The Divine Ass: The Symbol of The Ass in the Worksof Giordano Bruno

Jozef Matula(Olomouc)

Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.

Job 12.1

The symbol of the ass is a very interesting topic in the history of mankind.Although for some this subject may sound ridiculous in present times, thesymbol of the ass was very important for the understanding of the power ofmythological symbols in the history of thought.316 The ass served as a symbolin which oppositions were strongly manifested; on one hand he is character-ized by toil, humility and tolerance and on the other by idleness or arro-gance.

The importance of the ass lies in the fact that he/she is a sacred animalin some religions.3l7 The symbol of the ass had importance as a Biblical ani-mal, too.318 It was on a she-ass that Jesus Christ made his entrance to Jeru-salem on Palm Sunday.3re Here a she-ass represents self-abasement,courage, humility and patience. To be like an ass means to be patient andhumble in the search for wisdom. The virtues of patience and clemency areinherent in this symbol. I would like to concentrate on the positive charac-teristics of this symbol, characteristics that we usually would not imaginewhen hearing the name of the ass. People most often emphasize the stupid-ity, clumsiness and laziness of the ass * it is connected with negative conno-tations.

In the Middle Ages, the image of man with the head of an ass can alsorepresent human wisdom and sciences or the ass is used as a vehicle foo

316 W. Deonna, Laus Asini. L'Ane, le Serpent, L'Eau et I'lmmortalitd, in: Revue Belgede Philologie et d'Histoire,34, 1956, pp. 5-46,331-364, 623-658.31i M. Vogel, Onos Lyras. Der Esel mit der Leier, Diisseldorf 1973, p.739.31ti R. M. Grant,Early Chistians andAnimals, London 1999,p.2; For the list ofcitations from the Bible see notes by Giovanni Gentile in Giordano Bruno, Cabaladel Cavallo Pegaseo, in Opere ltaliane II, ed.by Giovanni Gentile, Bari 1927, pp.246n.31e John 12,13-14; A. Stevens, Ariadne's Clue. A Guide to the Symbols of Human-kind,London 1998, p. 353.

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satire.320 For example, the positive aspect of the ass is depicted by Basil ofCaesarea, who appreciates the ass's help to man in guiding him in the

desert32r or in Isidore of Seville, who characterized the ass as iumenta,be-cause he shows great strength in helping men to carry loads and reduce theirlabour of walking.322 Medieval authors specified various and interestingcharacteristics of the ass.325 The positive aspect of the ass is clearly seen inthe Life of St. Francis.323 St. Francis acknowledged the animal part of him-self. According to his biographer, ,,he used to call his body Brother Ass, forhe felt it should be subjected to heary labor, beaten frequently with whipsand fed the poorest food."324 St. Francis saw humanity in animals, who de-served compassion.

In the Renaissance period literature devoted to the ass occupies a promi-nent place from Machiavelli's poetry to Cornelius Agrippa's work.326 It was

in Apuleius romance Golden,4ss, which was very widely read in Renais-sance times, where the ass was a provocative symbol achieving transforma-tion or initiation at the end of his pilgrimage.32T The symbol of the ass played

320 The satirical tone can be found in the middle of the twelfth century in the Specu-

lum Stultorum, written by Nigellus Wireker. The hero of the satire is an ass and itwas written, according to author, so that people "may learn to censure in them-selves those things which they find reprehensible in others." See: Speailtrm stultontm,J. H. Mozley - R. R. Raymo (ed.), Berkeley, 1960, p. 191.32t See Basilius von Caesarea, Homily VIII, in: Basilius von Caesarea, Homilienzum Hexaemeron,E. Amand de Mendieta - S. Y. Rudberg (ed.), Berlin 1997, p.

