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HANDBOUND
AT THE

SIR FRANCIS BACON

A LIBRARY OF
UNIVERSAL LITERATURE

IN F O U R PAR T S

Comprising Science, Biography, Fiction
and the Great Orations

PART ONE— SCIENCE

Advancement of Learning

,ORD B

'St.' K

LORD BACON

Edited by JOSEPH DEVEY, M.A.

NEW YORK

P. F. COLLIER AND SON

M C M I •

PRESS OF
P. F. COLLIER &SON

A LIBRARY OF
UNIVERSAL LITERATURE

SCIENCE

VOLUME TWENTY-ONE

BOARD OF EDITORS

SCIENCE

ANGELO HEILPRIN, author of "The Earth and Its Story," etc.;

Curator Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
JOSEPH TORRE Y, JR., Ph.D., Instructor in Chemistry in Harvard

University.
RAY STANNARD BAKER, A.B., author of "The New Prosperity,"

etc.; Associate Editor of McClure's Magazine.

BIOGRAPHY

MAYO W. HAZELTINE, A.M., author of "Chats About Books," etc.;

Literary Editor of the New York Sun.
JULIAN HAWTHORNE, author of "Nathaniel Hawthorne and His

Wife," "History of the United States," etc.
CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, A.B., A.M., author of "A History of

Canada"; late Professor of English and French Literature,

King's College.

FICTION

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD, author of "The King's Bell," etc.;

Literary Editor of the New York Mail and Express.
HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D., author of "Little Rivers," etc.;

Professor of English Literature at Princeton University.
THOMAS NELSON PAGE, LL.D., Litt.D., author of "Red Rock," etc.

ORATIONS

HON. HENRY CABOT LODGE, A.B., LL.B., author of "Life of Daniel
Webster," etc.; U. S. Senator from Massachusetts.

HON. JOHN R. PROCTOR, President U. S. Civil Service Commission.

MORRIS HICKEY MORGAN, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor in Latin, Har
vard University.

FRANCIS BACON

FRANCIS BACON, one of the greatest names in English
history, was born in London, January 22, 1561. He was
the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, who for twenty
years had held the seals as Lord Keeper. His mother was
a daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, and one of her sisters
was married to the famous Lord Treasurer, Burghley,
ancestor of the present Marquis of Salisbury. In 1573 he
entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and resided there three
years, after which he travelled for the same length of time
upon the Continent. On the death of his father in 1579 he
returned to England and began his life in comparative
poverty. In 1582 he was admitted to the bar, and two
years later secured a seat in Parliament. His advancement
was slow, but he ultimately became King's Counsel, and
in 1607 was made Solicitor-General. Six years later he
became Attorney-General and in 1617 obtained the Great
Seal with the title of Lord Keeper. In the following year
he received the higher title of Lord Chancellor, and was
made Baron Verulam; in 1621 he was created Yiscount St.
Albans. It is well known that in the last-named year, he
was tried for bribery and corruption, and was sentenced
to fine and imprisonment. We are not here directly con
cerned with Bacon's career as a lawyer, politician, courtier
and man of letters, and consequently pass at once to his
place in science and philosophy. Of his many scientific

(5)

6 FRANCIS BACON

and philosophical treatises it is generally conceded that
"The Advancement of Learning" and the "Novum Or-
ganum" are the most valuable, and we have, accordingly,
selected them for reproduction. There is no doubt that
JBacon, the first great teacher of the inductive method in
Imodern times, shares with Descartes the honor of inau-
fgurating modern philosophy. This position Bacon owes
not only to the general spirit of his philosophy but to
the manner in which he worked into a connected system
the new mode of thinking, and to the incomparable power
and eloquence with which he expounded and enforced it.
Like all epoch-making works, the "Novum Organum" gave
expression to ideas which were already beginning to be in
the air. The time was ripe for a great change. Scholasti
cism, long decaying, had begun to fall; while here and
there a few devoted experimenters were turning with fresh
zeal to the unwithered face of nature. The fruitful thoughts
which lay under and gave rise to these scattered efforts of
the human mind, were gathered up into unity and reduced
to system in the new philosophy of Bacon. A long line of
thinkers have drawn inspiration from him, and it is not
without justice that he has been looked upon as the origi
nator and guiding spirit of that empirical school which
numbers among its adherents such names as Hobbes, Locke,
Hume, Hartley, Mill, Condillac and the Encyclopedists.

PREFACE

LORD BACON can only be said to have carried the first
three parts of his "Instauratio Magna" to any degree of
perfection. Of these the "Sylva Sylvarum" is but a dry
catalogue of natural phenomena, the collection of which,
however necessary it might be, Bacon viewed as a sort of
mechanical labor, and would never have stooped to the
task, had not the field been abandoned by the generality
of philosophers, as unworthy of them. The two other por
tions of the "Instauratio Magna," which these volumes con
tain, unfold the design of his philosophy, and exhibit all
the peculiarities of his extraordinary mind, enshrined in the
finest passages of his writings.

Of the "De Augmentis, " though one of the greatest
books of modern times, only three translations have ap
peared, and each of these strikingly imperfect. That of
Wats, issued while Bacon was living, is singularly dis
figured with solecisms, and called forth the just censures
of Bacon and his friends. The version of Eustace Gary is
no less unfortunate, owing to its poverty of diction, and
antiquated phraseology. Under the public sense of these
failures, another translation was produced about sixty years
jo by Dr. Shaw, which might have merited approbation,

8 PREFACE

had not the learned physician been impressed with the idea
that he could improve Bacon by relieving his work of some
of its choicest passages, and entirely altering the arrange
ment. In the present version, our task has been principally
to rectify Shaw's mistakes, by restoring the author's own
arrangement, and supplying the omitted portions. Such of
Shaw's notes as were deemed of value have been retained,
and others added where the text seemed to require illustra
tion. Due care also has been taken to point out the sources
whence Bacon drew his extraordinary stores of learning,
by furnishing authorities for the quotations and allusions
in the text, so that the reader may view at a glance the
principal authors whom Bacon loved to consult, and whose
agency contributed to the formation of his colossal powers.
The version of the "Novurn Organ um" contained in
this set is that by Wood, which is the best extant. The
present edition of this immortal work has been enriched
with an ample commentary, in which the remarks of the
two Playfairs, Sir John Herschel, and the German and
French editors, have been diligently consulted, that noth
ing may be wanting to render it as perfect as possible.

J. D.

FRANCIS OF VERULAM'S

GREAT INSTAURATION

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE AUTHOR

FRANCIS OF VERULAM THOUGHT THUS, AND SUCH IS THE METHOD WHICH

HE DETERMINED WITHIN HIMSELF, AND WHICH HE THOUGHT IT

CONCERNED THE LIVING AND POSTERITY TO KNOW

BEING convinced, by a careful observation, that the
human understanding perplexes itself, or makes not a sober
and advantageous use of the real helps within its reach,
whence manifold ignorance and inconveniences arise, he
was determined to employ his utmost endeavors toward
restoring or cultivating a just and legitimate familiarity
between the mind and things.

But as the mind, hastily and without choice, imbibes
and treasures up the first notices of things, from whence
all the rest proceed, errors must forever prevail, and remain
uncorrected, either by the natural powers of the understand
ing or the assistance of logic; for the original notions being
vitiated, confused, and inconsiderately taken from things,
and the secondary ones formed no less rashly, human
knowledge itself, the thing employed in all our researches,
is not well put together nor justly formed, but resembles a
magnificent structure that has no foundation.

And while men agree to admire and magnify the false

powers of the mind, and neglect or destroy those that

:^Kt be rendered true, there is no other course left but

«>)

10 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

with better assistance to begin the work anew, and raise or
rebuild the sciences, arts, and all human knowledge from
a firm and solid basis.

This may at first seem an infinite scheme, unequal to
human abilities, yet it will be found more sound and judi
cious than the course hitherto pursued, as tending to some
issue ; whereas all hitherto done with regard to the sciences
is vertiginous, or in the way of perpetual rotation.

Nor is he ignorant that he stands alone in an experiment
almost too bold and astonishing to obtain credit, yet he
thought it not right to desert either the cause or himself,
but to boldly enter on the way and explore the only path
which is pervious to the human mind. For it is wiser to
engage in an undertaking that admits of some termination,
than to involve one's self in perpetual exertion and anxiety
about what is interminable. The ways of contemplation,
indeed, nearly correspond to two roads in nature, one of
which, steep and rugged at the commencement, terminates
in a plain; the other, at first view smooth and easy, leads
only to huge rocks and precipices. Uncertain, however,
whether these reflections would occur to another, and ob
serving that he had never met any person disposed to apply
his mind to similar thoughts, he determined to publish
whatsoever he found time to perfect. Nor is this the haste
of ambition, but anxiety, that if he should die there might
remain behind him some outline and determination of the
matter his mind had embraced, as well as some mark of his
sincere and earnest affection to promote the happiness 01
mankind.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

Of the state of learning — That it is neither prosperous nor greatly advanced,
and that a way must be opened to the human understanding entirely distinct
from that known to our predecessors, and different aids procured, that the
mind may exercise her power over the nature of things

IT APPEARS to me that men know neither their acquire
ments nor their powers, but fancy their possessions greater
and their faculties less than they are; whence, either valuing
the received arts above measure, they look out no further;
or else despising themselves too much, they exercise their
talents upon lighter matters, without attempting the capital
things of all. And hence the sciences seem to have their
Hercules' Pillars, which bound the desires and hopes of
mankind.

But as a false imagination of plenty is among the principal
causes of want, and as too great a confidence in things pres
ent leads to a neglect of the future, it is necessary we should
here admonish mankind that they do not too highly value
or extol either the number or usefulness of the things hith
erto discovered; for, by closely inspecting the multiplicity
of books upon arts and sciences, we find them to contain
numberless repetitions of the same things in point of in
vention, but differing indeed as to the manner of treat
ment; so that the real discoveries, though at the first view
they may appear numerous, prove upon examination but
few. And as to the point of usefulness, the philosophy
we principally received from the Greeks must be acknowl
edged puerile, or rather talkative than generative — as being
fruitful in controversies, but barren of effects.

The fable of Scylla seems a civil representation of the
present condition of knowledge; for she exhibited the coun-

12 THE GREAT 1NSTAURATION

tenance and expression of a virgin, while barking monsters
encircled her womb. Even thus the sciences have their
specious and plausible generalities; but when we descend
to particulars, which, like the organs of generation, should
produce fruits and effects, then spring up loud altercations
and controversies, which terminate in barren sterility. And
had this not been a lifeless kind of philosophy, it were scarce
possible it should have made so little progress in so many
ages, insomuch, that not only positions now frequently re
main positions still, but questions remain questions, rather
riveted and cherished than determined by disputes; philos
ophy thus coming down to us in the persons of master and
scholar, instead of inventor and improver. In the mechanic
arts the case is otherwise — these commonly advancing to
ward perfection in a course of daily improvement, from a
rough unpolished state, sometimes prejudicial to the first
inventors, while philosophy and the intellectual sciences
are, like statues, celebrated and adored, but never ad-
^vanced; "nay, they sometimes appear most perfect in the
original author, and afterward degenerate. For since men
have gone over in crowds to the opinion of their leader,
like those silent senators of Eome,1 they add nothing to
the extent of learning themselves, but perform the servile
duty of waiting upon particular authors, and repeating
their doctrines.

It is a fatal mistake to suppose that the sciences have
gradually arrived at a state of perfection, and then been
recorded by some one writer or other; and that as nothing
better can afterward be invented, men need but cultivate
and set off what is thus discovered and completed; where
as, in reality, this registering of the sciences proceeds only
from the assurance of a few and the sloth and ignorance
of many. For after the sciences might thus perhaps in
several parts be carefully cultivated; a man of an enter
prising genius rising up, who, by the conciseness of his

1 Pedarii senatores.

AUTHORS PREFACE 13

method, renders himself acceptable and famous, he in ap
pearance erects an art, but in reality corrupts the labors of
his predecessors. This, however, is usually well received
by posterity, as readily gratifying their curiosity, and in
dulging their indolence. But he that rests upon estab
lished consent as the judgment approved by time, trusts to
a very fallacious and weak foundation; for we have but an
imperfect knowledge of the discoveries in arts and sciences,
made public in different ages and countries, and still less of
what has been done by particular persons, and transacted in
private ; so that neither the births nor miscarriages of time
are to be found in our records.

Nor is consent, or the continuance thereof, a thing of
any account, for however governments may vary, there is
but one state of the sciences, and that will forever be demo-
cratical or popular. But the doctrines in greatest vogue
among the people, are either the contentious and quarrel
some, or the showy and empty; that is, such as may either
entrap the assent, or lull the mind to rest; whence, of
course, the greatest geniuses in all ages have suffered
violence; while out of regard to their own character they
submitted to the judgment of the times, and the populace.
And thus when any more sublime speculations happened to
appear, they were commonly tossed and extinguished by the
breath of popular opinion. Hence time, like a river, has
brought down to us what is light and tumid, but sunk what
was ponderous and solid. As to those who have set up for
teachers of the sciences, when they drop their character, and
at intervals speak their sentiments, they complain of the
subtilty of nature, the concealment of truth, the obscurity
of things, the entanglement of causes, and the imperfections
of the human understanding; thus rather choosing to ac
cuse the common state of men and things, than make con
fession of themselves. It is also frequent with them to
adjudge that impossible in an art, which they find that art
does not affect; by which means they screen indolence and
ignorance from the reproach they merit. The knowledge

14 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

delivered down to us is barren in effects, fruitful in ques
tions, slow and languid in improvement, exhibiting in its
generalities the counterfeits of perfection, but meagre in
its details, popular in its aim, but suspected by its very
promoters, and therefore defended and propagated by ar
tifice and chicanery. And. even those who by experience
propose to enlarge the bounds of the sciences, scarce ever
entirely quit the received opinions, and go to the fountain-
head, but think it enough to add somewhat of their own;
as prudentially considering, that at the time they show
their modesty in assenting, they may have a liberty of add
ing. But while this regard is shown to opinions and moral
considerations, the sciences are greatly hurt by such a lan
guid procedure; for it is scarce possible at once to admire
and excel an author; as water rises no higher than the res
ervoir it falls from. Such men, therefore, though they im
prove some things, yet advance the sciences but little, or
rather amend than enlarge them.

There have been also bolder spirits, and greater gen
iuses, who thought themselves at liberty to overturn and
destroy the ancient doctrine, and make way for themselves
and their opinions; but without any great advantage from
the disturbance; as they did not effectively enlarge philos
ophy and arts by practical works, but only endeavored to
substitute new dogmas, and to transfer the empire of opin
ion to themselves, with but small advantage; for opposite
errors proceed mostly from common causes.

As for those who, neither wedded to their own nor
others' opinions, but continuing friends to liberty, made
use of assistance in their inquiries, the success they met
with did not answer expectation, the attempt, though
laudable, being but feeble; for pursuing only the prob
able reasons of things, they were carried about in a circle
of arguments, and taking a promiscuous liberty, preserved
not the rigor of true inquirers; while none of them duly
conversed with experience and things themselves. Others
again, who commit themselves to mechanical experience,

AUTHORS PREFACE 15

yet make their experiments at random, without any method
of inquiry. And the greatest part of these have no consid
erable views, but esteem it a great matter if they can make
a single discovery; which is both a trifling and unskilful
procedure, as no one can justly or successfully discover
the nature of any one thing in that thing itself, or without
numerous experiments which lead to further inquiries. And
we must not omit to observe that all the industry displayed
in experiment has beea directed by too indiscreet a zeal at
some prejudged effect, seeking those which produced fruit
rather than knowledge, in opposition to the Divine method,
which on the first day created time alone, delaying its ma
terial creations until the sun had illumined space.

Lastly, those who recommend logic as the best and surest
instrument for improving the sciences, very justly observe,
that the understanding, left to itself, ought always to be
suspected. But here the remedy is neither equal to the
disease, nor approved; for though the logic in use maybe
properly applied in civil affairs, and the arts that are
founded in discourse and opinion, yet it by no means
reaches the subtilty of nature; and by catching at what
it cannot hold, rather serves to establish errors and fix
them deeper than open the way of truth.2

Upon the whole, men do not hitherto appear to be hap
pily inclined and fitted for the sciences, either by their own
industry, or the authority of authors, especially as there is
little dependence to be had upon the common demonstra
tions and experiments; while the structure of the universe
renders it a labyrinth to the understanding; where the paths
are not only everywhere doubtful, but the appearances of
things and their signs deceitful; and the wreaths and knots
•of nature intricately turned and twisted;3 through all which

2 For exemplifications of these opinions, the reader may consult Morhof's
"Polyhistor.," and the other writers upon polymathy and literary history. —
Shaio.

8 By wreaths and knots, is understood the apparent complication of causes,
and the superaddition of properties not essential to things ; as light to heat, yel
lowness to gold, pellucidity to glass, etc. — Ib.

16 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

we are only to be conducted by the uncertain light of the
senses that sometimes shines, and sometimes hides its head;
and by collections of experiments and particular facts, in
which no guides can be trusted, as wanting direction them
selves, and adding to the errors of the rest. In this melan
choly state of things, one might be apt to despair both of
the understanding left to itself, and of all fortuitous helps;
as of a state irremediable by the utmost efforts of the hu
man genius, or the often-repeated chance of trial. The
only clew and method is to begin all anew, and direct our
steps in a certain order, from the very first perceptions of,
the senses. Yet I must not be understood to say that noth
ing has been done in former ages, for the ancients have
shown themselves worthy of admiration in everything
which concerned either wit or abstract reflection; but, as
in former ages, when men at sea, directing their course
solely by the observation of the stars, might coast along
the shores of the continent, but could not trust themselves
to the wide ocean, or discover new worlds, until the use of
the compass was known; even so the present discoveries re
ferring to matters immediately under the jurisdiction of the
senses, are such as might easily result from experience and
discussion; but before we can enter the remote and hidden
parts of nature, it is requisite that a better and more perfect
application of the human mind should be introduced. This,
however, is not to be understood as if nothing had been ef
fected by the immense labors of so many past ages ; as the
j ancients have performed surprisingly in subjects that re-
I quired abstract meditation, and force of genius. But as
navigation was imperfect before the use of the compass,
so will many secrets of nature and art remain undiscov
ered, without a more perfect knowledge of the under-
stanciing, its uses, and ways of working.

For our own part, from an earnest desire of truth, we
have committed ourselves to doubtful, difficult, and solitary
ways; and, relying on the Divine assistance, have supported
our minds against the vehemence of opinions., our own in-

AUTHORS PREFACE 17

ternal doubts and scruples, and the darkness and fantastic
images of the mind; that at length we might make more
sure and certain discoveries for the benefit of posterity.
And if we shall have effected anything to the purpose,
what led us to it was a true and genuine humiliation of
mind. Those who before us applied themselves to the dis
covery of arts, having just glanced upon things, examples,
and experiments; immediately, as if invention was but a
kind of contemplation, raised up their own spirits to deliver
oracles: whereas our method is continually to dwell among
things soberly, without abstracting or setting the under
standing further from them than makes their images meet;
which leaves but little work for genius and mental abilities.
And the same humility that we practice in learning, the
same we also observe in teaching, without endeavoring to
stamp a dignity on any of our inventions, by the triumphs
of confutation, the citations of antiquity, the producing of
authorities, or the mask of obscurity; as any one might
do, who had rather give lustre to his own name, than light
to the minds of others. We offer no violence, and spread
no nets for the judgments of men, but lead them on to
things themselves, and their relations; that they may view
their own stores, what they have to reason about, and what
they may add, or procure, for the common good. And if
at any time ourselves have erred, mistook, or broke off too
soon, yet as we only propose to exhibit things naked, and
open, as they are, our errors may be the readier observed,
and separated, before they considerably infect the mass of
knowledge; and our labors be the more easily continued.
And thus we hope to establish forever a true and legitimate
union between the experimental and rational faculty, whose
fallen and inauspicious divorces and repudiations have dis
turbed everything in the family of mankind.

But as these great things are not at our disposal, we
here, at the entrance of our work, with the utmost humility
and fervency, put forth our prayers to God, that remember
ing the miseries of mankind, and the pilgrimage of this life,

18 THE GREAT INSTALLATION

where we pass but few days and sorrowful, he would vouch
safe through our hands, and the hands of others, to whom
he has given the like mind, to relieve the human race by
a new act of his bounty. We likewise humbly beseech him
that what is human may not clash with what is divine; and
that when the ways of the senses are opened, and a greater
natural light set up in the mind, nothing of incredulity
and blindness toward divine mysteries may arise; but
rather that the understanding, now cleared up, and purged
of all vanity and superstition, may remain entirely subject
to the divine oracles, and yield to faith, the things that are
faith's: and lastly, that expelling the poisonous knowledge
infused by the serpent, which puffs up and swells the human
mind, we may neither be wise above measure, nor go beyond
the bounds of sobriety, but pursue the truth in charity.

We now turn ourselves to men, with a few wholesome
admonitions and just requests. And first, we admonish
them to continue in a sense of their duty, as to divine
matters; for the senses are like the sun, which displays the
face of the earth, but shuts up that of the heavens: and
again, that they run not into the contrary extreme, which
they certainly will do, if they think an inquiry into nature
any way forbid them by religion. It was not that pure and
unspotted natural knowledge whereby Adam gave names to
things, agreeable to their natures, which caused his fall;
but an ambitious and authoritative desire of moral knowl
edge, to judge of good and evil, which makes men revolt
from God, and obey no laws but those of their own will.
But for the sciences, which contemplate nature, the sacred
philosopher declares, "It is the glory of God to conceal a
} thing, but the glory of a king to find it out."4 As if the
( Divine Being thus indulgently condescended to exercise
; the human mind by philosophical inquiries.

In the next place, we advise all mankind to think of the
true ends of knowledge, and that they endeavor not after

4 Prov. xxv. 2.

AUTHORS PREFACE 19

it for curiosity, contention, or the sake of despising others,
nor yet for profit, reputation, power, or any such inferior
consideration, but solely for the occasions and uses of life;
all along conducting and perfecting it in the spirit of be
nevolence. Our requests are — 1. That men do not con
ceive we here deliver an opinion, but a work; and assure
themselves we attempt not to found any sect or particular
doctrine, but to fix an extensive basis for the service of
human nature. 2. That, for their own sakes, they lay aside
the zeal and prejudices of opinions, and endeavor the com
mon good; and that being, by our assistance, freed and
kept clear from the errors and hindrances of the way, they
would themselves also take part of the task. 3. That they
do not despair, as imagining our project for a grand restora
tion, or advancement of all kinds of knowledge, infinitely
beyond the power of mortals to execute; while in reality,
it is the genuine stop and prevention of infinite error.
Indeed, as our state is mortal, and human, a full accom
plishment cannot be expected in a single age, and must
therefore be commended to posterity. Nor could we hope
to succeed, if we arrogantly searched for the sciences in the
narrow cells of the human understanding, and not submis
sively in the wider world. 4. In the last place, to prevent
ill effects from contention, we desire mankind to consider
how far they have a right to judge our performance, upon
the foundations here laid down: for we reject all that
knowledge which is too hastily abstracted from things,
as vague, disorderly, and ill-formed; and we cannot be
expected to abide by a judgment which is itself called
in question.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK

IN SIX PARTS

1. Survey and Extension of the Sciences; or, the Advancement of Learning.

2. Novum Organum ; or, Precepts for the Interpretation of Nature.

3. Phenomena of the Universe; or, Natural and Experimental History, on which

to found Philosophy.

