## 1. Biographical Sketch



Tommaso Campanella was born in Stilo, a town in Calabria, one of the
southern regions of Italy, on September 5, 1568. At the age of 14 he
entered the Dominican Order. In 1588, while in Cosenza, another
Calabrian town, he read the treatise *De rerum natura iuxta
propriis principiis* (*On the Nature of Things According to
Their Own Principles*, 1586**)** by Bernardino
Telesio; and in the following months Campanella wrote his own
*Philosophia sensibus demonstrata* (*Philosophy as
Demonstrated by the Senses*) in defense of this new philosophy of
nature. In 1590 he was in Naples, where he made the acquaintance of
Giambattista della Porta. He left for Rome in 1592 and then went to
Florence and Padua, where he met Galileo. Denounced to the
Inquisition, Campanella was arrested at the beginning of 1594 and in
October was transferred to the Inquisition's prison in Rome. Condemned
on suspicion of heresy and forced to abjure, at the end of 1597 he was
ordered to return to Calabria. In the summer of 1598 he was again in
Stilo, where he soon became the inspiration behind a vast conspiracy
against the Spanish, who at that time governed the Kingdom of Naples.
In August 1599 two of the conspirators revealed the plot to the
Spanish viceroy, who sent armed forces into Calabria to repress it.
Campanella was imprisoned and in November was moved to Naples, where
he was tried for heresy and rebellion. He managed to avoid the death
penalty by feigning madness and was instead condemned to a lengthy
detention in various Neapolitan fortresses. During the years of his
incarceration, he dedicated himself to intense literary activity,
composing his most famous works, aimed at producing a new foundation
for the entire encyclopedia of knowledge. In 1612 he was visited by
Tobias Adami, a German man of letters from Saxony who took it upon
himself to publish some of Campanella's most important writings in
Frankfurt from 1617 to 1623. After almost 27 years in prison,
Campanella was released from the Castel Nuovo in 1626 and arrived in
Rome, where he remained in detention until early 1629. In October 1634
he was compelled to go into exile in France, following renewed Spanish
suspicions regarding him. In Paris he was received with favor by King
Louis XIII and by Cardinal Richelieu and was able to frequent learned
circles. He wrote new political works and arranged for the printing of
the first volumes of his *Opera omnia*, a project that remained
incomplete at his death on May 21, 1639.


## 2. Criticism of Aristotle and Championing of Telesio's Natural Philosophy



Campanella's first printed work, *Philosophia sensibus
demonstrata*, was written when the twenty-one year old Dominican
friar was living in a monastery in the Calabrian village of Altomonte.
It was published in Naples in 1591. The work is divided into eight
*disputationes* ('disputations'), in which he
defends Telesio's new philosophy of nature against the attack of the
Aristotelian Giacomo Antonio Marta. In the preface Campanella traces
the course of his intellectual development and presents the
"new" aspects of his own thought. It is no accident that
these pages begin with the word "truth," depicted
allegorically on the title-page as a sphere floating on water, as
winds blowing from all sides threaten to submerge it and a young friar
swims out to reach it. Truth can be hidden and persecuted, Campanella
maintains, but it cannot be held prisoner by injustice; in the end it
emerges from the darkness and is once again resplendent. These
introductory pages offer us a lively account of the doubts of the
young friar who, recalling the years he spent in Dominican monasteries
in Calabria, cannot conceal his disillusionment. The works of ancient
and modern philosophers have convinced him that human knowledge had
become ever more obscure and confused because it had distanced itself
progressively from the direct experience of nature and had turned
instead to reading and commenting on books written by human beings.
This attitude was particularly evident in the followers of Aristotle
who directed their energies toward the words of their master, without
attempting to compare them to the natural world. In this way
philosophical research had degenerated into sophistical disputes and a
series of pointless battles over words. Reflecting on all this, the
young Campanella formed a conviction that he would never abandon: an
adequate knowledge of things is one that comes from the things
themselves, which we must investigate on the basis of sense
experience.



This forms the context for his fundamental encounter with the
philosophy of Telesio. Reading the first edition of *De rerum
natura iuxta propria principia*, Campanella intuited, right from
the beginning, the novelty and cogency of Telesio's approach. In
accordance with Campanella's own aspirations, Telesio believed in
deriving the truth from a direct examination of natural facts, so that
the correct connections between words and things, which had gotten
lost in the Aristotelian tradition, could now be re-established.
Reviving and developing, in an original manner, a time-honored
metaphor, Campanella affirmed that the philosophical investigator must
read and study the "book of nature." In a famous
sonnet--he was also the author of an extraordinary collection of
philosophical poetry--he stated: "The world is the book on
which the Eternal Wisdom / wrote its own thoughts"
(*Poesie*, 1998, p. 46). In order to construct an authentic
natural philosophy, a continual comparison between the books written
by human beings and the infinite book of nature was necessary, so as
to correct the errors in the human "copies," that were
inevitably imperfect, partial and consequently in need of revision. In
another sonnet, Campanella rendered homage to "Telesio from
Cosenza" ("Telesio cosentino") for having used his
arrows to pierce and kill Aristotle, described as the "tyrant of
minds", and for having in this way restored to mankind the
*libertas philosophandi* (freedom to philosophize), which is
inseparable from the truth (*Poesie*, 1998, p. 278).



In his own treatise, *Philosophia sensibus demonstrata*,
Campanella produced a systematic critique of the axioms of
Aristotelian philosophy, bringing to light their limitations and
incoherence on the physical, cosmological and metaphysical level, by
drawing on Telesian principles integrated with notions deriving from
other philosophies. Campanella had a secure knowledge of Aristotle's
works and those of his commentators and followers, whether ancient
(Themistius, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Philoponus), medieval (Averroes
was frequently cited alongside Thomas Aquinas and, above all, the
"divine" Albertus Magnus) or contemporary (such as
Agostino Nifo). He re-evaluated the Presocratic philosophers, who had
been criticized by Aristotle, and was well acquainted with medical
writers from Hippocrates and Galen to Pietro d'Abano, Jean Fernel and
Vesalius. He had read the works of astronomers and of natural
philosophers--Pliny the Elder's *Natural History* played a
role of primary importance for him. One of the authors most cited by
Campanella, in close conjunction with the philosophy of Telesio, was
Marsilio Ficino. He quoted in particular passages from Ficino's
commentaries on Plato (especially the *Timaeus* and
*Symposium*) and on the *Enneads* of Plotinus.