128,3.4.322 Isidore de S6ville, Etymologies Livre XII : Des unimata, J. Andr6 (ed.), Paris1986, p. 65.323 J. E. Salisbury, The Beast Withitt: Animals in the Middle,4ges, London 1994, p.

r76.32a Bonaventu re, The Soul's Jottrney into God. The Tree of Life. The Life oJ' St. Francis,New York 1978, p.222.32s Albert the Great described a melancholic nature of the ass in the treatise .1)e

Animalibus (book 22). Albert the Great, Man and the Beasts (De animalibus, books22-26), Binghampton 1987, pp. 1l-13.In the Middle Ages the ass was the propertyof man, who could punish him for his actions. Joyce E. Salisbury mentions the factthat the ass could be punished fbr his behaviour in the Middle Ages. For example,a runaway ass had its ears cut o1T. The ass was assumed to be ,,rational" enough tobe held accountable for his behaviour. J. E. Salisbury, The Beast lltithin,p.39.326 N. Ordine, Giordano Bnmo and the Philosophy o/,4ss, New Haven, 1996 (ch. 12.

"The Literature of the Ass befbre Bruno", pp. 118-139); C. y. Anselmi - P. Fazion,Machiavelli, L'Asino e le Bestie, Bologna 19tt4, p. 161.

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an important and meaningful role for a specific kind of thinking. The ass wasa very significant symbol in the metaphorical expression of the state of thehuman being in the universe and Giordano Bruno found this powerful sym-bol for the articulation of his philosophical confession.32s

The symbol might appear in the background of Bruno's criticism of theChurch.32e Inthe Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo he claims that the greatest asses

in the world are the reformers of the corrupt Church.330 Bruno's sarcasmand satirical tone uncover the tension that becomes real only when man re-alizes that the world in which he lives is composed of polarities. Thesepolarities cannot exist one without the others and so in mutual unity they setthe dynamism of the world. Polarities are integral parts of reality and there-fore the essence of Bruno's reform consists in his alarming departure fromthe norm. The norm limits man's view of the whole complexity of reality.Thust human sight is restricted to follwing a certain norm of "tasting" real-ity. Bruno shows that truth cannot be found in only one way, that is follow-ing only the norms of any one philosophical school or any one priest.

327 N. Ordine, AsiruLs portans mysteria le Ragionamento sovra de I'asino de GionaBattista Pino, in: Le Monde Animal au kmps de la Renaissance,1.5, L990, p. 189: "Leproverbe asinus portans mysteia plonge ses racines dans une vieille tradition selonlaquelle l'ane 6tait utilis6 comme moyen de transport par certaines divinit6s(Dionysos, Cybdle, Isis), inspiratrices de cultes myst6rieux. D6ji cit6 dans LesGrenotilles d'Aristophane et repr6sent6 dans L'Ane dor, d'Apul6e, ce liensymbolique revient avec insistance dans la littdrature de la Renaissance. C'estjustement grAce d cette image, par deld les multiples interpr6tations qu'elle peutsusciter, que s'6tablit la vocation naturelle de I'Ane d l'6sot6risme. Vocation qui di-late le sens mgme du mot 6sot6rique, jusqu') lui donner le sens plus large d'6criturechiffr6e, de parcours amphibologique, de langage fortement ambigu."; During thesixteenth century Apuleius Golden,4ss was widely read. See J. F. D Amico, TheProgress of Renaissance Latin Prose: The Case of Apuleianism, in'. Renaissance Quar-ter\y,37,1984, pp. 351,-392; S. K. Harrison , Apuleius: A Latin Sophist, Oxford 2000,pp.210-259.328 See the list of other studies on the doctine of the Ass in Bruno: M. Ciliberto,Introduzione a Bntno, Roma 1996, pp. l9l-2.32e M. Ciliberto,Asini e pedanti: icerche stL Giordano Bruno, in: Rinascimento,24,1984, pp. 81-121; N. Ordine, Giordano Bnmo et I'Ane: Une Satire Philosophiquea Dotble Face, in:. La Satire att kmps de la RenaLssance, 1.1,1986, pp. 203-221.330 G. Bruno, Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo,in: Opere ltaliane II, ed. by Giovanni Gen-tile, Bari, 1927,241; John Charles Nelson quoted wrongly Spacio, see J. Ch. Nelson,Renaissance Theory of Love. The Context of Giordano Brutno's Eroici furoi, New York1958, p. 250.

