THE RIGHTE HONOURABLE
&' Iratwns Bacon, knigljt.
LORDE HIGHE CHANCELLOVR OF ENGLANDE, and one of his Mal!i? most ban— privie counsel!.
literature £>erie$
E ESSAYS
OF FRANCIS BACON
EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
CLARK SUTHERLAND NORTHUP, Pn.D
Assistant Professor of the English Language and Literature in Cornell University
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CONTENTS
PREFACE • v
INTRODUCTION
The Life of Bacon ....... VH
The Essays xxii
M Bibliographical Note xxvii
Chronological Table xxviii
ESSAYS 1
i/ v*T Of Truth " 5.
^-2. Of Death - 7*
I/ 3. Of Unity in Religion " 10
o 4. Of Revenge . ' . . . . . . .15
5. Of Adversity •» 16
I'o 6. Of Simulation and Dissimulation .... 18
^''7. Of Parents and Children 21
.'• a Of Marriage and Single Life 1 . . 23
9. Of Envy • . 25
- 10. Of Love 30
oil. Of Great Place 32
"12. OT Boldness 36
13. Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature . . 38
_14. Of Nobility ........ 41
T5. Of Seditions and Troubles 43
1/-16. Of Atheism' 51
. 17. Of Superstition 54
18. Of Travel 56
-19^ Of Empire , 58
.IP. Of Counsel' 64
i^81.,Of Delays , 69
22. Of Cunning .70
23. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self .... 74 24.Df Innovations 76
25. Of Dispatch 77
26. Of Seeming Wise 79
o If. Of Friendship 81
1V CONTENTS
28. Of Expense 89
,/29. Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates . 90
. 3ft Of Regiment of Health . ... 101
31. Of Suspicion 103
32. Of Discourse 104
33. Of Plantations . , 106
*34. Of Riches 110
S3. Of Prophecies 113
Of Ambition 117-
37. Of Masques and Triumphs 119
f. Of Nature in Men 121
. Of Custom and Education 123
4£. Of Fortune 125
41. Of Usury 127
V42. Of Yduth and Age 131
43. Of Beauty . 134'
44. Of Deformity . .. 135
45. Of Building .. 136
^ 46. Of Gardens . 141
47. Of Negotiating 148
^48. Of Followers and Friends 150
49. Of Suitors 152
•*" .50. Of Studies 154 -
51. Of Faction 156
r 52. Of Ceremonies and Respects 158
58. Of Praise 159
/_54. Of Vain-Glory 161
J>5. Of Honor and Reputation 163
.£6. Of Judicature 165
57. Of Anger 170
58. Of Vicissitude of Things 172
59. Of Fame: a Fragment 179
NOTES igi
SUGGESTIONS for the Study of the Essays .... 226
V
PREFACE
THE text of this edition of Bacon's Essays is based on that of Spedding, carefully collated with Arber's, and con stantly compared with the texts of Wright and Reynolda The spelling and capitalization have been more thoroughly modernized than in most other texts, though some familiar archaic spellings have been kept ; and the punctuation has been somewhat simplified. In the majority of instances I have retained Spedding's virile translations of the quotations from foreign languages. In writing on the vexed question of Bacon's character, I have been much indebted, as every careful student of Bacon will always be, to the epoch making researches of Spedding, who, while unconsciously minimizing, perhaps, the significance of some unpleasant facts, has given us on the whole the justest narrative of Bacon's life that we have. In the notes, while assuming that the student will have access to a good unabridged dic tionary, I have nevertheless kept in mind the fact that for many large classes there are not reference books enough to go around, and hence students must rely largely upon the notes for explanations of all kinds of difficulties. My con stant indebtedness to the commentators mentioned above, as well as to Dr. Abbott, will be evident, and I acknowledge it with gratitude. I must also record my obligation to my colleague, Professor William Strunk, Jr., for the use of notes generously proffered, and to the authorities of the Harvard University Library for the loan of Holland's Plu
tarch.
C. S. N CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N. Y.,
October, 1907.
INTRODUCTION
THE LIFE OF BACON
THE life of Francis Bacon is one of the most interesting, picturesque, and pathetically tragic in the whole range of literary history. He was born for great things ; he had a brilliant public career, which came to a startling and igno minious end. Withal his devotion to science and letters was such that the world will not soon forget it. So great and ver satile was his genius that he not only has been called the Shakespeare of English prose, but has also (though on wholly inadequate grounds) been regarded by some as the author of Shakespeare's plays. The story of so eventful a life cannot well be told in the space at our command ; we must be content with the leading facts and a few general observations.
Francis Bacon was born at York House, in the Strand, London, January 22, 1561. He was the youngest of the eight children of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Bacon,s Keeper of the Great Seal, who was of a good- birth, 1661, natured, easy-going temperament and something «"* parent- of a humorist. The second wife of Sir Nicholas, and the mother of Anthony and Francis Bacon, was Ann, second daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke ; her sister was the wife of Sir William Cecil, then Secretary of State, and later Lord Burghley. Lady Bacon was a well-educated woman of strong character. She translated sermons from the Italian, quoted Latin frequently, and knew something of Greek. A rigid Calvinist, she exerted a marked influence on her sons' religious beliefs ; and one clue to the explanation of Francis Bacon's character is perhaps the fact that in early youth, frequenting a court where lax moral and ethical views prevailed, he was at the same time filled with the self-assurance born of the Calvinistic doctrine of election to eternal happiness.
Vlll
INTRODUCTION
In his twelfth year, in 1573, Francis Bacon went his brother Anthony to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here he found not quite eighteen hundred students, among them Edward Coke, his later rival, Edmund Spenser and his friend Edward Kirke, and Gabriel Harvey ; many of these were too young to know why they were there. His prescribed studies Education were mathematics (including cosmography, ari th at Trinity metic, geometry, and astronomy), dialectics, phi- CamMdge, losophy, perspective, and Greek. In public, ex-. 1573-74 ' cept in hours of leisure, he had to speak Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. While devoting himself to Greek, he re belled against the doctrines of Aristotle, whose infallibility had been somewhat shaken by Peter Ramus (1515-1572) a decade before; but it was not so much Aristotle's logical method as his physical theories that Bacon questioned. For example, Aristotle's theory of astronomy was based on the fundamental proposition that the heavens and heavenly bodies were incorruptible, unchangeable, and wholly regular; hence all the motions of these bodies must be in the per fect figure of the circle and all their orbits must be concen tric ; moreover, the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, being perishable, the imperishable stars must be made of an imperishable fifth essence. These doctrines of Aristotle the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages, especially Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), so systematized and fixed that they virtually became great obstructions to the progress of knowledge. But even as a boy of eleven Bacon saw in the northern heavens, in a region that Aristotle had pro nounced incapable of change, the wonderful new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. No wonder the study of nature through Aristotle's dogmas struck Bacon as barren and wrong, and moved him to devise a more fruitful method. The remarkable thing, as Mr. Spedding points out, is that this undertaking became the real if not wholly absorbing passion of his life.
The plague which broke out in August, 1574, drove the Bacons from Cambridge until the foilowing March ; then they returned and remained until Christmas.
In June. 1576, the brothers were admitted to Gray's Inn,
INTRODUCTION ix
London, and began the study of law. Three months later Francis went with Sir Amias Paulet, the British Begins the ambassador, to France. Here he remained dur- "tudyol ing two and a half significant years, studying diplomatic affairs and foreign policy. The impression he made upon those who talked with him is indi- Twoyeara cated by the inscription on Hilliard's miniature, in France, painted in 1578: "If a worthy canvas were 1676-78 given me, I would rather paint his mind." From this life of studious ease he was rudely awakened by the death of his father, which obliged him to return to England ; and as Sir Nicholas had failed to provide for his youngest son, Francis was now compelled to begin in earnest his prepara tion for the legal profession, by which he was to live.
In June, 1582, he was admitted an utter (or junior) barrister of Gray's Inn ; and November 23, 1584, he took his seat in Parliament for Melcombe Regis, Dor- M p Jw setshire. That he was a bold as well as alert Melcombe politician is evident from his Advice to Queen Regis, Elizabeth, written soon after entering Parliament. The^conflict was approaching between Protestant England and Catholic Spain. Three plots had already been exposed against the life of the Qneen, in whom were centred the hopes "of England, of liberty, and of the Pro- "Advice to testant faith ; " and a voluntary association had Queen Eliz- been formed to prosecute to the death any person al)etn" in whose behalf violence should be offered to the Sovereign. Bacon urged rigorous repression of the suspected Catholics, but less violent measures against the Puritans. The trea tise is remarkable for shrewdness, wit, and tact.
Two years later, in 1586, came the trial and conviction of Mary, Queen of Scots. In the Parliament of that year Bacon sat for Taunton, Somersetshire, and was ^. P. lor one of those who signed the petition for Mary's Taunton, execution. Becoming a bencher of Gray's Inn, 158( Bneon now attained the full rights of a practising lawyer. "While he did not earn much as a barrister, he became more and more prominent in Parliament.
The Aruiadu came and went ; and in the following year
x INTRODUCTION
the quarrel between the Puritans and the High Churchmen was renewed. In his Advertisement touching ustment *he Controversies of the Church of England touching (1589), Bacon sought to arbitrate the bitter and the Contro- bigoted conflict by considering the occasions of the Otaxoh th® controversies, their growth, the unjust mea- of Bug- sures of the bishops, and the separatist tenden- Ulld'" cies of the Puritans ; prescribing, as the remedy, greater charity and more knowledge, or, as Mat thew Arnold would have put it, more " sweetness and light."
, About 1590 Bacon made the acquaintance of the Earl of Essex, the rash, impetuous, generous, sympathetic favor- Beginning ite of the Queen. Here was a man whose frieud- of friend- g^jp C0uld do much for Bacon and for the great Essex!"" philosophical enterprise which he had begun to 1590 ' think of in his Cambridge days. Essex was able and ready to discuss the high aimsjthat inspired Bacon, and to intercede for him with the Queen for some office whereby he might be freed from professional drudgery and enabled to prosecute his studies. In asking Lord Burghley for help, about this time, Bacon says : —
"Lastly, I confess that I have as vast contemplative ends, as I have moderate civil ends: for I have taken all knowledge to be my province ; and if I could purge it of two sorts of rovers, whereof the one with frivolous disputations, confutations, and verbosities, the other with blind experiments and auricular tra ditions and impostures, hath committed so many spoils, I hope I should bring in industrious observations, grounded conclusions, and profitable inventions and discoveries ; the best state in that province. This, whether it be curiosity, or vain-glory, or nature, or (if one take it favorably) philanthropic^, is so fixed in my mind as it cannot be removed."
But while Bacon's repeated requests to Burghley were Failure to poured into a deaf ear, Essex proved an ardent ana obtain of- faithful patron. The place of Attorney-General torney-Gen- soon ^ecame vacant; and Essex tried to secure oral and it for his friend. But Bacon had made himself Solicitor obnoxious to the Queen by protesting against cer tain subsidies which he thought would involve excessive
INTRODUCTION xi
taxation ; and his rival Coke was made Attorney-General. No better fortune attended his suit for the humbler office of Solicitor ; but Essex, anxious to pay for the time and pains devoted to his own affairs, gave Bacon a piece of land which afterwards sold for £1800, the equivalent in purchasing power of about $45,000 to-day. This for a while relieved Bacon of the financial embarrassments which beset him.
Up to this time of his life Bacon is not accused of doing anything distinctly dishonorable. True, his servile place- hunting is not admirable ; but it arose partly out of unfor tunate conditions. His conduct toward Essex from now on is variously interpreted : by some, as that of a patriot who placed loyalty to the state above friendship; by others, as the conduct of a heartless ingrate. Much depends on whether Essex can or cannot be proved to have become a traitor.
Essex and Bacon continued friends as before ; but Bacon ceased for a time to seek for office. He wrote his Maxims of the Law (published in January, 1596), his works from Essays, Colors of Good and Evil, and Medi- "96 to tationes Sacra?, all of which appeared in 1597. clndl^g He still sat in Parliament, in 1597 for South- "Essays," ampton. He was an unsuccessful suitor for the 1697 hand of a rich widow, his cousin Lady Hatton, who ac cepted his rival Coke instead. Meanwhile he counselled Essex to try to win and retain the Queen's M P lor favor by making a show of being deferential and Southamp- obsequious. But Essex was not skilled in dis- ton' 1597 simulation; he quarrelled more than once with Elizabeth, and on one occasion his insolence so enraged her that she struck him and had him ejected from the coun- Quarrel cil-chamber. A few months later, acting on Ba- between con's advice, he pretended that he would accept JjJJ" Jjj the task of quelling the Irish rebellion under the Earl of Tyrone. Of this expedition Essex made a wretched failure ; and he was ordered to answer for his mismanagement and for disobedience, in the Court of the Star Chamber. Although soon released, he continued under the displea sure of the Queen, who refused to renew the grant of the
xii INTRODUCTION
monopoly of sweet wines whence he derived most of his income. Already deeply in debt, Essex now saw himself on the brink of ruin ; and having persuaded himself that England's safety and his own lay in ruining his rivals, the Queen's present advisers, he plotted to surprise the court and remove them by force. The revolt miscarried and Essex was tried for treason.
As one of the Learned Counsel Bacon now occupied a subordinate, unsalaried place in the Government. He has been censured because, when called upon to participate in Essex tried the trial, he did not decline ; but Essex was not lor treason yet condemned, and Bacon doubtless thought he could help his friend.? For ten days the trial went on without results ; finally the confession of accomplices re vealed deliberate treasonable action on the part of Essex and his confederates. It was then too late for Bacon to decline his task ; and he now set the claims of loyal cit izenship above those of friendship ; the general good above Bacon's private good. He pressed the charge of treason part in tie for « this late and horrible rebellion," and rightly condemna- , _
tionoi treated Essex s defence, that he was protecting
Essex himself from his enemies, as a mere afterthought. The result was the conviction of Essex and four of his followers. Even then, Bacon declared in his Apology (1601), he besought mercy of the Queen and tried to ex tenuate the sentence. But his effort was in vain. On Feb ruary 26, 1601, Essex was executed.
It is idle to see in all this, as some do, a treacherous desertion of Essex. As Professor Gardiner suggests, doubt less Bacon had a poverty of moral feeling ; certainly he nowhere records any pain at having to help prosecute his friend. But two things must be borne in mind : first, Bacon had himself rendered valuable services to Essex and was under no obligation to him ; second, Essex's crime seems less heinous in these days of political security than it seemed in Elizabeth's day, when the welfare of the state so largely depended on the safety of the sovereign.
Under Elizabeth, Bacon never obtained an office worthy of his abilities. For a time he was but little more success..
INTRODUCTION xiii
ful with thf new sovereign. True, James honored him with knighthood ; but he was dubbed along with some three hundred others. For a time Bacon lived in „_. retirement. He now wrote the first book of The vancement Advancement of Learning as well as the brief oiLeara- " Proem " to The Interpretation of Nature, in tag>" 1605 which he sets forth his real mission and motives. He had set himself, he says, to consider how mankind might best be served and what he was naturally best fitted to do. Of all benefits he " found none so great as the discovery of new arts, endowments, and commodities for the bettering of man's life." But if one could kindle in Nature a light that should presently disclose her most hidden secrets, that man would indeed benefit the race. He found himself best fitted for the study of truth, " with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to reconsider, carefulness to dispose and set in order." Yet his birth and education had seasoned him in business of state ; his country had special claims upon him ; and believing that if he rose in the state he should Bacon's de- command industry and ability to help him in his v°ti<mto work, he had entered public life. In this he had, JU^*1' too, another motive, that he " might get some- search thing done for the good of men's souls." Finding, however, that his zeal was mistaken for ambition, that his life had already reached the turning-point, and that he was leaving undone the good he alone could do, he put aside all thoughts of statecraft and betook himself wholly to this work.
But Bacon was still destined for many years to live the life of a statesman rather than of a philosopher. When the first Parliament under King James met in March, 1604, he returned to public life. In the contest between the
Commons and the King over some matters of ,
,. , i •!/• 11 i i , , Bacon made
prerogative, he skilfully led both parties to a Learned
compromise. In August the King granted to Counsel, him by patent the office of Learned Counsel, 1604 and at the same time conferred on him an annual life- pension of £60.
The interval between December, 1604, and the next meet-
XIV
INTRODUCTION
ing of Parliament in November, 1605, eiiabled Bacon "The AO- to complete his Two Books of the Profioience vancement an^ Advancement of Learning. He dedicated Sg/VEto. it to the King, hoping thereby to interest James LII;1605 (whom he avouches to be "the learnedst king that hath reigned ") in his great intellectual enterprises ; but James, unfortunately, was busy with other affairs. Probably the book would have made more of a stir in the London world had it not appeared at the time of the in famous Gunpowder Plot, which overshadowed everything else. That it was an important book will be evident from the following words of Dean Church : —
" The Advancement was the first of a long line of books which have attempted to teach English readers how to think of know ledge ; to make it really and intelligently the interest, not of the school or the study or the laboratory only, but of society at large. It was a book with a purpose, new then, but of which we have seen the fulfilment. He wanted'to impress on his generation, as a very practical matter, all that knowledge might do in wise hands, all that knowledge had lost by the faults and errors of men and the misfortunes of time, all that knowledge might be pushed to in all directions by faithful and patient industry and well-planned methods for the elevation and benefit of man in his highest capacities as well as in his humblest. And he further sought to teach them Iww to know ; to make them understand that difficult achievement of self-knowledge, to know what it i» to know ; to give the first attempted chart to guide them among the shallows and rocks and whirlpools which beset the course and action of thought and inquiry."
On May 10, 1606, Sir Francis Bacon married Alice Barn- Marriage, ham, the " handsome daughter" of a London
alderman and sheriff. Continuing to sue for pre ferment, he was at length successful. In June, 1607, he Bacon made Became Solicitor-General, receiving an annual Solicitor- salary of £1000. A year later the office of Clerk JJJ"*1' of the Star Chamber, the reversion of which had
been promised him nineteen years before, fell vacant; the additional salary brought Bacon's income up to Clerk of the nearly $25,000 a year (£4975). An interesting Star Cham- document which has come down to us from this
time, the Miscellaneous Commentary, reveals
INTRODUCTION xv
much as to his secret thoughts and amhitions. His philo sophical work has the chief place. He plans to inquire into the kinds of motion ; to write a history of marvels, and a history of progress in the mechanical arts ; to secure the foundation of a college for inventors. As a statesman and public servant he meditates much on the welfare Bacon.8 of Britain ; on the problem of replenishing the ambitions coffers of the spendthrift King without further «« England alienating the people and bringing on civil war ; on confed eration with the Low Countries ; on reforms limiting the jurisdiction of courts of justice ; on making and codifying new laws ; on restoring " the Church to the true limits of authority since Henry 8th's confusion ; " in short, on mak ing Britain a real " Monarchy in the West," a power in European affairs. Truly these were great ends. Though constantly seeking office, Bacon was none the less a patriot.
And England needed the loyal services of her sons. The struggle was beginning between King and Commons. "The great and pressing subject of the time," says Mr. Church, "was the increasing difficulties of the revenue, created partly by the inevitable changes of a growing state, but much more by the King's incorrigible waste- Bacon.spo. fulness." By 1608 James was running behind sitioninthe £83,000 a year and was a million pounds in debt. {Jjjjjj ^ The Earl of Salisbury, Bacon's cousin, who now Klng and became Lord Treasurer, proposed that the Com- the Com mons should, by paying a fixed sum annually to mons the King, secure relief from certain burdens incident to the exercise of the royal prerogative. But after a good deal of haggling over terms, the "Great Contract" came to no thing. Bacon on the one hand defended as legal the King's claim of the right to levy custom duties on merchandize, and on the other tried to persuade the Commons to content themselves with restraining and limiting this right. But the breach was already too wide to be closed by any one man.
Bacon's literary activity kept pace with his energetic public life. His great philosophical scheme was constantly in his mind. In 1608 he wrote Heat and Cold and A
xvi INTRODUCTION
History of Sound and Hearing, and probably began his Novum Organum, which he was not to publish for twelve years. The next year he sent to Bishop Andrewes a revised Minor COPV of nis Thoughts and Judgments on the In- works, terpretation of Nature, which he had written
ZdinV S0me two years before 5 and to Tobv Matthew his anewedi- Wisdom of the Ancients. In this he attempted tionof the^ an allegorical treatment of the Greek myths and fables, in which he thought there "lay enshrined physical discoveries and political mysteries." An enlarged edition of the Essays appeared in 1612. In the same year he wrote his Description of the Intellectual Globe, an ac count of astronomy, and his Theme of Heaven, its sequel in which, ignoring Kepler's researches, he denied not only the density and solidity, but also the revolution, of the earth! He had too little time or inclination for patient study before writing.
Upon the death of Salisbury in 1612, Bacon came into greater favor with the King. In 1613 he became Attorney
IZneT9 a1' 3nd n°W took a raore Prominent part
General by "J sfcate affairs- He delivered before the Star James, Chamber an earnest argument against duelling, which had become alarmingly prevalent He * Parli "
trou • n' °Ug U Va'n' '° P
thorough revision and codification of the laws
this period, though tradition has assigned it to the -st years of hls life probably belongs The Neu, *££ "TneNew an unfinished romance recalling the imaginary Jgjtn/. commonwealth of Plato's Crtiias, and describing nature » *?£?* 7 ^ mstitution "for the interpreting of
INTRODUCTION
XV 11
had its share in leading to the establishment of the Royal Society (1660)^ U v Kc t * W ^ b H b c S
Bacon cor^ktued to give King James constant proofs of his usefulness; and when Viscount Brackley resigned Bacon the chancellorship in 1617, Bacon succeeded to the made Lord oflice, once held by his father, of Lord Keeperof the ^^°'' Great Seal. On January 1, 161 8, he was forma 11 y Lort? '' created Lord Chancellor for life, with an increase Cnarceiiar. of £600 a year over his salary as Lord Keej-er. ^uST Six months later he became Baron Venilam. 1618
Constantly mindful of his great intellectual ends, Bacon devoted the long vacations to the studies nearest his heart. In October, 1620, he presented King James with his Novum Organum or "New Instrument," WBM. by which he desired " to make philosophy and 162° sciences both more true and more active." The book, not withstanding Bacon had " been about some such work near thirty years," and had composed the first draft about 1608, was incomplete; but the author had begun to numl>er his days, " and would have it saved." The great object he sought to achieve was to teach men to invent or discover and judge by induction, as finding syllogistic or deductive rea soning " incompetent for sciences of nature." The King received the book with expressions of but moderate praise, and even permitted himself the jest that it was "like the peace of God, which passeth all understanding." To Bacon's plea for aid in making collections for a Natural and Ex perimental History, James was deaf.
The Novum, Organum was to form the second part of a great work which Bacon called Magna Instauratio, " The Great Restoration," and which was to consist of the fol lowing parts : 1. The Divisions of the Sciences, a general survey of the state of knowledge at that time. 2. The New Instrument. 3. The Phenomena of the Universe, Bacon's considered as materials on which the new method pLm for was to be employed. 4. The Ladder of the Un- ^^^ derstanding, giving illustrations of the working ratio" of the new method. 5. Forerunners of the Second Philo sophy, containing such discoveries as Bacon had made with-
XV111
INTRODUCTION
out the aid of the new method, the conclusions being merely tentative. 6. The Second Philosophy or Active Science, to contain some results of the application of the new method to phenomena. Of these parts only the second and a part of the third (published also in 1620 and entitled Prepara tion for a Natural and Experimental History) appeared. The conception was indeed a noble one, but was even then too vast for one man. Scientists value Bacon less for his achievement than for his inspiration. He himself said, in deed, u I only sound the clarion ; but I enter not the battle." X
Notwithstanding his flippant reception of the Novum Organum, the King was not unmindful of the value of Blade Vis- Bacon's services, and in January, 1621, created conntst him Viscount St. Alban. Bacon was now at the Attan>1621 pinnacle of his fame. A peer of the realm, he held the highest legal office in the kingdom, with an annual income of probably £10,000. Ben Jonson wrote of him as
"England's High Chancellor, the destin'd heir, In his soft cradle, to his father's chair; Whose even thread the Fates spin round and full Out of their choicest and their whitest wool."
Yet in the struggle for advancement Bacon's moral fibre, never robust, was weakened. The King was more than ever under the influence of a favorite — the infamous George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham ; and to keep in the favor of both James and Buckingham and at the same time preserve a high moral integrity was to serve both God and Mammon. " There is rarely any rising," says Bacon in his Essay of Nobility, ' but by a commixture of good and evil arts." Bacon well understood both kinds.
Yet Bacon's chief fault was, perhaps, that he fell in too »•£. readily with what were common practices of the day, dis- •.,.,. daining to protest over much against trifles. Every one A accepted bribes, from the Favorite down ; and Bacon not scruple to accept gifts from persons whose suits were pending. There is no absolute proof that these presents affected his judicial decisions ; but he had not avoided the appearance of evil, and his enemies made the most of the advantage this gave them.
INTRODUCTION xix
Sir Edward Coke, Bacon's old rival, who had not been in the House for some years, was returned to the Parlia ment that met on January 30, 1621. On February 5 he moved the appointment of a committee to investigate public grievances. Certain objectionable monopolies were at once
brought to the attention of the committee ; and .
The Indict- in March the King in a speech alleged that in ment
granting these patents "he grounded his judg- against ment upon others who had misled him" — of whom Bacon was one. On March 14 a petitioner to the House of Commons alleged that two and a half years be fore the Lord Chancellor had received money from him for the despatch of a pending suit ; other similar accusations followed. At first Bacon defended himself, saying to the King : —
"For the briberies and gifts wherewith I am charged, when the books of hearts shall be opened, I hope I shall not be found to have the troubled fountain of a corrupt heart, in a depraved habit of taking rewards to prevent justice; howsoever I may be frail, and partake of the abuses of the times."
f5ut when the twenty-three articles of the charge as finally formulated were laid before him, Bacon, Bacon's now in shattered health, attempted no further coniesslxm defence, but confessed himself guilty of corruption. In his memoranda on the matter he writes : —
"There be three degrees or cases, as I conceive, of gifts or re wards given to a judge. The first is of bargain, contract, or pro mise of reward, pendente lite [the suit pending]. And of this my heajt tells me I am innocent ; that I had no bribe or reward in my eye or thought when I pronounced any sentence or order. The second is a neglect in the judge to inform himself whether the cause be fully at an end, or no, what time he receives the gift; but takes it upon the credit of the party that all is done, or other wise omits to inquire. And the third is, when it is received sine fraude [without fraud], after the cause ended ; which it seems, by the opinions of the civilians, is no offence." Elsewhere he adds: "For the second, I doubt in some particulars I may be faulty. And for the last, I conceived it to be no fault."
Parliament decreed that he should pay a fine of £40,000, be imprisoned in the Tower during the King's pleasure,
xx INTRODUCTION
be thenceforth incapable of holding office or sitting m Pallia-: Bacon's monfr, and not be allowed to come within twelve* <i v \, sentence miles of the court; thus insisting that public officers were responsible to the state as well as to King. Bacon acquiesced ; "I was the justest judge," said he, "that was in England these fifty years; but it was the justest censure in Parliament that was these two hun dred years." He was confined in the Tower only two or three days ; and in September his fine was remitted and assigned to trustees for his benefit. In a few months, hav ing yielded up York House to Cranfield and Buckingham, he was once more allowed to live in London. But he could never procure a full pardon.
The years that remained to Bacon were spent at Gray's Inn and Gorhambury, in retirement and in literary labors. In 1622 he published his History of Henry VII, the first English attempt at philosophical history, which workDe- takes high rank as a classic; he also wrote a frag- tweeni622 ment of an Advertisement Touching an Holy War — a war which Bacon apparently desired
to be waged against the Turks. In the following year he wrote A History of Life and Death, which received the commendation of Haller, a great medical writer; and pub- lished a much expanded Latin translation of The Advance- Thirdedi- ment °f Learning. His Apophthegms and Trans- tionoltne lations of Certain Psalms appeared in 1624; "Essays," and in the following year he published the third
edition of his Essays. The last work upon which he was engaged was his Sylva Sylvarum, " Wood of Woods," or "Natural History," which was published in 1627. fine <*+*
Toward the end of March, 1626, in the course of a journey from London to Highgate, Bacon desired to experi- Bacon's ment on the effect of snow in preserving flesh. iS?' He Purchased a fowl and stuffed it with snow;
a chill seized him and forced him to stop at Lord Arundel's house* Here, on April 9, he died. He was buried in St. Michael's Church, St. Albans.
Thus ended the career of a man of genius; a life of great achievements in statecraft and in philosophy, a life
Ve PoretAto Stop
INTRODUCTION xxi
characterized, however, by such apparent inconsistencies that Pope could describe Bacon as " the wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind ; " and to this description some recent writers have rather too closely conformed. He has been condemned for the basest ingratitude to Essex, for the most fawning and unblushing flattery and sycophancy, for delib erately perverting justice to please the Favorite. His chief energy, it is said, was given to a shameless scram- conilict- wealth and osition and ower which togjudg-
ble for wealth and position and power, which utterly belies his expressions of devotion to science Bacon's and philosophy. This view of Bacon, however, character is hardly consistent with the genuine affection expressed by friends such as Dr. Rawley, his chaplain, Peter Boener, his apothecary and secretary, and Sir Toby Matthew, to whom Bacon dedicated his Essay of Friendship; or with all of the facts which Bacon himself so frankly committed to paper. The unselfish labors of some modern scholars, chief of whom is James Spedding, have done much to re store to Bacon the reputation that is rightfully his.
To judge Bacon justly, we must bear in mind the cir cumstances of his times. We have already considered the Essex affair. As for indulging in flattery, Bacon Oonsl(lera. doubtless did so to excess ; yet we must bear in tions de- mind that good form then required some flattery, manded by The proof that he perverted justice is not forth coming ; the most that can be said is that in one instance only, the case of Dr. Steward and his nephew,1 there is a reasonable inference that at Buckingham's request Bacon reversed a decision with the possible result that justice was thwarted. When we remember how frequently Bucking ham tried to induce Bacon to be partial to certain persons, we can only commend Bacon for his constancy, suspending judgment further until all the facts of the case in question are brought to light. That Bacon was too fond of pomp a'nl circumstance and wealth is probably true ; that he was excessively extravagant and wasteful is too evident from his extant financial records. He was careless about debts; he
1 See Spodding, Letters and Life, vi, 441-440, vii, 579-588; abridged Life, ii, 276-278; Abbott, Bacon, xviii-xxix, 268, 269.
xxii INTRODUCTION
died owing three times the value of his estate, but in the belief that there would be "a good round surplusage." He was doubtless indifferent, moreover, to high ethical stand ards and to the impression made by his own conduct ; he was too often plastic in the hands of unscrupulous men ; yet it has been pointed out more than once that Bacon might have advanced more rapidly had he shaped his course differ-
PTltlv O*^ 3- i *• , H » /4;lt_ J.L J J 7
v ' J^eOtol'\TQ0o &0 X V
All things considered, Bacon may be described as a great statesman, to whom politics were not wholly congenial, but who faithfully served his country and his king even though Final esti- his policies could not always be carried into exe cution; as a great natural philosopher, whose passionate devotion to the advancement of science was a religion, and who, though indifferent to the importance of contemporary discoveries which he should have recognized levertheless gave a great impetus to the method of induc tion, on which all modern science is based; and as a man who in the school of expftrionre learned some of the great essons of life, and who, chastened by adversity, furnished a memorable example to all of virtue, kindness, peaceful-
s ^atr?-:; Witv» ^ f.uite ne £ nLave,;.
ell on evil days ; and in
" His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man!" "H<e is -bU
THE ESSAYS
t'
INTRODUCTION
xxm
" I would have in short all topics which there is frequent oc casion to handle (whether they relate to proofs and refutations, or to persuasions and dissuasions, or to praise and blama) stud ied and prepared beforehand ; and not only so, but the case ex aggerated both ways with the utmost force of the wit, and urged unfairly, as it were, and quite beyond the truth. And the best way of making such a collection, with a view to use as well as brevity, would be to contract those commonplaces into certain acute and concise sentences ; to be as skeins or bottoms of thread which may be un winded at large when they are wanted."
As a specimen of these Antitheses, may be given no. xli, Delay, which should be compared with Essay xxi :
DELAY
For
Fortune sells many things to him that is in a hurry, which she gives to him that waits.
While we hasten to take hold of the beginnings of things, we grasp shadows.
While things are wavering, watch ; when they have taken ^h|ir direction, act. Mpommit the beginnings of ac tions to Argus, the end to Bri- STeus.
Against
Opportunity offers the handle of the bottle first, and after wards the belly. •
Opportunity is like the Sibyl: she raises the price as she di minishes the offer.
Speed is Pluto's helmet.
Things that are done betimes are done with judgment ; things that are put off too late, by cir cuit.
little study of these Antitheses and of the Essay in they receive literary dress will show what Bacon it by an essay. • It was to be literally an attempt, a (Latin exagium, "a weighing, balance"), an estimate' Fos and cons, a debate which should determine the prac- worth of motives and qualities and characters. The had recently been used by Montaigne, whose Essays ired in 1580. " The word," says Bacon, in the can- dedication to Prince Henry, " is late, but the thing is Int. For Seneco's Epistles to Lucilius, if one mark well, are but essays, — that is, dispersed meditations,
conveyed in the form of epistles." -" ms the Essays were to constitute a series of useful Ivations on life and character ; a handbook of the most
xxiv INTRODUCTION
practical wisdom, which should " come home to men's busi- " ness and bosoms." Human nature was to be dealt with, not as it ought to be or might become, but as it was. To act wisely men must have "a knowledge of both good and evil arts, that they might use the former and shun the latter. Bacon does not invariably counsel us to shun the evil arts; if one would work a man. one must know his defects as well as his virtues; and there are times when Bacon justi fies dissimulation and falsehood. Moreover, there is a too constant reference to self-interest for our approval to-day. -»• Yet with these exceptions the morality of the Essays is on the whole healthy.
In the ten Assays of the first edition (see below) the style is simple and concise to the last degree. Indifferent to literary finish, the author is bent on applying a homely — • / common sense to some every-day problems. TfW mood of / exalted style is out of the question. In the second edition a distinctly higher level is reached, both in the character of the new subjects treated and in the style. The consider ation of such subjects as goodness, beauty, empire, death, and the greatness of kingdoms could not fail to elevate tl;j thought and perhaps induce a statelier and more measm style. In the third edition the practical point of view still maintained ; but Bacon occasionally rises to philosop] heights, as when he speaks of the inquiry, knowledge, belief of truth as the sovereign good of human natim when he remarks that "adversity doth best discover virt Let-us now glance at the method of the Essays. outline of Essay xxi (see above) may run as follows
OF DELAYS
a. Sometimes by waiting, you get a lower price. x. Again, you pay more dearly. b Failing to take Occasion by the forelock, we can hold.
c. There is no greater wisdom than knowing when to , tter meet dangers half way than watch too long. y. But to shoot too soon is another extreme. «. Success depends first upon secrecy in counsel; z. then upon quickness in execution.
INTRODUCTION xxv
From this it will appear that Bacon does not 'attempt to arrange his material, but weaves together his antitheses in pairs much as points are developed in a debate. There is rarely a formal introduction, and only in the longer Es says (cf. iii, vi, ix, xiv, xv, xix, xx, fitc.) does he give evi dence of care in planning; we cannot infer, however, that Bacon did not always arrange his heads carefully. He is fond of quoting from his favorite, historians and moralists, Plutarch, Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion Cassius, Cicero, Erasmus — usually from memory, sometimes so inaccurately that some have concluded he was trying to improve their expression. A conclusion that summarizes does not often occur ;. the shortuesf of most of the Essays renders this un-
cessary.
Bacon's pojnt of view in general is that of the patriotic supporter of ^-limited monarchy. For him the best form of ' government was that of an intelligent king, whose power should be attempered by nobles not too great. From such a government a much more enlightened rule might be ex pected than from the as yet crude and unorganized Com mons, meeting irregularly and unaccustomed to power; and Bacon saw no reason to favor the extension of the people's powers. At the same time, though "a peremptory royalist," Bacon supported a policy of conciliation and wished to see the people contented and prosperous. He opposed excessive taxation, since a people burdened with taxes could never " become valiant and martial." He favored the protection of infant industries and the regulation of waste and excess through sumptuary laws. In general he opposed monopo lies. He believed that the wealth of the state should not be gathered into a few hands. He strongly urged the plank ing of colonies and a generous colonial policy.
His foreign policy was not so enlightened. War, he be lieved, was as essential to national health as exercise to the body. No nation could be great that was not ready, when the time came, with a pretext for war. The character of the soldiery, however, was more important than its num bers. Men downtrodden by evil legislation, as well as mercenaries, made poor soldiers. A large standing army,
INTRODUCTION
bein" a possible internal menace, was not so desirable as an efficient navy. Bacon warmly favored the union of ] land and Scotland, if only for strategic reasons ; commer also demanded it. On account of trade and commerce he likewise desired friendly relations with Holland.
On matters of religion and theology Bacon expresses him self less freely. Of religion he says very little formally ; Es say iii is concerned mainly with religious politics, or church unity and harmony. A devout Christian, Bacon was yet very much of a man of the world, and had no disposition to confuse morality with religion. Elizabeth herself could lie unblushingly when policy demanded it ; yet she was the head and overseer of the Church. [Of the life to come, Bacon has no thoughts to record. He only knows that
Jk death is as natural as birth ; and he has a certain stoical fearlessness of what lies beyond.
So much for the subject-matter of the Essays. In th% form in which we read them Bacon thought little of them ; they were trifles that would last no longer than the ephem eral language in which they were written. To endure, he thought, they must be turned into Latin. Yet it is by the Essays, in English, that Bacon has long been best known ; and of all his writings they give the greatest promise of en durance. What is the reason for this? They are not infal lible ; most of them are out of date ; their moral and politi cal wisdom is sometimes frankly questioned. Their merit
1' lies in the serious and fruitful manner in which a great / mind has considered some familiar and some great problems of life, and has allowed us to follow his meditations. And / these meditations reflect both Bacon and his environment. For this reason they have taken their place among the classics of the world. For the thinker men have always had admiration and respect ; and the great mind of Francis Bacon was not the least important fruit of the English Renaissance.
INTRODUCTION xxvii
III
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The first edition of the Essays, published in 1597, con tained the following ten : L, xxxii. LII, XLVIII, XLIX, xxvin, xxx, LV, LI, and XLVII. The volume \vas dedi cated to Bacon's brother Anthony.
Between 1607 and 1612 was transcribed the draft known ns Harleian MS. 5106 (never published), now in the Brit ish Museum. This contained twenty-four more essays and was dedicated to Henry, Prince of Wales, who died Novem ber 3, 1612.
The second edition appeared in 1612. Omitting LV, it contained, in addition to the remaining nine, the following twenty-nine : xxvii, xxm, xiv, xin, XLIII, xxvi, xxxvi,
XXXIV, XXV, XLIV,.XLII, VIII, VII, XI, XIX, XX, XVI, XVII,
LI u, xxxvin, xxxix, XL, TI (all of which, with s^pie va riations, occur in Harl. MS. 5106) ; in, xxn, x, LVI, LIV, xxix. Prince Henry having died, this volume was dedi cated to Bacon's brother-in-law, Sir John Constable.
The third edition, 1625, contained nineteen new essays :
I, IV, V, VI, IX, XII, XVIII, XXI, XXIV, XXXI, XXXIII,
xxxv, xxxvn, XLI, XLV, XLVI, Lvii, Lviii. Essay xv, which occurs in Harl. MS. 5106, was now first published, and Essay LV was restored.
The Latin translation, though practically complete in 1625, was not published until 1638. It was edited by the Rev. William Rawley, Bacon's chaplain. Two Essays, LII and LIII, were omitted. Numerous additions and variations were made, some of which, as helping to explain Bacon's meaning, are indicated in the Notes.
The best of recent editions are those of Whately (1856), Wright (3d edition 1865), Abbott (7th edition 1886 ; the text is poor), aim Reynolds (Oxford, 1890, for intensive study indispensable). Edward Arber published in 1871 a valuable Harmony of the Essays.
The standard edition of Bacon's complete works is that of Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, London, 1857-62 (Boston,
xxviii INTRODUCTION
Hough ton, Mifflin and Company). The standard life of Bacon is the Letters and Life by Spedding, in seven vol umes (London, 1861-74). The best accessible biographies are Spedding's abridged Life, Boston, 1878, and Nichol's Francis Bacon, His Life and Philosophy (Philadelphia, 1888-89). The biographies by Church (English Men of Let- ters), 1884, and Abbott, 1885 (see, also, his Bacon and Essex, London, 1877), while valuable in many ways, are b* many considered unjust to Bacon's character. Macautay's superficial essay in The Edinburgh Review for July, 1337, was mercilessly probed by Spedding (Evenings with a Re viewer, London, 1881), and pronounced wholly untrust worthy. Consult further the articles by S. R. Gardiner and T. Fowler in The Dictionary of National Biography, 1885 ; Minto's Manual of English Prose Literature, 3d edition, 1886; Michael Macmillan's "Bacon's Moral Teach ing," Intern. Journal of Ethics, October, 1906. For ink' esting particulars of the times, see Hubert Hall's Society in the Elizabethan Age, London, 1886.
IV
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1561. Francis Bacon born. 1564. Shakespeare and Galileo born. 1573. Bacon went to Cambridge. 1576. Bacon admitted to Gray's Inn. 1579. Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar.
Lyly's Euphues. 1580-81. Sidney's Arcadia and Apology for Poetrif
written. 1584. Bacon entered Parliament.
Letter of Advice to Queen Elizabeth.
1587. Execution of Mary Stuart. -
1588. Defeat of the Spanish Armada.
1589. Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of England.
1596. Maxims of the Law.
Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.
INTRODUCTION xxix
Essays, first edition
Discovery of the thermometer. 1509. E^ex went to Ireland. 1601. Execution of Essex. 1003. Death of Elizabeth: accession of James I.
1604. Bacon made Learned Counsel.
1605. The Advancement of Learning, Bks. i, ii. The Gunpowder Plot.
1606. Bacon's marriage to Alice Barnham.
1607. Bacon became Solicitor-General.
L609-10. Galileo improved the telescope and discovered Jupiter's satellites.
1610. Kepler's astronomical laws became known in Eng land.
1611. Authorized Version of the Bible. 1^12. Essays, second edition.
1613. The New Atlantis written.
1614. Napier invented logarithms.
1616. Bacon made Privy Counsellor. Shakespeare died.
1617. Bacon became Lord Keeper.
1618. Bacon made Lord Chancellor and Baron Verulain of Verulam.
1620. Novum Organum.
1621. Bacon made Viscount St, Alkiii, Bacon's fall.
1622. The History of Hen^' VIL De Augmentis Scientiarum.
1624. Apophthegms and Translations of Certain Psalms, James I. died. Essays, third edition. Bacon died.
THE
ESSAYES OR COVNSELS,
CIVILL AND MORALL,
OF
FRANCIS LO. VERVLAM, VISCOVNT ST. ALBAN NEWLY ENLARGED.
LONDON :
Printed by JOHN HAVILAND, for HANNA BARHET and RICHARD And are to be sold at the signe of the King's Head, in Paul's Churchyard. 1325.
'
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY
To the Right Honorable my very good Lo. the
of BUCKINGHAM his Grace, Lo. High Admiral of England.
EXCELLENT Lo.
SOLOMON says, A good name is as a precious ointment; and I assure myself, such will your Grace's name be with posterity. For your fortune and merit both have been eminent. And you have planted things that are like to last. I do now publish my Essays; which, of all my other works, have been most current; for that, as it seems, they come home to men's business and bosoms. I have enlarged them both in number and weight; so that they are indeed a new work. I thought it therefore agreeable to my affection and obligation to your Grace, to prefix your name before them, both in English and in Latin. For I do con ceive that the Latin volume of them (being in the universal language) may last as long as books last. My Instauration I dedicated to the King; my History of Henry the Seventh (which I have now also trans lated into Latin), and my portions of Natural History, to the Prince; and these I dedicate to your Grace- being of the best fruits that by the good increase which God gives to my pen and labors I could yield, God lead your Grace by the hand.