In his attack on the Aristotelian tradition, Campanella criticized the
doctrines of form and of privation; of the four elements as principles
of the sublunary world; of matter as privation; of the derivation of
celestial heat from the friction of the spheres; and of the
distinction between natural and violent motion. The culmination of his
efforts to dismantle the Aristotelian system was a radical critique of
traditional cosmology, with regard both to the nature of the heavens
and to the trajectories and mechanisms of celestial movements. In
parallel to the destructive side of Campanella's argument, the
constructive element consisted of defending the doctrines of Telesio's
philosophy. According to Telesio, all being derived from modifications
resulting from the actions of the two principles of hot and cold on
matter, which he did not regard as an abstract *ens rationis*
(an entity existing in the mind) but rather as an inert corporeal
mass, dark and entirely formless but capable of receiving any form.
From the subtle and detailed argumentative structure of the eight
weighty *disputationes* emerges a powerful unitary notion: the
centrality, nobility and primacy of solar heat, that connects all
beings and confers life on them. It is within this context that the
assimilation of solar heat to the World Soul acquires a particular
significance, a theme that is at the heart of the third disputation,
entitled "De coelo et mundo" ("On the heavens and
the world"). Campanella here transcribes verbatim a passage from
Ficino's commentary on Plotinus's *Enneads* in which he dwells
on the World Soul and its "vital and sensual breath"
(*Philosophia sensibus demonstrata*, pp. 322-23). Ficino
associates this hot breath, that penetrates and is infused into the
entire world, with a well-known line from Virgil's *Aeneid*
(VI.726: "spiritus intus alit"; "the spirit
nourishes from within") and also with the divine spirit of
Genesis 1:2: "the spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters". The heavens are composed of this breath and divine
word, that vivifies and nourishes everything.



Campanella set out this philosophy of nature, inspired by Telesio but
reworked in an original manner, in successive treatises such as the
*Epilogo magno* (*Great Epilogue*), that, when
translated into Latin, would become the "Physiologia," the
first of the four parts of his *Philosophia realis*, first
published in Frankfurt in 1623; the other three parts were entitled
"Ethica," "Politica" and
"Oeconomica". In the second and definitive edition,
published in Paris in 1637, all four parts, and in particular the
first, were accompanied by numerous and lengthy *quaestiones*
concerning specific problems, in which the views of ancient and modern
philosophers were discussed. Campanella begins the
"Physiologia" by stating that when the first
Being--most powerful, most wise and best--decided to create
the world, defined as its "effigy" and the
"image" of its infinite goods, it unfolded an
"almost infinite" space in which that effigy was placed.
This occurred at the outset of that enduring vicissitude of things
that we call time and that is the image of eternity from which it
flows. Space is defined as "a primary substance or seat or
immobile and incorporeal capacity, able to receive any body." It
is homogeneous: human terms such as "high" and
"low", "behind and in front of",
"right" and "left", refer to bodies that are
placed within it; and if the world did not exist, we would imagine
space to be empty. In reality, however, it desires fullness, is
endowed with attractive force and abhors remaining empty. Bodies, in
turn, enjoy mutual contact and hate the void that separates them
(*Physiologia*, in *Opera latina,* II, pp. 575-77).



Within space God places matter that in clear contrast to the
conception of Aristotle and Averroes, who defined it as privation and
as a pure *ens rationis*, is regarded by Campanella as a
physical entity, deprived of form, shape and action, but capable of
being extended, divided, united and of assuming any shape, just as wax
can receive an impression from any seal. Into this corporeal mass God
inserts heat and coldness, the two active principles, that are
self-disseminating and incorporeal but can only subsist in bodies.
From their conflict, deriving from the fact that each wants to take
possession of and occupy the greatest possible quantity of matter,
come the two primary bodies and elements of the world: the heavens,
that are extremely hot, subtle and mobile, since they are formed of
matter transformed by heat; and the earth, composed of matter made
immobile, dark and dense by cold. The clash between the heavens and
the earth, between heat and coldness--instruments and
'craftsmen' that God uses to produce the infinite modes of
his creative wisdom in the wondrous effigy that is the
world--gives birth to all individual entities. By means of these
principles Campanella explains every aspect of the natural world, from
celestial and meteorological phenomena to the formation of the waters,
from the composition of minerals to that of plants. Animals and human
beings he analyzes with particular attention. At the origin of these
organisms, that are more complex and have more parts, lies an
especially attenuated celestial heat, the *spiritus*.
Consisting of matter made extremely subtle by solar heat, it is a warm
breath that, thanks to its tenuousness and motion, is able to separate
itself from the portion of matter in which it finds itself enclosed
and to act on it. Unable to exhale itself from corporeality in order
to return to the heavens from which it has its origin, this plasma
constructs, in ways that suit its needs and avoid the external dangers
threatening it from within, the organs that guarantee its
conservation and life. Proud of his medical knowledge (among his works
is one entitled *Medicina*, made up of eight books and
published in Lyons in 1635), here and in other treatises Campanella
delighted in highlighting the wondrous structure of the human body and
its parts, revealing how the functions and purposes specific and
particular to individual organs harmonize in the marvelous order of
the totality and confirm the presence of divine craftsmanship in every
fiber of natural reality.


## 3. The Sense of Things and Natural Magic



One aspect of Campanella's keen interest in natural philosophy was
natural magic, described with particular effectiveness in the fourth
book of his *Del senso delle cose e della magia naturale*
(*On the Sense of Things and On Natural Magic*). The original
draft of this work goes back to the young friar's first stay in
Naples, from 1590 to 1592. He came into contact there with
Giambattista della Porta, one of the most celebrated Renaissance
proponents of natural magic. The treatise was rewritten in the
following years and was published for the first time in Frankfurt in
1620 in a Latin translation that was reprinted in Paris in 1636 and
1637. The work had a notable European diffusion, provoking discussions
and contrasting opinions. In this treatise Campanella set out his
vision of the natural world as a living organism, whose individual
components partook of life, vitality and sensibility.



The central notion in the treatise is that of *sensus* (sense),
which is directly connected to the principle of self-preservation.
Every being displays a tendency toward the conservation of its own
life and for this purpose is endowed, in varying proportions, with
sense. This consists of the capacity to distinguish that which is
positive and conducive to its life, and is consequently to be pursued
and sought after, from that which is perceived as negative and
destructive, and consequently to be shunned and avoided. Some entities
such as celestial bodies and light possess a sense that is much
sharper and purer than that of animals. Others such as minerals and
metals have a sense that is more obtuse and obscure, due to the
heaviness of matter. In animal organisms vital and cognitive functions
depend on the *spiritus*. Hot, mobile and passive, it is
identified with the organic soul. Rejecting the distinctions made by
Galen between various abstract faculties, Campanella states that the
*spiritus* is singular and has its seat in the brain, from
where, flowing through very subtle nerve channels, it accomplishes its
multiple functions, both vital and cognitive. By means of the sense
organs, it comes into contact with external reality; all passions and
cognition derive from the modifications that it undergoes. Every
sensation is a form of "contact" on the part of the
*spiritus*, that enters into a relation, via various sense
organs, with the exhalations, motions and light coming from external
objects. The sensations that the *spiritus* experiences are the
source of all cognition: memory, imagination, reason and the intellect
itself, which is nothing but weakened and distilled sense. There is no
need to postulate different and specific faculties for such
operations, since they are all functions of the same sentient soul,
that is capable of preserving the modifications and impressions it
receives and of reviving and re-using them when similar situations
arise.



