De magia
On Magic
Abre distinguiendo nueve acepciones de «mago», y elige una: «‘magician’ then means a wise man who has the power to act» «Bruno — De magia, trad. inglés 1998 · p. 143». Clasifica las magias — la teurgia es «transnatural or metaphysical magic» «Bruno — De magia, trad. inglés 1998 · p. 142»; la magia natural en sentido propio no obra «to active and passive qualities but rather to the spirit or soul existing in things» «Bruno — De magia, trad. inglés 1998 · p. 141». Su cosmos es un continuo: el alma «apprehends all things, however diverse and distant, which are around it outside of its body» «Bruno — De magia, trad. inglés 1998 · p. 150». Y el encantamiento es persuasión: se opera «by rhetorical and friendly and curing persuasions which restore the besieged spirit» «Bruno — De magia, trad. inglés 1998 · p. 176».
197 afirmaciones · 3 fuentes · 1 atribución
Atribución
se consigna, jamás se afirma«Bruno — De magia, trad. inglés 1998 · p. 4»
Cadena de la obra
el testimonio procesado, en esmeraldaAfirmaciones
197 entradas — la voz de la obra, con su pasaje«First, the term ‘magician’ means a wise man; for example, the trismegistes among the Egyptians, the druids among the Gauls, the gymnosophists among the Indians, the cabalists among the Hebrews, the magi among the Persians (who were followers of Zoroaster), the sophists among the Greeks and the wise men among the Latins» — la primera de las nueve acepciones.
«or, if it is used without qualifications, it should be taken in its strongest and most worthy sense as dictated by the logicians, and especially by Aristotle in Book of the Topics.3 So as it is used by and among philosophers, ‘magician’ then means a wise man who has the power to act» — y la acepción que Bruno ELIGE, con la regla de lectura que toma de los Tópicos; la fuente imprime «Book v», no «Libro τ».
«Second, ‘magician’ refers to someone who does wondrous things merely by manipulating active and passive powers, as occurs in chemistry, medicine and such fields; this is commonly called ‘natural magic’» — la magia natural en sentido amplio.
«Fourth, magic refers to what happens as a result of the powers of attraction and repulsion between things, for example, the pushes, motions and attractions due to magnets and such things, when all these actions are due not to active and passive qualities but rather to the spirit or soul existing in things. This is called ‘natural magic’ in the proper sense» — y la magia natural en sentido propio, que no pasa por cualidades activas y pasivas sino por el espíritu o alma de las cosas.
«Third, magic involves circumstances such that the actions of nature or of a higher intelligence occur in such a way as to excite wonderment by their appearances; this type of magic is called ‘prestidigitation’» — la prestidigitación.
«The fifth meaning includes, in addition to these powers, the use of words, chants, calculations of numbers and times, images, figures, symbols, characters, or letters. This is a form of magic which is intermediate between the natural and the preternatural or the supernatural, and is properly called ‘mathematical magic’, or even more accurately ‘occult philosophy’» — la magia matemática, que llama con más exactitud filosofía oculta.
«The primary groups of such magicians use either the four material principles, fire, air, water and earth, and they are thus called ‘pyromancers’, ‘hydromancers’, and ‘geomancers’» — y la divinación elemental; el cuarto nombre implícito, «aeromancers», no está en el texto de Bruno sino en la nota de Blackwell.
«This is transnatural or metaphysical magic and is properly called ‘theurgy’» — la teurgia.
«then this type of magic is properly called ‘Pythian’, for, if I may say so, this was the usual meaning of ‘inspired’ at the temple of the Pythian Apollo» — y la magia pítica.
«and if they are used to untie, fasten, or weaken, then this constitutes the type of magic called ‘wicked’, if it leads to evil. If it leads to good, it is to be counted among the medicines belonging to a certain method and type of medical practice. If it leads to final destruction and death, then it is called ‘poisonous magic’» — la magia malvada, definida por su efecto y no por su técnica.
«magicians take it as axiomatic that, in all the panorama before our eyes, God acts on the gods; the gods act on the celestial or astral bodies, which are divine bodies; these act on the spirits who reside in and control the stars, one of which is the earth; the spirits act on the elements, the elements on the compounds, the compounds on the senses; the senses on the soul, and the soul on the whole animal. This is the descending scale» — la escala descendente.
«By contrast, the ascending scale is from the animal through the soul to the senses, through the senses to compounds, through compounds to the elements, through these to spirits, through the spirits in the elements to those in the stars, through these to the incorporeal gods who have an ethereal substance or body, through them to the soul of the world or the spirit of the universe; and through that to the contemplation of the one, most simple, best, greatest, incorporeal, absolute and self-sufficient being» — y la ascendente.
«Friendship and strife are located in the archetypal world, fire and water in the physical world, and light and darkness in the mathematical world» — los tres mundos.
«The will is threefold: human, spiritual and divine» — y la triple voluntad.
«like there is only one sun, one heat and one light, which by turning forward or backward, by approaching and receding, mediately and immediately causes the winter, the summer, and their different and contrary weather, and the ordering of the seasons» — el sol único, que por acercarse y alejarse produce las estaciones.
«even though the whole soul is in the whole body and in each of its parts» — el alma entera en cada parte del cuerpo.
«the whole soul is located in the whole body and in every part of the body» — y su formulación gemela, dos planas después.
«the soul of the world is in the whole world, and is everywhere so adapted to matter that, at each place, it produces the proper subject and causes the proper actions» — el alma del mundo.
«light penetrates and conquers darkness and overflows to infinity» — y la luz que vence a la oscuridad.
«in a circle, the attraction of love; when opposed, the descent into hate and separation» — las figuras como signos operativos.
«There are two kinds of motion, natural and preternatural» — los dos géneros de movimiento.
«There is also a third type of local motion, which is an inflow and an outflow found in all natural things when any of their parts are ejected in various ways and in every direction. For now, we will call this ‘spherical’ motion» — y el tercero, esférico.
«we conclude that the void does not exist in the sense of a space with no matter in it, but rather a void is a space in which different bodies move and succeed each other» — la negación del vacío.
«A continuous body is an unobservable body, that is, an airy or ethereal spirit» — y el cuerpo continuo como espíritu.
«but only to the outflow of atoms or parts, which occurs in all bodies» — el magnetismo por emisión de átomos.
«This is very hard to believe, but let us assume it anyhow. Then we ask why this attraction occurs at all distances from that place. We are not speaking here of active but of passive magnetic attraction. I have not yet experienced whether a magnet attracts another magnet. If there are such mountains, and if they exert their power at such great distances, then since they attract a compass needle at the equator and in the tropics, in our region of the earth they would attract men wearing armour. But this is completely ridiculous» — la objeción a las montañas magnéticas, por contradicción interna.
«There are those who explain these facts in terms of the pores being wide or narrow. I would readily grant this in some cases, but not in most cases» — y la objeción a la explicación por porosidad.
«There are also ethereal spirits which are pure and luminous. All agree that they are hostile to no one and are completely good and friendly to virtuous men» — los espíritus etéreos.
«The cabalists call them Fissim, Seraphim and Cherubim» — los de fuego; «Fissim» es lo que imprime la capa de texto, y la lectura restituida —Ishim, אישים— NO está cotejada contra el facsímil.
«Basil and Origen rightly argue that the angels are not completely incorporeal, but are spiritual substances; that is, they are animals with very subtle bodies, which divine revelation has said are» — y la corporeidad sutil de los ángeles, que Bruno adjudica a Basilio y Orígenes.
«Mark called these spirits ‘deaf and dumb’,13 i.e., they are without reason, since they recognize no commands, and they do not hear or perceive any threats or prayers. As a result, it has been declared that it is impossible to banish them, although it has also been said that they can be controlled and conquered by fasting or abstinence, and by prayer or lofty meditation» — los demonios sordos y mudos; «Mark» es el evangelio, y la nota de la misma plana imprime la cita.