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Bruno's attempt to find a new religious discourse lay not so much in subdu-ing the "normativity", but rather in overall transfbrmation, in the movementfrom the understanding of the universe to mystical union. According toNuccio Ordine332 the symbol of the ass is the key to the understanding ofcoincidentia oppositorum,33r where the ass is ignorant but learned, humblebut powerful. The main features of the ass consist in opposite characteris-tics. The ass becomes the archetype of the man himself. The polarities in theass manifest the state of human being.333

The image asinus poftans mysteria33a finds an echo in anticlerical satire butBruno concentrates on seeking knowledge through which he manifests theexcellence of humanity. Just as Apuleios' Golden Ass cannot be reduced toa comic story of an ass that finally changes into a man, so it would be mis-interpretation to see Bruno's ass only as a symbol by which he expresses theambiguity of life. Apart from expressing this ambiguity, it has another veryimportant meaning - its prophetic function.rs5 The Cabala del cuvallopegaseo calls for the ass to be placed within the realm of the divine. CabaLa

promotes certain intellectual virtues like simplicity and learned ignorance.316

The ass represents the later one of these two characteristics. The image ofthe learned ass is reminiscent of Socrates who claimed to know nothing ex-

331 A. Bonner-Vallon, Cttsanisnto ed Atomismo. La transformazione clella "coincidentia

oppositorum" nella teoria delL'indffirenza dello spazio, in: M. A. Granada (ed.),CosmoLogia, teologfa y reLigi1tr en la obra y en el proceso de Giordano BrLtno: actas

deL Congreso celebrado en Barcektna, 2-4 de dicientbre de 1999, Barcelona 2001, pp.

61-79;M. A. Granada, Giordano Bruno: Luiverso inJinito, uni6n con Dios, perfecci1ndel lrcmbre, Barcelona 2002, p.70; tr J. Clemens, Giordano Bruno und Nicolaus von

Crrsa, Bristol 2000, p.254.332 N. Ordine, Cbrduno BrLmo and the Phiktsophy of Ass, pp.9-16. Nuccio Ordineemphasised the importance of the asinitd in Bruno s thought.nr Ibid. pp.35-42.334 According to A. A. Barb cited by G. Griffiths, the familiar story in ApuleiusGctlden,4ss derived tiom Old-Egyptian imagery. Apuleius of Madauros, The Isis-

Book (Metamorphoses, BookXI),J. G. Grilliths (ed.), Leiden, I975,p.26; F. Solmsen,Isis among the Greeks and llomans, Cambridge I974, pp.8'7-\13; F. Le Corsu, 1sn:

Mythe et Mysterires,Paris 7977, pp. 137-163. The image asinus portutrs ntysteria hasits roots in the ancient custom of using the ass as the vehicle for divinity asociatedwith nrysteries (Dionysius or Isis). See for example Aristophanes, Frogs 159-60:"God knows, an ass that bears the mysteries, Am I; but I'll not carry them muchlonge."

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cept that he knew nothing.337 Thus the ass represents wisdom, being the oneparticular animal that is known for its basic and often derisive characteris-tics but in mythological or biblical stories plays an important role in termsof enrichment, revealing truth and transformation itself.

In the first dialogue of La Cena de le ceneri Bruno follows Pythagoras'steaching in which there exist pairs such as finite and infinite, female andmale and so on.338 Similarly, for Bruno there are two Cupids - a majestic anddivine one and a low and vulgar one. Also, there are two manifestations of