4. Ladder of the Understanding.

5. Precursors, or Anticipators, of the Second Philosophy.

6. Second Philosophy ; or, Active Science.

WE DIVIDE the whole of the work into six parts: the
first whereof gives the substance, or general description of
the knowledge which mankind at present possess; choosing
to dwell a little upon things already received, that we may
the easier perfect the old, and lead on to new; being equally
inclined to cultivate the discoveries of antiquity, as to strike
out fresh paths of science. In classing the sciences, we
comprehend not only the things already invented and
known, but also those omitted and wanted; for the intel
lectual globe, as well as the terrestrial, has both its frosts
and deserts. It is therefore no wonder if we sometimes
depart from the common divisions. For an addition, while
it alters the whole, must necessarily alter the parts and their
sections; whereas the received divisions are only fitted to
the received sum of the sciences, as it now stands. With
regard to the things we shall note as defective; it will be
our method to give more than the bare titles, or short beads
of what we desire to have done; with particular care, where
the dignity or difficulty of the subject requires it, either
to lay down the rules for effecting the work, or make an
attempt of our own, by way of example, or pattern, of the
whole. For it concerns our own character, no less than
the advantage of others, to know that a mere capricious
idea has not presented the subject to our mind, and that
all we desire and aim at is a wish. For our designs are
(20)

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK 21

within the power of all to compass, and we ourselves have
certain and evident demonstrations of their utility. We
come not hither, as augurs, to measure out regions in our
mind by divination, but like generals, to invade them for
conquest. And this is the first part of the work.

When we have gone through the ancient arts, we shall
prepare the human understanding for pressing on beyond
them. The second object of the work embraces the doc
trine of a more perfect use of reason, and the true helps of
the intellectual faculties, so as to raise and enlarge the
powers of the mind ; and, as far as the condition of human
ity allows, to fit it to conquer the difficulties and obscurities
of nature. The thing we mean, is a kind of logic, by us
called The Art of interpreting Nature; as differing widely
from the common logic, which, however, pretends to assist
and direct the understanding, and in that they agree: but the
difference between them consists in three things, viz., the end,
the order of demonstrating, and the grounds of inquiry.

The end of our new logic is to find, not arguments, but
arts; not what agrees with principles, but principles them
selves: not probable reasons, but plans and designs of
works — a different intention producing a different effect.
In one the adversary is conquered by dispute, and in the
other nature by works. The nature and order of the dem
onstrations agree with this object. For in common logic,
almost our whole labor is spent upon the syllogism. Logi
cians hitherto appear scarcely to have noticed induction,
passing it over with some slight comment. But we reject
the syllogistic method as being too confused, and allowing
nature to escape out of our hands. For though nobody can
doubt that those things which agree with the middle term
agree with each other, nevertheless, there is this source of
error, that a syllogism consists of propositions, propositions
of words, and words are but the tokens and signs of things.
Now, if the first notions, which are, as it were, the soul
of words, and the basis of every philosophical fabric, are
hastily abstracted from things, and vague and not clearly

22 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

defined and limited, the whole structure falls to the ground.
We therefore reject the syllogism, and that not only as re
gards first principles, to which logicians do not apply them,
but also with respect to intermediate propositions, which
the syllogism contrives to manage in such a way as to
render barren in effect, unfit for practice, and clearly un-
suited to the active branch of the sciences. Nevertheless,
we would leave to the syllogism, and such celebrated and
applauded demonstrations, their jurisdiction over popular
and speculative acts; while, in everything relating to the
nature of things, we make use of induction for both our
major and minor propositions; for we consider induction
as that form of demonstration which closes in upon nature
and presses on, and, as it were, mixes itself with action.
Whence the common order of demonstrating is absolutely
inverted; for instead of flying immediately from the senses,
and particulars, to generals, as to certain fixed poles, about
which disputes always turn, and deriving others from these
by intermediates, in a short, indeed, but precipitate manner,
fit for controversy, but unfit to close with nature; we con
tinually raise up propositions by degrees, and in the last
place, come to the most general axioms, which are not
notional, but well defined, and what nature allows of, as
entering into the very essence of things.1

1 This passage, though tersely and energetically expressed, is founded upon
a misconception of deduction, or, as Bacon phrases it, syllogistic reasoning, and
its relation to induction. The two processes are only reverse methods of infer
ences, the one concluding from a general to a particular, and the other from
a particular to a general, and both schemata are resolvable into propositions,
and propositions into words, which, as he says, are but the tokens and signa
of things. Now if these first notions, which are as it were the soul of words
&nd trie basis of every philosophic fabric, be hastily abstracted from things, and
vague and not clearly defined and limited, the whole structure, whether erected
by induction or deduction, or both, as is most frequently the case, must fall to
the ground. The error, therefore, does not lie in the deductive mode of proof,
without which physical science could never advance beyond its empirical stage,
but in clothing this method in the vulgar language of the day, and reasoning
upon its terms as if they pointed at some fact or antithesis in nature, instead of
previously testing the accuracy of such expressions by experiment and observa
tion. As such notions are more general than the* individual cases out of wliich
they arise, it follows that this inquiry must be made through the medium of
induction, and the essential merit of Bacon lies in framing a system of rules
by wliich this ascending scale of inference may be secured from error. As the

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK 23

But the more difficult part of our task consists in the
form of induction, and the judgment to be made by it; for
that form of the logicians which proceeds by simple enu
meration, is a childish thing, concludes unsafely, lies open
to contradictory instances, and regards only common mat
ters, yet determines nothing: while the sciences require
such a form of induction, as can separate, adjust, and verify
experience, and come to a necessary determination by proper
exclusions and rejections.

Nor is this all; for we likewise lay the foundations of
the sciences stronger and closer, and begin our inquiries
deeper than men have hitherto done, bringing those things
to the test which the common logic has taken upon trust.
The logicians borrow the principles of the sciences from
the sciences themselves, venerate the first notions of the
mind, and acquiesce in the immediate informations of the
senses, when rightly disposed; but we judge, that a real
logic should enter every province of the sciences with
a greater authority than their own principles can give; and
that such supposed principles should be examined, till they
become absolutely clear and certain. As for first notions of
the mind, we suspect all those that the understanding, left
to itself, procures; nor ever allow them till approved and
authorized by a second judgment. And with respect to the
informations of the senses, we have many ways of examin
ing them; for the senses are fallacious, though they discover
their own errors; but these lie near, while the means of dis
covery are remote.

The senses are faulty in two respects, as they either fail

neglect of this important preliminary to scientific investigation vitiated all the
Aristotelian physics, and kept the human mind stationary for two thousand
years, hardly too much praise can be conferred upon the philosopher who not
only pointed out the gap but supplied the materials for its obliteration. The
ardency of his nature, however, urged him to extremes, and he confounded
the accuracy of the deductive method with the straw and stubble on which it
attempted to erect a system of physics. In censuring intermediate proposi
tions, Bacon appears to have been unaware that he was condemning the only
forms through which reason or inference can manifest itself, and lecturing man
kind on the futility of an instrument which he was employing in every page
of his book. — Ed.

24 THE ORE AT INSTAURATION

or deceive us. For there are many things that escape the
senses, though ever so rightly disposed; as by the subtilty
of the whole body, or the minuteness of its parts; the dis
tance of place; the slowness or velocity of motion; the com
monness of the object, etc. Neither do the senses, when
they lay hold of a thing, retain it strongly; for evidence,
and the informations of sense, are in proportion to a man,
and not in proportion to the universe.3 And it is a grand
error to assert that sense is the measure of things.3

To remedy this, we have from all quarters brought to
gether, and fitted helps for the senses; and that rather by
experiments than by instruments; apt experiments being
much more subtile than the senses themselves, though as
sisted with the most finished instruments. We, therefore,
lay no great stress upon the immediate and natural percep-

2 Bacon held, that every perception is nothing more than the consciousness
of some body acting either interiorly or from without upon that portion if the
frame which is the point of contact. Hence all the knowledge we have of
the material world arises from the movements which it generates in our senses.
These sensations simply inform us that a wide class of objects exist independent
of ourselves, which affect us in a certain manner, and do not convey into our
minds the real properties of such objects so much as the effects of the relation
in which they stand to our senses. Human knowledge thus becomes relative;

, and that which we call the relation of objects to one another is nothing more
than the relation which they have to our organization. Hence as these rela
tions of objects, either internal or exterior to the mind, vary, sensations must
vary along with them, and produce, even in the same individual, a crowd of im
pressions either conflicting or in some measure opposed to each other. So far
as these feelings concern morals, it is the business of ethics to bring them under
the influence of reason, and, selecting out of them such as are calculated to dig
nify and elevate man's nature, to impart to them a trenchant and permanent
character. As respects that portion which flow in upon the mind from the in
ternal world, it is the peculiar province of induction as reformed by our author,
to separate such as are illusory from the real, and to construct out of the latter
a series of axioms, expressing in hierarchical gradation the general system of
laws by which the universe is governed. — Ed.

3 The doctrine of the last two paragraphs may appear contradictory to the
opinion of some philosophers, who maintain the infallibility of the senses, as
well as of reason ; but the dispute perhaps turns rather upon words than things.
Father Malebranche is express, that the senses never deceive us, yet as express
that they should never be trusted, without being verified; charging the errors
arising in this case upon human liberty, which makes a wrong choice. See
"Recherche de la Verite," liv. i. chaps. 5-8. The difference may arise only
from considering the senses in two different lights, viz., physically, or according
to common use; and metaphysically, or abstractedly. The "Novum Organum"
clears the whole. See also Marin Mersenus, "De la Verit£ des Sciences.'' — Ed.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK 25

tions of the senses, but desire the senses to judge only of
experiments, and experiments to judge of things: on which
foundation, we hope to be patrons of the senses, and inter
preters of their oracles. And thus we mean to procure the
things relating to the light of nature, and the setting it up
in the mind; which might well suffice, if the mind were as
white paper. Bat since the minds of men are so strangely
disposed, as not to receive the true images of things, it is
necessary also that a remedy be found for this evil.

The idols, or false notions, which possess the mind, are
either acquired or innate. The acquired arise either from
the opinions or sects of philosophers, or from preposterous
laws of demonstration; but the innate cleave to the nature
of the understanding, which is found much more prone to
error than the senses. For however men may amuse them
selves, and admire, or almost adore the mind, it is certain,
that like an irregular glass, it alters the rays of things, by
its figure and different intersections.

The two former kinds of idols may be extirpated, though
with difficulty ; but this third is insuperable. All that can
be done, is to point them out, and mark, and convict that
treacherous faculty of the mind; lest when the ancient
errors are destroyed, new ones should sprout out from the
rankness of the soil: and, on the other hand, to establish
this forever, that the understanding can make no judgment
but by induction, and the just form thereof. Whence the
doctrine of purging the understanding requires three kinds
of confutations, to fit it for the investigation of truth, viz. ;
the confutation of philosophies, the confutation of demon
strations, and the confutation of the natural reason. But
when these have been completed, and it has been clearly
seen what results are to be expected from the nature of
things, and the nature of the human mind, we shall have
then furnished a nuptial couch for the mind and the uni
verse, the divine goodness being our bridemaid. And let
it be the prayer of our Epithalamium, that assistance to man
may spring from this union, and a race of discoveries, which

SCIENCE — Yol. 21 — 2

26 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

will contribute to his wants and vanquish his miseries. And
this is the second part of the work.

But as we propose not only to pave and show the way,
but also to tread in it ourselves, we shall next exhibit the
phenomena of the universe; that is, such experience of all
kinds, and such a natural history, as may afford a founda
tion to philosophy. For as no fine method of demonstra
tion, or form of explaining nature, can preserve the mind
from error, and support it from falling; so neither can it
-, hence receive any matter of science. Those, therefore, who
determine not to conjecture and guess, but to find out and
know; not to invent fables and romances of worlds, but to
look into, and dissect the nature of this real world, must
consult only things themselves. NOT can any force of
genius, thought, or argument, be substituted for this labor,
search, and inspection; not even though all the wits of men
were united: this, therefore, must either be had, or the busi
ness be deserted forever. But the conduct of mankind has
hitherto been such, that it is no wonder nature has not
opened herself to them. For the information of the senses
is treacherous and deceitful; observation careless, irregular,
and accidental; tradition idle, rumorous, and vain; practice
narrow and servile; experience blind, stupid, vague, and
broken; and natural history extremely light and empty:
wretched materials for the understanding to fashion into
philosophy and the sciences! Then comes in a preposter
ous subtilty of augmentation and sifting, as a last remedy,
that mends not the matter one jot, nor separates the errors.
Whence there are absolutely no hopes of enlarging and pro
moting the sciences, without rebuilding them.

The first materials for this purpose must be taken from
a new kind of natural history. The understanding must
also have fit subjects to work upon, as well as real helps
to work with. But our history, no less than our logic, dif
fers from the common in many respects; particularly, 1. In
its end or office; 2. Its collection; 3. Its subtilty; 4. Its
choice; and 5. Its appointment for what is to follow.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK 27

Our natural history is not designed so much to please
by its variety, or benefit by gainful experiments, as to afford
light to the discovery of causes, and hold out the breasts to
philosophy; for though we principally regard works, and
the active parts of the sciences, yet we wait for the time
of harvest, and would not reap the blade for the ear. We
are well aware that axioms, rightly framed, will draw after
them whole sheaves of works: but for that untimely and
childish desire of seeing fruits of new works before the
season, we absolutely condemn and reject it, as the golden
apple that hinders the progress.

With regard to its collection; we propose to show na
ture not only in a free state, as in the history of meteors,
minerals, plants, and animals ; but more particularly as she
is bound, and tortured, pressed, formed, and turned out of
her course by art and human industry. Hence we would
set down all opposite experiments of the mechanic and lib
eral arts, with many others not yet formed into arts; for the
nature of things is better discovered by the torturings of art,
than when they are left to themselves. Nor is it only a his
tory of bodies that we would give; but also of their cardinal
virtues, or fundamental qualities; as density, rarity, heat,
cold, etc., which should be comprised in particular histories.

The kind of experiments to be procured for our his
tory are much more subtile and simple than the common;
abundance of them must be recovered from darkness, and
are such as no one would have inquired after, that was not
led by constant and certain tract to the discovery of causes;
as being in themselves of no great use, and consequently not
sought for their own sake, but with regard to works: like
the letters of the alphabet with regard to discourse.

In the choice of our narratives and experiments we hope
to have shown more care than the other writers of natural
history; as receiving nothing but upon ocular demonstra
tion, or the strictest scrutiny of examination; and not
heightening what is delivered to increase its miraculous-
ness, but thoroughly purging it of superstition and fable.

28 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

Besides this, we reject, with a particular mark, all those
boasted and received falsehoods, which by a strange neg
lect have prevailed for so many ages, that they may no
longer molest the sciences. For as the idle tales of nurses
do really corrupt the minds of children, we cannot too care
fully guard the infancy of philosophy from all vanity and
superstition. And when any new or more curious experi
ment is offered, though it may seem to us certain and well
founded; yet we expressly add the manner wherein it was
made; that, after it shall be understood how things appear
to us, men may beware of any error adhering to them, and
search after more infallible proofs. We, likewise, all along
interpose our directions, scruples and cautions; and relig
iously guard against phantoms and illusions.

Lastly, having well observed how far experiments and
history distract the mind; and how difficult it is, especially
for tender or prejudiced persons, to converse with nature
from the beginning, we shall continually subjoin our obser
vations, as so many first glances of natural history at philoso
phy; and this to give mankind some earnest, that they shall
not be kept perpetually floating upon the waves of history;
and that when they come to the work of the understanding,
and the explanation of nature, they may find all things in
greater readiness. This will conclude the third part.

After the understanding has been thus aided and forti
fied, we shall be prepared to enter upon philosophy itself.
But in so difficult a task, there are certain things to be ob
served, as well for instruction as for present use. The first
is to propose examples of inquiry and investigation, accord
ing to our own method, in certain subjects of the noblest
kind, but greatly differing from each other, that a specimen
may be had of every sort. By these examples we mean not
illustrations of rules and precepts, but perfect models, which
will exemplify the second part of this work, and represent,
as it were, to the eye, the whole progress of the mind, arid
the continued structure and order of invention, in the most
chosen subjects, after the same manner as globes and ma-

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK 2&

chines facilitate the more abstruse and subtile demonstra
tions in mathematics. We assign the fourth part of our
work to these examples, which are nothing else than a par
ticular application of the second part of our undertaking.4

The fifth part is only temporary, or of use but till the
rest are finished; whence we look upon it as interest till
the principal be paid; for we do not propose to travel
hoodwinked, so as to take no notice of what may occur of
use in the way. This part, therefore, will consist of such
things as we have invented, experienced, or added, by the
same common use of the understanding tha^others employ.
For as we have greater hopes from our constant conversa
tion with nature than from our force of genius, the discov
eries we shall thus make may serve as inns on the road,
for the mind to repose in, during its progress to greater
certainties. But this, without being at all disposed to
abide by anything that is not discovered, or proved, by
the true form of induction. Nor need any one be shocked
at this suspension of the judgment, in a doctrine which
does not assert that nothing is knowable; but only that
things cannot be known except in a certain order and
method: while it allows particular degrees of certainty,
for the sake of commodiousness and use, until the mind
shall enter on the explanation of causes. Nor were those
schools of philosophers,6 who held positive truth to be un
attainable, inferior to others who dogmatized at will. They
did not, however, like us, prepare helps for the guidance
of the senses and understanding, as we have done, but at
once abolished all belief and authority, which is a totally
different and almost opposite matter.

The sixth and last part of our work, to which all the
rest are subservient, is to lay down that philosophy which
shall flow from the just, pure and strict inquiry hitherto
proposed. But to perfect this, is beyond both our abilities

4 This part is what the author elsewhere terms scala intellectus, or the prog
ress of the understanding, and was intended to be supplied by him in the way
of monthly productions. See his dedication of the "History of the Winds" to
Prince Charles. — Shaw. 5 The later Academy, who held the

30 THE GREAT INSTAURATION

and our hopes, yet we shall lay the foundations of it, and
recommend the superstructure to posterity. We design no
contemptible beginning to the work ; and anticipate that the
fortune of mankind will lead it to such a termination as is
not possible for the present race of men to conceive. The
point in view is not only the contemplative happiness, but
the whole fortunes, and affairs, and powers, and works of
men. For man being the minister and interpreter of nature,
acts and understands so far as he has observed of the order,
the works and mind of nature, and can proceed no further;
for no power is able to loose or break the chain of causes,
nor is nature to be conquered but by submission ; whence
those twin intentions, human knowledge and human power,
are really coincident; and the greatest hindrance to works
is the ignorance of causes.

The capital precept for the whole undertaking is this, that
the eye of the mind be never taken off from things them
selves, but receive their images truly as they are. And GTod
forbid that ever we should offer the dreams of fancy for a
model of the world; but rather in his kindness vouchsafe
to us the means of writing a revelation and true vision of
the traces and molds of the Creator in his creatures.

May thou, therefore, 0 Father, who gavest the light of
vision as the first fruit of creation, and who hast spread
over the fall of man the light of thy understanding as the
accomplishment of thy works, guard and direct this work,
which, issuing from thy goodness, seeks in return thy glory!
When thou hadst surveyed the works which thy hands had
wrought, all seemed good in thy sight, and thou restedst.
But when man turned to the works of his hands, he found
all vanity and vexation of spirit, and experienced no rest.
If, however, we labor in thy works, thou wilt make us
to partake of thy vision and sabbath; we, therefore, hum
bly beseech thee to strengthen our purpose, that thou
mayest be willing to endow thy family of mankind with
new gifts, through our hands, and the hands of those in
whom thou shalt implant the same spirit.

FIRST PART OF
THE GREAT INSTAURATION

DIGNITY AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

IN NINE BOOKS

CONTENTS

BOOK I

The Different Objections to Learning stated and confuted; its Dignity and

Merit maintained . . . . . . . . . .37

BOOK II

CHAPTER I

General Divisions of Learning into History, Poetry, and Philosophy, in re
lation to the Three Faculties of the Mind — Memory, Imagination, and
Reason. The same Distribution applies to Theology . . . .85

CHAPTER II

History divided into Natural and Civil ; Civil subdivided into Ecclesiastical
and Literary. The Division of Natural History according to the sub
ject matter, into the History of Generations, of Praeter-Generations,
and the Arts . . . . . . . . . . .94

CHAPTER III

Second Division of Natural History, in relation to its Use and End, into
Narrative and Inductive. The most important end of Natural History
is to aid in erecting a Body of Philosophy which appertains to Induc
tion. Division of the History of Generations into the History of the
Heavens, the History of Meteors, the History of the Earth and Sea,
the History of Massive or Collective Bodies, and the History of Species 99

(31)

32 CONTENTS

CHAPTER IY
Civil History divided into Ecclesiastical and Literary. Deficiency of the

latter. The Absence of Precepts for its Compilation . . . .100

CHAPTER V
The Dignity of Civil History and the Obstacles it has to encounter . .102

CHAPTER VI
Division of Civil History into Memoirs, Antiquities, and Perfect History . 103

CHAPTER VII
Division of Perfect History into Chronicles, Biographies, and Relations.

The Development of their parts . . . . . .104

CHAPTER VIII

Division of the History of Times into Universal and Particular. The Ad
vantages and Disadvantages of both .... . . . 1 08

CHAPTER IX
Second Division of the History of Times into Annals and Journals . .109

CHAPTER X
Second Division of Special Civil History into Pure and Mixed . . .110

CHAPTER XI

Ecclesiastical History divided into the General History of the Church, His
tory of Prophecy, and History of Providence ^ . . . .112

CHAPTER XII

The Appendix of History embraces the Words of Men, as the Body of His
tory includes their Exploits. Its Division into Speeches, Letters, and
Apothegms . . _ .