«There is another type of demon which is fearful, suspicious and credulous. These hear and understand voices but do not distinguish the possible from the impossible, or the appropriate from the inappropriate. They are like humans who are dreaming and disturbed by fantasies. This type of demon is usually expelled by threats of death, prison, fire and other such things» — y los temerosos.
«all spiritual substances reduce to one, all material substances to three, there is one soul, one God, one first mind above all things and one soul of the universe» — la reducción de las sustancias.
«represented metaphorically by the three-headed Cerberus of Trivia, the doorkeeper of hell. This is the triple power which is needed by one who binds, i.e., by the magician: namely, physics, mathematics and metaphysics» — y el triple poder que exige del mago.
«three conditions are required: () an active power in the agent; () a passive power or disposition in a subject or patient, which is an aptitude in it not to resist or to render the action impossible (which reduces to one phrase, namely, the potency of matter); and () an appropriate application, which is subject to the circumstances of time, place and other conditions» — las tres condiciones de la acción.
«the chemist knows that nitric acid acts on hard things, such as iron, silver and bronze, but not on gold or lead. He also knows that quicksilver absorbs oil very rapidly, but gold completely rejects and repudiates it» — la química demostrativa.
«the seeds or juice of verbena plants are strong enough to break up stones in the bladder yet seem to do no damage to flesh, bones, membranes and other parts of the body» — y la verbena.
«oil will never mix with water because the parts of oil cohere and are glued together like lovers» — el aceite y el agua; la fuente lo imprime en minúscula, dentro de la frase.
«in a transmutation, these ashes of bronze are closer to the form of gold than is bronze» — la transmutación del bronce.
«the voices of the Marsi and the Psylli became such powerful voices when they were present in the serpent» — los encantadores de serpientes.
«For this is the doorway and entrance for all the actions and passions and feelings of animals. And to that linkage is tied the more profound power of thought» — la imaginación como puerta y entrada.
«The bondings of the imagination would not be very significant in themselves if they did not duplicate the powers of thought» — y su alcance.
«either by incantations, that is, by rhetorical and friendly and curing persuasions which restore the besieged spirit» — el encantamiento como persuasión retórica curativa: el puente hacia De vinculis.
«all practitioners of magic, medicine and prophesy produce no results without a pre-given faith,31 and unless they act according to the rules of that faith» — la fe previa como condición de la operación.
«This is the point of Hippocrates’ saying, ‘The most effective doctor is the one whom most believe» — y el dicho de Hipócrates que la sostiene.
«spirits are the same thing as humours» — la tesis de Levinus Lemnius que Bruno OBJETA; el título de la obra aparece en tres formas distintas dentro del mismo volumen.
«Such were the figures, so well designed by the Egyptians, which are called hieroglyphics or sacred symbols. These were specific images selected from natural objects and their parts to designate individual things. The Egyptians used these symbols and sounds to converse with the gods to accomplish extraordinary results» — los jeroglíficos egipcios.
«resulted in a tremendous loss, first of memory, and then of divine science and magic» — y la pérdida que Bruno adjudica a la invención de las letras, según el Fedro.
«First is the motion which constitutes and preserves life (i.e., the circular motion of things in their own place due to the soul, or native spirit, as was said above); second is the fleeing of a contrary; third is the acquisition of something helpful or good; fourth is the expulsion and rejection by a contrary impulse; fifth is the violent attraction by a contrary which needs or seeks some material to convert into itself; sixth is an animal choice in accordance with the tendency of a natural power; the last is a violent motion, which either impedes or stops natural powers by some device or desire, or which is due to nature itself which, while it is strong enough to move something in one direction, blocks or impedes another motion of a lesser power» — los siete movimientos locales.
«Bodies grow and are invigorated when the inflow of beneficial things is greater than their outflow, and they age and weaken and become sluggish when the inflow of extraneous things is greater than the outflow of natural things» — el balance de entrada y salida.
«There are two kinds of attraction. The first occurs by agreement, as when parts move to their proper place and are oriented to that place, and when similar and harmonious things attract each other. The second type occurs without agreement, as when contraries come together because the one which cannot escape is overwhelmed, as when moisture is attracted by fire» — las dos clases de atracción.
«similar and agreeable things tend towards each other in a straight line, for example, straw to amber, and iron to a magnet» — la paja y el ámbar.
«This philosophy is supreme, divine and true, since it is quite in agreement with nature by positing the following principles of reality» — los cuatro principios de la realidad; el bloque que el informe b2 dio por vivo solo en el resumen del digest.
«true fire is, indeed, a spirit, which is sluggish when it is located in an ignited body, but it is lively when it is outside of an ignited body, and it is a form of motion in a flame or in some intermediate state» — el fuego como espíritu.
«which are very solid and indissoluble bodies. In themselves, they are neither continuous nor divisible and, thus, cannot be changed into any other body. And the substance of water or spirit or air, which is the same, never changes into the substance of atoms or dry earth» — los átomos indivisibles.
«when a magnet or amber is rubbed, it attracts iron or straw much more strongly. For the heat causes more parts to be emitted, since it opens the pores and rarefies the body» — el frotamiento y los poros.
«For example, a torpedo fish causes a shock to the hand of the fisherman, but not to the net» — el pez torpedo.
«The laurel and the eagle are used as insignia by generals and poets because they are never touched by lightning, and so like them, generals and poets are friends of Apollo and Jupiter» — el laurel y el águila.
«Porphyry, Plotinus and the other Platonists assign bodies to spirits as follows. The best and purest spirits, which are also called ‘gods’, have bodies of fire, which is the purest and simplest substance. The spirits which have denser elementary bodies exist only by sharing in a more subtle element. Thus, airy spirits have bodies mixed with air and fire» — los cuerpos de los espíritus según los platónicos.
«For death is nothing more than such a disintegration. No spirit and no body ever perishes; rather, there is only a continual change of combinations and actualizations» — y la muerte como desintegración.
«There is no body which is completely devoid of spirit and intelligence. Furthermore, no spirit possesses a permanent location for itself. Rather, spirits fluctuate from one matter to another, and matter fluctuates from one spirit to another, and from one nature or composition to another» — la fluctuación de espíritu y materia.
«The fourth bond is the soul of the world, or the spirit of the universe, which connects and unites everything with everything else» — el cuarto vínculo.
«The second bond is also triple and is needed in the agent, in the action and in the thing on which the agent acts. It consists of faith or credibility, of invocations, of love and of strong emotions in the application of the active to the passive. The role of the soul is to produce changes in the body of the composite, and the role of the body is to change the soul materially. If these bondings do not happen, or especially if they are not present, then no amount of attention or motion or agitation will produce any results. For a magician is most fortunate if many believe in him, and if he commands great persuasion» — y el segundo, que exige fe y persuasión.
«The spirit is also bonded through vision, as has been said frequently above, when various forms are observed by the eyes. As a result, active and passive items of interest pass out from the eyes and enter into the eyes» — el vínculo por la vista.
«the imagination is to receive images derived from the senses and to preserve, combine and divide them» — la definición de la imaginación.
«In addition to these general bonds, others are listed in sixteen articles in the teachings of Albert» — los dieciséis artículos de Alberto Magno.
«Strong invocations and supplications to make the power of the superior overcome that of the inferior, for example, to banish evil demons by good ones, and to banish lower evil demons by higher ones. These demons are enticed by sacrifices and holocausts; they are frightened by threats, and they are summoned by the powers of inflowing rays of light» — uno de los veinte vínculos generales.
«And they say that when a drum made of sheep skin is located next to a drum made of wolf skin, the former loses its sound, even though otherwise it emits strong sounds when forcefully hit» — el tambor de piel de lobo.
