De vinculis in genere

«No one particular thing can bind everything» — lo absolutamente bello y bueno ata todo sentimiento; lo particular, no.

«by its order; by its measure; and by its type. The order is the interrelation of its parts; the measure is its quantity; and its type is designated by its shapes, its outlines and its colours» — los tres factores del agente vinculante.

«Bonds are so subtle, and that which is bound is so barely sensible in its depths» — por eso solo se los examina de pasada, «like Thetis fleeing from the embraces of Peleus».

La cadena, hacia atrás: «he does not move unless he is attracted; he is not attracted until after he has been inclined towards or turned away; he is not inclined towards unless he desires or wants; he does not desire unless he knows».

«There are three gates through which the hunter of souls ventures to bind: vision, hearing, and» — mente o imaginación; quien pasa por las tres ata con más fuerza.

«But, for us, love, like all emotions, is a very practical form of knowledge» — .

La tesis operativa: «a real bond is not required, that is, a bond which is found in things. An apparent bond is enough» — porque la imaginación de lo que no es verdadero puede atar de verdad.

«According to the Pythagoreans and the Platonists, the bond of beauty is said to be a brightness, a beam of light and» — cierto movimiento.

«The senses are the entrances through which bonds are» — arrojados.

La lista de definiciones ajenas: «for Plotinus, the private law of nature; for Theophrastus, a secret deception; for Solomon, a hidden fire and furtive waters» — y sigue con Teócrito y Carnéades antes de dar la suya.

«Mercury were not wrong when they called this the great demon» — con Orfeo— porque ese vínculo es «the entire substance, constitution, and (if I may say so) the hypostasis of things».

Objeta a los peripatéticos con Aristóteles: «Aristotle said more carefully that matter is not ‘ugly’ or ‘evil’ as such».

«lished that love is everywhere a perfection, and this bond of love gives» — testimonio de ella —la frase abre «estab-», partida por el renglón—.

«Cupid’s domination is grounded in the action by which the soul of the lover, having abandoned his own body, lives and acts in the other» — .

Jerarquiza los vínculos: «bonds based on commercial transactions are ignoble and merely» utilitarios.

«Anyone who has the power to bind must to some degree have a universal theory of things in order to be able to bind humans (who are, indeed, the culmination of all things)» — condiciona el poder de atar a una teoría universal de las cosas, y funda la exigencia en que el hombre es donde se recapitulan todas: quien quiera atar hombres tiene que poder ver y jerarquizar en ellos las especies de todo lo demás.

«as was imagined by Proteus and Achelous, the same material object can be changed into different forms and figures, such that to bind them continuously one should always use differing kinds of knots» — deriva de la mudanza del objeto la regla de que no hay nudo único: si el mismo material cambia de forma, atarlo de continuo obliga a cambiar de nudo.

«it seems that nothing can fall outside of an examination of civil life when it is considered in this way (whether it be bonding, or being bonded, or the bonds themselves, or their circumstances). This is the reason why we have assembled the following considerations, which are entitled A general account of bonding» — declara el alcance del tratado y lo hace civil, no solo mágico: nada de la vida en común queda fuera del examen del atar, del ser atado, de los vínculos y de sus circunstancias.

«Taken universally, bonding agents are God, demons, souls, animals, nature, chance, luck and, finally, fate» — enumera los agentes del vínculo tomados universalmente, y pone en la misma serie a Dios, a los demonios, a las almas, a los animales, a la naturaleza y al azar.

«A body does not have any feeling on its own, but only because of a certain force which resides in it and which emanates from it» — niega que el vínculo se apoye en la sensibilidad de la materia: el cuerpo no siente por sí, sino por una fuerza que reside en él y emana de él.

«This force is called, metaphorically, the ‘hand which binds’, and it is oriented and adapted to bonding in multiple ways» — nombra esa fuerza con una metáfora y avisa que la nombra así, porque la fuerza universal de atar no se deja designar con un solo nombre.

«As the Platonists say, it is this bonding agency which adorns the mind with orderly ideas; which fills the soul with sequential arguments and harmonious discourse; which makes nature fertile for various seeds; which structures matter in innumerable ways; which vivifies, soothes, caresses and activates all things; which orders, generates, rules, attracts and inflames all things; and which moves, reveals, illuminates, purifies, pleases and completes all things» — adjudica a los platónicos el catálogo de efectos del agente vinculante, repartido en los cuatro planos: adorna la mente, colma el alma, fecunda la naturaleza y estructura la materia.

«Even someone who is stupid and dull witted will see the beauty of natural and artificial things, even though he cannot at the same time grasp and admire the talent which has generated all things» — distingue entre ver la belleza de las cosas y advertir el ingenio que las generó, que es lo que el torpe no alcanza.

«For him, ‘the stars do not speak of the glory of God’» — y cita para él el primer versículo del Salmo con una negación añadida; el editor del volumen declara en nota que la negación la puso Bruno.

«Rather, like a brute animal, he will shower his affections not on God but on His effects» — de ahí que ese hombre vuelque su afecto sobre los efectos y no sobre quien los hizo.

«Of all the things which bind, certainly more of them bind humans than brute animals, and more of them bind those who have an active character than those who are dull witted; those who are well endowed in their faculties and powers are aware of more details, circumstances and purposes, and thus, they are moved by more desires» — hace de la capacidad de ser atado una función de la riqueza de facultades: quien percibe más detalles, circunstancias y fines es movido por más deseos.

«Dull witted people are bound by lusts, which are aroused infrequently and by natural impulses, and which are few in number and limited to base nourishments. Such people are not soothed by eloquent speech, nor are they won over by beauty, music, painting or by any of the other attractions of nature» — y sostiene el reverso: al de facultades pobres no lo ablanda la elocuencia ni lo gana la belleza, la música o la pintura, solo lo mueve el apetito.

«As I am bound by more things, I become aware of the many things which bind me, for there are many different kinds of beauty» — funda la pluralidad de vínculos en que hay muchas clases de belleza, y la conciencia de estar atado en el número de ataduras.

«But it does sometimes happen that a person is so tied to one object that his awareness of other things is weakened, overwhelmed and suppressed, either because of the dullness of the senses which are blind to and neglectful of all other things, or because one bond is so strong that it weakens and distorts him» — admite el caso límite del vínculo único, que suprime la conciencia de todo lo demás, y le da dos causas alternativas: la torpeza de los sentidos o la fuerza desmedida de una sola atadura.

«there are some whose souls seem to be so carried away by the hope of eternal life and by a vivid faith and credulousness, and seem to be so separated from the body in some way, and so strongly bound and controlled by some object in their fantasies and in their opinions, that they do not seem to be aware of the most horrible torments» — explica la insensibilidad al tormento por un vínculo de fantasía y opinión bastante fuerte para separar el alma del cuerpo; lo enuncia con reserva, como algo que así parece.