When dealing with animals and human beings, Campanella underlies
affinities as well as differences. He takes delight in producing
evidence of the extraordinary capacities of animals. Furnished with
sense organs that in some cases are superior to those of humans,
animals are able to achieve wondrous and ingenious things; they adopt
forms of collective organization; they know how to make use of medical
and military arts; moreover, they are endowed with a form of
reasoning, of language, of natural prophecy and even of religion.
These analogies should not, however, obscure or cast doubt on the
excellence of the human condition. Humans are furnished with a
*spiritus* that is far more refined and pure than that of
animals; it is able to move with agility within more spacious brain
cells, enabling humans to develop more complex chains of argument. The
authentic and radical difference between animals and humans, however,
consists in the fact that the latter are endowed, not only with a
*spiritus*, but also with an immaterial *mens* (mind) of
divine origin, that constitutes and is the basis of their specific
makeup. Humans do not exhaust all their capacities within the frame of
the natural world. They can project themselves by means of thought and
desire toward the infinite. They are able to go beyond the limits of
natural self-preservation and turn themselves toward higher goods and
ends. Above all, humans are free. In contrast to what happens to
animals, who are unable to disengage themselves from the demands of
the senses, humans can repel the compulsion of the passions in order
to make choices that go beyond simple practical advantage and the
immediate satisfaction of needs. Humans can resist the siren song, as
did Ulysses who tied himself to the stake of reason.



The fourth book of *Del senso delle cose* is devoted to natural
magic. Approaching the theme of magic, Campanella begins by deploring
the vile and decadent condition into which this very noble science has
fallen. In modern times, the name magician is given to
"superstitious friends of demons" who, instead of
dedicating themselves to the patient study of nature, prefer to take a
"short cut" by asking demons for things that they cannot
provide but that they promise and pretend to be able to do. Della
Porta's attempt to restore this doctrine was entirely praiseworthy but
remained insufficient, because he restricted himself to speaking about
these arguments solely in a descriptive and empirical manner without
supplying philosophical explanations of phenomena. In listing the most
bizarre occult properties of minerals, plants and animals in the
magical tradition, della Porta maintained that it was not possible to
offer a rational explanation of the relations of sympathy and
antipathy, of affinity and repulsion, that exist between natural
entities and limited himself to delighting in the spectacle and
entertainment provided by nature. Campanella, however, took it on
himself to reinterpret this tradition in light of his doctrine of the
sense of things and of the *spiritus*. As Pliny the Elder had
noted (*Natural History*, XXX.i-ii), magic, an ancient form of
wisdom of Persian origin, is constructed from the convergence of three
doctrines: religion, that purifies the soul and imprints faith, honor
and reverence on the souls of those toward whom the magical operation
is directed; medicine, that makes it possible to understand the powers
of herbs, stones and metals; and, finally, astrology, a knowledge of
which is indispensable for producing well-timed actions by selecting
the most favorable disposition of the stars. Magic is a wisdom that is
at the same time speculative and practical, that applies its own body
of knowledge to works that are useful to humankind. It can be divided
into three types: divine, natural, deceitful and diabolical. Essential
both for divine and natural magic is a genuine faith, which requires
purity of heart and an intrinsic adherence on the part of the soul to
the divinity. Such faith, which renders human beings divine, confers
on them the capacity to perform operations on things and transform
them according to their own desires (*Del senso delle cose*,
pp. 221-22, 226-29). At the opposite pole to divine magic is the type
that is playful and deceitful, thanks to which charlatans skillfully
produce effects that stupefy ignorant people. These swindlers cause a
leg to burst into flames, though in truth the leg is artificial; they
place a nail in their eye and another in their mouth, pretending that
it has passed from one to the other; they seem to be pierced by fake
daggers and swords; and, using the laws of optics, they make it
possible to see distant images.



Beyond these deceits, that are believed to be genuine solely by the
masses and that turn out to be "useless fictions", the
nucleus of the book is natural magic. On the one hand, it is connected
to the arts and sciences: all wondrous inventions appear at first to
be the result of magical operations, until their true causes are
discovered. On the other hand, its particular sphere is the knowledge
of unusual and arcane events. Natural magic, by means of its body of
knowledge, is able to produce specific alterations in the mobile and
tenuous *spiritus*, which is capable of submitting to and
receiving any impression. The basic passions are pain and joy, love
and hate, hope and fear. The magician is someone who has the ability
to act on these passions by employing herbs, phrases, actions and
anything else that might be suitable. This person will know how to
increase bodily powers, suggesting foods, drinks, climates, sounds,
herbal and animal remedies that aid and strengthen vital energies and
counseling against anything that has to do with putrefaction and
death.



The durability of sense in entities and in the air in latent
forms--as if asleep, waiting to be reawakened on specific
occasions--explains facts that are only apparently miraculous,
such as the bleeding of a corpse in the presence of the murder: the
victim, if alerted through the air to the proximity of his killer, is
again agitated by anger and fear, discharging blood. Also linked to
the durability of affects and sense is the efficacy of the weapon
salve, attributed to Paracelsus, by means of which a wound can be
healed by putting ointment on the weapon that caused it, as if the
*spiritus* enclosed in the wound acquires confidence by feeling
the cure via the air and experiences "almost the joy of
revenge". It is also possible to explain a celebrated example
found in every book on magic: a drum made of sheep skin falls to
pieces when a drum made of wolf skin is sounded, reawakening its
former fear (*Del senso delle cose*, pp. 253-59).



The profound alterations that animal spirits can undergo explain the
true and proper transformations that occur in someone who has been
bitten by a rabid dog or in peasants from Puglia attacked by
tarantulas. Campanella gives a very precise description of what
happens to those bitten by tarantulas, based on eye-witness accounts
of the phenomenon: they become weak, dancing and jumping to the sound
of various musical instruments, until they collapse in exhaustion. In
both cases acrid spirits introduced into the wound produce an
alteration of the temperament and the imagination of the unfortunate
victims, in whose bodies the animal spirits of the creatures that have
attacked them take the upper hand in a manner that is at variance with
those already there. By means of dancing and sweating, those bitten by
tarantulas endeavor to expel the infected vapors. Usually, however,
the symptoms remain as long as the cause that produced them persists;
and only the death of the spider that stung them will bring a true
remission of their suffering. The connection between general and
particular causes is confirmed again by the odd case of the medical
school of Tropea in southern Italy, in which a nose was grafted onto a
man who had lost his due to a wound. The doctors reconstructed the new
nose from flesh taken from the arm of a servant. The new nose took
root and lived; but when the servant died, it putrefied, demonstrating
that the life that it had received from the new organism in which it
was inserted did not annihilate its original and deep-rooted
connection to the life of the servant.