«I have not personally experienced this» — y la abstención de Bruno sobre ese punto.
«if two lyres or cithers are constructed in the same way, and if a string of only one of them is plucked, its sound is not only consonant with the string of the other, but it will generate the same motion in the other» — las liras simpáticas.
«A second type of bonding is based on the conformity between numbers, between measures and between times. This is the origin of those rhythms and songs which have such a very great power» — el vínculo por número, medida y tiempo.
«These incidents are reported by Psellus in his book De daemonibus (On Demons), where he describes them as refugees from light and as throwers of stones, although their projectiles are harmless» — Psellus y los demonios subterráneos.
«The existence of subterranean demons is established not only by the senses, experience and reason, but also by divine authority in the very wise Book of Job» — y el Libro de Job como autoridad.
«I, myself, have seen them at Mount Libero and at Mount Lauro. And they have appeared not just to me, but frequently to the local inhabitants to whom they are sometimes hostile (but only moderately so), by stealing and hiding the local animals, which they later return in a few days to their stables» — el testimonio autobiográfico de Bruno, que el informe b2 dio por perdido.
«I was bombarded with many stones which violently exploded at a very short distance from my head and other parts of my body, and this continued in a threatening manner for some time» — y el episodio del Monte Cicada, junto a Nola.
«One can prove that demons are material, and that they are of several different kinds, by the fact that they have emotions, desires, angers, jealousies and similar feelings found in humans, and in animals composed of observable and more dense matter. That is why the slaughtering and sacrifice of animals were instituted, for these demons are pleased a very great deal by such ceremonies and their fumes» — los demonios como sustancias materiales con emociones.
«They say that Cyrus and other Persian kings could cure diseases of the spleen with the touch of their thumb. And it is well-known and clearly established that the same is true of the Kings of France, who cured disorders of the lymph glands with the touch of a thumb. It is also said that someone who is the seventh son of the same father, and who was born without the help of a woman, can do the same thing with his saliva» — las curaciones taumatúrgicas por el tacto.
«This can clearly be seen in the case of a large mirror which reflects one image of one thing, but if it has been broken into a thousand pieces, each one of the pieces still reflects the whole image» — el espejo roto.
«some possessed people seem to see certain sights and hear certain sounds and words which they truly think are caused by external subjects» — los poseídos.
«The material factor is a melancholic humour, which we call the kitchen or the bathhouse of the saturnalian demons» — y el humor melancólico como su cocina.
«like the proper seed being sown in the proper field, good and evil spirits and the beginnings of consciousness are born from a proper mixture and combination of specific hearts or brains or animal spirits, and conversely, improper mixtures produce disturbances» — la semilla y el campo.
«Experience teaches this also in the case of those whose nose has been cut off; if they arrange to grow a new nose for themselves from the flesh of some other animal, and if that animal whose flesh was used dies, then as the body of that animal rots, so does the borrowed nose» — la nariz injertada.
«if innumerable lamps are lit, they all act together as though they were one light, and no one light impedes or reflects or excludes another» — las lámparas.
«As Plotinus has asserted, both the wise man and the fool can be bound by the natural principles residing in them» — el cierre de la obra, con Plotino.
«As Plotinus himself has stated, and as Porphyry confirms in his Vita Plotini [Life of Plotinus], the evil spells with which a certain Egyptian tried to bind and injure Plotinus were turned back against him» — y el conjuro egipcio devuelto contra su autor.
«Nevertheless, no type of magic is unworthy of notice and examination, because every science deals with the good, as Aristotle says in the introduction to his De anima,4 and as Thomas and other more contemplative theologians agree» — la justificación del estudio, con Aristóteles y Tomás de Aquino.
«The originator of this view was Plato, who sometimes says that all things were produced from one matter and one efficient cause» — y el origen platónico de la transmutación elemental.
«it is not our business at present to examine the more spiritual powers of the soul» — otra: las potencias superiores del alma quedan fuera.
«These things are discussed in our De vinculis in genere» — y la remisión final, que es donde la obra nombra De vinculis.
«As with any other topic, before we begin our treatise On Magic, it is necessary to distinguish the various meanings of the term, for there are as many meanings of ‘magic’ as there are of ‘magician’.» — abre por el deslinde y no por la definición: hay tantos sentidos de magia como de mago, y por eso el tratado empieza separándolos.
«The sixth sense adds to this the exhortation or invocation of the intelligences and external or higher forces by means of prayers, dedications,» — la sexta acepción añade a los poderes de las anteriores la exhortación o invocación de las inteligencias y de las fuerzas superiores; la enumeración de los medios sigue en la plana siguiente.
«incensings, sacrifices, resolutions and ceremonies directed to the gods, demons and heroes.» — y ahí la completa: sahumerios, sacrificios y ceremonias dirigidos a dioses, demonios y héroes.
«This is the magic of the hopeless, who become the vessels of evil demons, which they seek through their notorious art.» — una de las dos ramas de esa sexta acepción, y la descalifica: quien se ofrece como vasija de un espíritu termina siendo vasija de demonios malos.
«this is sometimes done to command and control lower demons with the authority of higher demonic spirits, by honouring and entreating the latter while restricting the former with oaths and petitions.» — la otra rama, que es la que llama teurgia: mandar sobre los demonios inferiores apoyándose en la autoridad de los superiores, honrando a unos y sujetando a otros con juramentos.
«Seventh, magic is the petition or invocation, not of the demons and heroes themselves, but through them, to call upon the souls of dead humans, in order to predict and know absent and future events, by taking their cadavers or parts thereof to some oracle. This type of magic, both in its subject matter and in its purpose, is called ‘necromancy’.» — la séptima: no invoca a los demonios sino que pasa por ellos para llamar a las almas de los muertos, y por eso lleva el cadáver o sus partes ante el oráculo.
«Finally, ‘magic’ and ‘magician’ have a pejorative connotation which has not been included or examined in the above meanings. In this sense, a magician is any foolish evil-doer who is endowed with the power of helping or harming someone by means of a communication with, or even a pact with, a foul devil.» — la acepción peyorativa, que declara aparte y no incluida en las anteriores: el malhechor que daña o ayuda por trato o pacto con el diablo.
«In our day, these latter people are not called magicians, since, for us, the word ‘magic’ sounds bad and has an unworthy connotation. So this is not called magic but ‘prophecy’.» — y de ahí que a los adivinos de su tiempo se los llame profetas: el término magia suena mal, y el cambio de nombre es de uso, no de cosa.
«Given these distinctions, we will deal generally with three types of magic: the divine, the physical and the mathematical. The first two of these types of magic necessarily relate to what is good and best. But the third type includes both good and evil, since the magician may direct it towards either.» — el programa del tratado: tres magias, de las cuales las dos primeras se ordenan por fuerza al bien y solo la tercera admite las dos direcciones, según a dónde la dirija el mago.
«It is similar to geometry in that it uses figures and symbols, to music in its chants, to arithmetic in its numbers and manipulations, to astronomy in its concerns for times and motions, and to optics in making observations.» — la magia matemática no se define por las disciplinas matemáticas sino por su parecido con ellas, y recorre el parecido una por una.
«He is the highest point of the scale, pure act and active power, the purest light. At the bottom of the scale is matter, darkness and pure passive potency, which can become all things from the bottom, just as He can make all things from the top.» — los dos extremos de la escala: acto puro y luz arriba, materia y potencia pasiva abajo, capaces respectivamente de hacerlo todo desde arriba y de volverse todo desde abajo.
«For light diffuses and penetrates through the lowest and deepest darkness, but darkness does not touch the purest sphere of light.» — la asimetría entre luz y tinieblas, que es lo que impide leer esa escala como una simetría de opuestos.