Your Grace's most obliged and faithful servant,
FR. ST. ALBAN.
ESSAYS OR COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL
OF TRUTH
WHA T is truth ? said jesting Pilate ; 1 and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be that delight
Ji>-^w*^V^f/ ff^^-^f^*
in glddinass,2 antl count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind 3 be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits 4 which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and labor which men take in finding out of truth; nor again that when it is found it imposeth upon men's thoughts; that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural though cor rupt love of the lie itself. One of the later school 5 of the Grecians examineth the matter and is at a stand to think what should be in it, that men should love lies, where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell; this same truth is a naked and open day-light, that doth not show th( masks and mummeries and triumphs of the world, hall so stately and daintily as candle-lights.6 Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. A
6 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a number of men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition^ and un- pleasing to themselves? One of the fathers,7 in great severity, called poesy vinum dcemonum [devil' s-wine], because it filleth the imagination; and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt1, such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last was the light of reason; and his sab bath work ever since is the illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed light upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen/ The poet8 that beautified the sect that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and to see ships tossed upon the sea ; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below : but no pleasure is comparable to the stand ing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the error i and wanderings and
OF DEATH 7
mists and tempests in the vale below ; so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity,9 rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth./
To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the truth of civil business; 10 it will be acknowledged even by those that practise it not, that clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature; and that mix ture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet, There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious/And therefore Montaigne saith n pret tily, when he inquired the reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace and such an odious charge. Saith he, If it be well weighed, to say that a man licth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men. For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of false hood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal12 to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men; it being foretold 13 that when Christ cometh, he shall not find faith upon the earth.
II
OF DEATH
MEN fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of
8 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
death, as the wages of sin and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious meditations there is sometimes mixture of vanity and of supersti tion. You shall read in some of the friars' books of mortification,1 that a man should think with himself what the pain is if he have but his finger's end pressed or tortured, and thereby imagine what the pains of death are, when the whole body is corrupted and dis solved; when many times death passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb; for the most vital parts are not the quickest of sense. And by him that spake 2 only as a philosopher and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis ferret, quam mors ipsa [It is the accompaniments of death that are frightful rather than death itself]. Groans and convulsions, and a dis colored face, and friends weeping, and blacks,3 and ob sequies, and the like, show death terrible. It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death; and therefore death is no such terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear pre-occupateth it; nay, we read,4 after Otho the emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to die, out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds5 niceness and satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest [Think how long thoii hast done the same thing; not only a valiant man or a miserable man, but also a fas tidious man is able to wish for death]. A man would
OF DEATH 9
die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over. It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration in good spirits the approaches of death make; for they* Appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Caesar6 died in a compliment; Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale [Farewell, Li via; and forget not the days of our marriage]. Tiberius in dissimulation; as Tacitus saith 7 of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, desere- bant [His powers of body were gone, but his power of dissimulation still remained]. Vespasian 8 in a jest, sit ting upon the stool; Ut puto deus fio [As I think, I am becoming a god]. Galba 9 with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani [Strike, if it be for the good of Rome]; holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus 10 in despatch; Adcste si quid mihi restat agendum [Be at hand, if there is anything more for me to do]. And the like. Certainly the Stoics11 bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great preparations made it appear more fearful. Better saith he,12 qui finem vitas extremum. inter munera ponat natures [who ac counts the close of life as one of the benefits of nature]. It is as natural to die as to be born ; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good doth avert the dolors of death. But, above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, Nunc dimittis 13 [Now lettest thou . . . depart]; • when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguished! envy. Extinctus amabitur idem 14 [The
10 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
same man that was envied while he lived, shall bt loved when he is gone].
Ill
OF UNITY IN RELIGION
RELIGION being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief. For you may imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors and fathers of their church were the poets.1 But the true God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God ; 2 and therefore his worship and religion will endure no mixture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words con cerning the unity of the church; what are the fruits thereof; what the bounds; and what the means.
The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing of God, which is all in all) are two: the one towards those that are without the church, the other towards those that are within. For the former; it is certain that heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest scandals; yea, more than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body a wound or solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt humor; so in the spiritual. So that nothing doth so much keep men out of the church, and drive men out of the church, as breach of unity. And therefore, whensoever it cometh to that pass, that one saith Ecce in deserto3 [Lo! in the desert], another saith Ecce in penetralibus [Lo! in the sanchi* ary]; that is, when some men seek Christ in the con-
OF UNITY IN RELIGION 11
venticles of heretics, and others in an outward face of a church, that voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, Nolite exire, — Go not out. The doctoi of the Gentiles 4 (the propriety of whose vocation drew him to have a special care of those without) saith, If an heathen come in, and hear you speak with several tongues, will he not say that you are mad ? And certainly it is little better, when atheists and profane persons do hear of so many discordant and contrary opinions in religion; it doth avert them from the church, and maketh them to sit down 5 in the chair of the scorners. It is but a light thing to be vouched in so serious a matter, but yet it expresseth well the deformity. There is a master of scoffing,6 that in his catalogue of books of a feigned library sets down this title of a book, The Morris-Dance of Heretics. For indeed every sect of them hath a diverse posture or cringe by themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings and depraved politics,7 who are apt to contemn holy things.
As for the fruit towards those that are within; it is peace; which containeth infinite blessings. It estab- lisheth faith; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the church distilleth into peace of conscience; and it turneth the labors of writing and reading of contro versies into treaties 8 of mortification and devotion.
Concerning the bounds of unity; the true placing of them importeth exceedingly. There appear to be two extremes. For to certain zealants 9 all speech of pacification is odious. 7* it peace,10 Jehu? What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. Peace is not the matter, but following and party. Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans u and lukewarm persons think they may accommodate points of religion by middle ways,
12 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
and taking part of both, and witty reconcilements; as if they would make an arbitrament between God and man. Both these extremes are to be avoided; which will be done, if the league of Christians penned by our Savior himself were in the two cross clauses 12 thereof soundly and plainly expounded : He that is not with us is against us; and again, He that is not against us is with us; that is, if the points fundamental and of substance in religion were truly discerned and distin guished from points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good intention. This is a thing may seem to many a matter trivial, and done already. But if it were done less partially, it would be embraced more generally.
Of this I may give only this advice, according to my small model. Men ought to take heed of rending God's church by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter of the point controverted is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by contradiction. For as it is noted by one of the fathers,13 Christ's coat indeed had no seam, but the church's vesture was of divers colors ; whereupon he saith, In veste varietas sit, scissura non sit [Let there be variety in the garment, but let there be no division]; they be two things, unity and uniformity. The other is, when the matter of the point controverted is great, but it is driven to an over-great subtilty and obscurity; so that it becometh a thing rather ingenious than sub stantial. A man that is of judgment and understand ing shall sometimes hear ignorant men differ, and know well within himself that those which so differ mean one thing, and yet they themselves would never agree. And iHt come so to pass in that distance of judgment which is between man and man. shall we not think 14
13
that God above, that knows the heart, doth not dis cern that frail men in some of their contradictions intend the same thing; and accepteth of both? The nature of such controversies is excellently expressed by St. Paul in the warning and precept that he giveth concerning the same, Devita 15 profanas vocum novi- tates, et oppositiones falsi nominis sciential [Avoid pro fane novelties of terms, and oppositions of ^science falsely so called]. Men create oppositions which are not; and put them into new terms so fixed, as whereas the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect governeth the meaning.16 There be also two false peaces or unities: the one, when the peace is grounded but upon an implicit 17 ignorance; for all colors will agree in the dark: the other, when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries in fundamental points. For truth and falsehood, in such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebu chadnezzar's image; 18 they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.
Concerning the means of procuring unity; men must beware, that in the procuring or muniting of religious unity they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity and of human society. There be two swords 19 amongst Christians, the spiritual and temporal; and both have their due office and place in the mainte nance of religion. But we may not take up the third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, or like unto it; that is, to propagate religion by wars or by sanguinary per secutions to force consciences; except it be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermixture of practice against the state; much less to nourish seditions; to authorize conspiracies and rebellions; to put the sword into the people's hands; and the like; tending to the
14 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
subversion of all government, which is the ordinance of God. For this is but to dash the first table 20 against the second; and so to consider men as Christians, as we forget that they are men. Lucretius21 the poet, when he beheld the act of Agamemnon, thai could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, ex claimed :
" Tantum Relligio potuit suadere malorum "
[To such ill actions Religion could persuade a man]. What would he have said, if he had known of the mas sacre in France,22 or the powder treason of England ? 23 He would have been seven times more Epicure 24 and atheist than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be drawn with great circumspection in cases of religion; so it is a thing monstrous to put it into the hands of the common people. Let that be left unto the Ana baptists,25 and other furies. It was great blasphemy when the devil said,26 1 will ascend and be like the High est; but it is greater blasphemy to personate God, and bring him in saying, I will descend, and be like the prince of darkness: and what is better, to make the cause of religion to descend to the cruel and execrable actions of murthering princes, butchery of people, and subversion of states and governments ? Surely this is to bring down the Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of a dove,27 in the shape of a vulture or raven ; and set out of the bark of a Christian church a flag of a bark of pirates and assassins. Therefore it is most neces sary that the church by doctrine and decree, princes by their sword, and all learnings, both Christian and moral, as by their Mercury rod,28 do damn and send to hell for ever those facts and opinions tending to the support of the same; as hath been already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion,
\
OF REVENGE 15
that counsel of the apostle29 would be prefixed, Ira hominis non implet justitiam Dei [The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God]. And it was a notable observation of a wise father,30 and no less ingenuously confessed ; that those which held and per suaded pressure of consciences, were commonly inter- esscd 31 therein themselves for their own ends.
IV
OF REVENGE
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth out offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Solomon,1 I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me ? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tol erable sort of revenge is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; 2 but then let a man take heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one.
16 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
Some, when they take revenge, are desirous the party should know whence it cometh. This is the more gen erous. For the delight seemeth to be not so much in doing the hurt as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus,3 duke of Florence, had a des perate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our ene mies; but you never read that we are commanded to for give our friends. But yet the spirit of Job 4 was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he) take good at God's hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. Public re venges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; 5 for the death of Pertinax; 6 for the death of Henry the Third7 of France; and many more. But in private revenges it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate.
OF ADVERSITY
IT was an high speech of Seneca 1 (after the man ner of the Stoics), that the good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished ; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired. Bona rerum se- cundarum optabilia ; adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if miracles be the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher speech 2 of his than the other (much too high for a heathen), It is
OF ADVERSITY 17
true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God. Vere magnum habere fragilita- tem hominis, securitatem Dei. This would have done better in poesy, where transcendences are more al lowed. And the poets indeed have been busy with it; for it is in effect the thing which is figured in that strange fiction 3 of the ancient poets, which seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some approach to the state of a Christian; that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus (by whom human nature is represented), sailed the length of the great ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher ; lively describing Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh through the waves of the world. But to speak in a mean.4 The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament ; adversity is the blessing of the New; which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor. 'Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.5 Pros perity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle- works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground: judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: for prosperity doth best dis cover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.
18 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
VI L
OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION
DISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of policy or wis dom; for it asketh a strong wit and a strong heart to know when to tell truth, and to do it. Therefore it is the weaker sort of politics that are the great dis semblers.
Tacitus saith,1 Livia sorted well with the arts of her husband and dissimulation of her son ; attributing arts or policy to Augustus, and dissimulation to Tiberius. And again,2 when Mucianus encourageth Vespasian to take arms against Vitellius, he saith, We rise not against the piercing judgment of Augustus, nor the ex treme caution or closeness of Tiberius. These proper ties, of arts or policy and dissimulation or closeness, are indeed habits and faculties several, and to be distin guished. For if a man have that penetration of judg ment as he can discern what things are to be laid open, and what to be secreted, and what to be showed at half lights, and to whom and when (which indeed are arts of state and arts of life, as Tacitus well calleth them *), to him a habit of dissimulation is a hinderance and a poorness. But if a man cannot obtain to that judg ment, then it is left to him generally to be close, and a dissembler. For where a man cannot choose or vary in particulars, there it is good to take the safest and wariest way in general; like the going softly by one that cannot well see. Certainly the ablest men that ever were have had all an openness and frankness of deal ing; and a name of certainty and veracity; but then they were like horses well managed ; for they could tell passing well when to stop or turn; and at such
OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION 19
times when they thought the case indeed required dissimulation, if then they used it, it came to pass that the former opinion spread abroad of their good faith and clearness of dealing made them almost invisible.
There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man's self. The first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy; when a man leaveth himself without observa tion, or without hold to be taken, what he is. The second, dissimulation, in the negative; when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not that he is. And the third, simulation, in the affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not.
For the first of these, secrecy; it is indeed the virtue of a confessor. And assuredly the secret man heareth many confessions. For who will open himself to a blab or a babbler ? But if a man be thought secret, it inviteth discovery; as the more close air sucketh in 4 the more open; and as in confession the revealing is not for worldly use, but for the ease of a man's heart, so secret men come to the knowledge of many things in that kind; while men rather discharge their minds than impart their minds. In few words, mysteries are _ due to secrecy. Besides (to say truth) nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body; and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners and actions, if they be not altogether open. As for talkers and futile per sons, they are commonly vain and credulous withal. For he that talketh what he knoweth, will also talk what he knoweth not. Therefore set it down, that an • habit of secrecy is both politic and moral. And in this part it is good that a man's face give his tongue leave to speak. For the discovery of a man's self 5 by the tracts of his countenance is a great weakness and be-
20 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
traying; by how much it is many times more marked and believed than a man's words.
For the second, which is dissimulation; it followeth many times upon secrecy by a nece?sity; so that he that will be secret must be a dissembler in some degree. For men are too cunning to suffer a man to keep an indifferent carriage between both, and to be secret, without swaying the balance on either side. They will so beset a man with questions, and draw him on, and pick it out of him, that, without an absurd silence, he must show an inclination one way; or if he do not, they will gather as much by his silence as by his speech. As for equivocations, or oraculous speeches, they can not hold out long. So that no man can be secret,8 except he give himself a little scope of dissimulation; which is, as it were, but the skirts or train of secrecy.
But for the third degree, which is simulation and false profession; that I hold more culpable, and less politic; except it be in great and rare matters. And therefore a general custom of simulation (which is this last degree) is a vice, rising either of a natural falseness or fearfulness, or of a mind that hath some main faults, which because a man must needs disguise, it maketh him practise simulation in other things, lest his hand should be out of ure.7
The great advantages of simulation and dissimula tion are three. First, to lay asleep opposition, and to surprise. For where a man's intentions are pub lished, it is an alarum to call up all that are against them. The second is, to reserve to a man's self a fair retreat. For if a man engage himself by a manifest declaration, he must go through or take a fall. The third is, the better to discover the mind of another. For to him that opens himself men will hardly show
OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN 21
themselves adverse; but will (fair) let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech to freedom of thought. And therefore it is a good shrewd proverb of the Spaniard, Tell a lie 8 and find a troth. As if there were no way of discovery but by simulation. There be also three disadvantages, to set it even. The first, that simulation and dissimulation commonly carry with them a show of fearfulness, which in any business doth spoil the feathers of round flying up to the mark. The second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the con ceits of many, that perhaps would otherwise co-operate with him; and makes a man walk almost alone to his own ends. The third and greatest is, that it depriveth a man of one of the most principal instruments for action ; which is trust and belief. The best composi tion and temperature is to have openness in fame and opinion;9 secrecy in habit; dissimulation in seasonable use; and a power to feign, if there be no remedy.
VII
OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN
THE joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears. They cannot utter the one; nor they will not utter the other. Children sweeten labors; but they make misfortunes more bitter. They increase the cares of life; but they mitigate the remembrance of death. The perpetuity by generation is common to beasts; but memory, merit, and noble works are proper to men. And surely * a man shall see the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from child less men ; which have sought to express the images of their minds, where those of their bodies have failed. So the care of posterity is most in them that have no
22 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
posterity. They that are the first raisers of their houses are most indulgent towards their children; beholding them as the continuance not only of their kind but of their work; and so 'both children and creatures.
The difference in affection 2 of parents towards their several children is many times unequal; and sometimes unworthy; especially in the mother; as Solomon saith,3 4 wise son rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious son shames the mother. A man shall see, where there is a house full of children, one or two of the eldest re spected, and the youngest made wantons; but in the midst some that are as it were forgotten, who many times nevertheless prove the best. The illiberality of parents in allowance towards their children is an harmful error; makes them base; acquaints them with shifts; makes them sort with mean company; and makes them surfeit more when they come to plenty. And therefore the proof is best, when men keep their authority towards their children, but not their purse. MeiTTiave aTfooIish manner (both parents and school masters and servants) in creating and breeding an emulation between brothers during childhood, which many times sorteth to discord when they are men, and disturbeth families. The Italians make little difference between children and nephews or near kinsfolks; but so they be of the lump, they care not though they pass not through their own body. And, to say truth, in nature it is much a like matter; insomuch that we see a nephew sometimes resembleth an uncle or a kinsman more than his own parent; as the blood happens. Let parents choose betimes the vocations and courses they mean their children should take; for then they are most flexible; and let them not too much apply them selves to the disposition of their children, as thinking
OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE 23
they will take best to that which they have most mind to. It is true, that if the affection or aptness of the children be extraordinary, then it is good not to cross it; but generally the precept 4 is good, optimum elige, suave et facile illud faciet consuetude [choose the best ^ • — custom will make it pleasant and easy]. Younger brothers are commonly fortunate, but seldom or never where the elder are disinherited.
VIII
OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE
V
HE that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments 1 to great enter prises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public. Yet it were great reason that those that have children should have greatest care of future times ; unto which they know they must transmit their dearest pledges.2 Some there are, who though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, and account future times impertinences. Nay, there are some other that account wife and children but as bills of charges. Nay more, there are some foolish rich covetous men, that take a pride in having no children, because they may be thought so much the richer. For perhaps they have heard some talk, Such an one is a great rich man, and another except to it, Yea, but he hath a great charge of children; as if it were an abatement to his riches. But the most ordi nary cause of a single life is liberty, especially in cer tain self-pleasing and humorous minds,3 which are so
24 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
• sensible of every restraint, as they will go near to think , their girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles. / Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants; but not always best subjects; for they are light to run away; and almost all fugitives are of that condition. A single life doth well with churchmen; for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. It is indifferent for judges and magis-. trates; for if they be facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant five times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly in their hortatives put men in mind of their wives and children; and I think the despising of marriage amongst the Turks maketh the vulgar soldier more base. I Certainly wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity; and single men, though they may be many times more charitable, be cause their means are less exhaust, yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hardhearted (good to make severe inquisitors), because their tenderness is not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses,4 vetulam suam praetulit immor- talitati [he preferred his old wife to immortality] Chaste women are often proud and f reward, as pre suming upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds both of chastity and obedience in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will
i never do if she find him jealous. Wives are youn^r men's mistresses; companions for middle age; and olo men^s nurses. So as a man may have a quarrel 5 to marry when he will. But yet he was reputed one of the wise men,6 that made answer to the question, when a man should marry, — A young man not yet, an elder man not at all. ,It is often seen that bad husbands
OF ENVY 25
have very good wives; whether it be that it raiseth the price of their husband's kindness when it comes; or that the wives take a pride in their patience. But this never fails, if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against their friends' consent; for then they will be sure to make good their own folly.
IX
OF ENVY
THERE be none of the affections which have been noted to fascinate or bewitch, but love and envy. They both have vehement wishes; they frame them selves readily into imaginations and suggestions; and they come easily into the eye, especially upon the pre sence of the objects; which are the points that con duce to fascination, if any such thing there be. We see likewise the Scripture 1 calleth envy an evil eye; and the astrologers call the evil influences 2 of the stars evil aspects; so that still there seemeth to be acknow ledged, in the act of envy, an ejaculation or irradiation of the eye.3 Nay some have been so curious as to note that the times when the stroke or percussion of an en vious eye doth most hurt are when the party envied is beheld in glory or triumph; 4 for that sets an edge upon envy : and besides, at such times the spirits of the per son envied do come forth most into the outward parts, and so meet the blow.
But leaving these curiosities (though not unworthy to be thought on in fit place), we will handle, what persons are apt to envy others; what persons are most subject to be envied themselves ; and what is the differ ence between public and private envy.
A man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth
26 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
virtue in others. For men's minds will either feed upon their own good or upon others' evil; and who wanteth the one will prey upon the other; and whose is out of hope to attain to another's virtue, will seek to come at even hand by depressing another's fortune.
A man that is busy and inquisitive is commonl} envious. For to know much of other men's matters cannot be because all that ado may concern his own estate; therefore it must needs be that he taketh a kind of play-pleasure in looking upon the fortunes of others. Neither can he that mindeth but his own busi ness find much matter for envy. For envy is a gad ding passion, and walketh the streets, and doth not keep home: Nonest 5 curiosiis, quin idem sit malevolvj [There is no curious man but has some malevolence to quicken his curiosity].
Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards new men 8 when they rise. For the distance is altered ; and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on they think themselves go back.
Deformed persons,7 and eunuchs, and old men, and bastards, are envious. For he that cannot possibly mend his own case will do what he can to impair an other's; except these defects light upon a very brave and heroical nature, which thinketh to make his nat ural wants part of his honor; in that it should b< said, that an eunuch, or a lame man, did such great matters ; affecting the honor of a miracle; as it was in Narses 8 the eunuch, and Agesilaus 9 and Tamber- lanes,10 that were lame men.
The same is the case of men that rise n after calami ties and misfortunes. For they are as men fallen out with the times; and think other men's harms a redemp tion of their own sufferings.
OF ENVY 27
They that desire to excel in too many matters, out of levity and vain glory, are ever envious. For they cannot want work;12 it being impossible but many in some one of those things should surpass them. Whicl was the character of Adrian 13 the Emperor; that mor tally envied poets and painters and artificers, in works wherein he had a vein to excel.
Lastly, near kinsfolks,14 and fellows in office, and those that have been bred together, are more apt to envy their equals when they are raised. For it doth upbraid unto them their own fortunes, and pointeth at them, and cometh oftener into their remembrance, and incurreth likewise more into the note of others; and envy ever redoubleth from speech and fame. Cain's envy 15 was the more vile and malignant towards his brother Abel, because when his sacrifice was better accepted there was no body to look on. Thus much for those that are apt to envy.
Concerning those that are more or less subject to envy: First, persons of eminent virtue, when they are advanced, are less envied. For their fortune seem- eth but due unto them; and no man envieth the payment of a debt, but rewards and liberality rather. Again, envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man's self; and where there is no comparison, no envy; and therefore kings are not envied but by kings. Nevertheless it is to be noted that unworthy person! are most envied at their first coming in, and afterwards overcome it better; whereas contrariwise, persons of worth and merit are most envied when their fortune continueth long. For by that time, though their virtue be the same, yet it hath not the same lustre; for fresh men grow up that darken it.
Persons of noble blood are less envied in their rising.
28 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
For it seemeth but right done to their birth. Besides, there seemeth not much added to their fortune; and envy is as the sunbeams,16 that beat hotter upon a bank or steep rising ground, than upon a flat. And for the same reason those that are advanced by degrees are less envied than those that are advanced suddenly and per saltum [at a bound].
Those that have joined17 with their honor great trav els, cares, or perils, are less subject to envy. For men think that they earn their honors hardly, and pity them sometimes; and pity ever healeth envy.18 Where fore you shall observe that the more deep and sober sort of politic persons,19 in their greatness, are ever be moaning themselves, what a life they lead ; chanting a quanta patimur [how great things do we suffer!]. Not that they feel it so, but only to abate the edge of envy. But this is to be understood of business that is laid upon men, and not such as they call unto them selves. For nothing increaseth envy more than an un necessary and ambitious engrossing of business. And nothing doth extinguish enyy more than for a great person to preserve all other inferior officers in their fall rights and pre-eminences of their places. For by that means there be so many screens between him and envy.
Above all, those are most subject to envy, which carry the greatness of their fortunes in an insolent and proud manner; being never well but while they are showing how great they are, either by outward pomp, or by triumphing over all opposition or competition; whereas wise men will rather do sacrifice to envy, in suffering themselves sometimes of purpose to be crossed and overborne in things that do not much concern them. Notwithstanding, so much is true, that the car-
OF ENVY 29
riage of greatness in a plain and open manner (so it be without arrogancy and vain glory) doth draw less envy than if it be in a more crafty and cunning fashion. For in that course a man doth but disavow fortune;20 and seemeth to be conscious of his own want in worth; and doth but teach others to envy him.
Lastly, to conclude this part; as we said in the begin ning that the act of envy had somewhat in it of witch craft, so there is no other cure of envy but the cure of witchcraft;21 and that is, to remove the lot22 (as they call it) and to lay it upon another. For which purpose, the wiser sort of great persons bring in ever upon the stage somebody upon whom to derive the envy that would come upon themselves; sometimes upon ministers and servants; sometimes upon col leagues and associates; and the like; and for that turn there are never wanting some persons of violent and undertaking natures, who, so they may have power and business, will take it at any cost.
Now, to speak of public envy. There is yet some good in public envy, whereas in private there is none. v For public envy is as an ostracism, that eclipseth men when they grow too great. And therefore it is a bridle also to great ones, to keep them within bounds.
This envy, being in the Latin word invidia, goeth in the modern languages by the name of discontentment ; of which we shall speak in handling sedition. It is a disease in a state like to infection. For as infection spreadeth upon that which is sound, and tainteth it; so when envy is gotten once into a state, it traduceth even the best actions thereof, and turneth them into an ill odor. And therefore there is little won by inter mingling of plausible 23 actions. For that doth argue but a weakness and fear of envy, which hurteth so
80
much the more, as it is likewise usual in infections, which if you fear them, you call them upon you.
This public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon prin- cipal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings and estates themselves. But this is a sure rule, that if the envy upon the minister be great, when the cause of it in him is small; or if the envy be general in a man ner upon all the ministers of an estate; then the envy (though hidden) is truly upon the state itself.24 And so much of public envy or discontentment, and the dif ference thereof from private envy, which was handled in the first place.
We will add this in general, touching the affection of envy; that of all other affections it is the most im portune and continual. For of other affections there is occasion given but now and then ; and therefore it was well said, Invidia festos dies non agit [Envy keeps no holidays]: for it is ever working upon some or other. And it is also noted that love and envy do make a man pine, which other affections do not, because they are not so continual. It is also the vilest affection, and the ^most depraved;25 for which cause it is the proper attri bute of the devil, who is called the envious man,26 that soweth tares amongst the wheat by night; as it always cometh to pass, that envy worketh subtilly, and in the dark; and to the prejudice of good things, such as is the wheat.
X
OF LOVE
THE stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of come dies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief; sometimes like a siren,1 sometimes like
OF LOVE 31
a fury.2 You may observe that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent) there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of love : which shows that great spirits and great business do keep out this weak passion. You must except nevertheless Marcus Antonius,3 the half partner of the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius,4 the decemvir and law giver; 5 whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the latter was an austere and wise man : and therefore it seems (though rarely) that love can find entrance not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. It is a poor saying 6 of Epicurus, Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus [Each is to another a theatre large enough] ; as if man, made for the contemplation of heaven and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel before a little idol,7 and make himself a subject, though not of the mouth (as beasts are), yet of the eye; which was given him for higher purposes. It is a strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature and value of things, by this; that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love. Neither is it merely in the phrase; for whereas it hath been .well said that the arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self; certainly the lover is more. For there was never proud man thought so absurdly well of himself as the lover doth 8 of the person loved ; and therefore it was well said,9 That it is impossible to love and to be wise. Neither doth this weakness appear to others only, and not to the party loved; but to the loved most of all, except the love be reciproque.10 For it is a true rule, that love is ever rewarded either with
32 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
the reciproque or with an inward and secret contempt. By how much the more men ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things, but itself! As for the other losses, the poet's relation doth well figure them: that he that preferred11 Helena quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas. For whosoever esteem' eth too much of amorous affection quitteth both riches and wisdom." This passion hath his floods in the very times of weakness; which are great prosperity and great adversity; though this latter hath been less ob served: both which times kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore show it to be the child of folly. They do best, who if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarter;13 and sever it wholly from their serious affairs and actions of life; for if it check once with business, it troubleth men's fortunes, and maketh men that they can no ways be true to their own ends. I know not how, but martial men 14 are given to love: I think it is but as they are given to wine; for perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasures. There is in man's nature a secret inclination and mo tion towards love of others, which if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable; as it is seen sometime in friars. Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love 15 perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it. nav^ >je -to foul Fvat\V<.\
XI
OF GREAT PLACE
MEN in great place are thrice servants : servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of business. So as they have no freedom; 1 neither in
OF GREAT PLACE 33
their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty : or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man's self. The rising unto place is laborious; and by pains men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base; and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress is either a down fall, or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing. Cum non sis 2 qui fueris, non csse cur veils vivere [When a man feels that he is no longer what he was, he has no reason to live longer]. Nay, retire men can not when they would,3 neither will they when it were reason; but are impatient of privateness, even in age and sickness, which require the shadow; like old towns men, that will be still sitting at their street door, though thereby they offer age to scorn. Certainly great per sons had need to borrow other men's opinions, to think themselves happy; for if they judge by their own feel ing, they cannot find it: but if they think with them selves what other men think of them, and that other men would fain be as they are, then they are happy as it were by report ; when perhaps they find the con trary within. For they are the first that find their own griefs, though they be the last that find their own faults. Certainly men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of busi ness they have no time to tend their health either of body or mind. Illi mors grams incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi [It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself]. In place there is license to do good and evil; whereof the latter is a curse: for in evil the best condition is not to will; the second, not to can.4 But power to do good is the true and law-
84 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
ful end of aspiring. For good thoughts (though God accept them) yet towards men are little better than good dreams, except they be put in act; and that can not be without power and place, as the vantage and commanding ground. Merit and good works is the end of man's motion; and conscience 5 of the same is the accomplishment of man's rest. For if a man can be partaker of God's theatre,6 he shall likewise be par taker of God's rest. Et conversus Dens,1 ut aspiceret opera quafecerunt manus suas, vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis [And God turned to look upon the works which his hands had made, and saw that all were very good] ; and then the sabbath. In the discharge of thy place set before thee the best examples; for imitation ;is a globe of precepts. And after a time set before thee thine own example; and examine thyself strictly whether thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also & the examples of those that have carried themselves ill in the same place; not to set off thyself by taxing their memory, but to direct thyself what to avoid. Reform therefore, without bravery 9 or scandal of former times and persons; but yet set it down to thyself as well to create good precedents as to follow them. Reduce things to the first institution, and observe wherein and how they have degenerate; but yet ask counsel of both times; of the ancient time, what is best; and of the latter time, what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect; but be not too positive and peremptory; and express thyself well when thou digressest from thy rule. Preserve the right of thy place; but stir not questions of jurisdiction : and rather assume thy right in silence and de facto [from the fact], than voice it with claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of
OF GREAT -PLACE 35
inferior places; and think it more honor to direct in chief than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite helps and advices 10 touching the execution of thy place; and do not drive away such as bring thee information, as meddlers; but accept of them in good part. The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, rough ness, and facility.11 For delays: give easy access; keep times appointed; go through with that which is in hand, and interlace not business but of necessity. For corruption : do not only bind thine own hands or thy servants' hands from taking, but bind the hands of suitors also from offering. For integrity used doth the one: but integrity professed, and with a manifest de testation of bribery, doth the other. And avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest 'jause, giveth suspicion of corruption. Therefore al ways when thou changest thine opinion or course, pro fess it plainly, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change ; and do not think to steal it. A servant or a favorite, if he be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is commonly thought buf a by-way to close corruption. For roughness: it is a needless cause of discontent: severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from authority ought to be grave, and not taunting. As for facility: it is worse than bribery. For bribes come but now and then; but if importunity or idle respects lead a man, he shall never be without. As Solomon saith,12 To respect persons is not good; for zuch a man will transgress for a piece of bread. It is most true that was anciently spoken, A place showeth the man.13 And it showeth some to the better, and some to the worse. Omnium consensu capax imperil, nisi imperasset [A
36 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
man whom every body would have thought fit for empire if he had not been emperor], saith Tacitus 14 of Galba; but of Vespasian 15 he saith, Solug imperantium, Vespasianus mutatus in melius [He was the only em peror whom the possession of power changed for the better] ; though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affection. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom honor amends. For honor is, or should be, the place of virtue; and as in nature things move violently to their place and calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent,, in authority settled and calm. All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the mem ory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them, and rather call them ie when they look not for it, than ex clude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, When he sits in place he is another man-
XII
OF BOLDNESS
IT is a trivial grammar-school text, but yet worth} a wise man's consideration. Question was asked * of Demosthenes, what was the chief part of an orator? he answered, action; what next? action; what next again ? action. He said it that knew it best, and had by nature himself no advantage in that he commended. A strange thing, that that part of an orator which is
OF BOLDNESS 3?
but superficial, and rather the virtue of a player, should be placed so high, above those other noble parts of invention, elocution: and the rest; nay almost alone, as if it were all in all. But the reason is plain. There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise; and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of men's minds is taken are most potent. Wonderful like is the case of boldness, in civil busi ness : what first ? boldness ; what second and third ? boldness. And yet 'boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts. But never theless it doth fascinate and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage, which are the greatest part; yea and prevaileth with wise men at weak times. Therefore we see it hath done wonders in popular states; but with senates and princes less; and more ever upon the first entrance of bold persons into action than soon after; for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely as there are mounte banks 2 for the natural body, so are there mountebanks for the politic body; men that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky in two or three experi ments, but want the grounds 3 of science, and therefore cannot hold out. Nay, you shall see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call an hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the ob servers of his law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hill 4 will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill. So these men, when they have pro mised great matters and failed most shamefully, yet (if they have the perfection of boldness) they will but
38 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
slight it over, and make a turn, and no more ado. Certainly to men of great judgment, bold persons are a sport to behold; nay and to the vulgar also, boldness has somewhat of the ridiculous. For if absurdity be the subject of laughter, doubt you not but great bold ness is seldom without some absurdity. Especially it is a sport to see, when a bold fellow is out of counte nance; for that puts his face into a most shrunken and wooden posture ; 5 as needs it must; for in bashfulness the spirits do a little go and come; but with bold men, upon like occasion, they stand at a stay; like a stale G at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir. But this last were fitter for a satire than for a serious observation. This is well to be weighed; that boldness is ever blind; for it seeth not dangers and inconveniences. Therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution; so that the right use of bold persons is, that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others. For in counsel it is good to see dangers; and in execution not to see them, except they be very great.
XIII
OF GOODNESS AND GOODNESS OF NATURE
I TAKE goodness in this sense, the affecting of the weal of men, which is that the Grecians call philan- thropia; and the word humanity (as it is used) is a little too light to express it. Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of nature the inclination. This of all virtues and dignities of the mind is the greatest; being the character of the Deity: and without it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing; no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the theologi-
OF GOODNESS AND GOODNESS OF NATURE 39
cal virtue charity, and admits no excess, but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall ; l the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it. The inclination to good ness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man; inso much that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures; as it is seen in the Turks, a cruel people, who nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds; insomuch as Busbechius 2 reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishness a long-billed fowl. Errors indeed in this virtue of good ness or charity may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious proverb, Tanto buon che val niente \So good, that he is good for nothing]. And one of the doc tors 3 of Italy, Nicholas Machiavel,4 had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain terms, That the Chris tian faith had given up good men in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust. Which he spake, because indeed there was never law or sect or opinion did so much magnify goodness as the Christian religion doth. Therefore, to avoid the scandal and the danger both, it is good to take knowledge of the errors of an habit so excellent. Seek the good of other men, but be not in bondage to their faces or fancies; for that is but facility or softness ; which taketh an honest mind pris oner. Neither give thou ^Esop's cock 5 a gem, who would be better pleased and happier if he had had a barley-corn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truly : He sendeth his rain 6 and maketh his sun to shine upon the just and unjust ; but he doth not rain wealth, nor shine honor and virtues, upon men equally. Common benefits are to be communicate with all; but peculiar
40 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
benefits with choice. And beware how in making tie portraiture thou breakest the pattern. For divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern; the love of our neighbors but the portraiture. Sell all thou hast,1 and give it to the poor, and follow me : but sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me; that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou mayest do as much good with little means as with great; for other wise in feeding the streams thou driest the fountain. Neither is there only a habit of goodness, directed by right reason; but there is in some men, even in nature, a disposition 8 towards it; as on the other side there is a natural malignity. For there be that in their nature do not affect the good of others. The lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a crossness, or frowardness, or aptness to oppose, or difficilness, or the like; but the deeper sort to envy and mere mischief. Such men in other men's calamities are, as it were, in season, and are ever on the loading part: not so good as the dogs that licked Lazarus' sores; 9 but like flies that are still buzzing upon any thing that is raw; misanthropi [haters of men], that make it their practice to bring men to the bough, and yet have never a tree for the purpose in their gardens, as Timon 10 had. Such dispositions are the very errors of human nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make great politics of; like to knee timber, that is good for ships, that are ordained to be tossed; but not for building houses, that shall stand firm. The parts and signs of goodness are many. If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. If he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it shows that his heart is like the noble
OF NOBILITY 41
tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balm.11 If he easily pardons and remits offences, it shows that his mind is planted above injuries; so that he cannot be shot. If he be thankful for small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash. But above all, if he have St. Paul's perfection,12 that he would wish to be an anathema from Christ for the salvation of his brethren, it shows much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with Christ himself.
XIV
OF NOBILITY
WE will speak of nobility first as a portion of an estate;1 then as a condition of particular persons. A monarchy where there is no nobility at all is ever a pure and absolute tyranny; as that of the Turks. For nobility attempers sovereignty, and draws the eyes of the people somewhat aside from the line royal. But for democracies, they need it not; and they are com monly more quiet and less subject to sedition, than where there are stirps of nobles. For men's eyes are upon the business, and not upon the persons; or if upon the persons, it is for the business' sake, as fittest, and not for flags and pedigree. We see the Switzers 2 last well, notwithstanding their diversity of religion and of cantons. For utility is their bond, and not respects.3 The united provinces of the Low Countries 4 in their government excel; for where there is an equal ity, the consultations are more indifferent, and the pay ments and tributes more cheerful. A great and potent nobility addeth majesty to a monarch, but diminisheth power; and putteth life and spirit into the people, but presseth their fortune. It is well when nobles are not
42 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
too great for sovereignty nor for justice; and yet maintained in that height, as the insolency of inferiors may be broken upon them before it come on too fast upon the majesty of kings. A numerous nobility causeth poverty and inconvenience in a state; for it is a surcharge of expense; and besides, it being of neces sity that many of the nobility fall in time to be weak in fortune, it maketh a kind of disproportion between honor and means.
As for nobility in particular persons; it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay; or to see a fair timber tree sound and perfect. How much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the waves and weathers of time! For new nobility is but the act of power, but ancient nobility is the act of time. Those that are first raised to nobility are commonly more virtuous, but less in nocent, than their descendants; for there is rarely any rising but by a commixture of good and evil arts. But it is reason the memory of their virtues 5 remain to their posterity, and their faults die with themselves. Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry; and he that is not industrious, envieth him that is. Be sides, noble persons cannot go much higher; and he that standeth at a stay when others rise, can hardly avoid motions of envy. On the other side, nobility extinguisheth the passive envy from others towards them; because they are in possession of honor. Cer tainly, kings that have able men of their nobility shall find ease in employing them, and a better slide into their business; for people naturally bend to them, as born in some sort to command.
OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 43
XV
OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES
SHEPHERDS of people had need know the calendars * of tempests in state; which are commonly greatest when things grow to equality; as natural tempests are greatest about the Equinoctia. And as there are cer tain hollow blasts of wind and secret swellings of seas before a tempest, so are there in states:
Ille etiam 2 caecos instate tumultus
Ssepe monet, fraudesque et operta tumescere Bella.
[Of troubles imminent and treasons dark
Thence warning conies, and wars in secret gathering.]
Libels and licentious discourses against the state, when they are frequent and open; and in like sort, false news often running up and down to the disadvantage of the state, and hastily embraced; are amongst the signs of troubles. Virgil,3 giving the pedigree of Fame, suilh she was sister to the Giants:
1 Hum Terra parens, ira irritata deorum,
Extremam (ut perhibent) Creo Enceladoque sororem
Progenuit.
[Her, Parent Earth, furious with the anger of the gods, brought forth, the youngest sister (as they affirm) of Coeus and Enceladus.]
As if fames were the relics of seditions past; but they are no less indeed the preludes of seditions to come Howsoever he noteth it right, that seditious tumulti and seditious fames differ no more but as brother and sister, masculine and feminine; especially if it come to that, that the best actions of a state, and the most plausible, and which ought to give greatest content ment, are taken in ill sense, and traduced: for that
44 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
shows the envy great, as Tacitus saith; 4 conflata magna invidia, sen bene sen male gesta premunt [when dislike prevails against the government, good actions and bad offend alike]. Neither doth it follow, that because these fames are a sign of troubles, that the suppressing of them with too much severity should be a remedy of troubles. For the despising of them many times checks them best; and the going about to stop them doth but make a wonder long-lived. Also that kind of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of,5 is to be held suspected : Erant in officio, sed tamen qui mallent man- data imperantium interpretari quam exequi [Ready to serve, and yet more disposed to construe commands than execute them] ; disputing, excusing, cavilling upon mandates and directions, is a kind of shaking off the yoke, and assay of disobedience; especially if in those disputings they which are for the direction speak fearfully and tenderly, and those that are against it audaciously.
Also, as Machiavel 6 noteth well, when princes, that ought to be common parents, make themselves as a party, and lean to a side, it is as a boat that is over thrown by uneven weight on the one side; as was well seen in the time of Henry the Third of France; for first himself entered league 7 for the extirpation of the Pro testants; and presently after the same league was turned upon himself. For when the authority of princes is made but an accessory to a cause, and that there be other bands that tie faster than the band of sover eignty, kings begin to be put almost out of possession.
Also, when discords, and quarrels, and factions are carried openly and audaciously, it is a sign the rever ence of government is lost. For the motions of the greatest persons in a government ought to be as the
OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 45
motions of the planets under primum mobile ; 8 (accord ing to the old opinion), which is, that every of them is carried swiftly by the highest motion, and softly in their own motion. And therefore, when great ones in their own particular motion move violently, and, as Tacitus expresseth it 9 well, liberius quam ut imperan- tium meminisscnt [unrestrained by reverence for the government], it is a sign the orbs are out of frame. For reverence is that wherewith princes are girt from God; who threateneth 10 the dissolving thereof; Solvam cin- gula regum [I will unbind the girdles of kings].
So when any of the four pillars of government are mainly shaken or weakened (which are religion, jus tice, counsel, and treasure), men had need to pray for fair weather. But let us pass from this part of predic tions (concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken from that which followeth) ; and let us speak first of the materials of seditions; then of the motives of them; and thirdly of the remedies.
Concerning the materials of seditions. It is a thing well to be considered; for the surest way to prevent seditions (if the times do bear it) is to take away the matter of them. For if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell whence the spark shall come that shall set it on fire. The matter of seditions is of two kinds : much poverty and much discontentment. It is cer tain, so many overthrown estates,11 so many votes for troubles. Lucan noteth 12 well the state of Rome before the Civil War,13
Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore foenus, Hinc concussa fides, et multis utile bellum.
[Hence estates eaten up by usurious rates of interest, and interest greedy of time, hence credit shaken, and war a gain to many.]