3rs For the prophet Ballam and the symbol of the ass see K. S. De Le6n-Jones,Giordano Bntno and. the Kabbalah: Prophets, Magicians, and Rabbis, New Haven1997 (ch.9, "The Prophet Ballam and the Prophetic Ass", pp. 128-136); J. T, Greene,Balaam and His Interpreters: A Hermeneutical History of the Balaam Tiaditions, At-lanta, Ga. 1992, pp. 143-147; M. S. Moore, The Balaam Tiaditions: Their Characterand Development, Allanta, Ga. 7990, p. 157.336 G. Bruno, Il Cabala del caval.lo pegaseo, con I'Aggiunta dell' Asino cillenico, a auradi Nicola Baldoni, Palermo 1992, p. 73: Le soluzioni della Cabala dislocano dunqueprofondamente I'assetto del cielo dello Spaccio, introdtLcendovi dtLe simboli chevalorizzano I'Assinitd (e con essa /a simlicitas e /'ignorantia) e proponendo di sostituirele crcdenze immaginaie dei popoli con una rappresentatione reale del loro statuse dellaloro potenzionalitd.337 A. Calcagn o, Giordano Bruno and the Logic of Coincidence: (Inity and Multiplic-ity in the Philosophical Thottght of Giordano Bruno, New York 1998, p. 187.338 G. Bruno, La Cena de le ceneri, a cura di Giovanni Aquilecchia, Tirrin 1955, pp.85-6: TEO. Perchd dtre sono le pime coordinazioni, come dice Pitagora, finito etinfinito: cLuyo et rctto: destro et sinistro[,] et va discon"endo. Due sono le spezie dirutmeri, pare et impare; de quali I'una i maschio, l'aln'a D femina. Doi sono gli Cupidi,sttperiore et divino, inferiore et volgare... FP.U. Confonne al. proposito di que' prefatidoi; farb un'altra scala del binaio. Le bestie entrorno ne l'arca a due a due. Ne uscironoancora a dtte a due. Doi sono i coifei di segni celesti [,] Aries et Thunrs. Dtrc sono lespecie di Nolite fieri: cavallo, et mulo. Doi son gli animali ad imagine [et] similindinede I'uomo, la scimia in tera, el barbagianni in ciclo. Due sono le false et onoratereliquie di Firenze in questa patia: i denti di Sassetto, et la barba di Pietruccia. Doisono gli animali che disse il profeta aver piil intelletto ch'il popolo d'lsraele: il bove,perchd conosce il suo possessore, et l'asino, perchd sa trovar iI presepio del padrone.Doi fttrono le misteiose cavalcature del nostro redentore, che significano il suo anticocredente ebreo, et il novello gentile; I'asina et il pullo. Doi sono da questi li nomi deivativich'han formate le dizzioni titulai al secretano d'Augusto; Asinio, et Pullione. Doisono i geni de gli asini, domestico et salvatico. Doi i lor pifi ordinaii colori, biggio, etmorello. Dtte sono le piramidi nelle qtmli denno esser scritti, et dedicati all'etemitfi nomi di qttesti doi et alti simili dottoi; la destra orecchia del caval di Sileno, et lasinistra de I'antigonista del dio de gli oni.

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life, cognition and feeling, which have an identical goal (or aim): Tiuth andGoodness. These pairs characterize the structure of the world and exist inmutual cooperation. We also find pairs of animals in the Bible, not only lit-erally, but also allegorically. There are two animals of each kind enteringand leaving Noah's Ark and there are two kinds of animals that the proph-ets refer to as being more sensible than the nation of Israel. These animalsare the ox, because it knows its housekeeper, and the ass, because it knowsthe birthplace of its lord. The Creator (as Saviour) rode on two mysteriousanimals, one of them representing the old Jewish belief and the other thepagans, who had just started to worship, namely a female ass and a baby ass.The symbol of the ass had a certain exceptional place in the Biblical storiesand it was interconnected with prophetic visions. Bruno emphasises the mysticaland prophetical role of the ass not only in the Bible, but also in mythology.33e

An important aspect of the symbol of the ass in Giordano Bruno is hisunderstanding of the role of teachings of the Kabbalah and it is in this con-text that his thought can be understood. Whereas Francois Secret, Joseph LeonBlau340 or Philip Beitchman3ar paid minimal attention to Bruno's system of theKabbalah, Karen de Le6n-Jones tried to potray Bruno as a mystic andKabbalist.3a2 The fact is that Bruno applies the Kabbalah, as an exegeticalmethod, to his own thought.