CHAPTER XIII

The Second leading Branch of Learning— Poetry. Its Division into Narra
tive, Dramatic, and Parabolic. Three Examples of the latter species
detailed ......... • U4

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

Division of Learning into Theology and Philosophy. The latter divided
into the Knowledge of God, of Nature, and of Man. Construction of
Philosophia Prima as the Mother of all the Sciences . . . . 137

CONTENTS 33

CHAPTER II
Natural Theology with its Appendix, the Knowledge of Angels and

Spirits 142

CHAPTER III

Natural Philosophy divided into Speculative and Practical. The Neces
sity of keeping these Two Branches distinct 144

CHAPTER IV

Division of the Speculative Branch of Natural Philosophy into Physics and
Metaphysics. Physics relate to the Investigation of Efficient Causes
and Matter; Metaphysics to that of Final Causes and the Form. Divi
sion of Physics into the Sciences of the Principles of Things, the
Structure of Things, and the Variety of Things. Division of Physics
in relation to the Variety of Things into Abstract and Concrete.
Division of Concretes agrees with the Distribution of the Parts of
Natural History. Division of Abstracts into the Doctrine of Material
Forms and Motion. Appendix of Speculative Physics twofold: viz.,
Natural Problems and the Opinions of Ancient Philosophers. Meta
physics divided into the Knowledge of Forms and the Doctrine of
Final Causes 145

CHAPTER V

Division of the Practical Branch of Natural Philosophy into Mechanics and
Magic (Experimental Philosophy), which correspond to the Speculative
Division — Mechanics to Physics, and Magic to Metaphysics. The word
Magic cleared from False Interpretation. Appendix to Active Science
twofold : viz. , an Inventory of Human Helps and a Catalogue of Things
of Multifarious Use 168

CHAPTER VI

The Great Appendix of Natural Philosophy both Speculative and Practical.
Mathematics. Its Proper Position not among the Substantial Sciences,
but in their Appendix. Mathematics divided into Pure and Mixed . Ill

BOOK IV

CHAPTER I

34 CONTENTS

the Doctrine of the Person of Man into that of his Miseries and Pre
rogatives. Division of the Relations between the Soul and the Body
into the Doctrines of Indications and Impressions. Physiognomy and
the Interpretation of Dreams assigned to the Doctrine of Indications . 175

CHAPTER II

Division of the Knowledge of the Human Body into the Medicinal, Cosmetic,
Athletic, and the Voluptuary Arts. Division of Medicine into Three
Functions: viz., the Preservation of Health, the Cure of Diseases, and
the Prolongation of Life. The last distinct from the two former . . 182

CHAPTER III

Division of the Doctrine of the Human Soul into that of the Inspired Essence
and the Knowledge of the Sensible or Produced Soul. Second Division
of the same philosophy into the Doctrine of the Substance and tho Fac
ulties of the Soul. The Use and Objects of the latter. Two Appen
dices to the Doctrine of the Faculties of the Soul: viz., Natural Divina
tion and Fascination (Mesmerism). The Faculties of the Sensible Soul
divided into those of Motion and Sense . 199

BOOK V

CHAPTER I

Division of the Use and Objects of the Faculties of the Soul into Logic and
Ethics. Division of Logic into the Arts of Invention, Judgment,
Memory and Tradition 210

CHAPTER II

Division of Invention into the Invention of Arts and Arguments. The
former, though the more important of them, is wanting. Division of
the Invention of Arts into Literate (Instructed) Experience and a New
Method (Novum Organum). An Illustration of Literate Experience . 212

CHAPTER III

Division of the Invention of Arguments into Promptuary, or Places of Prep
aration, and Topical, or Places of Suggestion. The Division of Topics
into General and Particular. An Example of Particular Topics afforded
by an Inquiry into the Nature of the Qualities of Light and Heavy . 227

CHAPTER IY

CONTENTS 35

of Analytics and Confutations. The division of the latter into Confu
tations of Sophisms, the Unmasking of Vulgarisms (Equivocal Terms),
and the Destruction of Delusive Images or Idols. Delusive Appear
ances divided into Idola Tribus, Idola Specus, and Idola Fori. Appen
dix to the Art of Judgment. The Adapting the Demonstration to the
Nature of the Subject 235

CHAPTER V

Division of the Retentive Art into the Aids of the Memory and the Nature
of the Memory itself. Division of the Doctrine of Memory into Preno-
tioa and Emblem .......... 244

BOOK VI

CHAPTER I

Division of Tradition into the Doctrine of the Organ, the Method and the
Illustration of Speech. The Organ of Speech divided into the Knowl
edge of the Marks of Things, of Speaking and Writing. The last two
comprise the two Branches of Grammar. The Marks of Things divided
into Hieroglyphics and Real Characters. Grammar again divided into
Literary and Philosophical. Prosody referred to the Doctrine of Speech,
and Ciphers to the Department of Writing 247

CHAPTER II

Method of Speech includes a wide Part of Tradition. Styled the Wisdom
of Delivery. Various kinds of Methods enumerated. Their respective
Merits 259

CHAPTER III

The Grounds and Functions of Rhetoric. Three Appendices which belong
only to the Preparatory Part, viz., the Colors of Good and Evil, both
simple and composed; the Antithesis of Things (the pro and con of
General Questions); the Minor Forms of Speech (the Elaboration
of Exordiums, Perorations, and Leading Arguments) . . . 268

CHAPTER IV

Two General Appendices to Tradition, viz., the Arts of Teaching and

Criticism . 300

36 CONTENTS

BOOK VII

CHAPTER I

Ethics divided into the Doctrine of Models and the Georgics (Culture) of
the Mind. Division of Models into the Absolute and Comparative
Good. Absolute Good divided into Personal and National . . 305

CHAPTER II

Division of Individual Good into Active and Passive. That of Passive
Good into Conservative and Perfective. Good of the Commonwealth
divided into General and Respective 313

CHAPTER III

The Culture of the Mind divided into the Knowledge of Characteristic Dif
ferences of Affections, of Remedies and Cures. Appendix relating to
the Harmony between the Pleasures of the Mind and the Body . 322

BOOK VIII

CHAPTER I
Civil Knowledge divided into the Art of Conversation, the Art of Nego

tiation, and the Art of State Policy 335

CHAPTER II

The Art of Negotiation divided into the Knowledge of Dispersed Occasions
(Conduct in Particular Emergencies), and into the Science of Rising in
Life. Examples of the former drawn from Solomon. Precepts relat
ing to Self -advancement . . . , 340

CHAPTER in

The Arts of Empire or State Policy omitted. Two Deficiencies alone no
ticed. The Art of Enlarging the Bounds of Empire, and the Knowl
edge of Universal Justice drawn from the Fountains of Law . . 385

BOOK IX

The Compartments of Theology omitted. Three Deficiencies pointed out
The Right Use of Reason in Matters of Faith. The Knowledge of the
Degrees of Unity in the City of God. The Emanations of the Holy
Scriptures 418

ON THE DIGNITY AND

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

FIRST BOOK

The Different Objections to Learning stated and confuted; its Dignity
and Merit maintained

TO THE KING

AS UNDER the old law, most excellent king, there
were daily sacrifices and free oblations1 — the one
arising out of ritual observance, and the other from
a pious generosity, so I deem that all faithful subjects owe
their kings a double tribute of affection and duty. In the
first I hope I shall never be found deficient, but as regards
the latter, though doubtful of the worthiness of my choice,
I thought it more befitting to tender to your Majesty that
service which rather refers to the excellence of your indi
vidual person than to the business of the State.

In bearing your Majesty in mind, as is frequently my
custom and duty, I have been often struck with admira
tion, apart from your other gifts of virtue and fortune, at
the surprising development of that part of your nature^
which philosophers call intellectual. The deep and broad
capacity of your mind, the grasp of your memory, the
quickness of your apprehension, the penetration of your
judgment, your lucid method of arrangement, and easy
facility of speech — at such extraordinary endowments 1
am forcibly reminded of the saying of Plato, "that all
science is but remembrance,"8 and that the human mind

1 See Numb, xxviii. 23 ; Levit. xxii. 18.

2 Plato's Phsedo, i. 72 (Steph.); Theaet i. 166, 191; Menon, ii. 81; and
Aristot. de Memor. 2.

-.,.-...-~. (37)

38 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

is originally imbued with all knowledge; that which she
seems adventitiously to acquire in life being nothing more
than a return to her first conceptions, which had been over
laid by the grossness of the body. In no person so much
as your Majesty does this opinion appear more fully con
firmed, your soul being apt to kindle at the intrusion of
the slightest object; and even at the spark of a thought
foreign to the purpose to burst into flame. As the Scrip
ture says of the wisest king, "That his heart was as the
sands of the sea,"3 which, though one of the largest bodies,
contains the finest and smallest particles of matter. In like
manner God has endowed your Majesty with a mind capable
of grasping the largest subjects and comprehending the least,
though such an instrument seems an impossibility in nature.
As regards your readiness of speech, I am reminded of that
saying of Tacitus concerning Augustus Caesar, "Augusto
profluens ut quae principem virum deceret, eloquentia
fuit. "4 For all eloquence which is affected or over
labored, or merely imitative, though otherwise excellent,
carries with it an air of servility, nor is it free to follow
its own impulses. But your Majesty's eloquence is in
deed royal, streaming and branching out in nature's fash
ion as from a fountain, copious and elegant, original and
inimitable. And as in those things which concern your
crown and family, virtue seems to contend with fortune—
your Majesty being possessed of a virtuous disposition and
a prosperous government, a virtuous observance of the
duties of the conjugal state with most blessed and happy
fruit of marriage, a virtuous and most Christian desire of
peace at a time when contemporary princes seem no less
inclined to harmony — so likewise in intellectual gifts there
appears as great a contention between your Majesty's nat
ural talents and tha universality and perfection of your
learning. Nor indeed would it be easy to find any mon-

3 III. Kings iv. 29. We may observe that Bacon invariably quotea from the
Vulgate, to which our references point.

4 Tacitus, Annales, xiii. 3.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 39

arch since the Christian era who could bear any compar
ison with jour Majesty in the variety and depth of your
erudition. Let any one run over the whole line of kings,
and he will agree with me. It indeed seems a great thing
in a monarch, if he can find time to digest a compendium
or imbibe the simple elements of science, or love and
countenance learning; but that a king, and he a king
born, should have drunk at the true fountain of knowl
edge, yea, rather, should have a fountain of learning in
himself, is indeed little short of a miracle. And the more
since in your Majesty's heart are united all the treasures
of sacred and profane knowledge, so that like Hermes
your Majesty is invested with a triple glory, being dis
tinguished no less by the power of a king than by the
illumination of a priest and the learning of a philosopher/
Since, then, your Majesty surpasses other monarchs by
this property, which is peculiarly your own, it is but
just that this dignified pre-eminence should not only be
celebrated in the mouths of the present age, and be trans
mitted to posterity, but also that it should be engraved in
some solid work which might serve to denote the power of
so great a king and the height of his learning.

Therefore, to return to our undertaking: no oblation
seemed more suitable than some treatise relating to that
purpose, the sum of which should consist of two parts —
the first of the excellence of learning, and the merit of
those who labor judiciously and with energy for its propa
gation and development. The second, to point out what
part of knowledge has been already labored and perfected,
and what portions left unfinished or entirely neglected; in
order, since I dare not positively advise your Majesty to
adopt any particular course, that by a detailed representa
tion of our wants, I may excite your Majesty to examine
the treasures of your royal heart, and thence to extract,
whatever to your magnanimity and wisdom may seem best
fitted to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge.

6 Poemander of Hermes Trismegistus.

40 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

On the threshold of the first part it is advisable to sift
the merits of knowledge, and clear it of the disgrace brought
upon it by ignorance, whether disguised (1) in the zeal of di
vines, (2) the arrogance of politicians, or (3) the errors of men
of letters.

• Some divines pretend, 1. "That knowledge is to be re
ceived with great limitation, as the aspiring to it was the
original sin, and the cause of the fall; 2. That it has some
what of the serpent, and puffeth up"; 3. That Solomon
says, U0f making books there is no end: much study is
weariness of the flesh; for in much wisdom is much grief;
and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow":6 4.
"That St. Paul cautions being spoiled through vain philos
ophy":7 5. "That experience shows learned men have been
heretics; and learned times inclined to atheism; and that
the contemplation of second causes takes from our depen
dence upon God, who is the first."

To this we answer, 1. It was not the pure knowledge
of nature, by the light whereof man gave names to all the
creatures in Paradise, agreeable to their natures, that occa
sioned the fall ; but the proud knowledge of good and evil,
with an intent in man to give law to himself, and depend
no more upon God. 2. Kor can any quantity of natural
knowledge puff up the mind; -for nothing fills, much less
distends the soul, but God. Whence as Solomon declares,

41 That the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with
hearing";8 so of knowledge itself he says, "God hath made
all things beautiful in their seasons; also he hath placed
the world in man's heart; yet cannot man find out the work
which God worketh from the beginning to the end" ; 9 hereby
declaring plainly that God has framed the mind like a glass,
capable of the image of the universe, and desirous to receive
it as the eye to receive the light; and thus it is not only
pleased with the variety and vicissitudes of things, but also
endeavors to find out the laws they observe in their changes

• Bccles. xii. 12, and i. 18. * I. Cor. viii. 1.

8 Ecclea. i. 8 • Eccles. iii. 11.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 4l

and alterations. And if such be the extent of the mind,
there is no danger of filling it with any quantity of knowl
edge. But it is merely from its quality when taken without
the true corrective that knowledge has somewhat of venom
or malignity. The corrective which renders it sovereign is
charity, for according to St. Paul, "Knowledge puffeth
up, but charity buildeth." 10 3. For the excess of writing
and reading books, the anxiety of spirit proceeding from
knowledge, and the admonition that we be not seduced by
vain philosophy; when these passages are rightly under
stood, they mark out the boundaries of human knowledge,
so as to comprehend the universal nature of things. These
limitations are three: the first, that we should not place our
felicity in knowledge, so as to forget mortality; the second,
that we use knowledge so as to give ourselves ease and
content, not distaste and repining; and the third, that we
presume not by the contemplation of nature, to attain to the
mysteries of God. As to the first, Solomon excellently.
says, "I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light
excelleth darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head
but the fool walketh in darkness; and 1 myself perceived
also that one event happeneth to them all." " And for the
second, it is certain that no vexation or anxiety of mind
results from knowledge, but merely by accident; all knowl
edge, and admiration, which is the seed of knowledge, being
pleasant in itself; but when we frame conclusions from our
knowledge, apply them to our own particular, and thence
minister to ourselves weak fears or vast desires; then comes
on that anxiety and trouble of mind which is here meant —
when knowledge is no longer the dry light of Heraclitus,
but the drenched one, steeped in the humors of the affec
tions.1* 4. The third point deserves to be more dwelt upon;
for if any man shall think, by his inquiries after material
things, to discover the nature or will of God, he is indeed
spoiled by vain philosophy; for the contemplation of God's

10 I. Cor. viii. 1. » Eccles. ii. 13, 14.

M Ap. Stab. Serm. v. 120, in Bitter's Hist. Phil. § 47.

42 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

works produces knowledge, though, with regard to him, not
perfect knowledge, but wonder, which is broken knowledge.
It may, therefore, be properly said, "That the sense resem
bles the sun, which shows the terrestrial globe, but conceals
the celestial"; 13 for thus the sense discovers natural things,
while it shuts up divine. And hence some learned men
have, indeed, been heretical, while they sought to seize the
secrets of the Deity borne on the waxen wings of the senses.
5. As to the point that too much knowledge should incline
to atheism, and the ignorance of second causes make us
more dependent upon God, we ask Job's question, "Will
ye lie for God, as one man will do for another, to gratify
him?"1* For certainly God works nothing in nature but
by second causes;16 and to assert the contrary is mere im
posture, as it were, in favor of God, and offering up to the
author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie. Undoubtedly
a superficial tincture of philosophy may incline the mind to
atheism, yet a further knowledge brings it back to religion;16
for on the threshold of philosophy, where second causes
appear to absorb the attention, some oblivion of the highest
cause may ensue; but when the mind goes deeper, and sees
the dependence of causes and the works of Providence, it
will easily perceive, according to the mythology of the
poets, that the upper link of Nature's chain is fastened to
Jupiter's throne." To conclude, let no one weakly imagine
that man can search too far, or be too well studied in the
book of God's word, and works, divinity, and philosophy;
but rather let them endeavor an endless progression in both,
only applying all to charity, and not to pride — to use, not
ostentation, without confounding the two different streams
of philosophy and revelation together.18

« Phil. Jud. de Somnis, p. 41. " Job. xiii. 7.

15 Hooker, Bccl. Pol. i. 2 ; Butler, Anal, part i. c. 2.

18 See the author's essay on Atheism, and Mr. Boyle's essays upon the
Usefulness of Philosophy.

" Iliad, viii. 19; and conf. Plato, Theast. i. 153.

18 The dispute between the rational and scriptural divines is still on foot; the
former are for reconciling reason and philosophy with faith and religion ; and
the latter for keeping them distinct, as things incompatible, or making reason

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 43

The reflections cast upon learning by politicians, are
these. 1. "That it enervates men's minds, and unfits them
for arms; 2. That it perverts their dispositions for govern
ment and politics; 3. That it makes them too curious and
irresolute, by variety of reading; too peremptory or positive
by strictness of rules; too immoderate and conceited by the
greatness of instances; too unsociable and incapacitated for
the times, by the dissimilitude of examples; or at least,
4. That it diverts from action and business, and leads to
a love of retirement; 5. That it introduces a relaxation in
government, as every man is more ready to argue than
obey; whence Cato the censor — when Carneades came am
bassador to Eome, and the young Komans, allured with his
eloquence, flocked about him — gave counsel in open senate,
to grant him his despatch immediately, lest he should infect
the minds of the youth, and insensibly occasion an alteration
in the State." 19

The same conceit is manifest in Yirgil, who, preferring
the honor of his country to that of his profession, challenged
the arts of policy in the Romans, as something superior to
letters, the pre-eminence in which, he freely assigns to the
Grecians.

"Tu regere imperio populos, Romane memento:
Hse tibi erunt artes. " — JEn. vi. 851.

And we also observe that Anytus, the accuser of Socrates,
charged him in his impeachment with destroying, in the
minds of young men, by his rhetorical arts, all authority
and reverence for the laws of the country.20

1. But these and the like imputations have rather a show
of gravity, than any just ground; for experience shows that
•learning and arms have flourished in the same persons and
ages. As to persons, there are no better instances than
Alexander and Csesar, the one Aristotle's scholar in phi-

and knowledge subject Lo faith and religion. The author is clear, that they
should be kept separate, as will more fully appear hereafter, when he comes
to treat of theology. — Shaw.

19 Plutarch in M. Cato. 20 Plato, Apol. Soc.

±± ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

losophy, and the other Cicero's rival in eloquence; and
again, Bpaminondas and Xenophon, the one whereof first
abated the power of Sparta, and the other first paved the
way for subverting the Persian monarchy. This concur
rence of learning and arms, is yet more visible in times
than in persons, as an age exceeds a man. For in Egypt,
Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome, the times most famous
for arms are likewise most admired for learning ; so that the
greatest authors and philosophers, the greatest leaders and
governors, have lived in the same ages. Nor can it well
be otherwise; for as the fulness of human strength, both
in body and mind, conies nearly at an age; so arms and
learning, one whereof corresponds to the body, the other
to the soul, have a near concurrence in point of time.

2. And that learning should rather prove detrimental
than serviceable in the art of government, seems very im
probable. It is wrong to trust the natural body to empirics,
who commonly have a few receipts whereon they rely, but
who know neither the causes of diseases, nor the constitu
tions of patients, nor the danger of accidents, nor the true
methods of cure. And so it must needs be dangerous to
have the civil body of States managed by empirical states
men, unless well mixed with others who are grounded in
learning. On the contrary, it is almost without instance,
that any government was unprosperous under learned gov
ernors. For however common it has been with politicians
to discredit learned men, by the name of pedants, yet it
appears from history, that the governments of princes in
minority have excelled the governments of princes in ma
turity, merely because the management was in learned
hands. The State of Rome for the first five years, so much
magnified, during the minority of Nero, was in the hands
of Seneca, a pedant: so it was for ten years, during the
minority of Gordianus the younger, with great applause in
the hands of Misitheus, a pedant; and it was as happy
before that, in the minority of Alexander Severus, under
the rule of women, assisted by preceptors. And to look

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 45

into the government of the bishops of Home, particularly
that of Pius and Sextus Quintus, who were both at their
entrance esteemed but pedantical friars, we shall find that
such popes did greater things, and proceeded upon truer
principles of state, than those who rose to the papacy from
an education in civil affairs, and the courts of princes. For
though men bred to learning are perhaps at a loss in points
of convenience, and present accommodations, called21 reasons
of state, yet they are perfect in the plain grounds of relig
ion, justice, honor, and moral virtue, which, if well pur
sued, there will be as little use of reasons of state, as of
physic in a healthy constitution. Nor can the experience
of one man's life furnish examples and precedents for
another's: present occurrences frequently correspond to
ancient examples, better than to later. And lastly, the
genius of any single man can no more equal learning, than
a private purse hold way with the exchequer.

3. As to the particular indispositions of the mind for
politics and government, laid to the charge of learning, if
they are allowed of any force, it must be remembered, that
learning affords more remedies than it breeds diseases; for
if, by a secret operation, it renders men perplexed and
irresolute, on the other hand, by plain precept, it teaches
when, and upon what grounds, to resolve, and how to carry
things in suspense, without prejudice: if it makes men
positive and stiff, it shows what things are in their nature
demonstrative, what conjectural; and teaches the use of
distinctions and exceptions, as well as the rigidness of prin
ciples and rules. If it misleads, by the unsuitableness of
examples, it shows the force of circumstances, the errors
of comparisons, and the cautions of application; so that in
all cases, it rectifies more effectually than it perverts: and
these remedies it conveys into the mind much more effec
tually by the force and variety of examples. Let a man
look into the errors of Clement the Seventh, so livelily de-

21 By the Italians "Ragioni di stato."

46 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

scribed by Guicciardini; or into those of Cicero, described
by himself in his epistles to Attic us, and he will fly from
being irresolute: let him look into the errors of Phocion,
and he will beware of obstinacy or inflexibility: let him
read the fable of Ixion," and it will keep him from con-
ceitedness: let him look into the errors of the second Cato,
and he will never tread opposite to the world.23

4. For the pretence that learning disposes to retirement,
privacy, and sloth ; it were strange if what accustoms the
mind to perpetual motion and agitation should induce in
dolence; whereas no kind of men love business, for its own
sake, but the learned; while others love it for profit, as
hirelings for the wages; others for honor; others because
it bears them up in the eyes of men, and refreshes their
reputations, which would otherwise fade; or because it re
minds them of their fortune, and gives them opportunities
of revenging and obliging; or because it exercises some
faculty, wherein they delight, and so keeps them in good
humor with themselves. Whence, as false valor lies in the
eyes of the beholders, such men's industry lies in the eyes
of others, or is exercised with a view to their own designs;
while the learned love business, as an action according to
nature, and agreeable to the health of the mind, as exercise
is to that of the body: so that, of all men, they are the most
indefatigable in such business as may deservedly fill and
employ the mind. And if there are any laborious in study,
yet idle in business, this proceeds either from a- weakness
of body, or a softness of disposition, and not from learning
itself, as Seneca remarks, "Quidam tarn sunt umbratiles ut
putent in turbido esse, quicquid in luce est."94 The con
sciousness of such a disposition may indeed incline a man
to learning, but learning does not breed any such temper
in him.

If it be objected, that learning takes up much time,
which might be better employed, 1 answer that the most

22 Find. Pyth. ii. 21. 23 Cic. ad Att. i. 1.

24 Seneca's Epistles, iii. near the end.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 47

active or busy men have many vacant hours, while they
expect the tides and returns of business; and then the
question is, how those spaces of leisure shall be filled up,
whether with pleasure or study ? Demosthenes being taunted
by ^Eschines, a man of pleasure, that his speeches smelt of
the lamp, very pertly retorted, "There is great difference
between the objects which you and I pursue by lamp
light.1'85 No fear, therefore, that learning should dis
place business, for it rather keeps and defends the mind
against idleness and pleasure, which might otherwise enter
to the prejudice both of business and learning. 5. For the
allegation that learning should undermine the reverence
due to laws and government, it is a mere calumny, without
shadow of truth; for to say that blind custom of obedience
should be a safer obligation than duty, taught and under
stood, is to say that a blind man may tread surer by a
guide than a man with his eyes open can by a light.
And, doubtless, learning makes the mind gentle and pli
able to government, whereas ignorance renders it churlish
and mutinous; and it is always found that the most bar
barous, rude, and ignorant times have been most tumul
tuous, changeable, and seditious.