46 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
This same multis utile bellum is an assured and in fallible sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles. And if this poverty and broken estate in the better sort be joined with a want and necessity in the mean people, the danger is imminent and great. For the rebellions of the belly 14 are the worst. As for discon tentments, they are in the politic body like to humors :n the natural, which are apt to gather a preternatural h^at and to inflame. And let no prince measure the danger of them by this, whether they be just or unjust: for that were to imagine people to be too reasonable; who do often spurn at their own good: nor yet by this, whether the griefs whereupon they rise be in fact great or small : for they are the most dangerous discon tentments where the fear is greater than the feeling. Dolendi modus,15 timendi non item [Suffering has its limit, but fears are endless]. Besides, in great oppres sions, the same things that provoke the patience, do withal mate 19 the courage; but in fears it is not so. Neither let any prince or state be secure concerning discontentments, because they have been often, or have been long, and yet- no peril hath ensued : for as it is true that every vapor or fume doth not turn into a storm; so it is nevertheless true that storms, though they blow over divers times, yet may fall at last; and as the Spanish proverb noteth well, The cord breaketh ' at the last by the weakest pull.
The causes and motives of seditions are, innovation in religion; taxes; alteration of laws and customs, breaking of privileges; general oppression; advance ment of unworthy persons; strangers; dearths; dis banded soldiers; factions grown desperate; and what soever, in offending people, joineth and knitteth them in a common cause.
OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 47
For the remedies; there may be some general pre^ servatives, whereof we will speak: as for the just cure, it must answer to the particular disease; and so be left to counsel rather than rule.
The first remedy or prevention is to remove by all means possible that material cause of sedition whereof we spake; which is, want and poverty in the estate. To which purpose serveth the opening and well-bal ancing of trade; the cherishing of manufactures; the banishing of idleness; the repressing of waste and excess by sumptuary laws; the improvement and hus banding of the soil; the regulating of prices of things vendible; the moderating of taxes and tributes; and the like. Generally, it is to be foreseen 18 that the popu lation of a kingdom (especially if it be not mown down by wars) do not exceed the stock of the kingdom which should maintain them. Neither is the population to be reckoned only by number; for a smaller number that spend more and earn less do wear out an estate sooner than a greater number that live lower and gather more. Therefore the multiplying of nobility and other degrees of quality in an over proportion to the common people doth speedily bring a state to necessity; and so doth likewise an overgrown clergy; for they bring nothing to the stock; and in like manner, when more are bred scholars 19 than preferments can take off.
It is likewise to be remembered, that forasmuch as the increase of any estate must be upon the foreigner (for whatsoever is somewhere gotten is somewhere lost 20), there be but three things which one nation selleth unto another; the commodity as nature yield- eth it; the manufacture; and the vecture, or carriage. So that if these three wheels go, wealth will flow as in a spring tide. And it cometh many times to pass,
48 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
that materiam super obit opus;21 that the work and car« riage is more worth than the material, and enricheth a state more; as is notably seen in the Low-Countrymen, who have the best mines above ground 22 in the world.
Above all things, good policy is to be used that the treasure and moneys in a state be not gathered into few hands. For otherwise a state may have a grea^ stock, and yet starve. And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. This is done chiefly by sup pressing, or at the least keeping a strait hand upon the devouring trades of usury,23 ingrossing,24 great pasturages,25 and the like.
For removing discontentments, or at least the dan ger of them; there is in every state (as we know) two portions of subjects; the noblesse and the commonalty. When one of these is discontent, the danger is not great; for common people are of slow motion, if they be not excited by the greater sort; and the greater sort are of small strength, except the multitude be apt and ready to move of themselves. Then is the dan ger, when the greater sort do but wait for the troubling of the waters amongst the meaner, that then they may declare themselves. The poets feign that the rest of the gods would have bound Jupiter; which he hearing of, by the counsel of Pallas,26 sent forBriareus, with his hundred hands, to come in to his aid. An emblem, no doubt, to show how safe it is for monarchs to make sure of the good will of common people.
To give moderate liberty for griefs and discontent ments to evaporate (so it be without too great inso- lency or bravery), is a safe way. For he that turneth the humors back, and maketh the wound bleed in wards, endangereth malign ulcers and pernicious imposthumations.
OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 49
The part of Epimetheus 27 mought well become Pro metheus, in the case of discontentments; for there is not a better provision against them. Epimetheus, when griefs and evils flew abroad, at last shut the lid, and kept hope in the bottom of the vessel. Certainly, the politic and artificial nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against the poison of discontent ments. And it is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men's hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction; and when it can handle things in such manner, as no evil shall appear so peremptory but that it hath some outlet of hope; which is the less hard to do, because both particular persons and factions are apt enough to flatter them selves, or at least to brave that which they believe not.
Also the foresight and prevention, that there be no likely or fit head whereunto discontented persons may resort, and under whom they may join, is a known, but an excellent point of caution. I understand a fit head to be one that hath greatness and reputation; that «'>ath confidence with the discontented party, and upon whom they turn their eyes; and that is thought dis contented in his own particular: which kind of persons are either to be won and reconciled to the state, and that in a fast and true manner; or to be fronted witl some other of the same party, that may oppose them, and so divide the reputation. Generally, the dividing and breaking of all factions and combinations that are adverse to the state, and setting them at distance, or at least distrust, amongst themselves, is not one of the worst remedies. For it is a desperate case, if those that hold with the proceeding of the state be full of
SO THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
discord and faction, and those that are against it be entire and united.
I have noted that some witty and sharp speeches which have fallen from princes have given fire to sedi tions. Caesar28 did himself infinite hurt in that speech, Sylla nescivit literas, non potuit dictare [Sylla was no scholar, he could not dictate]; for it did utterly cut off that hope which men had entertained, that he would at one time or other give over his dictatorship. Galba 29 undid himself by that speech, legi a se militem, non emi [that he did not buy his soldiers, but levied them]; for it put the soldiers out of hope of the donative. Probus 30 likewise, by that speech, Si vixero, non opus erit amplius Romano imperio militibus [If I live, the Roman empire shall have no more need of sol diers]; a speech of great despair for the soldiers. And many the like. Surely princes had need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say; especially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions. For as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so much noted.
Lastly, let princes, against all events, not be without some great person, one or rather more, of military valor, near unto them, for the repressing of seditions "in their beginnings. For without that, there useth to be more trepidation in court upon the first breaking out of troubles than were fit. And the state runneth the danger of that which Tacitus saith; 31 Atque is habitus animorum fuit, ut pessimum facinus auderent pauci, plures vellent, omnes paterentur [A few were in a humor to attempt mischief, more to desire, all to allow it]. But let such military persons be assured, and well reputed of, Bather than factious and popular; holding
OF ATHEISM 51
also good correspondence with the other great men in the state ; or else the remedy is worse than the disease.
XVI
OF ATHEISM
I HAD rather believe all the fables in the Legend,1 <7Snd the Talmud,2 and the Alcoran,3 than that this uni versal frame is without a mind.- And therefore God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion. For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity. Nay, even that school which is most accused of atheism doth most demonstrate re ligion ; that is, the school of Leucippus 4 and Democri- tus and Epicurus. For it is a thousand times more credible, that four mutable elements,5 and one immut able fifth essence,6 duly and eternally placed, need no God, than that an army of infinite small portions or seeds unplaced,7 should have produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal. The Scripture saith,8 The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; it is not said, The fool hath thought in his heart; so as he rather saith it by rote to himself, as that he would have, than that he can thoroughly believe it, or be per suaded of it. For none deny there- is a God, but those 'for whom it maketh that there were no God. It ap- peareth in nothing more, that atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of man, than by this; that athe-
52 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
ists will ever be talking of that their opinion, as if they fainted in it within themselves, and would be glad to be strengthened by the consent of others. Nay more, you shall have atheists strive to get disciples, as it fareth with other sects. And, which is most of all, you shall have of them that will suffer for atheism, and not recant; whereas if they did truly think that there were no such thing as God, why should they trouble themselves? Epicurus 9 is charged that he did but dis. semble for his credit's sake, when he affirmed there were blessed natures, but such as enjoyed themselves without having respect to the government of the world. Wherein they say he did temporize; though in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly he is traduced; for his words are noble and divine: Non deos 10 vulgi negare profanum; sed vulgi opiniones diis applicare profanum [There is no profanity in refusing to believe in the gods of the people: the profanity is in believing of the gods what the people believe of them]. Plato could have said no more. And although he had the confidence to deny the administration, he had not the power to deny the nature. The Indians u of the West have names for their particular gods, though they have no name for God : as if the heathens should have had the names Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, etc. but not the word Deus; which shows that even those barbarous people have the notion, though they have not the latitude and extent of it. So that against athe ists the very savages take part with the very subt lest philosophers. The contemplative atheist12 is rare: a Diagoras,13 a Bion,14 a Lucian 15 perhaps, and some others; and yet they seem to be more than they are; for that all that impugn a received religion or superstition are by the adverse part branded with the
OF ATHEISM />S
name of atheists. But the great atheists indeed are hypocrites; which are ever handling holy things, but without feeling ; so as they must needs be cauterized in the end. The causes of atheism are: divisions in religion, if they be many; for any one main division addeth zeal to both sides; but many divisions intro duce atheism. Another is, scandal of priests; when it is come to that which St. Bernard 16 saith, Non est jam dicere, ut populus sic sacerdos; quia nee sic populus ut sacerdos [One cannot now say the priest is as the people, for the truth is that the people are not so bad as the priest]. A third is, custom of profane scoffing in holy matters; which doth by little and little deface the reverence of religion. And lastly, learned times, specially with peace and prosperity; for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. They that deny a God destroy man's nobility; for cer tainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity, and the raising of human nature; for take an example of a dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he will put on when he finds himself maintained by a man; who to him is instead of a God, or melior na- tura [better nature]; which courage is manifestly such as that creature, without that confidence of a better nature than his own, could never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon divine protection and favor, gathereth a force and faith which human nature in itself could not obtain. Therefore, as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty.' As it is in particular persons, so it is in nations. Never was there such a state for magnanimity as Rome.
54 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
Of this state hear what Cicero saith : 17 Quam volumus licet, patres conscripti, nos amemus, tamen nee numero Hispanos, nee robore Gallos, nee calliditate Pcenos, nee artibus Grcecos, nee denique hoc ipso hujus gentis d terra; domestico nativoque sensu Italos ipsos et Latinos; sed pietate, ac rcligione, atque hoc una sapicntia, quod deorum immortalium numine omnia rcgi gubernarique perspeximus, omnes gentes nationesque superavimus [Pride ourselves as we may upon our country, yet are we not in number superior to the Spaniards, nor in strength to the Gauls, nor in cunning to the Cartha ginians, nor to the Greeks in arts, nor to the Italians and Latins themselves in the homely and native sense which belongs to this nation and land; it is in piety only and religion, and the wisdom of regarding the providence of the immortal gods as that which rules and governs all things, that we have surpassed all nations and peoples].
XVII
OF SUPERSTITION
IT were better to have no opinion l of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch 2 saith well to that purpose: Surely (saith he) / had rather a great deal men should say ihere was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say thai there was one Plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were born; as the poets speak of Saturn.* And as the contumely is greater towards God, so the danger is greater towards men. Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to
OF SUPERSTITION 55
reputation; all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but super stition dismounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. Therefore atheism did never perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no further: and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus 4 Caesar) were civil 5 times. But superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile,0 that ravisheth all the spheres of gov ernment. The master of superstition is the people; and in all superstition wise men follow fools ; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order. It was gravely said by some of the prelates in the Council of Trent,7 where the doctrine of the School men 8 bare great sway, that the Schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics and epicycles,0 and such engines of orbs, to save the phenomena;10 though they knew there were no such things; and in like manner, that the Schoolmen had framed a number of subtle and intricate axioms and theorems, to save the practice of the church. The causes of superstition are : pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies; excess of outward and pharisaical holiness; over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church; the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition anc* lucre; the favoring too much of good intentions, which openeth the gate to conceits and novelties; the taking an aim at divine matters by human, which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations: and, lastly, barbarous times, especially joined with calamities and disasters. Superstition, without a veil, is a deformed thing; for as it addeth deformity to an ape to be so like a man, so the similitude of superstition to religion makes it the more
56 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
deformed. And as wholesome meat cormpteth to little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. There is a superstition in avoid ing superstition,11 when men think to do best if they go furthest from the superstition formerly received ; therefore care would be had that (as it fareth in ill purgings) the good be not taken away with the bad ; which commonly is done when the people is the re former.
XVIII
OF TRAVEL
TRAVEL, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. That young men travel under some tutor, or grave servant, I allow l well ; so that he be such a one that hath the language, and hath been in the country before ; whereby he may be able to tell them what things are worthy to be seen in the country where they go; what acquaintances they are to seek; what exercises or dis cipline the place yieldeth. For else young men shall go hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries ; but in land-travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation. Let diaries therefore be brought in use. The things to be seen and observed are: the courts of princes, specially when they give audience to ambassadors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes; and so of consistories ec clesiastic; the churches and monasteries, with the
OF TRAVEL 57
monuments which are therein extant; the walls and fortifications of cities and towns, and so the havens and harbors; antiquities and ruins; libraries; colleges, disputations,2 and lectures, where any are; shipping and navies; houses and gardens of state and pleasure, near great cities; armories; arsenals; magazines; ex changes; burses; warehouses; exercises of horseman ship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like; come dies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort; treasuries of jewels and robes; cabinets and rarities; and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable in the places where they go. After all which the tutors or servants ought to make diligent inquiry. As for tri umphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital execu tions, and such shows, men need not to be put in mind of them; yet are they not to be neglected. If you will have a young man to put his travel into a little room, and in short time to gather much, this you must do. First, as was said, he must have some entrance into the language before he goeth. Then he must have such a servant or tutor as knoweth the country, as was like wise said. Let him carry with him also some card * or book describing the country where he travelleth; which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him keer also a diary. Let him not stay long in one city o/ town; more or less as the place deserveth, but not long; nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of the town to another; which is a great adamant 4 of acquaint ance. Let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Let him, upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality
58 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
residing in the place whither he removeth ; that hi may use his favor in those things he desireth to see or know. Thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. As for the acquaintance which is to be sough! in travel ; that which is most of all profitable is ac quaintance with the secretaries and employed men oi ambassadors: for so in travelling in one country he shall suck the experience of many. Let him also see and visit eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad; that he may be able to tell how the life 5 agreeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided. They are commonly for mistresses, healths, place, and words. And let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels. When a traveller return - eth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him; but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaint ance which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forwards to tell stories; and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners 6 for those of foreign parts ; but only prick in som< flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the cus toms of his own country.
XIX
OF EMPIRE
IT is a mis^rabjf^state of mind to have few things to desire, and many things to fear; and yet that com monly i$ the case of kingsj_who. being at the highest,
OF EMPIRE 5P
want matter of desire, which makes their minds more languishing; and have many representations * of perils and shadows, which makes their minds the less clear. And this is one reason also of that effect which the ~l i Scripture speaketh of,2 That the &%iy'-T heart is in^rrnt- J able. For multitude of jealousies, and lack of some predominant desire that should marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound. Hence it comes likewise, that princes many times make themselves desires, and set their hearts upon toys; sometimes upon a building; sometimes upon erecting of an order; sometimes upon the ad vancing of a person; sometimes upon obtaining excel lency in some art or feat of the hand; as Nero 3 for playing on the harp, Domitian 4 for certainty of the hand with the arrow, Commodus 5 for playing at fence, Caracalla 6 for driving chariots, and the like. This seemeth incredible unto those that know not the princi ple that the mind of man is more cheered and refreshed by profiting in small things, than by standing at a stay in great. We see also that kings that have been for tunate conquerors in their first years, it being not pos sible for them to go forward infinitely, but that they must have some check or arrest in their fortunes, turn in their latter years to be superstitious and melancholy; as did Alexander the Great ; 7 Diocletian ; 8 and in our memory, Charles the Fifth; 9 and others: for he that is used to go forward, and findeth a stop, falleth out of his own favor, and is not the thing he was.
To speak now of the* true temper 10 of empire; it is a thing rare and hard to keep ; for both temper and distemper consist of contraries. But it is one thing to mingle contraries, another to interchange them. The answer of Apollonius u to Vespasian 12 is full of excellent
60 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
instruction. Vespasian asked him, What was Nero's overthrow? He answered, Nero could touch and tune the harp well ; but in government sometimes he used to wind the pins too high, sometimes to let them down too low. And certain it is that nothing destroyeth author ity so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of power pressed too far, and relaxed too much.
This is true, that the wisdom of all these latter times in princes' affairs is rather fine deliveries and shiftings of dangers and mischiefs when they are near, than solid and grounded courses to keep them aloof. But this is but to try masteries with fortune. And let men beware how they neglect and suffer matter of trouble 13 to be prepared; for no man can forbid the spark, nor tell whence it may come. The difficulties in princes' business are many and -great; but the greatest difficulty is often in their own mind. For it is common with princes (saith Tacitus) 14 to will contradictories, Sunt plerumque regum voluntates vehementes, et inter se con- trance [Their desires are commonly vehement and in compatible one with another]. For it is the solecism of power, to think to command the end, and yet not to endure the mean.
Kings have to deal with their neighbors, their wives, their children, their prelates or clergy, their nobles, their second-nobles or gentlemen, their mer chants, their commons, and their men of war; and from all these arise dangers, if care and circumspection be not used.
First for their neighbors; there can no general rule be given (the occasions are so variable), save one, which ever holdeth; which is, that princes do keep due sentinel, that none of their neighbors do over grow so (by increase of territory, by embracing of
OF EMPIRE 61
trade, by approaches, or the like), as they become more able to annoy them than they were. And this is generally the work of standing counsels to foresee and to hinder it. During that triumvirate 15 of kings, King Henry the Eighth of England, Francis the First King of France, and Charles the Fifth Emperor, there was such a watch kept, that none of the three could win a palm of ground, but the other two would straight- ways balance it, either by confederation, or, if need were, by a war; and would not in any wise take up peace at interest. And the like was done by that league 10 (which Guicciardini 17 saith was the security of Italy) made between Ferdinando King of Naples, Lorenzius Medici,18 and Ludovicus Sforza, potentates, the one of Florence, the other of Milan. Neither is the opinion of some of the Schoolmen to be received, that a war cannot justly be made but upon a precedent injury or provocation. For there is no question but a just fear of an imminent danger, though there be no blow given, is a lawful cause of a war.
For their wives; there are cruel examples of them. Livia19 is infamed for the poisoning of her husband; Roxalana,20 Solyman's 21 wife, was the destruction of that renowned prince Sultan Mustapha, and otherwise troubled his house and succession; Edward the Second of England his queen had the principal hand in the deposing and murther22 of her husband. This kind of danger is then to be feared chiefly, when the wives have plots for the raising of their own children; or else that they be advoutresses.23
For their children ; the tragedies likewise of dangers from them have been many. And generally, the en tering of fathers into suspicion of their children hath been ever unfortunate. The destruction of Mustapha
62 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
(that we named before) was so fatal to Solyman's line, as the succession of the Turks from Solyman until this day is suspected to be untrue, and of strange blood' for that Selymus the Second was thought to be suppo sitions. The destruction of Crispus,24 a young princT of rare towardness, by Constantinus the Great,25 his father, was in like manner fatal to his house; for both Constantinus and Constance, his sons, died violent deaths; and Constantius, his other son, did little bet ter; who died indeed of sickness, but after that Juli- anus had taken arms against him. The destruction of Demetrius,20 son to Philip the Second of Macedon, turned upon the father, who died of repentance. And many like examples there are; but few or none where the fathers had good by such distrust; except it were where the sons were up in open arms against them; as was Selymus27 the First against Bajazet;28 and the three sons of Henry the Second, King of England.
For their prelates; when they are proud and great, there is also danger from them; as it was in the times of Anselmus 29 and Thomas Becket,30 Archbishops of Canterbury; who with their croziers did almost try it with the king's sword; and yet they had to deal with stout and haughty kings, William Rufus, Henry the First, and Henry the Second. Jjrhe danger is not from that state, but where it hath a dependence of foreign authority ; 31 or where the churchmen come in and are elected, not by the collation of the king, or particular patrons, but by the people.
For their nobles; to keep them at a distance, it is not amiss; but to depress them, may make a king more absolute, but less safe; and less able to perform any thing that he desires. I have noted it in my History of King Henry the Seventh of England, who
OF EMPIRE 63
depressed his nobility; whereupon it came to pass that his times were full of difficulties and troubles; for the nobility, though they continued loyal unto him, yet did they not co-operate with him in his business. So that in effect he was fain to do all things himself.
For their second-nobles; there is not much danger Trom them, being a body dispersed. They may some times discourse high, but that doth little hurt; besides, they are a counterpoise to the higher nobility, that they grow not too potent; and, lastly, being the most im mediate in authority with the common people, they do best temper popular commotions.
For their merchants; they are vena porta ;32 and if they flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will have empty veins, and nourish little. Taxes and imposts upon them do seldom good to the king's reve nue; for that that he wins in the hundred he leeseth 33 in the shire ; the particular rates being increased, but the total bulk of trading rather decreased.
For their commons; there is little danger from them, except it be where they have great and potent heads; or where you meddle with the point of religion, or their customs, or means of life.
For their men of war; it is a dangerous state where they live and remain in a body, and are used to dona tives; whereof we see examples in the janizaries,34 and pretorian bands35 of Rome; but trainings of men, and arming them in several places, and under several commanders, and without donatives, are things of defence, and no danger.
Princes are like to heavenly bodies,36 which cause good or evil times; and which have much veneration, but no rest. All precepts concerning kings are in effect comprehended in those two remembrances : me-
64 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
mento quod es homo; and memento quod es Deus, or vice Dei [Remember that you are a man; and remember that you are a God, or God's lieutenant]; the om bridleth their power, and the other their will.
XX
OF COUNSEL
THE greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel. For in other confidences men commit the parts of life; their lands, their goods, theii children, their credit, some particular affair; but to such as they make their counsellors, they commit the whole: by how much the more they are obliged to all faith and integrity. The wisest princes need not think it any diminution to their greatness, or derogation to their sufficiency, to rely upon counsel. God himself is not without, but hath made it one of the great names of his blessed Son : The Counsellor.1 Solomon hath pro nounced that in counsel 2 is stability. Things will have their first or second agitation: if they be not tossed upon the arguments of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune; and be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling of a drunken man. Solomon's son3 found the force of counsel, as his father saw the necessity of it. For the beloved kingdom of God was first rent and broken by ill counsel; upon which counsel there are set for our instruction the two marks whereby bad counsel is for ever best discerned; that it was young counsel, for the persons; and violent counsel, for the matter.
The ancient times do set forth in figure both the incorporation and inseparable conjunction of counsel with kings, and the wise and politic use of counsel by
OF COUNSEL 65
kings: the one, in that they say Jupiter 4 did marry Metis, which signifieth counsel; whereby they intend that Sovereignty is married to Counsel: the other in that which followeth, which was thus: They say, after Jupiter was married to Metis, she conceived by him and was with child, but Jupiter suffered her not to stay till she brought forth, but eat 5 her up; whereby he became himself with child, and was delivered oi Pallas armed, out of his head. Which monstrous fable containeth a secret of empire; how kings are to make use of their counsel of state. That first they ought to refer matters unto them, which is the first begetting or impregnation; but when they are elabo rate, moulded, and shaped in the womb of their coun sel, and grow ripe and ready to be brought forth, that then they suffer not their counsel to go through with the resolution and direction, as if it depended on them; but take the matter back into their own hands, and make it appear to the world that the decrees and final directions (which, because they come forth with pru dence and power, are resembled to Pallas armed) proceeded from themselves; and not only from their authority, but (the more to add reputation to them selves) from their head and device.
Let us now speak of the inconveniences of counsel, and of the remedies. The inconveniences that have been noted in calling and using counsel are three. First, the revealing of affairs, whereby they become less secret. Secondly, the weakening of the authority of princes, as if they were less of themselves. Thirdly, the danger of being unfaithfully counselled, and more for the good of them that counsel than of him that is counselled. For which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France, in some kings' times.
60 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
hath introduced cabinet 6 counsels; a remedy worse Jian the disease.'
As to secrecy; princes are not bound to communi cate all matters with all counsellors; but may extract and select. Neither is it necessary that he that con- sulteth what he should do, should declare what he will do. But let princes beware that the unsecreting of their affairs comes not from themselves. And as for cabinet counsels, it may be their motto, plenus rima- rum 8 sum [I am full of leaks] : one futile person that maketh it his glory to tell, will do more hurt than many that know it their duty to conceal. It is true there be some affairs which require extreme secrecy, which will hardly go beyond one or two persons be sides the king: neither are those counsels unpros- perous; for, besides the secrecy, they commonly go on constantly in one spirit of direction, without distraction. But then it must be a prudent king, such as is able to grind 9 with a hand-mill; and those inward counsellors had need also be wise men, and especially true and trusty to the king's ends; as it was with King Henry the Seventh 10 of England, who in his greatest business imparted himself to none, except it were to Morton u and Fox.12
For weakening of authority; the fable showeth the remedy. Nay, the majesty of kings is rather exalted than diminished when they are in the chair of counsel; neither was there ever prince bereaved of his depend ences by his counsel; except where there hath been either an over-greatness in one counsellor or an over- strict combination in divers; which are things soon found and holpen.
For the last inconvenience, that men will counsel with an eye to themselves; certainly, non inveniet 1S
OF COUNSEL 67
fidem super terram [he will not find faith on the earth] is meant of the nature of times, and not of all particular persons. There be that are in nature faithful, and sin cere, and plain, and direct; not crafty and involved; let princes, above all, draw to themselves such natures. Besides, counsellors are not commonly so united, but that one counsellor keepeth sentinel over another; so that if any do counsel out of faction or private ends, it commonly comes to the king's ear. But the best rem edy is, if princes know their counsellors, as well as their counsellors know them:
Principis est u virtus maxima nosse suos.
[It is the greatest virtue of a prince to know his own.] And on the other side, counsellors should not be too speculative into their sovereign's person. The true composition of a counsellor is rather to be skilful in their master's business, than in his nature; for then he is like to advise him, and not feed his humor. It is of singular use to princes if they take the opinions of their counsel both separately and together. For pri vate opinion is more free; but opinion before others is more reverend.15 In private, men are more bold in their own humors; and in consort, men are more obnoxious to others' humors; therefore it is good to take both; and of the inferior sort rather in private, to preserve freedom; of the greater rather in consort, to preserve respect. It is in vain for princes to take counsel concerning matters, if they take no counsel likewise concerning persons; for all matters are as dead images; and the life of the execution of affairs resteth in the good choice of persons. Neither is it enough to consult concerning persons secundum genera [according to classes], as in an idea, or mathematical description-
68 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
what the kind and character of the person should be; for the greatest errors are committed, and the most judgment is shown, in the choice of individuals. It was truly said,10 optimi consiliarii mortui [the best counsellors are the dead] : books will speak plain when counsellors blanch. Therefore it is good to be conver sant in them, specially the books of such as themselves have been actors upon the stage.
The counsels at this day in most places are but familiar meetings, where matters are rather talked on than debated. And they run too swift to the order or act of counsel. It were better that in causes of weight, the matter were propounded one day and not spoken to till the next day; in nocte consilium [night is the season for counsel]. So was it done in the Commission 17 of Union between England and Scotland; which was a grave and orderly assembly. I commend set days for petitions; for both it gives the suitors more cer tainty for their attendance, and it frees the meetings for matters of estate, that they may hoc agere 18 [do this]. In choice of committees for ripening business for the counsel, it is better to choose indifferent persons, than to make an indifferency by putting in those that are strong on both sides. I commend also standing commissions; as for trade, for treasure, for war, for suits, for some provinces; for where there be divers par ticular counsels and but one counsel of estate (as it is ii Spain), they are, in effect, no more than standing commissions: save that they have greater authority. Let such as are to inform counsels out of their partic ular professions (as lawyers, seamen, mintmen, and the like) be first heard before committees; and then, as occasion serves, before the counsel. And let them not come in multitudes, or in a tribunitious manner;
OF DELAYS 69
for that is to clamor counsels, not to inform them. A long table and a square table, or seats about the walls, seem things of form, but are things of substance; for at a long table a few at the upper end, in effect, sway all the business; but in the other form there is more use of the counsellors' opinions that sit lower. A king, when he presides in counsel, let him beware how he opens his own inclination too much in that which he propoundeth; for else counsellors will but take the wind of him, and instead of giving free counsel, sing him a song of placebo 19 [I shall please].
XXI
OF DELAYS
FORTUNE is like the market; where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall. And again, it is sometimes like Sibylla's 1 offer; which at first offereth the commodity at full, then consumeth part and part, and still holdeth up the price. For occasion (as it is in the common verse 2) turneth a bald noddle, after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken ; or at least turneth the handle of the bottle first to be received, and after the belly, which is hard to clasp. There is surely no greater wisdom than well to tim< the beginnings and onsets of things. Dangers are no more light, if they once seem light; and more dangers have deceived men than forced them. Nay, it were better to meet some dangers half way, though they come nothing near, than to keep too long a watch upon their approaches; for if a man watch too long, it is odds he. will fall asleep. On the other side, to be de ceived with too long shadows (as some have been when the moon was low and shone on their enemies' back),
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and so to shoot off before the time; or to teach dangers to come on, by over early buckling towards them; is another extreme. The ripeness or unripeness of the occasion (as we said) must ever be well weighed; and generally it is good to commit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus 3 with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus 4 with his hundred hands; first to watch, and then to speed. For the helmet of Pluto,5 which maketh the politic man go invisible, is secrecy in the counsel and celerity in the execution. For when things are once come to the execution, there is no se crecy comparable to celerity; like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as it outruns the eye.
XXII
OF CUNNING
WE take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And certainly there is a great difference between a cunning man and a wise man; not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability. There be that can pack the cards,1 and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are good in canvasses and factions, that are otherwise weak men. Again, it is one thing to under stand persons, and another thing to understand mat ters; for many are perfect in men's humors, that are not greatly capable of the real part of business; which is the constitution of one that hath studied men more than books. Such men are fitter for practice than for counsel; and they are good but in their own alley: 2 turn them to new men, and they have lost their aim; so as the old rule to know a fool from a wise man, Mitte ambos 3 nudos ad ignotos, et videbis [Send them both naked to those they know not, and you will see],
OF CUNNING 71
doth scarce hold for them. And because these cunning men are like haberdashers of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their shop.
It is a point of cunning, to wait upon him with whom you speak, with your eye; as the Jesuits 4 give it in precept : for there be many wise .men that have secret j ^ hearts and transparent countenances. Yet this would be done with a demure abasing of your eye sometimes, as the Jesuits also do use.
Another is, that when you have anything to obtain of present despatch, you entertain and amuse the party with whom you deal with some other discourse; that he be not too much awake to make objections. I knew a counsellor 5 and secretary, that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some discourse of estate, that she mought the less mind the bills.
The like surprise may be made by moving things when the party is in haste, and cannot stay to consider advisedly of that is moved.
If a man would cross a business that he doubts some other would handsomely and effectually move, let him pretend to wish it well, and move it himself in such sort as may foil it.
The breaking off in the midst of that one was about to say, as if he took himself up, breeds a greater appe tite in him with whom you confer, to know more.
And because it works better when anything seemeth to be gotten from you by question, than if you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait for a question, by show ing another visage and countenance than you are wont; to the end to give occasion for the party to ask what the matter is of the change? As Nehemias e did; And I had not before that time been sad before the king.
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In things that are tender and unpleasing, it is good to break the ice by some whose words are of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty voice to come in as by chance, so that he may be asked the question upon the other's speech: as Narcissus did,7 in relating to Claudius the marriage of Messalina and Silius.
In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world ; as to say, The world says, or There is a speech abroad.
I knew one that, when he wrote a letter, he would put that which was most material in the postscript, as if it had been a by-matter.
I knew another that, when he came to have speech, he would pass over that that he intended most; and go forth, and come back again, and speak of it as of a thing that he had almost forgot.
Some procure themselves to be surprised at such times as it is like the party that they work upon will suddenly come upon them; and to be found with a letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they are not accustomed; to the end they may be apposed of those things which of themselves they are desirous to utter.
It is a point of cunning, to let fall those words in a man's own name, which he would have another man learn and use, and thereupon take advantage. I knew two 8 that were competitors for the secretary's place in Queen Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quarter be tween themselves; and would confer one with another upon the business; and the one of them said, That to be a secretary in the declination of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it: the other straight caught up those words and discoursed with divers of his friends, that he had no reason tc desire to
OF CUNNING 73
be secretary in the declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and found means it was told the Queen ; who hearing of a declination of a monarchy, took it so ill as she would never after hear of the other's
yuit.
There is a cunning, which we in England call the turning of the cat ° in the pan; which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it as if another had said it to him. And to say truth, it is not easy, when such a matter passed between two, to make it appear from which of them it first moved and began.
It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by justifying themselves by negatives; as to say, This I do not; as Tigellinus 10 did towards Burrhus, Se non diver sas spes, sed incolumitatem imperatoris sim- plicitcr spectare [That he had not several hopes to rest on, but looked simply to the safety of the Em peror].
Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate, but they can wrap it into a tale; which serveth both to keep them selves more in guard, and to make others carry it with more pleasure.
It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propo sitions; for it makes the other party stick the less.
It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat they desire to say; and how far about they will fetch; and how many other matters they will beat over, to come near it. It is a thing of great pa tience, but yet of much use.
A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man, and lay him open. Like to him that, having changed his name and walking in Paul's,11
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another suddenly came behind him and called him by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back.
But these small wares and petty points of cunning are infinite; and it were a good deed to make a list of them; for that nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
But certainly some there are that know the resorts and falls 12 of business, that cannot sink into the main of it; like a house that hath convenient stairs and en tries, but never a fair room. Therefore you shall see them find out pretty looses 13 in the conclusion, but are no ways able to examine or debate matters. And yet commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought wits of direction.14 Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and (as we now say) putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their own proceedings. But Solomon saith,15 Prudens advertit ad gressus suos; stultus divertit ad dolos [The wise man taketh heed to his steps; the fool turneth aside to deceits].
XXIII
OF WISDOM FOR A MAN*S SELF
AN ant is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd ' thing in an orchard or garden. And certainly men that are great lovers of themselves waste the public. Divide with reason between self-love and society; and be so true to thyself, as thou be not false to others; specially to thy king and country. It is a poor centre of a man's actions, himself. It is right earth.2 For that only stands fast upon his own centre; 3 whereas all things that have affinity with the heavens move upon the centre of another.4 which they benefit. The refer-
OF WISDOM FOR A MAN'S SELF 75
ring of all to a man's self is more tolerable in a sover eign prince; because themselves are not only themselves, but their good and evil is at the peril of the public for tune. But it is a desperate evil in a servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic. For whatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends; which must needs be often eccentric to 5 the ends of his master or state. Therefore let princes, or states, choose such servants as have not this mark; except they mean their service should be made but the accessory.6 That which maketh the effect more pernicious is that all pro portion is lost. It were disproportion enough for the servant's good to be preferred before the master's ; but yet it is a greater extreme, when a little good of the servant shall carry things against a great good of the master's. And yet that is the case of bad officers, treasurers, ambassadors, generals, and other false and corrupt servants; which set a bias 7 upon their bowl, of their own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow of their master's great and important affairs. And for the most part, the good such servants receive is after the model of their own fortune; but the hurt they sell for that good is after the model of their master's for tune. And certainly it is the nature of extreme self- lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs ; and yet these men many times hold credit with their masters, because their study is but to please them and profit themselves; and for either respect they will abandon the good of their affairs.
Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches there of, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats,8 that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox,9 that thrusts out the badger,
76 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles,10 that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero u says of Pompey) are sui amantes, sine rivali [lovers of themselves without a rival] are :nany times unfortunate. And whereas they have all their times sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned.
XXIV
OF INNOVATIONS
As the births of living creatures at first are ill- shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time. Yet notwithstanding, as those that first bring honor into their family are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, so the first precedent (if it be good) is seldom attained by imitation. For ill, to man's nature as it stands perverted, hath a natural motion,1 strongest in continuance; but good, as a forced motion, strongest at first.2 Surely every medicine is an innovation; and he that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest inno vator; and if time of course 3 alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end ? It is true, that what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit; and those things which have long gone to gether are as it were confederate within themselves; whereas new things 4 piece not so well; but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their in- conformity. Besides, they are like strangers; more admired and less favored. All this is true, if time
OF DISPATCH 77
stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round, that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation; and they that reverence too much old times are but a scorn to the new. It were good there fore that men in their innovations would follow the ex ample of time 5 itself; which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived. For otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlocked for; and ever it mends some, and pairs other; and he that is holpen takes it for a fortune, and thanks the time; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and imputeth it to the au thor. It is good also not to try experiments in states, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident; and well to beware that it be the reformation that draweth on the change, and not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation. And lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet be held for a suspect; and, as the Scripture 6 saith, that we make a stand upon the ancient way, and then look about us, and discover what is the straight and right way, and so to walk in it.
XXV
OF DISPATCH
AFFECTED 1 dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities 2 and secret seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And as in races it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed; 3 so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of
78 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
some only to come off speedily for the time; or to con trive some false periods 4 of business, because they may seem men of dispatch. But it is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off. And business so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth com monly backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man 5 that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.
On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For time is the measure of business, as money is of wares; and business is bought at a dear hand 6 where there is small dispatch. The Spartans 7 and Spaniards 8 have been noted to be of small dispatch; Mi venga la muerte de Spagna; Let my death come from Spain; for then it will be sure to be long in coming.
Give good hearing to those that give the first infor mation in business; and rather direct them in the beginning than interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches; for he that is put out of his own order will go forward and backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, than he could have been if he had gone on in his own course. But some times it is seen that the moderator is more troublesome than the actor.
Iterations are commonly loss of time. But there is no such gain of time as to iterate often the state of the question; for it chaseth away many a frivolous speech as it is coming forth. Long and curious 9 speeches are as fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle with a long train is for race. Prefaces and passages,10 and excusations, and other speeches of reference to the person, are great wastes of time; and though they seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery.11 Yet beware of being too
OF SEEMING WISE 79
material 1Z when there is any impediment or obstruc tion in men's wills; for pre-occupation of mind ever requireth preface of speech ; like a fomentation to make the unguent enter.
Above all things, order, and distribution, and sin gling out of parts, is the life of dispatch; so as the distribution be not too subtle: for he that doth not divide will never enter well into business; and he that divideth too much will never come out of it clearly. To choose time is to save time; and an unseasonable motion is but beating the air. There be three parts of business; the preparation, the debate or examination, and the perfection. Whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle only be the work of many,13 and the first and last the work of few. The proceeding upon some what conceived in writing doth for the most part facili tate dispatch: for though it should be wholly rejected, yet that negative is more pregnant of direction than an indefinite; as ashes are more generative than dust.
XXVI
OF SEEMING WISE
IT hath been an opinion that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are. But howsoever it be between nations, cer tainly it is so between man and man. For as the Apostle 1 saith of godliness, Having a show of godliness, but denying the power thereof; so certainly there are in point of wisdom and sufficiency, that do nothing or little very solemnly: magno conatu2 nugas [with great effort, trifles]. It is a ridiculous thing and fit for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these formal ists have, and what prospectives 3 to make superficies
80 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
[a surface] to seem body that hath depth and bulk. Some are so close and reserved, as they will not show their wares but by a dark light; and seem always to keep back somewhat; and when they know within themselves they speak of that they do not well know, would nevertheless seem to others to know of that which they may not well speak. Some help themselves with countenance and gesture, and are wise by signs; as Cicero saith 4 of Piso, that when he answered him, he fetched one of his brows up to his forehead, and bent the other down to his chin; Respondes, altero ad frontem sublato, altero ad mentum depresso supercilio, crudelitatem tibi non placere [You answer, with one eyebrow lifted to the forehead and the other lowered to the chin, that cruelty does not please you]. Some think to bear it 5 by speaking a great word, and being peremptory; and go on, and take by admittance that which they cannot make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond their reach, will seem to despise or make light of it as impertinent or curious; and so would have their ignorance seem judgment. Some are never with out a difference, and commonly by amusing men with a subtilty, blanch the matter; 6 of whom A. Gellius saith,7 Hominem delirum, qui verborum minutiis rerum frangit pondera [A foolish man, that with verbal points and niceties breaks up the mass of matter]. Of which kind also, Plato 8 in his Protagoras bringeth in Prodi cus in scorn, and maketh him make a speech that con- sisteth of distinctions from the beginning to the end. Generally, such men in all deliberations find ease to be of the negative side, and affect a credit to object and foretell difficulties; for when propositions are denied, there is an end of them; but if they be allowed, it re- quireth a new work; which false point of wisdom is the
OF pprfiNDSHIP 81
bane of business. To conclude, there is no decaying merchant, or inward beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth, as these empty per sons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming wise men may make shift to get opinion; but let no man choose them for employment; for certainly you were better 9 take for business a man somewhat absurd 10 than over-formal.
XXVII
OF FRIENDSHIP
IT had been hard for him that spake 1 it to have put more truth and untruth together in few words, than in that speech, Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god. For it is most true that a natu ral and secret hatred and aversation towards society in any man, hath somewhat of the savage beast; but it is most untrue that it should have any character at all of the divine nature; except it proceed, not out of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation: such as is found to have been falsely and feignedly in some of the heathen; as Epimenides 2 the Candian, Numa 3 the Roman, Empedocles 4 the Sicilian, and Apollonius 5 of Tyana; and truly and really in divers of the ancieni hermits and holy fathers of the church. But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extend- eth. For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal,8 where there is no love. The Latin adage meeteth with it a little: Magna1 civitas, magna solitudo [A great town is a great solitude] ; because in a great town friends are scattered; so that there is not that fellowship, for
82 THE ESSAYS OF IHANfCIS BACON
the most part, which is in less neighborhoods. But we may go further, and affirm most truly that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends; without which the world is but a wilderness ; and even in this sense also of solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity.
A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and dis charge of the fulness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dan gerous in the body; and it is not much otherwise in the mind ; you may take sarza 8 to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flowers 9 of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the heart, but a true friend; to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.
It is a strange thing to observe how high a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon this fruit of friendship whereof we speak: so great, as they pur chase it many times at the hazard of their own safety and greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be as it were companions and almost equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The modern languages give unto such persons the name of favorites, or privadoes;10 as if it were matter of grace, or conversation. But the Roman name aitaincth the true use and cause thereof, naming them participes u curarum [partners of cares] ; for it is that which tieth
OF FRIENDSHIP 83
the knot. And we see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned; who have oftentimes joined to themselves some of their servants; whom both themselves have called friends, and allowed others likewise to call them in the same manner; using the word which is received between private men.
L. Sylla,12 when he commanded Rome, raised Pom- pey " (after surnamed the Great) to that height, that Pompey vaunted himself 14 for Sylla's over-match. For when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his,15 against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pom pey turned upon him again, and in effect bade him Le quiet ;for that more men adored the sun rising than the sun setting. With Julius Caesar, Decimus Brutus had obtained that interest, as he set him down in his testa ment for heir in remainder after his nephew. And this was the man that had power with him to draw him forth to his death. For when Caesar 16 would have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill presages, and specially a dream of Calpurnia; this man lifted him gently by the arm out of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not dismiss the senate till his wife had dreamt a better dream. And it seemeth his favor was so great, as Antonius, in a letter which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics,17 calleth him venefica, witch; as if he had enchanted Caesar. Augus tus raised Agrippa 18 (though of mean birth) to that height, as when he consulted with Maecenas about the marriage of his daughter Julia, Maecenas took the liberty to tell him, that he must either marry his daugh ter to Agrippa, or take away his life; there was no third way, he had made him so great. With Tiberius Caesar,
84 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
Sejanus 19 had ascended to that height, as they two were termed and reckoned as a pair of friends. Tibe rius in a letter 20 to him saith, H OEC pro amicitid nostrci nan occultavi [These things, as our friendship required, I have not concealed from you] ; and the whole senate dedicated an altar 21 to Friendship, as to a goddess, In respect of the great dearness of friendship between them two. The like or more was between Septimius Severus and Plautianus. For he forced his eldest son to marry the daughter of Plautianus; and would often maintain Plautianus in doing affronts to his son; and did write also in a letter to the senate, by these words : / love the man so well, as I wish he may over-live me. Now if these princes had been as a Trajan 22 or a Mar cus Aurelius,23 a man might have thought that this had proceeded of an abundant goodness of nature; but being men so wise, of such strength and severity of mind, and so extreme lovers of themselves, as all these were, it proveth most plainly that they found their own felicity (though as great as ever happened to mortal men) but as an half piece,24 except they mought have a friend to make it entire; and yet, which is more, they were princes that had wives, sons, nephews; and yet all these could not supply the comfort of friendship.
