V.

The sonnets by Campanella translated in this volume might be rearranged
under four headings--Philosophical; Political; Prophetic; Personal. The
philosophical group throw light on Campanella's relation to his
predecessors and his antagonism to the pseudo-Aristotelian
scholasticism of the middle ages. They furthermore explain his
conception of the universe as a complex animated organism, his
conviction that true knowledge can only be gained by the interrogation
of nature, his doctrine of human life and action, and his judgment of
the age in which he lived. The political sonnets fall into two groups--
those which discuss royalty, nobility, and the sovereignty of the
people, and those which treat of the several European states. The
prophetic sonnets seem to have been suggested by the misery and
corruption of Italy, and express the poet's belief in the speedy
triumph of right and reason. It is here too that his astrological
opinions are most clearly manifested; for Campanella was far from
having outgrown the belief in planetary influences. Indeed, his own
metaphysical speculations, involving the principle of immanent vitality
in the material universe, gave a new value to the dreams of the
astrologers. Among the personal sonnets may be placed those which refer
immediately to his own sufferings in prison, to his friendships, and to
the ideal of the philosophic character.

I have thought it best, while indicating this fourfold division, to
preserve the order adopted by Adami, since each of the reprints
accessible to modern readers--both that of Orelli and that of D'Ancona--
maintains the arrangement of the _editio princeps._ Two sonnets of the