33e Asinius Pollio was a friend of Augustus, Silenus s horse was an ass, the adversaryof Priapus, the god of orchards, was an ass. See notes 17 and 18 in G. Bruno, fteAsh Wednesday Sttppe4 E. A. Gosselin - L. S. Lerner (ed.), Hamden, Connecticut1977, p.102.3!10 J. L. Blau, citation lrom F, Secret, Les Kabbalistes Chrdtiens de La Renaissance,Milano 1985, p. 358: Durant la pdriode mqme oi Picct de la Mirandole, Jean Reuchlinet letLrs successeurs tentaient d'utiliser la pensde kabbalistiEte comme rme buse potLrleurs syst\mes ddductiJs, Copernic, Kepler et Brun jetaient les fondaments de systimesddductifs scientifiqttes, dont la valeur d I'usage s'est montrde prdfdrable d celle desanciens. Comme I'astrologie, l'aLchimie at autres pseudo-sciences, la kabbale llrt lajuste victime du ddveloppentent de aL pensde scientiJique.ra' F. Secret, Les Kabbalistes Chrdtiens de la Renaissance, p.395; J. L. Blaq TheChristian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance, New York 1944, p. 167 P.

Beitchman, Alclrcnry of the WorM: Cabala of the Renaissance, Albany 1998, p.364.3a2 See an interesting contribution to the importance of the Kabbalah for Brunowritten by K. S. De Le6n-Jones, Giordano Bnrnr.t and the Kabbalah, p.274; On theKabbalah in Bruno see also F, A. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradi-tion,London 1964, pp. 257 -27 4;A. Eusterschulte, Analogia entis seu mentis. Ana logieals erkennlnistheoretisches Prinzip in der Philosophie Giordano Brunos, WiirzburgI9L)7, pp. 322-329.

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According to Kabbalistic revelation the ass is the symbol of Wisdom andman has to strive to be the ass and to transform himself into the ass. In theSefirot tree the ass is identified with Hokhmah, of which Wisdom is an at-tribute, and, according to the teaching of the Kabbalah, Hokhntalz gives lifeto those who possess it.3a3 In a practical sense the practitioner must be insolitude and silence. This was known not only to Bruno, but also to Agrippaand Pierre Valerian, who influenced Bruno's thinking.3aa For Bruno,Hokhntah, which is always given as the Hebrew term for Wisdom, is thebasis of the revelatory structure of the cosmos.ras The sefirot are an emana-tion and manifestation of the qualities of God, and each manifestation con-tains the force of creation. Identification with the ass was very important forKabbalah inasmuch as those who want to devote themselves to Wisdom(Sophia) must content themselves with a very meagre diet of the roughestkind and everybody knows that the ass has been endowed with such parsi-mony. This metaphorical expression shows that a man who would like toknow the divine must find a certain predisposition to hard work. Wisdom isnot a thing that one can find without looking for it, and, like the ass, manmust overcome many problems. He must cross the mountains, to express

myself somewhat symbolically. Without sacrifice, one cannot reach the divine;there is no easy path to it.

What is basic and quite problematic is Bruno's approach to the strongsymbol of the ass which - in connection to Kabbalistic thinking - is an im-portant part, inseparable from the efforts to understand the role of this mys-

tical teaching. The Renaissance fascination with the Kabbalah was indesiring, yearning to see the world as an organic whole, in which there isunity between "up" and "down" and where it is possible to find a correspon-dence between various levels of life, from the organic life through the animal,rational and angelic to the divine.3a6 Another reason for this fascination and

acceptance of the Kabbalah was its manifestation of the interconnection be-

3a3 G. Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalal2, Princeton 1987, pp. 91-93. Hokhmah is

associated with the God of philosophers. For this see M. Hallamish, An Introduc-tion to the Kabbalah, Albany 1999, p.131; D. Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah,Lon'don 1970, pp.122-138. K. S. De Le6n-Jones, Giordano BnLno and the Kabbalah, p.

65.3aa C. H. Agrippa, Of the Vanitie and Unceftaintie of Artes and Sciences, C. M. Dunn(ed.), Northridge 1.974, pp. 382-385.3as G. Bruno, Cabala, pp. 258-9.346P. Beitchman,Alchemyof theWorld,pp.126-7; M. Idel, Kabbalah, New Perspec-

/lves, New Haven-London 1988, p. 419.

