nolano, divisa in tre dialogi, subdivisi in tre parti. In Parigi, 1584,
in-8_.] This was an allegory in which he combated superstition and
satirised the errors of Rome. But in this work Bruno fell into grievous
errors and dangerous atheistic deceits. He scoffed at the worship of God,
declared that the books of the sacred canon were merely dreams, that Moses
worked his wonders by magical art, and blasphemed the Saviour. Bruno
furnished another example of those whose faith, having been at one time
forced to accept dogmas bred of superstition, has been weakened and
altogether destroyed when they have perceived the falseness and
fallibility of that which before they deemed infallible.

But in spite of these errors Bruno's learning was remarkable. He had an
extensive knowledge of all sciences. From England he went to Germany, and
lectured at Wittenberg, Prague, and Frankfort. His philosophy resembled
that of Spinosa. He taught that God is the substance and life of all
things, and that the universe is an immense animal, of which God is the
soul.

At length he had the imprudence to return to Italy, and became a teacher
at Padua. At Venice he was arrested by order of the Inquisition in 1595,
and conducted to Rome, where, after an imprisonment of two years, in order
that he might be punished as gently as possible without the shedding of
blood, he was sentenced to be burned alive. With a courage worthy of a
philosopher, he exclaimed to his merciless judges, "You pronounce sentence
upon me with greater fear than I receive it." Bruno's other great works
were _Della causa, principio e uno_ (1584), _De infinito universo et
mundis_ (1584), _De monade numero et figura_ (Francfort, 1591).

The Inquisition at Rome at this period was particularly active in its
endeavours to reform errant philosophers, and Bruno was by no means the