«This clearly happened to the philosopher Anaxarchus, to Andrew2 the Galilean, to the priest Lawrence,3 and to others up to our own day, who were murdered by rulers and kings for the sake of their religion» — y pone en una misma serie a un filósofo y a dos mártires cristianos como casos del mismo mecanismo; los dígitos pegados a los nombres son las llamadas de nota del volumen.

«Hence, a bonding power is not simple or reducible to only one thing, but is composite, variable in nature and composed of contraries» — concluye contra quienes miden el vínculo comparando potencias: la potencia de atar cambia con la edad y las circunstancias, así que no es simple sino compuesta y hecha de contrarios.

«A person who is more truly human is bound most strongly by the most worthy things, and he prefers much more to seek out more worthy things than to possess base things, for certainly, we are easily irritated by base things and more ardently seek for things which we do not easily attain» — jerarquiza a los atables: cuanto más humano es el atado, más lo atan las cosas dignas y más busca lo que no alcanza con facilidad.

«Consider, for example, the bonds of physical love, which seem to be both a fire and snare at the same time, which drive one to shout and to be silent, to joy and to sorrow, to hope and to desperation, to fear and to boldness, to anger and to gentleness, to weeping and to laughter» — describe el vínculo del amor físico como fuego y trampa a la vez, y de ahí que empuje a efectos contrarios sin dejar de ser el mismo vínculo.

«I, who carry high the standard of love, have frozen hopes and burning desires: at the same time I tremble and freeze, burn and spark, I am mute and fill heaven with ardent cries. From the heart I sparkle and from my eyes I shed water; I live and I die, laugh and lament. The waters live and the fire does not die, for in my eyes I have Thetis and in my heart, Vulcan» — y cita sus propios versos para mostrarlo; la nota del volumen los remite a los *Eroici furori* y da la versión inglesa como traducción ajena.

«Therefore, he who knows how to bind needs to have an understanding of all things, or at least of the nature, inclination, habits, uses and purposes of the particular things that he is to bind» — rebaja la exigencia con que abrió: al que ata le basta, en su defecto, conocer la naturaleza, la inclinación, los hábitos, los usos y los fines de aquello que va a atar.

«What is absolutely beautiful and good and large and true binds every feeling and every mind absolutely. It destroys nothing; it contains and seeks out all things; it is desired and pursued by many because it invigorates with different types of bonds» — reserva el atar absoluto a lo absolutamente bello, bueno, grande y verdadero, que no destruye nada y contiene todas las cosas.

«The total beauty and goodness of one species cannot be attained except through the whole species for all eternity and in each of its individual members taken separately» — sostiene que la belleza total de una especie no cabe en ningún individuo, sino solo en la especie entera a lo largo del tiempo y en cada uno de sus miembros por separado.

«And even though the same object bonds both Socrates and Plato, it binds each of them in a different way» — y que un mismo objeto ata de manera distinta a cada quien.

«Likewise, there is no one and simple factor which can please everyone or satisfy all things, much less does any one thing satisfy different persons or one person at different times» — niega que haya medida común: ni una sola cosa contenta a todos, ni la misma contenta a uno en momentos distintos.

«Those who have not studied the matter too deeply, like the Platonists, think that that which binds is the form of the thing, and crosses over from the thing to the mind, even though it does not leave the object itself. This is like fire which does not lessen when it communicates its form, and like an image which is in an object first, then in the mirror, then in the intervening space, and finally in the eye» — expone la posición platónica que va a rechazar: lo que ata sería la forma que pasa del objeto a la mente sin abandonarlo, como el fuego que comunica su forma o la imagen que va del objeto al espejo y al ojo.

«But considering the matter more profoundly, we find that, indeed, it does exist in the body, and it consists of a certain physical bond, but, like the soul whose powers reveal its condition, it does not occupy any specific part of the body» — y le opone que el vínculo sí está en el cuerpo, y es un vínculo físico, pero sin ocupar parte alguna de él, como el alma, que solo se delata por sus poderes.

«The complete nature of a bond is to be found not just in the object itself, but also in another equally important place, i.e., in the one who is bound» — reparte la naturaleza del vínculo entre dos lugares de igual peso: el objeto y el que resulta atado.

«And the bonds of love, which were intense before sexual intercourse, become relaxed when the seed is ejaculated and the fire becomes moderated, even though the beautiful object remains the same. Therefore, the whole nature of a bond cannot be found in the object» — y lo apoya en el caso donde el objeto bello permanece igual y el vínculo se afloja, de donde concluye que la naturaleza entera del vínculo no está en el objeto.

«there is another predisposition: the signs and vestiges which reveal how well developed the soul is. These move the soul to seek out only the enjoyment of another soul, to which it becomes attached and united» — añade a orden, medida y tipo una predisposición distinta: los signos que delatan cuán desarrollada está el alma, y que mueven a buscar solo el goce de otra alma.

«Thus, the famous story is told about Socrates, who required that an attractive young boy first speak out before he would declare his love for him» — ilustra con Sócrates el caso de quien no se ata al cuerpo mientras el alma no se haya mostrado.

«Flatterers give high praise to ordinary virtues, downplay faults, excuse errors, transform evil deeds into virtues, and act very cautiously so as not to reveal their art of flattery» — describe la técnica del adulador, cuyo requisito es que el arte no se note, y le adjudica su alcance: ata a los poco avisados.

«He who binds experiences joy and a certain sense of glory, and this is greater and stronger insofar as the one who is bound is more noble, more worthy and more excellent» — sostiene que el que ata queda atado por el gozo y la gloria de haber atado, y tanto más cuanto más digno es el atado.

«There is one type of bonding in which we wish to become worthy, beautiful and good; there is another type in which we desire to take command of what is good, beautiful and worthy. The first type of bonding derives from an object which we lack, the second, from an object which we already have» — distingue dos vínculos por su origen: el que nace de un objeto que nos falta y el que nace de uno que ya tenemos.

«Also, fantasy and opinion bind more things than does reason, for the former are indeed stronger than the latter» — subordina la razón a la fantasía y la opinión en fuerza de atar, y de ahí que muchos amen sin razón y sin saber qué los ata.

«The explanation of bonds is, for the most part, hidden, even from the wise, for what use is it to appeal to analogies, similarities, family traits and other such meaningless words when we see a person who hates nothing more than another person who is his genial companion» — declara oculta la explicación del vínculo aun para el sabio, y descarta como palabras sin sentido las analogías, las semejanzas y los parecidos de familia.

