Cause Principle Unity

A general account of bonding
to food, the thirsty to drink, he who is full of semen to Venus; one person
to a sensory object and another to an intellectual object; one person to a natural
object and another to an artificial one; a mathematician is bonded to
abstractions and a man of action to concrete things; a hermit satisfies himself
by a desire for what is absent and a member of a family by what is present.
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. Bonds arise when music is played by a boy
or an adolescent, but less so if by a girl or a man. Strength in a man is binding
because of his great size, but not in a woman. A girl binds through
simplicity and honesty, but if an adult has the same influence, bonds are
broken and he is more and more displeasing.
8. The measurement of bonds. 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. Those who dress too rigidly and too precisely are displeasing, and
so is curled hair, and eyes, gestures and motions which always follow a precise
format, while he who keeps himself far removed from such things is
not displeasing. Public speaking of this type is generally thought to be too
affected and too florid. 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. Thus, he who eloquently displays his knowledge at all times on every
topic is not very wise, just as one who has rings and jewels on all of his fingers
is not well adorned, and one who arrives loaded down with many
different necklaces is not well dressed. 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. Thus, art is
not separated from nature, nor is culture foreign to simplicity.
9. The description of a bond. For Plato, a bond is a type of beauty or agreement
of forms; for Socrates, it is the excelling charm of the soul; for Timaeus, the
tyranny of the soul; for Plotinus, the private law of nature; for Theophrastus,
a secret deception; for Solomon, a hidden fire and furtive waters; for
Theocritus, a precious destruction; for Carneades, an agitated ruler; and
for me, ‘a joyful sorrow, and sorrowful joy’. 8 From what we have said in the
8 In other writings, Bruno uses this phrase to refer to himself.
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