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Giordano Bruno OFFPRIIIITFROM Giordano Bruno Philosopherof the Renaissance Editedby HILARY GATTI O Hilary Gatti and the contributors,2002 ASHGATE \J ;-'i'''- L..'- C}IAP'IE,RI'L,N Giordano Bruno and Astrology LeenSpruit Bruno's attitude tor,vardsastrolog)'r,vas n.rultifaceted. In his earlv as rvell as in his later lvorks, he leveliedvarious attrcks rgrrinst ertrol,.,gr,'.,yet crneof lris first rvorks, the lost De segni de' tentpi, ,u,rsprol.,ablv an astrologicaltrearise.r Moreover, in Spaccictde la bestid trionfante and, other works, he end.rsed thc horoscope of religio's,, and,in Libri Aristotelis pht'siconrm explanati, composed in thc late 1.!g0s, he explained generation and corruption drarving on clcarly asfrological concepts.'Also in his magicalworks he endorsedastrological conceprs. And at the verl- moment of his arrest in venice, he rvas in possessionof a manuscriptentitled De sigillisHermetis, Ptt)lt)ntoL,i ct a1i,.,y11111,copied in Paduabv his pupil Besler.'Theseilppar-ently conflicting attirudes are t. be understood in thc light of the specificcultural contexr of Bruno's intellectualforrnation' ancl activitv. .l Benveen 300 a.d 1700rrsrroi,rg\'\\'iìs deemed to be ncitherobscure nor implausible.It was an integratedpart of Europeernlife and cultr.rre. Astrological ideasirncl practices rvere vitallr.involved in philosophy,the arts and sciences.Astrology's appeal lay in the fact that it offerecl allegcdll' useful informari.n, s.merimes inaccessibleby any other means' while it looked and operated like a science.Ir r,vasaccepted by c'rutstandingscientists and philosophers, such as ptolomeus, Thomas Aquinas, cardano and Joha'nes Kepler. During the Renaiss:rnceit r,vas eventaught in many universitiesas an academicdiscipline. It w,asnot an Llncontroversialdiscipline, however. Since its introduction in the western world it had been attacked by a host of opponents, incruding cicero, Sextus Empiricus, Avicenna, Nicole oresme and Giovanni pìco della Mirandola. It was condemnedb1' various Catholic councils anc1,ciu''g t- Cf . lnfirtittt,lìl)1, p. 429; L)e rerwn princ., p>OLlll, pp. 539_4 l. 2 (ìli cìrtrdano Bruno. iumi ndpciitani e Ia'perigrindtio'europeíi, ed. E. canone, 1992, cìassino: universirà degli Studi, p. 83; cf. Ricci, S. 12000), cutrtlart. Brrut. nelL'Europadel Cinquecento,Rome: SalernoEditrice, pp. 1l-5_lg. -l Thrs vier.vis discusseclbv Ingegno,A. (1967),'Eimctisrno e oroscopo clelleretrgroni ncII<tSpaccio bruniano', in Rinascimento,18, pp. 157-74. a <-f. Lil,ri lb1s. Arist,tt.,BOI lll. nn. ìoo-x. 5 Firpo, Prctcesso,pp. 1t 6. 18-. 1qj :nd 286-8*; scealso pp. l_2,32,;rncl60-61. 230 GIORDANOBRUNO the Renaissance,by Protestant theologians, including Luther and Calvin.nBy contrast, Melanchthon defendedastrology,- and exponents of the Roman Catholic hierarch,v,including several popes, had their personal astrologers.tMoreover, many early modern scientists and philosophers dissociated themselves from astrological ideas, while covertly courting them. It rvas only in about 1700 that astrologylost irs footing in elite and educatedEuropean culture. The very term 'astrology', like science or religion. conceals a challenging multiplicity of ideas and activities. 'Astronomy' and 'astrology' were often used interchangeably."Moreover, Ptolemarc technical horoscopic astrology is not to be cor-rfusedwith Arabic astrolog,v,dominated by the conception of the great conjunctions.And the useof astrologyin medicine,agriculture and navigation is essentially different from the astrological backgror-rndof the various forms of divination during the Middie Ages and the Renaissance.Therefore, a brief survey of the developmentof astrology and of argumentspro and contra is surely helpful to assessBruno's viervs on astrology. Critical studies on Bruno, taking inîo acccluntthe impact of astrology, have dwelt on the use of astrologicalimages in his mnemotechnicalworks or elseon the specificcultural context of l-riscosmology and its political and ethieal implications.'' Thrs ehaptcr propose\ a more encompassing classificationof Brr-rno'smost significant texts on astrology, and an analysis of the possible relatior-rshipsbetween astrology and Bruno's 6 Calvrn, J (1911.5),Adt,ertissement contre l'astrologie judicidire, ed. O. \4illet, Génòve:Droz. - See(ìarorr, S. (i9U6), 'Mel:rnchthon'sastrologv', tn'Astrologi hallucinati'. Starsand the L'.ndof the Wrtrld in Luther's Time, ed. P Zambelli, IJerlir ancl Ì!en' York: Walter de Gruvter editori, pp. 109-l2l; and Bellucci, D. (1988),'l\4élanchthon et la défensede I'astrologie', tn Bihliothèque d'Humanisme et de la Renaissance,50, pp. 587-622. 