«Nevertheless, all this should be kept far away from profane and wicked people and from the multitudes. For nothing is so good that impious and sacrilegious and wicked people cannot contort its proper benefit into evil.» — la reserva con que acota la materia, y su razón: no porque el saber sea malo, sino porque nada hay tan bueno que el impío no pueda torcerlo.
«Leaving aside those principles of magic which play on the superstitious and which, whatever they be, are unworthy of the general public, we will direct our thoughts only to those things which contribute to wisdom and which can satisfy better minds.» — y el recorte que se impone al escribir: deja fuera los principios que juegan con la superstición.
«In general, there are two types of efficient cause: nature and the will.» — con esta partición de la causa eficiente arranca la parte física del tratado.
«Extrinsic nature is also of two kinds: the first, which is preferably called an image of nature, is a trace and shadow or light which remains in a thing within its body, like light and heat in the sun and in other hot bodies; the second emanates and radiates from a subject, like light, which flows from the sun and is found in illuminated things, and like heat, which resides with light in the sun and is also found in heated bodies.» — y los dos modos de la naturaleza extrínseca: la imagen que queda dentro del cuerpo, como el calor en el sol, y la que emana y se irradia desde él.
«Others are more hidden because their effects are also obscure, for example, to be happy or sad, to experience desire or aversion, and fear or boldness.» — junto a las cualidades observables pone otras ocultas, y las ejemplifica con afectos —alegría, tristeza, deseo, miedo—, no con virtudes de piedras.
«Thus, when a child or infant sees a snake, or when a sheep sees a wolf, it conceives an image, without any other experience, of hostility and of fear of its own death or destruction.» — el caso con que sostiene esas potencias ocultas: el niño y la oveja reconocen al enemigo sin experiencia previa.
«Thus, it implants in each thing an internal spirit, or sense, if you prefer that word, by which as from an internal dictate it recognizes and avoids great dangers.» — de dónde deriva ese reconocimiento: un espíritu o sentido interno puesto por la naturaleza en cada cosa para conservarse en su estado.
«of liquids which form a sphere to avoid disintegration, and also in falling bodies which are attracted to a centre and tend to gather their parts into a sphere» — y lo extiende a lo que parece inerte: la gota que se redondea al caer obra por ese mismo afán de no disgregarse.
«This particular sense is located in all things and is a form of life, although, in accordance with the common custom, we do not call it an animal, which refers to a specific soul, because these components cannot be called animals.» — ese sentido está en todo y es forma de vida, con un límite de vocabulario que él mismo pone: no por eso llama animal a lo que lo tiene.
«Nevertheless, in the order of the universe, one can recognize that there is one spirit which is diffused everywhere and in all things, and that everywhere and in all things there is a sense of grasping things which perceives such effects and passions.» — en el orden del universo hay un solo espíritu difundido en todas las cosas, y en todas ellas un sentido que percibe.
«because of the active principle and spirit or universal soul, nothing is so incomplete, defective or imperfect, or, according to common opinion, so completely insignificant that it could not become the source of great events.» — el que llama el más importante y fundamental de los principios que explican las maravillas de la naturaleza: nada es tan incompleto ni tan insignificante que no pueda ser origen de grandes sucesos.
«He who believes otherwise is like someone who thinks that an ape can be changed into a human more easily than the seed, implanted in a woman, which previously was food and bread.» — el argumento contra quien mide la transmutación por semejanza aparente: la semilla, que antes fue pan, se vuelve hombre más fácilmente que el simio.
«From this, it is clear that the entire cause of the differences is due to an idea, which is generally present everywhere in nature, and which is later limited to this or that species, depending on whether one or other species resembles the idea more.» — de dónde salen las diferencias de especie: una idea presente en toda la naturaleza que después se limita según qué se le parezca más.
«any magician who wishes to carry out his work in accordance with nature must especially understand this ideal principle and how it applies specifically to species, numerically to numbers and individually to individuals. From this, he formulates an image and the proportions of the matter so formed, and with good reasons reinforces the result with the wisdom and power of his magic.» — y qué exige eso del mago: entender ese principio ideal por especies, por números y por individuos antes de formar la imagen y las proporciones de la materia.
«every soul and spirit has some degree of continuity with the universal spirit, which is recognized to be located not only where the individual soul lives and perceives, but also to be spread out everywhere in its essence and substance, as many Platonists and Pythagoreans have taught.» — la continuidad de cada alma con el espíritu universal, que adjudica a muchos platónicos y pitagóricos.
«I declare that if the voice operates outside the body which produces it, and enters as a whole into innumerable ears on all sides, then why cannot the whole substance, which produces the voice which is tied to certain organs of the body, be located in different places and parts?» — el argumento con que sostiene la ubicuidad del alma: si la voz sale entera del cuerpo y entra entera en innumerables oídos, la sustancia que la produce también puede estar en muchos lugares.
«Furthermore, it must be noted that occult intelligence is not heard or understood in all languages. For the voices spoken by humans are not heard in the same way as the voices of nature. As a result, poetry, especially of the tragic type (as Plotinus says), has a very great effect on the wavering thoughts of the soul.» — y su límite: las voces humanas no se oyen como las de la naturaleza, y de ahí que la poesía trágica obre sobre el alma, según adjudica a Plotino.
«Rather, each person, by the dictate of his own inspiration or by the impulse of his own spirit, determines his own reactions of desiring or rejecting something. And thus, he characterizes for himself each symbol according to his own impulse» — por qué los símbolos no tienen forma fija ni definida: cada quien los caracteriza según su propio impulso.
«This is the language of the gods which, unlike all other languages which change a thousand times every day, remains always the same, just as natural species remain always the same.» — la lengua de los dioses no cambia, y en eso se opone a las lenguas humanas, que mudan mil veces al día.
«For the same reasons, the spirits speak to us through visions and dreams, but we claim that these are enigmas, because of our unfamiliarity and ignorance and weak capacities, even though they are the very same sounds and very same expressions used for representable things.» — los enigmas de visiones y sueños no son de los espíritus sino de nuestra ignorancia y flaqueza: son las mismas voces y expresiones de siempre.
«Thus, it is no easier for us to be able to communicate with the spirits than it is for an eagle to converse with a human.» — cuánto separa a las especies: el trato con los espíritus le resulta tan difícil como a un águila conversar con un hombre.
«there can be communication between us and certain types of spirits only by the use of certain signs, signals, figures, symbols, gestures and other ceremonies.» — de ahí que el trato con ciertos espíritus vaya por señas, figuras y ceremonias, como entre dos pueblos sin lengua común.
«The magician, especially when using the kind of magic which is called ‘theurgy’, can hardly accomplish anything without such sounds and symbols.» — y de ahí la dependencia del teurgo respecto de esos sonidos y símbolos: sin ellos apenas puede hacer nada.
«all action comes from quality and form and ultimately from soul. The soul first changes the dispositions, and then the dispositions change bodies.» — la tesis física que sostiene la acción a distancia: ningún cuerpo obra sobre otro cuerpo; obra el alma sobre las disposiciones, y las disposiciones sobre los cuerpos.
«Whoever is aware of this indissoluble continuity of the soul and its necessary connection to a body will possess an important principle both to control natural things and to understand them better.» — y qué se sigue de saberlo, en los dos órdenes: el de gobernar las cosas naturales y el de entenderlas.
«Lucretius put it well when he said that it is this spiritual body which performs all actions in observable things.» — adjudica a Lucrecio la tesis de que es el cuerpo espiritual el que ejecuta toda acción en las cosas observables.