6. As to the judgment of Cato the Censor, he was pun
ished for his contempt of learning, in the kind wherein he
offended, for when past threescore the humor took him to
learn Greek, which shows that his former censure of the
Grecian learning was rather an affected gravity than his
inward sense." And, indeed, the Eomans never arrived
at their height of empire till they had arrived at their
height of arts; for in the time of the first two Caesars,
when their government was in its greatest perfection, there
lived the best poet, Virgil ; the best historiographer, Livy ; the
best antiquary, Varro; and the best, or second best orator,
Cicero, that the world has known. And as to the persecu
tion of Socrates, the time must be remembered in which it

25 Plutarch's "Life of Demosthenes," not said of ./Eschines, but Pytheai.

26 Plutarch's M. Cato.

48 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

occurred, viz., under the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, of all
mortals the bloodiest and basest that ever reigned, since the
government had no sooner returned to its senses than that
judgment was reversed. Socrates, from being a criminal,
started at once into a hero, his memory loaded with honors
human and divine, and his discourses, which had been pre
viously stigmatized as immoral and profane, were consid
ered as the reformers of thought and manners.27 And let
this suffice as an answer to those politicians who have
presumed, whether sportively or in earnest, to disparage
learning.

We come now to that sort of discredit which is brought
upon learning by learned men themselves; and this pro
ceeds either (1) from their fortune, (2) their manners, or
(3) the nature of their studies.

1. The disrepute of learning from the fortune or con
dition of the learned, regards either their indigence, re
tirement, or meanness of employ. As to the point, that
learned men grow not so soon rich as others, because they
convert not their labors to profit, we might turn it over to
the friars, of whom Machiavel said, "That the kingdom of
the clergy had been long since at an end, if the reputation
and reverence toward the poverty of the monks and men
dicants had not borne out the excesses of bishops and prel
ates."38 For so the splendor and magnificence of the great
had long since sunk into rudeness and barbarism, if the pov
erty of learned men had not kept up civility and reputation.
But to drop such advantages, it is worth observing how rev
erend and sacred poverty was esteemed for some ages in
the Roman State, since, as Livy says, "There never was a
republic greater, more venerable, and more abounding in
good examples than the Eoman, nor one that so long with
stood avarice and luxury, or so much honored poverty and
parsimony."29 And we see, when Rome degenerated, how
Julius CaBsar after his victory was counselled to begin the

27 Plato, Apol. Socr. 28 Mach. Hist, de Firenza, b. 10.

29 Livy's preface, toward the end.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 49

restoration of the State, by abolishing the reputation of
wealth. And, indeed, as we truly say that blushing is
the livery of virtue, though it may sometimes proceed
from guilt,80 so it holds true of poverty that it is the at
tendant of virtue, though sometimes it may proceed from
mismanagement and accident.

As for retirement, it is a theme so common to extol a
private life, not taxed with sensuality and sloth, for the
liberty, the pleasure, and the freedom from indignity it
affords, that every one praises it well, such an agree
ment it has to the nature and apprehensions of mankind.
This may be added, that learned men, forgotten in States
and not living in the eyes of the world, are like the images
of Cassius and Brutus at the funeral of Junia, which not
being represented as many others were, Tacitus said of
them that "they outshone the rest, because not seen."'31

As for their m_eanness_ _of,jBinploy, that most exposed to
contempt is the education of youth, to which they are com
monly allotted. But how unjust this reflection is to all who
measure things, not by popular opinion, but by reason, will
appear in the fact that men are more careful what they put
into new vessels than into those already seasoned. It is
manifest that things in their weakest state usually demand
our best attention and assistance. Hearken to the Hebrew
rabbis: "Your young men shall see visions, your old meni,
shall dream dreams";83 upon which the commentators ob-T
serve, that youth is the worthier age, inasmuch as revela
tion by vision is clearer than by dreams. And to say the
truth, how much soever the lives of pedants have been
ridiculed upon the stage, as the emblem of tyranny, be
cause the modern looseness or negligence has not duly re
garded the choice of proper schoolmasters and tutors; j^t
the wisdom of the ancientest and best times always com
plained that States were too busy with laws and too remiss

^jS^Kvf^-^^f^o>f^t^:-<ff-Vf'- .--•-=.--. .•;>:*?•.-•> -- • ~'~ r ' :'

30 Diog. Cyn. ap. Laert. vi. 54; compare Tacitus, Agric. 45, of Domitian,
"Seevus viiltus et rubor, a quo se contra pudorem rauniebat."

31 Annals, iii. 76. » Joel ii. 28.
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —3

50 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

in point of education. This excellent part of ancient dis
cipline, has in some measure been revived of late by the
colleges of Jesuits abroad; in regard of whose diligence in
fashioning the morals and cultivating the minds of youth,
I may say, as Agesilaus said to his enemy Pharnabasus,
"Talis quum sis, utinam noster esses."33

2. The manners of learned men belong rather to their
individual persons than to their studies or pursuits. ISTo
doubt, as in all other professions and conditions of life,
bad and good are to be found among them; yet it must
be admitted that learning and studies, unless they fall in
with very depraved dispositions, have, in conformity with
the adage, "Abire studia in mores," a moral influence upon
men's lives. For my part I cannot find that any disgrace
to learning can proceed from the habits of learned men, in
herent in them as learned, unless peradventure that may be
a fault which was attributed to Demosthenes, Cicero, the
second Cato, and many others, that seeing the times they
read of more pure than their own, pushed their servility
too far in the reformation of manners, and to seek to im
pose, by austere precepts, the laws of ancient asceticism
upon dissolute times. Yet even antiquity should -have
forewarned them of this excess; for Solon, upon being
asked if he had given his citizens the best laws, replied,
"The best they were capable of receiving."34 And Plato,
finding that he had fallen upon corrupt times, refused to
take part in the administration of the commonwealth, say
ing that a man should treat his country with the same for
bearance as his parents, and recall her from a wrong course,
not by violence or contest, but by entreaty and persuasion.35
Caesar's counsellor administers the same caveat in the words,
"Non ad vetera instituta revocamus quae jampridem corruptis
moribus ludibrio sunt."88 Cicero points out the same error
in the second Cato, when writing to his friend Atticus:

33 Plut. "Life of Agesil." ' 34 Plutarch, Solon.

85 Epist. Z. iii. 331 ; and cf. Ep. T. iii. 316.

86 Sallust, Cat. Conspiracy.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 51

"Cato optime sentit sed nocet interdum Keipublicae; lo
quitur enim tanquam in Kepublica Platonis, non tanquam
in faece Komuli."37 The same orator likewise excuses and
blames the philosophers for being too exact in their pre
cepts. These preceptors, said he, have stretched the lines
and limits of duties beyond their natural boundaries, think
ing that we might safely reform when we had reached the
highest point of perfection.38 And yet himself stumbled
over the same stone, so that he might have said, "Monitis
sum minor ipse meis."39

3. Another fault laid to the charge of learned men, and
arising from the nature of their studies, is, "That they es
teem the preservation, good, and honor of their country
before their own fortunes or safeties." Demosthenes said
well to the Athenians, 4'My counsels are not such as tend
to aggrandize myself and diminish you, but sometimes not
expedient for me to give, though always expedient for you
to follow."40 So Seneca, after consecrating the five years
of Nero's minority to the immortal glory of learned gov
ernors, held on his honest course of good counsel after his
master grew extremely corrupt. Nor can this be other
wise; for learning gives men a true sense of their frailty,
the casualty of fortune, and the dignity of the soul and its
office; whence they cannot think any greatness of fortune a
worthy end of their living, and therefore live so as to give
a clear and acceptable account to God and their superiors;
while the corrupter sort of politicians, who are not by learn
ing established in a love of duty, nor ever look abroad into
universality, refer all things to themselves, and. thrust their
persons into the centre of the world, as if all lines should
meet in them and their fortunes, without regarding in storms
what becomes of the ship of the State, if they can save them
selves in the cock-boat of their own fortune.

Another charge brought against learned men, which

37 Cicero to Atticus, epis. ii. 1. 38 Oratio pro L. Munena, xxxi. 65.

39 "I am unequal to my teaching." — Ovid, Ars Amandi, ii. 548.

40 Oration on the Crown.

52 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

may rather be defended than denied, is, "That they some
times fail in making court to particular persons." This
want of application arises from two causes — the one the
largeness of their mind, which can hardly submit to dwell
in the examination and observance of any one person.
It is the speech of a lover rather than of a wise man,
"Satis magnum alter alter! theatrum sumus."41 Neverthe
less he who cannot contract the sight of his mind, as well as
dilate it, wants a great talent in life. The second cause is,
no inability, but a rejection upon choice and judgment;
for the honest and just limits of observation in one person
upon another extend no further than to understand him
sufficiently, so as to give him no offence, or be able to
counsel him, or to stand upon reasonable guard and cau
tion with respect to one's self; but to pry deep into another
man, to learn to work, 'wind, or govern him, proceeds from
a double heart, which in friendship is want of integrity, and
toward princes or superiors want of duty. The eastern
custom which forbids subjects to gaze upon princes, though
in the outward ceremony barbarous, has a good moral ; for
men ought not, by cunning and studied observations, to
penetrate and search into the hearts of kings, which the
Scripture declares inscrutable.42

Another fault noted in learned men is, "That they often
fail in point of discretion and decency of behavior, and
commit errors in ordinary actions, whence vulgar capaci
ties judge of them in greater matters by what they find
them in small." But this consequence often deceives; for
we may here justly apply the saying of Themistocles, who
being asked to touch a lute, replied, "He could not fiddle,
but he could make a little village a great city."43 Accord
ingly many may be well skilled in government and policy,
who are defective in little punctilios. So Plato compared
his master Socrates to the shop-pots of apothecaries painted

41 Seneca, Ep. Mor. i. 7. 42 Prov. xxv.

43 Cicero, Tuscul. Qussst. i. 2; Plutarch, Themistocles.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 53

on the outside with apes and owls and antiques, but con- <(
tained within sovereign and precious remedies.44

But we have nothing to offer in excuse of those un
worthy practices, whereby some professors have debased
both themselves and learning, as the trencher philosophers,
who, in the decline of the E-oman State, were but a kind
of solemn parasites. Lucian makes merry with this kind
of gentry, in the person of a philosopher riding in a coach
with a great lady, who would needs have him carry her
lapdog, which he doing with an awkward officiousness,
the page said, "He feared the Stoic would turn Cynic/'46
But above all, the gross flattery wherein many abuse their
wit, by turning Hecuba into Hellena, and Faustina into
Lucretia, has most diminished the value and esteem of
learning.48 Neither is the modern practice of dedications i)
commendable; for books should have no patrons but truth *•
and reason. And the ancient custom was, to dedicate them
only to private and equal friends, or if to kings and great
persons, it was to such as the subject suited. These and
the like measures, therefore, deserve rather to be censured
than defended. Yet the submission of learned men to
those in power cannot be condemned. Diogenes, to one
who asked him "How it happened that philosophers fol
lowed the rich, and not the rich the philosophers?" an- *
swered, "Because the philosophers know what they want,
but the rich do not." 47 And of the like nature was the
answer of Aristippus, who having a petition to Dionysius,
and no ear being given him, fell down at his feet, where
upon Dionysius gave him the hearing, and granted the suit;
but when afterward Aristippus was reproved for offering
such an indignity to philosophy as to fall at a tyrant's feet,

44 Conv. iii. 215 ; and cf. Xen. Symp. v. 7.

45 Lucian de Merc. Cond. 33, 34. The raillery couched under the word
cynic will become more evident if the reader will recollect the word is derived
from KWO«» the Greek name for dog. Those philosophers were called Cynics
who, like Diogenes, rather barked than declaimed against the vices and the
manners of their age. — Ed.

46 Du Bartas Bethulian's Rescue, b. v. translated by Sylvester.

47 Laert. Life Diog.

54 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

he replied, "It was not his fault if Dionysius1 ears were
in his feet," 48 Nor was it accounted weakness, but dis
cretion, in him49 that would not dispute his best with the
Emperor Adrian, excusing himself, "That it was reasonable
to yield to one that commanded thirty legions. " 50 These
and the like condescensions to points of necessity and con
venience, cannot be disallowed; for though they may have
some show of external meanness, yet in a judgment truly
made, they are submissions to the occasion, and not to the
person.

We proceed to the errors and vanities intermixed with
the studies of learned men, wherein the design is not to
countenance such errors, but, by a censure and separation
thereof to justify what is sound and good; for it is the
manner of men, especially the evil-minded, to depreciate
what is excellent and virtuous, by taking advantage over
what is corrupt and degenerate. We reckon three principal
vanities for which learning has been traduced. Those things
are vain which are either false or -frivolous, or deficient in
truth or use; and those persons are vain who are either
credulous of falsities or curious in things of little use. But
curiosity consists either in matter or words, that is, either
in taking pains about vain things, or too much labor about
the delicacy of language. There are, therefore, in reason
as well as experience, three distempers of learning; viz.,
vain affectations, vain disputes, and vain imaginations, or
effeminate learning, contentious learning, and fantastical
learning.

The first disease, which consists in a luxuriance of style,
has been anciently esteemed at different times, but strangely
prevailed about the time of Luther, who, finding how great
a task he had undertaken against the degenerate traditions
of the Church, and being unassisted by the opinions of his
own age, was forced to awake antiquity to make a party
for him; whence the ancient authors both in divinity and

48 Laert. Life Arist. 49 Demonax.

60 Spartianua, Vit. Adrian!, § 15.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 55

the humanities, that had long slept in libraries, began to
be generally read. This brought on a necessity of greater
application to the original languages wherein those authors
wrote, for the better understanding and application of their
works. Hence also proceeded a delight in their manner of
style and phrase, and an admiration of this kind of writing,
which was much increased by the enmity now grown up
against the schoolmen, who were generally of the contrary
party, and whose writings were in a very different style and
form, as taking the liberty to coin new and strange words,
to avoid circumlocution and express their sentiments
acutely, without regard to purity of diction and justness
of phrase. And again, because the great labor then was
to win and persuade the people, eloquence and variety of
discourse grew into request as most suitable for the pulpit,
and best adapted to the capacity of the vulgar; so that
these four causes concurring, viz., 1, admiration of the
ancients; 2, enmity to the schoolmen; 3, an exact study
of languages; and 4, a desire of powerful preaching —
introduced an affected study of eloquence and copiousness
of speech, which then began to nourish. This soon grew to
excess, insomuch that men studied more after words than
matter, more after the choiceness of phrase, and the round
and neat composition, sweet cadence of periods, the use
of tropes and figures, than after weight of matter, dignity
of subject, soundness of argument, life of invention, or
depth of judgment. Then grew into esteem the flowing
and watery vein of Orosius,51 the Portugal bishop; then
did Sturmius bestow such infinite pains upon Cicero and
Hermogenes; then did Car and Ascham, in their lectures
and writings, almost deify Cicero and Demosthenes; then
grew the learning of the schoolmen to be utterly despised
as barbarous ; and the whole bent of those times was rather
upon fulness than weight.

51 Neither a Portuguese nor a bishop, but a Spanish monk, born at Tarragona,
and sent by St. Augustine on a mission to Jerusalem in the commencement of
the fifth century.

56 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

Here, therefore, is the first distemper of learning, when
men study words and not matter; and though we have
given an example of it from later times, yet such levities
have and will be found more or less in all ages. And this
must needs discredit learning, even with vulgar capacities,
when they see learned men's works appear like the first
letter of a patent, which, though finely flourished, is still
but a letter. Pygmalion's frenzy seems a good emblem of
this vanity;58 for words are but the images of matter, and
unless they have life of reason and invention, to fall in love
with them is to fall in love with a picture.

Yet the illustrating the obscurities of philosophy with
sensible and plausible elocution is not hastily to be con
demned; for hereof we have eminent examples in Xeno-
phon, Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, and Plato;68 and the thing
itself is of great use;, for although it be some hindrance to
the severe inquiry after truth, and the further progress
in philosophy, that it should too early prove satisfactory
to the mind, and quench the desire of further search, be
fore a just period is made; yet when we have occasion for
learning and knowledge in civil life, as for conference,
counsel, persuasion, discourse, or the like, we find it ready
prepared to our hands in the authors who have wrote in
this way. But the excess herein is so justly contemptible,
that as Hercules, when he saw the statue of Adonis, who
was the delight of Yenus, in the temple, said with indigna
tion, "There is no divinity in thee"; so all the followers
of Hercules in learning, that is, the more severe and labori
ous inquirers after truth, will despise these delicacies and
affectations as trivial and effeminate.

The luxuriant style was succeeded by another, which,
though more chaste, has still its vanity, as turning wholly
upon pointed expressions and short periods, so as to appear

62 Ovid, Metam. x. 243.

53 M. Fontenelle is an eminent modern instance in the same way, who, par
ticularly in his "Plurality of Worlds," renders the present system of astron
omy agreeably familiar, as his "History of the Royal Academy" embellishes
and explains the abstruse parts of mathematics and natural philosophy. — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 57

concise and round rather than diffusive; by which contriv
ance the whole looks more ingenious than it is. Seneca
used this kind of style profusely, but Tacitus and Pliny
with greater moderation. It has also begun to render itself
acceptable in our time. But to say the truth, its admirers
are only the men of a middle genius, who think it adds a
dignity to learning; while those of solid judgment justly
reject it as a certain disease of learning, since it is no more
than a jingle, or peculiar quaint affectation of words.64
And so much for the first disease of learning.

The second disease is worse in its nature than the
former; for as the dignity of matter exceeds the beauty of
words, so vanity in matter is worse than vanity in words;
whence the precept of St. Paul is at all times seasonable:
"Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of
science falsely so called." 56 He assigns two marks of sus
pected and falsified science: the one, novelty and strange
ness of terms; the other, strictness of positions; which nec
essarily induces oppositions, and thence questions and alter-^
cations. And indeed, as many solid substances putrefy, and
turn into worms, so does sound knowledge often putrefy
into a number of subtle, idle, and vermicular questions,
that have a certain quickness of life, and spirit, but no
strength of matter, or excellence of quality. This kind of
degenerate learning chiefly reigned among the schoolmen;
who, having subtle and strong capacities, abundance of
leisure, and but small variety of reading, their minds being
shut up in a few authors, as their bodies were in the cells ,.
of thei-r monasteries, and thus kept ignorant both of the
history of nature and times; they, with infinite agitation of
wit, spun out of a small quantity of matter, those laborious
webs of learning which are extant in their books. For the_
human mind, if it acts upon matter, and contemplates the
nature of things, and the works of God, operates according

64 Since the establishment of the French Academy, a studied plainness arid
simplicity of style begins to prevail in that nation.
55 I. Tim. vi. 20.

58 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

to the stuff, and is limited thereby; but if it works upon
itself, as the spider does, then it has no end; but produces
cobwebs of learning, admirable indeed for the fineness of
the thread, but of no substance or profit.6*

This unprofitable subtilty is of two kinds, and appears
either in the subject, when that is fruitless speculation or
controversy, or in the manner of treating it, which among
them was this: Upon every particular position they framed
objections, and to those objections solutions; which solu
tions were generally not confutations, but distinctions;
whereas the strength of all sciences is like the strength of
a fagot bound. For the harmony of science, when each
part supports the other, is the true and short confutation
of all the smaller objections; on the contrary, to take out
every axiom, as the sticks of the fagot, one by one, you
may quarrel with them, and bend them, and break them
at pleasure: whence, as it was said of Seneca, that he
"weakened the weight of things by trivial expression,"67
we may truly say of the schoolmen, "That they broke the
solidity of the sciences by the minuteness of their ques
tions." For, were it not better to set up one large light
in a noble room, than to go about with a small one, to illu
minate every comer thereof? Yet such is the method of
schoolmen, that rests not so much upon the evidence of truth
from arguments, authorities, and examples, as upon particu
lar confutations and solutions of every scruple and objec
tion; which breeds one question, as fast as it solves another;
just as in the above example, when the light is carried into
one corner, it darkens the rest. Whence the fable of Scylla
seems a lively image of this kind of philosophy, who was
transformed into a beautiful virgin upward, while barking
monsters surrounded her below —

"Candida succinctam latrantlbus inguina monstris." — Virg. Bel. vi. 75

So the generalities of the schoolmen are for a while fair and

56 For the literary history of the schoolmen, see Morhof a "Polyhist." torn,
ii. lib. i. cap. 14; and Camden's "Remains.''

57 Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1, § 130.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 59

proportionable; but to descend into their distinctions and
decisions, they end in monstrous altercations and barking
questions. Whence this kind of knowledge must neces
sarily fall under popular contempt; for the people are ever
apt to contemn truth, upon account of the controversies
raised about it; and so think those all in the wrong way,
who never meet. And when they see such quarrels about
subtilties and matters of no use, they usually give in to the
judgment of Dionysius, "That it is old men's idle talk." 58
But if those schoolmen, to their great thirst of truth, and
unwearied exercise of wit, had joined variety of reading
and contemplation, they would have proved excellent
lights to the great advancement of all kinds of arts
and sciences. And thus much for the second disease of
learning.

The third disease, which regards deceit or falsehood,
is the foulest; as destroying the essential form of knowl
edge, which is nothing but a representation of truth; for
the truth of existence and the truth of knowledge are the
same thing, or differ no more than the direct and reflected
ray. This vice, therefore, branches into two; viz., delight
in deceiving and aptness to be deceived; imposture and
credulity, which, though apparently different, the one
seeming to proceed from cunning, and the other from
simplicity, yet they generally concur. For, as in the
verse,

"Percontatorem fugito; nam garrulus idem est,"

— Hor. lib. i. epis. xviii. v. 69.

an inquisitive man is a prattler; so a credulous man
is a deceiver; for he who so easily believes rumors will
as easily increase them. Tacitus has wisely expressed
this law of our nature in these words, "Fingunt simul cre-
duntque."69 This easiness of belief, and admitting things
upon weak authority, is of two kinds, according to the sub
ject; being either a belief of history and matter of fact, or

58 Diog. Laert. iii. 18, Life of Plato. M Tacit. Hist. b. I 51.

60 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

else matter of art and opinion. We see the inconvenience
of the former in ecclesiastical history, which has too easily
received and registered relations of miracles wrought by
martyrs, hermits, monks, and their relics, shrines, chapels,
and images. So in natural history, there has not been
much judgment employed, as appears from the writings
of Pliny, Carban, Albertus, and many of the Arabians;
which are full of fabulous matters; many of them not
only untried, but notoriously false, to the great discredit
of natural philosophy with grave and sober minds. But
the produce and integrity of Aristotle is here worthy our
observation, who, having compiled an exact history of ani
mals, dashed it very sparingly with fable or fiction, throw
ing all strange reports which he thought worth recording
in a book by themselves,60 thus wisely intimating, that
matter of truth which is the basis of solid experience,
philosophy, and the sciences, should not be mixed with
matter of doubtful credit; and yet that curiosities or prod
igies, though seemingly incredible, are not to be suppressed
or denied the registering.