8 C:rroti, S. (1983), L'astroktgid in ltalia. Profezie, oroscolti e segreti celesti, dagli zodiaci ryntrni alla tradizione islamica, ddlle corti rinascintentali alle scuole moderne: storia, tlocumenti, personttggi, Rome: Neivton Compton editori, pp. 231-46. e Cf. Cassiodoras,lnstitutiones, Il.iii, 6; lsidore of Seville,F,t1'tnokryiae,ll.27; Hugo oi Saint-Victor,Didascalion,ll.l0. For discussion,see Lejbou'icz, M. (1988), 'l-e choc des traductions arabo-latines du Xlle siècle et ses conséquencesdans l:r spécialisation sémantique d'astrologia ct d'astronomia: Don'rinic Gr.rncliss:rlinr-rset la sciencid iudicandi', rnTransfert de trtcabulaire dans les sciences,eds. ìr4. (ìroult, P. Louis andJ. Rogcr, Paris: CNRS, pp. 273-76. 10 Cf. Ingegno, A. (1978), 'Ermetismo e oroscopo clelle religronr nello Spaccru bruniano', cit., and idem, Cosmok;gia e filosofia nel pensiero di Giordano Bruno, Florencc:La Nuova ltalia editrice,ch. l-2; Garin, E. (19821,Lo zodiacetdella uita. La polemica sull'astroktgia ddl 'lrecerfto dl Cinquec.ento,Rome-Birri: Latcrza, (first edition: 1976), p.124f; anclrecentlv Pompeo Faracovi, O., (1966), Scritto negli astri. L'astrologia nelld culturd dell'C)ccidente, Venezia: Marsilio, pp. 25-5-9. See also N4.A. Cranada's introduction to Furori, BOeuC VIl, pp. xviii-xxxix. CIORDANO BRUNOAND l)1 ASTROLOGY L.) | .IrJt,tILtI FICTNT FL O. RENTINI MEDTCI, A T e_-v E p H I L o- fophi celeberrirni, JDE vITA LIBRI TREs: qIo Rv M r. De Stultoforumfanitatetuenda. r r. De Vita prod*cencla. | | t. D e llita telitas comparunrla. C v rt Indicercrun memorabilium copiolìffimo. 't frl trl H Fl I I.{ o É w r-l H z z a L / G D rr{r, APVD GVLIEL. ROVI[. SYB Sg:= ::IE T O, IJ67, 10.1 Frontispiece of Ficino's De uita libri tres, containing De uita coelitus comptlrandd,[ 1489], 1576. 232 CTORLANOBRUNO broader philosophicalvier'vs, taking into account also such viervsas the animation of celestialbodies and celestialinfluence on the terrestrial world in general. Astrology: A Historical Survey Greecebecame accluaintecl with Babylonian astrology in the early third century gc. The Greeksdid not simply take over Babylonian astrology. Mesopotamic divination had mostly concernedpublic welfare and the life of rulers. By contrast, the Greeks were interestedin the individual horoscope,which was developedin the secondcentury ec \,viththe ard of theoretical arstronomy.Although the ide:r of celestialir.rfluence was rvidely acceptedin the ancient world, most philosophical schoolswere hostile to astrokrgy,especially the Epicureansand the Sceptics.r'Yet, compler interrelations developed between Platonic and Stoic philosophl', and in virtue of the assun.rptionof causal links between celestialbodies ancl metals, plants, stones ancl pilrts of the (human) bocly also rvith contemporary scientificdisciplines, most notably mineralogy, botanics,alcheml', zookrgy, physiology :rnd medicine. The Stoic conceptions of universal sympirthy and deterrninism became importanr axioms in Greek and Roman astrologl'.rr ls1s1' astrologicaltheories were also underpinnedby Platonic astral theology. Most ancient astrologers dicl not reflect upon the philosophical assumptionsand implicationsof their discipline,horvever. An important exceptionis Ptolomaeus,who regardedastrology as a rational technique rvith its orn'nlogic, grounded on astronomicalobservations and on vlews derivecl f rom Stoic and Aristotelian philosophy. According to Ptolomaeus,the ether emanatesa power which causeschanges in the sublunar rvorld. According to their position and specific powers, the effluencesof moon, sun and planetshave their own effects.The task of astrologf is to calculate these effects.His synthesis,which postuletted ll It should lre remembered that the Epicureans \vere among the targets of Melanchthon's condemnrrtior.rof thc critics of astrokrgv; cf. Caroti, 'N4cl:rnchthon's :rstrologr.'.op. cit., p. [ 16. l: fhe irrfluenceof astrologv upon Stoicisrnis difficult to:ìssess.Astrologv rvas at most a suborclinatefeature of the earlier Stoic interest in divination and also in later authors. such rrs,Panetius, there is no interestfor'harcl'llstrolog]'. See[.orrg, A.11982), 'Astrologr':::rrguments pro and contra'. in.f . Barnesand J. Brunschwig(eds), Science dnd Slteculttiort. Studiesin Hellanistic Thertrl' arttl Prdctice, Cambridge: CambrìclgeLÌniversitr Press,pp. 165-92, orr pp. 167-71. (lf. also ioppol<;, A.\{. (19t14),'Lastrologi:r nello stoìcisrncrantico', in G. Gi:innantoni :rncl N,f.Vegettì (ccls),La scienza e//eri-slica,Naples: Bibliopolis,pp. 73-9 l, on pp. 89-90. (;IORDANO BRLINOAND ASTROI-OGY L.).) that the celestial and terrestrial orders are correlated but not to be identified, was crucial for many later: developments. ptolomaeus endorsedAristotelian philosophy,but as an astrologerhe c.uld not entertaina physicaltheory which r,rnderminesthe unity of the cosmos. lndeed, in his Tetrabiblos, which was centreclar.un.l the iclea that heavenlyinfluences
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