It is not. to be forgotten what Comineus 25 observeth of his first master, Duke Charles 2a the Hardy; namely* that he would communicate his secrets with none; an<i! least of all, those secrets which troubled him most. "Whereupon he goeth on and saith that towards his latter time that closeness did impair and a little perish his understanding. Surely Comineus mought have made the same judgment also, if it had pleased him, of his second master, Lewis27 the Eleventh, whose close ness was indeed his tormentor. The parable 28 of
OF FRIENDSHIP 85
Pythagoras is dark, but true; Cor ne edito: Eat not the heart. Certainly, if a man would give it a hard phrase, those that want friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts. But one thing is most admirable (wherewith I will conclude this first fruif; of friendship), which is, that this communicating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects; for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in halves. For there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less. So that it is in truth of operation upon a man's mind, of like virtue as the alchemists use to attribute to their stone 29 for man's body; that it worketh all contrary effects, but still to the good and benefit of nature. But yet without praying in aid of alchemists, there is a manifest image of this in the ordinary course of nature. For in bodies, union strengthened and cher- isheth any natural action ; and on the other side weak- eneth and dulleth any violent impression : and even so it is of minds.
The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sov ereign for the understanding, as the first is for the affections. For friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the affections, from storm and tempests; but it maketh daylight in the understanding, out of darkness and confusion of thoughts. Neither is this to be un derstood only of faithful counsel, which a man receiv- eth from his friend; but before you come to that, certain it is that whosoever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and break up, in the communicating and discoursing with another; he tosseth his thoughts more easily; he marshalleth them more orderly; he seeth how they
86 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
look when they are turned into words: finally, he waxeth wiser than himself ; and that more by an hour's discourse than by a day's meditation. It was well said by Themistocles 30 to the king of Persia, TJiat speech was like cloth of Arras,31 opened and put abroad; whereby the imagery doth appear in figure; whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs. Neither is this second fruit of friendship, in opening the under standing, restrained only to such friends as are able to give a man counsel; (they indeed are best;) but even without that, a man learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his wits as against a stone, which itself cuts not. In a word, a man were better relate himself to a statua or picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother.
Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship complete, that other point which lieth more open and falleth within vulgar observation; which is faithful counsel from a friend. Heraclitus 32 saith well in one of his enigmas, Dry light is ever the best. And certain it is, that the light that a man receiveth by counsel from another is drier and purer than that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment; which is ever infused and drenched in his affections and cus toms. So as there is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self; and there is no such remedy against flat tery of a man's self as the liberty of a friend. Counsel is of two sorts: the one concerning manners, the other concerning business. For the first, the best preserva tive to keep the mind in health is the faithful admo nition of a friend. The calling of a man's self to a
OF FRIENDSHIP 87
strict account is a medicine, sometime, too piercing arid corrosive. Reading good books of morality is a little flat and dead. Observing our faults in others is some times improper for our case. But the best receipl (best, I say, to work, and best to take) is the admo nition of a friend. It is a strange thing to behold what gross errors and extreme absurdities many (especially of the greater sort) do commit, for want of a friend to tell them of them; to the great damage both of their fame and fortune j for, as St. James saith,33 they are as men that look sometimes into a glass, and presently forget their ou:n shape and favor. As for business, a man may think, if he will, that two eyes see no more than one; or that a gamester 84 seeth always more than a looker-on; or that a man in anger is as wise as he that hath said over the four and twenty 35 letters ; ar that a musket may be shot off as well upon the arm as upon a rest; and such other fond and high imagi nations, to think himself all in all. But when all is done, the help of good counsel is that which setteth business straight. And if any man think that he will take counsel, but it shall be by pieces; asking counsel in one business of one man, and in another business of another man; it is well (that is to say, better perhaps than if he asked none at all); but he runneth two dangers: one, that he shall not be faithfully coun selled; for it is a rare thing, except it be from a per fect and entire friend, to have counsel given, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to some ends which he hath that giveth it. The other, that he shall have counsel given, hurtful and unsafe (though with good meaning), and mixed partly of mischief and partly of remedy; even as if you would call a physician that is thought good for the cure of the disease you com-
88 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
plain of, but is unacquainted with your body; and therefore may put you in way for a present cure, but overthroweth your health in some other kind; and so cure the disease and kill the patient. But a friend that is wholly acquainted with a man's estate will be- ,vare, by furthering any present business, how he dash- 3th upon other inconvenience. And therefore rest not upon scattered counsels; they will rather distract and mislead, than settle and direct.
After these two noble fruits of friendship (peace in the affections, and support of the judgment), followeth the last fruit; which is like the pomegranate, full of many kernels; I mean aid and bearing a part in all actions and occasions. Here the best way to represent to life the manifold use of friendship is to cast and see how many things there are which a man cannot do himself; and then it will appear that it was a sparing speech of the ancients, to say, that a friend is another himself;30 for that a friend is far more than himself. Men have their time, and die many times in desire of some things which they principally take to heart; the bestowing of a child, the finishing of a work, or the like. If a man have a true friend, he may rest almost secure that the care of those things will continue after him. So that a man hath, as it were, two lives in his desires. A man hath a body, and that body is con fined to a place; but where friendship is, all offices of life are as it were granted to him and his deputy. For he may exercise them by his friend. How many things are there which a man cannot, with any face or comeliness, say or do himself? A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or beg; and a number of the like. But all these things
OF EXPENSE 89
are graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a man's own. So again, a man's person hath many proper relations which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his son but as a father; to his wife but as a husband; to his enemy but upon terms: whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. But to enumerate these things were endless ; I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage.
XXVIII
OF EXPENSE
RICHES are for spending, and spending for honor and good actions. Therefore extraordinary expense must be limited by the worth of the occasion; for voluntary undoing may be as well for a man's country as for the kingdom of heaven.1 But ordinary expense ought to be limited by a man's estate; and governed with such regard, as it be within his compass; and not subject to deceit and abuse of servants ; 2 and ordered to the best show, that the bills may be less than the esti mation abroad. Certainly, if a man will keep but of even hand,3 his ordinary expenses ought to be but to the half of his receipts; and if he think to wax rich, but to the third part. It is no baseness for the greatest to descend and look into their own estate. Some for bear it, not upon negligence alone, but doubting to bring themselves into melancholy, in respect they shall find it broken. But wounds cannot be cured without searching. He that cannot look into his own estate at all, had need both choose well those whom he employ- eth, and change them often; for new are more timor-
90 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
ous and less subtle. He that can look into his estate but seldom, it behooveth him to turn all to certainties.* A man had need, if he be plentiful in some kind of expense, to be as saving again in some other. As if he be plentiful in diet, to be saving in apparel; if he be plentiful in the hall, to be saving in the stable; and the like. For he that is plentiful in expenses of all kinds will hardly be preserved from decay. In clearing of a man's estate, he may as well hurt himself in being too sudden, as in letting it run on too long. For hasty selling is commonly as disadvantageable as interest. Besides, he that clears at once will relapse; for finding himself out of straits, he will revert to his customs: but he that cleareth by degrees induceth a habit of frugality, and gaineth as well upon his mind as upon his estate. Certainly, who hath a state to repair, may not despise small things; and commonly it is less dis honorable to abridge petty charges, than to stoop to petty gettings. A man ought warily to begin charges which once begun will continue; but in matters that return not he may be more magnificent.
XXIX
OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES
THE speech of Themistocles * the Athenian, whicL was haughty and arrogant in taking so much to him self, had been a grave and wise observation and cen sure, applied at large to others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, he said, He could not fiddle, but yet lie could make a small town a great city. These words (holpen a little with a metaphor 2) may express two differing abilities in those that deal in business of
OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS 91
estate. For if a true survey be taken of counsellors and statesmen, there may be found (though rarely) those which can make a small state great, and yet cannot fiddle; as on the other side, there will be found a great many that can fiddle very cunningly, but yet are so far from being able to make a small state great, as their gift lieth the other way; to bring a great and flourishing estate to ruin and decay. And certainly those degenerate arts and shifts, whereby many coun sellors and governors gain both favor with their masters and estimation with the vulgar, deserve no better name than fiddling; being things rather pleas ing for the time, and graceful to themselves only, than tending to the weal and advancement of the state which they serve. There are also (no doubt) coun sellors and governors which may be held sufficient (ncgotiis pares [equals in business]), able to manage affairs, and to keep them from precipices and manifest inconveniences; which nevertheless are far from the ability to raise and amplify an estate in power, means, and fortune. But be the workmen what they may be, let us speak of the work; that is, the true greatness of kingdoms and estates, and the means thereof. An argument fit for great and mighty princes to have in their hand ; to the end that neither by over-measuring their forces, they leese themselves in vain enterprises; nor on the other side, by undervaluing them, they de scend to fearful and pusillanimous counsels.
The greatness of an estate in bulk and territory doth fall under measure; and the greatness of finances and revenue doth fall under computation. The popu lation may appear by musters; and the number and greatness of cities and towns by cards and maps. But yet there is not any thing amongst civil affairs more
92 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
subject to error than the right valuation and true judgment concerning the power and forces of an estate. The kingdom of heaven is compared,3 not to any great kernel or nut, but to a grain of mustard- seed: which is one of the least grains, but hath in it a property and spirit hastily to get up and spread. So are there states great in territory, and yet not apt to enlarge or command ; and some that have but a small dimension of stem, and yet apt to be the foundations of great monarchies.
Walled towns, stored arsenals and armories, goodly races of horse, chariots of war, elephants, ordnance, artillery, and the like; all this is but a sheep in a lion's skin, except the breed and disposition of the people be stout and warlike. Nay, number (itself) in armies importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for (as Virgil saith 4) It never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be. The army of the Persians in the plains of Arbela was such a vast sea of people, as it did somewhat astonish the commanders in Alex ander's army; who came to him therefore, and wished him to set upon them by night; but he answered, He would not pilfer 5 the victory. And the defeat was easy. When Tigranes fi the Armenian, being encamped upon a hill with four hundred thousand men, discov ered the army of the Romans, being not above fourteen thousand, marching towards him, he made himself merry with it, and said, Yonder men are too many for an embassage, and too few for a fight. But before the sun set, he found them enow to give him the chase with infinite slaughter. Many are the examples of the great odds between number and courage; so that a man may truly make a judgment, that the principal point of greatness in any state is to have a race of
OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS 93
military men. Neither is money the sinews of war 7 (as it is trivially said), where the sinews of men's arms, in base and effeminate people, are failing. For Solon 8 said well to Crcesus 9 (when in ostentation he showed him his gold), Sir, if any other come thai hath Better iron than you, he will be master of all this gold. Therefore let any prince or state think soberly of his forces, except his militia of natives be of good and valiant soldiers. And let princes, on the other side, that have subjects of martial disposition, know their own strength; unless they be otherwise wanting unto themselves. As for mercenary forces (which is the help in this case), all examples 10 show that whatsoever estate or prince doth rest upon them, he may spread his feathers for a time, but he will mew them soon after.
The blessing of Judahand Issachar u will never meet; that the same people or nation should be both the lion's whelp and the ass between burthens ; neither will it be, that a people overlaid with taxes should ever become valiant and martial. It is true that taxes levied by consent of the estate do abate men's courage less : as it. hath been seen notably in the excises 12 of the Low Countries; and, in some degree, in the subsidies of England. For you must note that we speak now of the heart and not of the purse. So that although the same tribute and tax, laid by consent or by imposing, be all one to the purse, yet it works diversely upon the courage. So that you may conclude, that no people overcharged with tribute is fit for empire.
Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast. For that maketh the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, driven out of heart, and in effect but the gentleman's laborer. Even as you may see in cop-
94 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
pice woods; if you leave your staddles 13 too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, but shrubs and bushes. So in countries, if the gentlemen be too many, the commons will be base; and you will bring it to that, that not the hundred poll 14 will be fit foi an helmet; especially as to the infantry, which is the nerve 15 of an army; and so there will be great popu lation and little strength. This which I speak of hath been nowhere better seen than by comparing of Eng land and France; lf} whereof England, though far less in territory and population, hath been (nevertheless) an over-match; in regard the middle people of England make good soldiers, which the peasants of France do not. And herein the device of king Henry the Sev enth (whereof I have spoken largely in the History of his Lifi} was profound and admirable; in making farms and houses of husbandry of a standard ; that is, maintained with such a proportion of land unto them, as may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty and no servile condition; 17 and to keep the plough in the hands of the owners, and not mere hirelings. And thus indeed you shall attain to Virgil's character18 which he gives to ancient Italy:
Terra potens armis atque ubere glebse.
[A land powerful in arms and in productiveness of soil.] Neither is that state (which, for any thing 1 know, is almost peculiar to England, and hardly to be found anywhere else, except it be perhaps in Poland) to be passed over; I mean the state of free servants and attendants upon noblemen and gentlemen; which are no ways inferior unto the yeomanry for arms. And therefore out of all question, the splendor and magnificence and great retinues and hospitality of
OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS 95
noblemen and gentlemen, received into custom, doth much conduce unto martial greatness. Whereas, con trariwise, the close and reserved living of noblemen and gentlemen causeth a penury of military forces.
By all means it is to be procured, that the trunk of Nebuchadnezzar's tree 19 of monarchy be great enough 2 ° lo bear the branches and the boughs; that is, that the natural subjects of the crown or state bear a sufficient proportion to the stranger subjects that they govern. Therefore all states that are liberal of naturalization towards strangers are fit for empire. For to think that an handful of people can, with the greatest cour age and policy in the world, embrace too large extent of dominion, it may hold for a time, but it will fail sud denly. The Spartans 21 were a nice 22 people in point of naturalization; whereby, while they kept their com pass, they stood firm; but when they did spread, and their boughs were becomen too great for their stem, they became a windfall upon the sudden. Never any state was in this point so open to receive strangers into their body as were the Romans. Therefore it sorted with them accordingly; for they grew to the greatest monarchy. Their manner23 was to grant naturaliza tion (which they called jus civitatis [the right of citi zenship]), and to grant it in the highest degree; that is, not only jus commercii [the right to commercial trade], jus connubii [the right to intermarry], jus hoereditatis [the right of inheritance]; but also jus suffragii [the right of suffrage], and jus honorum [the right of holding office]. And this not to singular persons alone, but likewise to whole families; yea to cities, and sometimes to nations. Add to this their custom of plantation of colonies; whereby the Ro man plant was removed into the soil of other nations.
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And putting both constitutions together, you will say that it was not the Romans that spread upon the world, but it was the world that spread upon the Romans; and that was the sure way of greatness. I have mar* veiled sometimes at Spain, how they clasp and contair so large dominions with so few natural Spaniards; but sure the whole compass of Spain is a very great body of a tree; far above Rome and Sparta at the first. And besides, though they have not had that usage to naturalize liberally, yet they have that which is next to it; that is, to employ almost indifferently all nations in their militia of ordinary soldiers; yea and some times in their highest commands. Nay it seemeth at this instant they are sensible of this want of natives; as by the Pragmatical Sanction, now published,24 ap- peareth.
It is certain that sedentary and within-door arts, and delicate manufactures (that require rather the fin ger than the arm), have in their nature a contrariety to a military disposition. And generally, all warlike people are a little idle, and love danger better than travail. Neither must they be too much broken of it, if they shall be preserved in vigor. Therefore it was great advantage in the ancient states of Sparta, Ath ens, Rome, and others, that they had the use of slaves which commonly did rid those manufactures. Bm that is abolished, in greatest part, by the Christian law. That which cometh nearest to it is to leave those arts chiefly to strangers (which for that purpose are the more easily to be received), and to contain the principal bulk of the vulgar natives within those three kinds, — til lers of the ground; free servants; and handicraftsmen of strong and manly arts, as smiths, masons, carpenters, etc.; not reckoning professed soldiers.
OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS 97
But above all, for empire and greatness, it importeth most, that a nation do profess arms as their principal honor, study, and occupation. For the things which we formerly have spoken of are but habitations to wards arms; and what is habilitation without intention and act? Romulus,25 after his death (as they report or feign), sent a present26 to the Romans, that above all they should intend arms; and then they should prove the greatest empire of the world. The fabric of the state of Sparta was wholly (though not wisely) framed and composed to that scope and end. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. The Gauls, Ger mans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and others, had it for a time. The Turks have it at this day, though in great declination. Of Christian Europe, they that have it are, in effect, only the Spaniards.27 But it is so plain that every man profiteth in that he most intendeth, that it needeth not to be stood upon. It is enough to point at it; that no nation which doth not directly pro fess arms may look to have greatness fall into their mouths. And on the other side, it is a most certain oracle of time, that those states that continue long iu that profession (as the Romans and Turks principally have done) do wonders. And those that have pro fessed arms but for an age, have notwithstanding commonly attained that greatness in that age which maintained them long after, when their profession and exercise of arms hath grown to decay,
Incident to this point is, for a state to have those laws or customs which may reach forth unto them just occasions (as may be pretended) of war. For there is that justice imprinted in the nature of men, that thej enter not upon wars (whereof so many calamities do ensue) but upon some, at the least specious, grounds
88 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
and quarrels. The Turk hath at hand, for cause of war, the propagation of his law or sect;28 a quarrel that he may always command. The Romans, though they esteemed the extending the limits of their empire to be great honor to their generals when it was done, yet they never rested upon that alone to begin a war. First therefore, let nations that pretend to greatness have this; that they be sensible of wrongs, either upon bor derers, merchants, or politic ministers; and that they sit not too long upon a provocation. Secondly, let them be prest and ready to give aids and succors to their confederates; as it ever was with the Romans; insomuch, as if the confederate had leagues defensive with divers other states, and, upon invasion offered, did implore their aids severally, yet the Romans would ever be the foremost, and leave it to none other to have the honor. As for the wars which were anciently made on the behalf of a kind of party, or tacit con formity of estate, I do not see how they may be well justified: as when the Romans made a war29 for the liberty of Grecia; or when the Lacedaemonians and Athenians made wars to set up or pull down demo cracies and oligarchies ; or when wars were made by foreigners, under the pretence of justice or protection, to deliver the subjects of others from tyranny and oppression; and the like. Let it suffice, that no estate expect to be great, that is not awake upon any just occasion of arming.
No body can be healthful without exercise, neither ; natural body nor politic; and certainly to a kingdom or estate, a just and honorable war is the true exer cise. A civil war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever: but a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serv- eth to keep the body in health; for in a slothful peace,
OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS yfl
both courages will effeminate and manners corrupt. But howsoever it be for happiness, without all ques tion, for greatness it maketh, to be still for the most part in arms; and the strength of a veteran army (though it be a chargeable business) always on foot is that which commonly giveth the law, or at least the reputation, amongst all neighbor states; as may well be seen in Spain, which hath had, in one part or other, a veteran army almost continually, now by the space of six score years.
To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a mon archy. Cicero,30 writing to Atticus of Pompey his pre paration against Caesar, saith, Concilium Pompeii plane Themistocleum est; putat enim, qui mari potitur, cum rerum potiri [Pompey is going upon the policy of Themistocles; thinking that he who commands the sea commands all]. And, without doubt, Pompey had tired out Caesar, if upon vain confidence he had not left that way. We see the great effects of battles by sea. The battle of Actium 31 decided the empire of the world. The battle of Lepanto32 arrested the greatness of the Turk. There be many examples where sea- fights have been final to the war; but this is when princes or states have set up their rest upon the battles. But thus much is certain, that he that commands the sea is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he will. Whereas those that be strongest by land are many times nevertheless in great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of Europe, the vantage of strength at sea 33 (which is one of the prin cipal dowries of this kingdom of Great Britain) is great; both because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass ; and because the wealth of both
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Indies seems in great part but an accessory to the command of the seas.
The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, in respect of the glory and honor which reflected upon men from the wars in ancient time. There be now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry; which nevertheless are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers: and some remembrance perhaps upon the scutcheon; and some hospitals for maimed soldiers; and such like things. But in ancient times, the trophies erected upon the place of the victory ; the funeral laudatives 34 and monu ments for those that died in the wars; the crowns and garlands personal; the style of emperor,35 which the great kings of the world after borrowed ; the triumphs of the generals upon their return; the great donatives and largesses upon the disbanding of the armies; were things able to inflame all men's courages. But above all, that of the triumph,36 amongst the Romans, was not pageants or gaudery, but one of the wisest and noblest institutions that ever was.37 For it contained three things: honor to the general; riches to the treasury out of the spoils; and donatives to the army. But that honor perhaps were not fit for monarchies,* except it be in the person of the monarch himself, oi his sons; as it came to pass in the times of the Roman emperors, who did impropriate the actual triumphs to themselves and their sons, for such wars as they did achieve in person ; and left only, for wars achieved by subjects, some triumphal garments and ensigns to the general.
To conclude: no man can by care taking (as the Scripture saith 38) add a cubit to his stature, in this little model of a man's body; but in the great frame of
OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH 101
kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power of princes or estates to add amplitude and greatness to their kingdoms; for by introducing such ordinances constitutions, and customs, as we have now touched they may sow greatness to their posterity and succes sion. But these things are commonly not observed, but left to take their chance.
XXX
OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH
THERE is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of phy sic: a man's own observation,1 what he finds good of, and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to pre serve health. But it is a safer conclusion to say, This agrecth not well with me, therefore I will not continue it ; than this, / find no offence of this, therefore I may use it. For strength of nature in youth passeth over many excesses, which are owing a man till his age. Dis cern o"the coming on of years, and think not to do the same things still; for age will not be defied. Be ware of sudden change in any great point of diet, and if necessity inforce it, fit the rest to it. For it is a secret both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things than one.2 Examine thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise, apparel,3 and the like; and try in any thing thou shalt judge hurtful, to discontinue i by little and little; but so, as if thou dost find any in convenience by the change, thou come back to it again: for it is hard to distinguish that which is generally held good and wholesome, from that which is good particu larly, and fit for thine own body. To be free-minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat and of sleep and of exercise, is one of the best precepts of long
102 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
lasting. As for the passions and studies of the mind; avoid envy; anxious fears; anger fretting inwards; subtle and knotty inquisitions; joys and exhilarations in excess; sadness not communicated. Entertain hopes; mirth rather than joy; variety of delights, rather than surfeit of them; wonder and admiration, and therefore novelties; studies that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations of nature. If you fly physic in health altogether, it will be too strange for your body whtn you shall need it. If you make it too familiar, it will work no extraordinary effect when sickness cometh. I commend rather some diet for certain seasons, than frequent use of physic, except it be grown into a cus tom. For those diets alter the body more, and trouble it. less. Despise no new accident in your body, but ask opinion of it. In sickness, respect health prin cipally; and in health, action. For those that put their bodies to endure in health, may in most sicknesses, which are not very sharp, be cured only with cRt and tendering. Celsus could never have spoken it as a physician, had he not been a wise man withal, when he giveth it for one of the great precepts 4 of health and lasting, that a man do vary and interchange contraries, but with an inclination to the more benign extreme: use fasting and full eating, but rather full eating; watching and sleep, but rather sleep; sitting and exer cise, but rather exercise; and the like. So shall nature be cherished, and yet taught masteries. Physicians are some of them so pleasing and conformable to the humor of the patient, as they press not the true cure of the disease ; and some other are so regular in pro ceeding according to art for the disease, as they respect not sufficiently the condition of the patient. Take one
OF SUSPICION 103
of a middle temper; or if it may not be found in one man, combine two of either sort; and forget not to call as well the best acquainted with your body, as the best reputed of for his faculty.5
XXXI
OF SUSPICION
SUSPICIONS amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. Certainly they are to be repressed, or at least well guarded: for they cloud the mind; they leese friends; and they check with business, whereby business cannot go on currently and constantly. They dispose kings to tyranny, hus bands to jealousy, wise men to irresolution and melan choly. They are defects, not in the heart, but in the brain ; for they take place in the stoutest * natures ; as in the example of Henry the Seventh of England. There was not a more suspicious man, nor a more stout. And in such a composition they do small hurt. For commonly they are not admitted, but with exami nation, whether they be likely or no. But in fearful natures they gain ground too fast. There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little; and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procur ing to know more, and not to keep their suspicions in smother.2 What would men have? Do they think those they employ and deal with are saints ? Do they not think they will have their own ends, and be truer to themselves than to them? Therefore there is no better way to moderate suspicions, than to account upon such suspicions as true and yet to bridle them as false. For so far a man ought to make use of suspi cions, as to provide, as if that should be true that he
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suspects, yet it may do him no hurt. Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers are but buzzes; but suspi cions that are artificially nourished, and put into men's heads by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings. Certainly, the best mean to clear the way in this same wood of suspicions is frankly to communi cate them with the party that he suspects; for thereby he shall be sure to know more of the truth of them than he did before; and withal shall make that party more circumspect not to give further cause of suspicion. But this would not be done to men of base natures; for they, if they find themselves once suspected, will never be true. The Italian says, Sospetto licentia fede ; as if suspicion did give a passport 3 to faith; but it ought rather to kindle it to discharge itself.
XXXII
OF DISCOURSE
SOME in their discourse desire rather commendation of wit, in being able to hold all arguments, than of judgment, in discerning what is true; as if it were a praise to know what might be said, and not what should be thought. Some have certain common places and themes wherein they are good, and want variety; 1 which kind of poverty is for the most part tedious, and when it is once perceived, ridiculous. The honor- ablest part of talk is to give the occasion; and again to moderate and pass to somewhat else; for then a man leads the dance. It is good, in discourse and speech of conversation, to vary and intermingle speech of the present occasion with arguments, tales with reasons, asking of questions with telling of opinions, and jest with earnest: for it is a dull thing to tire, and, as ws
OF DISCOURSE 105
say now, to jade,2 any thing too far. As for jest, there be certain things which ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters of state, great per sons, any man's present business of importance, and any case that deserveth pity. Yet there be some that think their wits have been asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is piquant, and to the quick. That is a vein which would be bridled;
Parce,3 puer, stimuli's, et fortius utere loris.
[Spare, boy, the whip and tighter hold the reins.] And generally, men ought to find the difference be tween saltness and bitterness. Certainly, he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others' memory. He that questioneth much shall learn much, and content much; but especially if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh; for he shall give them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge. But let his ques tions not be troublesome; for that is fit for a poser.4 And let him be sure to leave other men their turns to speak. Nay, if there be any that would reign and take up all the time, let him find means to take them off, and to bring others on; as musicians use to do with those that dance too long galliards.5 If you dis semble sometimes6 your knowledge of that you are thought to know, you shall be thought another time to know that you know not. Speech of a man's self ought to be seldom, and well chosen. I knew one was Wont to say in scorn, He must needs be a wise man, he speaks so much of himself: and there is but one case wherein a man may commend himself with good grace: and that is in commending virtue in another; cspe<
106 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
cially if it be such a virtue whereunto himself preteni eth. Speech of touch 7 towards others should be spar ingly used ; for discourse ought to be as a field, without coming home to any man. I knew two noblemen, of the west part of England, whereof the one was given to scoff, but kept ever royal cheer in his house; the other would ask of those that had been at the other's table, Tell truly, was there never a flout or dry blow * given? To which the guest would answer, Such and such a thing passed. The lord would say, / thought he would mar a good dinner. Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words or in good order. A good continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution, shows slow ness: and a good reply or second speech, without a good settled speech, showeth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course are yet nimblest in the turn; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare. To use too many cir cumstances 9 ere one come to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all, is blunt.
XXXIII
OF PLANTATIONS *
PLANTATIONS are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young it begat more children; but now it is old it begets fewer: for I may justly account new plantations to be the children of former kingdoms. I like a plantation in a pure soil; that, is, where people are not displanted to the end to plant in others. For else it is rather an extirpation than a plantation. Planting of countries is like plant"
OF PLANTATIONS 107
ing of woods; for you must make account to leese almost twenty years' profit, and expect your recom pense in the end. For the principal thing that hath been the destruction of most plantations, hath been the base and hasty drawing of profit in the first years. It is true, speedy profit is not to be neglected, as far as may stand with the good of the plantation, but no fur ther. It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people, and wicked condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant; and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues, and not "all to work, but be lazy, and do mis chief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation. The people wherewith you plant ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, laborers, smiths, carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, surgeons, cooks, and bakers.2 In a country of planta tion, first look about what kind of victual 3 the country yields of itself to hand; as chestnuts, walnuts, pine apples, olives, dates, plums, cherries, wild honey, and the like; and make use of them. Then consider what victual or esculent things there are, which grow speed ily, and within the year; as parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, radish,4 artichokes of Hierusalem, maize, and the like. For wheat,5 barley, and oats, they ask too much labor; but with pease and beans you may be gin, both because they ask less labor, and because they serve for meat as well as for bread. And of rice likewise cometh a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. Above all, there ought to be brought .store of biscuit, oat -meal, flour, meal, and the like, in the begin ning, till bread may be had. For beasts, or birds, take such as are least subject to diseases, and mul-
108 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
tiply fastest; as swine, goats, cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, house-doves,8 and the like. The victual in plan tations ought to be expended almost as in a besieged town; that is, with certain allowance. And let the main part of the ground employed to gardens or corn, be to a common stock; and to be laid in, and stored up, and then delivered out in proportion ; besides some spots of ground that any particular person will manure for his own private. Consider likewise what commodi ties the soil where the plantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way help to defray the charge of the plantation (so it be not, as was said, to the un timely prejudice of the main business), as it hath fared with tobacco 7 in Virginia. Wood commonly abound- ~th but too much; and therefore timber is fit to be one. If there be iron ore,8 and streams whereupon to set the mills, iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. Making of bay-salt,9 if the climate be proper for it, would be put in experience. Growing silk 10 likewise, if any be, is a likely commodity. Pitch and tar, where store of firs and pines are, will not fail. So drugs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot but yield great profit. Soap-ashes likewise, and other things that may be thought of. But moil not too much under ground; for the hope of mines is very uncertain, and useth to make the planters lazy in other things. For government, let it be in the hands of one, assisted with some counsel; and let them have commission to exercise martial laws, with some limitation. And above all, let men make that profit of being in the wilderness, as they have God always, and his service, before their eyes. Let not the government of the plantation depend upon too many counsellors and un dertakers in the country that planteth, but upon ? tern.
OF PLANTATIONS 109
perate number; and let those be rather noblemen and gentlemen, than merchants; for they look ever to the present gain. Let there be freedom from custom,11 till the plantation be of strength; and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their commodities vhere they may make their best of them, except there be some special cause of caution. Cram not in people, by sending too fast company after company; but rather harken how they waste, and send supplies proportion- ably; but so as the number may live well in the plan tation, and not by surcharge be in penury. It hath been a great endangering to the health of some planta tions, that they have built along the sea and rivers, in marish and unwholesome grounds. Therefore, though you begin there, to avoid carriage and other like dis commodities, yet build still rather upwards from the streams than along. It concerneth likewise the health of the plantation that they have good store of salt with them, that they may use it in their victuals, when it shall be necessary. If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain them with trifles and gingles, but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless; and do not win their favor by helping them to invade their enemies, but for their de fence it is not amiss ; and send oft of them over to the country that plants, that they may see a better con dition than their own, and commend it when they re turn. When the plantation grows to strength, then it is time to plant with women as well as with men ; that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be ever pieced from without. It is the sinfullest thing in the world to forsake or destitute 12 a plantation once in forwardness; for besides the dishonor, it is the guilti ness of blood of many commiserable persons.
110 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON XXXIV
OF RICHES
I CANNOT call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to vir tue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hin- dereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon,1 Where much is, there are many to consume it ; and wJiat hath the owner but the sight of it with his eyes ? The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches: there is a custody of them; or a power of dole and donative of them; or a fame of them; but no solid use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little stones 2 and rarities ? and what works of ostentation are undertaken, because there might seem to be some use of great riches ? But then you will say, they may be of use to buy men out of dangers or troubles. As Solomon saith,3 Riches are as a strong hold, in the imagination of the rich man. But this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagination, and not always in fact. For certainly great riches have sold more men than they have bought out. Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly; use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave content edly. Yet have no abstract nor friarly contempt of them. But distinguish, as Cicero saith 4 well of Rabi- rius Posthumus, In studio rei amplificandce apparebat, non avaritice prccdam, sed instrumentum bonitati quari [In seeking to increase his estate it was apparent that he
OF RICHES 111
sought not a prey for avarice to feed on, but an in strument for goodness to work with]. Harken also to Solomon, and beware of hasty gathering of riches; Qui festinat 5 ad divitias, non erit insons [He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent]. The poets feign,6 that when Plutus (which is Riches) is sent from Jupiter, he limps and goes slowly; but when he is sent from Pluto, he runs and is swift of foot. Mean ing that riches gotten by good means and just labor pace slowly; but when they come by the death of others (as by the course of inheritance, testaments, and the like), they come tumbling upon a man. But it mought be applied likewise to Pluto, taking him for the devil. For when riches come from the devil (as by fraud and oppression and unjust means), they come upon speed. The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul. Parsimony is one of the best, and yet is not innocent; for it withholdeth men from works of liberality and charity. The improvement of the ground is the most natural obtaining of riches; for it is our great mother's blessing, the earth's; but it is slow. And yet where men of great wealth do stoop to husbandly, it multiplieth riches exceedingly. I knew a nobleman in England, that had the greatest audits of any man in my time; a great grazier, a great sheep- master, a great timber man, a great collier, a great corn-master, a great lead-man, and so of iron, and a number of the like points of husbandry. So as the earth seemed a sea to him, in respect of the perpetual importation. It was truly observed by one,7 that him self came very hardly to a little riches, and very easily to great riches. For when a man's stock is come to that, that he can expect the prime of markets, and overcome those bargains which for their greatness are
112 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
few men's money, and be partner in the industries of younger men, he cannot but increase mainly. The gains of ordinary trades and vocations are honest; and furthered by two things chiefly: by diligence, and by a good name for good and fair dealing. But the gains of bargains are of a more doubtful nature; when men shall wait upon others' necessity, broke by ser vants and instruments to draw them on, put off others cunningly that would be better chapmen, and the like practices, which are crafty and naught. As for the chopping of bargains,8 when a man buys not to hold but to sell over again, that commonly grindeth double, both upon the seller and upon the buyer. Sharings do greatly enrich, if the hands be well chosen that are trusted. Usury is the certainest means of gain, though one of the worst; as that whereby a man doth eat his bread in sudore vultus alieni [in the sweat of another man's face]; and besides, doth plough upon Sundays. But yet certain though it be, it hath flaws; for that the scriveners and brokers do value unsound men to serve their own turn. The fortune in being the first in an invention or in a privilege doth cause sometimes a wonderful overgrowth in riches; as it was with the first sugar man in the Canaries. Therefore if a man can play the true logician,9 to have as wety judgment as invention, he may do great matters especially if the times be fit. He that resteth upon gains certain shall hardly grow to great riches; and he that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break and come to poverty: it is good therefore to guard adventures with certainties, that may uphold losses. Monopolies, and coemption of wares for re-sale, where they are not restrained, are great means to enrich; especially if the party have intelligence what things
OF PROPHECIES 113
are like to come into request, and so store himself beforehand. Riches gotten by service, though it be of the best rise, yet when they are gotten by flattery, feeding humors, and other servile conditions, they may be placed amongst the worst. As for fishing for testaments and executorships (as Tacitus 10 saith of Seneca, testamenta et orbos tamquam indagine capi [he took testaments and wardships as with a net]), it is yet worse; by how much men submit themselves to meaner persons than in service. Believe not much them that seem to despise riches; for they despise them that despair of them; and none worse when they come to them. Be not penny-wise; riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches either to their kindred, or to the public; and moderate portions prosper best in both. A great state left to an heir, is as a lure to all the birds of prey round about to seize on him, if he be not the better stablished in years and judgment. Likewise glorious gifts and foundations11 are like sac rifices without salt ; and but the painted sepulchres of alms, which soon will putrefy and corrupt inwardly. Therefore measure not thine advancements by quan tity, but frame them by measure: and defer not charities till death; for, certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of anothei man's than of his own.
XXXV
OF PROPHECIES
I MEAN not to speak of divine prophecies; nor of heathen oracles; nor of natural predictions; but only
114 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
of prophecies that have been of certain memory, and from hidden causes. Saith the Pythonissa 1 to Saul, To-morrow thou and thy son shall be with me. Homer 2 hath these verses:
At domus ^Eneae cunctis dominabitur oris, Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis.
[But the house of ^Eneas shall reign in all lands, and his children's children, and their generations.] A pro phecy, as it seems, of the Roman empire. Seneca 3 the tragedian hath these verses:
Venient annis
Saecula seris, quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens Pateat Tellus, Tiphysque novos Detegat orbes; nee sit terris Ultima Thule
[There shall come a time when the bands of ocean shall be loosened, and the vast earth shall be laid open; another Tiphys shall disclose new worlds, and lands shall be seen beyond Thule]: a prophecy of the discovery of America. The daughter of Polycrates * dreamed that Jupiter bathed her father, and Apollo anointed him; and it came to pass that he was cruci fied in an open place, where the sun made his body run with sweat, and the rain washed it. Philip of Macedon 5 dreamed he sealed up his wife's belly; whereby he did expound it, that his wife should be barren; but Aristander the soothsayer told him his wife was with child, because men do not use to seal vessels that are empty. A phantasm6 that appeared to M. Brutus in his tent, said to him, Philippis iterum me videbis [Thou shall see me again at Philippi]. Tiberius said 7 to Galba, Tu quoque, Galba, degustabis impcrium [Thou likewise, Galba, shall taste of empire].
OF PROPHECIES 115
In Vespasian's time, there went a prophecy in the East, that those that should come forth of Judea should reign over the world: which though it may be was meant of our Savior, yet Tacitus expounds 8 it of Vespasian. Domitian dreamed,9 the night before he was slain, that, a golden head was growing out of the nape of his neck: and indeed the succession that followed him, for many years, made golden times. Henry the Sixth 10 of England said of Henry the Seventh, when he was a lad, and gave him water, This is the lad that shall enjoy the crown for which we strive. When I was in France, I heard from one Dr. Pena, that the Queen Mother, who was given to curious arts, caused the King ll her husband's nativity to be calculated, under a false name; and the astrologer gave a judgment, that he should be killed in a duel; at which the Queen laughed, thinking her husband to be above challenges and duels : but he was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the staff of Montgomery going in at his beaver. The trivial prophecy, which I heard when I was a child, and Queen Elizabeth was in the flower of her years, was,
When hempe l2 is spun England's done:
whereby it was generally conceived, that after the princes had reigned which had the principal letters of that word hempe (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip,13 and Elizabeth), England should come to utter confusion; which, thanks be to God, is veri fied only in the change of the name; for that the King's style 14 is now no more of England, but of Britain. There was also another prophecy, before the year of '88, which I do not well understand.
116 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
There shall be seen upon a day, Between the Baugh and the May,15 The black fleet of Norway. When that that is come and gone, England, build houses of lime and stone, For after wars shall you have none.
it was generally conceived to be meant of the Spanish fleet that came in '88: for that the king of Spain's surname, as they say, is Norway.16 The prediction of Regiomontanus,17
Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus
[The eighty-eighth, a year of wonders], was thought likewise accomplished in the sending of that great fleet, being the greatest in strength, though not in number, of all that ever swam upon the sea. As for Chon's dream,18 I think it was a jest. It was, that he was devoured of a long dragon; and it was ex pounded of a maker of sausages, that troubled him exceedingly. There are numbers of the like kind; especially if you include dreams, and predictions of astrology. But I have set down these few only of certain credit, for example. My judgment is, that they ought all to be despised ; and ought to serve but for winter talk by the fireside. Though when I say despised, I mean it as for belief; for otherwise, the spreading or publishing of them is in no sort to be de spised. For they have done much mischief; and I sef many severe laws made to suppress them. That thai, hath given them grace, and some credit, consisteth in three things. First, that men mark when they hit, and never mark when they miss; as they do generally also of dreams. The second is, that probable conjec tures, or obscure traditions, many times turn them selves into prophecies; while the nature of man, which
OF AMBITION 117
coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to foretell that which indeed they do but collect. As that of Seneca's verse. For so much was then subject to demonstra tion, that the globe of the earth had great parts beyond the Atlantic, which mought be probably conceived not to be all sea : and adding thereto the tradition in Pla to's Timseus, and his Atlanticus,19 it mought encourage one to turn it to a prediction. The third and last (which is the great one) is, that almost all of them, being infinite in number, have been impostures, and by idle and crafty brains merely contrived and feigned after the event past.
XXXVI
OF AMBITION
AMBITION is like choler; which is an humor * that maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stir ring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped, and cannot have his way, it becometh adust,2 and thereby malign and venomous. So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discon tent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased when things go backward ; which is the worst property in a servant of a prince or state Therefore it is good for princes, if they use ambitious men, to handle it so as they be still progressive and not retrograde; which because it cannot be without incon venience, it is good not to use such natures at all. For if they rise not with their service, they will take order to make their service fall with them. But since we have said it were good not to use men of ambitious
118 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
natures, except it be upon necessity, it is fit we speak in what cases they are of necessity. Good command ers in the wars must be taken, be they never so ambi tious; for the- use of their service dispenseth with the rest; and to take a soldier without ambition is to pull off his spurs. There is also great use of ambitious men in being screens to princes in matters of danger and envy; for no man will take that part, except he be like a seeled 3 dove, that mounts and mounts because he cannot see about him. There is use also of ambitious men in pulling down the greatness of any subject that overtops; as Tiberius used Macro 4 in the pulling down of Sejanus. Since therefore they must be used in such cases, there resteth to speak how they are to be bridled, that they may be less dangerous. There is less dan ger of them if they be of mean birth, than if they be noble; and if they be rather harsh of nature, than gracious and popular: and if they be rather new raised, than grown cunning and fortified in their greatness. It is counted by some a weakness in princes to have favorites; but it is of all others the best remedy against ambitious great-ones. For when the way of pleasuring and displeasuring lieth by the favorite, it is impossible any other should be over-great. Another means to curb them is to balance them by others as proud as they. But then there must be some middle counsellors, to keep things steady; for without that ballast the ship will roll too much. At the least, a prince may animate and inure some meaner persons, to be as it were scourges to ambitious men. As for the having of them obnoxious to ruin; if they be of fear ful natures, it may do well; but if they be stout and daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. As for the pulling of them down, if the
OF MASQUES AND TKIUMPHS 119
affairs require it, and that it may not be done with safety suddenly, the only way is the interchange con tinually of favors and disgraces; whereby they may not know what to expect, and be as it were in a wood. Of ambitions, it is less harmful, the ambition to pre vail in great things, than that other, to appear in every thing; for that breeds confusion, and mars business. But yet it is less danger to have an ambitious man stirring in business, than great in dependences. He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men hath a great task; but that is ever good for the public. But he that plots to be the only figure 5 amongst ciphers is the decay of a whole age. Honor hath three things in it: the vantage ground to do good; the ap proach to kings and principal persons; and the raising of a man's own fortunes. He that hath the best of these intentions, when he aspireth, is an honest man; and that prince that can discern of these intentions in another that aspireth, is a wise prince. Generally, let princes and states choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty than of rising; and such as love busi ness rather upon conscience than upon bravery; and let them discern a busy nature from a willing mind
XXXVII
OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS
THESE things are but toys, to come amongst such serious observations. But yet, since princes will have such things, it is better they should be graced with elegancy than daubed with cost. Dancing to song is a thing of great state and pleasure. I understand it, that the song be in quire, placed aloft, and accom panied with some broken music; l and the ditty fitted
120 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
to the device. Acting in song, especially in dialogues, hath an extreme good grace; I say acting, not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar thing) ; and the voices of the dialogue would be strong and manly (a base and a tenor; no treble); and the ditty high and tragical; 2 not nice or dainty. Several quires, placed one over against another, and taking the voice by catches, anthem-wise, give great pleasure. Turn ing dances into figure 3 is a childish curiosity. And generally let it be noted, that those things which I here set down are such as do naturally take the sense, and not respect petty wonderments. It is true, the alterations of scenes, so it be quietly and without noise, are things of great beauty and pleasure; for they feed and relieve the eye, before it be full of the same object. Let the scenes abound with light, specially colored and varied; and let the masquers, or any other, that are to come down from the scene, have some motions upon the scene itself before their coming down; for it draws the eye strangely, and makes it with great pleasure to desire to see that it cannot perfectly dis cern. Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings. Let the music likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed. The colors that show best by candle-light are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water-green; and oes,4 or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so they are of most glory. As for rich embroidery, it is lost and not discerned. Let the suits of the masquers be graceful, and such as become the person when the vizors are off; not after examples of known attires; Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let anti-masques 5 not be long; they have been com monly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild-men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, Ethiops, pigmies, turquets,6
OF NATURE IN MEN 121
nymphs, rustics, Cupids, statuas moving, and the like. As for angels, it is not comical enough to put them in anti-masques; and anything that is hideous, as devils, giants, is on the other side 7 as unfit. But chiefly, let the music of them be recreative, and with some strange •changes. Some sweet odors suddenly coming forth, without any drops falling, are, in such a company as there is steam and heat, things of great pleasure and refreshment. Double masques, one of men, another of ladies, addeth state and variety. But all is nothing except the room be kept clear and neat.