Credulity in arts and opinions, is likewise of two kinds;
viz., when men give too much belief to arts themselves, or
to certain authors in any art. The sciences that sway the
imagination more than the reason, are principally three;
viz., astrology, natural magic, and alchemy; the ends or
pretensions whereof are however noble. For astrology pre
tends to discover the influence of the superior upon the in
ferior bodies; natural magic pretends to reduce natural phi
losophy from speculation to works; and chemistry pretends
to separate the dissimilar parts, incorporated in natural mix
tures, and to cleanse such bodies as are impure, throw out
the heterogeneous parts, and perfect such as are immature.
But the means supposed to produce these effects are, both in
theory and practice, full of error and vanity, and besides,
are seldom delivered with candor, but generally concealed
by artifice and enigmatical expressions, referring to tradition,

60 @avju,a<ria AKoucr/xara.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 61

and using other devices to cloak imposture. Yet alchemy
may be compared to the man who told his sons, he had left
them gold buried somewhere in his vineyard; where they,
by digging, found no gold, but by turning up the mould VI
about the roots of the vines, procured a plentiful vintage.
So the search and endeavors to make gold have brought
many useful inventions and instructive experiments to
light.63

Credulity in respect of certain authors, and making
them dictators instead of consuls, is a principal cause
that the sciences are no further advanced. For hence,
though in mechanical arts, the first inventor falls short,
time adds perfection; while in the sciences, the first au
thor goes furthest, and time only abates or corrupts. Thus
artillery, sailing, and printing, were grossly managed at the
first, but received improvement by time; while the philos
ophy and the sciences of Aristotle, Plato, Democritus, Hip
pocrates, Euclid, and Archimedes, flourished most in the
original authors, and degenerated with time. The reason,
is, that. in the mechanic arts, the capacities and industry
of many are collected together; whereas in sciences, the
capacities and industry of many have been spent upon
the invention of some one man, who has commonly been
thereby rather obscured than illustrated. For as water as
cends no higher than the level of the first spring, so knowl
edge derived from Aristotle will at most rise no higher again
than the knowledge of Aristotle. And therefore, though a
scholar must have faith in his master, yet a man well in
structed must judge for himself; for learners owe to their

61 As among the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Arabians, if their histories,
are to be credited. In later times, they make copper out of iron, at Newsohl,
in Germany. See Agricola "De Re Metailica," Morhof, Fr. Hoffman, etc.
"While Brand of Hamburg was working upon urine, in order to find the phi
losopher's stone, he stumbled upon that called KunckeFs burning phosphorus,
in the year 1669. See Mem. de 1'Acad. Royal, des Sciences, an 1692~ And
M. Homberg operating upon human excrement, for an oil to convert quicksilver
into silver, accidentally produced what we now call the black phosphorus, a
powder which readily takes fire and burns like a coal in the open air. See
Mem. de 1'Aead. an 1711. To give all the instances of this kind were almost
endless. — Ed.

62 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

masters only a temporary belief, and a suspension of their
own judgment till they are fully instructed, and not an
absolute resignation or perpetual captivity. Let great au
thors, therefore, have their due, but so as not to defraud
time, which is the author of authors, and the parent of
truth.

Besides the three diseases of learning above treated,
there are some other peccant humors, which, falling under
popular observation and reprehension, require to be par-*
ticularly mentioned. The first is the affecting of two ex
tremes; antiquity and novelty: wherein the children of
time seem to imitate their father; for as he devours his
children, so they endeavor to devour each other; while
antiquity envies new improvements, and novelty is not
content to add without defacing. The advice of the
prophet is just in this case: "Stand upon the old ways,
and see which is the good way, and. walk therein."62 For
antiquity deserves that men should stand awhile upon it,
to view around which is the best way; but when the dis
covery is made, they should stand no longer, but proceed
with cheerfulness. And to speak the truth antiquity, as
we call it, is the young state of the world; for those times
are ancient when the world is ancient; and not those we
vulgarly account ancient by computing backward; so that
the present time is the real antiquity.

Another error, proceeding from the former, is, a dis
trust that anything should be discovered in later times
that was not hit upon before; as if Lucian's objection
against the *gods lay also against time. lie pleasantly
asks why the gods begot so many children in the first
ages, but none in his days; and whether they were grown
too old for generation, or were restrained by the Papiau
law, which prohibited old men from marrying?63 For thus
we seem apprehensive that time is worn out, and become
unfit for generation. And here we have a remarkable in
stance of the levity and inconstancy of man's humor; which,
62 Jeremiah vi. 16. 63 Seriec. imput. ap. Lact. Instit. i. 26, 13.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 63

before a thing is effected, thinks it impossible, and as soon
as it is done, wonders it was not done before. So the ex
pedition of Alexander into Asia was at first imagined a
vast and impracticable enterprise, yet Livy afterward
makes so light of it as to say, "It was but bravely ven
turing to despise vain opinions."64 And the case was the
same in Columbus's discovery of the West Indies. But this
happens much more frequently in intellectual matters, as we
see in most of the propositions of Euclid, which, till dem- A
onstrated, seem strange, but when demonstrated, the mind l
receives them by a kind of affinity, as if we had known
them before.

Another error of the same nature is an imagination that
of all ancient opinions or sects, the best has ever prevailed,
and suppressed the rest; so that if a man begins a new search,
he must happen upon somewhat formerly rejected; and by
rejection, brought into oblivion; as if the multitude, or the
wiser sort to please the multitude, would not often give way
to what is light and popular, rather than maintain what is
substantial and deep.

Another different error is, the over-early and peremp
tory reduction of knowledge into arts and methods, from
which time the sciences are seldom improved ; for as young
men rarely grow in stature after their shape and limbs are
fully formed, so knowledge, while it lies in aphorisms and
observations, remains in a growing state; but when once
fashioned into methods, though it may be further polished,
illustrated, and fitted for use, it no longer increases in bulk
and substance.

Another error is, that after the distribution of particular
arts and sciences, men generally abandon the study of na
ture, or universal philosophy, which stops all further prog
ress. For as no perfect view of a country can be taken
upon a flat, so it is impossible to discover the remote and
deep parts of any science by standing upon the level of the
same science, or without ascending to a higher.
64 "Nihil aliud quam bene ausus est, vana contemnere. "— Livy, b. 10, c. 17.

64 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

Another error proceeds from too great a reverence,
and a kind of adoration paid to the human understand
ing; whence men have withdrawn themselves from the
contemplation of nature and experience, and sported with
their own reason and the fictions of fancy. These intel-
lectualists, though commonly taken for the most sublime
and divine philosophers, are censured by Heraclitus, when
he says, "Men seek for truth in their own little worlds, and
not in the great world without them":66 and as they disdain
to spell, they can never come to read in the volume of God's
works; but on the contrary, by continual thought and agi
tation of wit, they compel their own genius to divine and
V deliver oracles, whereby they are deservedly deluded.

Another error is, that men often infect their speculations
and doctrines with some particular opinions they happen to
be fond of, or the particular sciences whereto they have most
applied, and thence give all other things a tincture that is
utterly foreign to them. Thus Plato mixed philosophy with
theology;66 Aristotle with logic; Proclus with mathematics;
as these arts were a kind of elder and favorite children with
them. So the alchemists have made a philosophy from a
few experiments of the furnace, and Gilbert another out of
the loadstone: in like manner, Cicero, when reviewing the
opinions on the nature of the soul, coming to that of a
musician, who held the soul was but a harmony, he pleas
antly said, "This man has not gone out of his art."87 But
of such authors Aristotle says well: "Those who take in
but a few considerations easily decide."68

65 Text Bmpir. against St. Math. vii. 133.

66 If it is true that God is the great spring of motion in the universe, as the
theory of moving forces is a part of mechanics and mechanics a department of
physics, we cannot see how theology can be entirely divorced from natural
philosophy. Physicists are too apt to consider the universe as eternally exist
ing, without contemplating it in its finite aspect as a series of existences to be
produced, and controlled by the force of laws externally impressed upon them.
Hence their theory of moving forces is incomplete, as they do not take the
prime mover into account, or supply us, in case of denying him, with the
equivalent of his action. — Ed.

67 "Hie ab arte sua non recessit." — Tuscul. Quaest. i. c. 10.

68 Arist. Do Gener. et Corrup. lib. 1.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 65

Another error is, an impatience of doubting and a blind
hurry of asserting without a mature suspension of judgment.
For the two ways of contemplation are like the two ways of
action so frequently mentioned by the ancients; the one plain
and easy at first, but in the end impassable; the other rough
and fatiguing in the entrance, but soon after fair and even:
so in contemplation, if we begin with certainties, we shall
end in doubts; but if we begin with doubts, and are patient
in them, we shall end in certainties.

Another error lies in the manner of delivering knowl
edge, which is generally magisterial and peremptory, not
ingenuous and open, but suited to gain belief without ex
amination. And in compendious treatises for practice, this
form should not be disallowed; but in the true delivering
of knowledge, both extremes are to be avoided; viz., that of
Velleius the Epicurean, who feared nothing so much as the
non-appearance of doubting;"69 and that of Socrates and
the Academics, who ironically doubted of all things: but
the true way is to propose things candidly, with more or
less asseveration, as they stand in a man's own judgment.

There are other errors in the scope that men propose to
themselves: for whereas the more diligent professors of any
science ought chiefly to endeavor the making some addi
tions or improvements therein, they aspire only to certain
second prizes; as to be a profound commentator, a sharp
disputant, a methodical compiler, or abridger, whence the
returns or revenues of knowledge are sometimes increased,
but not the inheritance and stock.

But the greatest error of all is, mistaking the ultimate
end of knowledge; for some men covet knowledge out of
a natural curiosity and inquisitive temper; some to enter
tain the mind with variety and delight; some for ornament
and reputation; some for victory and contention; many for
lucre and a livelihood; and but few for employing the
Divine gift of reason to the use and benefit of mankind.
Thus some appear to seek in knowledge a couch for a

69 Cicero, De Natura Deorurn, i. c. 8.

66 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

searching spirit; others, a walk for a wandering mind;
others, a tower of state; others, a fort, or commanding
ground; and others, a shop for profit or sale, instead of
a storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the endow
ment of human life. But that which must dignify and exalt
knowledge is the more intimate and strict conjunction of
contemplation and action; a conjunction like that of Saturn,
the planet of rest and contemplation; and Jupiter, the planet
of civil society and action. But here, by use and action, we
do not mean the applying of knowledge to lucre, for that
diverts the advancement of knowledge, as the golden ball
thrown before Atalanta, which, while she stoops to take up,
the race is hindered.

"Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit." — Ovid, Metam. x. 667.

Nor do we mean, as was said of Socrates, to call philosophy
down from heaven to converse upon earth:70 that is, to
leave natural philosophy behind, and apply knowledge only
to morality and policy: but as both heaven and earth con
tribute to the use and benefit of man, so the end ought to
be, from both philosophies, to separate and reject vain and
empty speculations, and preserve and increase all that is
solid and fruitful.

We have now laid open by a kind of dissection the chief
of those peccant humors which have not only retarded the
advancement of learning, but tended to its traducement.71
If we have cut too deeply, it must be remembered, "Fidelia
vulnera amantis, dolosa oscula malignantis."72 However, we
will gain credit for our commendations, as we have been
severe in our censures. It is, notwithstanding, far from our

70 Cicero, Tuscul. Quaest. v. c. 4.

11 To this catalogue of errors incident to learned men may be added, the
frauds and impostures of which they are sometimes guilty, to the scandal of
learning. Thus plagiarism, piracy, falsification, interpolation, castration, the
publishing of spurious books, and the stealing of manuscripts out of libraries,
have been frequent especially among ecclesiastical writers, and the Fratres
Falsarii. For instances of this kind, see Struvius "De Doctis Impostoribus, "
Morhof in "Polyhist. de Pseudonymis, Anonymis, etc.," Le Clerc's "Ars Crit-
ica," Cave's "Historia Literaria Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, " Father Simon,
and Mabillon. — Ed.

72 Prov. xxvii. 6.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 67

purpose to enter into fulsome laudations of learning, or to
make a hymn to the Muses, though we are of opinion that
it is long since their rites were celebrated; but our intent is
to balance the dignity of knowledge in the scale with other
things, and to estimate their true values according to uni
versal testimony.

Next, therefore, let us seek the dignity of knowledge in its
original; that is, in the attributes and acts of God, so far as
they are revealed to man, and may be observed with sobriety.
But here we are not to seek it by the name of learning; for
all learning is knowledge acquired, but all knowledge in God
is original: we must, therefore, look for it under the name
of wisdom or sapience, as the Scriptures call it.

In the work of creation we see a double emanation of
virtue from God; the one relating more properly to power,
the other to wisdom; the one expressed in making the
matter, and the other in disposing the form. This being
supposed, we may observe that, for anything mentioned
in the history of the creation, the confused mass of the
heavens and earth was made in a moment; whereas the
order and disposition of it was the work of six days: such
a mark of difference seems put between the works of power
and the works of wisdom; whence, it is not written that
God said, "Let there be heaven and earth," as it is of the
subsequent works; but actually, that "God made heaven
and earth"; the one carrying the style of a manufacture, //
the other that of a law, decree, or counsel.

To proceed from God to spirits. We find, as far as
credit may be given to the celestial hierarchy of the sup
posed Dionysius the Areopagite, the first place is given to
the angels of love, termed Seraphim; the second, to the
angels of light, called Cherubim; and the third and follow
ing places to thrones, principalities, and the rest, which are
all angels of power and ministry; so that the angels of
knowledge and illumination are placed before the angels
of office and domination. TS

13 See Dionys. Hierarch. 7, 8, 9.

68 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

To descend from spiritual and intellectual, to sensible
and material forms; we read the first created form was
light,74 which, in nature and corporeal things, hath a rela
tion and correspondence to knowledge in spirits, and things
incorporeal ; so, in the distribution of days, we find the day
wherein God rested and completed his works, was blessed
above all the days wherein he wrought them.75

After the creation was finished, it is said that man was
placed in the garden to work therein, which work could
only be work of contemplation; that is, the end of his work
was but for exercise and delight, and not for necessity: for
there being no reluctance of the creature, nor sweat of the
brow, man's employment was consequently matter of pleas
ure, not labor. Again, the first acts which man performed
in Paradise consisted of the two summary parts of knowl
edge, a view of the creature, and imposition of names.76

In the first event after the fall, we find an image of the
two states, the contemplative and the active, figured out in
the persons of Abel and Cain, by the two simplest and most
primitive trades, that of the shepherd and that of the hus
bandman;77 where again, the favor of God went to the shep
herd, and not to the tiller of the ground.

So in the age before the flood, the sacred records mention
the name of the inventors of music and workers in metal.78
In the age after the flood, the first great judgment of God
upon the ambition of man was the confusion of tongues,79
whereby the open trade and intercourse of learning and
knowledge was chiefly obstructed.

It is said of Moses, "Th'at he was learned in all the wis
dom of the Egyptians," 80 which nation was one of the most
ancient schools of the world; for Plato brings in the Egyp
tian priest saying to Solon, "You Grecians are ever chil
dren, having no knowledge of antiquity, nor antiquity of
knowledge." 81 In the ceremonial laws of Moses we find,

14 Gen. i. 3. 75 Gen. ii. 3. 76 Gen. ii. 19. " Gen. iv. 2.

** Gen. iv. 21, 22. 19 Gen. xi. *> Acts vii. 22. 81 Plat. Tim. iii. 22.

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that besides the prefiguration of Christ, the mark of the
people of God to distinguish them from the Grentiles,
the exercise of obedience, and other divine institutions,
the most learned of the rabbis have observed a natural
and some of them a moral sense in many of the rites and
ceremonies. Thus in the law of the leprosy, where it is
said, "If the whiteness have overspread the flesh, the
patient may pass abroad for clean; but if there be any
whole flesh remaining, he is to be shut up for unclean" 8a
— one of them notes a principle of nature, viz., that putre
faction is more contagious before maturity than after. An
other hereupon observes a position of moral philosophy,
that men abandoned to vice do not corrupt the manners of
others, so much as those who are but half wicked. And
in many other places of the Jewish law, besides the theo
logical sense, there are couched many philosophical matters.
The book of Job83 likewise will be found, if examined with
care, pregnant with the secrets of natural philosophy. For
example, when it says, "Qui extendit Aquilonem super
vacuum, et appendit terram super nihilum," the suspension
of the earth and the convexity of the heavens are manifestly
alluded to. Again, "Spiritus ejus ornavit caelos, et obste-
tricante maim ejus eductus est coluber tortuosus;" 84 and
in another place, "Numquid conjungere valebis micantes
Stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?" 88
where the immutable88 configuration of the fixed stars, ever
preserving the same position, is with elegance described.
So in another place: "Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et
Hyadas,87 et interiora Austri," 88 where he again refers to

82 Leviticus xiii. 12. 83 See Job xxvi. — xxxviii.

84 Job xxvi. 7, 13. s5 xxxviii. 31.

86 That is, to Job, who cannot be supposed to know what telescopes only
have revealed, that stars change their declination with unequal degrees of mo
tion. It is clear, therefore, that their distances must be variable, and that in
the end the figures of the constellations will undergo mutation ; as this change,
however, will not be perceptible for thousands of years, it hardly comes within
the limit of man's idea of mutation, and therefore, with regard to him, may be
aaid to have no existence. — Ed.

81 The Hyades nearly approach the letter Y in appearance.

88 The crown of stars which forms a kind of imperfect circle near Arcturus.

70 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

the depression of the South Pole in the expression of "in-
teriora Ausfcri," because the southern stars are not seen
in our hemisphere.8" Again, what concerns the generation
of living creatures, he says, "Annon sicut lac mulsisti me,
et sicut caseum coagulasti me?"90 and touching mineral
subjects, "Habet argentum venarum suarum principia, et
auro locus est, in quo conflatur; ferrum de terra tollitur,
et lapsis solutus calore in aes vertitur,"91 and so forward
in the same chapter.

Nor did the dispensation of God vary in the times after
our Saviour, who himself first showed his power to subdue
ignorance, by conferring with the priests and doctors of the
law, before he showed his power to subdue nature by mira
cles. And the coming of the Holy Spirit was chiefly ex
pressed in the gift of tongues, which are but the conveyance
of knowledge.

So in the election of those instruments it pleased God
to use for planting the faith, though at first he employed
persons altogether unlearned, otherwise than by inspiration,
the more evidently to declare his immediate working, and to
humble all human wisdom or knowledge, yet in the next
succession he sent out his divine truth into the world,
attended with other parts of learning as with servants or
handmaids; thus St. Paul, who was the only learned among
the apostles, had his pen most employed in the writings of
the New Testament.

Again, we find that many of the ancient bishops and
fathers of the Church were well versed in all the learning
of the heathens, insomuch that the edict of the Emperor
Julian prohibiting Christians the schools and exercises, was
accounted a more pernicious engine against the faith than
all the sanguinary persecution of his predecessors.92 Neither

89 It is not true that all the southern stars are invisible in our hemisphere.
The text applies only to those whose southern declination is greater than the
elevation of the equator over their part of the horizon, or, which is the same
thing, than the complement of the place's latitude. — Ed.

w x. 10. 91 xxviii. 1.

w Epist. ad Jamblic. Gibbon, vol ii. c. 23.

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could Gregory the First, bishop of Home, ever obtain the
opinion of devotion even among the pious, for designing,
though otherwise an excellent person, to extinguish the
memory of heathen antiquity.93 But it was the Christian
Church which, amid the inundations of the Scythians from
the northwest and the Saracens from the east, preserved in
her bosom the relics even of heathen learning, which had
otherwise been utterly extinguished. And of late years
the Jesuits, partly of themselves and partly provoked by
example, have greatly enlivened and strengthened the state
of learning, and contributed to establish the Eoman See.

There are, therefore, two principal services, besides orna
ment and illustration, which philosophy and human learning
perform to faith and religion, the onePeffectually exciting
to" the exaltation of God's glory, and the other^ affording
a singular preservative against unbelief and error. Our
Saviour says, "Ye err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the
power of God";94 thus laying before us two books to study, v
if we will be secured from error; viz., the Scriptures, which
reveal the will of God, and the creation, which expresses
his power; the latter whereof is a key to the former, and
not only opens our understanding to conceive the true sense
of the Scripture by the general notions of reason and the
rules of speech, but chiefly opens our faith in drawing us
to a due consideration of the omnipotence of God, which
is stamped upon hi$ works. And thus much for Divine
testimony concerning the dignity and merits of learning.

Next for human proois. Deification was the highest
honor among the heathens; that is, to obtain veneration
as a god was the supreme respect which man could pay to
man, especially when given, not by a formal act of state as
it usually was to the Roman emperors, but from a volun
tary, internal assent and acknowledgment. This honor
being so high, there was also constituted a middle kind,
for human honors were inferior to honors heroical and di-

93 Gibbon, vol. iv. c. 45. 94 Matt. xxii. 29.

72 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

vine. Antiquity observed this difference in their distribu
tion, that whereas founders of states, lawgivers, extirpers
of tyrants, fathers of the people, and other eminent per
sons in civil merit, were honored but with the titles of
heroes, or demigods, such as Hercules, Theseus, Minos,
Romulus, etc. Inventors, and authors of new arts or dis
coveries for the service of human life, were ever advanced
among the gods, as in the case of Ceres, Bacchus, Mercury,
Apollo, and others. And this appears to have been done
with great justice and judgment, for the merits of the
former being generally confined within the circle of one
age or nation, are but like fruitful showers, which serve
only for a season and a small extent, while the others are
like the benefits of the sun, permanent and universal.
Again, the former are mixed with strife and contention,
while the latter have the true character of the Divine
presence, as coming in a gentle gale without noise or
tumult.

The merit of learning in remedying the inconveniences
arising from man to man, is not much inferior to that of
relieving human necessities. This merit was livelily de
scribed by the ancients in the fiction of Orpheus' theatre,
where all the beasts and birds assembled, and forgetting
their several appetites, stood sociably together listening to
the harp, whose sound no sooner ceased, or was drowned
by a louder, but they all returned to their respective na
tures; for thus men are full of savage and unreclaimed de
sires, which as long as we hearken to precepts, laws, and
religion, sweetly touched with eloquence and persuasion, so
long is society and peace maintained; but if these instru
ments become silent, or seditions and tumult drown their
music, all things fall back to confusion and anarchy.

This appears more manifestly when princes or governors
are learned; for though he might be thought partial to his
profession who said, "States would then be happy, when
either kings were philosophers, or philosophers kings";95

95 Plato (De Republica, b. 5) ii. 475.

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yet so much is verified by experience, that the best times
have happened under wise and learned princes; for though
kings may have their errors and vices, like other men, yet
if they are illuminated by learning, they constantly retain
such notions of religion, policy, and morality, as may pre
serve them from destructive and irremediable errors or ex
cesses; for these notions will whisper to them, even while
counsellors and servants stand mute. Such senators like
wise as are learned proceed jipon more safe and substan
tial principles than mere men of experience — the former
view dangers afar off, while the latter discover them not
till they are at hand, and then trust to their wit to avoid
them. This felicity of times under learned princes appears
eminent in the age between the death of Domitian and the
reign of Commodus, comprehending a succession of six
princes, all of them learned, or singular favorers and pro
moters of learning. And this age, for temporal respects,
was the happiest and most flourishing that ever the Koman
State enjoyed; as was revealed to Domitian in a dream the
night before he was slain,96 when he beheld a neck and head
of gold growing upon his shoulders; a vision which was, in
the golden times succeeding this divination, fully accom
plished. For his successor Nerva was a learned prince, a
familiar friend and acquaintance of Apollonius, who ex
pired reciting that line of Homer — "Phoebus, with thy
darts revenge our tears."97 Trajan, though not learned
himself, was an admirer of learning, a munificent patron
of letters, and a founder of libraries. Though the taste
of his court was warlike, professors and preceptors were
found there in great credit and admiration. Adrian was
the greatest inquirer that ever lived, and an insatiable ex
plorer into everything curious and profound. Antoninus,
possessing the patient and subtile mind of a scholastic, ob
tained the sobriquet of Cyrnini Sector, or splitter of cumin-
seed.98 Of the two brothers who were raised to the rank

96 Suetonius, Life of Domitian, c. 23. 97 Iliad, i. 42.

"Unum de istis puto qui cuminum secant." — Julian. Caes.
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —4

74 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

of gods, Lucius Commodus was versed in a more elegant
kind of learning, and Marcus was surnamed the philoso
pher. These princes excelled the rest in virtue and good
ness as much as they surpassed them in learning. Nerva
was a mild philosopher, and who, if he had done nothing
else than give Trajan to the world, would have sufficiently
distinguished himself. Trajan was most famous and re
nowned above all the emperors for the arts both of peace
and war. He enlarged the bounds of empire, marked out
its limits and its power. He was, in addition, so great
a builder, that Constantine used to call him Parietaria, or
Wallflower," his name being carved upon so many walls.
Adrian strove with time for the palm of duration, arid re
paired its decays and ruins wherever the touch of its scythe
had appeared. Antoninus was pious in name and nature.
His nature and innate goodness gained him the reverence
and affection of all classes, ages, and conditions; and his
reign, like his life, was long and unruffled by storms. Lu
cius Commodus, though not so perfect as his brother, ex
ceeded many of the emperors in virtue. Marcus, formed
by nature to be the model of every excellence, was so fault
less, that Silenus, when he took his seat at the banquet of
the gods, found nothing to carp at in him but his patience
in humoring his wife.100 Thus, in the succession of these
six princes, we may witness the happy fruits of learning in
sovereignty painted in the great table of the world.

