The Ash Wednesday Supper

...to make two fantastic scarecrows original: befane, referring to folkloric hags or puppets used in festivals, two dreams, two shadows, and
two quartan fevers A type of malaria characterized by a fever that recurs every fourth day; here used to describe the recurring or persistent nature of certain ideas.: of which, while the historical sense
is being sifted, and then tasted and chewed, there are
brought in appropriately Topographies Detailed descriptions of specific places., some Geographical,
others rational, others moral. Speculations also,
some Metaphysical Dealing with the nature of reality and being., some Mathematical, others Natural.

Argument of the First Dialogue.

Thus you will see in the first Dialogue two subjects
brought into the field, with the reasoning behind their
names, if you care to understand it. Second, in their honor,
the scale of the binary number The number two, which Bruno often uses to explore dualities or pairs of opposites. is celebrated. Third, the
praiseworthy conditions of the rediscovered and restored phi-
losophy are presented. Fourth, it is shown how much praise
Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model where the Earth revolves around the Sun. deserves. Fifth, the fruits of the Nolan
philosophy Bruno’s own philosophical system, named after his birthplace, Nola. are set forward, with the difference between this
and other ways of philosophizing.

Argument of the Second Dialogue.

You will see in the Second Dialogue: First, the original cause
of the Supper. Second, a description of steps
and passages, which will perhaps be judged by everyone as more
poetic and tropological A figurative or metaphorical interpretation, especially regarding morality. than historical. Second Bruno repeats the numbering "second" in the original text, likely to emphasize the multifaceted nature of this section.,
how he plunges confusedly into a moral topography:
where it seems that, looking here and there with the eyes of
Lynceus In Greek mythology, Lynceus was an Argonaut renowned for his keen sight, said to be able to see through trees and stones. (without stopping too long) at thing by
thing while he makes his way; besides contemplating
the great machines A reference to the "machina mundi" or the structure of the universe.: it seems to me there is no trifle,
nor pebble, nor little stone, that he does not stumble upon.
And in this he acts just like a painter, for whom it is not enough
to make a simple portrait of the history: but also,
to fill the canvas and conform art to nature:
he paints stones, mountains, trees, springs,
rivers, and hills: and he lets you see here a royal palace,
there a forest, there a scrap of sky, in that corner
a half-sun rising, and step by step a bird,
a pig, a deer, a donkey, a horse: while it would suffice...