ficulties to the translator on account of its
formlessness. Goethe says of Bruno's writings: "Zu allgemeiner
Betrachtung und Erhebung der Geistes eigneten sich die Schriften des
Jordanus Brunous von Nola; aber freilich das gediegene Gold and Silber
aus der Masse jener zo ungleich begabten Erzgaenge auszuscheiden und
unter den Hammer zu bringen erfordert fast mehr als menschliche Kraefte
vermoegen."

I believe that no translation of Giordano Bruno's works has ever been
brought out in English, or, at any rate, no translation of the "Eroici
Furori," and therefore I have had no help from previous renderings. I
have, for the most part, followed the text as closely as possible,
especially in the sonnets, which are frequently rendered line for line.
Form is lacking in the original, and would, owing to the unusual and
often fantastic clothing of the ideas, be difficult to apply in the
translation. He seems to have written down his grand ideas hurriedly,
and, as Levi says, probably intended to retouch the work before
printing.

Following the order of Levi's Life of Bruno, we next find the fugitive
at Geneva. He was hardly thirty-one years old when he quitted his
country and crossed the Alps, and his first stopping-place was Chambery,
where he was received in a convent of the Order of Predicatori; he
proposed going on to Lyons, but being told by an Italian priest, whom he
met there, that he was not likely to find countenance or support, either
in the place he was in or in any other place, however far he might
travel, he changed his course and made for Geneva.

The name of Giordano Bruno was not unknown to the Italian colony who had
fled from papal persecution to this stronghold of religious reform. He
went to lodge at an inn, and soon received visits from the Marchese di
Vico Napoletano, Pietro Martire Vermigli, and other refugees, who
welcomed him with affection, inquiring whether he intended to embrace
the religion of Calvin, to which Bruno replied that he did not intend to
make profession of that religion, as he did not know of what kind it
was, and he only desired to live in Geneva in freedom. He was then
advised to doff the Dominican habit, which he still wore; this he was
quite willing to do, only he had no money to buy other clothing, and was
forced to have some made of the cloth of his monkish robes, and his new
friends presented him with a sword and a hat; they also procured some
work for him in correcting press error