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(From the Preface, by L. Williams) The subject of "The Heroic Enthusiasts", written by Giordano Bruno in 1585, is the struggles of the Soul in its upward progress towards purification and freedom; the author makes use of lower things to picture and suggest the higher. The aim of the Heroic Enthusiast is to get at the Truth and to see the Light, and he considers that all the trials and sufferings of this life, are the cords which draw the soul upwards, and the spur which quickens the mind and purifies the will. The blindness of the soul may signify the descent into the material body, and "visit the various kingdoms" may be an allusion to the soul passing through the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms before it arrives at man.