Nor has learning a less influence on military genius than
on merit employed in the state, as may be observed in the
lives of Alexander the Great and Julius Ca3sar, a few ex
amples of which it will not be impertinent here to notice.

Alexander was bred under Aristotle,101 certainly a great
philosopher, who dedicated several of his treatises to him.
He was accompanied by Calisthenes and several other learned
persons both in his travels and conquests. The value this

99 BoTai>Tj TOI'XOU. He Called Adrian epyaXeiov

100 Julian. Csesares.

101 ]?or these anecdotes see Plutarch's life of Alex.

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great monarch set upon learning appears in the envy he
expressed of Achilles' great fortune in having so good a
trumpet of his actions and prowess as Homer's verses; in
the judgment he gave concerning what object was most
worthy to be inclosed in the cabinet of Darius found
among his spoils, which decided the question in favor of
Homer's works; in his reprehensory letter to Aristotle,
when chiding his master for laying bare the mysteries of
philosophy, he gave him to understand that himself es
teemed it more glorious to excel others in learning and
knowledge than in power and empire. As to his own
erudition, evidences of its perfection shine forth in all
his speeches and writing, of which, though only small
fragments have come down to us, yet even these are
richly impressed with the footsteps of the moral sciences.
For example, take his words to Diogenes, and judge if
they do not inclose the very kernel of one of the greatest
questions in moral philosophy, viz., whether the enjoy
ment or the contempt of earthly things leads to the great
est happiness; for upon seeing Diogenes contented with so
little, he turned round to his courtiers, who were deriding
the cynic's condition, and said, "If I were not Alexander,
I would be Diogenes." (But Seneca, in his comparison,
gives the preference to Diogenes, saying that Diogenes had
more things to n f use than it was in the disposition of Alex
ander to confer.)102 For his skill in natural science, observe
his customary saying, that he felt his mortality chiefly in
two things — sleep and lust.103 This expression, pointing as
it does to the indigence and redundance of nature manifested
by these two harbingers of death, savors more of an Aris
totle and a Democritus than of an Alexander. In poesy,
regard him rallying in his wounds one of his flatterers, who
was wont to ascribe unto him Divine honor. "Look,"
said he, "this is the blood of a rnan — not such liquor as
Homer speaks of, which ran from Genus's hand when it

102 Seneca de Benef. v. 5. 103 Vid. Seneca, Ep. Mor. vi. 7.

76 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

was pierced by Diomedes."104 In logic, observe, in addi
tion to his power of detecting fallacies and confuting or re
torting arguments, his rebuke to Cassander, who ventured
to confute the arraigners of Antipater, his father, Alexan
der having incidentally asked, "Do you think these men
would come so far to complain, except they had just
cause?" Cassander replied, "That was the very thing
which had given them courage, since they hoped that the
length of the journey would entirely clear them of calum
nious motives." "See," said Alexander, "the subtilty of
Aristotle, taking the matter pro and con.11 Nevertheless
he did not shrink to turn the same art to his own advan
tage which he reprehended in others; for, bearing a secret
grudge to Calisthenes, upon that rhetorician having drawn
down great applause by delivering, as was usual at ban
quets, a spontaneous discourse in praise of the Macedonian
nation, Alexander remarked, that it was easy to be eloquent
upon a good topic, and requested him to change his note,
and let the company hear what he could say against them.
Calisthenes obeyed the request with such sharpness and
vivacity, that Alexander interrupted him, saying, "That
a perverted mind, as well as a choice topic, would breed
eloquence." As regards rhetoric, consider his rebuke of
Antipater, an imperious and tyrannous governor, when one
of Antipater's friends ventured to extol his moderation to
Alexander, saying that he had not fallen into the Persian
pride of wearing the purple, but still retained the Macedo
nian habit. "But Antipater," replied Alexander, "is all
purple within."105 Consider also that other excellent meta
phor which he used to Parmenio, when that general showed
him, from the plains of Arbella, the innumerable multitude
of his enemies, which, viewed as they lay encamped in the
night, represented a host of stars; and thereupon advised
Alexander to assail them at once. The hero rejected the
proposition, saying, "I will not steal a victory." As con-

104 Iliad, iv. 340. 105 oAoTroptfvpo?. Apop. Reg. et Imp.

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cerns policy, weigh that grave and wise distinction, which
all ages have accepted, which he made between his two
chief friends, Hephaestion and Craterus, saying, "That the
one loved Alexander, and the other the king." Also ob
serve how he rebuked the error ordinary with counsellors
of princes, which leads them to give advice according to
the necessity of their own interest and fortune, and not of
their master's. When Darius had made certain proposals
to Alexander, Parmenio said, "I would accept these con
ditions if I were Alexander." Alexander replied, "So
surely would 1 were 1 Parmenio." Lastly, consider his
reply to his friends, who asked him what he would re
serve for himself, since he lavished so many valuable gifts
upon others. "Hope," said Alexander, who well knew
that, all accounts being cleared — "hope is the true inher
itance of all that resolve upon great enterprises." This
was Julius Caesar's portion when he went into Gaul, all
his estate being exhausted by profuse largess. And it was
also the portion of that noble prince, howsoever transported
with ambition, Henry, Duke of Guise; for he was pronounced
the greatest usurer in all France, because all his wealth was
in names, and he had turned his whole estate into obliga
tions. But perhaps the admiration of this prince in the
light, not of a great king, but as Aristotle's scholar, has
carried me too far.

As regards Julius Caesar, his learning is not only evinced
in his education, company, and speeches, but in a greater
degree shines forth in such of his works as have descended
to us. In the Commentary, that excellent history which he
has left us, of his own wars, succeeding ages have admired
the solidity of the matter, the vivid passages and the lively
images of actions and persons, expressed in the greatest
propriety of diction and perspicuity of narration. That
this excellence of style was not the effect of undisciplined
talent, but also of learning and precept, is evident from that
work of his, entitled "De Analog! a," Joe in which he pro-

106 Vid. Cic. Brutus, 72.

T8 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

pounds the principles of grammatical philosophy, and en
deavors to fashion mere conventional forms to congraity
of expression, taking, as it were, the picture of words from
the life of reason. We also perceive another monument of
his genius and learning in the reformation of the Calendar,
in accomplishing which he is reported to have said that he
esteemed it as great a glory to himself to observe and know
the law of the heavens, as to give laws to men upon earth.
In his Anti-Cato,107 he contended as much for the palm of
wit as he strove in his battles for victory, and did not shrink
from confronting the greatest champion of the pen in those
times, Cicero the orator. Again, in his book of apo
thegms, he deemed it more honorable to note the wise say
ings of others, than to record every word of his own as an
oracle or apothegm, as many vain princes are by flattery
urged to do.108 And yet, should I enumerate any of them,
as I did before those of Alexander, we should find them
to be such as Solomon points to in the saying, "Verba
sapientum tanquam aculei, et tanquam clavi in altum de-
fixi."109 Of these, however, I shall only relate three, not
so remarkable for elegance as for vigor and efficacy. He
who could appease a mutiny in his army by a word, must
certainly be regarded as a master of language. This Caesar
performed under the following circumstances. The gen
erals always addressed the army as milites; the magistrates,
on the other hand, in their charges to the people, used the
word Quirites. Now the soldiers being in tumult, and
feignedly praying to be disbanded, with a view to draw
Caesar to other conditions, the latter resolved not to suc
cumb, and after a short pause, began his speech with "Ego,
Quirites,"110 which implied they were at once cashiered:
upon which, the soldiers were so astonished and confused
that they relinquished their demands, and begged to be
addressed by the old appellation of milites. The second

107 Vid. Cic. ad Att. xii. 40, 41 ; xiii. 50 ; and Top. xxv.

108 Cic. ad Fam. ix. 16. 109 Eccl. xii. 11.
»' Suet. Life Jul. Cses. e. 70.

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saying thus transpired. Caesar extremely affected the name
of king, and some were set on to salute him with that title
as he passed by. Caesar, however, finding the cry weak and
poor, put it off thus in a kind of jest, as if they had mis
taken his surname: "Non rex sum, sed Caesar," 1U I am not
king, but Caesar, 112 an expression, the pregnancy of which
it is difficult to exhaust; for first, it was a refusal of the
name, though not serious; again, it displa}7ed infinite con
fidence and magnanimity in presuming Caesar to be the
greater title, a presumption which posterity has fully
confirmed. But chiefly the expression is to be admired as
betraying a great incentive to his designs, as if the state
strove with him for a mere name, with which even mean
families were invested. For Kex was a surname with the
.Romans, as well as King is with us. The last saying I shall
mention, refers to Metellus: as soon as Caesar had seized
Kome, he made straightway to the aerarium to seize the
money of the state; but Metellus being tribune, forestalled
his purpose, and denied him entrance: whereupon Caesar
threatened, if he did not desist, to lay him dead on the
spot. But presently checking himself, added, "Adolescens,
durius est mihi hoc dicere quam facere"; Young man, it
is harder for me to say this than to do it.113 A sentence
compounded of the greatest terror and clemency that could
proceed out of the mouth of man. But to conclude with
Caasar. It is evident he was quite aware of his proficiency
in this respect, from his scoffing at the idea of the strange
resolution of Sylla, which some one expressed about his
resignation of the dictatorship: "Sylla," said Caesar, "was
unlettered, and therefore knew not how to dictate." 114

And here we should cease descanting on the concurrence

111 Suet. Life Jul. Gees. 79.

112 The point of this expression arises from the absence of the article in the
Latin tongue, which made rex, a king, exactly convertible with the title of
those families who bore Rex for their surname. With us, also, there are many
individuals who bear the name of King, and among the French the name Roi is
not uncommon. — Ed.

113 Plutarch; cf. Cic. ad Att. x. 8. 114 Suet. Life, Ixxvii.

80 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

of military virtue with learning, as no example could come
with any grace after Alexander and Caesar, were it not for
an extraordinary case touching Xenophon, which raised
that philosopher from the depths of scorn to the highest
pinnacle of admiration. In his youth, without either com
mand or experience, that philosopher followed the expedi
tion of Cyrus the younger against Artaxerxes, as a volun
teer, to enjoy the love and conversation of his friend Prox-
enus. 116 Cyrus being slain on the field, Falinus came to the
remnant of his army with a message from the king, who,
presuming on the fewness of their number, and the perilous
nature of their position in the midst of foreign enemies, cut
off from their country by many navigable rivers, and many
hundred miles, had dared to command them to surrender
their army, and submit entirely to his mercy. Before an
answer was returned, the heads of the army conferred
familiarly with Falinus, and among the rest Xenophon
happened to say, "Why, Falinus, we have only these two
things left, our arms and our virtue, and if we yield up
our arms, how can we make use of our virtue?" Falinus,
with an ironical smile, replied, "If I be not deceived, young
man, you are an Athenian; and I believe you study phi
losophy, as you talk admirably well. But you grossly
deceive yourself if you think your courage can withstand
the king's power." 116 Here was the scorn, but the wonder
followed. This young philosopher, just emerged from the
school of Socrates, after all the chieftains of the army had
been murdered by treason, conducted those ten thousand
foot through the heart of the king's territories, from Baby
lon to Grsecia, untouched by any of the king's forces. The
world, at this act of the young scholar, was stricken with
astonishment, and the Greeks encouraged in succeeding
ages to invade the kings of Persia. Jason the Thessalian
proposed the plan, Agesilaus the Spartan attempted its exe
cution, and Alexander the Macedonian finally achieved the
conquest.

115 Xen. Anab. ii. toward the end. ne Xen. Anab. ii. 1—12.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 81

To proceed from imperial and military, to moral and
private virtue; it is certain that learning softens the bar
barity and fierceness of men's minds, according to the poet,

"Scilicet ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
Emollit mores, nee sinit esse feros

" m

Bat then it must not be superficial, for this rather works a
contrary effect. Solid learning prevents all levity, temer
ity, and insolence, by suggesting doubts and difficulties,
- and inuring the mind to balance the reasons on both sides,
and reject the first offers of things, or to accept of nothing
but what is first examined and tried. It prevents vain ad
miration, which is the root of all weakness: things being
admired either because they are new, or because they are
great. As for novelty, no man can wade deep in learning,
without discovering that he knows nothing thoroughly; nor
can we wonder at a puppet-show, if we look behind the
curtain. With regard to greatness; as Alexander, after
having been used to great armies, and the conquests of
large provinces in Asia, when he received accounts of bat
tles from Greece, which were commonly for a pass, a fort,
or some walled town, imagined he was but reading Homer's
battle of the frogs and the mice; so if a man considers the
universal frame, the earth and its inhabitants will seem to \
him but as an anthill, where some carry grain, some their
young, some go empty, and all march but upon a little heap
of dust.

Learning also conquers or mitigates the fear of death and ;
adverse fortune, which is one of the greatest impediments
to virtue and morality; for if a man's mind be deeply sea
soned with the consideration of the mortality and corrup
tibility of things, he will be as little affected as Epictetus,
who one day seeing a woman weeping for her pitcher that
was broken, and the next day a woman weeping for her son
that was dead, said calmly, " Yesterday I saw a brittle thing

117 Ovid. Ep. Pont. ii. ix. 47.

82 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

broken, and to-day a mortal die."118 And hence Virgil
excellently joined the knowledge of causes and the conquer
ing of fears together as concomitants:

"Felix qui potuil rerum cognoscere causas,
Quique metus oranes, et inexorabile fatum,
Subjecit pedibus; strepiturnque Acherontis avari." U9

It were tedious to enumerate the particular remedies
which learning affords for all the diseases of the mind,
sometimes by purging the morbific humors, sometimes
by opening obstructions, helping, digestion, increasing the
appetite, and sometimes healing exulcerations, etc. Bat
to sum up all, it disposes the mind not to fix or settle in
defects, but to remain ever susceptible of improvement
and reformation; for the illiterate person knows not what
it is to descend into himself, or call himself to an account,
nor the agreeableness of that life which is daily sensible of
its own improvement; he may perhaps learn to show and
employ his natural talents, but not increase them; he will
learn to hide and color his faults, but not to amend them,
like an unskilful mower, who continues to mow on without
whetting his scythe. The man of learning, on the contrary,
always joins the correction and improvement of his mind
with the use and employment thereof. To conclude, truth
and goodness differ but as the seal and the impression ; for
\ truth imprints goodness, while the storms of vice and per
turbation break from the clouds of error and falsehood.

From moral virtue we proceed to examine whether any
power be equal to that afforded by knowledge. Dignity of
command is always proportionable to the dignity of the
commanded. To have command over brutes as a herdsman.
( is a mean thing; to have command over children as a
j schoolmaster is a matter of small honor; and to have com
mand over slaves is rather a disgrace than an honor. Nor
is the command of a tyrant much better over a servile

118 See Epictetus, Enchir. c. 33, with the comment of Simplicius.

119 Georg. ii. 490.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 83

and degenerate people; whence honors in free monarchies
and republics have ever been more esteemed than in tyran
nical governments, because to rule a willing people is more
honorable than to compel. But the command of knowledge (
is higher than the command over a free people, as being \\
a command over the reason, opinion, and understanding of
men, which are the noblest -faculties of the mind that govern
the will itself; for there is no power on earth that can set up
a throne in the spirits of men but knowledge and learning;
whence the detestable and extreme pleasure wherewith arch-
heretics, false prophets, and impostors are transported upon
finding they have a dominion over the faith and consciences
of men, a pleasure so great, that if once tasted scarce any
torture or persecution can make them forego it. But as this
is what the Apocalypse calls the depths of Satan,120 so the
just and lawful rule over men's understanding by the evi
dence of truth and gentle persuasion, is what approaches
nearest to the Divine sovereignty.

With regard to honors and private fortune, the benefit
of learning is not so confined to states as not likewise to
reach particular persons; for it is an old observation, that
Homer has given more men their livings than Sylla, CaBsar,
or Augustus, notwithstanding their great largesses. And
it is hard to say whether arms or learning have advanced
the greater numbers. In point of sovereignty, if arms or
descent have obtained the kingdom, yet learning has ob
tained the priesthood, which was ever in competition with
empire.

Again, the pleasure and delight of knowledge and learn
ing surpass all others; for if the pleasures of the affections
exceed the pleasures of the senses as much as the obtain
ing a desire or a victory exceeds a song or a treat, shall not
the pleasures of the understanding exceed the pleasures
of the affections ? In all other pleasures there is a satiety,
and after use their verdure fades; which shows they are but

120 Rev. ii. 24.

8-1 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

deceits and fallacies, and that it was the novelty which
pleased, not the quality; whence voluptuous men fre
quently turn friars, and ambitious princes melancholy.
But of knowledge there is no satiety, for here gratifica
tion and appetite are perpetually interchanging, and con
sequently this is good in itself, simply, without fallacy or
accident. Nor is that a small pleasure and satisfaction to
the mind, which Lucretius describes to this effect181: "It is
a scene of delight to be safe on shore and see a ship tossed
at sea, or to be in a fortification and see two armies join
battle upon a plain. But it is a pleasure incomparable for
the mind to be seated by learning in the fortress of truth,
and from thence to view the errors and labors of others."

To conclude. The dignity and excellence of knowledge
and learning is what human nature most aspires to for the
securing of immortality, which is also endeavored after by
raising and ennobling families, by buildings, foundations,
and monuments of fame, and is in effect the bent of all
other human desires. But we see how much more durable
the monuments of genius and learning are than those of the
hand. The verses of Homer have continued above five and
twenty hundred years without loss, in which time number
less palaces, temples, castles, and cities have been demol
ished and are fallen to ruin. It is impossible to have the
true pictures or statues of Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, or
the great personages of much later date, for the originals
cannot last, and the copies must lose life and truth; but
the images of men's knowledge remain in books, exempt
from the injuries of time, and capable of perpetual renova
tion. Nor are these properly called images; because they
generate still, and sow their seed in the minds of others, so
as to cause infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages.
~ If, therefore, the invention of a ship was thought so noble,
which carries commodities from place to place and conso-

121 k 'Suave mari magno turbantibus sequora ventis, " etc. De Rerum Natura,
ii. 1-13.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 85

ciateth the remotest regions in participation of their fruits,
how much more are letters to be valued, which, like ships,
pass through the vast ocean of time, and convey knowledge
and inventions to the remotest ages? Nay, some of the
philosophers who were most immersed in the senses, and
denied the immortality of the soul, yet allowed that what
ever motions the spirit of man could perform without the
organs of the body might remain after death, which are
only those of the understanding, and not of the affections,
so immortal and incorruptible a thing did knowledge appear
to them.1" And thus having endeavored to do justice to
the cause of knowledge, divine and human, we shall leave
Wisdom to be justified of her children.123

SECOND BOOK
CHAPTER I

General Divisions of Learning into History, Poetry, and Philosophy, in re
lation to the Three Faculties of the Mind — Memory, Imagination, and
Reason. The same Distribution applies to Theology

TO THE KING

IT IS befitting, excellent king, that those who are blessed
with a numerous offspring, and who have a pledge in
their descendants that their name will be carried down
to posterity, should be keenly alive to the welfare of future
times, in which their children are to perpetuate their power
and empire. Queen Elizabeth, with respect to her celibacy,
was rather a sojourner than an inhabitant of the present
world, yet she was an ornament to her age and prosperous

122 The merits of learning have been incidentally shown by many, but ex
pressly by few. Among the latter may be included Johannes Wouwerius de
Polymathia, Gulielmus Budaeus de Philologia, Morhof in ''Hist. Polyhistor. , " and
Stollius in "Introduct. in Historians Literariam." To these may be added,
Baron Spanheim, M. Perault, Sir William Temple, Gibbon, and Milton. — Ed.
' 123 Matt. xi. 19.

86 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

in many of her undertakings. But to your Majesty, whom
God has blessed with so much royal issue, worthy to im
mortalize your name, it particularly appertains to extend
your cares beyond the present age, which is already illu
minated with your wisdom, and extend your thoughts to
those works which will interest remotest posterity. Of such
designs, if affection do not deceive me, there is none more
worthy and noble than the endowment of the world with
sound and fruitful knowledge. For why should a few
favorite authors stand up like Hercules' Columns, to bar
further sailing and discovery, especially since we have so
bright and benign a star in your Majesty to guide and
conduct us?

It remains, therefore, that we consider the labors which
princes and others have undertaken for the advancement
of learning, and this markedly and pointedly, without di
gression or amplification. Let it then be granted, that to
the completion of any work munificent patronage is as
essential as soundness of direction and conjunction of
labors. The first multiplies energy, the second prevents
error, and the third compensates for human weakness. But
the principal of these is direction, or the pointing out and
the delineation of the direct way to the completion of the
object in view. For "claudus in via antevertit cursorem
extra viam"; and Solomon appositely says, "If the iron
is not pointed, greater strength is to be used" * — so what
really prevaileth over everything is wisdom, by which he
insinuates that a wise selection of means leads us more
directly to our object than a straining or accumulation of
strength. Without wishing to derogate from the merit of
those who in any way have advanced learning, this much
I have been led to say, from perceiving that their works
and acts have tended rather to the glory of their name than
the progression or proficiency of the sciences — to augment
the man of learning in the minds of philosophers, rather
than reform or elevate the sciences themselves.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 87

The institutions which relate to the extension of letters
are threefold; viz., schools and universities, books, and pro
fessors. For as water, whether of the dew of heaven or
spring of the earth, would speedily lose itself in the ground
unless collected into conduits and cisterns, so it seemeth this
excellent liquor of knowledge, whether it descend from
Divine inspiration or spring from human sense, would soon
hide itself in oblivion, unless, collected in books, traditions,
academies, and schools, it might find a permanent seat, and
a fructifying union of strength.

The works which concern the seats of learning are four —
buildings, endowments, privileges, and charters, which all
promote quietness and seclusion, freedom from cares and
anxieties. Such stations resemble those which Virgil pre
scribes for beehiving:

"Principio sedea apibus, statioque petenda
Quo neque sit ventia aditus." 8

The works which relate to books are two — first, libraries,
which are as the shrines where the bones of old saints full
of virtue lie buried; secondly, new editions of writers, with
correcter impressions, more faultless versions, more useful
commentaries, and more learned annotations.

Finally, the works which pertain to the persons of the
learned are, besides the general patronage which ought to
be extended to them, twofold. The foundation of professor
ships in sciences already extant, and in those not yet begun
or imperfectly elaborated.

These are, in short, the institutions OD which princes
and other illustrious men have uisnlayed their zeal for
letters. To me, dwelling upon each patron of letters, that
notion of Cicero occurs, which urged him upon his return
not to particularize, but to give general thanks-— "DifBcils
non aliqueni, in gratum quenquam, praeterire. '' ' 8 Bather
should we, conformably to Scripture, look forward to the

8 Georg. iv. 8.

3 Apocryphal Orat. post Repit. in Sen. xii. 30 ; cf. pro PI. xxx. 74.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

course we have yet to run, than regard the ground already
behind us.