«Therefore, the same substance and matter changes from water to vapour, from vapour to air, and from air to the thinnest and most penetrating ethereal body. The latter has been called a ‘spirit’ by the Egyptians, Moses and Dionysius of Apollonia, although they differ because Moses did not distinguish spirit from soul (according to his words; I do not judge his meaning), which the others did.» — la escala de transformaciones hasta el cuerpo etéreo, con la adjudicación del nombre de espíritu a los egipcios, a Moisés y a quien la fuente imprime como Dionysius of Apollonia —grafía en cuarentena por la regla 10, porque el volumen la repite en su índice y lista aparte a Diógenes—; a Moisés lo separa porque no distinguió espíritu de alma, y se abstiene de juzgar su intención.
«In the same way, it is quite clear that the sense of smell is activated by the continuous emission of small parts from an odoriferous body. This could not happen unless that body’s substance were to flow out and emit its parts in all directions.» — la prueba sensible del movimiento esférico: el olor solo se explica si el cuerpo emite partes en todas direcciones.
«who, by looking at a man a long way off, can kill him with the sharpness of its vision.» — el basilisco, entre los poderes que salen del cuerpo y tocan no ya los sentidos sino el espíritu.
«well disposed to become flames or to be nourishment for fire), and the upper flame then rapidly descends to re-ignite the lower lamp.» — la llama que baja a reencender la lámpara apagada, como caso visible de la atracción por emisión de partes.
«From this, it is clear that a similar explanation is to be given of how rhubarb attracts choleric humours from the extremities and surface parts of animals to their intestines» — y la misma explicación para el ruibarbo, que atrae los humores coléricos desde las partes externas hacia el intestino.
«A sign of this is that when a piece of iron touches a magnet, it acquires the same power of attracting other pieces of iron.» — la señal de que el magnetismo no es cualidad elemental: el hierro tocado conserva el poder, cosa que el calor prestado no hace.
«This same explanation and cause accounts for the fact that diamonds are said to block such an attraction, and similar types of explanation account for various other things. For the outflow of a specific power can weaken another power, or actuate and sharpen certain other powers. Thus, it is said that diamonds confer magnanimity on those who wear them.» — y con el mismo flujo de partes explica tanto que el diamante estorbe la atracción como que se le atribuya dar magnanimidad a quien lo lleva.
«What happens to them is the opposite of what happens to almost all flowers which turn towards the sun and follow the path of the sun, as can be seen, for the sake of this argument, not only in heliotropes, but also in the narcissus, the crocus and in innumerable other flowers.» — el contraste con que remata la objeción a las montañas magnéticas: el heliotropo, el narciso y el croco siguen al sol, mientras el imán y el hierro, fríos como la tierra, huyen del calor.
«Thus, humans possess certain operations and actions and desires not found in demons, and vice versa.» — la asimetría de facultades entre hombres y demonios, que corta la jerarquía en los dos sentidos y no solo hacia abajo.
«It is easy for demons to penetrate through bodies and to initiate thoughts in us.» — de qué son capaces los demonios, y es lo que obliga a lo que sigue: penetran los cuerpos e inician pensamientos en nosotros.
«But demons have no need of ears or voices or whispers because they penetrate into the internal sense directly, as was said. Thus, they send not only dreams and voices and visions to be heard and seen, but also certain thoughts which are hardly noticed by some.» — la analogía del grito, la voz baja y el susurro según la distancia, que los demonios se saltan porque entran directo al sentido interno.
«Not all spirits or demons have the same level of existence, power and knowledge. Indeed, we know that there are many more species of them than there are of sensible things.» — hay más especies de demonios que de cosas sensibles, y difieren en existencia, poder y conocimiento.
«prayers. Rather, they freely distort all these things and play with humans by counterfeiting illusions of fear, anger, religion and such things. They understand languages and the sciences, but never make any firm assertions. And so these hateful demons introduce confusion and doubt into the human mind and senses.» — los demonios del aire puro, que no responden a culto ni oración alguna y siembran confusión y duda; la frase arranca a media oración porque la anterior queda del otro lado de la caja.
«The aqueous and terrestrial spirits are hostile, or at least are not friendly, since they are less rational and more fearful.» — los acuáticos y terrestres, hostiles por menos racionales y más temerosos.
«But the spirits of fire, which are more properly called heroes and gods, are said to be the ministers of God.» — y los de fuego, que llama con más propiedad héroes y dioses.
«In every group of spirits there are sovereigns and rulers, ministers, leaders, governors and ranks, by which the wiser and more powerful dominate and direct the more ignorant and more uncultured.» — hay mando y jerarquía dentro de cada género de espíritus, con cargos que ni duran siempre ni son tan breves como los humanos.
«Thus, Virgil did not use a ridiculous poetic figure of speech when he said that Aeneas frightened the shades when he cut through their abode with his drawn sword.» — lee a Virgilio como física y no como figura: si el aire y el agua se reúnen al ser divididos, Eneas pudo espantar a las sombras cortando su morada.
«It is well-known and widely accepted as true that these spirits have also frequently appeared to workers in gold mines and in other underground places, for example, in the mountains of Gebenna. These spirits sometimes harmed them, sometimes helped them and sometimes predicted events.» — el testimonio ajeno con que acompaña el suyo: las apariciones a los mineros del oro y en los montes de Gebenna, unas veces dañinas y otras útiles.
«Origen, Pythagoras and the Platonists list humans among the demons, including those who are not good but who could become good or evil as they live out their lives in a better or worse way.» — adjudica a Orígenes, a Pitágoras y a los platónicos el contar al hombre entre los demonios, con la consecuencia de que puede volverse bueno o malo según viva.
«This is why both Christian theologians and the better philosophers say that life is like a road and a transition, a journey and a fight.» — y de esa condición mudable hace derivar la imagen de la vida como camino, tránsito y pelea, que da por común a teólogos cristianos y a los mejores filósofos.
«are expelled and replaced by their opposites with chants, prayers, meditations and ecstacies of the soul.» — las enfermedades como obra de demonios malos, expulsados por sus contrarios con cantos, oraciones, meditaciones y éxtasis; la frase arranca a media oración.
«The Romans called the latter ‘gods of the dishes’» — el nombre romano de los demonios sin sacrificio propio, que enumera frente a los que tienen nombre y fama.
«They are delighted by sweet scents and were adequately paid homage at one time by incense, saffron, moss, amber and fragrant flowers.» — de qué se complacen esos demonios, y por qué la ofrenda no les es necesaria sino lujosa.
«The more noble and more eminent spirits are said to be pleased by hymns, chants and musical instruments.» — y el escalón siguiente, donde la ofrenda deja de ser material y pasa a himnos, cantos e instrumentos.
«Finally, it must be consciously accepted and firmly asserted that all things are full of spirits, souls, divine power, and God or divinity, and that the whole of intelligence and the whole soul is everywhere, although they do not do everything everywhere.» — la tesis animista general, con su límite dicho en la misma frase: la inteligencia y el alma están enteras en todas partes, pero no hacen todo en todas partes.
«Thus, if all the spirits and parts of air were to flow into one ocean, they would produce one soul, which elsewhere is innumerably multiplied. As a result, the philosophers say that in the original state of things there was one matter, one spirit, one light, one soul and one intellect.» — el corolario de esa tesis: la multiplicación de las almas es de partición, no de origen, y en el estado original hubo una sola materia, un solo espíritu, una sola luz, una sola alma y un solo intelecto.
«Let us now turn our attention to the many bonds between spirits. This is where the whole teaching of magic is to be found.» — dónde sitúa el núcleo de la disciplina: la enseñanza entera de la magia está en los vínculos entre espíritus.
«The third bond, which is the source of effectiveness, is the number of the principles, which are distributed according to the four sectors of the universe and which are needed for actions which occur in the heavens and in nature.» — el tercero de los veinte vínculos generales, y el que llama fuente de la eficacia.
