ii HEGEL 353 



perhaps a deeper insight, than their successors, while 

 lacking the power of strenuous thought necessary 

 to carry out their views into the completeness of a 

 philosophical system. It is doubtful, however, whether 

 Schelling knew much more of Bruno than Jakobi's 

 essay and his abstract of the Causa had to tell. 



Hegel took a much less enthusiastic view of Bruno's 

 philosophy than did his contemporary and sometime 

 partner to place Bruno on a level with Spinoza was 

 to give him a higher reputation than he deserved : 

 his doctrine was a mere re-echo of the Alexandrine. 

 Yet Hegel, too, saw something to admire in this 

 " Bacchantic " spirit, revelling in the discovery of its 

 oneness with the Idea, and with all other beings, with 

 the all of nature which is an externalisation of spirit. 

 It was under the influence of Hegel or of the Hegelian 

 philosophy that the first really complete and satisfactory 

 studies of Bruno appeared : Christian Bartholmess' 

 Jordano Bruno? and Moritz Carriere's Philosophische 

 Weltanschauung der Reformations sett.' 2 ' The quick and 

 generous enthusiasm of the first, the wide philosophic 

 comprehension of the second have probably done more 

 to attract public attention to the forgotten Nolan, and 

 to guarantee him a permanent place in the history of 

 philosophy, than any other writings about him. Since 

 their time the literature upon Bruno has steadily in- 

 creased, and with it has grown the comprehension of 

 and sympathy with the man as well as with the idea he 

 so fearlessly proclaimed, and so strenuously defended. 

 It is no part of the purpose of this work to parallel 



1 2 vols., Paris, 1846, 1847. 



2 Stuttgart, 1847, pp. 365-494. 2nd edition, enlarged, Leipzig, 1887, 2 vols* 

 Both of the above works were preceded by a translation into Italian (by Florence 

 Waddington) of Schelling's Dialogue, with an introduction by Terenzio Mamiani (on 

 Bruno), Firenze, 1845 ; 2nd edition, 1859. 



2 A 