«It is not true, as some have said, that the power of bonding is derived from what is good rather than from an opinion about what is good; nor is it derived from a known rather than from a hidden cause» — rechaza dos tesis a la vez: que el poder de atar venga del bien y no de la opinión sobre el bien, y que venga de causa conocida y no de causa oculta.

«The bonding agent has three types of tools. The first type is located within him and is two-fold: those which are essential or natural, i.e., those which belong to the nature of his species; and those which are accidental and acquired, which follow from the nature of his species, for example, sagacity, wisdom and art. The second type is located in his environment, for example, chance, good fortune, opportunity, encounters and arranged meetings. The third type is located above him, for example, fate, nature and the favour of the gods» — clasifica las armas del que ata en tres lugares: lo que está en él, entre lo natural y lo adquirido; lo que está en su entorno; y lo que está por encima de él.

«Things move more easily towards that to which they are inclined, just as someone who wishes to pick up something cylindrical attends to surfaces which are round rather than flat or angular» — y da la regla práctica: se mueve más fácil lo que va hacia donde ya se inclina, como quien toma un cilindro por su superficie redonda.

«A bonding agent does not easily bind someone who can be bound, just as a military commander does not easily capture a well-protected fortress unless entry is provided by an internal traitor, or by some arrangement with a collaborator, or by surrender or by some sort of a compliant official» — compara el atar con la toma de una plaza fuerte: sin traición interna, arreglo con un cómplice, rendición o funcionario complaciente, no hay entrada.

«Thus, in her own realm, Venus does not bind and does not easily capture the fortress when goblets are empty, when the spirit is disturbed and when anxiety is aflame. But the fortress is handed over when the goblets overflow, and the soul is at rest, the mind is quiet and the body is at leisure» — y traslada el símil al momento: la plaza no se entrega con el ánimo alterado, sino con las copas llenas y el cuerpo ocioso.

«Having closely observed the changes of these guards and custodians, one must suddenly act with boldness, attack with force, use all resources and never hesitate» — prescribe lo que sigue a la observación: golpear de pronto, con audacia y sin vacilar, y lo extiende a los demás actos de atar.

«It is necessary to study the sequence of the changes and how the power of a subsequent form is influenced by its predecessor, for although matter is indeterminate in relation to innumerable forms, still its present form is not equally distant from all the others. Rather, only one of those forms is the immediate successor, others follow after many or a few intermediaries, and one is located the furthest away of all» — funda la previsión en un orden de sucesión: la materia es indeterminada respecto de innumerables formas, pero su forma presente no está a igual distancia de todas.

«Hence, after having carefully observed the disposition and the present qualities influencing Thetis, Peleus planned and prepared ahead of time the bond to win her over before she might change into some other form, knowing full well that a snake and a lion and a wild boar are captured in different ways» — lee el mito de Peleo y Tetis como cálculo del que ata: se anticipa la mudanza porque a la serpiente, al león y al jabalí se los captura de modos distintos.

«Bonds are brought to completion by knowledge in general, and they are woven together by feelings in general» — cierra la cadena de los pasos con dos condiciones, y aclara por qué las dice en general: no siempre se sabe qué sentido capturó el objeto ni es fácil definir el sentimiento.

«He who enters through the gate of hearing is armed with his voice and with speech, the son of the voice. He who enters through the gate of vision is armed with suitable forms, gestures, motions and figures. He who enters through the gate of the imagination, mind and reason is armed with customs and the arts» — arma a cada una de las tres puertas: la del oído con la voz y el habla, la de la vista con formas, gestos y figuras, la de la imaginación con costumbres y artes.

«For example, the toad attracts the weasel with a hidden power in its breathing; the cock overwhelms the lion with its voice; the mullet, by its touch, stops a ship; in his fantasy, the fanatic devours the demon; and a melancholic and unstable humour acts like a magnet on evil spirits» — enumera vínculos desagradables y mete en la misma lista los del mundo animal y el del humor melancólico e inestable, que obra como imán sobre los malos espíritus.

«In conclusion, there are thirty topics which relate to the general theme of the bonding agent» — cierra la primera parte declarando treinta temas del agente vinculante, que es como ordena el tratado su materia.

«There are four things which rotate around God, or universal nature, or the universal good, or absolute beauty. They rotate in such a way that they cannot abandon that centre, otherwise they would be annihilated, and in such a way that they can be separated from that centre only by the distance of each of their circumferences from its proper centre. These four things, I say, move in a circle around their bonding agent in such a way that they maintain the same order forever» — abre la segunda parte con cuatro cosas que giran en torno a un centro del que no pueden apartarse sin aniquilarse, y que guardan ese orden para siempre.

«According to the Platonists, they are mind, soul, nature and matter. Mind, in itself, is stable; soul, in itself, is mobile; nature is partly stable and partly mobile; and matter, as a whole, is both mobile and stable» — adjudica a los platónicos la identidad de esas cuatro y les reparte estabilidad y movilidad, con la materia móvil y estable a la vez.

«Nothing is bound unless it is very suitably predisposed, for that brightness5 is not communicated to all things in the same way» — condiciona todo vínculo a la predisposición del atado, porque el resplandor de que habla no se comunica igual a todas las cosas.

«Everything which is bound has an awareness in some sense, and in the nature of that awareness, one finds a certain type of knowledge and of appetite, just as a magnet attracts or repels different kinds of things» — atribuye a todo lo atable alguna forma de percatarse, con su conocimiento y su apetito, como el imán que atrae unas cosas y repele otras.

«For, indeed, a bond accompanies the awareness of a thing just like a shadow follows a body» — y hace del vínculo la sombra de esa percatación, de donde el que ata debe atender a ella.

«In regard to natural bonds, the common person is much more susceptible than is the philosopher; as the proverb says, the wise rule over the stars» — sostiene que el filósofo es menos susceptible al vínculo natural que el común, y lo apoya en el proverbio de que el sabio manda sobre los astros.

«A thing is bound in the strongest way when part of it is in the bonding agent, or when the bonding agent controls it by one of its parts» — enuncia la regla de la parte: se ata con la máxima fuerza cuando algo de lo atado está en el agente o cuando este lo gobierna por una de sus partes.

«necromancers are confident that they exercise control over entire bodies by means of the fingernails or the hair of the living, and especially by means of footprints or parts of clothing. They also evoke the spirits of the dead by means of their bones or any part of their bodies» — trae la práctica nigromántica como ejemplo de esa regla: uñas, cabello, huellas y ropa para gobernar cuerpos vivos, huesos para evocar a los muertos.

«Also orators create good will with their art when their listeners and judges find something of themselves in it» — y aplica la misma regla al orador, que gana voluntades cuando oyentes y jueces encuentran algo suyo en el discurso.

