PART ii THE "SPACCIO" 253 



ruption and stagnation ; and it was upon this dialogue, ^, 

 almost solely, that the reputation Bruno long enjoyed 

 that of being an atheist was based. It is therefore 

 well to remember the introductory nature of the work. 

 Had not <c atheism " been frequently synonymous with 

 " unorthodoxy," the Heroic Enthusiasms would have y 

 shown on how shallow a foundation the charge rested, 

 for that dialogue breathes the purest religious emotion 

 and aspiration. Bruno had, however, a premonition of 

 the fate that was to befall his memory. He protested, 

 perhaps with a touch of sarcasm, that nothing in his 

 work was said " assertively," that he had no wish either 

 directly or indirectly to strike at the truth, to send a 

 shaft against anything that was honourable, useful, 

 natural, and, consequently, divine. 1 His own religion 

 was that which had its beginning, its growth, and its 

 continuance in " the raising of the dead, making whole 

 the sick, and giving of one's goods " ; and not that in 

 the spirit of which the goods of others were seized, the 

 whole maimed, and the living put to death. 2 The con- 

 clusions of the Spaccio were not therefore to be regarded 

 as presenting a finished system, but as mere suggestions, 

 to be tested u when the music should be given in 

 concert, the picture finished, the roof put on the 

 building." On the other hand, it is clear also that in 

 the Spaccio Bruno intended to present a popular moral 

 philosophy, or to point out the degree of virtue which 

 might be attained without the influence of the divine 

 afflatus described in the Enthusiasms. As in the philo- 

 sophy of Aristotle before Bruno, and in that of Spinoza 

 after him, the perfection of this customary morality 

 formed at the same time the ante-chamber through which 

 alone entrance was to be gained into the inner chamber of 



1 Lag. p. 407. 7. 2 P. 406. 29. 