For justs, and tourneys, and barriers; 8 the glories of them are chiefly in the chariots, wherein the chal lengers make their entry; especially if they be drawn with strange beasts: as lions, bears, camels, and the like; or in the devices of their entrance; or in the brav ery of their liveries ; or in the goodly furniture of their horses and armor. But enough of these toys.
XXXVIII
OF NATURE IN MEN
NATURE is often hidden; sometimes overcome; sel dom extinguished. Force maketh nature more violent in the return; doctrine and discourse maketh nature less importune; but custom only doth alter and sub due nature. He that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not set himself too great nor too small tasks; for the first will make him dejected by often failings; and the second will make him a small proceeder, though by often prevailings. And at the first let him practise with helps, as swimmers do with bladders or rushes; but after a time let him practise with dis advantages, as dancers do with thick shoes. For it
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breeds great perfection, if the practice be harder than the use. Where nature is mighty, and therefore the victory hard, the degrees had need be, first to stay and arrest nature in time; like to him that would say over the four and twenty letters * when he was angry; then to go less in quantity; as if one should, in forbearing wine, come from drinking healths to a draught at a meal; and lastly, to discontinue altogether. But if a man have the fortitude and resolution to enfranchise himself at once, that is the best:
Optimus ille 2 animi vindex Isedentia pectus Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel.
[Wouldst thou be free ? The chains that gall thy breast With one strong effort burst, and be at rest.]
Neither is the ancient rule ap^i?s, to bend nature as a wand to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right. understanding it, where the contrary extreme is no vice. Let not a man force a habit upon himself with a perpetual continuance, but with some intermission. For both the pause reinforceth the new onset; and if a man that is not perfect be ever in practice, he shall as well practise his errors as his abilities, and induce one habit of both; and there is no means to help this but by seasonable intermissions. But let not a man trust his victory over his nature too far; for nature will lay 3 buried a great time, and yet revive upon the occasion or temptation. Like as it was with JSsop's damsel,4 turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very demurely at the board's end, till a mouse ran before her. Therefore let a man either avoid the occasion altogether; or put himself often to it, that he may be little moved with it. A man's nature is best perceived in privateness, for there is no affectation; in passion,
OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION 123
for that putteth a man out of his precepts; and in a new case or experiment, for there custom leaveth him. They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations ; otherwise they may say, multum incola 5fuit anima mea [my soul hath been a stranger and a so- journer]; when they converse in those things they do not affect. In studies, whatsoever a man commandeth upon himself, let him set hours for it; but whatsoever is agreeable to his nature, let him take no care for any set times; for his thoughts will fly to it of themselves; so as the spaces of other business or studies will suffice. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; there fore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.
XXXIX
OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION
MEN'S thoughts are much according to their inclina tion; their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions ; but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed. And therefore, as Machiavel * well noteth (though in an evil-favored instance), there is no trusting to the force of nature nor to the bravery of words, except it be corroborate by custom. His instance is, that for the achieving of a desperate conspiracy, a man should not rest upon the fierceness of any man's nature, or his resolute under takings; but take such an one as hath had his hands formerly in blood. But Machiavel knew not of a Friar Clement,2 nor a Ravillac,3 nor a Jaureguy,4 nor a Bal- tazar Gerard;5 yet his rule holdeth still that nature, nor the engagement of words, are not so forcible as custom. Only superstition is nowr so well advanced, that men of the first blood are as firm as butchers by
124 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
occupation; and votary 6 resolution is made equipollent to custom even in matter of blood. In other things the predominancy of custom is everywhere visible; in somuch as a man would wonder to hear men profess, protest, engage, give great words, and then do just as they have done before; as if they were dead images, and engines moved only by the wheels of custom. We see also the reign or tyranny of custom, what it is. The Indians 7 (I mean the sect 8 of their wise men) lay themselves quietly upon a stack of wood, and so sacri fice themselves by fire. Nay the wives strive to be burned with the corpses of their husbands. The lads of Sparta,9 of ancient time, were wont to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, without so much as queching.10 I remember, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's time of England, an Irish rebel n condemned, put up a peti tion to the deputy that he might be hanged in a withe, and not in an halter; because it had been so used with former rebels. There be monks in Russia, for pen ance, that will sit a whole night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged with hard ice. Many examples may be put of the force of custom, both upon mind and body. Therefore, since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavor to obtain good customs. Certainly custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years : this we call education; which is, in effect, but an early custom. So we see, in languages the tongue is more pliant 12 to all expressions and sounds, the joints are more supple to all feats of activity and motions, in youth than after wards. For it is true that late learners cannot so well take the ply; except it be in some minds that have not suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves open and prepared to receive continual amendment,
OF FORTUNE 125
which is exceeding rare. But if the force of custom simple and separate be great, the force of custom copu late and conjoined and collegiate is far greater. For there example teacheth, company comforteth, emula tion quickeneth, glory raiseth: so as in such places the force of custom is in his exaltation.13 Certainly the great multiplication of virtues upon human nature resteth upon societies well ordained and disciplined. For commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds. But the misery is, that the most effectual means are now Applied to the ends least to be desired.
XL
OF FORTUNE
IT cannot be denied, but outward accidents conduce much to fortune; favor, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly, the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. Faber quisque l fortunes sues [Every one is the architect of his own for tune], saith the poet. And the most frequent of ex ternal causes is, that the folly of one man is the fortune of another. For no man prospers so suddenly as by others' errors. Serpens nisi 2 serpentem comederit non fit draco [A serpent must have eaten another serpent before he can become a dragon]. Overt and apparent virtues bring forth praise; but there be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortune; certain de liveries of a man's self, which have no name. The Spanish name, dcscmboltura [impudence, confidence], partly expresseth them; when there be not stonds nor restiveness in a man's nature; but that the wheels of his mind keep way with the wheels of his fortune. For
126 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
so Livy 3 (after he had described Cato Major in these words, In illo viro tantum robur corporis et animifuit, ut quocunque loco natus esset, fortunam sibi faciuru? videretur [Such was his strength of body and mind, that wherever he had been born he could have made himself a fortune]) falleth upon that, that he had ver satile ingenium [a wit that could turn well]. Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see For tune: for though she be blind,4 yet she is not invisible. The way of fortune is like the Milken Way in the sky ; which is a meeting or knot of a number of small stars; not seen asunder, but giving light together. So are there a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortu nate. The Italians note some of them, such as a man would little think. When they speak of one that cannot do amiss, they will throw in into his other conditions, that he hath Poco di matto [a little out of his senses]. And certainly there be not two more for tunate properties, than to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest. Therefore extreme lovers of their country or masters were never fortu- i nate, neither can they be. For when a man placeth his thoughts without himself, he goeth not his own way. An hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover (the French hath it better, entreprenant, or remnant}; but the exercised fortune maketh the able man. Fortune is to be honored and respected, and it be but for her daughters, Confidence and Repu tation. For those two Felicity breedeth; the first within a man's self, the latter in others towards him. All wise men, to decline the envy of their own vir tues, use to ascribe them to Providence and For tune; for so they may the better assume them: and,
OF USURY 127
besides, it is greatness in a man to be the care of the higher powers. So Caesar said 5 to the pilot in the tempest, Cccsarem portas, et fortunam ejus [You carry Csesar and his fortune]. So Sylla 6 chose the name of Felix [the Fortunate], and not of Magnus [the Great]. And it hath been noted, that those who as cribe openly too much to their own wisdom and pol icy end infortunate. It is written 7 that Timotheus the Athenian, after he had, in the account he gave to the state of his government, often interlaced this speech, and in this Fortune had no part, never pros pered in any thing he undertook afterwards. Certainly there be, whose fortunes are like Homer's verses, that have a slide and easiness 8 more than the verses of other poets; as Plutarch saith 9 of Timoleon's for tune, in respect of that of Agesilaus or Epaminondas. And that this should be, no doubt it is much in a man's self.
XLI
OF USURY
MANY have made witty invectives against usury.1 They say that it is a pity the devil should have God's part,2 which is the tithe.3 That the usurer is the great est Sabbath-breaker, because his plough goeth every Sunday. That the usurer is the drone that Virgil 4 speaketh of;
Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.
[They drive away the drones, a slothful race, from the hives.] That the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for mankind after the fall, which was, in sudore 5 imltus tui comedes pancm tuum; not, in sudore vultus alieni [in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread — •
128 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
not in the sweat of another's face]. That usurers should have orange-tawny 6 bonnets, because they d<j judaize. That it is against nature for money to beget money; 7 and the like. I say this only, that usury is a concessum propter duritiem cordis [a thing allowed by reason of the hardness of men's hearts]; for since there must be borrowing and lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have made suspicious and cunning propositions of banks,8 discovery 9 of men's estates, and other inventions. But few have spoken of usury usefully. It is good to set before us the incom- modities and commodities of usury, that the good may be either weighed out or culled out ; and warily to pro vide, that while we make forth to that which is better, we meet not with that which is worse.
The discommodities of usury are, First, that it makes fewer merchants. For were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie still,10 but would in great part be employed upon merchandizing; which is the vena porta of wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor merchants. For as a farmer cannot hus band his ground so well if he sit at a great rent; so the merchant cannot drive his trade so well, if he sit at great usury. The third is incident to the other two; and that is the decay of customs of kings or states, which ebb or flow with merchandizing. Th( fourth, that it bringeth the treasure of a realm or state into a few hands. For the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties, at the end of the game most of the money will be in the box; and ever a state flourisheth when wealth is more equally spread. The fifth, that it beats down the price of land; for the employment of money is chiefly either merchan-
OF USURY 129
dizing or purchasing; and usury waylays both. The sixth, that it doth dull and damp all industries, im provements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring, if it were not for this slug. The last, that it is the canker and ruin of many men's estates; which in process of time breeds a public poverty.
On the other side, the commodities of usury are, first, that howsoever usury in some respect hindereth merchandizing, yet in some other it advanceth it; for it is certain that the greatest part of trade is driven by young merchants, upon borrowing at interest; so as if the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will ensue presently a great stand of trade. The sec ond is, that were it not for this easy borrowing upon interest, men's necessities would draw upon them a most sudden undoing; in that they would be forced to sell their means (be it lands or goods) far under foot; n and so, whereas usury doth but gnaw upon them, bad markets would swallow them quite up. As for mortgaging or pawning, it will little mend the matter: for either men will not take pawns without use; or 'if they do, they will look precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel moneyed man in the country, that would say, The devil take this usury,, it keep us from forfeitures of mortgages and bonds. The third and last is, that it is a vanity to conceive that there would be ordinary borrowing without profit ; and it is impossible to conceive the number of incon veniences that will ensue, if borrowing be cramped. Therefore to speak of the abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever had it, in one kind or rate, or other. So as that opinion must be sent to Utopia.12
To speak now of the reformation and reiglement of
230 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
usury; how the discommodities of it may be best avoided, and the commodities retained. It appears by the balance of commodities and discommodities of usury, two things are to be reconciled. The one, that the tooth of usury be grinded, that it bite not too much; the other, that there be left open a means to invite moneyed men to lend to the merchants, for the continuing and quickening of trade. This cannot be done, except you introduce two several sorts of usury, a less and a greater. For if you reduce usury to one low rate, it will ease the common borrower, but the merchant will be to seek for money. And it is to be noted, that the trade of merchandize, being the most lucrative, may bear usury at a good rate; other contracts not so.
To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly thus. That there be two rates of usury: the one free, and general for all; the other under license only, to certain persons and in certain places of merchan dizing. First, therefore, let usury in general be re duced to five in the hundred; and let that rate be proclaimed to be free and current; and let the state shut itself out to take any penalty for the same. This will preserve borrowing from any general stop or dryness. This will ease infinite borrowers in the country. This will, in good part, raise the price 13 of land, because land purchased at sixteen years' pur chase will yield six in the hundred, and somewhat more; whereas this rate of interest yields but five. This by like reason will encourage and edge indus trious and profitable improvements; because many will rather venture in that kind than take five in the hundred, especially having been used to greater profit. •Secondly, let there be certain persons licensed to lend
OF YOUTH AND AGE 131
to known merchants upon usury at a higher rate; and let it be with the cautions following. Let the rate be, even with the merchant himself, somewhat more easy than that he used formerly to pay; tor by tnat means all borrowers shall have some ease by this reformation, be he merchant, or whosoever. Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money. Not that I altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked, in regard of certain suspicions.14 Let the state be answered some small matter for the license, and the rest left to the lender; for if the abate ment be but small, it will no whit discourage the lender. For he, for example, that took before ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to eight in the hundred than give over his trade of usury, and go from certain gains to gains of hazard. Let these li censed lenders be in number indefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and towns of merchandizing; for then they will be hardly able to color other men's moneys in the country: so as the license of nine will not suck away the current rate of five; for no man will lend his moneys far off, nor put them into un known hands.
If it be objected that this doth in a sort authorize usury, which before was in some places but permissive; the answer is, that it is better to mitigate usury by declaration, than to suffer it to rage by connivance.
XLII
OF YOUTH AND AGE
A MAN that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so
132 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men is more lively than that of old ; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and as it were more divinely. Natures that have much heat and great and violent desires and perturbations are not ripe for action till they have passed the meridian of their years; as it was with Julius Caesar and Septimius Severus. Of the latter of whom it is said,1 Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus, plenum [He passed a youth full of errors, yea of madnesses]. And yet he was the ablest emperor, almost, of all the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth. As it is seen in Augustus Caesar* Cosmus Duke of Florence, Gaston de Foix,2 and others. On the other side, heat and vivacity in age is an excellent composition for business. Young men are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution 3 than for counsel; and fitter for new projects than for settled business. For the experience of age, in things that fall within the compass of it, directeth them; but in new things, abuseth them. The errors of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, with out consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and that which doubleth all errors will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and
OF YOUTH AND AGE 133
seldom drive business home to the full period, but con tent themselves with a mediocrity of success. Cer tainly it is good to compound employments of both; for that will be good for the present, because the vir tues of either age may correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men may be learn ers, while men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favor and popularity youth. But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin, 4 upon the text, Your young men 5 shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, inferreth that young men are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream. And certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections. There be some have an over-early ripe ness in their years, which fadeth betimes. These are, first, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned ; such as was Hermogenes 6 the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding subtle; who afterwards waxed stupid. A second sort is of those that have some natural dispositions which have better grace in youth than in age; such as is a fluent and luxuriant speech; which becomes youth well, but not age: so Tully 7 saith of Hortensius,8 Idem mancbat, neque idem dccebat [He continued the same, when the same was not becoming]. The third is of such as take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold. As was Scipio Africanus. of whom Livy saith ° in effect, Ultima primis 10 cede- bant [His last actions were not equal to his first].
134 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON XLIII
OF BEAUTY
VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy not to err, than in labor to produce excellency. And there fore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus * Caesar, Titus Vespa- sianus,2 Philip le Bel 3 of France, Edward the Fourth 4 of England, Alcibiades 5 of Athens, Ismael <• the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favor 7 is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion more than that of favor. That is the best part of beauty, which a pic ture cannot express; no nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles 8 or Albert Durer 9 were the more trifler; whereof the one would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part,
OF DEFORMITY 135
you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel though persons in years seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum 10 autumnus pulcher [beautiful persons have a beautiful autumn]; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.
XLIV
OF DEFORMITY
DEFORMED persons are commonly even with na ture; for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they by nature; being for the most part (as the Scripture saith) void of natural affection; 1 and so they have their revenge of nature. Certainly there is a consent be tween the body and the mind; and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Ubi pcccat in uno, periclitatur in altero. But because there is in man an election touching the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body, the stars of natural inclination are sometimes obscured by the sun of discipline and virtue. Therefore it is good to consider of deformity, not as a sign, which is more deceivable; but as a cause, which seldom faileth of the effect. Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a per petual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn. Therefore all deformed persons are ex-
treme bold. First, as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn; but in process of time by a general habit. Also it stirreth in them industry, and espe cially of this kind, to watch and observe the weakness of others, that they may have somewhat to repay. Again, in their superiors, it quencheth jealousy to wards them, as persons that they think they may at pleasure despise: and it layeth their competitors and emulators asleep; as never believing they should be in possibility of advancement, till they see them in possession. So that upon the matter, in a great wit, deformity is an advantage to rising. Kings in ancient times (and at this present in some countries) were wont to put great trust in eunuchs; 2 because they that are envious towards all are more obnoxious and offi cious towards one. But yet their trust towards them hath rather been as to good spials and good whisperers, than good magistrates and officers. And much like is the reason of deformed persons. Still the ground is, they will, if they be of spirit, seek to free themselves from scorn; which must be either by virtue or malice; and therefore let it not be marvelled if sometimes they prove excellent persons; as was Agesilaus,3 Zanger 4 the son of Solyman, ^Esop,5 Gasca,6 President of Peru; and Socrates 7 may go likewise amongst them; with others.
XLV
OF BUILDING
HOUSES are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had. Leave the goodly fabrics of houses, for beauty only, to the enchanted palaces of the poets; who build them with small cost. He that
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builds a fair house upon an ill seat, committeth him self to prison. Neither do I reckon it an ill seat only where the air is unwholesome; but likewise where the air is unequal; as you shall see many fine seats set upon a knap 1 of ground, environed with higher hills round about it; whereby the heat of the sun is pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs; so as you shall have, and that suddenly, as great diversity of heat and cold as if you dwelt in several places. Nei ther is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets; and, if you will consult with Mo- mus,2 ill neighbors. I speak not of many more; want of water; want of wood, shade, and shelter; want of fruitfulness, and mixture of grounds of several na tures; want of prospect; want of level grounds; want of places at some near distance for sports of hunting, hawking, and races; too near the sea, too remote; having the commodity 3 of navigable rivers, or the discommodity of their overflowing; too far off from great cities, which may hinder business, or too near them, which lurcheth 4 all provisions, and maketh everything dear; where a man hath a great living laid together, and where he is scanted: all which, as *t is impossible perhaps to find together, so it is good to know them, and think of them, that a man may take as many as he can; and if he have several dwell ings, that he sort them so, that what he wanteth in the one he may find in the other. Lucullus answered Pompey well; who, when he saw his stately galleries, and rooms so large and lightsome, in one of his houses, said, Surely an excellent place for summer, but how do you in winter? Lucullus answered,5 Why, do you not think me as wise as some fowl are, that ever clwnge their abode towards the winter?
133 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
To pass from the seat to the house itself; we will do as Cicero doth in the orator's art; who writes books De Oratore, and a book he entitles Orator; whereof the former delivers the precepts of the art, and the latter the perfection. We will therefore describe a princely palace, making a brief model thereof. For it is strange to see, now in Europe, such huge build ings as the Vatican e and Escurial 7 and some others be, and yet scarce a very fair room in them.
First, therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace except you have two several sides; a side for the banquet, as is spoken of in the book of Hester,8 and a side for the household; the one for feasts and tri umphs, and the other for dwelling. I understand both these sides to be not only returns, but parts of the front; and to be uniform without, though severally partitioned within; and to be on both sides of a great and stately tower in the midst of the front, that, as it were, joineth them together on either hand. I would have on the side of the banquet, in front, one only goodly room aboVe stairs, of some forty foot 9 high; and under it a room for a dressing or preparing place at times of triumphs. On the other side, which is the household side, I wish it divided at the first into a hall and a chapel (with a partition between) ; both of good state and bigness; and those not to go all the length, but to have at the further end a winter and a summer parlor, both fair. And under these rooms, a fair and large cellar sunk under ground; and like wise some privy kitchens, with butteries and pantries, and the like. As for the tower, I would have it two stories, of eighteen 10 foot high apiece, above the two wings; and a goodly leads upon the top, railed with statuas interposed; and the same tower to be divided
OF BUILDING 139
Into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The stairs like wise to the upper rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel,11 and finely railed in with images of wood, cast into a brass color; and a very fair landing-place at the top. But this to be, if you do not point any of the lower rooms for a dining place of servants. For otherwise you shall have the servants' dinner after your own: for the steam of it will come up as in a tunnel. And so much for the front. Only I under stand the height of the first stairs to be sixteen foot,12 which is the height of the lower room.
Beyond this front is there to be a fair court, but three sides of it, of a far lower building than the front. And in all the four corners of that court fair stair cases, cast into turrets, on the outside, and not within the row of buildings themselves. But those towers are not to be of the height of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower building. Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in sum mer, and much cold in winter. But only some side alleys, with a cross,13 and the quarters to graze, being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of re turn on the banquet side, let it be all stately gal leries: in which galleries let there be three, or five, fine cupolas in the length of it, placed at equal dis tance; and fine colored windows of several works. On the household side, chambers of presence and or dinary entertainments, with some bed-chambers; and let all three sides be a double house, without thorough lights on the sides, that you may have rooms from the sun, both for forenoon and afternoon. Cast it also, that you may have rooms both for summer and winter; shady for summer, and warm for winter You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass
HO THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
that one cannot tell where to become to be out of the sun or cold. For inbowed windows, I hold them of gcyod use (in cities, indeed, upright do better, in re spect of the uniformity towards the street); for they be pretty retiring places for conference; and besides, they keep both the wind and sun off; for that which would strike almost through tne room doth scarce pass the window. But let them be out few, four in the court, on the sides only.
Beyond this court, let there be an inward court, of the same square and height; which is to be environed with the garden on all sides; and in the inside, clois tered on all sides, upon decent and beautiful arches, as high as the first story. On the under story, towards the garden, let it be turned to a grotto, or place of shade, or estivation. And only have opening and windows towards the garden; and be level upon the floor, no whit sunken under ground, to avoid all damp- ishness. And let there be a fountain, or some fair work of statuas in the midst of this court; and to be paved as the other court was. These buildings to be for privy lodgings on both sides ; and the end for pri v< galleries. Whereof you must foresee that one of them be for an infirmary, if the prince or any special person should be sick, with chambers, bed-chamber, ante- camera, and recamera joining to it. This upon the second story. Upon the ground story, a fair gallery, open, upon pillars; and upon the third story likewise, an open gallery, upon pillars, to take the prospect and freshness of the garden. At both corners of the further side, by way of return, let there be two delicate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the midst; and all other elegancy that may be thought upon. In the
/
OF GARDENS 141
upper gallery too, I wish that there may be, if the place will yield it, some fountains running in divers places from the wall, with some fine avoidances. And thus much for the model of the palace; save that you must have, before you come to the front, three courts. A green court plain, with a wall about it; a second court of the- same, but more garnished, with little turrets, or rather embellishments, upon the wall; and a third court, to make a square with the front, but not to be built, nor yet enclosed with a naked wall, but enclosed with terraces, leaded aloft, and fairly garnished, on the three sides; and cloistered on the inside, with pil lars, and not with arches below. As for offices, let them stand at distance, with some low galleries, to pass from them to the palace itself.
XL VI
OF GARDENS
U GOD ALMIGHTY first planted 1 a garden. And in- /deed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which buildings and palaces are but gross handi works: and a man shall ever see that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection. I do hold it, in the roya) ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens for all the months 2 in the year; in which severally things of beauty may be then in season. For December, and January^and the latter part of November, you must take such things as are green all winter: holly; ivy; bays; juniper; cypress-trees; yew; pine-apple-trees; ? fir-trees; rosemary; lavender; periwinkle, the white,
142 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
the purple, and the blue; germander; flags; orange- trees; lemon-trees; and myrtles, if they be stoved;4 and sweet marjoram, warm set.5 There followeth, for the latter part of January and February, the mezereon- tree, which then blossoms ; crocus vernus,6 both the yellow and the grey; primroses; anemones; the early tulippa; hyacinthus orientalis; chamai'ris;7 fritellaria. For March, there come violets, specially the single blue, which are the earliest; the yellow daffodil;8 the daisy; the almond-tree in blossom; the peach-tree in blossom; the cornelian-tree in blossom; sweet-briar. In April follow the double white violet; the wall flower; the stock-gilliflower; the cowslip; flower-de- lices, and lilies of all natures; rosemary-flowers; the tulippa; the double peony; the pale daffodil;9 the French honeysuckle; the cherry-tree in blossom; the damson and plum-trees in blossom; the white thorn in leaf; the lilac-tree. In May and June come pinks of all sorts, specially the blush-pink; roses of all kinds, except the musk, which comes later; honeysuckles; strawberries; bugloss; columbine; the French mari gold, flos Africanus;10 cherry-tree in fruit; ribes;11 figs in fruit; rasps;12 vine-flowers; lavender in flowers; the sweet satyrian, with the white flower; herba mus- caria; 13 lilium convallium ; 14 the apple-tree in bios* som.15 In July come gilliflowers of all varieties; musk- roses; the lime-tree in blossom; early pears and plums in fruit; jennetings,18 codlins. In August come plums of all sorts in fruit; pears; apricocks; berberries; fil- berds; musk-melons; monks-hoods, of all colors. In September come grapes; apples; poppies of all col ors; peaches; melocotones;17 nectarines; cornelians; wardens;18 quinces. In October and the beginning of November come services;19 medlars; bullaces;20 roses
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cut or removed to come late; holly-hocks; and such like. These particulars 21 are for the climate of London; but my meaning is perceived, that you may have ver perpetuum [perpetual spring],22 as the place affords.
And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes like the warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and plants that do best perfume the air. Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers 23 of their smells; so that you may walk by a whole row of them, and find nothing of their sweetness; yea though it be in a morning's dew. Bays likewise yield no smell as they grow. Rosemary little; nor sweet marjoram. That which above all others yields the sweetest smell in the air is the violet, specially the white double violet, which comes twice a year; about the middle of April, and about Bartholomew-tide.24 Next to that is the musk- rose. Then the strawberry-leaves dying, which [yield] 2S a most excellent cordial smell. Then the flower of the vines; it is a little dust, like the dust of a bent,28 which grows upon the cluster in the first coming forth. Then sweet-briar. Then wall-flowers, which are very delightful to be set under a parlor or lower chamber window. Then pinks and gilliflowers, specially the matted pink and clove gilliflower. Then the flowers of the lime-tree. Then the honeysuckles, so they be somewhat afar off. Of bean -flowers I speak not, because they are field flowers. But those which per fume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three; that is, burnet, wild-thyme, and watermints. There fore you are to set whole alleys of them, to have *he pleasure when you walk or tread-
144 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
For gardens (speaking of those which are indeed prince-like, as we have done of buildings), the con tents ought not well to be under thirty acres of ground; and to be divided into three parts; a green in the en trance; a heath or desert 27 in the going forth; and the main garden in the midst; besides alleys on both sides. And I like well that four acres of ground be assigned to the green; six to the heath; four and four to either side; and twelve to the main garden. The green hath two pleasures: the one, because nothing is more pleas ant to the eye than green grass kept finely shorn ; the other, because it will give you a fair alley in the midst by which you may go in front upon a stately hedge, which is to enclose the garden. But because the alley will be long, and, in great heat of the year or day, you ought not to buy the shade in the garden by going in the sun through the green, therefore you are, of either side the green, to plant a covert alley upon carpenter's work, about twelve foot in height, by which you may go in shade into the garden. As for the making of knots or figures with divers colored earths, that they may lie under the windows of the house on that side which the garden stands, they be but toys; you may see as good sights many times in tarts. The garden is best to be square, encompassed on all the four sides with a stately arched hedge. The arches to be upon pillars of carpenter's work, of some ten foot high, and six foot broad; and the spaces between of the same dimension with the breadth of the arch. Over the arches let there be an entire hedge of some four foot high, framed also upon carpenter's work; and upon the upper hedge, over every arch, a little turret, with a belly, enough to receive a cage of birds : and over every space between the arches some other little figure, with
OF GARDENS 145
broad plates of round colored glass gilt, for the sun to play upon. But this hedge I intend to be raised upon a bank, not steep, but gently slope, of some six foot, set all with flowers. Also I understand, that this square of the garden should not be the whole breadth of the ground, but to leave on either side ground enough for diversity of side alleys ; unto which the two covert alleys of the green may deliver you. But there must be no alleys with hedges at either end of this great enclos ure; not at the hither end, for letting28 your pro spect upon this fair hedge from the green; nor at the further end, for letting your prospect from the hedge through the arches upon the heath.
For the ordering of the ground within the great hedge, I leave it to variety of device; advising nev ertheless that whatsoever form you cast it into, first, it be not too busy, or full of work. Wherein I, for my part, do not like images cut out in juniper or other garden stuff; they be for children. Little low hedges, round, like welts,29 with some pretty pyramids, I like well; and in some places, fair columns upon frames of carpenter's work. I would also have the alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer alleys upon the side grounds, but none in the main garden. I wish also, in the very middle, a fair mount, with three ascents, and alleys, enough for four to walk abreast; which I would have to be perfect circles, without any bulwarks or embossments; and the whole mount to be thirty foot high; and some fine banqueting-house, with some chimneys neatly cast, and without too much glass.
For fountains, they are a great beauty and refresh ment; but pools mar all, and make the garden un wholesome, and full of flies and frogs. Fountains I
146 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
intend to be of two natures: the one that sprinkleth or spouteth water; the other a fair receipt of water, of some thirty or forty foot square, but without fish, or slime, or mud. For the first, the ornaments of images gilt, or of marble, which are in use, do well: but the main matter is so to convey the water, as it never stay, either in the bowls or in the cLtern; that the water be never by rest discolored, green or red or the like; or gather any mossiness or putrefaction. Be sides that, it is to be cleansed every day by the hand. Also some steps up to it, and some fine pavement about it, doth well. As for the other kind of foun tain, which we may call a bathing pool, it may admit much curiosity and beauty; wherewith we will not trouble ourselves: as, that the bottom be finely paved, and with images; the sides likewise; and withal em bellished with colored glass, and such things of lustre; encompassed also with line rails of low statuas. But the main point is the same which we mentioned in the former kind of fountain; which is, that the water be in perpetual motion, fed by a water higher than the pool, and delivered into it by fair spouts, and then dis charged away under ground by some equality of bores, that it stay little.30 And for fine devices, of arching water without spilling, and making it rise in several forms (of feathers, drinking glasses, canopies, and the like), they be pretty things to look on, but nothing to health and sweetness.
For the heath, which was the third part of our plot, I wish it to be framed, as much as may be, to a natural wildness. Trees I would have none in it,31 but some thickets made only of sweet-briar and honeysuckle, and some wild vine amongst; and the ground set with violets, strawberries, and primroses. For these are
OF GARDENS 147
sweet, and prosper in the shade. And these to be in the heath, here and there, not in any order. I like also little heaps, in the nature of mole-hills (such as are in wild heaths), to be set, some with wild thyme; some with pinks; some with germander, that gives a good flower to the eye; some with periwinkle; some with violets ; some with strawberries ; some with cow slips; some with daisies; some with red roses; some with lilium convallium; some with sweet-williams red; some with bear's-foot: and the like low flowers, being withal sweet and sightly. Part of which heaps are to be with standards of little bushes pricked 32 upon their top, and part without. The standards to be roses; juniper; holly; berberries (but here and there, be cause of the smell of their blossom); red currants; gooseberries; rosemary; bays; sweet-briar; and such like. But these standards to be kept with cutting, that they grow not out of course.
For the side grounds, you are to fill them with va riety of alleys, private, to give a full shade, some of tliem, wheresoever the sun be. You are to frame some of them likewise for shelter, that when the wind blows sharp you may walk as in a gallery. And those alleys must be likewise hedged at both ends, to keep out the wind ; and these closer alleys must be ever finely gravelled, and no grass, because of going wet. In many of these alleys, likewise, you are to set fruit- trees of all sorts; as well upon the walls as in ranges. And this would be generally observed, that the bor ders wherein you plant your fruit-trees be fair and large, and low, and not steep ; and set with fine flow ers, but thin and sparingly, lest they deceive 33 the t^ees. At the end of both the side grounds, I would Iiiive a mount of some pretty height, leaving the wall
148 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
of the enclosure breast high, to look abroad into the fields.
For the main garden, I do not deny but there should be some fair alleys ranged on both sides, with fruit- trees; and some pretty tufts of fruit-trees, and arbors with seats, set in some decent order; but these to be by no means set too thick; but to leave the main gar den so as it be not close, but the air open and free. For as for shade, I would have you rest upon the alleys of the side grounds, there to walk, if you be disposed, in the heat of the year or day; but to make account that the main garden is for the more temperate parts of the year; and in the heat of summer, for the morn ing and the evening, or overcast days.
For aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that largeness as they may be turfed, and have living plants and bushes set in them; that the birds may have more scope, and natural nestling,34 and that no foulness ap pear in the floor of the aviary. So I have made a platform 35 of a princely garden, partly by precept, partly by drawing, not a model, but some general lines of it; and in this I have spared for no cost. But it is nothing for great princes, that for the most part taking advice with workmen, with no less cost set their things together; and sometimes add statuas and such things for state and magnificence, but nothing to the true pleasure of a garden.
OF NEGOTIATING
IT is generally better to deal by speech than by let ter; and by the mediation of a third than by a man's self. Letters are good, when a man would draw an
OF NEGOTIATING 149
answer by letter back again ; or when it may serve for a man's justification afterwards to produce his own letter; or where it may be danger to be interrupted, or heard by pieces. To deal in person is good, when a man's face breedeth regard, as commonly with in feriors; or in tender cases, where a man's eye upon the countenance of him with whom he speaketh may give him a direction how far to go; and generally, where a man will reserve to himself liberty either to disavow or to expound. In choice of instruments., it is better to choose men of a plainer sort, that are like to do that that is committed to them, and to report back again faithfully the success, than those that are cunning to contrive out of other men's business some what to grace themselves, and will help the matter in report for satisfaction' sake. Use also such persons as affect the business wherein they are employed; for that quickeneth * much; and such as are fit for the matter; as bold men for expostulation, fair-spoken men for per suasion, crafty men for inquiry and observation, fro- ward and absurd 2 men for business that doth not well bear out itself.3 Use also such as have been lucky, and prevailed before in things wherein you have employed them; for that breeds confidence, and they will strive to maintain their prescription. It is better to sound a person with whom one deals afar off, than to fall upon the point at first ; except you mean to surprise him by some short question. It is better dealing with men in. appetite, than with those that are where they would be. If a man deal 4 with another upon conditions, the start or first performance 5 is all ; which a man cannot rea sonably demand, except either the nature of the thing be such, which must go before; or else a man can per suade the other party that he shall still need him in
150 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
some other thing; or else that he be counted the hon* ester man.8 All practice is to discover, or to work. Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at un awares, and of necessity, when they would have some what done and cannot find an apt pretext. If you would work any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him; or his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe him; or those that have interest in him, and so govern him. In dealing with cunning persons, we must ever consider their ends, to interpret their speeches; and it is good to say little to them, and that which they least look for. In all negotiations of diffi culty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.
XLVIII
OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS
COSTLY followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he make his wings shorter. I reckon to be costly, not them alone which charge the purse, but which are wearisome and impor tune in suits. Ordinary followers * ought to challenge no higher conditions than countenance, recommenda tion, and protection from wrongs. Factious followers are worse to be liked, which follow not upon affection to him with whom they range themselves, but upon discontentment conceived against some other; where upon commonly ensueth that ill intelligence that we many times see between great personages. Likewise glorious followers, who make themselves as trumpets of the commendation of those they follow, are full of inconvenience; for they taint business through want
OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS 151
of secrecy; and they export honor from a man,2 and make him a return in envy. There is a kind of fol lowers likewise which are dangerous, being indeed espials; which inquire the secrets 3 of the house, and bear tales of them to others. Yet such men, many ;imes, are in great favor; for they are officious, and jommonly exchange tales. The following by certain estates of men, answerable to that which a great per son himself professeth (as of soldiers to him that hath been employed in the wars, and the like), hath ever been a thing civil, and well taken even in monarchies; so it be without too much pomp or popularity. But the most honorable kind of following is to be followed as one that apprehendeth to advance virtue and desert in all sorts of persons. And yet, where there is no eminent odds in sufficiency, it is better to take with the more passable, than with the more able. And besides, to speak truth, in base times 4 active men are of more use than virtuous. It is true that in government it is good to use men of one rank equally: for to counte nance some extraordinarily is to make them insolent, and the rest discontent; because they may claim a due. But contrariwise, in favor, to use men with much difference and election is good ; for it maketh the persons preferred more thankful, and the rest more officious: because all is of favor.5 It is good discre tion not to make too much of any man at the first; because one cannot hold out that proportion. To be governed (as we call it) by one is not safe; for it shows softness, and gives a freedom to scandal and dis reputation; for those that would not censure or speak ill of a man immediately will talk more boldly of those that are so great with them, and thereby wound their honor. Yet to be distracted with many is worse; for
152 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
it makes men to be of the last impression,6 and full oi change. To take advice of some few friends is ever honorable; for lookers-on many times see more than gamesters ; and the vale best discovereth the hill.1 There is little friendship in the world, and least of all between equals, which was wont to be magnified.8 That that is, is between superior and inferior, whose fortunes may comprehend the one the other.
XLIX
OF SUITORS
MANY ill matters and projects are undertaken; and private suits do putrefy the public good. Many good matters are undertaken * with bad minds; I mean not only corrupt minds, but crafty minds, that intend not performance. Some embrace 2 suits, which never mean to deal effectually in them; but if they see there may be life in the matter by some other mean, they will be content to win a thank, or take a second reward, or at least to make use in the meantime of the suitor's hopes. Some take hold of suits only for an occasion to cross some other; or to make an information 3 whereof they could not otherwise have apt pretext; without care what become of the suit when that turn is served ; or, generally, to make other men's business a kind of entertainment to bring in their own. Nay, some under take suits, with a full purpose to let them fall; to the end to gratify the adverse party or competitor. Surely there is in some sort a right in every suit; either a right in equity, if it be a suit of controversy; 4 or a right of desert, if it be a suit of petition.5 If affection lead a man to favor the wrong side in justice, let him rather use his countenance to compound the matter 6
OF SUITORS 15S
than to carry it. If affection lead a man to favor the less worthy in desert, let him do it without deprav ing or disabling the better deserver. In suits which a man doth not well understand, it is good to refer them to some friend of trust and judgment, that may report whether he may deal in them with honor : but let him choose well his referendaries, for else he may be led by the nose. Suitors are so distasted with delays and abuses, that plain dealing in denying to deal in suits at first, and reporting the success barely, and in chal lenging no more thanks than one hath deserved, is grown not only honorable but also gracious. In suits of favor, the first coming ought to take little place : so far forth consideration may be had of his trust, that if intelligence of the matter could not otherwise have been had but by him, advantage be not taken of the note, but the party left to his other means ; and in some sort recompensed for his discovery. To be ignorant of the value of a suit is simplicity; as well as to be ignorant of the right thereof is want of conscience. Secrecy in suits is a great mean of obtaining; for voicing them to be in forwardness may discourage some kind of suitors, but doth quicken and awake others. But timing of the suit is the principal. Timing, I say, not only in re spect of the person that should grant it, but in respect of those which are like to cross it. Let a man, in the choice of his mean, rather choose the fittest mean than tlw greatest mean; and rather them that deal in cer tain things, than those that are general. The repara tion of a denial is sometimes equal to the first grant; if a man show himself neither dejected nor discontented. Intquum petas 7 ui oequum fcras [Ask more than is rea sonable, that you may get no less] is a good rule, where a man hath strength of favor: but otherwise
154 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
a man were better rise in his suit; for he that would have ventured at first to have lost the suitor will not in the conclusion lose both the suitor and his own former favor. Nothing is thought so easy a request to a great person, as his letter; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is so much out of his reputation. There are no worse instruments than these general contrivers 8 of suits; for they are but a kind of poison and infection to public proceedings.
U r
OF STUDIES
STTT-IES serve for delight,1 for ornameni, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect na ture, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proymngT* by study; and studies themselves do give forth direc tions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simpjejnen admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh
OF STUDIES 155
j/ jnd consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and di gested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and atten tion. Some books also may be read by deputy, and ex tracts made of them by others ; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distillecf
JJL /waters,3 flashy4 things. Reading maketh a t*d\ man; /conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit : and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty;5 the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; 6 logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores 1 [Studies pass into and influence man ners]. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as dis eases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone8 and reins;9 shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stom ach; riding for the head; and the like. So4f-ajnan's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics: for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to. dis tinguish or find differences, let him study the School men; for they are cymini sectores 10 [splitters of hairs]. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.
156 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
LI
OF FACTION
MANY have an opinion not wise,1 that for a prince to govern his estate, or for a great person to govern his proceedings, according to the respect of factions, is a principal part of policy; whereas contrariwise, the chiefest wisdom is either in ordering those things which are general, and wherein men of several factions do nevertheless agree; or in dealing with correspondence to particular persons, one by one.2 But I say not that the consideration of factions is to be neglected. Mean men, in their rising, must adhere; but great men, that have strength in themselves, were better to maintain themselves indifferent and neutral. Yet even in be ginners, to adhere so moderately, as he be a man of the one faction which is most passable with the other, commonly giveth best way. The lower and weaker faction is the firmer in conjunction; and it is often seen that a few that are stiff do tire out a greater number that are more moderate. When one of the factions is extinguished, the remaining subdivideth; as the faction between Lucullus and the rest of the nobles of the senate (which they called Optimates [Aristocrats]) held out awhile against the faction of Pompey and Csesar; but when the senate's authority was pulled down, Caesar and Pompey 3 soon after brake. The faction or party of Antonius and Octavianus 4 Caesar against Brutus and Cassius held out likewise for a time; but when Brutus and Cassius were overthrown, then soon after Antonius and Octavianus brake and subdivided. These examples are of wars, but the same holdeth in private factions. And therefore those that are seconds
OF FACTION 157
in factions do many times, when the faction subdivid- eth, prove principals; but many times also they prove ciphers and cashiered; for many a man's strength is in opposition; and when that faileth he groweth out of use. It is commonly seen that men once placed take in with the contrary faction to that by which they enter:, thinking belike that they have the first sure, and now are ready for a new purchase.5 The traitor in faction lightly goeth away with it; 6 for when matters have stuck long in balancing, the winning of some one man casteth them, and he getteth all the thanks. The even carriage between two factions proceedeth not always of moderation, but of a trueness to a man's self, with end to make use of both. Certainly in Italy they hold it a little suspect in popes, when they have often in their mouth Padre commune [common father]: and take it to be a sign of one that meaneth to refer all to the great ness of his own house. Kings had need beware how they side themselves, and make themselves as of a faction or party; for leagues within the state are ever pernicious to monarchies: for they raise an obligation paramount to obligation of sovereignty, and make the king tanquam unus 1 ex nobis [like one of our selves]; as was to be seen in the League of France.8 When factions are carried too high and too violently, it is a sign of weakness in princes; and much to the prejudice both of their authority and business. The motions of factions under kings ought to be like the motions (as the astronomers -speak) of the inferior orbs, which may have their proper motions, but yet still are quietly carried by the higher motion of primum mobile.