«Whoever wishes to bind must take note of the fact that some of the things that can be bound are affected more by nature, others more by judgement or prudence, and still others more by practice and habit. As a result, the skilful person obliges and binds the first type of things with bonds provided by natural things, the second type by reasons and proofs, by symbols and arguments, and the third type by what is at hand and is compelling» — reparte lo atable en tres según lo mueva la naturaleza, el juicio o el hábito, y a cada uno le asigna su atadura: cosas naturales, razones y símbolos, o lo que está a la mano y apremia.

«The more that a soul is bound to one object, the more it turns away from and rejects others» — y de ahí saca la técnica de quien quiere reducir a uno solo el vínculo: volver al alma insensible a las demás actividades y objetos.

«Thinking persons turn away from sensible things and are bound by divine things. Pleasure seekers descend through vision to the abundances of touching. Moralists are attracted by the amusement of conversation» — clasifica a los atables en tres según a qué se atan, y los llama heroicos, naturales y racionales.

«although each substance is quite stable and eternal because of its simplicity, still it acquires a desire from its privation, an impulse from its desire, a motion from its impulse, and a breaking of bonds from its motion» — encadena privación, deseo, impulso, movimiento y ruptura para explicar cómo una sustancia estable y eterna acaba rompiendo vínculos.

«As a consequence, no bonds are eternal. Rather, things alternate between bondage and freedom, between being bonded and escaping from a bond, or they transfer from one type of bond to another» — concluye que ningún vínculo es eterno y que las cosas alternan entre atadura y libertad o pasan de un vínculo a otro.

«Thus, nature binds with its variety and motion, and art, which emulates nature, multiplies, varies, diversifies, orders and arranges bonds in a successive series» — y hace del arte una emulación de la naturaleza en esto mismo: multiplica, varía y ordena los vínculos en serie sucesiva.

«Insofar as that which can be bound is composed of more parts, to the same degree it is less limited to specific bonds» — sostiene que a más composición, menos determinación: el placer humano está menos limitado a un tiempo, a un individuo o a un sexo que el de los animales.

«The primary reason why each thing is capable of being bound is partly because there is something in it which strives to preserve itself as it presently is, and partly because it strives to be completely developed in itself according to its circumstances. In general, this is self-love» — sitúa el fundamento de toda atabilidad en el amor propio, esto es, en que cada cosa pugna por conservarse y por desarrollarse del todo.

«Hence, if one could extinguish self-love in an object, it would be subject to any and every type of bonding and separation» — y saca la consecuencia extrema: extinguido el amor propio, la cosa quedaría a merced de cualquier vínculo y de cualquier separación.

«For example, Epicurus taught that the pleasures of Venus are impure, because they are accompanied by pain and by an insatiable desire (by which the whole body tries to transform itself into another whole body), and this results in a sorrowful exhaustion» — cita a Epicuro sobre los placeres impuros de Venus para mostrar que unos vínculos son puros, otros impuros y otros mezclados, según la composición del atado.

«Therefore, he who desires to bind in a socially effective way must take into account the diverse composition or structure of things, and must consider, evaluate and decide differently when dealing with heroes, or with ordinary people, or with those who are more like brutes» — y exige del que ata en lo social que juzgue distinto según trate con héroes, con gente común o con quienes se parecen más a los brutos.

«Because of their temperament, those who are melancholy are more bound to indignation, sadness, pleasure and love, for since they are more impressionable, they also have a stronger sense of pleasure. They are also more prone to contemplation and to speculation, and in general are moved and agitated more often and more strongly by their emotions» — adjudica al melancólico mayor impresionabilidad, y con ella más placer, más contemplación y más agitación por las emociones.

«The melancholy are bound by a greater force of imagination; the sanguine by a greater ability to emit sperm and by their hot temper; the phlegmatic by their greater abundance of fluids; and the caloric by their being more strongly and more sharply agitated and stimulated by a hot spirit» — y reparte por temperamento el resorte de cada atadura, con la imaginación como el del melancólico.

«With respect to bonds, old men are more stable but less suitable; young men are more unstable but more suitable; but middle aged men are bound suitably, skilfully and in a stable manner» — mide la duración del vínculo por la edad y deja al hombre de edad media en el punto donde se ata bien y con estabilidad.

«In a proportional way, there are bonds by which those who are ugly bind because of their reputation for courage, vigour, eloquence, ingenuity and other such things, for from one type of power they can cause bonds of another type» — establece la transferencia entre géneros de vínculo: quien no ata por la forma ata por fama de valor, vigor, elocuencia o ingenio.

«I confess that I lack a beautiful form; Yet God prefers me as more excellent, As does a girl who is steady and not silly» — y cita los versos que la nota del volumen identifica como tomados de la *Priapea*.

«For example, there are some famous cases of such bonding, like Lesbia with her sparrow, Corinna with her small dog, Cyparissus with his doe, and Arion with his dolphin» — reúne casos de vínculo entre especies distintas, y sostiene como regla que las semillas de toda especie se sienten atraídas hacia otras.

«It is not difficult to change that which can be bound from one type of bond to its contrary, since the bonding agent is also changeable. And it makes no difference whether this occurs actually or only in thought» — declara fácil mudar un vínculo en su contrario, porque también el agente es mudable, y añade que da lo mismo que el cambio ocurra de hecho o solo en el pensamiento.

«Adrastia’s explanation is useless: namely, that the explanation of love, which arises from seeing a beautiful object, is a recollection by the soul of divine beauty, which was first seen as a companion to the body» — rechaza por inútil la explicación del amor como reminiscencia de la belleza divina que el alma vio antes de acompañar al cuerpo.

«Thus, the condition of things that can be bound is unfathomable to casual and routine examination» — y funda el rechazo en preguntas que esa explicación no responde: por qué el alma cambia sin que cambie el objeto, o por qué lo bello para uno es feo para otro igual de capaz.

«Theocritus attributed love and the other emotions by which individuals are bound to luck or fate or some kind of an indeterminate cause» — recoge la atribución de Teócrito, que remite el amor y las demás emociones a la suerte, al hado o a una causa indeterminada.

«The emotions, indeed, have a definite and rational structure which is either given by nature or which arises from practice and habit» — y la corrige: la causa es oculta pero determinada, y las emociones tienen estructura definida y racional, dada por naturaleza o nacida del hábito.

«The fact that things are bound by love or hate or some other feeling was explained by the Achaeans as due to fate and not to reason or to any type of thought» — registra que los aqueos lo explicaban por el hado y no por la razón, y que por eso veneraban en un mismo altar al amor y al odio.

