CHAPTER IX 



BRUNO IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 



PERHAPS no philosopher of equal originality and 

 strength has had so little apparent influence upon 

 contemporary or later thought as Bruno. His name 

 hardly occurs in any of the writers of his own or the 

 following century ; when it does occur, it is mentioned 

 only that the author may make sufficiently clear the 

 discrepancy between the actual or reputed views of 

 Bruno and those .of himself. Yet it is easy to under- 

 estimate the influence his writings and his personality 

 exercised ; neither in France, in England, nor in 

 Germany could his prolonged stay have failed to rouse, 

 in some at least of his hearers, sympathy with his 

 lofty conception of the universe and of man's destiny ; 

 through them Bruno's books must have passed into 

 the hands of many philosophers, both before and after 

 they were placed upon the Index Expurgatorius in 

 1603. A natural consequence of this public ban 

 would be that Bruno was no longer quoted or referred 

 to as an authority ; but all thinkers of sceptical or 

 liberal tendency would at least be eager to read his 

 works when the opportunity offered itself. Owing to 

 the great scarcity of the copies and their increasing 

 costliness, this would become a chance less and less 



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