## 4. The Calabrian Conspiracy and Prophecy in *The City of the Sun*



After having submitted to an inquest in Naples over his advocacy of
Telesian philosophy in 1592, Campanella went first to Rome, then to
Florence and Padua, where, at the beginning of 1594, he was denounced
and arrested for heresy. In October he was transferred to a prison of
the Roman Inquisition, in which the "heretical" Florentine
Francesco Pucci and the philosopher Giordano Bruno were imprisoned. In
a sonnet entitled "Al carcere" ("To Jail"),
Campanella could not but reflect on the fact that free spirits who,
abandoning the stagnant waters of a traditional culture in order to
hurl themselves boldly into the "sea of truth", found
themselves enclosed, as if by a tragic and fatal destiny, in the
dismal palace of the Inquisition, that he compares to the cave of
Polyphemus, the labyrinth of Crete and the palace of Atlas
(*Poesie*, 1998, p. 254). Accused of supporting atomist and
atheist doctrines, he was condemned in 1595 "on grave suspicion
of heresy" and forced to make a formal public abjuration. At the
end of 1597 the superiors of the Dominican Order commanded him to
return to Calabria.



Almost thirty years of age and after ten years of absence, Campanella
returned to Stilo on August 15, 1598. The next year he was involved in
the most dramatic events of his life. He became convinced by his
reading of astrological and prophet texts that announced profound
changes, by the appearance of abnormal celestial signs and natural
events and, above all, by the miserable and unjust condition of the
population and by serious social and political disorders that the end
of the century would bring a period of great upheaval. A vast
conspiracy, of which he was indisputably the spiritual leader, was
organized with the aim of transforming the province into a republic
and removing it from the tyrannical rule of the king of Spain. The
plot never got underway because on August 10, 1599 it was revealed to
the Spanish authorities by two of the conspirators. After frenzied
attempts to escape, Campanella was arrested. In November four galleys
arrived at the port of Naples carrying dozens of prisoners. Some were
dangling, having been hanged from banners; others were dismembered in
the port, a pitiless reminder to the crowd who, full of curiosity and
horror, had come to see the terrible spectacle.



In defending himself, Campanella firmly denied the accusation of
rebellion, maintaining that he had not acted out of personal ambition
or malevolence toward the king but rather had been following human and
divine prophecies. Astrological tables had predicted an unusual
succession of eclipses in the first years of the new century.
According to a famous prognostication, *De eversione Europae*,
attributed to Antonius Arquatus, that had foretold events such as the
coming of Luther and the Sack of Rome, the Turks, after a period of
continual ascent, at the time of their fifteenth sultan would be
divided between the two sons of their sovereign--just as the
moon, their emblem, halfway through its course begins to divide into
two horns--one of whom would become an adherent of Christianity,
while the other would be defeated by the king of Spain. Recently, the
prophecy of Abbot Ubertino of Otranto had been miraculously recovered
and predicted great political changes, the coronation of a new king in
France and the beginning of the sixth age of the Church. The year
1600, moreover, appeared to be a crucial moment, a "great
turning-point" in time, in that it was composed of a hundred
times seven and nine, both of which were fatal numbers according to
Pythagoras and Plato.



In the second of two written defences, Campanella sought to justify
and legitimate his own initiative by placing it within a prophetic
context, so that it would not be regarded as an act of rebellion,
which would entail the death penalty. He later developed this work as
the *Articuli prophetales*, but during his trial he decided
that presenting it to his judges would be a futile effort. Instead, he
resorted to a clever ploy in order to avoid capital punishment. The
death penalty could not be inflicted on those deemed insane because,
since they were not in a position to repent, the judges would be
responsible for the eternal damnation of their souls. Clinging to this
judicial cavil, Campanella pretended for many months to be out of his
mind. His condition was, in the end, confirmed by means of a horrible
form of torture, called the "vigil" because, in addition
to the bodily suffering that was inflicted, victims were also
subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. He would refer to this
terrible moment in his life as proof of the freedom of the human will,
that cannot be bowed even by the most extreme physical pressure.
Although disillusioned and embittered by the catastrophic result of
his noble Calabrian plan, Campanella questioned himself about the
reasons for this failure, reflecting on the role of the prophet who,
as bearer of an uncomfortable and unpleasant message for those in
power, cannot avoid being persecuted and put to death. Having achieved
the supreme good of preserving his life, he wrote his most famous
work, *The City of the Sun*, in the form of a "poetical
dialogue" between a Genoese sailor who had accompanied Columbus
on his voyage to America and a Knight Hospitaller. It first appeared
in Latin translation as the appendix to his *Politica*,
published in Frankfurt in 1623. His aim was to describe an ideal model
of society that, in contrast to the violence, disorder and
irrationality of the real world, was in harmony with nature,
understood as an expression of God's intrinsic "art" and
wisdom. He was, in fact, convinced that present-day society was a
labyrinth of injustice and unhappiness precisely because it had
deviated from this natural model. The more a city constituted a
"body politic," the happier it would be, with its
individual parts integrated so as to form a unitary organism and its
various limbs, diversified according to function, entirely coordinated
to serve the communal well-being.



Protected and defended by seven circles of walls, constructed of
palaces that serve as dwellings for the citizens, the city is located
in a place with an ideal climate, conducive to physical health, and on
the slope of a hillside because the air there is lighter and purer.
One of the most significant aspects of this community is the
distribution of work. Once again Campanella engages in an explicit
polemic with Aristotle, who had excluded artisans, peasants and those
involved in manual labor from the category of full citizenship and
from the highest levels of virtue. In the City of the Sun no
occupation is vile or base, and all are of equal dignity--in
fact, those workers who are required to expend greater effort, such as
artisans and builders, receive more praise. Everyone must be
acquainted with all lines of work, and then each person practices the
one for which he shows the greatest aptitude. They have no servants,
and no service is regarded as unworthy. The only thing that they
consider to be despicable is idleness, and in this way they come to
privilege the dignity of work and to overturn an absurd conception of
nobility, linked to inactivity and vice. Thanks to the equal division
of labor, it is sufficient for each person to spend only four hours a
day working; but it is essential that they all work, because the
idleness of one would have repercussions on the profit and the effort
of the others. The citizens possess nothing; instead, everything is
held in common, from food to houses, from the acquisition of knowledge
to the exercise of activities, from honors to amusements, from women
to children. There are "officials" in charge of the
distribution of each thing, who keep an eye out and make sure that
this happens justly, but no one can appropriate anything for himself.
According to them, possession of a house or a family reinforces
"self-love", with all the dire consequences this
generates. They live "like philosophers in common" because
they are aware of the negative impact, not only on the social but also
on the moral level, of an unequal distribution of goods.



