of time, hence we cannot lay down any 

 true measure of time, i.e. all time is relative to the 

 individual. In any case the daily movement (of the 

 outermost sphere, as Aristotle thought, but in fact) of 

 the earth, is not really circular. There are as many 

 moving agents as there are stars, as there are souls, or 

 deities. 1 But " if we must assume some one presiding 

 over the infinite number of agents, we must ascend 

 above all or descend down to the centre of all, to the 

 absolute being, present above all and within all ... 

 more intimate to all things than each is to itself, not 

 more distant from one than from another, for it is 

 equally the nearest to all." Several of the arguments 

 of Aristotle were drawn from abstract conceptions of 

 Perfection, unity and perfection, and evidently raised interesting 

 problems for the time of Bruno. They are, briefly, 

 that a plurality of worlds would be irrational, since no 

 reason could be given for one number rather than 

 another, that it is more in accordance with the perfection 

 of the monad, that all reality should be massed together 

 in one world, that the economy of nature does not 

 admit of the multiplication of goods, that the passive 

 capacity (matter) is not equal to the active power (the 

 form}, that the perfect is by its very nature unique. 

 Bruno answers that there is no definite, but an infinite, 

 number of worlds, and that if the former were the case 

 no reason could be put forward why there should be 

 only one, which in Bruno's sense of world is no doubt 

 true. As to the monad, the true monad is that which 



1 Cf. Op. Lat. i. 2. p. 259. 2 P. 260. On Time cf. Acrot., Arts. 38-40. 