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tween micro- and macrocosmos.3aT Bruno deals with the Kabbalah becausethis mystical teaching, accepting the principle of analogy of micro-macrocosmos, expresses the mutual relations in symbolical veil.3a8 Brunomakes it clear in the dedication of his work cabala dell Cavallo pegaseo thatthe Kabbalah is a philosophical, a theological and a hermeneutic system.The purpose of the Kabbalah, according to Bruno, is to serve enrichmentand revelation. This is perhaps the reason why Bruno's interest in mysticismand the Kabbalah should not be understood as merely intellectual or satiric.Although Bruno did not invent the theme of the ass, he understood it asa symbol of wisdom, as an archetype of Adam, who is an essence of theass.3ae In Bruno's thinking, the Kabbalah is an important system because itprovides a mystical revelation of the ass and of asininity.i50

The symbol of the ass was the best archetype for Bruno to articulate andexpress the goal of a new religiosity. Man is a master of his fate; he can fol-low the positive ass, who is able to recognize the harmony of multiplicity. Aswas already said, Bruno saw the way to a new religion in the movement fromthe understanding of the universe to unio mystica.If the peak of the kabba-listic way is unio mystica, then we can see in Bruno's interest in the Kabbalaha natural culmination or climax of his philosophical efforts. The Kabbalahuncovers the world in a symbolical vision and it is precisely the symbolismthat makes the statement strong.

In Bruno's cabala there is the statement that the human intellect hassome sort of access to the truth. Bruno offers several ways of searching forthe truth. Ifthe search for truth is not grantecl by science and cognition, thenit must necessarily be granted by ignorance and asininity. positive asininityis humility, toil and tolerance. The virtues of patience and clemency are in-herent in the symbol. Thesc characteristics aie significant for the man whodesires to know the truth. Through the image of the metaphysical ass, Brunoasserts the Platonic concept that supernatural things may be conceived ofonly in their reflection in natural things, rather than in their true state, by

347 In the Kabbalah, a man is a microcosmos attuned to the great world. G. Scholem,Major Tt'ends in Jewish Mysticism, New york I97I, p.269 G. Scholem, On theKabbalah and lts Syntbolism, New york 1972, pp. I27*g.348 G. Bruno, De Monade lr (BoL ll2j'al; G. p. conger, Theories of Macrocc.tsmsand Microcosms in the History of Phitosophy, New york 1967, pp. 60_3.3oe K. S. De Le<in-Jon es, Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah, p. 274.35u Ibid. p. 117; Karen Silvia De Le6n-Jones conrudes that th; archetype of the assis a symbol of the First Cause and principle, the origin of all things. ii this symbolBruno expresses his own metaphysics and cosmology.

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those whose intellect is impure and inferior: that is, by those who have notstudied Bruno s "cabala-theologia-philosophia".

The quest for truth requires perseverance because truth does not residein easily accessible places. Man is a traveller on the hard road of knowledge

and his aim should be not to possess things but to grasp wisdom. In this way

man can follow the positive characteristics of the ass to such a depth that he

is not ashamed of having suffered toil, pain and exile. As I have pointed out,Bruno shows in his works that truth cannot be found in only one way whichwas also very provocative for his contemporaries. The universe cannot be in-vestigated by one philosophical system only; there are many ways leading totruth. Philosophy, theology and science have a common purpose of reveal-ing the structure of the universe. Every kind of science has its limits and the

competence of each branch of science is strictly defined, but science itselfis understood as a way of grasping the mutual relations between thingsrather than as a special instrument for possessing things. It is not onlya scientific way that can unveil the universe, it is also the man who has foundhis fulfilment, who is also a man of practice, a man in society and history.

The works and studies on the subject of the ass in Giordano Bruno writ-ten by Frances A. Yates, Nuccio Ordine, Karen Silvia De Le6n-Jones,Miguel A. Granada, Hillary Gatti, Michele Ciliberto and others showedvarious aspects of the ass and the openness to read Giordano Bruno's worksas remarkable struggle for the truth. At the end of L'Asino Cillenico delNolano Bruno clearly showed his vision of unity and he addressed these

words to people who want to be like the ass: Parla dunque tra gli acustici;

considera e contempla tra'matematici; discuti, dimanda, insegna, dechiara

e determina tra' fisici; trovati con tutti, discori con tutti, affratellati, unisciti,

identifica.ti con tutti, domina a tutti, sii tutto.351

351 G. Bruno, L'Asino Cillenico del Nolano,in: Opere ltaliane II, ed.by GiovanniGenlile. Bari 1927. p. 305.

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