One of the most spectacular and imaginative aspects of *The City of
the Sun*, which immediately struck its readers, are the painted
walls of the city. Apart from enclosing and protecting the city, the
walls are also the curtains of an extraordinary theater and the pages
of an illustrated encyclopedia of knowledge. The walls of the palaces
are painted with images of the all the arts and sciences. Starting
with the wall that holds up the columns of the temple and gradually
descending in large circles, following the order of the planets from
Mercury to Saturn, we encounter illustrations of the heavens and the
stars, of mathematical figures, of every country on earth and of all
the marvels and secrets of the mineral, vegetable and animal worlds,
until we arrive at mankind: on the internal wall of the sixth circle
the mechanical arts and their inventors are represented. Campanella
was greatly interested in all ingenious discoveries, and in *The
City of the Sun* he provides many examples of curious inventions,
such as vessels able to navigate without wind and without sails, and
stirrups that make it possible to guide a horse using only one's feet,
leaving one's hands free. On the external wall legislators are
depicted; and it is here, in "a place of great
honor"--but along with Moses, Osiris, Jove, Mercury and
Muhammad--that the Genoese sailor recognizes Christ and the
twelve apostles. Knowledge is not enclosed in books kept in separate
places such as libraries but is openly on show to everyone's eyes.
Visualizing in this manner promotes a quicker, easier and more
efficient form of learning, in that it is connected to the art of
memory, which underlines the evocative and emotive power of images.
From a tender age children run around in this theater of knowledge,
appropriately guided and following correct itineraries, so that they
learn joyously, as if playing a game, without effort or pain.



In addition to the community of goods and the painted walls, another
characteristic feature of the City of the Sun, one that is more
difficult and disconcerting and that Campanella himself describes as
"hard and arduous", is the community of wives. This is the
solution adopted by the citizens to the problem of generation. Echoing
the teaching of the Pythagorean Ocellus Lucanus, Campanella says that
they are amazed that humans are preoccupied by the breeding of horses
and dogs while neglecting their own. The act of generation entails a
large responsibility of the part of the parents; and if it is
exercised in an incorrect manner, it can give rise to a long chain of
suffering. Moreover, there is a close connection between a person's
natural "complexion" or character, which is inborn and not
afterwards modifiable, and moral virtue, which needs a suitable
terrain in order to take root and prosper. Generation should therefore
respect precise norms and not be entrusted to chance nor to individual
sentiments. The citizens distinguish between love and sex. Affection
between men and women, based on friendship and respect more than
sexual attraction, is expressed in acts that are far removed from
sexuality, such as exchanges of gifts, conversation and dancing.
Sexual generation, on the other hand, must obey strict rules regarding
the physical and moral qualities of the parents and the choice of a
propitious time for conception, determined by an astrologer. Such a
union is not the expression of a personal, emotional or passionate
relationship, but rather is connected to the social responsibility of
generation and to love for the collective community.



The religious beliefs of the citizenry, even though they include
fundamental principles of Christianity such as the immortality of the
soul and divine providence, form a natural religion that establishes a
sort of osmosis between the city and the stars. The temple is open and
not surrounded by walls. In one of his poems Campanella promises:
"I shall make the heavens a temple and the stars an altar"
(*Poesie*, 1998, p. 327). On the vault of the temple's dome the
stars are depicted together with their influence on earthly affairs.
The altar, on which are placed a celestial and a terrestrial globe, is
in the form of the sun. Prayers are directed toward the heavens. The
task of the twenty-four priests, who live in cells located in the
highest part of the temple, is to observe the stars and, using
astronomical instruments, to take account of all their movements. It
is their job to indicate the times most favorable for generation and
for agricultural labors, acting in this way as intermediaries between
God and human beings.


## 5. The Universal Monarchy



*The City of the Sun* is Campanella's best-known work today,
but it is not the only expression of his political thought, which was
multifaceted and which evolved over the course of his life, from his
youthful days until his final years of exile in Paris. An important
textual consideration is that while Campanella started writing his
utopia in Italian soon after being sentenced to life imprisonment, at
more or less the same time he was working on a series of political aphorisms,
also in Italian. He eventually translated both texts into Latin,
placing the *Civitas Solis* as an appendix to the aphorisms,
which now took the form of a treatise covering both theoretical and
practical aspects of politics and government. The *Politica*and its appendix, together with four political *quaestiones*in which he also theorized about the utopian genre, constitute
the third part of his *Philosophia realis* (Frankfurt, 1623;
Paris, 1637). The shared trajectory of his general treatise on
politics and his utopia provides a clear indication of how different
aspects and expressions of his political thought were intertwined.



While the *Politica* was Campanella's most analytic
treatise on the subject, he also articulated his political ideas in
many other writings. Apart from numerous works linked to particular
moments in the complex itinerary of his life and his thought, his
political writings form part of a more general philosophical
framework, which often makes it difficult to consider them on their
own, since they are located in a zone that borders on theology, ethics
and natural philosophy. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is
precisely in this area, so full of contradictions and ambiguities,
that the debate among his interpreters is most lively and most
enflamed by polemics. It is difficult to reconcile the prophet of the
Calabrian conspiracy, who, reading celestial and natural signs,
proclaimed the advent of an epoch of profound renewal, with the
defender of the unconditional primacy of the papacy; or the thinker
who believed in the "idea" of a philosophical republic in
which everything would be governed according to nature with the
supporter of a universal monarchy under the king of Spain; or,
finally, the harsh critic of Machiavelli, whom he accused of having
cut the bonds between politics, ethics and religion, with the subtle
politician who in his writings frequently supported some of the most
unscrupulous Machiavellian maxims. Campanella's reading of Machiavelli
left such an impression on his works that even his early readers did
not hesitate to define him as a "harsh critic and at the same
time a disguised master of Machiavelli's precepts" (Hermann
Conring's introduction to the Latin translation of Machiavelli's
*Prince*, in his *Opera*, 5 vols, Braunschweig 1730, II,
p. 979) and to affirm that he had relaunched on the scene, suitably
camouflaged and consequently in a more insidious manner, the same
principles that Machiavelli had had the courage to express without
disguise (Conring, *De civili prudentia*, in his
*Opera*, III, p. 41).



There is no doubt that Campanella's reflections on Machiavelli, and on
"politicians" in general, constituted one of the most
forceful aspects of his thought. His deliberations focused, above all,
on two closely connected points. On the one hand, he underlined the
philosophical limits of Machiavelli's theories--limits that made
his political constructions inherently fragile. On the other hand, he
developed and inserted into a Catholic and Counter-Reformation context
an element that was already present in Machiavelli, especially in his
*Discourses on the First Decade of Livy*: the view of religion
as one of the most powerful bonds in the human community.