«Some Platonists agreed with this opinion, saying that animals who cannot speak are never bound by love, because they lack reason and prudence» — y que algunos platónicos, de acuerdo con ellos, negaban el amor a los animales sin habla por faltarles razón y prudencia.

«But they had too limited a view of the nature of thought and reason, which fills all things with the universal spirit and which shines forth in all things and proportionally in each object» — les objeta que tenían una idea demasiado estrecha del pensamiento, que llena todas las cosas con el espíritu universal y luce en cada una a su proporción.

«There are two causes of the act of bonding, and they are the same as the two causes of the essence of that which, as such, can be bound: namely, knowledge of some kind and desire of some kind» — reduce el acto de atar a dos causas, conocimiento y deseo, que son también las de la esencia de lo atable.

«If something has no desire at all, then it cannot be bound spiritually in any way at all. Furthermore, if something has no knowledge and desire, then it cannot bind anything either socially or through magic» — y de ahí que sin deseo no haya atadura espiritual y sin conocimiento ni deseo no se pueda atar ni socialmente ni por magia.

«Something is perfectly bound if it is bound in all its powers and components» — define el vínculo perfecto por su extensión: se ata del todo lo que queda atado en todas sus potencias y partes, así que el que ata debe contarlas.

«It is not possible for a bonding agent to bind something to himself unless the former is also bound to the latter, for bonds adhere to, and are inserted into, that which is bound; the bonding agent, which may accidentally be bound to another object, must be truly bound to the object which it binds to itself» — hace recíproco el vínculo: nadie ata algo a sí mismo sin quedar él atado a ello, porque los vínculos se insertan en lo atado.

«However, the bonding agent has an advantage over that which is bound, for he is master over the bonds, and because he is not affected and influenced in the same way» — pero le reserva al agente la ventaja de ser dueño de los vínculos y de no quedar afectado del mismo modo.

«even if there were no hell, the thought and imagination of hell without a basis in truth would still really produce a true hell, for fantasy has its own type of truth» — lleva la tesis del vínculo aparente hasta el infierno: la fantasía tiene verdad propia, y los tormentos duran tanto como el pensamiento y la fe que los sostienen.

«We have claimed in our treatise De naturali magia7 that all bonds are either reduced to the bond of love, depend on the bond of love or are based on the bond of love» — remite a obra propia para la tesis de que todo vínculo se reduce al del amor, depende de él o se funda en él; el dígito pegado al título es la llamada de nota.

«love is the foundation of all feelings, for he who loves nothing has no reason to fear, to hope, to praise, to be proud, to dare, to condemn, to accuse, to excuse, to be humble, to be competitive, to be angered or to be affected in other ways of this sort» — y la funda por eliminación: quien nada ama no tiene por qué temer, esperar, alabar, atreverse, condenar ni ser afectado de ningún otro modo.

«According to them this beam of light is clearest in the mind, clear in the soul, obscure in nature and most obscure in the material substrate of natural things» — gradúa la claridad del rayo de belleza según el plano, de clarísimo en la mente a oscurísimo en el sustrato material.

«From this we conclude that social types of bonding require a degree of size on which the form and the power of the bond depends» — deduce que el vínculo social pide cierto tamaño, y lo apoya en que el niño bellísimo agrada pero no ata hasta llegar a cierta edad.

«Some Platonists define a bond as arising from a certain proportionality of parts accompanied by a certain pleasantness of colouring» — expone la definición platónica del vínculo por proporción de partes y agrado del color.

«Hence, it seems that the bond of beauty must be sought elsewhere than in the figure and in the proportionality of parts» — y la rechaza con dos razones: también atan el color solo y el sonido solo, y la belleza se marchita más rápido que la figura que la compone.

«As a result, the nature of a bond consists chiefly in a certain mutual orientation between a captor and a captive» — pone en su lugar la naturaleza del vínculo en una orientación mutua entre quien captura y quien es capturado.

«For example, a bond which originates from the body has no specific location in the body» — sostiene que el vínculo nacido del cuerpo no tiene sede corporal, pues los mismos rasgos en otro sujeto no atan igual.

«Why is it that sometimes, when we are consumed by love for a body which we have seen, the bonds of Cupid vanish when we become acquainted with that individual’s speech and personality» — y lo apoya en que el trato con el habla y el carácter deshace el vínculo que había nacido de la vista.

«They think that God has no beauty in Himself, since his nature is simple and He does not display any level of composition» — recoge la objeción de quienes niegan belleza en Dios porque su naturaleza es simple y no muestra composición alguna.

«However, it is a matter of faith that God is both the author and the goal of all beauty and of every bond» — y les responde por vía de fe, no de razón: Dios es autor y fin de toda belleza y de todo vínculo.

«Thus, because of the weakness of their minds, these thinkers have not distinguished between beauty in itself and what is beautiful to us» — y les adjudica el error de no distinguir entre lo bello en sí y lo bello para nosotros, ni entre lo razonable para todos y lo que es costumbre de algunos.

«To put the matter generally and firmly, bonds are the form, the habits and the motions of a body» — enumera de qué están hechos los vínculos, empezando por la forma, los hábitos y los movimientos del cuerpo.

«the harmony of customs and the chance meetings of sympathy by which men are bound to men, animals to animals and even animals to men» — y sigue la enumeración hasta la armonía de costumbres y los encuentros de simpatía, que atan hombres con hombres, animales con animales y animales con hombres.

«Thus, it is clear that the sight of a snake raises a mortal fear in a child, and the sight of a wolf terrifies a lamb, because of a natural prompting and not because of any previous experience or acquaintance» — apoya lo natural de esos vínculos en el miedo que no viene de experiencia previa: la serpiente al niño, el lobo al cordero.

«I have known men who were so terribly horrified by the smell of musk, which is sweet for everyone else, that they have even fallen down because their spirit was so disturbed» — y aporta observación propia sobre los vínculos del olfato, con un aroma dulce para todos que a algunos los derriba.

«touch is bound by the softness of the flesh, hearing by the harmony of sound, smell by the sweetness of breath, soul by the elegance of customs and intellect by the clarity of proofs» — reparte por sentidos el objeto de cada vínculo, y coloca a la vista por encima de todas las entradas.

«Indeed, it is easier to bind many rather than only one. A hunter has a greater chance of hitting a bird with an arrow shot into a group of birds than he would have of hitting a particular bird with a more accurate aim» — sostiene que atar a muchos es más fácil que atar a uno, con el símil del arquero que dispara sobre la bandada.

«We know that there are as many types of bonds as there are types and varieties of beauty» — iguala el número de los vínculos al de las variedades de la belleza, que no son menos que las especies mismas.