158 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON LII
OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS
HE that is only real had need have exceeding great parts of virtue; as the stone had need to be rich that is set without foil.1 But if a man mark it well, it is in praise and commendation of men as it is in get- tings and gains: for the proverb is true, That light gains make heavy purses ; for light gains come thick, whereas great come but now and then. So it is true that small matters 2 win great commendation, because they are continually in use and in note : whereas the occasion of any great virtue cometh but on festivals. Therefore it doth much add to a man's reputation, and is (as Queen Isabella said 3) like perpetual letters com mendatory, to have good forms. To attain them it al most sufficeth not to despise them; for so shall a man observe them in others; and let him trust himself with the rest. For if he labor too much to express them, he shall lose their grace; which is to be natural and unaffected. Some men's behavior 4 is like a verse, wherein every syllable is measured; how can a man comprehend great matters, that breaketh his mind too much to small observations ? Not to use ceremonies at all is to teach others not to use them again; and so diminisheth respect to himself; especially they be not to be omitted to strangers and formal natures; but the dwelling upon them, and exalting them above the moon, is not only tedious but doth diminish the faith and credit of him that speaks. And certainly there is a kind of conveying of effectual and imprinting passages amongst compliments,5 which is of singular use, if a man can hit upon it. Amongst a man's peers
OF PRAISE 159
a man shall be sure of familiarity; and therefore it is good a little to keep state. Amongst a man's inferiors one shall be sure of reverence; and therefore it is good a little to be familiar. He that is too much in any thing, so that he giveth another occasion of satiety, maketh himself cheap. To apply one's self to others is good; so it be with demonstration that a man doth it upon regard, and not upon facility. It is a good precept generally in seconding another, yet to add somewhat of one's own: as if you will grant his opin ion, let it be with some distinction; if you will follow his motion, let it be with condition; if you allow his counsel, let it be with alleging further reason. Men had need beware how they be too perfect in compli ments; for be they never so sufficient otherwise, their enviers will be sure to give them that attribute, to the disadvantage of their greater virtues. It is loss also in business to be too full of respects, or to be curious in observing times and opportunities. Solomon saith,6 He that considereth the wind shall not sow, and he that look- eth to the clouds shall not reap. A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Men's behavior should be like their apparel, not too strait or point device,7 but free for exercise or motion.
LIII
OF PRAISE
PRAISE is the reflection of virtue; but it is as the glass or body which giveth the reflection. If it be from the common people, it is commonly false and naught; and rather followeth vain persons than vir tuous. For the common people understand not many excellent virtues. The lowest virtues draw praise from
160 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
them; the middle virtues work in them astonishment or admiration ; but of the highest virtues they have no sense of perceiving at all. But shows, and species l vir- tutibus similes [qualities resembling virtues], serve besl with them. Certainly fame is like a river,2 that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid. But if persons of quality and judgment con cur,3 then it is (as the Scripture saith 4) nomen bonum instar unguenti fragrantis [a good name like unto a sweet ointment]. It filleth all round about, and will not easily away. For the odors of ointments are more dur able than those of flowers. There be so many false points 5 of praise, that a man may justly hold it a sus pect. Some praises proceed merely of flattery; and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have certain common attributes, which may serve every man ; if he be a cun ning flatterer, he will follow the arch-flatterer, which is a man's self; and wherein a man thinketh best of himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most : but if he be an impudent flatterer, look wherein a man is conscious to himself that he is most defective, and is most out of countenance in himself, that will the flat terer entitle him to perforce, spreta conscientia [in dis dain of conscience]. Some praises come of good wishes and respects, which is a form due in civility to kings and great persons, laudando 8 prcecipere [to teach in praising], when by telling men what they are, they represent to them what they should be. Some men are praised maliciously to their hurt, thereby to stir envy and jealousy towards them; pessimum genus 7 inimico- rum laudantium [the worst kind of enemies are they that praise]; insomuch as it was a proverb amongst the Grecians, that he that was praised 8 to his hurt should have a push rise upon his nose; as we say, that a blister a
OF VAIN-GLORY 161
will rise upon one's tongue that tells a lie. Certainly moderate praise, used with opportunity, and not vul gar, is that which doth the good. Solomon saith,10 He that praiseth his friend aloud, rising early, it shall be to him no better than a curse. Too much magnifying of man or matter doth irritate contradiction, and procure envy and scorn. To praise a man's self cannot be decent, except it be in rare cases; but to praise a man's office or profession, he may do it with good grace, and with a kind of magnanimity. The cardi nals of Rome, which are theologues, and friars, and Schoolmen, have a phrase of notable contempt and scorn towards civil business : for they call all temporal business of wars, embassages, judicature, and other em ployments, sbirrerie,11 which is under-sheriffries ', as if they were but matters for under-sheriffs and catch- poles: 12 though many times those under-sheriffries do more good than their high speculations. St. Paul, when he boasts of himself, he doth oft interlace, / speak 13 like a fool; but speaking of his calling, he saith, magnificabo 14 apostolatum meum [I will magnify my mission].
i LIV
OP VAIN-GLORY
IT was prettily devised of Msop, The fly sat 1 upon the axle-tree of the chariot wheel, and said, What a dust do I raise! So are there some vain persons, that what soever goeth alone or moveth upon greater means, if they have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it. They that are glorious must needs be factious; for all bravery stands upon comparisons. They must needs be violent, to make good their own
162 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
vaunts. Neither can they be secret, and therefore not effectual; but according to the French proverb, Beau- coup de bruit, pen de fruit ; Much bruit, little fruit. Yet certainly there is use of this quality in civil af fairs. Where there is an opinion and fame to be cre ated either of tirtue or greatness, these men are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus Livius noteth 2 in the case of Antiochus and the ^Etolians, There are sometimes great effects of cross lies ; as if a man that negotiates between two princes, to draw them to join in a war against the third, doth extol the forces of either of them above measure, the one to the other: and sometimes he that deals between man and man raiseth his own credit with both, by pretending greater interest than he hath in either. And in these and the like kinds, it often falls out that somewhat is produced of nothing; for lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance. In militar commanders and soldiers, vain-glory is an essential point; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage sharpeneth an other. In cases of great enterprise upon charge and adventure, a composition of glorious natures doth put life into business; and those that are of solid and sober natures have more of the ballast than of the sail. In fame of learning, the flight will be slow without some feathers of ostentation. Qui de contcmnenda 3 gloria libros scribunt, nomen suum inscribunt [They that write books on the worthlessness of glory, take care to put their names on the title page]. Socrates,4 Aris totle,5 Galen,6 were men full of ostentation. Certainly vain-glory helpeth to perpetuate a man's memory; and virtue was never so beholding to human nature, as it received his due at the second hand. Neither had the fame of Cicero, Seneca, Plinius Secundus,7 borne her
OF HONOR AND REPUTATION 163
age so well, if it had not been joined with some van ity in themselves; like unto varnish, that makes ceil ings not only shine but last. But all this while, when I speak of vain-glory, I mean not of that property that Tacitus 8 doth attribute to Mucianus; Omnium quce dixerat fcceratque arte quadam ostentator [A man that had a kind of art of setting forth to advantage all that he had said or done]: for that proceeds not of vanity, but of natural magnanimity and discretion; and in some persons is not only comely, but gracious. For excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed are but arts of ostentation. And amongst those arts there is none better than that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of, which is to be liberal of praise and com mendation to others, in that wherein a man's self hath any perfection. For saith Pliny 9 very wittily, In com mending another you do yourself right; for he that you commend is either superior to you in that you commend, or inferior. If he be inferior, if lie be to be commended, you much more; if he be superior, if he be not to be com mended, you much less. Glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of para sites, and the slaves of their own vaunts.
LV
OF HONOR AND REPUTATION
THE winning * of honor is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth without disadvantage. For some in their actions do woo and affect honor and reputation; which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but inwardly little admired. And some, contrariwise, darken their virtue in the show of it ; so as they be undervalued in opinion. If a man perform
164 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
that which hath not been attempted before ; or at tempted and given over; or hath been achieved, but not with so good circumstance ; he shall purchase more honor, than by effecting a matter of greater difficulty or virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them he doth content every faction or combination of people, the music will be the fuller. A man is an ill husband : of his honor, that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can honor him. Honor that is gained and broken 3 upon another hath the quickest reflec tion, like diamonds cut with facets. And therefore let a man contend to excel any competitors of his in honor, in outshooting them, if he can, in their own bow. Dis creet followers and servants help much to reputation. Omnis fama 4 a domesticis emanat [All fame proceeds from servants]. Envy, which is the canker of honor, is best extinguished by declaring a man's self in his ends rather to seek merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes rather to divine Providence and felicity, than to his own virtue or policy. The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign honor 5 are these : In the first place are conditores imperiorum, founders of states and commonwealths; such as were Romulus, Cyrus,8 Caesar, Ottoman,' Ismael.8 In the second place are legislatores, lawgivers; which are also called second founders, or perpetui principes [perpetual rulers], be cause they govern by their ordinances after they are gone; such were Lycurgus,9 Solon,10 Justinian,11 Ead- gar,12 Alphonsus 13 of Castile, the Wise, that made the Siete Partidas [Seven Parts]. In the third place are liberatores, or sahatores [saviors], such as compound the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their countries
OF JUDICATURE 165
from servitude of strangers or tyrants; as Augustus Caesar, Vespasianus,14 Aurelianus,15 Theodoricus,16 King Henry the Seventh of England, King Henry the Fourth 17 of France. In the fourth place are propagatores or propugnatores imperii [champions of the empire]; such as in honorable wars enlarge their territories, or make noble defence against invaders. And in the last place are patres patrioe [fathers of their country] ; which reign justly, and make the times good wherein they live. Both which last kinds need no examples, they are in such number. Degrees of honor in subjects are, first participes curarum [participants in cares], those upon whom princes do discharge the greatest weight of their affairs; their right hands, as we call them. The next are duces belli, great leaders [in war]; such as are princes' lieutenants, and do them notable services in the wars. The third are gratiosi, favorites ; such as ex ceed not this scantling,18 to be solace to the sovereign, and harmless to the people. And the fourth, negotiis pares [equals in business]; such as have great places under princes, and execute their places with sufficiency. There is an honor, likewise, which may be ranked amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely ; that is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death or danger for the good of their country; as was M. Regulus,19 and the two Decii.20
LVI
OF JUDICATURE
JUDGES ought to remember that their office is jus diccre, and not jus dare ; to interpret law, and not to make law, or give law. Else will it be like the au thority claimed by the Church of Rome, which under
166 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
pretext of exposition of Scripture l doth not stick to add and alter; and to pronounce that which they do not find; and by show of antiquity to introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than con fident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. Cursed (saith the law) is he 2 tfiat re- moveth the landmark. The mislayer of a mere-stone 3 is to blame. But it is the unjust judge that is the capital remover of landmarks, when he defineth amiss of lands and property. One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples. For these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain. So saith Solomon,4 Fons turbatus, et vena corrupta, est Justus cadens in causa sua coram adversaria [A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled foun tain or a corrupt spring]. The office of judges may have reference unto the parties that sue, unto the advocates that plead, unto the clerks and ministers of justice underneath them, and to the sovereign or state above them.
First, for the causes or parties that sue. There be 5 (saith the Scripture) that turn judgment into worm wood ; and surely there be also that turn it into vine gar; for injustice maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. The principal duty of a judge is to suppress force and fraud; whereof force is the more pernicious when it is open, and fraud when it is close and dis guised. Add thereto contentious suits, which ought to be spewed out, as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys 6 and taking down hills: so when there appeareth on either side an high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages
OF JUDICATURE 167
taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen, to make inequality equal; that he may plant his judgment as upon an even ground. Quifortiter 7 emungit, elicit sanguinem [Violent blow ing makes the nose bleed]; and where the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh wine, that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges must beware of hard con structions and strained inferences ; for there is no worse torture than the torture of laws. Specially in case of laws penal, they ought to have care that that which was meant for terror be not turned into rigor; and that they bring not upon the people that shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, Pluet super eos s laqueos [He will rain snares upon them]; for penal laws pressed are a shower of snares 9 upon the people. Therefore let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges confined in the execution : Judicis officium 10 est, ut res, ita tempora rerum, etc. [A judge must have regard to the time as well as to the matter]. In causes of life and death, judges ought (as far as the law per- mitteth) in justice to remember mercy; and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye upon the person.
Secondly, for the advocates and counsel that plead. Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of justice; and an overspeaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal.11 It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might have heard in due time from the bar; or to show quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel too short; or to prevent information by questions, though pertinent. The parts of a judge in hearing are four: to direct the evidence; to moderate length,12 repetition, or impertinency of speech; to reca-
168 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
pitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said; and to give the rule or sen tence. Whatsoever is above these is too much; and proceedeth either of glory and willingness to speak, or of impatience to hear, or of shortness of memory, or of want of a staid and equal attention. It is a strange thing to see that 13 the boldness of advocates should pre vail with judges ; whereas thgy_should imitate God, in whose seat they sit; who represseth the presumptuous,1* and giveth grace to the modest. But it is more strange, that judges should have noted favorites; which can not but cause multiplication of fees, and suspicion of by-ways.15 There is due from the judge to the advo cate some commendation and gracing, where causes are well handled and fair pleaded ; especially towards the side which obtaineth not; for that upholds in the client the reputation of his counsel, and beats down in him the conceit of his cause. There is likewise due to the public a civil reprehension of advocates, where there appeareth cunning counsel, gross neglect, slight information, indiscreet pressing, or an over-bold de fence. And let not the counsel at the bar chop with 16 the judge, nor wind himself into the handling of the cause anew after the judge hath declared his sentence; but, on the other side, let not the judge meet the cause half way, nor give occasion for the party to say his counsel or proofs were not heard.
Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and ministers. The place of justice is an hallowed place; and therefore not only the bench, but the foot-pace and precincts and purprise thereof, ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption. For certainly grapes (as the Scrip ture saith 17) will not be gathered of thorns or thistles; neither can justice yield her fruit with sweetness
OF JUDICATURE 169
amongst the briars and brambles of catching and poll ing clerks and ministers. The attendance of courts is subject to four bad instruments. First, certain persons that are sowers of suits; which make the court swell, and the country pine. The second sort is of those that engage courts in quarrels of jurisdiction,18 and are not truly amid curice, but parasiti curice [not friends but parasites of the court], in puffing a court up beyond her bounds, for their own scraps and advantage. The third sort is of those that may be accounted the left hands of courts; persons that are full of nim ble and sinister tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of courts, and bring jus tice into oblique lines and labyrinths. And the fourth is the poller and exacter of fees; which justifies the common resemblance of the courts of justice to the bush whereunto while the sheep flies for defence in weather,19 he is sure to lose part of his fleece. On the other side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in proceeding, and understanding in the business of the court, is an excellent finger of a court; and doth many times point the way to the judge himself.
Fourthly, for that which may concern the sovereign and estate. Judges ought above all to remember the conclusion of the Roman Twelve Tables; 20 Saluspop- uli suprema lex [The supreme law of all is the weal of the people]; and to know that laws, except they be in order to that end, are but things captious, and oracles not well inspired. Therefore it is an happy thing in a state when kings and states do often consult with judges; and again when judges do often consult with the king and state: the one, when there is matter of law intervenient in business of state; the other, when there is some consideration of state intervenient in
170 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
matter of law. For many times the things deduced to judgment may be meum and tuum [mine and thine], when the reason and consequence thereof may trench to point of estate : I call matter of estate, not only the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever introduceth any great alteration or dangerous precedent; or concerneth manifestly any great portion of people. And let no man weakly conceive that just laws and true policy have any antipathy; for they are like the spirits21 and sinews, that one moves with the other. Let judges also remem ber, that Solomon's throne 22 was supported by lions on both sides: let them be lions, but yet lions under the throne; being circumspect that they do not check or oppose 23 any points of sovereignty. Let not judges also be so ignorant of their own right, as to think there is not left to them, as a principal part of their office, a wise use and application of laws. For they may remember what the apostle saith of a greater law than theirs; Nos scimus 24 quia lex bona est, modo quis ea utatur legitime [We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully]
LVII
OF ANGER
To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a bravery l of the Stoics. We have better oracles : Be angry,2 but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Anger must be limited and confined both in race and in time. We will first speak how the natural inclina tion and habit to be angry may be attempered and calmed. Secondly, how the particular motions of an ger may be repressed, or at least refrained from doing mischief. Thirdly, how to raise anger or appease an ger in another.
OF ANGER 171
For the first; there is no other way but to meditate and ruminate well upon the effects of anger, how it troubles man's life. And the best time to do this is to look back upon anger when the fit is thoroughly over, Seneca saith well,3 That anger is like ruin, which breaks itself upon that it falls. The Scripture exhorteth 4 us to possess our souls in patience. Whosoever is out of patience, is out of possession of his soul. Men must not turn bees;
. . . animasque5 in vulnere ponunt
[that put their lives in the sting].
Anger is certainly a kind of baseness; 6 as it appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reigns; children, women, old folks, sick folks. Only men must beware that they carry their anger rather with scorn than with fear; so that they may seem rather to be above the injury than below it; which is a thing easily done, if a man will give law to him self in it.
For the second point ; the causes and motives of an ger are chiefly three. First, to be too sensible of hurt; for no man is angry that feels not himself hurt; and therefore tender and delicate persons must needs be oft angry ; they have so many things to trouble them which more robust natures have little sense of. Th* next is, the apprehension and construction of the in jury offered to be, in the circumstances thereof, full of contempt: for contempt is that which putteth ar edge upon anger, as much or more than the hurt itself. And therefore when men are ingenious in picking out circumstances of contempt, they do kindle their anger much. Lastly, opinion of the touch of a man's repu tation doth multiply and sharpen anger. Wherein the remedy is, that a man should have, as Consalvo 7
172 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
was wont to say, telam honoris crassiorem [an honor of a stouter web]. But in all refrainings of anger, it is the best remedy to win time; and to make a man's self believe, that the opportunity of his revenge is not yet come, but that he foresees a time for it ; and so to itill himself in the meantime, and reserve it.
To contain anger from mischief, though it take hold of a man, there be two things whereof you must have special caution. The one, of extreme bitterness of words, especially if they be aculeate 8 and proper ; for communia maledicta [common revilings] are nothing so much ; and again, that in anger a man reveal no secrets ; for that makes him not fit for society. The other, that you do not peremptorily break off, in any business, in a fit of anger; but howsoever you show bitterness, do not act anything that is not revocable.
For raising and appeasing anger in another; it is done chiefly by choosing of times, when men are fro- wardest and worst disposed, to incense them, Again, by gathering (as was touched before) all that you can find out to aggravate the contempt. And the two remedies are by the contraries. The former to take good times, when first to relate to a man an angry business; for the first impression is much; and the other is, to sever, as much as may be, the construction of the injury from the point of contempt; imputing it to misunderstanding, fear, passion,9 or what you will.
LVIII
OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS
SOLOMON saith,1 There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato 2 had an imagination, That all know- ledge was but remembrance; so Solomon giveth his sen-
OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS 17$
tence,3 That all novelty is but oblivion. Whereby you may see that the river of Lethe 4 runneth as well above ground as below. There is an abstruse astrologer 5 that saith, If it were not for two things that are constant (the one is, that the fixed stars ever stand at like distance one from another, and never come nearer together, nor go further asunder; the other, that the diurnal motion perpetually keepeth time), no individual would last one moment. Certain it is, that the matter is in a perpetual flux, and never at a stay. The great winding-sheets, that bury all things in oblivion, are two; deluges and earthquakes. As for conflagrations and great droughts, they do not merely dispeople and destroy. Phaeton's car 6 went but a day. And the three years' drought 7 in the time of Elias was but particular, and left people alive. As for the great burnings by lightnings, which are often in the West Indies, they are but narrow. But in the other two destructions, by deluge and earth quake, it is further to be noted, that the remnant of people which hap to be reserved, are commonly igno rant and mountainous people, that can give no account of the time past; so that the oblivion is all one as if none had been left. If you consider well of the peo ple of the West Indies,8 it is very probable that they are a newer or a younger people than the people of the Old World. And it is much more likely that the de struction that hath heretofore been there was not by earthquakes (as the Egyptian priest told Solon con cerning the island of Atlantis,9 that it was swallowed by an earthquake), but rather that it was desolated by a particular deluge. For earthquakes are seldom in those parts. But on the other side, they have such pouring rivers, as the rivers of Asia and Africk and Europe are but brooks to them. Their Andes, likewise, ol
174 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
mountains, are far higher than those with us ; whereby it seems that the remnants of generation of men were in such a particular deluge saved. As for the obser vation that Machiavel 10 hath, that the jealousy of sect? doth much extinguish the memory of things; tradu cing Gregory the Great,11 that he did what in him lay to extinguish all heathen antiquities ; I do not find that those zeals do any great effects, nor last long; as it appeared in the succession of Sabinian,12 who did revive the former antiquities.13
The vicissitude of mutations in the superior globe ^ are no fit matter for this present argument. It may be, Plato's great year,15 if the world should last so long, would have some effect; not in renewing the state of like individuals (for that is the fume of those that con ceive the celestial bodies have more accurate influ ences 18 upon these things below than indeed they have), but in gross. Comets, out of question, have likewise power and effect over the gross and mass of things; but they are rather gazed upon, and waited upon in their journey, than wisely observed in their effects; specially in their respective effects; that is, what kind of comet, for magnitude, color, version of the beams, placing in the region of heaven,17 or lasting, produceth what kind of effects.
There is a toy which I have heard, and I would nof have it given over, but waited upon a little. They saj it is observed in the Low Countries (I know not in what part) that every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of years and weathers comes about again; as great frosts, 'great wet, great droughts, warm winters, summers with little heat, and the like; and they call it the Prime. It is a thing I do the rather mention, because, computing backwards, I have found some concurrence.
175
But to leave these points of nature, and to come to men. The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men, is the vicissitude of sects and religions. For those orbs rule in men's minds most. The true religion is built upon the rock;is the rest are tossed upon the waves of iime. To speak, therefore, of the causes of new sects; and to give some counsel concerning them, as far as the weakness of human judgment can give stay to so great revolutions.
When the religion formerly received is rent by dis cords; and when the holiness of the professors of re ligion is decayed and full of scandal; and withal the times be stupid, ignorant, and barbarous; you may doubt 19 the springing up of a new sect; if then also there should arise any extravagant and strange spirit to make himself author thereof. All which points held when Mahomet published his law.20 If a new sect have not two properties, fear it not; for it will not spread. The one is the supplanting or the oppos ing of authority established; for nothing is more pop ular than that. The other is the giving licence to pleasures and a voluptuous life. For as for speculative heresies (such as were in ancient times the Arians,21 and now the Arminians 22), though they work mightily upon men's wits, yet they do not produce any great alterations in states; except it be by the help of civil occasions. There be three manner of plantations of new sects. By the power of signs and miracles; by the eloquence and wisdom of speech and persuasion; and by the sword. For martyrdoms, I reckon them amongst miracles; because they seem to exceed the strength of human nature: and I may do the like of superlative and admirable holiness of life. Surely there is no better way to stop the rising of new sects
176 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
and schisms than to reform abuses; to compound the smaller differences; to proceed mildly, and not with sanguinary persecutions; and rather to take off the principal authors by winning and advancing them, than to enrage them by violence and bitterness.
The changes and vicissitude in wars are many; but chiefly in three things; in the seats or stages of the war; in the weapons; and in the manner of the con duct. Wars, in ancient time, seemed more to move from east to west; for the Persians,23 Assyrians,24 Arabians,25 Tartars26 (which were the invaders) were all eastern people. It is true, the Gauls were western; but we read but of two incursions of theirs : the one tc Gallo-Grecia,27 the other to Rome.28 But east and west have no certain points of heaven; and no more have the wars, either from the east or west, any cer tainty of observation. But north and south are fixed; and it hath seldom or never been seen that the far southern people have invaded the northern, but con trariwise. Whereby it is manifest that the northern tract of the world is in nature the more martial region : be it in respect of the stars 29 of that hemisphere; or of the great continents that are upon the north, whereas the south part, for aught that is known, is almost all sea; or (which is most apparent) of the cold of the northern parts, which is that which, without aid of discipline, doth make the bodies hardest, and the courages warmest.30
Upon the breaking and shivering of a great state and empire, you may be sure to have wars. For great empires, while they stand, do enervate and destroy the forces of the natives which they have subdued, resting upon their own protecting forces; and then when they Tail also, all goes to ruin, and they become a prey.
OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS 177
So was it in the decay of the Roman empire; and likewise in the empire of Almaigne,31 after Charles 32 the Great, every bird taking a feather; and were not unlike to befall to Spain, if it should break. The great accessions and unions of kingdoms do likewise stir up wars: for when a state grows to an over-power, it is like a great flood, that will be sure to overflow. As it hath been seen in the states of Rome, Turkey, Spain, and others. Look when the world hath fewest barbar ous peoples, but such as commonly will not marry or generate, except they know means to live (as it is al most everywhere at this day, except Tartary), there is no danger of inundations of people: but when there be great shoals of people, which go on to populate, without foreseeing means of life and sustentation, it is of necessity that once in an age or two they discharge a portion of their people upon other nations; which the ancient northern people were wont to do by lot; 8 casting lots what part should stay at home, and what should seek their fortunes. When a warlike state grows soft and effeminate, they may be sure of a war. For commonly such states are grown rich in the time of their degenerating; and so the prey inviteth, and their decay in valor encourageth a war.34
As for the weapons, it hardly falleth under rule and observation: yet we see even they have returns and vicissitudes. For certain it is, that ordnance 35 was known 3e in the city of the Oxidrakes in India; and was that which the Macedonians called thunder and lightning, and magic. And it is well known that th< use of ordnance hath been in China above two thou sand years. The conditions of weapons, and their im» provement, are: First, the fetching afar off; for that outruns the danger; as it is seen in ordnance and
178 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
muskets. Secondly, the strength of the percussion; wherein likewise ordnance do exceed all arietations " and ancient inventions. The third is, the commodious use of them; as that they may serve in all weathers; that the carriage may be light and manageable; and the like.
For the conduct of the war: at the first, men rested extremely upon number: they did put the wars like wise upon main force and valor; pointing days for pitched fields, and so trying it out upon an even match: and they were more ignorant in ranging and arraying their battles. After they grew to rest upon number rather competent than vast; they grew to advantages of place, cunning diversions, and the like* and they grew more skilful in the ordering of their battles.
In the youth of a state, arms do flourish ; in the mid dle age of a state, learning; and then both of them together for a time; in the declining age of a state, mechanical arts and merchandize. Learning hath his infancy,38 when it is but beginning and almost child ish; then his youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his strength of years, when it is solid and reduced ; and lastly, his old age, when it waxeth dry and ex haust.39 But it is not good to look too long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, lest we become giddy. As for the philology 40 of them, that is but a circle of tales,41 and therefore not fit for this writing.
OF FAME 179
LIX
OP FAME
A Fragment
THE poets make Fame a monster. They describe her in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and sententiously. They say,1 look how many feath ers she hath, so many eyes she hath underneath; so many tongues ; so many voices ; she pricks up so many ears.
This is a flourish. There follow excellent parables; as that she gathereth strength in going ; that she goeth upon the ground and yet hideth her head in the clouds ; that in the daytime she sitteth in a watch tower and flieth most by night; that she mingleth things done with things not done; and that she is a terror to great cities. But that which passeth all the rest is: They do recount that the Earth, mother of the giants that made war against Jupiter and were by him destroyed, there upon in an anger brought forth Fame. For certain it is that rebels, figured by the giants, and seditious fames and libels are but brothers and sisters, mascu line and feminine. But now, if a man can tame this monster, and bring her to feed at the hand, and govern her, and with her fly other ravening fowl and kill them, it is somewhat worth. But we are infected with the style of the poets. To speak now in a sad and serious manner: There is not in all the politics a place less handled and more worthy to be handled than this of fame. We will therefore speak of these points: What are false fames; and what are true fames; and how they may be best discerned; how fames may be sown
180 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS BACON
and raised; how they may be spread and multiplied; and how they may be checked and laid dead. And other things concerning the nature of fame. Fame is of that force, as there is scarcely any great action wherein it hath not a great part; especially in the war. Muci- anus 2 undid Vitellius by a fame that he scattered : that Vitellius had in purpose to remove the legions of Syria into Germany and the legions of Germany into Syria; whereupon the legions of Syria were infinitely inflamed. Julius Caesar 3 took Pompey unprovided and laid asleep his industry and preparations by a fame that he cunningly gave out: how Caesar's own soldiers loved him not, and being wearied with the wars and laden with the spoils of Gaul, would forsake him as soon as he came into Italy. Livia 4 settled all things for the succession of her son Tiberius by con tinual giving out that her husband Augustus was upon recovery and amendment. And it is an usual thing with the pashas to conceal the death of the Great Turk from the janizaries and men of war, to save the sacking of Constantinople and other towns, as their manner is. Themistocles 5 made Xerxes, king of Persia, post apace out of Grecia by giving out that the Grecians had a purpose to break his bridge of ships which he had made athwart Hellespont. There be a thousand such like examples; and the more they are, the less they need to be repeated ; because a man meeteth with them everywhere. Therefore let all wise governors have as great a watch and care over fames as they have of the actions and designs themselves.
[The essay was not finished.}
NOTES
The following abbreviations will be used: cf., compare; A, Abbott; B., Bacon; R., Reynolds; S., Spedding; W., Wright; Adv., The Advancement of Learning; Life, Spedding's Letters and Life. Plutarch's Morals, unless otherwise noted, is quoted from Holland's translation, 2d edition, 1657; his Lives, from North's translation, ed. G. Wyndham, Tudor Translations, 1895.
I. OF TRUTH
NOTE
1 Jesting Pikte: John xviii, 38. Was Pilate jesting? B., at any rate, makes him a type of the cynical skeptic.
2 In giddiness: Lat. "in a whirl of thoughts."
3 Philosophers of that kind: the Skeptics, of whom Pyrrhc of Elis (365-c. 275 B. c.) was the first; he taught that if sense and reason singly deceive us, the two together can not be expected to give us truth. We perceive tilings not as they really are, but as they appear in accidental rela tions; hence absolute knowledge is impossible. Other skeptics were Arcesilaus (315-241 B. c.) and Carneades of Gyrene (d. 129 B. c.), who represent the Middle and the New Academy respectively.
4 Discoursing wits: Lat. "windy and rambling." B. may here refer to Francisco Sanchez, the Portuguese-Spanish physician and skeptical philosopher (1562-1632), whose treatise That Nothing is Known (1581) begins: "I do not know even this, that I know nothing. I guess, however, that neither I nor others know anything." This treatise made a great stir at the time.
5 One of the later school: Lucian, Philopseudes, i. Cf. Essay xvi, note 15.
6 As candle-lights: cf. Essay xxxvii, p. 120, 11. 24 ff.
7 One of the fathers: R. thinks that here B. confuses two say ings: one by Jerome in a letter to Damasus, "Devil's food are the songs of poets;" the other by Augustine (Confes sions, i, 16) in which he speaks of poetry as "wine of error furnished by drunken teachers." In Adv. xxii, 13, B. says: " Did not one of the fathers in great indignation call poesy vinum damonum, because it increaseth temptations, per turbations, and vain opinions ? "
8 The poet: Lucretius, regarded as the ornament of the Epi cureans; On the Nature of Things, ii, 1-13. Cf. Adv. viii, 5.
9 Move in charity: the figure is drawn from the Ptolemaic astronomy, thus outlined by Masson: The earth was re garded as the fixed centre of the universe! and the apparent
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NOTE
motions of the other heavenly bodies were caused by the revolutions of successive heavens, or spheres of space, en closing the central earth at different distances. Nearest the earth were the spheres of the seven planets, the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Beyond these, as an eighth sphere, was the firmament of the fixed stars. This wheeled about diurnally, from east to west, carrying in it the fixed stars and with it all the interior spheres — which had also separate slower motions of their own. The ninth sphere, the Crystalline, accounted for the procession of the equinoxes. The tenth sphere, enclosing the universe from absolute infinity, was the Pri- mum Mobile, or "First Movable." This system was gen erally accepted down to the close of the seventeenth cen tury. A. thus interprets B.: "The motions of heaven are transferred to earth, when a man's heart has charity for his Primum Mobile, providence for Space, truth for his Poles." Cf. Essay xv, p. 45, 1. 1.
10 Truth of civil business: Lat. " truth or rather veracity."
11 Montaigne saith: Essays ii, IS: "To lie is an horrible-filthy vice, and which an ancient writer [Plutarch, Lives, iii, 233] setteth forth very shamefully when he saith that whoso ever lieth, witnesseth that he contemneth God, and there withal f caret h men."
12 Peal: cf. Macbeth, iii, 2, 43.
Ere to black Hecate's summons The shard-born beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal. . . .
13 It being foretold: Luke xviii, 8. Does "faith" here mean "truthfulness"?
II. OF DEATH
1 Books of mortification: the reference has not been traced.
2 Him that spake: Seneca, Epistles, iii, 3, 14.
3 Blacks: garments of mourning. Cf. "Ere blacks were bought for his own funeral." B. Jonson, Epigrams, 44, 3.
4 We read: Plutarch, Lives, vi, 339.
5 Seneca adds: Epistles, x, 1, 6. Seneca (a celebrated Stoic philosopher and dramatist, 4 B. C.-65), really quoted the words from an address by "our Stoic friend" to a young man who had called a council of his friends to help him decide whether or not he should commit suicide.
6 Augustus Caesar: Suetonius, Augustus, xcix.
7 Tacitus saith: Annals, vi, 50.
8 Vespasian: Roman emperor, 70-79; cf. Suetonius, Vespasian,
XXlll.
9 Galba: Roman emperor, 68-69; cf. Tacitus, History, i, 41; Plutarch, Lives, vi, 318; Suetonius, Galba. xx.
NOTES 183
NOTE
10 Septimius Severus: Roman emperor, 193-211; cf. Dion Cassius, Ixvii, 17.
11 The Stoics: "This is certainly true about Seneca, who returns to the subject again and again with most minutt and tedious iteration." R. The Stoics took their name from the "Painted Porch" (Stoa) at Athens, where Zeno taught at the end of the fourth century B. c. They believed that men should be unmoved by joy or grief or passion and should submit to the necessity which governed the world; and that the supreme thing to attain was virtue.
12 Better saith he: Juvenal, Satires, x, 358. The original has "space" instead of "close."
13 Nunc dimittis: Luke ii, 29.
14 Extinctus amabitur idem: Horace, Epistles, ii, 1, 14.
III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION
1 The poets: this is true of the Greeks, but scarcely of the Romans. R.
2 A jealous Goi: Exodus xx, 3-6.
3 Ecce in deserto: Matthew xxiv, 26.
4 Doctor of the Gentiles: Paul, 1 Corinthians xiv, 23.
5 Sit down: Psalms i, 1.
6 Master of scoffing: Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii, 7. La morisque des hereticques was one of the books which Pantagruel found in the library of St. Victor at Paris. In England, morris-dancing, with bells on the legs, was formerly com mon on May Dav, Holy Thursday, and Whitsuntide. The dancers usually represented the characters of the Robin Hood legends.
7 Politics: here, as frequently, politicians.
8 Treaties: treatises; which word S. and A. substitute in the text.
9 Zealants: zealots; cf. Ital. zelante.
10 Is it peace: 2 Kings ix, 18, 19.
11 Laodiceans: Revelation iii, 14-16.
12 Cross clauses: Lat. "in those clauses which at first sight appear contradictory." Cf. Matthew xii, 30; Mark ix, 40.
13 One of the fathers: The Latin is quoted from St. Augustine, Commentary on Ps. xliv [xlv], 24; but it does not refer to Christ's coat. In several passages of St. Bernard is found the same fanciful interpretation. The illustration was a favorite with Bacon.
14 Shall we not think: modorn usnge regarding the negative is much more exact; in former times two negatives only strengthened an assertion.
15 Devita: 1 Timothy vi, 20.
16 Governeth the meaning: In Nov. Orq., aph. lix, B. speaks of words reacting on the understanding, e. g. Fortune, Prime Mover.
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NOTE
17 Implicit: entangled.
18 Nebuchadnezzar's image: Daniel ii, 33, 41.
19 Two swords: Luke xxii, 38.
20 The first table : Exodus xxxii, 15, 16; xxxiv, 1-5, 29.
21 Lucretius: On the Nature of Things, i, 95. On their way to attack Troy, the Greeks, through the wrath of Artemis, were delayed at Aulis by contrary winds. To propitiate the goddess, Agamemnon, the Greek leader, sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. Euripides wrote on the subject a great play, the Iphigenia at Aulis.
22 The massacre in France: the slaughter of Huguenots, in stigated by Catherine de' Medici, which began on St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1572. The number of victims was between twenty and thirty thousand.
23 The powder treason: the Gunpowder Plot, the object of which was the destruction of James I and the Parliament. It was foiled by the arrest of Guy Fawkes on November 5, 1605.
24 Epicure: Epicurean, a follower of Epicurus, who taught that pleasure is the highest good.
25 The Anabaptists: a sect which became prominent in the fifteenth century. Their refusal " to recognize the authority of the civil ruler, and their assertion of the equality of all men under an assumed divine illumination, explain and bear out Bacon's reference to them in the text. That he had especially in his mind the authors of the great Anabaptist outbreak at Munster (1534) appears from the edition of 1612, where he speaks of them as 'the madmen of Munster.'" R.
26 When the devil said: an allusion to the fall of Lucifer; cf. Isaiah xiv, 12-14; and Paradise Lost, i, 27-81.
27 The likeness of a dove: Luke iii, 22.
28 Mercury rod: the caduceus, with which "he calls forth pale souls from Orcus, and sends others to sad Tartarus;" cf. Virgil, &neid, iv, 242-244.
29 That counsel of the apostle: James i, 20.
30 A wise father: who, is not known. R. refers to Marcus Antonius de Dominis (1566-1624), archbishop of Spalatro, On the Ecclesiastical Republic, vii, 8, "That in promul gating and preserving the Christian faith external force is not to be employed;" Cyprian, Epistles, 41.
31 Interessed: the older form of interested; cf. Spenser, Faerie Queene, vii, 6, 33.
IV. OF REVENGE
1 Solomon: Proverbs xix, 11.
2 No law to remedy: A. thinks the reference is to duelling (cf. Introduction, p. xvi) and compares: "As for the sec ond defect pretended in our law, that it hath provided no
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NOTE
remedy for lies and fillips, any lawgiver, if he had been asked the question, would have made Solon's answer: That he had not ordained any punishment for it, because he never imagined the world would have been so fantastical as to take it so highly." Life, iv, 406.
3 Cosmus: Cosmo de' Medici (1519-1574) became duke of Florence on the extinction of the elder branch of his family in 1537. "He administered the affairs of Florence with marked ability and success." The quotation in the text has not been traced. R.
4 Spirit of Job: Job ii, 10.
5 Caesar: avenged by Antony and Augustus, the result being the consolidation of power under Augustus.
6 Pertinax: Roman emperor 126-193, murdered by the pre- torians. The murderers were put to death by Septimius Severus.
7 Henry the Third (1551-1589): became king in 1574. He was murdered by the monk Jacques Cl&nent, who was put to death on the spot; but how tliis revenge proved fortu nate is not clear.
V. OF ADVERSITY
1 Seneca: Epistles, Ixvi.
2 A higher speech: Epistles, liii.
3 Strange fiction: for stealing fire from heaven Prometheus was chained to a rock on Mount Caucasus, where an eagle daily consumed his liver. Hercules killed the eagle and released the sufferer. There is no record of a voyage in an earthen pot; but when he brought Geryones's oxen from the island of Erythia, Hercules voyaged in a golden cup. " The voyage of Hercules especially, sailing in a pitcher to set Prometheus free, seems to present an image of God the Word [Christ] hastening in the frail vessel of the flesh to redeem the human race." Wisdom of the Ancients, xxvi.
4 To speak in a mean: Lat. "that we may come down from high-sounding to simple words."
5 Solomon: 1 Kings iii-x.
VI. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION
1 Tacitus saith: Annals, v, 1. Cf. Essay lix, p. 180, 1. 1.
2 And again : History, ii, 70.
3 Tacitus well calleth them: probably Agricola, xxxix; cf. Annals, iii, 70.
4 Close air sucketh in: a comparison based on the old theory of the vacuum. It was Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) who in 1643 discovered that this "suction" was only air- pressure; cf. H. S. Williams, A History of Science, ii. 120, 121.
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NOTE
5 Discovery of a man's self: R. thinks B. here had in mind the Earl of Essex, of whom this was notoriously true. Cf. the Lat. Adv. viii, Works, ix, 284-286.
6 No man can be secret: "The whole essay is a tribute to the new power of policy, which, since Machiavelli's time, was recognized as having deposed force; and policy, in the Elizabethan times, presupposed simulation and dissimu lation. 'The devil knew not what he did when he made man politic; he crossed himself by 't : and I cannot but think, in the end, the villanies of man will set him clear.' Timon of Athens, iii, 3, 29. A politician was 'one that would circumvent God.' Hamlet, v, 1, 88." A.
7 Ure: use; not from Fr. heur, Lat. augurium, as A. supposes, but from Fr. ceure, Lat. opera ; cf. inure, manure..
8 Tell a lie : "Experience showeth, there are few men so true to themselves and so settled, but that sometimes . . . they open themselves; specially if they be put to it with a counter-dissimulation, according to the proverb of Spain, Di mentira, y sacaras verdad, Tell a lie and find a truth." Adv. xxiii, 18.
9 Openness in fame and opinion: Lat. "a reputation for veracity."
VII. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN
1 And surely: cf. Essay viii, second sentence; also: "Childless she [Elizabeth] was indeed ... a thing which has hap pened also to the most fortunate persons, as Alexander the Great, Julius Ca>sar, Trajan, and others." B., To the Blessed Memory of Elizabeth. Washington was said to have been denied children that he might become the father of his country.
2 Difference in affection: R. thinks B. may have been thinking of himself. He was his father's favorite son ; and his mother certainly held a somewhat unfavorable opinion of him.
3 As Solomon saith: Proverbs x, 1. In Adv. xxiii, 6, B. thus explains this: "Here is distinguished, that fathers have most comfort of the good proof of their sons; but mothers have most discomfort of their ill proof, because women have little discerning of virtue, but of fortune."
4 The precept: " Verily the precept of the Pythagoreans serv- eth to right good stead in this case [of exile] to be practised. Choose, say they, the best life: use and custom will make
.it pleasant enough unto thee." Plutarch, Morals, p. 273.
VIII. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE
1 Impediments: is this true? Why or why not?
2 Dearest pledges: cf. '"Ah! who hath reft,' quoth he, 'my dearest pledge?' " Milton, Lycidas, 107.
NOTES 187
NOTE
3 Humorous minds: Lat. phantasticis, "eccentric." Cf. As You Like It, i, 2, 278. B. may be thinking of Montaigne: "It [marriage] is in favor at present rather with simple and common minds, in which it is not troubled by pleasure, curiosity, and ease; the dissolute humors, like mine, which abhor every sort of connection or obligation, are not proper to it: ' and to me it is sweet rather to live with a free neck.' " Essays, iii, 5.
4 Said of Ulysses: In Plutarch (Morals, p. 563) Gryllus re proaches Ulysses because, " accustomed to ordinary human love, being himself a mortal, he was unwilling to enter into a union with a goddess." In Adv. viii, 7, B. speaks of Ulysses as " a figure of those which prefer custom and habit before all excellency."
5 Quarrel: pretext.
6 One of the wise men: Thales, when his mother urged him to marry, put her off, saying he was too young to marry; afterward when she pressed the matter, he replied that he was too old. Plutarch, Symposiacs, iii, quest. 6; quoted also by Montaigne, Essays, ii, 8.
IX. OF ENVY
1 The Scripture: Mark vii, 22.
2 Evil influences: cf.
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize.
Milton, L' Allegro. 121.
The term "aspect" was used in astrology to indicate the relations of the heavenly bodies to one another; or the po sitions whence they regarded one another. Cf . The Winter'i Tale,ii, 1, 105-107:
There's some ill planet reigns :
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more favorable.