Both these elements are found in a central text of Campanella's
political thought, the *Monarchia di Spagna* (*Monarchy of
Spain*). Right from the outset, he expresses the doctrine of the
three causes that are at the origin of political
associations--God, prudence and expediency--in order to
highlight the inadequacy of a vision of history, characteristic of
politicians, that is limited solely to human causes. The first cause,
that rules and governs the others and that is always present, even if
in hidden ways, in all historical events is, of course, God. This
means that a skillful and shrewd politician must endeavor to integrate
empirical causes into more general ones. To this end, it is
indispensable to have recourse to the "highest sciences"
of prophecy and of astrology, that enable one to insert particular
events into a universal background.



Appealing to biblical texts, Campanella maintains that the Spanish
sovereign can aspire to the monarchy of the world if he takes
inspiration from the model of Cyrus, invested by God, as Isaiah (45.1)
confirms, with the mission of liberating the Church from infidels and
of bringing together all peoples under a single faith. For the
Catholic king the only practical way of achieving his own universal
plans is through a firm accord with the Church and with the pope,
following the example of Constantine and Charlemagne. Campanella
further stresses that religion is the most powerful bond of political
unity. Machiavelli, too, had emphasized the strength of this bond,
when analyzing the events of the Roman Republic, but then had
condemned the Christian religion as a cause of weakness, strife and
divisions. Campanella has no doubt that religion, whether true or
false, is the primary and most powerful unifying force in the
political body, in that it rules over souls and brings them together,
and that all other ties between human beings depend on it.



The two other primary causes of political associations are prudence
and expediency. Here another key element in Campanella's thought comes
into play: the return to nature. Political associations, like all
other natural entities, are living organisms. The main task of
political action will therefore be to promote the most effective union
among its members. The virtue specific to this activity is prudence,
which has the job of reinforcing natural bonds and coming up with
unifying techniques designed to strengthen the ties of individuals
with the whole, of integrating unlike with like and of attenuating the
most violent conflicts, so that the result is the correct functioning
and prosperity of the entire organism. When he speaks of prudence,
Campanella insists on distinguishing it from Machiavellian cunning and
from "reason of state," drawing on various clever and
subtle contrasts and distinctions. While prudence is an instrument of
organic unity, cunning and reason of state are nothing but techniques
designed to affirm individualistic egoism and, for this reason, are
doomed to failure, as is amply demonstrated by the tragic end of
Machiavellian heroes, whose successes are revealed to be merely
apparent or ephemeral, or by the sad life of tyrants, constantly
plagued by suspicions and fears. The wise politician is one who,
having as his aim the solidarity and well-being of the whole
community, is in a position to promote three different types of bond.
First of all, there is the bond of souls, achieved by the impetus
given to the humanities and sciences and to religion. Secondly, there
is the bond of bodies, in relation to which Campanella insists on the
expediency of increasing marriages by all available means, encouraging
unions between individuals of different physical constitution and
temperament and between the Spanish and other nations, in order both
to spread Spanishness to other nations and to temper the vices of the
Spanish people, who often arouse hatred for their humility when
serving and for their pride when commanding. The third bond is that of
goods of fortune; here it is a case of encouraging the economic
prosperity of people by means of developing commerce and especially
navigation, the vital lymphatic system that makes it possible to unite
distant lands and to connect the separate limbs of the empire.



The stance adopted by Campanella in relation to universal monarchy is
directly linked to the prophetic ideal of re-uniting humanity in a
"single fold under one shepherd." The central text for
this topic is *Monarchia del Messia* (*Monarchy of the
Messiah*). The original unity of king and priest, which derives
from the divine unity, permits human beings, after the multiplicity of
sects introduced by the devil and fomented by ambition and ignorance,
to return to a single priestly law, under which the entire human race
can come together, transcending divisions and conflicts. According to
Campanella, Adam and Hermes Trismegistus were simultaneously kings,
priests and wise men. Uniting kingship and priesthood in the same
person is extremely advantageous and auspicious, for the people will
more willingly obey those whom they believe have their authority from
God; and their laws will be more respected and observed, whether in
public or in the inner sanctum of the human heart. The epoch in which
a king-priest will reign is described by Campanella as a golden age,
in which there will be an end to the evils that afflict humanity: wars
will no longer have any reason to exist; famine and scarcity will
cease because the barrenness of certain countries will be corrected
and supplemented by the abundance of foodstuffs produced in other
countries; plagues will disappear because it will be possible to
transfer people to salubrious lands free from contagion; finally,
there will be a wondrous flourishing of all forms of knowledge thanks
to exchanges of information and to communication, bringing great
benefits to humanity (*Monarchia del Messia,* pp. 62-63). The
division and the separation of human beings are always the devil's
work; envious of the good that comes from unity, he induces people to
forget that they are all children of the same God and of the same
father, Adam, and therefore siblings.


## 6. Natural Religion: *Atheism Conquered*



One of Campanella's most important works is *Atheismus
triumphatus* (*Atheism Conquered*), written between 1606
and 1607. He himself regarded it as a watershed in his thinking,
signaling his detachment from the more openly rationalist positions of
his youth and his move toward a more sincere adherence to Christian
principles. In letters written from prison, he describes the work as a
"volume against politicians and Machiavellians"
(*Lettere*, p. 26). Central to the work is his polemic against
both reason of state and Machiavelli's conception of religion as a
political invention, a useful "fiction" devised by priests
and princes to gain and maintain power. This polemic is coupled with
the need to undertake a far-reaching rational examination, passing in
review and evaluating all religious beliefs and philosophical
doctrines in order to demonstrate that religion, in contrast to what
politicians think, is a "natural virtue" inborn in human
beings. A further motive of this research is to ascertain the
relationship between natural religion and Christianity, which leads to
the conclusion that there is no conflict between Christian law and
natural law but instead a profound and fundamental agreement, since
Christ did not nullify and abolish natural law but rather added to it
moral precepts and rites that completed and perfected it.



On June 1, 1607 the treatise was dedicated to Kaspar Schoppe, a German
scholar who had come to Naples in the spring of that year to make
contact with the imprisoned Campanella, who informs us that Schoppe
suggested the title by which the work is known--he himself had
called it *Recognoscimento della vera religione universale*
(*Identification of the True Universal Religion*). Written in
Italian, the treatise was translated into Latin in the following years
by Campanella himself; it was printed in Rome in 1631, then in Paris
in 1636. The original Italian version has recently come to light,
discovered in an autograph manuscript held in the Vatican Library. In
the prefatory letter, addressed to Schoppe, Campanella weaves a moving
account of the dramatic events his life into a powerful contrast
between darkness and light: on the one hand, there is a dark age
dominated by reason of state; on the other, there is a determination
to kindle a light in order to distinguish truth from error,
philosophers from sophists, princes from tyrants, religion from
superstition. The first chapter acts as an introduction, setting out
the different ways of dealing with religion. From the outset, two
figures take center stage and come face to face as the heroes and
villains of the story: philosophers and politicians. The latter deny
God and his providence, maintaining that all religions are political
in origin. Such doctrines, based on self-love, are extremely difficult
to eradicate and constitute the plague of every age, since their
supporters refuse to engage in any dialogue, closed within the
arrogant certainty of possessing the truth. Diametrically opposed to
them are the philosophers, who believe that there is only one true and
certain truth, that is natural and common to all. Uncertain when it
comes to supernatural dogmas, they live in a virtuous manner in
conformity with nature. Without doing harm to anyone, they endeavor to
accomplish works that are honest and beneficial to the human race.
Since they have no desire for honors or wealth, "they live
content with little and enjoy contemplation, and they have more esteem
for themselves than for a king or a pope or a monarch."