«The fifth bond is the souls of the stars and the principles of places, of the winds and of the elements.» — el quinto, que reparte por almas de astros y principios de lugares, vientos y elementos.
«The souls of demons which preside over times, days, storms and the elements themselves.» — el sexto, con los demonios que presiden tiempos, días, tormentas y elementos.
«The souls of men who are tyrants and rulers, and of those who have acquired some degree of fame and thus have become spirits.» — el séptimo, que incluye entre los agentes de vínculo a los hombres famosos vueltos espíritus.
«The divine names and the names of the divine orders.» — el octavo, en una lista que va de lo cósmico a lo verbal.
«By the power of the threefold world: elementary, celestial and intellectual.» — el undécimo, que apoya la operación en el triple mundo.
«The disposition to ask good things from good people, for example, chastity, honesty, purification and abstinence.» — el duodécimo, donde la condición del que pide entra como parte de la técnica.
«The force of consecration which comes from perseverance, from prayer and from rituals.» — el decimoquinto, que hace de la consagración una fuerza y no un signo.
«A knowledge of feast days and of the days and hours of good and bad luck.» — el decimosexto, que exige saber de días y horas.
«The use of active and passive powers, for example, in the first or nearly first elements, and in stones, metals, plants and animals» — el decimoctavo, que devuelve la lista al terreno de las cualidades naturales.
«The techniques of enchantment.» — y el vigésimo, con que cierra la lista antes de remitir a los dieciséis artículos de Alberto.
«For even if a flute player is perfect, he is blocked by a broken flute, and the application of the former to the latter is useless.» — el ejemplo con que muestra que las tres condiciones de la acción se necesitan juntas: el flautista perfecto queda bloqueado por la flauta rota.
«every passion is from a contrary, and every action is on a contrary, or more specifically, on a disposed contrary, as is stated in the common saying, ‘Active powers act on a properly disposed patient’.» — la regla que toma de la Física para acotar qué obra sobre qué: no todo es pasivo ni activo respecto de todo.
«From this, it is clear that water mingles and mixes with water because of a similarity or awareness or sympathy, such that after they have united, no device can separate the one from the other.» — el caso límite de la mezcla por simpatía, que ningún artificio deshace, y que le sirve de contraste para el aceite.
«The same thing happens with thunderbolts, which have at times liquified a steel sword without damaging its scabbard.» — el rayo que licua la espada y deja intacta la vaina, entre los casos en que el efecto elige su sujeto.
«Being prudent leaders, they recruit as their soldiers and gather as their military aides not those who are friends or well-known or highly recommended people, but rather those who are more favoured by fortune and those who usually are lucky enough to avoid such dangers.» — el criterio de selección que atribuye a los magos: reclutan no a los recomendados ni a los conocidos, sino a los que la fortuna favorece.
«Next it should be noted that for specific animals there are poisons, like hemlock generally is for humans, which usually are consumed as a very helpful nourishment by other animals, and which readily fatten them.» — la selectividad de venenos y alimentos según la especie, que hace de la distinción de constituciones un principio de magia y de medicina a la vez.
«things do not have their own names. They are not observable by means of vision and touch, and explanations of their specific origins are not to be found in visual and tactile differences. All we can say about these occult forms is that they do exist.» — el límite que se pone a sí mismo: de las formas ocultas solo cabe decir que existen, porque no tienen nombre propio ni se dejan ver; la frase arranca a media oración porque el resto queda del otro lado de la caja.
«As a result, we conclude that not even the demons themselves could talk about them easily, if they were to choose to discuss them with us, using our words and the meanings which are signified by our words.» — y hasta dónde llega ese límite: ni los demonios podrían hablar de ellas con nuestras palabras.
«Some even react like that barbarian general who, when he heard musical instruments played very skilfully, said that he preferred to hear the neighing of his horse.» — el caso con que muestra que el vínculo por sonido depende del alma que lo recibe, no solo de la armonía.
«For those who are enchanted do not always hear the voice of their enchanters, and even when they do, they are not sensibly affected immediately.» — y la razón de que esos vínculos sean tenaces: el efecto no depende de que el encantado oiga la voz del encantador.
«The ass fears the wolf no less than does the sheep, and is equally frightened by its danger. Nevertheless, a drum made of the skin of a wolf does not diminish the equally strong beats from a drum made of the skin of an ass, but rather increases their loudness considerably.» — el contraejemplo que él mismo opone a la regla del tambor: el asno teme al lobo tanto como la oveja, y sin embargo su tambor no se apaga sino que suena más.
«There are those we dislike without reason as soon as we see them, and also others we love without cause. This love and hate are sometimes reciprocal and sometimes not.» — extiende la resonancia al trato humano: hay simpatías y aversiones sin causa, y no siempre son recíprocas.
«Sometimes proposals from fools and buffoons are so effective that people who are clever try to ensnare the souls of their superiors by playing such a role rather than by using more proper means.» — el vínculo por súplica y por gracia, y su uso calculado: quien es listo se hace el bufón para atrapar el alma de su superior.
«We might also consider the art of speaking and its type of spiritual bonding. This occurs in songs and poems and in whatever orators do to persuade, to dissuade and to move the emotions.» — abre el vínculo por la palabra tratando el arte de hablar como especie del vínculo espiritual.
«The orators omit the other parts of this art and try to hide them in the lap of magicians or philosophers or those versed in politics.» — y adjudica a los oradores el haber dejado esa parte del arte escondida en el regazo de magos, filósofos y políticos.
«Beautiful sights arouse feelings of love, and contrary sights bring feelings of disgrace and hate.» — el vínculo por la vista en su forma más directa.
«There are also worse impressions which enter the soul and the body, but it is not evident how this happens and we are unable to judge the issue.» — y su abstención sobre el mecanismo: hay impresiones peores que entran sin que sea evidente cómo, y no se pronuncia sobre ellas.
«However, we experience more discomfort and suffering by being pricked by a needle or by a thorn irritating the skin than we do by a sword thrust through from one side of the body to the other, whose effect is later felt a great deal more, but at the time we are unaware of the injury caused by its penetration of parts of the body.» — el ejemplo con que sostiene que el daño no se mide por la conciencia que se tiene de él: la aguja se siente más que la espada que atraviesa el cuerpo.
«Thus, it would not be easy to refute some of the Platonists and all of the Pythagoreans, who believe that one human person of himself lives in many animals, and when one of these animals dies, even the most important one, the others survive for a long time.» — y hasta dónde alcanza esa multiplicidad interior: no le resulta fácil refutar a platónicos y pitagóricos cuando dicen que una persona vive en muchos animales.
«And the souls of some faint at the sight of the spilling of another’s blood or in observing the dissection of a cadaver. There is no other cause of this than a feeling which binds through vision.» — el desmayo ante la sangre o la disección, que remite entero al vínculo por la vista.
«Sometimes the agent is mediated, as when a man uses sounds or appearances to bring about stimulations through the eyes or ears.» — la primera vía por la que la imaginación recibe sin elección: un agente que obra por los ojos o los oídos.
«sometimes the agent is unmediated, as when a spirit, rational soul or demon acts on the imagination of someone, asleep or awake, to produce internal images in such a way that something seems to have been apprehended by the external senses.» — y la segunda, sin mediación: un espíritu, alma o demonio que produce imágenes internas indistinguibles de lo aprehendido por los sentidos.
«Medically these matters are cases of mania and melancholy, and are called ‘the dreams of the wakeful’.» — el nombre médico que da a esos estados, y con él acepta la descripción clínica sin aceptar su explicación.
«Further, this type of bonding is not due simply to a material principle, as is believed by certain well-known medical people with an obstinacy which is most crude and oppressive. Nor is it due simply to demonic or diabolical efficient causes, as is believed on their part by some theologians. Rather, both causes co-operate.» — el reparto de causas contra los dos extremos: ni solo materia, como quieren los médicos, ni solo demonio, como quieren algunos teólogos.