First, therefore, I express my surprise, that among so
many illustrious colleges in Europe, all the foundations are
engrossed by the professions, none being left for the free
cultivation of the arts and sciences. Though men judge
well who assert that learning should be referred to action,
yet by reposing too confidently in this opinion, they are apt
to fall into the error of the ancient fable,4 which represented
the members of the body at war with the stomach, because
it alone, of all the parts of the frame, seemed to rest, and
absorb all the nourishment. For if any man esteem philoso
phy and every study of a general character to be idle, he
plainly forgets that on their proficiency the state of every
other learning depends, and that they supply strength and
force to its various branches. I mainly attribute the lame
progress of knowledge hitherto to the neglect or the inci
dental study of the general sciences. For if you want a
tree to produce more than its usual burden of fruit, it is not
anything you can do to the branches that will effect this
object, but the excitation of the earth about its roots and
increasing the fertility of the soil; nor must it be over
looked that this restriction of foundations and endowments
to professional learning has not only dwarfed the growth of
the sciences, but been prejudicial to states and governments
themselves. For since there is no collegiate course so free
>as to allow those who are inclined to devote themselves to
'history, modern languages, civil policy, and general litera
ture; princes find a dearth of able men to manage their
affairs and efficiently conduct the business of the common
wealth.

Since the founders of colleges plant, and those who
endow them water, we are naturally led to speak in this
place of the mean salaries apportioned to public lecture
ships, whether in the sciences or the arts. For such offices

4 Speech of Menenius Agrippa, Livy, ii. 32.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 8^

being instituted not for an ephemeral purpose, but for the
constant transmission and extension of learning, it is of
the utmost importance that the men selected to fill them
be learned and gifted. But it is idle to expect that the
ablest scholars will employ their whole energy and time
in such functions unless the reward be answerable to that
competency which may be expected from the practice of a
profession. The sciences will only flourish on the condition
of David's military law — that those who remain with the
baggage shall have equal part with those who descend to
the fight, otherwise the baggage will be neglected. Lec
turers being in like manner guardians of the literary stores
whence those who are engaged in active service draw, it is
but just that their labors should be equally recompensed,
otherwise the reward of the fathers of the sciences not being
sufficiently ample, the verse will be realized —

"Et patrum invalid! referent jejunia nati." 6

The next deficiency we shall notice is, the want of phil
osophical instruments, in crying up which we are aided by
the alchemists, who call upon men to sell their books, and
to build furnaces, rejecting Minerva and the Muses as barren
virgins, and relying upon Yulcan. To study natural phi
losophy, physic, and many other sciences to advantage,
books are not the only essentials — other instruments are
required; nor has the munificence of men been altogether
wanting in their provisions. For spheres, globes, astrolabes,
maps, and the like, have been provided for the elucidation
of astronomy and cosmography; and many schools of medi
cine are provided with gardens for the growth of simples,
and supplied with dead bodies for dissection. But these
concern only a few things. In general, however, there will
be no inroad made into the secrets of nature unless experi
ments, be they of Vulcan or Da3dalus, furnace, engine, or
any other kind, are allowed for; and therefore as the secre-

* Virg. Georg. iii. 128.

90 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

taries and spies of princes and states bring in bills for intel
ligence, so you must allow the spies and intelligences of
nature to bring in their bills, or else you will be ignorant
of many things worthy to be known. And if Alexander
placed so large a treasure at Aristotle's command, for the
support of hunters, fowlers, fishers, and the like, in much
more need do they stand of this beneficence who unfold the
labyrinths of nature.

Another defect I discover is the neglect in vice-chancel
lors, heads of houses, princes, inspectors, and others, of
proper supervision or diligent inquiry into the course of
studies, with a view to a thorough reformation of such
parts as are ill suited to the age, or of unwise institution.
For it is one of your Majesty's sage maxims, that as re
spects customs and precedents, we must consider the times
in which they took their rise, since much is detracted from
their authority, if such are found feeble and ignorant. It
is, therefore, all the more requisite, since the university
statutes were framed in very obscure times, to institute an
inquiry into their origin. Of errors of this nature I will
give an example or two from such objects as are most ob
vious and familiar. The one is, that scholars are inducted
too early into logic and rhetoric — arts which, being the
cream of all others, are fitter for graduates than children
and novices. Now, being the gravest of the sciences, these
arts are composed of rules and directions, for setting forth
and methodizing the matter of the rest, and, therefore, for
rude and blank minds, who have not yet gathered that
which Cicero styles sylva and supellex6 matter, and fecun
dity, to begin with those arts is as if one were to paint or
measure the wind, and has no other effect than to degrade
the universal wisdom of these arts into childish sophistry
and contemptible affectation. This error has had the in
evitable result of rendering the treatises on those sciences
superficial, and dwarfing them to the capacities of children.

6 Sylva de Orat. iii. 26; Supellex Orat. xxiv.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 91

Another error to be noticed in the present academical system
is the separation between invention and memory, their exer- v
cises either being nothing but a set form of words, where
no play is given to the understanding, or extemporaneous,
in the delivery of which no room is left to the memory.
In practical life, however, a blending of the powers of judg
ment and memory is alone put into requisition, so that these
practices, not being adapted to the life of action, rather
pervert than discipline the mind. This defect is sooner dis
covered by scholars than by others, when they come to the
practice of the civil professions. We may conclude our
observations on university reform, with the expression of
Caesar in his letter to Oppius and Balbus: "Hoc quemad-
modum fieri possit, nonnulla mihi in mentem veniunt, et
multa reperiri possunt: de iis rebus rogo vos, ut cogita-
tionem suspcipiatis." T

The next want I discover is the little sympathy and cor
respondence which exists between colleges and universities,
as well throughout Europe as in the same state and king
dom. In this we have an example in many orders and so
dalities, which, though scattered over several sovereignties
and territories, yet enter into a kind of contract, fraternity,
and correspondence with one another, and are associated
under common provincials and generals. And, surely, as
nature creates brotherhood in families, and trades contract
brotherhood in communities,8 and the anointment of God
established a brotherhood in kings and bishops, in like
manner there should spring up a fraternity in learning, an
illumination, relating to that paternity which is attributed
to Grod, who is called the Father of lights.

Lastly, I may lament that no fit men have been engaged
to forward those sciences which yet remain in an unfinished

7 Cic. ad Att. ix. 7.

8 The original is sodality, or guild societies, which had their origin in the
Middle Ages, when members of the same calling formed a common fund and
joined in certain spiritual exercises, taking a saint for their patron out of the
Roman calendar. These institutions have since become commercial. — Ed.

92 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

state. To supply this want it may be of service to perform,
as it were, a lustrum of the sciences, and take account of
what have been prosecuted and what omitted. For the
idea of abundance is one of the causes of dearth; and
the multitude of books produces a deceitful impression
of superfluity. This, however, is not to be remedied by
destroying the books already written, but by making more
good ones, which, like the serpent of Moses, may devour
the serpents of the enchanters.9 The removal of the de
fects I have enumerated, except the last, are indeed opera
basilica, toward which the endeavors of one man can be
but as an image on a crossroad, which points out the way,
but cannot tread it. But as the survey of the sciences
which we have proposed lies within the power of a pri
vate individual, it is my intention to make the circuit of
knowledge, noticing what parts lie waste and unculti
vated, and abandoned by the industry of man, with a
view to engage, by a faithful mapping out of the de
serted tracks, the energies of public and private persons
in their improvement. My attention, however, is alone
confined to the discovery, not to the correction of errors.
For it is one thing to point out what land lies unculti
vated, and another thing to improve imperfect husbandry.
In completing this design, I am ignorant neither of the
greatness of the work nor my own incapacity. My hope,
however, is, that, if the extreme love of my subject carry
me too far, I may at least obtain the excuse of affection.
It is not granted to man to love and be wise: "ainare et
sapere. " On such topics opinion is free, and that liberty
of judgment which I exercise myself lies equally at the
disposition of all. And 1 for my part shall be as glad to
receive correction from others as I am ready to point out
defects myself. It is the common duty of humanity: "nam
qui erranti comiter monstrat viam."10 I, indeed, foresee
that many of the defects and omissions I shall point out

9 Exod. vii. 10. 10 Cic. de Off. i. 16.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 93

will be much censured, some as being already completed,
and others as too difficult to be effected. For the first ob
jection I must refer to the details of my subject; with re
gard to the last, I take it for granted that those works are
possible which may be accomplished by some person, though
not by every one; which may be done by many, though not
by one; which may be completed in the succession of ages,
though not within the hour-glass of one man's life; and
which may be reached by public effort, though not by private
endeavor. Nevertheless, if any man prefer the sentence of
Solomon — "Dicit piger, Leo est in via";11 to that of Virgil,
"possunt, quia posse videntur"12 — I shall be content to have
my labors received but as the better kind of wishes. For as
it requires some knowledge to ask an apposite question, he
also cannot be deemed foolish who entertains sensible desires.

The justest division of human learning is that derived
from the three different faculties of the soul, the seat of t.
learning: history being relative to the memory, poetry to
the imagination, and philosophy to the reason. By poetry
we understand no more than feigned history or fable, with
out regard at present to the poetical style. History is prop- ^s
erly concerned about individuals, circumscribed by time and /
place; so likewise is poetry, with this difference, that its in- \^.
dividuals are feigned, with a resemblance to true history, I
yet like painting, so as frequently to exceed it. But phi- • I
losophy, forsaking individuals, fixes upon notions abstracted \
from them, and is employed in compounding and separat- )
ing these notions according to the laws of nature and the /
evidence of things themselves.

Any one will easily perceive the justness of this divi
sion that recurs to the origin of our ideas. Individuals
first strike the sense, which is as it were the port or en
trance of the understanding. Then the understanding
ruminates upon these images or impressions received
from the sense, either simply reviewing them, or wan-

11 Prov. xxii. 13. 12 Virg. MK. v. 231.

94 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tonly counterfeiting and imitating them, or forming them
into certain classes by composition or separation. Thus
it is clearly manifest that history, poetry, and philosophy
flow from the three distinct fountains of the mind, viz.,
the memory, the imagination, and the reason; without any
possibility of increasing their number. For history and ex
perience are one and the same thing; so are philosophy and
the sciences.

Nor does divine learning require any other division ; for
though revelation and sense may differ both in matter and
manner, yet the spirit of man and its cells are the same;
and in this case receive, as it were, different liquors through
different conduits. Theology, therefore, consists — 1, of
sacred history; 2, parable, or divine poesy; and 3, of
holy doctrine or precept, as its fixed philosophy. As
for prophecy, which seems a part redundant, it is no
more than a species of history; divine history having
this prerogative over human, that the narration may pre
cede, as well as succeed the fact.

CHAPTER II

History divided into Natural and Civil; Civil subdivided into Ecclesiastical
and Literary. The Division of Natural History according to the sub
ject matter, into the History of Generations, of Prseter-Grenerations,
and the Arts

H1STOKY is either natural or civil: the natural records
the works and acts of nature; the civil, the works
and acts of men. Divine interposition is unques
tionably seen in both, particularly in the affairs of men,
so far as to constitute a different species of history, which
we call sacred or ecclesiastical. But such is the dignity of
letters and arts, that they deserve a separate history, which,
as well as the ecclesiastical, we comprehend under civil
history.

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We form our division of natural history upon the three
fold state and condition of nature; which is, 1, either free,
proceeding in her ordinary course, without molestation; or
2, obstructed by some stubborn and less common matters,
and thence put out of her course, as in the production of
monsters; or 3, bound and wrought upon by human means,
for the production of things artificial. Let all natural his
tory, therefore, be divided into the history of generations,
prseter-generations, and arts; the first to consider nature at
liberty; the second, nature in her errors; and the third, na
ture in constraint.

The history of arts should the rather make a species of
natural history, because of the prevalent opinion, as if art
were a different thing from nature, and things natural dif
ferent from things artificial: whence many writers of nat
ural history think they perform notably, if they give us the
history of animals, plants, or minerals, without a word of
the mechanic arts. A further mischief is to have art es
teemed no more than an assistant to nature, so as to help
her forward, correct or set her free, and not to bend,
change, and radically affect her; whence an untimely de
spair has crept upon mankind; who should rather be as
sured that artificial things differ not from natural in form
or essence, but only in the efficient: for man has no power
over nature in anything but motion, whereby he either puts
bodies together, or separates them. And therefore, so far as
natural bodies may be separated or conjoined, man may do
anything. Nor matters it, if things are put in order for
producing effects, whether it be done by human means
or otherwise. Gold is sometimes purged by the fire, and
sometimes found naturally pure: the rainbow is produced
after a natural way, in a cloud above; or made artificially,
by the sprinkling of water below. As nature, therefore,
governs all things by means — 1, of her general course; 2,
her excursion; and 3, by means of human assistance; these
three parts must be received into natural history, as in some
measure they are by Pliny.

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The first of these parts, the history of creatures, is ex
tant in tolerable perfection; but the two others, the history
of monsters and the history of arts, may be noted as defi
cient. For I find no competent collection of the works of
nature digressing from the ordinary course of generations,
productions, and motions; whether they be singularities of
place and region, or strange events of time and chance;
effects of unknown properties, or instances of exceptions
to general rules. We have indeed many books of fabu
lous experiments, secrets, and frivolous impostures, for
pleasure and strangeness; but a substantial and well-
purged collection of heteroclites, or irregularities of na
ture, carefully examined and described, especially with a
due rejection of fable and popular error, is wanting: for
as things now stand, if false facts in nature be once on
foot, through the neglect of examination, the countenance
of antiquity, and the use made of them in discourse, they
are scarce ever retracted.

The design of such a work, of which we have a prece
dent in Aristotle, is not to content curious and vain minds,
but — 1, to correct the depravity of axioms and opinions,
founded upon common and familiar examples; and 2, to
show the wonders of nature, which give the shortest pas
sage to the wonders of art; for byjcarefully tracing nature
in her wanderings, we may be enabled to lead or compel
her to the same again. Nor would we in this history of
wonders have superstitious narrations of sorceries, witch
crafts, dreams, divinations, etc., totally excluded, where
there is full evidence of the fact; because it is not yet
known in what cases, and how far effects attributed to
superstition, depend upon natural causes. And, therefore,
though the practice of such things is to be condemned;
yet the consideration of them may afford light, not only
in judging criminals, but in a deeper disclosure of nature.
Nor should men scruple examining into these things, in
order to discover truth: the sun, though it passes through
dirty places, yet remains as pure as before. Those narra-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 97

tions, however, which have a tincture of superstition,
should be kept separate, and unmixed with others, that
are merely natural. But the relations of religious prodi
gies and miracles, as being either false or supernatural,
are unfit to enter into a history of nature.

As for the history of nature wrought or formed, we
have some collections of agriculture and manual arts, but
commonly with a rejection of familiar and vulgar experi
ments, which yet are of more service in the interpretation
of nature than the uncommon ones: an inquiry into me
chanical matters being reputed a dishonor to learning;
unless such as appear secrets, rarities, and subtilties.
This supercilious arrogance, Plato justly derides in his
representation of the dispute between Hippias and Soc
rates touching beauty. Socrates is represented, in his
careless manner, citing first an example of a fair virgin,
then a fine horse, then a smooth pot curiously glazed.
This last instance moved Hippias' choler, who said,
. "Were it not for politeness' sake, I would disdain to
dispute with any that alleged such low and sordid ex
amples." Whereupon Socrates replied, "You have rea
son, and it becomes you well, being a man so sprucely
attired, and so trim in your shoes.1'1 And certainly the
truth is, that they are not the highest instances that al
ways afford the securest information; as is not unaptly
expressed in the tale so common of the philosopher,3 who,
while he gazed upward to the stars, fell into the water.3 For
had he looked down, he might have discovered the stars
in the water; but looking up to heaven, he could not see
the water in the stars; for mean and small things often dis
cover great ones, better than great can discover the small;
and therefore Aristotle observes, "That the nature of every
thing is best seen in its smallest portions."4 Whence he
seeks the nature of a commonwealth, first in a family; and
so the nature of the world, and the policy thereof must be

1 Plato, Hipp. Maj. iii. 291. 2 Thales; see Plato, Theset. i. 174.

3 Laertius, "Life of Thales." 4 Arist. Polit. i. and Phys. i.

SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —5

98 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

sought in mean relations and small portions. The mag
netic virtue of iron was not first discovered in bars, but
in needles.

But in my judgment the use of mechanical history is
of all others, the most fundamental toward such a natural
philosophy as shall not vanish in the fume of subtile, sub
lime, or pleasing speculations; but be operative to the en
dowment and benefit of human life; as not only suggesting,
for the present, many ingenious practices in all trades, by
connecting and transferring the observations of one art to
the uses of another, when the experience of several arts
shall fall under the consideration of one man; but as giv
ing a more true and real illumination with regard to causes
and axioms, than has hitherto appeared. For as a man's
temper is never well known until he is crossed; in like
manner the turns and changes of nature cannot appear so
fully, when she is left at her liberty, as in the trials and
tortures of art.

We add, that the body of this experimental history
should not only be formed from the mechanic arts, but
also from the operative and effective part of the liberal
sciences, together with numerous practices, n.ot hitherto
brought into arts; so that nothing may be omitted which
has a tendency to inform the understanding.6

5 And therefore the history of sophistications, or adulterations and frauds
practiced in arts and trades, ought to be inserted, which the learned Morhof
adds as a fourth part of this experimental history, though it may seem sufficiently
Included under the history of arts, as being the secret part essential to every
art, and properly called the mystery or craft thereof. Of these impositions, a
large number may be readily collected, and serve not only to quicken the under
standing and enrich experimental history, but also to contribute to perfect the
science of economical prudence. For contraries illustrate each other, and to
know the sinister practices of an art gives light to the art itself, as well as puts
men upon their guard against being deceived. See Morhof's "Polyhist." torn,
ii. p. 128.— Shaw.

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CHAPTEE m

AS natural history has three parts, so it has two
principal uses, and affords — 1, a knowledge of the
things themselves that are committed to history; and
2, the first matter of philosophy. But the former, though
it has its advantages, is of much more inferior considera
tion than the other, which is a collection of materials for
a just and solid induction, whereon philosophy is to be
grounded. And in this view, we again divide natural
history into narrative and inductive; the latter whereof is
wanting. If the natural history extant, though apparently
of great bulk and variety, were to be carefully weeded of
its fables, antiquities, quotations, frivolous disputes, phi
lology, ornaments, and table-talk, it would shrink to a
slender bulk. But besides, a history of this kind is far
from what we require, as wanting the two above-men
tioned parts of a natural history, viz., praeter-generations
and arts, on which we lay great stress; and only answers
one part in five of the third, viz., that of generations. For
the history of generations has five subordinate parts; viz.,
1. The celestial bodies, considered in their naked phenom
ena, stripped of opinions; 2. Meteors, comets,1 and the re-

1 Bacon, in the original, classes comets among meteors, yet fifteen hundred
years before, Seneca had placed them among planets, predicting ,that the time
would arrive when their seemingly erratic motions would be found to be the
result of the same laws. We need hardly remind the reader of the realization
of this sage conjecture in the magnificent discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. — Ed.

100 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

gions of the air; 3. The earth and sea, as integral parts of
the universe, including mountains, rivers, tides, sands,
woods, and islands, with a view to natural inquiries
rather than cosmography; 4. The elements, or greater
assemblages of matter, as I call them — viz., fire, air,
water, and earth, and 5. The species of bodies, or more
exquisite collections of matter, by us called the smaller
assemblages, in which alone the industry of writers has
appeared, and that too rather in a luxurious than solid
manner; as rather abounding in things superfluous, viz.,
the representation of plants and animals, etc., than careful
observations, which should ever be subjoined to natural
history. In fine, all the natural history we have is abso
lutely unfit for the end we propose, viz., to build philos
ophy upon; and this both in the manner and matter thereof;
hence we set down inductive history as deficient.

CHAPTER 1Y

Civil History divided into Ecclesiastical and Literary. Deficiency of the
latter. The Absence of Precepts for its Compilation

CIVIL history, in general, may be divided into three
particular kinds, viz., sacred, civil, and literary;
the latter whereof being wanting, the history of the
world appears like the statue of Polyphemus, without its
eye; the part that best shows the life and spirit of the
person. In many particular sciences indeed, as the law,
mathematics, and rhetoric, there are extant some short
memoirs, and jejune relations of sects, schools, books,
authors, and the successions of this kind of sciences, as
well as some trivial accounts of the inventors of things and
arts; but we say, that a just and universal literary history
has not hitherto been published.

The design of this work should be, to relate from the
earliest accounts of time — 1, what particular kinds of learn-

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ing and arts flourished, in what ages, and what parts of
the world; 2, their antiquities, progress, and travels on
the globe; 3, their decline, disappearance, and restora
tion. In each art should be observed, 4, its origin and
occasion of invention; 5, the manner and form of its de
livery; and 6, the means of its introduction, exercise, and
establishment. Add to these, 7, the most famous sects
and controversies of learned men; 8, the calumnies they
suffered, and the praises and honors they received; 9, all
along let the best authors and books be noted; with 10,
the schools, successions, academies, societies, colleges, or
ders, and whatever regards the state of learning: but 11,
principally let events be throughout coupled with their
causes (which is the soul, as it were, of civil history), in
relating the nature of countries and people, and 12, their
disposition and indisposition to different kinds of learning;
13, the accidents of time, whether favorable or destructive
to the sciences; 14, the zeal and mixture of religion; 15,
the severity and lenity of laws; 16, the remarkable patron
age, efforts, and endowments of illustrious men, for the pro
motion of learning and the like. All which we would
have handled, not in the manner of critics, who barely
praise and censure; but historically, or in the way of a ».
naked delivery of facts, with but a sparing use of private
judgment.

For the manner of writing this history, we particularly
advise the materials of it to be drawn, not only from his
tories and critical works, but also that the principal books
of every century be regularly consulted downward; so far
we mean, as that a taste may be had, or a judgment formed,
of the subject, style, and method thereof; whence the literary
genius of every age may at pleasure be raised, as it were,
from the dead.

The use and end of this work is not to derive honor
and pomp to learning, nor to gratify an eager curiosity and
fondness of knowing and preserving whatever may relate
thereto; but chiefly to make learned men wise, in the pru-

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dent and sober exercise and administration of learning, and
by marking out the virtues and vices of intellectual things,
as well as the motions and perturbations of states, to show
how the best regulation and government may be thence
derived; for as the works of St. Austin or St. Ambrose
will not make so wise a divine as a thorough reading of
Ecclesiastical History, the same will hold true of learned
men with regard to particular books and literary history:
for whoever is not supported by examples and the remem
brance of things, must always be exposed to contingencies
and precipitancy.