«Different things are bonded by different things in every species, and the same bonds do not of themselves carry the same power when they originate from different sources» — y añade que un mismo vínculo no lleva la misma fuerza según de quién salga: la música ata en el muchacho y menos en el hombre.

«At the social level, orators, court officials and those who know how to get things done bond more effectively if they secretly conceal their skills when they act, for he who speaks with too much eloquence, or who displays a knowledge too full of trivia, will not be well received» — prescribe a oradores y cortesanos ocultar la destreza al obrar, porque la elocuencia excesiva y la erudición menuda no se reciben bien.

«This is due to laziness and to a lack of talent and of good judgement, for to conceal an art while using it is no small part of the art» — y hace de ese ocultamiento parte del arte mismo, no renuncia a él.

«From this we should especially realize that a bright light extinguishes a bright light, and that without darkness, light does not shine, gleam, glitter and please, for an ornament is nothing when it does not complement that which it adorns and shapes» — lo funda en que sin oscuridad la luz no brilla y en que el ornato nada vale si no realza aquello que adorna.

«Thus, art is not separated from nature, nor is culture foreign to simplicity» — y cierra el artículo negando que el arte esté separado de la naturaleza o la cultura sea ajena a la simplicidad.

«for Theocritus, a precious destruction; for Carneades, an agitated ruler; and for me, ‘a joyful sorrow, and sorrowful joy’» — cierra la lista de definiciones ajenas con la propia, que la nota del volumen señala como fórmula con que Bruno se designa a sí mismo en otros escritos.

«Perfect things are bonded to perfect things; noble things and nobility are bonded to noble things; and things which are imperfect and defective» — da la regla de distribución: lo perfecto con lo perfecto, lo noble con lo noble, lo defectuoso con lo defectuoso.

«Things in the universe are so ordered that they constitute one definite co-ordination in which there can occur a transition from all things to all things in one continuous flow» — funda los grados del vínculo en una coordinación única del universo donde cabe el paso continuo de todo a todo.

«Thus, by their generosity to things and by their goodwill in sharing with these intermediaries, spirits influence inferior, and even the lowest, things and bind them to themselves» — y de ahí que los espíritus aten hacia abajo por generosidad, atravesando los intermediarios que separan.

«On the other hand, lower things are raised up with a certain reverence through a natural or rational sequence so that, through the free consent of higher things, they can bind to themselves superior things located far above them» — mientras que lo inferior solo ata lo superior por consentimiento libre de lo alto, y ascendiendo con reverencia.

«In all things there is a divine force, that is, love, the father himself, the source, the Amphitrite of bonds» — nombra al amor fuerza divina presente en todas las cosas, y padre y fuente de los vínculos.

«We come to know this greatest and most important bond when we turn our eyes to the order of the universe. By this bond, higher things take care of lower ones, lower things are turned toward higher ones, equal things associate with each other and lastly, the perfection of the universe is revealed in the knowledge of its form» — dice de dónde se conoce ese vínculo máximo: del orden del universo, donde lo alto cuida de lo bajo y lo bajo se vuelve hacia lo alto.

«If there were only one love, and thus only one bond, all things would be one» — explica por condicional la multiplicidad de vínculos: si hubiera un solo amor, todas las cosas serían una.

«As a result, Cupid is said to be both above and below, both the newest and the oldest, both blind and most observant» — y recoge los pares contrarios con que se nombra a Cupido, arriba y abajo, el más nuevo y el más viejo, ciego y el que más ve.

«Thus it happens that the bond by which things wish to be where they are and not to lose what they have also causes them to wish to be everywhere and to have what they do not possess» — sostiene que el mismo vínculo que hace querer conservar lo que se tiene hace querer estar en todas partes y tener lo que no se posee.

«From this it follows that a finite potency in some definite material body simultaneously experiences the effects both of being drawn together and of being pulled apart, dispersed and scattered by the same bond» — y de ahí que una potencia finita en un cuerpo determinado sea a la vez recogida y dispersada por el mismo vínculo.

«In itself, a bond is neither beautiful nor good. Rather, it is the means by which things as a whole, and each individual thing, pursue what is beautiful and good» — niega belleza y bondad al vínculo mismo y lo deja como medio por el cual las cosas persiguen lo bello y lo bueno.

«It connects that which receives with that which is received, that which gives with that which is given, that which can be bound with a bonding agent, that which is desired with the one who desires» — y enumera los pares que el vínculo conecta, hasta el del que ata con lo que puede ser atado.

«Hence, one of the Peripatetics was wrong in his statement about matter when he concluded that matter is ugly and evil, because the desire for the good and beautiful is itself evidence that matter lacks these properties» — corrige al peripatético que dedujo de la carencia que la materia es fea y mala, cuando lo que tiende por igual al bien y al mal no es ni lo uno ni lo otro.

«That is, matter itself, in its bosom, is the beginning of all forms, such that all things originate and are produced from it; it is not a pure negation, as if all things originated from the outside as foreigners; indeed, outside of the bosom of matter there are no forms; rather, all forms are both latent within it and are derived from it» — sostiene que las formas no llegan de fuera como extranjeras: están latentes en el seno de la materia y de ahí se derivan.

«it should be clear that in every material thing or part of matter, in every individual or particular thing, all seeds are contained within and lie hidden there, and, as a result, the inclinations of all bonds can be actuated by a skilful effort» — y saca su consecuencia operativa: como en cada porción de materia yacen todas las semillas, la pericia puede actualizar la inclinación de cualquier vínculo.

«it follows that the love by which we love, and the tendency by which all things desire, are intermediaries between good and evil, between the ugly and the beautiful (not themselves being ugly or beautiful)» — sitúa al amor y a la tendencia como intermediarios entre el bien y el mal y entre lo feo y lo bello, buenos y bellos solo por participación.

«for the bond of love has a nature which is both active and passive. And by this, things act, or are acted upon, or both, as they desire to be ordered, joined, united and completed, insofar as it is within the nature of each thing to be occupied with order, joining, union and completion» — le atribuye naturaleza activa y pasiva a la vez, según cada cosa se ocupe de ordenarse, juntarse, unirse o completarse.

«Without this bond there is nothing, just as without nature there is nothing» — y hace del vínculo condición de que haya algo, a la par de la naturaleza.

«Therefore, that principle is most perfect which wishes to become all things, and which is not oriented to any particular form but to a universal form and universal perfection» — llama principio perfectísimo al que no se orienta a forma particular alguna sino a la forma universal, y lo identifica con la materia universal.

«Hence, matter is in a sense divine, just as a form, which is either a form of matter or nothing, is also in a sense divine» — y concluye que la materia es en cierto sentido divina, y la forma también, porque o es forma de materia o no es nada.