3 Irradiation of the eye: cf. "As for envy, that emitteth some malign and poisonous spirit, which taketh hold of the spirit of another; and is likewise of greatest force when the cast of the eye is oblique. It hath been noted also, that it is most dangerous when an envious eye is cast upon per sons in glorv and triumph and joy: the reason whereof is, for that at such times the spirits come forth most into the outward parts, and so meet the percussion of the envious eve more at hand; and therefore it hath been noted that after great triumphs men have been ill-disposed for some dav.s following." Natural Histori/, 944.
4 In glory or triumph: of. Plutarch, Rirmpnsiacs, v, quest. 7- " Of those who are said to bewitch with their eye."
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TTOTE
5 Non est: Plautv/s, Stichus, i, 3, 54.
6 New men: a term applied in ancient Rome to the first mem bers of families who held high office.
7 Deformed persons: A. quotes Richard III, i, 1, 28-31:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain, And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
8 Narses: (c. 478-573) joint commander in Italy with Beli- sarius in 538-539, and prefect of Italy 554-567; cf. Gibbon, Decline, xliii.
9 Agesilaus: king of Sparta 398-361 B.C. " As for the deform ity of his leg, the one being shorter than the other, in the flower of his youth, through his pleasant wit, he used the matter so pleasantly and patiently that he would merrily mock himself: which manner of merry behavior did greatly hide the blame of the blemish." Plutarch, Lives, iv, 160.
10 Tamberlanes: Timur-Leng, "Timur the Lame," the great Tatar conqueror (1333-1405), who for many years held sway " from Delhi to Damascus, and from the Sea of Aral to the Persian Gulf." Christopher Marlowe wrote a well- known play, acted in 1587, on his life.
11 Men that rise: very likely, as R. thinks, B. had in mind his rival Sir Edward Coke, who, falling under the king's dis pleasure, was deprived of his place as Chief Justice, but was afterward received again into favor, and had a promi nent part in B.'s downfall; cf. Introduction, p. xix.
12 Want work: Lat. "for everywhere they meet with objects of envy."
13 Adrian: emperor of Rome 117-138; said to have banished the architect Apollodorus for criticising the plan of a temple which the emperor had sent to him.
14 Near kinsfolks: cf. "Many there be who have an envious eye to their kinsfolk and companions." Plutarch, Morals, p. 236.
15 Cain's envy: cf. Genesis iv, 1-15.
16 As the sunbeams: cf. "But as the sun, where he passes highest and sends down his beams most directly, has none or very little shadow, so they who are exalted to the meri dian of fortune, shining aloof over the head of envv, have scarce anything of their brightness eclipsed." Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), ii, 98.
17 Those that have joined: B. had read this in Plutarch, Morals, p. 253.
18 Pity ever he*leth envy: cf. " Adversities may well stay envy and cause it cease. . . . You shall not see one in misery envied." Plutarch, Morals, p. 235.
19 Politic persons: men in public office.
20 Disavow fortune: Lat. "each one throws the blame upon fortune, as if aware of his own unworthiness."
NOTES 189
NOTE
21 The cure of witchcraft: "When as therefore they who be infected with envy do cast their eyes upon others, which because they are seated near unto the soul do catch and draw unto them very easily this vice and so shoot their venomous rays like poisoned darts upon them; if such chance to be wounded and hurt thereby, whom they look upon and wistly behold, I see no strange thing, nor a matter incredible. . . . And hereupon it is that those preserva tives against witchcraft called probaskania [amulets] are then thought to do good against envy." Plutarch, Sym- posiacs, v, quest. 7.
22 Remove the lot: take away the spell. If sorcerers healed a bewitched man, they had to pass on the lot or spell to another.
23 Plausible: deserving of applause or approval.
24 The state itself: Lat. " the king or the state itself." At the conclusion of his interview with the King before his con demnation, B. took leave with these words: "Those that will strike at your Chancellor, it is much to be feared, will strike at your Crown." Life, vii, 199.
25 Most depraved: Plutarch says much the same thing hi his treatise Of Envy and Hatred, Morals, p. 235.
26 The envious man: cf. Matthew xiii, 25.
X. OF LOVE
1 Like a siren: the story is told in The Wisdom of the Ancients. xxxi. " The fable of the Sirens is truly applied to the per nicious allurements of pleasure. . . . These Sirens had their dwelling in certain pleasant islands, whence they kept watch for ships; and when they saw any approaching, they began to sing; which made the voyagers first stay to listen, then gradually draw near, and at last land; when they took and killed them."
2 Like a fury: the Furies were fearful winged maidens, daughters of Earth or of Night, who punished mortals for various crimes, such as disobedience toward parents, dis respect for age, murder, perjury, and violation of the laws of hospitality.
3 Marcus Antonius (83-30 B. c.) loved Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. See Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
4 Appius Claudius: a Roman decemvir. In 449 B.C. Virginius, a plebeian, slew his daughter to prevent her falling into the power of Appius. See Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome. B. has apparently confused him with a later Appius Claudius, censor 312-308 B. c. and consul in 307 and 296 B. c., from whom is dated the beginning of Roman juris prudence. Cf. the following note.
5 Lawgiver: Lat. "chief of law-makers among the Romans."
6 A poor saying: Lat. "mean and feeble." A curious perver-
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NOTE
sion of the original. "It was well said by Epicuius; whea writing to one of his companions in study: 'This,' said he, 'I intend not for the crowd but for you; for we are theatre enough for each other.' " Seneca, Epistles, vii.
7 A little idol: the eye, the slave of which the lover becomes
8 The lover doth: " But he that loveth (according as Plat* saith) is always blinded by the thing which is loved." Plu tarch, Morals, p. 245.
9 It was well said: by Publius the Syrian, On Love and Woman " God scarcely grants a man both to love and to be wise." In Plutarch (Lives, iv, 174) Agesilaus says much the same thing.
10 Reciproque: mutual.
11 He that preferred: Paris. When Peleus and Thetis were mar ried, all the gods except Eris (Strife) were invited to the wedding. In a rage, Eris threw among the guests a golden apple inscribed "To the fairest." Thereupon Hera (Juno), Aphrodite, and Pallas Athene each claimed the apple. Paris had to settle the dispute. Hera promised him the sovereignty of Asia; Athene, renown in war; and Aphrodite, the most beautiful of women (Helen). Paris decided in favor of Aphrodite. His abduction of Helen led to the Tro jan War. See Tennyson's (Enone.
12 Quitteth both riches and wisdom : "He that was a sordid miser before, falling once in love becomes liberal and lofty*- minded." Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), iv, 288.
13 Keep quarter: Lat. "reduce to order." Quarter, originally " a fourth part," came to mean the fourth part of the world, then of any place; cf. headquarters, the Latin Quarter, to give quarter, etc.
14 Martial men: Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), iv, 283, 286, speaks of the power of love over soldiers.
15 Friendly love: A. remarks that B. here follows Greek and Roman tradition, though the ancient ideal of friendship was higher and the ancient ideal of marriage lower than with us.
XI. OF GREAT PLACE
1 No freedom: " They that govern in the commonwealth fo? honor's sake are no better than honorable slaves of the people, having no more but the .bare name of a governor." Plutarch, Lives, v, 180.
2 Cum non sis: Cicero, Letters to Various Persons, vii, 3. "This was written after the battle of Pharsalia [48 B. c.] and the ruin of the cause with which Cicero had at that time identified himself." R.
3 When they would: Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), v, 98. refers to this difficulty.
4 To can: strictly it should be "to cun" (Old English infini tive cunnan " to know how," preterite-present tense cann).
NOTES 191
NOTE
5 Conscience: consciousness; so used by Milton in his second sonnet to Cyriack Skinner.
6 God's theatre: spectacle, i. e. can see what God saw.
7 Et conversus Deus: cf. Genesis i, 31; quoted from the Vul gate.
8 Neglect not also: Plutarch (Lives, v, 373) gives similar ad vice.
9 Without bravery: Lat. " but without boastfulness of thyself."
10 Helps and advices: Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), v, 115, gives similar counsel.
11 Facility: readiness to comply or be led. Cf. Essay xiii, p. 39, 1. 8 f. b.
12 Solomon saith: Proverbs xxviii, 21.
13 A place showeth the man: a Greek saying of disputed authority, attributed to Demosthenes, Solon, and Bias. Cf. Plutarch, Lives, v, 369.
14 Saith Tacitus: History, i, 49.
15 Of Vespasian: History, i, 50.
16 Rather call them: this was done by Agesilaus; cf. Plutarch, Lives, iv, 163.
XII. OP BOLDNESS
1 Question was asked: the story is told by Cicero, On the Orator, iii, 56, sec. 213; and by Plutarch, Lives of the Ten Orators, Morals, p. 932.
2 Mountebanks: those who mount benches to show off, quacks.
3 Grounds: principles.
4 If the hill: a common Spanish proverb. The story has not been traced to its origin.
5 Shrunken and wooden posture: Lat. "for then he gets a face reduced to its former state but misshapen."
6 A stale: stalemate, a move by which the pieces are so placed that one's opponent cannot move without exposing one of his pieces to check.
XIII. OF GOODNESS AND GOODNESS OF NATURE
1 The angels to fall: cf. Essav iii, note 26.
2 Busbechius: Busbec, a Flemish scholar and diplomatist (1522-1592), twice sent by Ferdinand I, emperor of Ger many, as ambassador to Solvman, about 1555. The story occurs in his Letters from a Turkish Legation, iii. The of fender was not a boy but a Venetian goldsmith. Busbei says nothing of his being stoned. The bird was, Busbec thought, a goatsucker, with a short bill and very widegape.
3 Doctors: teachers; cf. doctrine.
4 Macm>*">l: Florentine statesman and author (1469-1527); wrote The Prince, History of Florence, and other works,
192 NOTES
NOTE
which had much influence on the ethical thought of Eliza bethan England. The quotation is from his Discourses on Titus Livius, ii, 2 (Detmold's trans., ii, 232, 233). Machia- velli says that Christianity places the supreme happiness in humility and contempt for the world, and requires fortitude to enable us to suffer rather than achieve great deeds. These principles, he thinks, have made men feeble, and a prey to the evil-minded.
5 jEsop's cock: Plato, Phcedrus, iii, 12; Bullokar's SEsop, 1585, fable 1. Cf. casting pearls before swine, Matthew vii, 6; and Adv. viii, 7.
6 He sendeth his rain: Matthew v, 5.
7 Sell all thou hast: Mark x, 21.
8 A disposition: Aristotle (Nichomachean Ethics, vi, 13) dis tinguishes between natural virtue and virtue proper; the latter is not produced without prudence.
9 Lazarus' sores: Luke xvi, 21.
10 Timon: a frank Athenian misanthrope. Cf. Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, v, 1, 208-215. B. means, "yet they do not, like Timon, openly profess their misanthropy."
11 Gives the balm: B. refers here to the frankincense tree, the aromatic gum resin (olibanum) from which was formerly much used for burning as incense. Pliny describes it in his Natural History, xii, 14.
12 St. Paul's perfection: cf. Romans ix, 3, where the Greek
anathema is translated "accursed."
XIV. OF NOBILITY
1 Estate: Lat. rei publicse, "state."
2 The Switzers: when B. wrote this (1625), the Swiss confed eration, founded at the beginning of the fourteenth cen tury, consisted of thirteen German districts and cities united by a somewhat lax federal bond. Two-fifths of the people are still Roman Catholics.
3 Respects: Lat. " dignity."
4 The Low Countries: the Netherlands and Flanders (now Belgium). Of their government Sir Thomas Overbury savs: "They have upon occasion an assembly of the generr.1 states, like our Parliament. . . . Then is there besides a Council of State. . . . And besides both these, every pro vince and great town have particular councils of their own. To all which assemblies, as well of the general states as the rest, the gentry is called for order's sake, but the state indeed is democratical. . . . Neither are the gentrv so much engaged in the cause, the people having more ad vantages in a free state, they in a monarchy. Their care in government is very exact and particular, by reason that every one hath an immediate interest in the strife; such is the equality of justice that it renders every man satis-
NOTES 193
NOTE
fied." Observations upon the Seventeen Provinces as They
Stood A. D. 1609, pp. 3, 4. 5 The memory of their virtues: cf. the opposite statement of
Antony, Julius Ccesar, iii, 2, 73, 74; also Henry VIII, iv, 2, ' 45. Whicli is nearer right?
XV. OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES
1 Calendars: Lat. prognostica, "weather indications."
2 Ille etiam: Virgil. Georgics, i, 464, 465.
3 Virgil: JEneid, iv, 178-180. B. means "that when princes and monarchs have suppressed actual and open rebels, then the malignity of people (which is the mother of re bellion) doth bring forth libels and slanders, and taxations of the state, which is of the same kind with rebellion, but more feminine." Wisdom of the Ancients, ix.
4 Tacitus saith: History, i, 7.
5 Tacitus speaketh of: History, ii, 39.
6 Machiavel: possibly a reference to Discourses on Livy, iii, 27, which treats of factions and the methods of dealing with them. The Italian translation substitutes for Machia vel the words "a writer."
7 Entered league: the League of the Holy Trinity, formed in 1575 for the defence of the Catholic faith; at its head was the house of Guise. It was supported by Henry III for a time in 1576. Under its influence the Parisians drove him out of the city in 1588.
8 Primum mobile: see Essay i, note 9.
9 Tacitus expresseth it: Annals, iii, 4.
10 Who threateneth: Isaiah xlv, 1; cf. Job xii, 18.
11 Estates: fortunes, as is evident from the previous line.
12 Lucan noteth: Pharsalia, i, 181; instead of rapidum Lucan wrote avidum, "greedy." Lucan lived 39-65.
13 The Civil War: between Caesar and Pompey, in 49 B. c.; ct. Essay xxvii, note 13.
14 Of the belly: Lat. "which have their origin in the belly," i. e. in hunger.
15 Dolendi modus: Pliny, Epistles, viii, 17.
16 Mate: stupefy; cf. Essay ii, p. 8, 1. 20.
17 The cord breaketh: cf. " The last straw breaks the camel's back."
18 To be foreseen: Lat. "guarded against in advance."
19 Scholars: in his Advice concerning Sutton's Estate (Life, iv, 252) B. speaks in the same vein: he thinks there &"? already too many grammar schools; and the scholars tucy train, being unfit for other vocations, will become indigent and furnish material for revolutions.
20 Somewhere lost: based on the mercantile theory that wealth means gold and silver. This idea is found also iii Aristotle, in Publius Syrus, and in Montaigne.
194 NOTES
21 Materiam superabit opus: cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, ii, 5.
22 Mines above ground: Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy, ed. 1837, i, 77) uses the same figure in speaking of the industry of the Low Countrymen.
23 Usury: cf. Essay xli and note 1.
24 Ingrossing: speculating. Several laws against this were passed in the sixteenth century.
25 Great pasturages: cf. " For enclosure of grounds [for sheep pastures] brings depopulation, which brings forth first idleness, secondly decay of tillage, thirdly subversion of houses, and decrease of charity and charge to the poor's maintenance, fourthly the impoverishing the state of the realm." Speech against Enclosures, Life, ii, 82. In the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509) there began to be com plaints of the changing of arable to pasture land, a result of the rapid development of the export trade in wool. Cf. More, Utopia.
26 Pallas: rather Thetis: cf. Iliad, i, 401-403.
27 Epimetheus: brother of Prometheus. The latter stole fire from heaven and taught men useful arts. To punish men, Zeus gave Pandora to Epimetheus for his wife. She brought with her a box containing every human ill. The box being opened, the ills escaped and only hope remained.
28 Caesar: Suetonius, Ccesar, Ixxvi-lxxviii.
29 Galba: cf. Plutarch, Lives, vi, 309; Tacitus, History, i, 5.
30 Probus: emperor of Rome 276-282; killed by mutinous soldiers. A speech like this is mentioned by the historian Flayius Vopiscus, Probus, 20.
31 Tacitus saith: History, i, 28, describing the temper of the Roman soldiers when Otho was proclaimed emperor in opposition to Galba, in 69.
XVI. OF ATHEISM
1 Legend: The Golden Legend, a collection of lives of saints and other stories written by James of Voragine, abp. of Genoa, in the thirteenth century, and translated by Caxton into English in 1483.
2 Talmud: the body of Jewish traditional laws and regula tions of life explanatory of the written law of the Penta teuch. It contains 63 tracts, usually printed in twelve folio volumes.
3 Alcoran: the Koran, the sacred book of the followers of Mohammed; dates from about 610.
4 Leucippus: lived about 500 B. c. Founded the atomic phi losophy, which Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher (460-357 B. c.), developed and Epicurus (342-270 B. c.) improved Epicurus, while asserting the existence of gods. denie- 1 ' heir interference with human affairs.
5 Mutable elements: earth, air, fire, water.
NOTES 195
NOTE
6 Fifth essence: quintessence; cf. Introduction, p. viii.
7 Unplaced: Lat. "wandering without order and by chance."
8 The Scripture saith: Psalms xiv, 1; liti, 1.
9 Epicurus: cf. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, i, 44, sec
123.
10 Non deos: Diogenes Laertius,' x, 123.
11 The Indians: B. probably got this from Acosta, Natural History of the Indies, v, 3, trans. 1604.
12 The contemplative atheist: this passage as far as p. 53, 1. 16t was expanded from a passage in Essay xvii, ed. 1612.
13 Diagoras: of Melos, lived in the latter half of the filth cen tury B. c.; in 411 B. c. fled from Athens to escape a trial for atheism.
14 Bion: the philosopher, not the poet, died about 241 B. c.; famed for his wit. In his last illness he is said to have re pented of his atheism.
15 Lucian: 120-200. A Greek satirist and free-thinker, called by some "the Blasphemer;" he effectively ridiculed the distorted Christianity of his day.
16 Bernard: abbot of Clairvaux, France (1091-1153). B. mis quotes; the words attributed to Bernard are, "As the people are, so will the priest be; like layman, like par son."
17 Cicero saith: On the Responses of the Soothsayers, ix, 19.
XVII. OF SUPERSTITION
1 No opinion: Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), i, 169, 179, expresses a similar opinion.
2 Plutarch: On Superstition, x, Morals, p. 266.
3 Saturn: the Greek Kronos, who devoured all his children 5 till at length Zeus was rescued by the substitution of a stone.
4 Augustus: Roman emperor 31 B. c.-14 A. D.
5 Civil: Lat. tranquilla, "peaceful."
6 Primum mobile: see Essav i, note 9.
7 Council of Trent: held 1545-1563; condemned the leading doctrines of the Protestant Reformation concerning the Bible, original sin, and justification by faith.
8 Schoolmen: cf. Introduction, p. viii.
9 Eccentrics and epicycles: according to the Ptolemaic sys tem (cf. Essav i, note 9), the planets moved in (a) circles the centres of which themselves moved in (b) circles. The (a) circles were called epicycles; the (b) circles, having their centre at a point outside the earth, were called eccentrics. A.
10 Save the phenomena: account for all of them, reconcile them with the theory. Cf. "save appearances;" a phrase Greek in origin.
11 Avoiding superstition: Plutarch (Moral?, p. 268) speak? ol those who, to avoid superstition, leap into atheism.
196 NOTES
XVIII. OF TRAVEL NOTE
1 Allow: approve: an obsolete sense of the word, derived from Lat. allaudare, " praise." The modern sense is derived from Lat. allocare, "let, concede."
2 Disputations: formal academic arguments of the sort stit heard in our debating societies. Cf. Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, xx.
3 Card: chart; note the etymology.
4 Adamant: lodestone; cf. Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, 1, 195. Lat. "magnet."
5 The life: Lat. "how the mouth, the countenance, and the lines and motions of the body correspond to the report."
6 Country manners: those of his own country. Cf. Ascham's complaint about the "Englishman Italianated," whom he describes in The Schoolmaster as bringing "home into England out of Italy the religion, the learning, the policy, the experience, the manners of Italy."
XIX. OF EMPIRE
1 Representations: J. speaks frequently of th^se in his Henry VII.
2 Scripture speaketh of: Proverbs xxv, 3.
3 Nero: emperor of Rome 54-68. Cf. Suetonius, vi, 20; Taci tus, Annals, xvi, 4.
4 Domitian: emperor 81-96. Cf. Suetonius, viii, 18.
5 Commodus: emperor 180-192; fought as a gladiator 735 times.
6 Caracalla: emperor 211-217. DionCassius says (Ixxvii, 10): " He used to say that he drove a chariot in imitation of the sun, and gloried in it."
7 Alexander the Great: king of Macedon 336-323 B. c. His superstition is described by Plutarch, Lives, iv, 383.
8 Diocletian: emperor of Rome 284-305, when he abdicated. Though he lived till 313, there is no proof that he became either superstitious or melancholy.
9 Charles the Fifth: 1500-1558, emperor of the Holy Romar Empire 1519-1556. He spent his last years in the mon astery of Yuste in Spain, devoted to the exercises of reli gion.
10 True temper: correct proportion ; as Plutarch (Lives, v, 73) puts it, sometimes to yield to the people, but never to hesitate to correct offenders.
11 Apollonius: of Tyana in Cappadocia (4 B. C.-97 A. D.), a Pythagorean philosopher and reputed magician.
12 Vespasian: cf. Essav ii, note 8.
13 Matter of trouble: Plutarch (Lives, v, 4) speaks thus with reference to the growth of Cspsar's power.
14 Tacitus: not Tacitus but Sallust, Jugurthine War, cxiii.
15 Triumvirate: the alliance between Henry and Francis was
NOTES 197
NOTE
formed at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, near Calais, in June, 1520. Charles and Henry met in July.
16 League: formed in 1480.
17 Guicciardini: a Florentine historian of Italy (1482-1540).
18 Lorenzius Medici: the famous Lorenzo de' Medici, the Mag nificent (1449-1492).
19 Livia: wife of Drusus, son of the emperor Tiberius.
20 Roxalana: a slave who became empress and who accom plished the death of her stepson Mustapha in order to secure the succession for one of her own sons.
21 Solyman: the Magnificent, reigned 1520-1566.
22 Murther: at Berkeley Castle, in 1327.
23 Advoutresses: adulteresses.
24 Crispus: executed in 326.
25 Constantinus the Great: emperor of Rome 306-337, the first to tolerate Christianity.
26 Demetrius: accused by his brother of having treasonable relations with Rome, and executed by his father in 179 B. c. Livy (xl, 24), whom B. follows, insists upon his innocence; modern historians think he was a traitor.
27 Selymus: same as Solyman.
28 Bajazet: a son of Roxalana, executed by Solyman.
29 Anselmus: 1033-1109, abp. from 1093. Supported the Pope in a dispute with William II and Henry I Concerning the right of investiture.
30 Becket: 1118-1170, became abp. in 1162. He defended the Church's rights against Henry II, and was murdered in the cathedral at Canterbury. His shrine attracted many pil grims.
31 Foreign authority: the Pope.
32 Vena porta: the portal or "gate" vein; see any standard physiology, e. g. Blaisdell, p. 138. B. supposed that the chyle was taken up by the veins converging to the vena porta : so commerce concentrates a country's resources in order to redistribute them. B. uses the term also in Henry VII. Instead of it, we should now probably speak ot the heart. Ellis.
33 Leeseth: loses.
34 Janizaries: lit. "new soldiers;" thev began in the reign oi Amurath I, about 1360, and were the soldiers of the Turk ish Court, who attended upon the emperor. They were re cruited from Christian captives.
35 Pretorian bands: the body guard of the Roman emperors; see Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. v.
36 Like to heavenly bodies: in his Discourse touching the Union (Life, iii, 90) B. speaks similarly of the education of the Persian kings, whose tutors set before them the examples of the heavenly bodies, which have great glory but no rest; thus teaching that the motions of governments are tc be constant, without wavering or confusion.
198 NOTES
XX. OF COUNSEL
NOTE
1 The Counsellor: Isaiah ix, 6.
2 In counsel: Proverbs xx, 18, Vulgate, "judgments are strengthened by counsels."
3 Solomon's son: Rehoboam; cf. 1 Kings xii; xiv, 21-31.
4 Jupiter: Zeus; the myth is Greek.
5 Eat: an old form once singular, of the past tense. Ate comes from a plural form.
6 Cabinet: secret. Lat. "secret councils, which are commonly called cabinets." Note that B. confuses counsel and coun cil.
1 Worse than the disease: Harl. MS. 5106 added: "which hath turned Metis the wife to Metis the mistress, that is councils of state to which princes are married, to councils of gracious persons recommended chiefly by flattery and affection." Prudence counseled B. to strike this out.
8 Plenus rimarum: Terence, Eunuchus, i, 2, 25.
9 Able to grind: Lat. "strong to fight his own battles."
10 Henry the Seventh: king 1485-1509. Cf. B.'s Life.
11 Morton: John Morton (1420-1500), abp. of Canterbury, and chancellor.
12 Fox: Richard Fox (c. 1448-1528), bishop of Winchester, and founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In Henry VII (Works, ii, 64, 65), B. speaks of Morton and Fox as "vigilant men and secret, and such as kept watch with him [the king] almost upon all men else."
13 Non inveniet: cf. Essay i, note 13.
14 Principis est: Martial, Epigrams, viii, 15, 8.
15 Reverend: B. means reverent, as the ed. of 1612 reads.
16 It was truly said: by Alphonso of Aragon (1416-1458), who " was wont to say of himself that he was a great necroman cer, for that he used to ask counsel of the dead : meaning books." Apophthegms, 105.
17 The Commission: met Oct. 20-Dec. 6, 1604.
18 Hoc agere: cf. "When the magistrates, bishops, priests, or other religious ministers go about any divine service or matter of religion, an herald ever goeth before them, crying out aloud, Hoc age." Plutarch, Lives, ii, 172.
19 Placebo: cf. Psalms cxvi, 9. Used in jest for flattery.
XXI. OF DELAYS
1 Sibylla: an old woman who offered to sell the Roman king Tarquin nine books. When he declined, she burnt three of the books and asked the same for the remaining six. The king now laughed at her. Then she burnt three more and asked the same for the three. The king was now advised by his augur to buy the books. The Romans used to con sult the Sibylline books in times of political trouble.
3 The common verse: Cato, Distichs, ii, 26, quoted by Erasmus
NOTES 199
NOTE
in his Adagia: Fronte capillata, post haec Occasio calva, which Bullokar (1585) translated, " Behind Fortune ia bald, in the forehead hairy." Cf . " to take Time by the fore lock."
3 Argus: appointed by Hera guardian of the cow into which Zeus had changed Jo, daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. At Zeus's command Hermes put Argus to sleep with a flute and then cut off his head.
4 Briareus: son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gsea (Earth); with his brothers conquered the Titans when they made war upon the gods and secured the victory to Zeus. See Essay xv.
5 The helmet of Pluto: in the Iliad, v, 845, Athene put on the cap of Hades (Pluto, the god of the dark lower world), that Ares might not recognize her. The cap which rendered its wearer invisible was also common in Germanic legend.
>
XXII. OF CUNNING
1 Pack the cards: deceive in arranging them. R. quotes from Quarles's Emblems, ii, 5, 23: "Thy cunning can but pack the cards; thou canst not play."
2 In their own alley: bowling-alley. They can bowl well only in the alley to which they are accustomed.
3 Mitte ambos: ascribed to Aristippus, a Greek philosopher and pupil of Socrates; he lived about 380 B. c.
4 The Jesuits: members of the Catholic Society of Jesus, founded in 1534.
5 Counsellor: A. thinks this was Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1536-1590), who became Secretary of State and Privy Councillor in 1573.
6 Nehemias: the Greek form; cf. Nehemiah ii, 1.
7 As Narcissus did: cf. Tacitus, .4nnaZs, xi, 29, 30. When Messalina, the dissolute wife of the Emperor Claudius, had gone through the form of a marriage with Silius, Narcissus, a freedman, undertook to inform Claudius. He prevailed upon two women to break the news and then to call for him, in order to follow it up.
8 I knew two: S. thinks these were Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612), B.'s cousin, and Sir Thomas Bodley, (1545-1613), founder of the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
9 The cat: formerly cate or cake; has no connection with felines. '
10 Tigellinus: Tacitus, Annals, xiv, 57.
11 Paul's: St. Paul's Cathedral in London, then a popular promenade and resort for both business and pleasure.
12 Resorts and falls: the sources or starting-points, and the conclusions or results.
13 Looses: discharges or shots of an arrow. B. means, to de liver good shots in concluding business.
200 NOTES
NOTE
14 Wits of direction: men skilled in directing others,
15 Solomon saith: Proverbs xiv, 15.
XXIII. OF WISDOM FOR A MAN*S SELF
1 Shrewd: accursed, mischievous. The statement is now known to be untrue.
2 Right earth: in nature exactly like the earth.
3 His own centre: cf. "The disciples of Thales say that the earth is the centre of the universe." Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), iii, 155.
4 Centre of another: cf. Essay i, note 9.
5 Eccentric to: having a centre different from. Cf. Essay xvii, note 9.
6 Accessory: appendage, i. e. have but second place.
7 Set a bias: in the game of bowls, a piece of lead inserted in one side of a bowl to deflect it from a straight course.
8 Wisdom of rats: cf. " When a house is ready to tumble down, the mice go out of it before; and first of all the spiders with their webs fall down." Pliny, Natural His tory, viii, 28.
9 Of the fox: cf. "[The fox] dwells in pits, which, however, it does not prepare, but which it seizes by craft after they have been dug out by the taxus or badger." Gesner, History of Animals, i, 957.
10 Of crocodiles: an old myth. "It is written that the croco dile will weep over a man's head when he hath devoured the body, and then he will eat the head up too." Bullokar, English Expositor.
11 Cicero: Letters, To his Brother Quintus, iii, 8.
XXIV. OF INNOVATIONS
1 Natural motion: a doctrine in harmony with the dogma of universal depravity. Cf. the motion of a stone falling to the ground with the forced motion which it has when thrown into the air.
2 Strongest at first: " Youth has modesty and a sense of shame, old age is somewhat hardened ; a young man has kindness and mercy, an old man has become pitiless and callous; youth has a praiseworthy emulation, old age ill-natured envy; youth is inclined to religion and devotion by reason of its fervency and inexperience of evil, in old age piety cools through the lukewarmness of charity and long inter course with evil, together with the difficulty of believing." History of Life and Death, Works, x, 155.
3 Of course: the phrase is used in the literal sense.
4 New things: W. thinks B. had in mind Matthew ix, 16, 17.
5 Example of time: Jean Bodin (The Commonweal, 1576 (trans. Knolles), iv, 3) says a government should imitate
NOTES 201
NOTE
the great God of nature, who causes a tree to grow insen sibly from a seed. 6 Scripture: Jeremiah vi, 16.
XXV. OF DISPATCH
1 Affected: excessively desired.
2 Crudities: the Lat. crudus means "undigested."
3 Speed: the Lat. adds here, "but in a lower and even mo tion of the same [feet]."
4 False periods: sentences that appear to be but are not fin ished.
5 A wise man: Sir Amias Paulet; cf. Introduction, p. ix, and Apophthegms, 76.
6 Dear hand: cf. "at first hand," "at second hand."
7 The Spartans: "They [the Athenians] are revolutionary, equally quick in the conception and in the execution of every new plan; while you are conservative — careful only to keep what you have, originating nothing, and not acting even when action is most necessary." From the speech of the Corinthians to the Spartans, 432 B. c., Thucydides, trans. Jowett, i, sec. 70.
8 Spaniards: the proverb quoted is Italian; B. has substi tuted Span, muerte dc for Ital. morte di. B. used the pro verb also in a speech in Parliament on May 17, 1607, Life, iii, 351.
9 Curious: carefully wrought, elaborate.
10 Passages: Lat. "beautiful transitions."
11 Bravery: ostentation; Lat. "strivers for small glories."
12 Too material: Lat. " beware of coming down to the point at the beginning."
13 The work of many: B. was probably thinking of the ideal relation between the King and his Privy Council on the one hand, and the houses of Parliament on the other.
XXVI. OF SEEMING WISE
1 The Apostle: Paul, 2 Timothy iii, 5.
2 Magno conatu: Terence, The Self -Tormentor, iii, 5, 8.
3 Prospectives: glasses for seeing pictures as if the surfaces were solids; stereoscopes.
4 Cicero saith: Against Piso, vi.
5 Bear it: Lat. "think they will succeed."
6 Blanch: whiten, gloss over; Lat. "pass over the matter."
7 Gellius saith: it was rather Quintilian, the Roman rheto rician (35-95), who said (x, 1) of Seneca, "If he had not broken up the masses of matters with trivial sentiments, he would be approved rather by the agreement of the learned than by the favor of young men."
8 Plato: Protagoras, xxiii. Protagoras (c. 481-411 B. c.) and
2C2 NOTES
NOTE
Pnxiicus (fourth century B. c.) were celebrated Athenian sophists, or teachers of philosophy. 9 You were better: the construction originally meant, "for
you it were better to take."
10 Absurd: originally meant "harsh-sounding;" here, prob ably, "rough, blunt."
XXVII. OF FRIENDSHIP
This essay was entirely rewritten. In the edition of 1612 it stood thus:
There is no greater desert or wilderness than to be without true friends. For without friendship, society is but meeting. And as it is certain that in bodies inanimate union strength- eneth any natural motion and weakeneth any violent motion; so amongst men, friendship multiplieth joys and divideth griefs. Therefore whosoever wanteth fortitude, let him worship friendship. For the yoke of friendship maketh the yoke of fortune more light. There be some whose lives are as if they perpetually played upon a stage, disguised to all others, open only to themselves. But per petual dissimulation is painful; and he that is all fortune and no nature is an exquisite hireling. Live not in con tinual smother, but take some friends with whom to com municate. It will unfold thy understanding; it will evapo rate thy affections; it will prepare thy business. A man may keep a corner of his mind from his friend, and it be but to witness to himself that it is not upon facility but upon true use of friendship that he imparteth himself. Want of true friends, as it is the reward of perfidious na tures, so it is an imposition upon great fortunes. The one deserve it, the other cannot escape it. And therefore it is good to retain sincerity, and to put it into the reckoning of ambition, that the higher one goeth, the fewer true friends he shall have. Perfection of friendship is but a specula tion. It is friendship when a man can Kay to himself, I love this man without respect of utility. I am pen-hearted to him, I single him from the generality of those with whom I live; I make him a portion of mine own wishes.
1 Him that spake: Lat. "even for him," implying that the person referred to was skilled in mingling truth and un truth. The reference is to Aristotle, Politics, i, 2. "One who is incapable of association with others or is independ ent and has no need of such association is no member of a state, in other words he is either a brute or a god." B. disliked Aristotle and here does liim great injustice; cf. In troduction, p. viii.
2 Epimenides: a Cretan poet and sage, contemporary with Solon, who lived in the sixth century B. c.; he is said to have slept in a cave uninterruptedly for fifty-seven years.
NOTES 203
NOTE
3 Numa: the second king of Rome (715-672 B. c.); said to have been taught in a cave by the muse Egeria. Cf. Plu tarch, Lives, i, 169.
4 Empedocles: a Sicilian philosopher (c. 490-430 B. c.) who wrapped himself in mystery, professed magical powers, and is said to have thrown himself intw th? crater of Mt. Etna in order that his sudden disappearance might cause him to be thought of as a god. Cf. Matthew Arnold, Em pedocles on Etna.
5 Apollonius: see Essay xix, note 11.
6 Tinkling cymbal: cf. 1 Corinthians xiii, 1.
7 Magna: B. alters the sense. Erasmus, Adagia, says that Strabo (Geography, xvi, 738) applied to Babylon the saying of a common poet, punning on the name of Megalopolis ("great city"), "A great solitude is the great city."
8 Sarza: sarsaparilla.
9 Flowers: the ed. of 1639 has flower, i. e. flour.
10 Privadoes: confidants; a Spanish word.
11 Participes: not a Roman name; the Greek form, accord ing to Dion Cassius (Iviii, 4), was given to Sejanus by Tiberius.
12 Sylla: Lucius Cornelius Sulla (c. 138-78 B. c.), a celebrated general and dictator.
13 Pompey: (106^-48 B. c.) a celebrated general who ended the war with Mithridates and was defeated by Caesar at Pharsalus.
14 Vaunted himself: cf. Plutarch, Lives, iv, 219.
15 A friend of his: Lepidus.
16 Caesar: the story is told by Plutarch, Lives, v, 65, and by Shakespeare, Julius Ccesar, ii, 2, 57-99.
17 Philippics: xiii, 11. Brutus is meant; cf. chap. 9.
18 Agrippa: the story is told by Dion Cassius, liv, 6. In order to marry Julia, Agrippa was ordered to divorce his wife, Augustus' niece.
19 Sejanus: cf. "Therefore they often swore by his fortune, and called him the colleague of Tiberius." Dion Cassius, Iviii, 6.
20 Tiberius in a letter: Tacitus, Annals, iv, 40.
21 Dedicated an altar: Tacitus, Annals, iv. 74.
22 Trajan: Roman emperor, 98-117. An admirer and benefac tor of learning; cf. Adv. i, 7, 5.
23 Marcus Aurelius: emperor 161-180. See, likewise, Adv. i, 7,8.
24 Half piece: as half-pence and farthings were formerly very scarce, people used to cut silver pennies into halves and quarters to supplv the deficiency.
25 Comineus: Philippe de Commines (c. 1445-1519), a noted French historian and statesman.
26 Duke Charles: Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1433- 1477).
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27 Lewis: king of France 1461-1483.
28 Parable: quoted by Plutarch, Morals, p. 13.
29 Their stone: the philosopher's stone, which "purges the heart and all the chief members, and also contains intes tines, marro^v, and whatnot within its own body." Para- celsus, the great German alchemist (1493-1541).
JO Themistocles: the celebrated Athenian commander and statesman. Plutarch tells the story both in his Morals, p. 344, and in his Lives, i, 315. Themistocles was com paring the perfect and the imperfect expression of thought in language.
31 Arras: a city in northern France formerly noted for the manufacture of tapestry, which took from it the name of arras.
32 Heraclirus: a celebrated Greek philosopher (c. 535-475 B.C.). The correct version of the enigma is, " The dry mind [unin fluenced by feelings and appetites] is the wisest and best." The figure is suggested by drunkenness.
33 James saith: Epistle, i, 23.
34 A gamester: a proverb frequently quoted by B.
35 Four and twenty : J and U were not yet regarded as distinct from I and V. Athenodorus advised Augustus when angry to repeat the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet. Plutarch, Morals, p. 442.
36 Another himself: borrowed from Plutarch, Morals (ed. Goodwin), i, 465.
XXVIII. OF EXPENSE
1 Kingdom of heaven: cf . Matthew xix, 24.
2 Servants: B. failed to heed his own preaching. "To the end of his life, with all his parade of account-books and note books, his servants remained uncontrolled and his house hold laxly supervised." A.
3 Even hand: Lat. " who does not wish to suffer a diminution of his wealth."
4 Certainties: Lat: "turn matters of computation into fixed income and likewise fixed expenditures."
XXIX. OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES
Most of the fragment Of the True Greatness of Britain (1608) was incorporated in this Essay, which in turn reappears in the Latin Adv., viii, 3.
1 Themistocles: the story is told by Plutarch, Lives, i, 283. Cf. Adv. iii, 8.
2 Metaphor: Lat. "transferred to a political sense."
3 Is compared: Matthew xiii, 31.
NOTES 205
NOTE
4 Virgil saith: Eclogues, vii, 52.
5 Would not pilfer: told by Plutarch, Lives, iv, 336.
6 Tigranes: king of Armenia, d. c. 55 B. c. The story is told by Plutarch, Lives, iii, 400.
7 Sinews of war: a saying found in Cicero, Tacitus, Plutarch, and others.
8 Solon: (c. 638-559 B. c.), a famous Athenian lawgiver. The story is told by Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, ii, 10.
9 Croesus: became king of Lydia, Asia Minor, in 560 B. c., and grew wealthy and powerful.
10 Examples: Machiavelli (Discourses, ii, 20; Prince, xii) like wise condemns the employing of auxiliaries.
11 Judah and Issachar: cf. Genesis xlix, 9, 14.
12 The excises: " 'T were cheap living here [Amsterdam], were it not for the monstrous accises which are imposed upon all sorts of commodities both for belly and back; . . . nor doth any murmur at it, because it goes not to any favor ite, or private purse, but to preserve them from the Span iard." Howell, Familiar Letters, i, 7. W.
13 Staddles: small standing trees; allied to the verb stand.
14 Hundred poll: the hundredth man, one in a hundred.
15 The nerve: so called by Machiavelli, Discourses, ii, 18.
16 England and France: in 1600 the estimated population of England and Wales was 5,000,000; of France, 20,000,000. In 1901 England and Wales, with a territory of 58,186 square miles, had a population of about 32,500,000; France, with a territory of 204,092 square miles, had a population of about 39,000,000.
17 No servile condition: cf. Essay xv, note 25.
18 Virgil's character: JEneAd, i, 531.
19 Nebuchadnezzar's tree: Daniel iv, 10-27.
20 Great enough: borrowed from Machiavelli, Discourses, ii, 3.
21 The Spartans: the figure of the tree is borrowed from Machiavelli, Discourses, ii, 3.
22 Nice: fastidious. Look up the history of the word.
23 Their manner: discussed by Machiavelli, Discourses, ii, 4.
24 Pragmatical Sanction, now published : Lat. "published this year," i. e. in 1622, when this essay was published as a part of the Latin Adv. The Pragmatical Sanction, decreed by Philip IV, gave certain privileges to persons who married and further immunities to those who had six children. There were similar provisions in Rome under the empire. A diminution in the birth-rate always follows the acquisi tion of national wealth.
25 Romulus: Livy, i, 16; Plutarch, Lives, i, 108.
26 Sent a present: Lat. " bequeathed."
27 The Spaniards: this was the great age of Spain, which in 1600 dominated Portugal, Florida, Mexico, the West Indies, much of South America, and the Philippines and other islands in the Far East. The northern coast of South
206 NOTES
NOTE
America was known as the Spanish Main, and Philip II (king 1556-98) had been able to boast that the sun never set on his dominions.
28 Law or sect: that of Mohammed.
29 Made a war: the second Macedonian war, ending in the battle of Cynoscephalse ("Dog's Heads") in 197 B. c.. after which Philip V was obliged to recognize the freedom of Greece.
30 Cicero: Letters to Atticus, x, 8, 4.
31 Actium: victory by Augustus over Mark Antony in 31 B. c.
32 Lepanto: fought October 7, 1571, by Italian and Spanish fleets under Don John of Austria against the Turks under Selim the Sot. The latter lost 35,000 men.
33 Strength at sea: one of the common doctrines of the time. John Selden, in his Enclosed Sea (1635), speaks of "the dominion of the sea as an ancient and inseparable append age to the ownership of the land of Britain." The Narrow Seas, over which this dominion was claimed, were denned in 1674 as extending from Cape Finisterre to Stadland in Norway. See H. J. Mackinder, Britain and the British Seas, New York, 1902.
34 Funeral laudatives: Selby refers to Pericles' oration over the fallen Athenian soldiers in 431 B. c.; Thucydides, ii, 35-46.
35 Emperor: Lat. imperator, the title by which the Roman soldiers saluted their general after a victory.
36 Triumph: the procession of the victorious general through the city to the temple of Jupiter.
37 That ever was: this construction, while logically incorrect, is common even in the best English prose. Its growth was as follows: a. One the best knight that ever was. b. One of the best knight that ever was. Like "the city of New York." c. One of the best knights (where knights is a partitive genitive) that ever ivas (the analogy of b being strong enough to prevent the use of were).
38 Scripture saith: Matthew vi, 27.
XXX. OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH
1 Own observation: This is the opinion also of Plutarch, Morals, p. 514.
2 Many things than one: Lat. " one great thing." Cf . " A new prince in a city or province taken by him should make innovations in everything." Machiavelli, Discourses, i, 26.
3 Apparel: the Lat. adds mansionis, "of the house."
4 Great precepts: B. distorts Celsus, who really says: "The healthy man who feels well and is his own master, ought not to bind himself by any laws; but ought to desire neither a physician nor an ointment-doctor. He should vary his mode of life: should be now in the country, now in the city,
NOTES 207
V«TE
and more often in the field; should row, hunt, rest at times, but take frequent exercise. If idleness weakens the body, labor strengthens it; the former gives a mature old age, the latter a long youth. It is profitable now to use the bath, now cold waters; now to be anointed, now to neglect it; to avoid no kind of food that people use; now to be in the banquet, now to withdraw from it; sometimes to take more than he needs, again not to do so; to eat twice a day rather than once, and always as much as possible, so long as he digests it." On Medicine, i, 1. 5 Faculty: ability.