«In this way, with equal justice, one could say that, because the excellence of the soul forces it to leave the body and be many souls in succession, he should think that the soul, itself, is a humour or excrement.» — la reducción al absurdo con que objeta a Lemnius: por el mismo argumento habría que llamar humor o excremento al alma.
«This faith arises in some people from their pre-given powers, which are well disposed and organized, and in others, it comes from a disturbance of their powers. Indeed, great results are produced by those bonds which come from the words of a man of eloquence, by which a certain disposition arises and flourishes in the imagination, which is the only entrance for all internal feelings and is the bond of bonds.» — de dónde sale esa fe previa —de potencias bien dispuestas o de su perturbación— y por dónde entra: la imaginación, que llama vínculo de los vínculos.
«In regard to the notion that it is possible for a person to do everything on his own, the theologians believe, agree and state publicly that it is impossible to help those who do not believe the minister.» — toma de los teólogos la regla de que no se puede socorrer a quien no cree en el ministro, y la lee como falta de poder sobre la imaginación.
«Indeed, kinsmen reject and laugh at physicians and divines because they know about their humble origins and education. As the well-known adage states, ‘No one is a prophet in his own land’.» — el efecto de la familiaridad sobre el vínculo, resumido en el adagio del profeta en su tierra.
«Thus, someone who is less well-known can bind people more easily. Given a good general impression and a disposition to be believed, he can somehow use the power of his soul to arrange, disclose and explain things for them, as if windows which had been closed are opened to receive the light of the sun.» — el corolario operativo: quien es menos conocido ata con más facilidad, y sobre la buena impresión abre lo que estaba cerrado.
«This opens the door to those other impressions which the art of binding seeks in order to establish further bonds, namely, hope, compassion, fear, love, hate, indignation, anger, joy, patience, disdain for life, for death, for fate, and all of the powers which cross over from the soul to change the body.» — y qué se ata después: esperanza, miedo, amor, odio, ira, desprecio de la vida y de la muerte, todas potencias que pasan del alma al cuerpo.
«Rather, all physical changes originate from the powers which are prior to thought and which are its principal and efficient causes.» — la razón de dejar fuera memoria, razón, experiencia, intelecto y mente: el cambio físico nace de las potencias anteriores al pensamiento.
«As a result, all magical powers, active and passive, and their species are dependent upon magical bondings.» — la conclusión del tratado: todo poder mágico depende de los vínculos, y por eso remite a la obra siguiente.
Sobre la obra
38 entradas — lo que el aparato y la investigación dicen de ella«In the notes left to us (which have been given the title De magia mathematica), he reconfirms, in a disagreement with Agrippa, his rejection of the traditional cosmic role attributed to the world-soul and to its ideas, and he rejects the physical action of» — Alfonso Ingegno consigna que Bruno reafirma, en desacuerdo con Agrippa, su rechazo de la función cósmica del alma del mundo.
«Whereas in De immenso he did not deny a symbolic value to the celestial bodies furthest away,17 in De rerum principiis (The Principles of Things) he seems to reject even this value, at least for particular cases» — y precisa dónde conserva y dónde rechaza el valor simbólico de los cuerpos celestes: la conservación es del De immenso, el rechazo del De rerum principiis.
«On Magic and Theses on Magic, Bruno posits two types of humanity, one superior and one inferior to the general level of mankind, who are distinguished by their ability (or lack thereof) to monitor and direct the processes of our consciousness and in particular its inevitably passive aspect» — Ingegno adjudica los dos tipos de humanidad.
«he argues against those ‘qui aguntur potius quam agant’ (who are acted on rather than act» — y la fórmula latina con que Bruno los separa.
«Here Bruno echoes Ficino in his exemplification of various types of contraction; but instead of calling them ‘vacationes animi’, as Ficino had done, he gives them a name which allows him to incorporate this phenomenon into the metaphysical structure governing our consciousness» — y su relación con las «vacationes animi» de Ficino.
«Bruno scornfully challenges the very successful De occultis naturae miraculis (The Hidden Miracles of Nature) of Levinus Lemnius,20 and rejects a purely medical explanation of phenomena traditionally considered to be of demonic origin» — Ingegno sitúa el desacuerdo con Levinus Lemnius sobre la explicación puramente médica de los fenómenos demoníacos.
«Went to Prague, then to Helmstedt, where he remained until April , despite disputes with the Lutherans and a new excommunication. De Rerum Principiis (On the Principles of Things) was sketched or finished during this period, and the works on magic, De Magia; Theses de magia, De magia mathematica (On Magic; Theses on Magic; Mathematical Magic), were completed, together with De Vinculis in genere (A General Account of Bonding)» — la cronología del volumen sitúa en la estancia de Helmstedt la conclusión de las obras mágicas; es aparato, no voz de Bruno.
«The Tocco-Vitelli edition was based on the text of the Noroffcodex in Moscow, which was transcribed by Bruno’s disciple Girolamo Besler, or Bisler, of Nuremberg between» — Richard J. Blackwell consigna la cadena de transmisión, con la variante del apellido del copista.
«was very helpful, and was consulted throughout the preparation of these first English translations» — y declara que las suyas son las PRIMERAS traducciones inglesas de estas dos obras.
«Bruno wrote a commentary on this Aristotelian treatise under the title Explicatio rhetoricae Aristotelis ad Alexandrum» — y la tercera, el comentario a la retórica.
«But Aristotle has covered most of it in his Rhetorica ad Alexandrum» — que Bruno mismo remite al tratado aristotélico.
«Bruno’s reference to the Psalms is apparently an error» — y una corrección del editor a su autor: Blackwell señala que la remisión de Bruno a los Salmos es errónea.
«The authors of this book, first published c. , were Heinrich Kramer (Henricus Institoris) and James Sprenger» — el Malleus, con su año y sus autores, que la cuarentena de b2 daba por truncados.
«during the papacy of Julius» — y el papa que el digest daba con el ordinal truncado: es Julio III.
«The magical, animistic vision of everything which he adopted throughout all his writings, not just those of the last period of his life, is evident here.» — Alfonso Ingegno sostiene que la visión mágica y animista no es del último Bruno sino de toda su obra, y por eso lee De magia en continuidad con los diálogos y no como apéndice.
«Here he tried to elaborate an art of memory which was based on magical foundations» — y sitúa el arranque en De umbris idearum, donde el arte de la memoria se funda en la magia.
«he identified the heavenly models, the exemplars of every sensible reality which the human mind can know, with the images of the thirtysix heavenly deacons which tradition attributed to Teucer the Babylonian and which he borrowed from the classic text of Renaissance magic, Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia.» — Ingegno adjudica la fuente: los treinta y seis decanos que la tradición atribuye a Teucro el Babilonio los tomó Bruno del De occulta philosophia de Agrippa; la fuente parte thirty-six en el renglón y la herramienta lo devuelve unido.
«He also saw in doctrines of this type the theoretical basis for a distinctive kind of art of memory and the foundation for an authentic astral theology.» — y enlaza esas doctrinas con dos cosas a la vez: un arte de la memoria propio y una teología astral.
«In the same work he is critical of the astrological theory of aspects and of astrological books in general.» — Ingegno localiza en De rerum principiis la crítica de Bruno a la teoría astrológica de los aspectos y a los libros de astrología.
«He claims that the corruption which the magic arts have undergone with the passage of time has been due to the spread of error but also to a desire to keep the secrets of the arts out of the hands of the ignorant.» — y le adjudica dos causas para el deterioro de las artes mágicas, no una: la difusión del error y el propósito deliberado de guardar el secreto.