«I have said this in many places in my De infinito et universo and more precisely in my De principio et uno» — remite a dos obras propias por la doctrina de la potencia única.

«where I conclude that it is not a foolish opinion which was defended by David of Dinant and by Avicebron in his Fons vitae, who cited the Arabs who also ventured to assert that God is matter» — y se abstiene de llamar necia la opinión de que Dios es materia, que adjudica a David de Dinant, a Avicebrón en el *Fons vitae* y a los árabes que este cita.

«The most important of all bonds is the bond of Venus and of love in general, and that which is primarily and most powerfully the opposite of love’s unity and evenness is the bond of hate» — jerarquiza los vínculos: el de Venus y del amor es el principal, y el del odio su opuesto más poderoso.

«this one feeling of love (whose substance includes hate) dominates all things, is lord over all things, and elevates, arranges, rules and moderates all things» — y los reduce a un solo sentimiento cuya sustancia incluye al odio, y que domina, ordena y modera todas las cosas.

«But still, it is true that the more skilful and clever bonding agent, who uses things which the one to be bound or tied loves and hates, expands his pathway to the bonds of the other feelings. For indeed, love is the bond of bonds» — de donde la regla del que ata: quien se sirve de lo que el otro ama y odia se abre paso hacia los demás vínculos.

«Because of this argument, Aristippus decided that the highest good is bodily, and especially sexual, pleasure, but he held before his eyes a rather animalistic view of man as a result of his own conclusion» — recoge la conclusión de Aristipo sobre el placer corporal y la acota como visión animalesca del hombre.

«Likewise, bonds are not effective always and everywhere in capturing an object, but only at the proper time and with the appropriate disposition of the object» — condiciona la eficacia del vínculo al tiempo propio y a la disposición del objeto, como la siembra a su sazón.

«There are no purely natural or purely voluntary bonds (in the sense in which people commonly distinguish between the natural and the voluntary)» — niega la distinción corriente entre vínculos naturales y voluntarios, porque la voluntad obra con el intelecto y el intelecto no queda limitado por ella.

«According to our understanding, there are three different types of bonds: the natural, the rational and the voluntary (even though all things are based on one natural foundation)» — y propone en su lugar tres tipos, natural, racional y voluntario, todos sobre un mismo fundamento natural y sin frontera nítida entre ellos.

«Thus, the laws of prudence do not prohibit love, but love beyond reason. And the deceivers of the foolish prescribe without reason limits to reason, and condemn the laws of nature» — de ahí que la prudencia no prohíba el amor sino el amor fuera de razón, y que ponerle límites a la razón sea condenar las leyes de la naturaleza.

«According to the Platonists, the construction of the bond of Cupid occurs as follows» — adjudica a los platónicos la escala con que se construye el vínculo de Cupido.

«beauty or goodness, or some such thing, is brought into the external senses. Second, it is taken on to the centre of the senses, that is, to the common sense; then, third, into the imagination; and fourth, into the memory» — y describe los cuatro pasos de entrada, del sentido externo al sentido común, de ahí a la imaginación y de ahí a la memoria.

«Then the soul, by its own power, desires first that it be moved, redirected and captured; second, once redirected and captured, it is enlightened by a ray of the beautiful or the good or the true; third, once enlightened and illuminated, it is inflamed by sensory desire; fourth, once inflamed, it desires to be united to the thing loved; fifth, once united, it is absorbed and incorporated; sixth, once incorporated, it then loses its previous form and in a sense abandons itself and takes on an alien quality; seventh, it, itself, is transformed by the qualities of the object through which it has moved and has thus been affected» — y los siete del alma, del ser movida y capturada hasta perder su forma anterior y quedar transformada por las cualidades del objeto.

«The Platonists call the responses to the initial motions Cupid’s preparation; the redirecting, Cupid’s birth; the illumination, Cupid’s nourishment; the inflaming, Cupid’s growth; the union, Cupid’s attack; the incorporation, Cupid’s domination; and the transformation, Cupid’s victory or completion» — y da el nombre platónico de cada paso, de la preparación de Cupido a su victoria.

«Cupid’s transformation occurs when the lover, having died to himself, lives another life in such a way that he lives there as in his own house rather than in someone else’s house. Thus, it is said that Jupiter was transformed into a bull, Apollo into a shepherd, Saturn into a horse and the other gods into other forms» — describe la transformación como un morir a sí mismo para habitar el otro cuerpo como casa propia, y lee así las metamorfosis de Júpiter, Apolo y Saturno.

«There are some external things which bind, for example, gifts, acts of deference, honours and favours. But these truly bind when they are not given in such a way as to earn a favour in return» — condiciona la eficacia de dones, honores y favores a que no se den buscando retribución.

«The bonds which are most powerful and appropriate are those which occur through close contact with a contrary in a way which can be better explained here by examples rather than by a definition or by a name (which is unfamiliar.)» — declara que el vínculo más poderoso es el que se da por contacto estrecho con un contrario, y prefiere explicarlo con ejemplos porque el nombre no resulta familiar.

«Thus, consider the case in which a humble and honourable person binds a proud soul. The proud person loves those whom he perceives to praise him, and the greater the praise, the greater the love» — y da el ejemplo: el humilde ata al soberbio por la alabanza, y tanto más cuanto mayor es quien alaba.

«Bonds create a desire for some sort of gratitude. To give an example from one type of bond, quarrels arise between lovers when it is taken for granted that each has an obligation to the other» — cierra con la expectativa de gratitud que todo vínculo genera, y con las querellas que nacen de darla por debida.

«With De vinculis in genere (A General Account of Bonding), however, we seem to encounter a different picture of the fundamental problems discussed so far» — Alfonso Ingegno lee el tratado como un cuadro distinto del que dejaban las obras anteriores.

«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 explica en qué consiste ese cambio: conocer la mecánica demoníaca le abre al mago un campo nuevo, el de ligarse a otros hombres.

«All this could be equally applied to Bonding; however, there seems to be a new element here which may raise a question, if not about the nature of Bruno’s philosophy, then certainly about several of its characteristic features» — Ingegno deja planteado como pregunta abierta ese elemento nuevo, sin resolverla: podría afectar no a la naturaleza de la filosofía de Bruno pero sí a varios de sus rasgos.

«far from limiting itself to mere rhetoric, is meant to infiltrate every sphere of civil life» — y sitúa el alcance que le atribuye: no retórica, sino algo destinado a infiltrarse en toda esfera de la vida civil.

«All the bonds, he tells us, can be reduced to the bond of love, and this gives rise to a series of extremely acute observations which primarily affect the idea of beauty as conceived by the Platonists» — Ingegno señala que la reducción de todo vínculo al del amor es lo que produce las observaciones de Bruno sobre la belleza platónica.