The second chapter, one of the most famous and widely discussed in the
treatise, ushers us into the heart of the matter. It contains a dense
series of arguments against religion in general and Christianity in
particular. These objections are presented in such a crude light and
in a succession so beleaguered by questions that they provoked
perplexity and anxiety, in both Catholic and Protestant camps, even
before the book was published. After the objections have been listed,
the replies to them are given in the central and concluding chapters.
The remaining chapters of the first part are devoted to demonstrating
that religion is natural and inherent in every aspect of nature, which
is the expression of divine craftsmanship. From the axiom of the
existence of God as Reason and Wisdom diffused in every aspect of
reality derive corollaries concerning the "vestiges" of
the Trinity that shine forth in every natural entity; the rationality
of the Incarnation; the influence of providence on the world, which is
the theater and effigy of the divinity, not a dark labyrinth of
suffering; the non-existence of death and the relativity of evil,
which is connected to non-being, itself necessary in order to
distinguish between things; the deep solidarity of human beings with
nature but at the same time their inherent divinity and eminence that
enables them to elevate themselves to a higher world. Next comes the
vexed problem of the immortality of the soul, a certainty arrived at
by paths that are different from those of the Aristotelian tradition
and that insist on the distinctiveness of humans as the sole beings
able to transcend their own natural limits and gain awareness of their
relationship to the infinite. In the ninth chapter Campanella
reaffirms, against any skeptical position, that the existence of many
false religions is not a sufficient reason for concluding that all
religions are fundamentally false, just as the lack of skill on the
part of many doctors does not demonstrate the falsity of medicine. If
it is true that there are differences between the various religions,
with their distinctive rites and supernatural beliefs, it is also true
that "human beings have a natural inclination toward justice and
toward living within a religion" and that religion is part
"of the law of nature". A confirmation that religion is
natural is provided by the fact that it is the indispensable
foundation and connective tissue of every political organization,
which would not be able to survive and would dissolve without
religion. The central chapters then attempt to prove that positive
laws are nothing but special cases of the same primary law of nature,
since if they are reasonable and just, they participate in the Divine
Word, source of all rationality and all virtue. If there is only one
natural law and it depends on the unique eternal law, all humans, if
they live according to reason, are implicitly and explicitly
Christians. Christianity is not one sect among many, but rather, as
the explication of the Word, coincides with natural religion,
completed and perfected by supernatural beliefs, dogmas and ceremonies
that are not alien to rationality and to nature. Christianity, whether
on account of its simplicity and the universality of its moral message
or because its ceremonial apparatus completes and perfects nature,
turns out to be the religion that is most in conformity with nature
and, consequently, opens up the possibility of a confluence of all
beliefs in one universal religion common to all peoples.



Over the course of the almost thirty years that intervened between the
composition of *Atheismus triumphatus* and the publication of
the definitive Paris edition of 1636, the treatise had to overcome
many obstacles, following a tortuous itinerary, due to the suspicions
of the ecclesiastical authorities, who accused the work of Pelagianism
and thus of excessively exalting the natural capacities of humans and
diminishing divine grace by restricting it to far too narrow confines.
The work was not published despite the initiative of Schoppe; nor was
it among those that appeared in Frankfurt between 1617 and 1623 due to
the efforts of Tobias Adami. With the failure of these attempts,
Campanella thought of publishing it in Italy; but the treatise still
had to face numerous difficulties and to be censored more than once
before it came out in the Rome edition of 1631, which was soon
afterwards impounded. After repeated entreaties to put the book back
into circulation, Campanella took the decision to reprint it in Paris;
and *Atheismus triumphatus* was published, along with other
writings, at the beginning of 1636 in a volume dedicated to Louis
XIII.


## 7. The Years of Imprisonment in Naples and the Sojourns in Rome and Paris



During the twenty-seven years he spent imprisoned in Neapolitan
castles (1599-1626), Campanella dedicated himself to the huge task of
providing a new foundation for the entire encyclopedia of knowledge,
writing, in addition to the works already mentioned, texts dealing
with medicine, astrology, practical religion (in *Quod
reminiscentur* he addressed eloquent appeals to members of all the
religions of the world, aimed at persuading them to abandon irrational
beliefs and to come together in Christian rationality), the
*Metaphysica*, later printed in Paris, and a theological
treatise in thirty books, whose publication, begun in the middle of
the nineteenth century, is still in progress. One of the most
interesting of his works is the *Apologia per Galileo*
(*Defense of Galileo*). Written in 1616, when difficulties
relating to natural theology first began to amass around Copernican
and Galilean doctrines, and printed in Frankfurt in 1622, the
*Apologia* represents an act of great courage and intellectual
honesty on Campanella's part, since he took up this delicate issue
while he was still in prison and, furthermore, was not even defending
his own doctrines. His own image of the book of nature, conceived as a
living and organic entity, was far from Galileo's picture of a book
written in mathematical characters. Rather than a defense of
heliocentrism, about which Campanella harbored grave reservations on
account of its incompatibility with Telesian physics, the
*Apologia* is a defense of the intellectual and academic
freedom (*libertas philosophandi*) of Galileo and, more
generally, of all Christian natural philosophers, whose first right
and duty is to give preference to reading the book of nature over
studying the books written by human beings. With great clarity,
Campanella identifies the nub of the problem as the unjustified
dogmatic value conferred on Aristotelian philosophy which, like all
human doctrines, does not possess absolute and definitive certainty.
All philosophies, in fact, must be modified, corrected or abandoned in
light of our reading of the book of nature. In this brief work he
draws on his immense theological knowledge to rethink in a profound
and lucid manner the relationship between philosophy, science and
theology. In a virtuoso demonstration of his hermeneutic
abilities--on account of which the treatise in many places
difficult going for the reader, who is in danger of getting lost in
the thick tangle of citations--Campanella attempts to show how
the longstanding union of theology and Aristotelian philosophy,
regarded by theologians as necessary and unalterable, is in reality
precarious, dated and in need of revision. Such a revision would pose
no risk to theology; on the contrary, theology will be harmed by an
obstinate and blind adherence to a system of physics that is no longer
in agreement with new data and that rejects new discoveries.
Abandoning Aristotelian philosophy not only would not bring about the
collapse of theology, it would permit the recovery of a correct
conception of science, one that must consist, as it did for Galileo,
in a continual reading of the infinite book of nature, which is the
expression of the infinite truth and of Christian rationality. On this
basis Campanella invited Christianity to accept the rational and
natural values of science with confidence and without unjustified
fears, if it intended to set itself up as the authentic expression of
Christ as the Word of God.



