Giordano Bruno e 'Il Diogene accusato': mise en abyme di un processo

The essay proposes a critical reading of Diogene accusato, a ‘serious’ comedy by the moral philosopher Melchiorre Zoppio, printed in Venice in 1598. The watermark of the dramatic text reveals an interesting stratigraphy about judicial process that alludes to the historical drama of Giordano Bruno. In the hermeneutics of Silenus, the ‘Diogenes’ theme, expressed in the forms of ancient Attic comedy and the philosophical disputes of the European sixteenth century, is the key to accessing a contemporary urgency. Zoppio’s theater stages ‘the courage of truth’ and the necessary vital defense of the critical function of thought.