«The vinculum, he says, is not found in the visible species, but what renders it active and often detrimental to us is something of which we are not aware, although it is sentient and active within us» — y resume dónde no está el vínculo según Bruno: no en la especie visible, sino en algo de lo que no somos conscientes y que sin embargo siente y obra dentro de nosotros.

«It is precisely the difficulty of defining a single essence of love, of beauty and of pleasure which indicates to us that there are many different ways in which we can link with (vincere) the soul of the other» — y hace de la dificultad de definir una esencia única del amor el indicio de que hay muchas vías para ligar el alma ajena.

«In order to put this binding process into action, we require a knowledge of the infinite variety of subjective and objective factors (beginning with the diversity of physical constitutions) in relation to which the vinculum must be prepared in advance in order to be effective» — Ingegno consigna lo que la operación exige: conocer la variedad infinita de factores subjetivos y objetivos con los que el vínculo debe prepararse de antemano.

«These elements, however, given that they exist in infinitely varied individual configurations, cannot be reliably specified in any given case» — y el límite que eso le pone: como esos factores existen en configuraciones infinitamente variadas, no se dejan especificar con fiabilidad en ningún caso dado.

«It is therefore significant that, in Bonding, the metaphysical conclusions of Cause are taken up – the identity of facere and fieri, of the potency of creating and being created» — Ingegno enlaza el tratado con el diálogo *De la causa*: aquí se retoman sus conclusiones metafísicas, la identidad de hacer y ser hecho.

«The original unity of the All, therefore, establishes the conditions for the success of magical action, because it allows us to understand how a magus can restore an existing apparent multiplicity to its underlying unity» — y funda en la unidad original del Todo la posibilidad del éxito mágico: por ella se entiende cómo el mago devuelve a su unidad una multiplicidad solo aparente.

«Human beings, too, are presented as matter over whose surface pass infinite forms, and clearly each one of them is a vinculum, one of the many which we all, in fact, encounter» — y lee al hombre mismo como materia recorrida por formas infinitas, cada una de ellas un vínculo.

«Finally, at the highest level, the vinculum reveals its deepest nature, transforming potency into act, act into potency, whence it follows that the operator is transformed in his turn into an object, and the vinciendum into vinciens» — Ingegno describe la inversión última que le atribuye al vínculo: el operador queda convertido en objeto y lo que había de ser atado, en agente.

«This is the first line of Psalm , to which Bruno has added the negative» — Richard J. Blackwell declara en nota que la cita escritural de la plana 182 lleva una negación puesta por Bruno; la cifra del salmo vive en el plano de uso privado del troceo y no sale en la capa de texto.

«The translation of these two quatrains is taken from John Charles Nelson, Renaissance Theory of Love» — y declara ajena la versión inglesa de las dos cuartetas de la plana 184, tomada de John Charles Nelson.

«Bruno quotes these verses, with slight variations, from his Eroici furori» — y adjudica los versos al propio Bruno, que se cita a sí mismo con ligeras variantes.

«For Bruno’s use of this term, see Part Three, ‘On Cupid’s Bond and on Bonds in General» — Blackwell remite el término resplandor de la plana 193 a la definición del vínculo en la tercera parte, y con ello ata las dos partes del tratado.

«Bruno quotes these three lines, with minor variations, from the ‘Priapea’, a set of approximately eighty short Latin poems, mostly from the Roman era, which were collected by an unknown editor» — y adjudica a la *Priapea*, colección anónima de poemas latinos, los tres versos que Bruno da como conjuro.

«In other writings, Bruno uses this phrase to refer to himself» — y consigna que la definición propia del vínculo con que Bruno cierra la lista es la fórmula con que se designa a sí mismo en otros escritos.

«Bruno’s text ends abruptly here in mid-sentence» — Blackwell advierte que el tratado se corta a mitad de una frase: la obra que la base ficha está inconclusa.

«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» — la nota sobre los textos declara el texto base de esta traducción: la *Opera latine conscripta* de Tocco y Vitelli.

«a shorter, earlier version of the De vinculis is found» — y consigna que en esa misma edición hay una versión anterior y más breve del *De vinculis*, dato de primer orden porque el tratado no es de redacción única.

«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» — y da la cadena de transmisión hasta el manuscrito: el códice Noroff de Moscú, transcrito por Girolamo Besler, cuyo apellido la propia nota da con variante; el nombre del códice sale pegado a la palabra siguiente en la capa de texto.

«edition, De magia, De vinculis in genere (Pordenone: Edizioni Biblioteca dell’Immagine» — y declara consultada la edición latino-italiana de Albano Biondi durante toda la preparación de estas traducciones.

El aparato de Ingegno: «Bruno claims that the vinculum in itself is neither good nor evil» — la moralidad depende de la voluntad y la predisposición del agente.

Ingegno registra la continuidad: «even Campanella was later to write a Bonding of his own in De sensu rerum (On Sensation in Things».

Vinculum — Vínculo esencial que conecta al agente (vinciens) con aquello que se ata (vincendum); neutro en sí mismo.

Imaginación (phantasia) — Una de las tres puertas del alma, junto a la visión y el oído.

Amor — Vínculo supremo, intermedio entre el bien y el mal, lo feo y lo bello, lo activo y lo pasivo.

Belleza — Resplandor y rayo de luz que se manifiesta con claridad decreciente en mente, alma, naturaleza y materia.

Contractio — Fenómeno por el cual el alma, concentrándose en sí misma, adquiere poderes o queda vulnerable a la imaginación.

Gran Demonio — Nombre del vínculo universal como sustancia total del cosmos.

Amor Propio — Fundamento último de la atabilidad: cada cosa puede ser atada porque pugna por conservarse como es y por desarrollarse del todo.

Fantasia — Ata más que la razón, y su verdad propia basta para producir efectos verdaderos: sin infierno real, el infierno imaginado obra como verdadero.

Materia prima — Lleva en su seno el principio de todas las formas, que no llegan de fuera sino que están latentes en ella; por eso Bruno la llama en cierto sentido divina.

Necromancia (nigromancia) — Ejemplo de la regla de la parte: los nigromantes gobiernan cuerpos enteros por uñas, cabello, huellas o ropa, y evocan a los muertos por sus huesos.

Cupido — Nombre platónico del vínculo amoroso, cuya construcción va en siete pasos, de la preparación a la victoria.

Microcosmos (el hombre-mundo) — El hombre es la culminación de todas las cosas, y en él se pueden ver y jerarquizar las especies de todas ellas; de ahí que atar hombres exija una teoría universal.

Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — Ocultar la destreza al obrar es parte del arte: el orador que despliega demasiada elocuencia o erudición no ata.