Freed from prison in Naples in 1626, Campanella moved to Rome, where
he lived until 1634. The most notorious episode of his Roman sojourn
was connected to Pope Urban VIII's desire to take advantage of his
astrological expertise in order to counter the ever more insistent
predictions of his imminent death, based on the inauspicious
disposition of the stars. Called to the papal palace, Campanella put
into effect the natural magic practices described in his short
treatise *De siderali fato vitando* (*How To Avoid the Fate
Dictated by the Stars*). Reprising themes borrowed from Marsilio
Ficino, who had taught how to attract the favor of the stars,
Campanella proposed to teach how to avoid the evils threatened by the
stars through taking suitable precautions. The most famous and
controversial pages of this work, since they deal with practices used
on the pope, are those in which Campanella suggests remedies against
the possible harm caused by eclipses and comets. When an eclipse
appears to threaten a specific person, he counsels using every
precaution to prevent the seeds carried in the polluted air from
finding a favorable terrain and producing their noxious effects. He
then explains how to demarcate a separate space that will be
impenetrable to malign influences. With the doors and windows sealed,
the air should be purified by sprinkling perfumes and scents and by
burning aromatic woods such as laurel, myrtle, rosemary and cypress.
In the room, decorated with foliage and fabric of white silk, one
should set alight two lamps, five torches and other lights in order to
represent the planets of the zodiac. It will also be useful to seek
out the company of friends who are not subject to the negative effects
of the eclipse, to play music connected with Jupiter and Venus, and to
have recourse to all those "enticements," connected with
plants, stones, colors and odors, capable of attracting beneficent
influences and countering malign ones. If the darkness of the eclipse
seems to suspend and interrupt the life that flows from the heavens,
it will be necessary to secure protection by constructing a sort of
artificial sky. *De fato* was published in Lyons in 1629 as the
seventh and final book of Campanella's *Astrologia*. This
risked compromising the pope himself by involving him in accusations
of superstitious practices. Campanella was quick to write an
*Apologeticus* in which he attempted to demonstrate that the
practices recommended in *De fato* were not superstitious but
rather entirely natural. In a further effort to avert any scandal, in
the early months of 1632 Urban VIII hurriedly promulgated an extremely
severe bull, *Inscrutabilis*, directed against astrologers. The
pope also had Don Orazio Morandi, abbot of the monastery of Santa
Prassede, in which astrological practices were entangled with shady
political intrigues, imprisoned and put to death (see the introduction
to Campanella, *Opuscoli astrologici*, pp. 41-42).



Following new threats from the Spanish, in 1634 Campanella was forced
to go into exile in Paris. There he devoted his energies to the
publication of his works, bringing out a new edition of the
*Philosophia realis* in four parts, accompanied by
*quaestiones*; reprints of *De sensu rerum* and of
*Atheismus triumphatus*; *Philosophia rationalis* in
five parts (*Dialectica, Grammatica,* *Rhetorica,
Poetica* and *Historiographia*); and, above all, the
*Metaphysica*, which he described with legitimate pride in the
dedicatory letter as the "philosophers' bible." This is a
vast and complex work, in which the most important themes of his
thought come together and in which he sets out the doctrine of the
"primalities" (*primalitates*), the constituent
principles of the Supreme Being and of all other created beings. God,
the first infinite cause, has his essence in the principles of Power,
Wisdom and Love in an infinite manner. Every finite being is composed
of these same primalities but in ways and proportions that are limited
and differentiated. Nothingness does not exist either in God or
outside of him; but he makes use of it to construct the finiteness and
the distinctiveness of entities. After the explanation of the doctrine
of the primalities comes that of the three great influences:
Necessity, Fate and Harmony, the vehicles by which the divine Idea, in
all its infinite degrees, is conveyed to the world and to matter. In
the light of these doctrines, Campanella re-examines fundamental
issues such as the relationship between necessity and contingency and
between human freedom, fate and providence, as well as problems
concerning evil and sin.



During his years in Paris Campanella's interest in politics and in
prophecy, subjects close to his heart, resurfaced. In the two year
period from 1635 to 1636 there was a remarkable blossoming of
political writings, different in style and persuasive power, but
sharing in common certain similar themes. Making a comparative
analysis of the two great European powers, Spain and France, he shows
that Spain is on the downward slope of an inexorable decline, while
its adversary is in the ascendant phase of "mounting
success" and, as the new superpower, is exhorted to assume the
role of re-unifying the Christian flock and asserting itself as the
champion of liberty against the tyranny of Spanish-Habsburg rule.
There are two points in particular that most dramatically reveal the
fatal decline of Spain: it has not known either how to spread
Spanishness to other nations or to how to manage economy affairs
effectively. While the ancient Romans were masters of gradually
accumulating populations and making them participants in the empire,
the Spanish, on account of their immense pride, spurn any integration
whatever with other peoples. Because of their unwillingness to adopt
the shrewd political tactic of mixed marriages that Campanella had
suggested in the *Monarchia di Spagna*, an alarming
demographic contraction has occurred due to the loss of soldiers in war
and the infertility of women, so that the Spanish population, formerly
numbering eight million, has now been reduced to half that figure.
Because of the scarcity of the populace, they have have
induced--and this is a very serious consequence--to destroy
and depopulate the countries that they conquer in the New World.
Chosen by divine providence to evangelize the entire world, the
Spanish have betrayed their mission, transforming themselves into
executioners and instruments of divine wrath. An even greater
condemnation of Spanish politics is its disastrous economic policy. In
the *Monarchia di Spagna* Campanella had already said that the
gold of the New World had ruined the Old Word, generating greed for
riches and therefore weakening the ties and solidarity between
humans. In his later works he repeated the view that affluence had
exacerbated social inequalities, together with the vices that derive
from them.



At the request of Cardinal Richelieu, Campanella wrote and dedicated
to him a short treatise on chiromancy, entitled
*Chiroroscopia*; and on the occasion of the long-awaited birth
of the Dauphin, the future Sun King, Louis XIV, he composed a lengthy
Latin *Eclogue*, in which he returned to the prophetic themes
that had always been dear to him. In these verses he once again
predicted the advent of an epoch of unity and peace: impiety,
deception, lying and disputes would be abolished; work, distributed
among everyone, would be turned from painful labor into a game; lambs
would no longer fear wolves; and sovereigns would rule for the benefit
of their people. Aware of dire presages connected to the coming of a
solar eclipse, he sought to avert the impending dangers; but he died
at dawn on May 21, 1639.