«Here Bruno, on the one hand, laments the extinction of that original and non-conventional hieroglyphic language in which signs designated things and apparently guaranteed communication with the divine» — Ingegno lee así uno de los dos movimientos de De magia: la queja por la lengua jeroglífica perdida, en que los signos designaban las cosas.
«he preserves on the magical level the operational value of those characters, seals and figures which, according to tradition, propitiated demonic influence – it seemed possible not only to use them but also in some sense to remould them according to the dictates of a higher reason.» — y el otro, que le resulta simultáneo: Bruno conserva el valor operativo de caracteres, sellos y figuras, y hasta se los permite remodelar.
«Bruno no longer accepts a separation between the natural, mathematical and divine worlds; therefore he can maintain a distinction between natural, mathematical and divine magic (or theurgy) only if he can posit the survival of a distinct object for each of these, without denying the possibility of a passage from one sphere to another.» — de qué depende, según Ingegno, que la triple partición de la magia siga en pie una vez caída la separación de los tres mundos: de que cada una conserve objeto propio sin cerrar el paso de una a otra.
«The stars have themselves become gods, in effect, and are inhabited by demons, while the divinity seems to occupy the infinite spaces which extend between worlds.» — y en qué queda el cielo tras esa caída: las estrellas mismas devenidas dioses habitados por demonios.
«Universal animism was what suggested to Bruno the schema according to which the whole of nature should operate and on the basis of which every type of magical operation should be modelled.» — Ingegno hace del animismo universal el esquema del que sale toda operación mágica, y no una consecuencia suya.
«Bruno clarifies the nature of its action by referring to the corpora caeca (blind bodies) which figure in Lucretius’ De rerum natura.» — y remite el modo de obrar de ese espíritu universal a los cuerpos ciegos de Lucrecio.
«The action of the magus at every level, therefore, consists in the preparation and modification of matter so as to render it susceptible to the desired influence. The world-soul has thus to be drawn into a portion of matter suitably prepared, so as to produce a particular effect.» — en qué consiste, resumida por Ingegno, la operación del mago en todos los niveles: preparar la materia para que el alma del mundo sea atraída a ella.
«Bruno distinguishes between two types of contraction achievable by man. Contraction is a phenomenon through which the soul, by concentrating on itself, can realize particular powers; but this can have an opposite effect if it is directed towards a higher contemplative level or if it is carried out so as to render us no longer masters but servants of our imagination, and thus exposed to demonic influence.» — Ingegno define la contracción y señala que el mismo movimiento puede salir al revés: eleva si se dirige a la contemplación y esclaviza si nos deja siervos de la imaginación.
«The magus is acquainted with the dynamics not only of magic but also of demonic action, and knows how demons can take possession of us through unguarded avenues, and this opens up to him a new field of action, permitting him to link other men to himself and, in fact, to establish a whole series of magical bonds between himself and others.» — y qué le abre al mago el conocer la mecánica demoníaca: un campo de acción nuevo, el de atarse a otros hombres.
«At the beginning of On Magic, Bruno examines the stereotypical moral objections which are advanced against magic in general, and against ‘mathematical’ magic in particular. His reply is equally traditional: magic understood as pure knowledge, as scientia, is always positive but it can be used well or badly, for good or evil, depending on who sets it to work.» — Ingegno resume la respuesta moral con que arranca el tratado y la califica de igualmente tradicional: la magia como saber es siempre positiva, y el bien o el mal dependen de quién la pone a trabajar.
«And yet here we find talk of the establishment of occult snares designed to put one man in the power of another, making the latter a kind of demon with the power to take possession of the other’s spirit.» — y deja planteada la tensión que le encuentra al conjunto, sin resolverla: una filosofía que libera del miedo termina hablando de lazos ocultos para poner a un hombre en poder de otro.
«Magical action is another instance of the coincidence between act and potency which the supreme contemplator has translated into the ability to become omniformis and which here, because of the potency of the vincula and, in particular, the most powerful of them all (love), is the ability to transform the other by actualizing the potency which is within him.» — Ingegno hace de la acción mágica un caso más de la coincidencia de acto y potencia, con el amor como el más potente de los vínculos.
«the vinculum, that which links to an ever-changing degree the operator (the vinciens) to the vinciendum.» — y define el vínculo por su posición: el punto medio entre el momento activo y el pasivo, que liga al operador con lo que ha de ser ligado.
«Interested the French court in his theory of memory and maintained contact with the court for five years, due to close links with the politiques who supported the King of Navarre.» — la cronología del volumen sitúa el arte de la memoria en el centro de su relación con la corte francesa, sostenida cinco años.
«received an invitation from the Venetian patrician, Giovanni Mocenigo, to go to Venice to teach him the secrets of his art of memory.» — y ata a ese mismo arte el regreso a Italia: la invitación de Mocenigo era para que le enseñara los secretos de su arte de la memoria.
«the identification of angels with the stars and of the Holy Spirit with the world-soul, and belief in pre-adamites» — entre las proposiciones que la comisión de teólogos extrajo de sus obras publicadas figura la identificación de los ángeles con las estrellas y del Espíritu Santo con el alma del mundo.
«it listed among his errors the denial of transubstantiation, the thesis of the transmigration of souls, the infinity of the world, the eternity of the universe, the allegation that Moses and Christ were magicians and impostors, and belief in pre-adamites.» — y la sentencia de 1600, según la cronología, cuenta entre sus errores el haber llamado magos e impostores a Moisés y a Cristo.
«The translations of the De magia and of the De vinculis in genere are based on the texts published in Jordani Bruni Nolani opera latine conscripta publicis sumptibus edita, edited by F. Tocco and E. Vitelli (Naples and Florence: Morano,» — Richard J. Blackwell declara el texto base de estas dos traducciones: la Opera latine conscripta de Tocco y Vitelli; el corte deja fuera los años y los tomos, que en este troceo viven en el plano de uso privado.
Conceptos tratados
Magia Natural — En sentido propio, operación por fuerzas de atracción y repulsión inherentes a los objetos, sin intervención activa del mago.
Theurgia (obra divina) — Invocación de inteligencias superiores mediante rezos, ofrendas y ceremonias para controlar demonios inferiores.
Necromancia (nigromancia) — Consulta a los muertos por medio de sus restos o partes corporales.
Anima mundi (alma del mundo) — Alma universal presente en todo el mundo, adaptada a la materia en cada lugar.
Spiritus — Cuerpo espiritual inobservable, aéreo o etéreo, agente de las acciones en los cuerpos visibles.
Jeroglificos — Imágenes sagradas egipcias extraídas de objetos naturales para conversar con los dioses.
Imaginación (phantasia) — Puerta y entrada de todas las acciones, pasiones y sentimientos de los animales.
Fe — Creencia previa que habilita cualquier acto mágico, médico o profético.
Vinculo — Donde está la enseñanza entera de la magia: veinte vínculos generales, de la triple potencia del mago a las técnicas de encantamiento, más los dieciséis artículos de Alberto.
Daimon (entidad intermedia, ni ángel ni demonio) — Sustancias materiales con emociones y apetitos, de más especies que las cosas sensibles, ordenadas en jerarquías y repartidas por elemento; el hombre queda contado entre ellas por Orígenes, Pitágoras y los platónicos.
Magia Matematica — Quinta acepción: a los poderes naturales añade palabras, cantos, cálculos de números y tiempos, imágenes, figuras y caracteres; media entre lo natural y lo sobrenatural y se llama con más exactitud filosofía oculta.
Movimiento Esferico — Tercer movimiento local: entrada y salida de partes en infinitas direcciones desde un mismo centro, con que explica el crecimiento, la vejez y la atracción del imán.
Melancolia — Humor que hace de cocina o de baño de los demonios saturninos, y factor material —no único— de los vínculos de la imaginación.