XXXI. OF SUSPICION
1 Stoutest: bravest.
2 In smother: Lat. "for suspicions are nourished by smoke and darkness."
3 Passport: Lat. missionem daret, "should discharge."
XXXII. OF DISCOURSE
1 Want variety: Plutarch (Morals, p. 7) likewise condemns monotony for both eye and ear.
2 Jade: the word was new in this sense.
3 Parce: Ovid, Metamorphoses, ii, 127.
4 Poser: Lat. " for an examiner," i. e. one who poses ques
tions.
5 Galliards: a lively dance introduced into England from France about 1541; cf. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, i, 3, 111.
6 Dissemble sometimes: cf. "Socrates . . . used to disable his knowledge to the end to enhance his knowledge." Adv. ii, 13, 4.
7 Speech of touch: speech that distresses, wounds.
8 Flout or dry blow: insult or jest.
9 Too many circumstances : too many introductory details.
XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS
1 The Latin title is "Concerning Plantations of People and Colonies." This was an era of colonization, especially in America.
2 Bakers: the Lat. adds "brewers, and the like."
3 Victual: Lat. "of eatables and drinkables."
4 Radish: the Lat. adds "melons, pumpkins, cucumbers."
5 Wheat: the Lat. adds "pulse."
6 House-doves: the Lat. adds "rabbits."
7 Tobacco: cf. "The trade of this colony [Virginia], as well as that of Maryland, consists almost entirely of tobacco; for though the country would produce several excellent commodities fit for trade, yet the planters are so wholly
208 NOTES
NOTE
bent on planting tobacco, that they seem to have laid aside all thoughts of other improvements." Pinkerton, Voyages, xii, 242.
8 Iron ore: mentioned by Thomas Heriot, 1587, as having been found in " the new found land of Virginia."
9 Bay-salt: Lat. "making of black salt by the heat of the sun."
10 Growing silk: vegetable silk. Hakluyt speaks of it as "silk of grass" (iii, 324).
11 Custom: duties on exports and imports. Cf. "The settlers in Hispaniola were to have their passage free; to be ex cused from taxes; and they were furnished with a gratui tous supply of grain and stock for their farms. All exports and imports were exempted from duty; a striking contrast to the narrow policy of later ages." Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, ii, 435.
12 Forsake or destitute: such was the fate of Sir Walter Ra leigh's second colony on Roanoke Island, founded in 1587.
XXXIV. OF RICHES
1 Saith Solomon: Ecclesiastes v, 11.
2 Little stones: cf . " In this number also they count them that take pleasure and delight ... in gems and precious stones, and think themselves almost gods if they chance to get an excellent one, specially of that kind, which in that time of their own countrymen is had in highest estimation." More, Utopia, 1516 (ed. Arber), p. 111.
• 3 Solomon saith: Proverbs xviii, 11.
4 Cicero saith: rather of the father of Rabirius; Pro C. Ra- birio Postumo, ii.
5 Qui festinat: Proverbs xxviii, 20.
6 Poets feign: in Lucian's Timon the Misanthrope (Fowler's trans, i, 38, 39) Plutus explains his limping to Hermes by saying that when Zeus sends him to any one he can scarcely move; his host is sometimes an old man before Plutus reaches him; while as a parting guest Plutus goes swifter than a dream. In cases of suddenly inherited wealth he is sent rather by Pluto, god of the lower world.
7 Observed by one: Lampon, a rich merchant and ship owner, in Plutarch, Morah, p. 319.
8 Chopping of bargains: cf. Essay xv, note 24.
9 True logician: cf. "The parts of logic are two, invention and judgment." Peter Ramus, Logic, i, 2.
10 Tacitus: does not himself say it of Seneca, but reports it to have been said by P. Suillius and other enemies; Annals, xiii, 42.
11 Foundations: e. g. the will of Thomas Button, who in 1611 left about £8000 a year to his college at the Charterhouse to maintain eight score soldiers; also a school for eight score scholars. In his Advice to the King, touching Button's
NOTES 209
NOTE
Estate, B. speaks of this as "a sacrifice without salt, hav ing the materials of a good intention, but not powdered with any such ordinances and institutions as may preserve the same from turning corrupt, or at least from becoming unsavory and of little use." In court, however, the will was upheld.
XXXV. OF PROPHECIES
1 ThePythonissa: 1 Samuel xxviii, 19. The word is a feminine form of python, a serpent slain by Apollo, god of divination.
2 Homer: B. quotes JEneid, iii, 97, 98. In Iliad, xx, 307, 308, Homer says: "But now the power of -iEneas shall rule over the Trojans; and his children's children and those who shall be born afterward."
3 Seneca: Medea, ii, 374-378.
4 Daughter of Poly crates: Herodotus, iii, 124, 125. He was anointed "by the sun;" and was first put to death and then hanged upon a cross. Jupiter Pluvius was the god of rain; Apollo, of the sun.
5 Philip of Macedon: father of Alexander the Great. The story is found in Plutarch's Lives, iv, 299.
6 A phantasm: Plutarch, Lives, vi, 217.
7 Tiberius said : Tacitus, Annals, vi, 20. The saying is ascribed by Suetonius to Augustus; Galba, iv.
8 Tacitus expounds: History, v, 13.
9 Domitian dreamed: Suetonius, Domitian, xxxiii.
10 Henry the Sixth: told by Holinshed and Shakespeare, 5 Henry VI, iv, 6, 68.
1 1 The King: Henry II of France was accidentally killed at a tournament in 1559. The prophecy is discredited.
12 When hempe: in the Ancient Scottish Prophecies, Bannatyne Club, 1833. occurs this form:
When hempe is come and also gone, Scotland and England shall be all one.
13 Philip: of Spain, husband of Queen Mary.
14 King's style: under James I the crowns of England and Scotland were united.
15 The Baugh and the May: probably between the Bass Rock and the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, whither some Armada ships wore driven in 1588.
16 Norway: the authority for this statement has not been traced.
17 Regiomontanus: "of Konigsberg," the designation of Johann Miiller, from his birthplace. The verses, written in 1470, were altered by Gaspar Bruschius in 1553 and made to refer to events which should happen in the reign of one Sextus.
18 Cleon's dream: cf. "But when the tanner-eagle, with his
210 NOTES
NOTE
crooked beak, shall seize in his jaws a stupid serpent, a gorger of blood, then, indeed, the pickle of the Paphla- gonians is no more; and on the sellers of paunches the god imparts great glory, unless, indeed, they shall choose rather to sell sausages." Aristophanes, Knights, 197-201. This, however, was not a dream of Cleon's but an oracle stolen from him by Nicias. It was said of a maker of sausages but not in Cleon's presence. R. Cleon was an Athenian demagogue who violently opposed Nicias, the leader of the aristocratic party, and who was killed at Amphipolis, Macedon, in 422 B. c. 19 Atlanticus: now known as the Critias.
XXXVI. OF AMBITION
1 An humor: The four humors thought to compose the body were blood, phlegm, choler (bile), and melancholy (black bile).
2 Adust: literally "scorched"; as a medical term, sallow, atrabilious.
3 Seeled: To "seel" was to close the eyelids partially or en tirely with fine thread. Cf. "Now she brought him to see a seeled dove, who the blinder she was, the higher she strave." Sidney, Arcadia, i.
4 Macro: Dion Cassius, Iviii, 9. When Tiberius was ready to deal a final blow at Sejanus, he sent Macro to Rome to command the praetorian guards, and with letters to the Senate and private instructions as to how he was to help on the main plot. Macro carried out the instructions. R.
5 The only figure: R. reminds us that B. made this charge against the Cecils, his uncle and cousin, who he believed had kept him from advancement.
XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS
1 Broken music: part-music, for different kinds of instru ments. Cf. "So likewise, in that music which we call broken-music or consort-music, some consorts of instru ments are sweeter than others." Natural History, 278.
2 High and tragical: the theme lofty and serious.
3 Into figure: e. g. letters spelling the name of the person honored, as in Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens.
4 Oes: spangles shaped like the letter O; cf. Shakespeare, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii, 2, 188.
5 Anti-masques: the anti-masque was an independent comic performance preceding or inserted between the acts of the masque, and serving as a foil or contrast to it. In Ben Jonson's Masque of Augurs it is twice called an antic- masque; this is probably a folk-etymology.
6 Turauets: Turklets, Turkish dwarfs.
NOTES 211
NOTE
7 On the other side: in the masque proper.
8 Barriers: formal contests with short swords in lists.
XXXVIII. OF NATURE IN MEN
1 Letters: cf. Essay xxvii, note 35.
2 Optimus ille: Ovid, Remedy of I^ove, 293.
3 Lay: for lie. So in the eds. of 1625 and 1639.
4 ^sop's damsel: told in Bullokar's /Esop, 1585; see the edition of Plessow (Palaestra, lii, Berlin, 1906), p. 130.
5 Multum incola: Psalms cxx, 6. As punctuated in the Vulgate, the quotation is complete; it was a favorite with B.
XXXIX. OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION
1 Machiavel: on conspiracies; cf. "For it is impossible that one should not be confused at such a moment, even though possessed of firmness and courage, and accustomed to the use of the sword and to seeing men killed. Therefore only men experienced in such affairs should be chosen as the instruments of execution, and none other should be trusted, though they be reputed to be most courageous; for you cannot be sure of any man's courage in great affairs, unless it has been tested by actual experience.'' Discourses, iii, 6.
2 Clement: cf. Essay iv, note 7.
3 Ravillac: assassinated Henry IV of France in 1610.
4 Jaureguy: shot at William the Silent in 1582.
5 Gerard: assassinated William the Silent by shooting in 1584. The Lat. adds "or Guy Fawkes."
6 Votary: based on a vow.
7 The Indians: cf . "There also Calanus the Indian philosopher, having had a flux a little while, prayed that they would make him a stack of wood, such as they use to burn dead bodies on. . . . When he had said these words, he laid him down upon the woodstack, covered his face, and never stirred hand nor foot, nor quinched when the fire took him." Plutarch, Lives, iv, 377-378.
8 The sect: the Gvmnosophistae, or "naked philosophers;" cf. Plutarch, Lives, iv, 372.
9 Lads of Sparta: spoken of by Montaigne, Essays, ii, 32.
10 Queching: same as quinching; cf. note 7.
11 An Irish rebel: it is related of Brian O'Rourke, executed in 1597, "that he gravely petitioned the Queen, not for life or pardon, but that he might be hanged with a gad or withe, after his own countrv fashion."
12 More pliant: Montaigne makes a somewhat similar remark, Essays, i, 25.
13 Exaltation : an astrological term signifying that position of a planet in which its influence was greatest.
212 NOTES
XL. OF FORTUNE NOTE
1 Faber quisque: Plautus, Trinummus, ii, 2, 34. Cf. Adv. xxiii, 10.
2 Serpens nisi: a Greek proverb, quoted also by Gesner, History of Animals, v, sec. A.
3 So Livy: xxxix, 40.
4 She be blind: cf. " For not only is Fortune herself blind, but
she generally makes those blind whom she has embraced." Cicero, On Friendship, xv, 54.
5 Caesar said: cf. Plutarch, Lives, v, 41.
6 So Sylla: Plutarch, Lives, iii, 315.
7 It is written: Plutarch, Lives, iii, 272. " Hereupon the gods, it should seem, were so angry with this foolish ambition of Timotheus that he never afterwards did any worthy thing, but all went utterly against the hair with him; until at length he came to be so hated of the people that in the end they banished him from Athens." Cf. Adv. xxiii, 10, and the Lat. Adv. viii, Works, ix, 268.
8 Slide and easiness: a good description of the Homeric hexameters; for an English imitation cf. Longfellow's Evangeline.
9 Plutarch saith: speaking of Timpleon's wars, in which were "great ease and quietness." Lives, ii, 280.
XLI. OF USURY
1 Usury: use of money, interest, whether excessive or not. In ancient times to charge interest was regarded as taking a mean advantage over a neighbor in distress. In the Middle Ages, as Selby points out, dislike of usury was not
•decreased by the fact that the chief money-lenders were Jews. The custom of charging usury had been regulated by the law of 37 Henry VIII, chap. 9, which fixed the maximum rate of legal interest at ten per cent. But the reformers opposed usury; Hugh Latimer declared that "all they that live of usury, they have their gains by the devil." In 1552 the feeling against usury had become so strong that the statute of 37 Hen. VIII was repealed by 5 and 6 Edward VI, chap. 20, which declared that " usury is by the word of God utterly prohibited as a vice most odious and detestable." Eighteen years later, however, by 13 Elizabeth, chap. 8, the older statute was revived; although usury was still declared sinful and detestable, and usurious interest was made liable to forfeiture, the penalty was never enforced. The common feeling on the subject is probably reflected bv Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, i, 3, 135, and in Lear, iv, 6, 167. See W. Cunning ham, Christian Opinion on Usury, Macmillan, 1884. Cf. Essav xv, p. 48. 1. 11.
2 God's part: cf. Leviticus xxvii, 30.
NOTES 213
NOTE
3 The tithe: the ten per cent, allowed by 37 Henry VIII, chap. 9; see above.
4 Virgil: Georgics, iv, 168.
5 In sudore: Genesis iii, 19.
6 Orange-tawny: yellow was the color which the Jews weiv commonly required to wear in medieval Europe.
7 Beget money: Aristotle's fanciful doctrine (Politics, i, 10, 4, 5) echoed in The Merchant of Venice, i, 3, 135.
8 Banks: probably refers to men's unwillingness to entrust their money to banks.
9 Discovery: requiring men to declare their incomes.
10 Lie still: absurd political economy, since the borrower ia employing it.
11 Far under foot: Lat. "at much too low a price."
12 To Utopia: literally "Nowhere," the imaginary country of Sir Thomas More's romance of that name (1516), where there was no private property and hence no usury.
13 Raise the price: R. notes that Thomas Mun in his England's Treasure by Foreign Trade does not approve of this state ment, but says that when produce brings better prices, land will command a higher rent and will increase in value.
14 Certain suspicions: e. g. that having got money they con trived to retain it, making fictitious repayments by book transfers; that they controlled the money market; that they demanded exorbitant interest; that they might fail. R.
XLII. OF YOUTH AND AGE
1 It is said: Spartianus, Life of Severus, ii.
2 Gaston de Foix: probably the Due de Nemours, a celebrated general (1489-1512), nephew of Louis XII, who fell fight ing against the Spaniards after the battle of Ravenna.
3 Fitter for execution: an observation of Plutarch, Morals, p. 322.
4 Rabbin: Isaac Abrabanel (1437-1508), a distinguished expounder of the Bible.
5 Your young men: Joel ii, 28.
6 Hermogenes: born at Tarsus, lived in the second half of the second century B. c. At fifteen he had become so famous that the emperor Marcus Aurelius sent for him.
7 Tully: Cicero, Brutus, 95.
8 Hortensius: a well-known orator (114-50 B. c.), at one time Cicero's rival.
9 Livy saith: xxxviii, 53. Livy adds that in the peaceful times of Scipio's later life there was no material for his nature, accustomed to war, to work upon.
10 Ultima primis: Ovid, Heroides, ix, 23.
214 NOTES
XLIII. OF BEAUTY
NOTE
1 Augustus: " He had a distinguished figure, even into late old age." Suetonius, Augustus, Ixxix.
2 Vespasianus: "As a boy he possessed splendid gifts of body and mind, which increased as he grew; a superior form; and no less authority than grace." Suetonius, Vespasianus, iii.
3 Philip le Bel: 1478-1506, king of Castile 1504-1506.
4 Edward the Fourth: 1441-14S3, king of England 1461-1483.
5 Alcibiades: " He was wonderful fair, being a child, a boy, and a man, and that at all times, which made him marvel lous amiable and beloved of every man. . . . He was passing fair, even to his latter time, and of good tempera ture of body." Plutarch, Lives, ii, 90.
6 Ismael: the first of the Sufi dynasty of monarchs, who be gan to rule over Persia about 1503. To him is attributed the establishment of the national religion.
7 Favor: Lat. venustas, "physical loveliness."
8 Apelles: one of the most famous of Greek painters, con temporary with Alexander the Great. The story, however, was told rather of Zeuxis (b. c. 400 B. c.); cf. "So curious and exquisite he was, that when he should make a table with a picture for the Agrigentines ... he would needs see all the maidens of the city; . . . from all that company he chose five of the fairest to take out, as from several patterns, whatsoever he liked best in any of them; and of all the lovely parts of those five to make one body of incomparable beauty." Pliny, Natural History, xxxv, 90.
9 Albert Dtirer: a famous German painter (1471-1528), wrote On the Symmetry of the Parts in Correct Shapes of Human Bodies (1528), giving proportional measurements.
10 Pulchrorum: quoted by Plutarch (Lives, ii, 90) from Euripides.
XLIV. OF DEFORMITY
Writing to Sir Dudley Carleton on December 17, 1612, John Chamberlain says: "Sir Francis Bacon hath set out new Essays, where, in a chapter on Deformity, the world takes notice that he points out his little cousin to the life." That Bacon had in mind his cousin, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury ,tis probable but not certain. Salisbury, it is well known, was deformed. Sir Robert Naunton in Fragmenta Regalia speaks of him as in person "not much beholding to nature" and as possessing a "little crooked person."
1 Void of natural affection: Romans i, 31; 2 Timothy, iii, 3
2 Eunuchs: cf. Essay ix, p. 26, 1. 12 f. b.
3 Agesilaus: cf. Essay ix, note 9.
4 Zanger: the Crooked, son of Solyman the Magnificent;
NOTES 215
NOTE
committed suicide about 1553 on learning of the murder of his brother Mustapha by Solyman.
5 jEsop: the legend of his deformity is without foundation.
6 Gasca: Pedro de la Gasca, a Spanish ecclesiastic who in 1547 suppressed the rebellion of Pizarro. His limbs were excessively long.
7 Socrates : cf. " Socrates is a perfect example of all great qualities. I am vexed that he found a body and a visage so ugly, as they say, and unsuited to the beauty of his soul." Montaigne, Essays, iii, 12.
XLV. OF BUILDING
After the conclusion of the Wars of the Roses, there was, under Henry VII and his successors, a great change in the style of domestic architecture, military strength and se curity giving place to comfort and beauty. In Elizabeth's time there was much building. "As Augustus said that b« had received the city of brick and had left it of marble, so she may say she received it a realm of cottages and hath made it a realm of palaces." Life, i, 131.
1 Knap: a knob or hillock.
2 Momus: the god of censure. Having to decide a contest, he pronounced faulty Zeus's bull because its eyes were not well placed for guiding the stroke of its horns; Prometheus' man because there was no door in his breast so that his thoughts could be seen; and Athene's house because it was not on wheels so that it could be moved away from a bad neighbor. Neveletus, Msopic Mythology.
3 The commodity: Lat. "no commodity;" this is probably what Bacon meant.
4 Lurcheth: intercepts, snatches away.
5 Lucullus answered: Plutarch, Lives, iii, 420.
6 The Vatican: here chiefly the Popes have lived since 1377. Most of the parts have been built since 1500.
7 Escurial: twenty-seven miles northwest of Madrid; built in 1563-1584. R. remarks that both Vatican and Escurial " are rather remarkable for the number and extent of thei: very fair rooms."
8 Hester: probably Esther i, 5-9, which is not very explicit.
9 Forty foot: Lat. quinquaginta, "fifty."
10 Eighteen: Lat. quindecim, " fifteen."
11 Newel: originally, the post about which wind the steps of a circular staircase. " Where the steps are pinned into the wall, and there is no central pillar, the staircase is said to have an open newel." Gwilt, Architecture, 1842, quoted in New Eng. Diet.
12 Sixteen foot: Lat. viginti, "twenty."
13 With a cross: as in the court of Trinity College, Cam bridge. R.
316 NOTES
XLVI. OF GARDENS NOTE
1 First planted: the garden of Eden, Genesis 11, 8.
2 All the months: With the following passage S. compares Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, iv, 4, 72-127.
3 Pine-apple-trees: pine-trees. The pine cones were commonly called pine-apples; cf. French pomme de pin.
4 Stoved: kept near a stove, in a hot-house.
5 Warm set: Lat. " planted next to a wall and toward the sun."
6 Crocus vernus: the spring crocus.
7 Chamairis: Lat. chamseiris, a variety of flower-de-luce.
8 Yellow daffodil: Lat. pseudo-narcissus luteus.
9 Pale daffodil: Lat. " the true daffodil."
10 Flos Africanus: the African flower, another general name for the French marigold. The Lat., omitting "the French marigold," says: flos Africanus, simplex et multiplex.
11 Ribes: gooseberries and similar shrubs.
12 Rasps: raspberries.
13 Herba muscaria: the musked grape flower.
14 Lilium convallium: lily of the valley.
15 The apple-tree in blossom: the Lat. adds " the corn-cockle."
16 Jennetings: a variety of early apples.
17 Meloco tones: a variety of peaches.
18 Wardens: a species of pears.
19 Services: shrubs allied to the shad bush.
20 Bullaces: a kind of plum-trees.
21 These particulars: W. notes that in two copies of the ed. of 1625 the following sentence occurs in place of this, having probably been substituted by B. himself: "Thus, if you will, you may have the Golden Age again, and a spring all the year long."
22 Ver perpetuum: Virgil, Georgics, ii, 149.
23 Fast flowers: not freely giving odor.
24 Bartholomew-tide: August 24.
25 Yield: some such word was omitted by mistake. Lat. emittunt.
26 A bent: the term is applied to several grasses (e. g. the cat tail) found in pasture lands.
27 A heath or desert : Lat. " thicket or solitary place."
28 Letting : shutting off.
29 Like welts : borders or edges.
30 Stay little : the Lat. adds "that it may remain clear."
31 None in it: the Lat. adds a passage to this effect: "except that in some places I direct there be set rows of trees which at the top shall enclose walks, covered over with the boughs of the trees, with windows. Moreover, let a part of the adjacent ground be thickly planted with flowers of sweet odor, which shall make the air more pleasant ; other wise I should like the heath to be open without trees."
32 Pricked: planted.
NOTES 217
33 Deceive: Lat. "deprive of strength."
34 Natural nestling: Lat. "and may be able in various ways to delight and compose themselves."
35 Platform: plan; cf. our political use of the word.
XLVII. OF NEGOTIATING
1 Quickeneth: Lat. "sharpeneth industry."
2 Absurd: stupid.
3 Bear out itself: Lat. "which have something unjust about them."
4 If a man deal: i. e. if A agrees with B to do something if B does something, the chief thing is, who shall do his part first. A cannot insist that B shall go first unless B's part must of necessity precede A's part, or unless he can per suade B that he will still neeu B in some other matter, or unless he can persuade B that he (B) shall be thought the more honorable for going before. R. takes the third alternative to mean "that he (A) is a thoroughly trust worthy man." The words admit of either interpretation.
5 Start or first performance: Lat. "the first seizure, so to speak, or the possession of one's desires, is to be counted among the chief points."
6. The honester man: Lat. "for a man especially sound and truthful."
XL VIII. OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS
1 Ordinary followers: an imperfect list of the servants in B.'s London house in 1618 (Life, vi, 336-338) includes a hun dred names; at another house, probably Gorhambury, another list shows at least fifty names, and there may have been more.
2 From a man: the Latin adds "if one consider the thing truly."
3 Inquire the secrets: cf. "They wish to know the secrets of the house, and thence to be feared." Juvenal, Satires, iii, 113, of the Greeks at Rome.
4 Base times: R. recalls Thucydides' description of Greece during the civil quarrels of 427 B. c.: "The simplicity which is so large an element in a noble nature was laughed to scorn and disappeared. An attitude of perfidious antago nism everywhere prevailed; for there was no word binding enough, nor oath terrible enough to reconcile enemies. Each man was strong only in the conviction that nothing was secure; he must look to his own safety, and could not afford to trust others. Inferior intellects generally suc ceeded best. For, aware of their own deficiencies, and fear ing the capacity of their opponents, for whom they were no match in powers of speech, and whose subtle wits were
218 NOTES
NOTE
likely to anticipate them in contriving evil, they struck boldly and at once. But the cleverer sort, presuming in their arrogance that they would be aware in time, and disdaining to act when they could think, were taken ofi their guard and easily destroyed." iv, 83, trans. Jowett.
5 All is of favor: Lat. "all things proceed from favor, not from obligation."
6 The last impression: Lat. " of the last edition, as they now say; " the metaphor is from the printing art.
7 Discovereth the hill: cf . "As those who wish to delineate countries place themselves low in the plain to observe the form and character of mountains and high places, and for the purpose of studying the nature of the low country place themselves high upon an eminence, so one must be a prince to know well the character of the people, and to understand well the nature of a prince one must be of the people." Machiavelli, The Prince, dedication. Cf. also Adv. xxi, 7.
8 To be magnified: the Lat. adds "among the ancients." According to Diogenes Laertius (viii, 10), Pythagoras (c. 582-500 B. c.) was the first to say this.
XLIX. OF SUITORS
1 Undertaken: taken up by the patron (undertaker) or go- between who tries to advance the suitor's interest with the king or the person to whom he ultimately addresses his suit. Without the help of an undertaker it was hard to get a hearing at court.
2 Embrace: Lat. "receive and eagerly promise aid."
3 Make an information : Lat. " that they may bring up by the way and enquire about something for which they could not otherwise find a pretext."
4 Suit of controversy: a lawsuit, Lat. "of justice." At tempts were frequently made to influence the course of jus tice by giving presents to the judge. See Introduction, p. xix.
5 Suit of petition: e. g. for help in obtaining an office. Lat. "of favor."
6 Compound the matter: make a compromise rather than force an injustice through.
7 Iniquum petas: Quintilian, On the Institutes 0} Oratory, iv,
£)j J. O.
8 General contrivers: R. takes these to be those who sought to acquire monopolies and their undertakers. The monopo lies under James I became a great evil; cf. Introduction, p. xi, bottom.
NOTES 219
Ii. OF STUDIES NOTE
1 For delight: Lat. "either for pleasure in meditations or ornament in speaking or aid in business."
2 Proyning: cultivating; the same word as prune, but used with an older sense. Cf. Natural History, 432, 823.
3 Distilled waters: kept in the house for medicinal purposes.
4 Flashy: Lat. insipidi, "tasteless." Cf. Li/cidas, 123.
5 Poets witty: is this an adequate description of what poetrv does?
6 Moral grave: probably "serious, dignified;" Lat. "pro duces a certain seriousness of manners."
7 Abeunt studia in mores: Ovid, Heroides, xv, 83. Cf. Adv. iii, 4.
8 Stone: of the bladder or the kidneys.
9 Reins: the kidneys; Lat. renes.
10 Cymini sectores: literally "cutters of cumin;" cf. Matthew xxiii, 23. The phrase means rather "niggards, stingy persons;" so Theocritus, Idylls, x, 55.
LI. OF FACTION
1 Not wise: Machiavelli (Discourses, iii, 27) likewise con demns the attempt to rule cities by keeping factions alive.
2 One by one: Lat. "in coaxing, conciliating, and managing individuals."
3 Caesar and Pompey: about 52 B. c. Cf. Essay xv, note 13.
4 Antonius and Octavianus: after the battle of Philippi in 42 B. c.
5 A new purchase: Lat. " prepare themselves to acquire new friends."
6 Goeth away with it: Lat. " generally gets an advantage."
7 Tanauam unus: Genesis iii, 22. Note that Adam was an inferior raised to be equal with those above him.
8 League of France: cf. Essay xv, note 7.
LII. OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS
1 Without foil: a leaf (foil is from Lat. folium, "leaf") of metal placed under a gem to enhance its brilliance. Lat. " without any ornament."
2 Small matters: Lat. "the smaller virtues."
3 Queen Isabella said: Lat. Isabella regina Castiliana, "queen of Castile." The original saying (Tuningius, Apophthegms, 1609, p. 65) had not "good forms" but "good looks," and has been ascribed to Aristotle and to Diogenes.
4 Behavior: Lat. " countenance and gestures and other ex ternals."
5 Compliments: Lat. "ceremonies and little forms."
6 Solomon saith: Ecclesiastes xi, 4.
7 Point device: excessively nice or precise. Lat. " too elegant.*
220 NOTES
LIII. OF PRAISE
WOTE
1 Species: Tacitus, Annals, xv, 48.
2 Like a river: the simile occurs several times elsewhere in B.; cf. Novum Org. i, 71, 77.
3 Concur: Lat. " agree with the people."
4 The Scripture saith: Ecclesiastes vii, 1, slightly changed. Cf. the Epistle Dedicatory, p. 3.
5 False points: Lat. " fallacious conditions."
6 Laudando: cf. "To teach a ruler what he ought to be is a fine thing indeed, though arduous and almost presump tuous; but to praise the best of rulers and by this means to hold out, as from a watch-tower, a light to posterity to show what they shall follow, is as useful, without arro gance." Pliny, Epistles, iii, 18.
7 Pessimum genus: Tacitus, Agricola, xli, slightly altered.
8 He that was praised: cf. "Praising thee, the beautiful one, I shall not raise pimples on my slender nose." Theocritus, Idylls, xii, 23, 24. B. distorts the saying.
9 That a blister: cf. "Lest by committing a fraud I raise a blister on my tongue." Theocritus, Idylls, ix, 30.
10 Solomon saith: Proverbs xxvii, 14.
11 Sbirrerie: the Lat. prefixes "by a Spanish word;" but it comes rather from Ital. sbirro, "constable."
12 Catchpoles: literally "catch-heads;" bailiff's assistants.
13 I speak: 2 Corinthians xi, 23.
14 Magnificabo: Romans xi, 13.
LIV. OF VAIN-GLORY
1 The fly sat: cf . Bullokar's &sop, ed. Plessow, p. 90.
2 Livius noteth: xxxv, 12, 17, 18.
3 Qui de contemnenda: Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i, 15.
4 Socrates: cf. Essay xxxii, note 6.
5 Aristotle: cf. Introduction, p. viii.
6 Galen: a celebrated Greek physician (born in 131) who wrote many works on medicine and acquired a reputation which he did not deserve.
7 Plinius Secundus: the younger Pliny (62-113), an author and public official.
8 Tacitus: History, ii, 80. He seems to refer especially to Mucianus's rhetorical skill.
9 Saith Pliny: Epistles, vi, 17, loosely quoted.
L,V. OF HONOR AND REPUTATION
1 Winning: Lat. "true and rightful winning." MS. Harl.
5106 has "true winning."
Husband: manager. For the etymology, cf. economist. 3 Broken: the use of the word "is not clear. Lat. " honor
which is comparative and depresses another."
NOTES 221
NOTE
4 Omnis fama: Cicero, On the Petition of the Consulate, v. A. compares the proverb "No man is a hero to his valet" and Hegel's explanation, "The reason is, not that the one is not a hero, but that the other is a valet."
5 Degrees of sovereign honor: B. has a different view in Novum Organum, i, 129: "The introduction of famous discoveries appears to hold by far the first place among human actions; and this was the judgment of the former ages. For to the authors of inventions they awarded divine honors; while to those who did good service in the state (such as founders of cities and empires, legislators, saviors of their country from long endured evils, quellers of tyrannies, and the like) they decreed no higher honors than heroic. And certainly if a man rightly compare the two, he will find that this judgment of antiquity was just. For the benefits of discoveries may extend to the whole race of man, civil benefits only to particular places; the latter last not beyond a few ages, the former through all time." Spedding's trans.
6 Cyrus: 559-529 B. c., founder of the Persian empire.
7 Ottoman: Osman or Othman, founder of the Turkish em pire; became chief of his tribe in 1288, emir in 1299; d. 1326.
8 Ismael: cf. Essay xliii, note 6.
9 Lycurgus: traditional author of the laws of Sparta; lived in the 9th century B. c.
10. Solon: cf. Essay xxix, note 8.
11 Justinian: emperor of the Byzantine empire 527-565, by whose command the body of Roman law was codified and annotated.
12 Eadgar: king of England 959-975; his quiet reign caused him to be called " the Peaceful."
13 Alphonsus: Alphonso X, king of Leon and Castile, 1252- 1282. The code called The Seven Parts forms the basis of Spanish jurisprudence.
14 Vespasianus: cf. Essay ii.note 8. He freed the empire from the civil wars subsequent to Nero's death.
15 Aurelianus: emperor of Rome 270-275; called by the senate the Restorer of the Roman Empire.
16 Theodoricus: 454-526, a celebrated king of the East Goths, famed among the later Germans as Dietrich von Bern, of whom many fabulous stories are told, e. g. that under his rule men were so honest that gold pieces could be left in the highway for a year and a day without being stolen.
17 Henry the Fourth: "king 1589-1610. Ended the Catholic- Protestant wars; in 1598 signed the edict of Nantes.
18 Scantling: measure.
19 Regulus: died about 250 B. c. A Roman general. Taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, he was sent by them to Rome to ask for peace or an exchange of prisoners, but
222 NOTES
NOTE
persuaded the Romans to refuse this and voluntarily re turned to prison.
20 Decii: the Romans Publius Decius Mus and his son of the same name sacrificed themselves to win a doubtful battle, in 340 B. c. and 295 B. c. Virgil mentions them in his Mneid, vi, 824.
LVI. OF JUDICATURE
1 Exposition of Scripture: the Catholic Church claims author ity based on Matthew xvi, 18, 19.
2 Cursed is he: Deuteronomy xxvii, 17.
3 Mere-stone: a boundary-stone. Has no connection with mere, "pool."
4 Saith Solomon: Proverbs xxv, 26.
5 There be: Amos v, 7.
6 By raising valleys: cf. Isaiah xl, 4.
7 Qui fortiter: Proverbs xxx, 33.
8 Pluet super eos: Psalms xi, 6.
9 A shower of snares: a favorite metaphor with B.
10 Judicis officium: Ovid, Sorrows, i, 1, 37.
11 Well-tuned cymbal: cf. Psalms cl, 5.
12 Length: Lat. " the prolixity of lawyers and witnesses."
13 That: Lat. quantum, " how much."
14 Represseth the presumptuous: another translation of Proverbs iii, 34.
15 Of by-ways: Lat. "of corruption, and of irregular access to the judges."
16 Chop with: Lat. obstrepat, "clamor against."
17 Scripture saith: Matthew vii, 16.
18 Quarrels of jurisdiction: then common by reason of the un settled condition of the law.
19 In weather: in storm.
20 Twelve Tables: promulgated in 451-450 B. c.; formed the chief basis of later Roman jurisprudence.
21 The spirits: the brain and nervous system.
22 Solomon's throne: cf. 1 Kings x, 18-20.
23 Do not check or oppose: note how far modern democracy has progressed from this idea; cf. the Declaration of Inde pendence.
24 Nos scunus: 1 Timothy i, 8.
LVII. OF ANGER
1 Bravery: Lat. ostentatio, "an ostentatious attempt.'
2 Be angry: Ephesians iv, 26.
3 Seneca saith well: On Anger, i, 1.
4 Scripture exhorteth: Luke xxi, 19.
5 Animasaue: Virgil, Georgics, iv, 238.
NOTES 223
NOTE
6 A kind of baseness: Lat. " a low thing, beneath the dignity of man."
7 Consalvo: Gonsalvo Hernandez de Cordova, a celebrated Spanish general (1443-1515), called "The Great Captain."
8 Aculeate: stinging.
9 Passion: Lat. "sudden excitement of the mind."
LVIII. OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS
1 Solomon saith : Ecclesiastes i, 9.
2 Plato: Phcedo, 72 E.
3 His sentence: Ecclesiastes i, 10, 11.
4 Lethe: forge tfulness. From this river the ghosts drank oblivion.
5 An abstruse astrologer: R. thinks this may be Telesius, whose On the Nature of Things, i, 10, bears some resemblance to this passage.
6 Phaeton's car: the Lat. amplifies: "The fable of Phaeton represented the shortness of a conflagration, lasting for only a day." Phaeton asked his father Helios (the sun) to be allowed to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens for one day. As he was too weak to guide the horses, they rushed out of the track and nearly set the earth on fire. Zeus then killed Phaeton with a thunderbolt. Bacor> got the idea from Plato's Timceus.
1 Three years' drought: 1 Kings xvii, xviii.
8 The West Indies: the New World in general.
9 Atlantis: Plato, Timceus 25 D.
10 Machiavel: Discourses, ii, 5, which probably suggested this Essay.
11 Gregory the Great: pope 590-604.
12 Sabinian: succeeded Gregory the Great as pope in 604; under him there was a revival of the earlier attachment to the ancient gods.
13 The former antiquities: the Lat. adds, "Then indeed things forbidden, even if covered with darkness, creep out and have their times."
14 Superior globe: the upper sphere, the heavens.
\5 Plato's great year: the time at the end of which all the heavenly bodies, having completed all their revolutions, return to the places they had at the beginning of the world. Cf. "As for the great year, spme say it compriseth eight years; others nineteen; and others again sixty want ing one. Heraclitus saith it consisteth of 80,000 solar years; Diogenes, of 365 years such as Heraclitus speaketh of; and others, of 7777." Plutarch, Morals, p. 676.
16 Influences: cf. Essay ix, note 2.
17 Heaven: the Lat. adds, "the season of the year; the path or course."
18 The rock: Arber's text has "a rock." Cf. Matthew xvi, 18.
224 NOTES
NOTE
19 May doubt: Lat. metuendum, " fear."
20 His law: the Koran. Cf. Essay xvi, note 3.
21 Arians: followers of Arius (256-336) who maintained re specting the Trinity that the Son is of a nature similar to but not the same as that of the Father and is subordinate to him; thus tending toward a denial of the divinity of Christ.
22 Arminians: followers of Jakoo Harmensen (1560-1609), who, protesting against the Calvinistic doctrine of pre destination, taught that God had predestined the salva tion or condemnation of individuals only after he saw who would accept and who would decline the mercy of Christ.
23 Persians: e. g. the invasion of Greece in 480 B. c.
24 Assyrians: under Sennacherib and Esarhaddon conquered Egypt (705-668 B. c.).
25 Arabians: conquered Spain in 711 and maintained sov ereignty over it in general till 1492.
26 Tartars: under Jenghis Khan conquered China and central Asia in 1206-1221.
27 Gallo-Grecia: Galatia, in Asia Minor, conquered by Gauls in 279 B. c.
28 Rome: invaded by the Gauls in 390 B. c.
29 In respect of the stars: this view was upheld by Roger Bacon in his Opus Majus (c. 1267).
30 Courages warmest: the Lat. adds: "as is seen in the people of Arauco, who, seated the farthest south, far excel all the Peruvians in courage." B. refers to the Araucanians in southern Chile.
81 Almaigne: Germany.
32 Charles: c. 742-814, king of the Franks from 768 on, and emperor of the Romans 800-814.
33 By lot: legend has it that in this way the early Anglian and Saxon emigrants to Britain were chosen.
34 Encourageth a war: Lat. " excites other nations to invade them."
35 Ordnance: Lat. tormenta senea, "brass ordnance."
36 Known: the Lat. adds "in the time of Alexander the Great."
37 Arietations: use of battering-rams.
38 His infancy: the gen. its had not come into general use.
39 Exhaust: the Lat. adds " the loquaciousness also remaining."
40 Philology: apparently Bacon means '• the history."
41 Circle of tales: Lat. "a certain mass of tales and useless observations."
LIX. OF FAME
First printed by Rawley in 1657. 1 They say: a free translation follows of Virgil, jEneid, iv, 173-
188.
NOTES 225
NOTE
2 Mucianus: Tacitus, History, ii, 80.
3 Julius Caesar: Plutarch, Lives, v, 31, 32.
4 Livia: Tacitus, Annals, i, 5. Cf. Essay vi, p. 18, 1. 6.
5 Themistocles: Plutarch, Lives, i, 300, 301. It happened after the battle of Salamis in 480 B. c.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE ESSAYS
There are three kinds of study which the high-school student may devote to the Essays. To make his study profitable in the highest degree, and to appreciate the Essays most fully, he should give some attention to each of these kinds.
I. LINGUISTIC, a. Note the proportion of native English words to those of Latin origin and to those of French origin. Is B. fond of words of Latin or Greek origin?
6. Does B. often use words now obsolete, or in senses not now common or intelligible, e. g. leese, compound (Essay Iv, p. 164, 1. 2 f. b.), Almaigne, graze (Essay xlv, p. 139, 1. 14 f. b.), glorious (Essay xlviii, p. 15, 1. 3 f. b.)? Does he make frequent use of scientific terms?
c. How far does B. differ from modern standard usage in his inflections, eaj2£ciaUy_jo£jcexbs? How does his usage com pare with tEat of the King James Bible? Is he careful in using the subjunctive mode?
d. Ara B.'s sentences modern in structure? In what respects do they strike us as strange or old-fashioned? Is he fond
*of balance? Of periodic sentences? How many obsolete constructions do we find, e. g. there be some have (Essay xlii, p. 133, 1. 19), so as for so that ? How do his sentences compare in structure with those of the Bible, and of Shakespeare's prose?
II. RHETORICAL, a. The structure of the Essays will be much better understood if either an outline or an abstract is made of each one. The outlines or briefs may be made more or less elaborate as time permits, but should in variably be done with care. The abstracts should be as con cise as possible.
6. Ar^thaJEs^ay^truc^msllZjJear? Are the general divisions well marked? Are transitions easily made? At what points does certainly occur, and are there any Essays in which it does not occur? Which Essays seem to have been most carefully planned? Which Essays are formally in troduced? In which is there a formal conclusion? Does B. conform to the modern canons of unity, sequence, , coherence?
/ c. How much narrative, description, argument does B mingle with his exposition? Are any Essays arguments?
d. In what respects do the Essays differ from modern essays, e. g. those of Addison, Macaulay, Carlyle, Stevenson? Are these differences to be accounted for by the author's
, different purpose?
e. What is B.'s attitude toward his reader? Does he address
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 227
or ignore the reader? Does he speak as one having authority, or timidly?
/. Is B. too fond of quotations from foreign languages? For what class of people was he writing? Could he depend upon being usually understood? Does he quote the Bible oftener in Latin than in English? Does he introduce quotations in foreign languages for ornament or for clearer statement?
7. What adjectives may most appropriately be applied to B.'s style? Is he ever diffuse? When is he most concise? When, if ever, does he make use of poetic diction? How often does he use figures and what figures does he prefer? When dogs he use the longggt_and when the shortest sen tences? Does he" ever use a transposed order of words, and for what purpose?
III. LITERARY, a. One of the most profitable of studies is that of the Essays as illustrating B.'s life and times. Essays xi and xxxvi are wonderfully interesting in connection with B.'s struggle for preferment. How does Essay Ivi har monize with B.'s practice as a judge ? How does Essay xxxiii illustrate the designs of the colonizers of America? These are questions such as may arise in connection with almost every Essay. Think of the collection as "a human document." Classify B.'s subjects.
6. Ethical standards. How do B.'s ideas of conduct compare with those of our day? Does he allow practices, e. g. telling untruths, that we condemn? Judged by present-day stand ards, are his ideals of life high? Do religious considera tions ever influence his conduct or his precepts?
c. The extent of B.'s reading. Not much can be done by the high-school pupil in the study of this topic; but he can note the variety of authors from whom B. got his ideas. Does B. often distort in quoting? Has the Bible much influenced him?
d. Allusions. A fuller study of B.'s allusions, especially to classical myths, than is possible from the Notes, will be worth while. See the classical dictionaries of Smith, Harper, Seyffert, and Gayley's Classic Myths in English Literature, Boston, 1893.
e. B.'s humor. Had he a sense of humor, and how often does it show itself? How does his humor compare with that of Shakespeare?
/. Closely connected with (e) is the general question of B.'s temperament as illustrated in the Essays. What sort of man does he seem to have been, bold or cautious, frank or sly, good-natured or crabbed, an optimist or a pessimist? Could he have written any of Shakespeare's plays with which you are familiar?
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