ultimately betrayed and sold him to the Holy Office, declares in his
deposition that Bruno sought to make himself the author of a new
religion under the name of "Philosophy." He was not a man to conceal his
ideas, and in the fervour of his improvisation he no doubt revealed what
he was; some tumult resulted from this free speaking of Bruno's, and he
was forced to discontinue his lectures at the Sorbonne.

Towards the end of the year 1583 the King became enthralled by religious
enthusiasm, and nothing was talked of in Paris but the conversion of
King Henry. This fact changed the aspect of affairs as far as Bruno was
concerned; he judged it prudent to leave Paris, and he travelled to
England.

The principal works published by Bruno during his stay in Paris are "Il
Candelajo" and "Umbrae Idearum." The former, says Levi, is a work of
criticism and of demolition; in this comedy he sets in groups the
principal types of hypocrisy, stupidity, and rascality, and exhibiting
them in their true colours, he lashes them with ridicule. In the "Umbrae
Idearum" he initiates the work of reconstruction, giving colour to his
thought and sketching his idea. The philosophy of Bruno is based upon
that of Pythagoras, whose system penetrates the social and intellectual
history of Italy, both ancient and modern. The method of Pythagoras is
not confined, as most philosophies are, to pure metaphysical
speculations, but connects these with scientific observations and social
practice. Bruno having resuscitated these doctrines, stamps them with a
wider scope, giving them a more positive direction; and he may with
propriety be called the second Pythagoras. The primal idea of
Pythagoras, which Bruno worked out to a more distinct development is
this: numbers are the beginning of things; in other words numbers are
the cause of the existence of material things; they are not final, but
are always changing position and attributes; they are variable and
relative. Beyond and above this mutability there must be the Immutable,
the All, the One.

The Infinite must be one, as one is the absolute number; in the original
One is contained all the numbers; in the One is contained all the
elements of the Universe.

This abstract doctrine required to be elucidated and fixed. From a
hypothesis to concentrate and reduce it to a reality was the great work
of Bruno.

One is the perfect number; it is the primitive monad. As from the One
proceeds the infinite series o