CHAPTEE V

The Dignity of Civil History and the Obstacles it has to encounter

CIVIL history, particularly so called,' is of prime dig
nity and authority among human writings; as the
examples of antiquity, the revolutions of things,
the foundations of civil prudence, with the names and
reputations of men, are committed to its trust. But it is
attended with no less difficulty than dignity; for it is a work
of great labor and judgment, to throw the mind back upon
things past, and store it. with antiquity; diligently to search
into, and with fidelity and freedom relate, 1, the commo
tions of times; 2, the characters of persons; 3, the insta
bility of counsels; 4, the courses of actions; 5, the bottoms
of pretences; 6, the secrets of state; and 7, to set all this to
view in proper and suitable language: especially as ancient
transactions are uncertain, and late ones exposed to danger.
Whence such a civil history is attended with numerous
defects; the greater part of historians writing little more
than empty and vulgar narrations, and such as are really a
disgrace to history; while some hastily draw up particular
relations and trivial memoirs, some only run over the gen
eral heads of actions; and others descend to the minutest

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particular, which have no relation to the principal action.
These, in compliance with their genius, boldly invent many
of the things they write; while those stamp the image of
their own affections upon what they deliver; thus preserv
ing fidelity -to their party, but not to things themselves.
Some are constantly inculcating politics, in which they take
most pleasure, and seek all occasions of exhibiting them
selves, thus childishly interrupting the thread of their
history; while others are too tedious, and show but little
judgment in the prolixity of their speeches, harangues, and
accounts of actions; so that, in short, nothing is so seldom
found among the writings of men as true and perfect civil
history.

CHAPTER YI

Division of Civil History into Memoirs, Antiquities, and Perfect History

THIS civil history is of three kinds, and bears resem
blance to three kinds of pictures; viz., the unfin
ished, the finished, and the defaced: thus civil
history, which is the picture of times and things, appears
in memoirs, just history, and antiquities; but memoirs are
history begun, or the first strokes and materials of it; and
antiquities are histoiy defaced, or remnants that have es
caped the shipwreck of time.

Memoirs, or memorials, are of two kinds; whereof the
one may be termed commentaries, the other registers. In
commentaries are set down naked events and actions in se
quence, without the motives, designs, counsels, speeches,
pretexts, occasions, etc. ; for such is the true nature of a
commentary, though Cassar, in modesty mixed with great
ness, called the best history in the world a commentary.

Registers are of two kinds; as either containing the titles
of things and persons in order of time, by way of calendars
and chronicles, or else after the manner of journals, pre-

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serving the edicts of princes, decrees of council, judicial
proceedings, declarations, letters of state, and public ora
tions, without continuing the thread of the narration.

Antiquities are the wrecks of history, wherein the mem
ory of things is almost lost; or such particulars as indus
trious persons, with exact and scrupulous diligence, can
any way collect from genealogies, calendars, titles, inscrip
tions, monuments, coins, names, etymologies, proverbs,
traditions, archives, instruments, fragments of public and
private history, scattered passages of books no way his
torical, etc. ; by which means something is recovered from
the deluge of time. This is a laborious work; yet accept
able to mankind, as carrying with it a kind of reverential
awe, and deserves to come in the place of those fabulous
and fictitious origins of nations we abound with; though it
has the less authority, as but few have examined and exer
cised a liberty of thought about it.

In these kinds of imperfect history, no deficiency need
be noted, they being of their own nature imperfect: but
epitomes of history are the corruption and moths that have
fretted and corroded many sound and excellent bodies of
history, and reduced them to base and unprofitable dregs;
whence all men of sound judgment declare the use of them
ought to be banished.

CHAPTER VII

Division of History into Chronicles, Biographies, and Perfect Relations.
The Development of their parts

JUST history is of three kinds, with regard to the three
objects it designs to represent; which are either a por
tion of time, a memorable person, or an illustrious
action. The first kind we call writing annals or chronicles;
the second, lives; and the third, narratives or relations.
Chronicles share the greatest esteem and reputation, but
lives excel in advantage and use, as relations do in truth

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and sincerity. For chronicles represent only grand public
actions, and external shows and appearances to the people,
and drop the smaller passages and motions of men and
things. But as the divine artificer hangs the greatest weight
upon the smallest strings, so such histories rather show the
pomp of affairs, than their true and inward springs. And
though it intersperses "counsel, yet delighting in grandeur,
it attributes more gravity and prudence to human actions,
than really appears in them; so that satire might be a tru^r
picture of human _life, than certain histories of this kind:
whereas lives, if wrote with care and judgment, proposing
to represent a person, in whom actions, both great and
small, public and private, are blended together, must of
necessity give a more genuine, native, and lively represen
tation, and such as is fitter for imitation.

Particular relations of actions, as of the Peloponnesian
war, and the expedition of Cyrus, may likewise be made
with greater truth and exactness than histories of times; as
their subject is more level to the inquiry and capacity of the
writer, while they who undertake the history of any large
portion of time must need meet with blanks and empty
spaces, which they generally fill up out of their own inven
tion. This exception, however, must be made to the sin
cerity of relations, that, if they be wrote near the times of
the actions themselves, they are, in that case, to be greatly
suspected of partiality or prejudice. But as it is usual for
opposite parties to publish relations of the"" same transac
tions, they, by this means, open the way to truth, which
lies between the two extremes: so that, after the heat of
contention is allayed, a good and wise historian may hence
be furnished with matter for a more perfect history.

As to the deficiencies in these three kinds of history,
doubtless many particular transactions have been left un
recorded, to the great prejudice, in point of honor and glory,
of those kingdoms and states wherein thev passed. But to
omit other nations, we have particular reason to complain
to your Majesty of the imperfection of the present history

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of England, in the main continuance of it, and the partiality
and obliquity of that of Scotland, in the most copious and
recent account that has been left us. As this island of
Great Britain will now, as one united monarchy, descend
to future ages, we cannot but deem it a work alike honor
able to your Majesty, and grateful to posterity, that exploits
were collected in one history, in the style of the ancient
Testament, which hands down the story of the ten tribes
and the two tribes as twins together. If the greatness of
the undertaking, however, should prove any obstacle to its
perfect execution, a shorter period of time, fraught with
the greatest interest, occurs from the junction of the Roses
to the union of the two kingdoms — a space of time which
to me appears to contain a crowd of more memorable events
than ever occurred in any hereditary monarchy of similar
duration. For it commences with the conjoint adoption of
a crown by arms, and title, an entry by battle, and a mar
riage settlement. The times which follow, partaking of the
nature of such beginnings, like waters after a tempest, full
of workings and swellings, though without boisterous
storms, being well navigated by the wisdom of the pilot,1
one of the most able of his predecessors. Then succeeded
the reign of a king, whose policy, though rather actuated
by passion than counsel, exercised great influence upon the
courts of Europe, balancing and variably inclining their
various interests; in whose time, also, began that great
change of religion, an action seldom brought on the stage,
Then the reign of a minor. Then an attempt at usurpation,
though it was but as a "febris ephemera": then the reign
of a queen, matched with a foreigner: then the reign of a
queen, solitary and unmarried. And now, as a close, the
glorious and auspicious event of the union of an island,
divided from the rest of the world: so that we may say the
old oracle which gave rest to J3neas, ''antiquam exquirite
matrem," a is fulfilled in the union of England and Scotland

1 Henry VII. 2 JEu. iii. 96.

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under one sceptre. Thus as massive bodies, drawn aside
from their course, experience certain waverings and trepi
dations before they fix and settle, so this monarchy, before
it was to settle in your Majesty and your heirs, in whom
I hope it is established forever, seems by the providence of
God to have undergone these mutations and deflections as
a prelude to stability.

With regard to lives, we cannot but wonder that our own
times have so little value for what they enjoy, as not more
frequently to write the lives of eminent men. For though
kings, princes, and great personages are few, yet there are
many other excellent men who deserve better than vague
reports and barren elogies. Here the fancy of a late poet,
who has improved an ancient fiction, is not inapplicable.
He feigns that at the end of the thread of every man's life,
there hung a medal, on which the name of the deceased is
stamped; and that Time, waiting upon the shears of the
fatal sister, as soon as the thread was cut, caught the medals,
and threw them oat of his bosom into the river Lethe. He
also represented many birds flying over its banks, who
caught the medals in their beaks, and after carrying them
about for a certain time, allowed them to fall in the river.
Among these birds were a few swans, who used, if they
caught a medal, to carry it to a certain temple consecrated
to immortality. Such swans, however, are rare in our age.
And although many, more mortal in their affections than
their bodies, esteem the desire of fame and memory but
a vanity, and despise praise, while they do nothing that
is praiseworthy— "animos nil magnae laudis egentes";3 yet
their philosophy springs from the root, "non prius laudes
contempsimus quam laudanda facere desivimus"; and does
not alter Solomon's judgment — "the memory of the just
shall be with praises; bat the name of the wicked shall
rot";4 the one flourishing, while the other consumes or
turns to corruption. So in that laudable way of speaking

3 JRn. v. 751. 4 Prov> x 7^

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of the dead, "of. happy memory! of pious memory!" etc.,
we seem to acknowledge, with Cicero and Demosthenes,
"that a good name is the proper inheritance of the de
ceased";6 which inheritance is lying waste in our time,
and deserves to be noticed as a deficiency.

In the business of relations it is, also, to be wished that
greater diligence were employed; for there is no signal ac
tion, but has some good pen to describe it. But very few
being qualified to write a complete history, suitable to its
dignity (a thing wherein so many have failed), if memorable
acts were but tolerably related as they pass, this might lay
the foundations, and afford materials for a complete history
of times, when a writer should arise equal to the work.

CHAPTER VIII

Division of the History of Times into Universal and Particular. The Ad
vantages and Disadvantages of both

HISTORY of times is either general or particular, as
it relates the transactions of the whole world, or of
a certain kingdom or nation. And there have been
those who would seem to give us the history of the world
from its origin; but, in reality, offer only a rude collec
tion of things, and certain short narratives instead of a
history; while others have nobly, and to good advantage,
endeavored to describe, as in a just history, the memor
able things, which in their time happened over all the
globe. For human affairs are not so far divided by em
pires and countries, but that in many cases they still pre
serve a connection: whence it is proper enough to view,
as in one picture, the fates of an age. And such a gen
eral history as this may frequently contain particular rela
tions, which, though of value, might otherwise either be

5 Demosth. adv. Lept. 488.

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lost, or never again reprinted: at least, the heads of such
accounts may be thus preserved. But upon mature con
sideration, the laws of just history appear so severe as
scarcely to be observed in so large a field of matter,
whence the bulkiness of history should rather be re
trenched than enlarged; otherwise, he who has such
variety of matter everywhere to collect, if he preserve
not constantly the strictest watch upon his informations,
will be apt to take up with rumors and popular reports,
and work such -kind of superficial matter into his history.
And, then, to retrench the whole, he will be obliged to
pass over many things otherwise worthy of relation, and
often "to contract and shorten his style; wherein there lies
no small danger of frequently cutting off useful narrations,
in order to oblige mankind in their favorite way of compen
dium; whence such accounts, which might otherwise live of
themselves, may come to be utterly lost.

CHAPTER IX

Second Division of the History of Times into Annals and Journals

HISTORY of times is likewise divisible into annals
and journals, according to the observation of Tac
itus, where, mentioning the magnificence of certain
structures, he adds, "It was found suitable to the Roman
dignity that illustrious things should be committed to an
nals, but such as these to the public journals of the city";1
thus referring what related to the state of the commonwealth
to annals, and smaller matters to journals. And so there
should be a kind of heraldry in regulating the dignities of
books as well as persons: for as nothing takes more from
the dignity of a state than confusion of orders and degrees,
so it greatly takes from the authority of history to intermix

1 Annals, xiii. 31.

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matters of triumph, ceremony, and novelty, with matters of
state. And it were to be wished that this distinction pre
vailed; but in our times journals are only used at sea and
in military expeditions, whereas among the ancients it was a
regal honor to have the daily acts of the palace recorded,
as we see in the case of Ahasuerus, king of Persia.2 And
the journals of Alexander the Great contained even trivial
matters;3 yet journals are not destined for trivial things
alone, as annals are for serious ones, but contain all things
promiscuously, whether of greater or of less concern.

CHAPTEE X

Second Division of Special Civil History into Pure and Mixed

THE last division of civil history is into pure and
mixed. Of the mixed there are two eminent kinds
— the one principally civil, and the other principally
natural: for a kind of writing has been introduced that does
not give particular narrations in the continued thread of a
history, but where the writer collects and culls them, with
choice, out of an author, then reviewing and as it were ru
minating upon them, takes occasion to treat of political sub
jects; and this kind of ruminated history we highly esteem,
provided the writers keep close to it professedly, for it is
both unseasonable and irksome to have an author profess
he will write a proper history, yet at every turn introduce
politics, and thereby break the thread of his narration.
AH wise history is indeed pregnant with political rules
and precepts, but the writer is not to take all opportuni
ties of delivering himself of them.

Cosmographical history is also mixed many ways — as
taking the descriptions of countries, their situations and

2 Esther vi. 1.

8 Plutarch's Symposium, i. qu. 6 and Alex. Life, xxiii. 76.

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fruits, from natural history; the accounts of cities, govern
ments, and manners, from civil history; the climates and
astronomical phenomena, from mathematics: in which kind
of history the present age seems to excel, as having a full
view of the world in this light. The ancients had some
knowledge of the zones and antipodes —

"Nosque ubi primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis,
Illic sera rubens accendit lumina vesper" l —

though rather by abstract demonstration than fact. But
that little vessels, like the celestial bodies, should sail
round the whole globe, is the happiness of our age.
These times, moreover, may justly use not only plus
ultra where the ancients used non plus ultra, but also
imitabile fulmen where the ancients said non imitabile
fulmen —

"Demens qui nimbos el non imitabile fulmen." 8

This improvement of navigation may give us great hopes
of extending and improving the sciences, especially as it
seems agreeable to the Divine will that they should be coe
val. Thus the prophet Daniel foretells, that "Many shall
go to and fro on the earth, and knowledge shall be in
creased,"3 as if the openness and thorough passage of the
world and the increase of knowledge were allotted to
the same age, which indeed we find already true in part:
for the learning of these times scarce yields to the former
periods or returns of learning — the one among the Greeks
and the other among the Eomans, and in many particulars
far exceeds them.

1 Virgil, Georgics, i. 251. 2 Yirgil, ^Eneid, vi. 590. 3 Dan. xii. 4.

112 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

CHAPTER XI

Ecclesiastical History divided into the General History of the Church, His
tory of Prophecy, and History of Providence

ECCLESIASTICAL history in general has nearly the
same divisions with civil history: thus there are ec
clesiastical chronicles, lives of the fathers, accounts
or synods, and other ecclesiastical matters; but in propriety
it .nay be further divided — 1. Into the general history of
the Church; 2. The history of prophecy; and, 3. The his
tory of providence. The first describes the times of the
Church militant, whether fluctuating, as the ark of Noah;
movable, as the ark in the wilderness; or at rest, as the
ark in the temple; that is, in the states of persecution,
migration, and peace. And in this part there is a redun
dancy rather than a deficiency, but it were to be wished
the goodness and sincerity of it were equal to the bulk.

The second part, viz., the history of prophecy, consists
of two relatives — the prophecy and the accomplishment;
whence the nature of it requires, that every Scripture
prophecy be compared with the event, through all the
ages of the world, for the better confirmation of the faith
and the better information of the Church with regard to
the interpretation of prophecies not yet fulfilled. But here
we must allow that latitude which is peculiar and familiar
to divine prophecies, which have their completion not only
at stated times, but in succession, as participating of the na
ture of their author, "with whom a thousand years are but
as one day,"1 and therefore are not fulfilled punctually at
once, but have a growing accomplishment through many
ages, though the height or fulness of them may refer to a

1 Psalm Ixxxix. 4.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 113

single age or moment. And this is a work which I find
deficient; but it should either be undertaken with wisdom,
sobriety, and reverence, or not at all.

The third part — the history of providence — has been
touched by some pious pens, but not without a mixture
of party. This history is employed in observing that Di
vine agreement which there sometimes is between the re
vealed and secret will of God. For although the counsels
and judgments of God are so secret as to be absolutely un
searchable to man,2 yet the Divine goodness has sometimes
thought fit, for the confirmation of his own people, and the
confutation of those who are as without God in the world,
to write them in such capital letters, as they who run may
read them.3 Such are the remarkable events and examples
of God's judgments, though late and unexpected, sudden
and unhoped for deliverances and blessings, Divine coun
sels dark and doubtful at length opening and explaining
themselves, etc. All which have not only a power to con
firm the minds of the faithful, but to awaken and convince
the consciences of the wicked.

CHAPTEE XII

The Appendix of History embraces the Words of Men, as the Body of His
tory includes their Exploits. Its Division into Speeches, Letters,
and Apothegms

AND not only the actions of mankind, but also their
sayings, ought to be preserved, and may doubtless
be sometimes inserted in history, so far as they de
cently serve to illustrate the narration of facts; but books
of orations, epistles, and apothegms, are the proper reposi
tories of human discourse. The speeches of wise men upon
matter of business, weighty causes, or difficult points, are of

2 I. Cor. ii. 3 Epis. to the Ephesians ii. and Habak. ii.

114 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

great use, not only for eloquence, but for the knowledge
of things themselves. But the letters of wise men upon
serious affairs are yet more serviceable in points of civil
prudence, as of all human speech nothing is more solid or
excellent than such epistles, for they contain more of nat
ural sense than orations, and more ripeness than occasional
discourses: so letters of state affairs, written in the order of
time by those that manage them, with their answers, afford
the best materials for civil history.

Nor do apothegms only serve for ornament and delight,
but also for action and civil use, as being the edge-tools of
speech —

"Secures aut mucrones verborum,"1

which cut and penetrate the knots of business and affairs;
for occasions have their revolutions, and what has once
been advantageously used may be so again, either as an
old thing or a new one. Nor can the usefulness of these
sayings in civil affairs be questioned, when Caesar himself
wrote a book upon the subject, which we wish were ex
tant; for all those we have yet seen of the kind appear to
be collected with little choice and judgment.

CHAPTEE XIII

The Second leading Branch of Learning — Poetry. Its Division into Narra
tive, Dramatic, and Parabolic. Three Examples of the latter
species detailed

POETRY is a kind of learning generally confined to the
measure of words, but otherwise extremely licentious,
and truly belonging to the imagination, which, being
unrestrained by laws, may make what unnatural mixtures
and separations it pleases. It is taken in two senses, or
with respect to words and matter. The first is but a char-

1 Cicero's Epis. Fam. ix.

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acter of style and a certain form of speech not relating to
the subject, for a true narration may be delivered in verse
and a feigned one in prose; but the second is a capital part
of learning, and no other than feigned history. And here,
as in our divisions, we endeavor to find and trace the true
sources of learning, and this frequently without giving way
to custom or the established order — we shall take no par
ticular notice of satire, elegy, epigram, ode, etc., but turn
them over to philosophy and the arts of speech, and under
the name of poetry treat nothing more Chan imaginary
history.

The justest division of poetry, except what it shares in
common with history (which has its feigned chronicles,
feigned lives, and feigned relations), is — 1. Into narrative;
2. Dramatic; and 3. Allegorical. Narrative poetry is such
an exact imitation of history as to deceive, did it not
often carry things beyond probability. Dramatic poetry is
a kind of visible history, giving the images of things as if
they were present, while history represents them as past.
But allegorical poetry is history with its type, which rep-
resents intellectual things to the senses.

Narrative poetry, otherwise called heroic poetry, seems,
with regard to its matter, not the versification, raised upon
a noble foundation, as having a principal regard to the dig
nity of human nature. For as the active world is inferior
to the rational soul, so poetry gives that to mankind which
history denies, and in some measure satisfies the mind with
shadows when it cannot enjoy the substance. For, upon
a narrow inspection, poetry strongly shows that a greater
grandeur of things, a more perfect order, and a more beau
tiful variety is pleasing to the mind than can anywhere be
found in nature after the fall. So that, as the actions and
events, which are the subjects of true history, have not that
granct"euf which satisfies the mind, poetry steps in and feigns
more heroical actions. And as real history gives us not the
success of things according to the deserts of virtue and vice,
poetry corrects it, and presents us with the fates and for-

116 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tunes of persons rewarded or punished according to merit.
And as real history disgusts us with a familiar and constant
similitude of things, poetry relieves us by unexpected turns
and changes, and thus not only delights, but inculcates
morality and nobleness of soul. Whence it may be justly
esteemed of a Divine nature, as it raises the mind, by ac-
commodating the images of things to our desires, and not,
like history and reason, subjecting the mind to things.
And by these its charms, and congruity to the mind, with
the assistance also of music, which conveys it the sweeter,
it makes its own way, so as to have been in high esteem in
the most ignorant ages, and among the most barbarous
people, while other kinds of learning were utterly ex
cluded.

Dramatic poetry, which has the theatre for its world,
would be of excellent use if it were sound; for the disci
pline and corruption of the theatre is of very great conse
quence. And the corruptions of this kind are numerous in
our times, but the regulation quite neglected. The action
of the theatre, though modern states esteem it but ludi
crous, unless it be satirical and biting, was carefully watched
by the ancients, that it might improve mankind in virtue:
and indeed many wise men and great philosophers have
thought it to the mind as the bow to the fiddle; and certain
it is, though a great secret in nature, that the minds of men
in company are more open to affections and impressions
than when alone.

But allegorical poetry excels the others, and appears a
solemn, sacred thing, which religion itself generally makes
use of, to preserve an intercourse between divine and human
things; yet this, also, is corrupted by a levity and indul
gence of genius toward allegory. Its use is ambiguous, and
made to serve contrary purposes; for it envelops as well
as illustrates — the first seeming to endeavor at an art of
concealment, and the other at a method of instructing,
much used by the ancients. For when the discoveries nnd
conclusions of reason, though now common, were new,

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 117

and first known, the human capacity could scarce admit
them in their subtile state, or till they were brought nearer
to sense, by such kind of imagery and examples; whence
ancient times are full of their fables, their allegories, and
their similes. From this source arise the symbol of Py
thagoras, the enigmas of Sphinx, and the fables of ^Esop.
ISTay, the apothegms of the ancient sages were usually dem
onstrated by similitudes. And as hieroglyphics preceded \
letters, so parables preceded arguments; and the force of l/f
parables ever was and will be great, as being clearer than /
arguments, and more apposite than real examples.

The other use of allegorical poetry is to envelop things,
whose dignity deserves a veil; as when the secrets and f/
mysteries of religion, policy, and philosophy, are wrapped
up in fables and parables. But though some may doubt
whether there be any mystical sense concealed in the ancient
fables of the poets, we cannot but think there is a latent *
mystery intended in some of them: for we do not, there- 7
fore, judge contemptibly of them, because they are com
monly left to children and grammarians; but as the writings
that relate these fables are, next to the sacred ones, the most
ancient, and the fables themselves much older still, being
not delivered as the inventions of the writers, but as things
before believed and received, they appear like a soft whis
per from the traditions of more ancient nations, conveyed
through the flutes of the Grecians. But all hitherto at
tempted toward the interpretation of these parables proving
unsatisfactory to us, as having proceeded from men of but
commonplace learning, we set down the philosophy of
ancient fables as the only deficiency in poetry. But lest
any person should imagine that any of these deficiencies
are rather notional than real, and that we, like augurs, only
measure countries in our mind, and know not how to invade
them, we will proceed to subjoin examples of the work we
recommend. These shall be three in number — one taken
from natural philosophy, one from politics, and another
from morals.

118 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

PAN, OR NATURE '
Explained of Natural Philosophy

"THE ancients have, with great exactness, delineated
universal nature under the person of Pan. They leave his
origin doubtful: some asserting him the son of Mercury,
and others the common offspring of all Penelope's suitors.
The latter supposition doubtless occasioned some later
writers to entitle this ancient fable, Penelope — a thing fre
quently practiced when the early relations are applied to
more modern characters and persons, though sometimes
with great absurdity and ignorance, as in the present case:
for Pan was one of the ancientest gods, and long before the
time of Ulysses: besides, Penelope was venerated by an
tiquity for her matronal chastity. A third sort will have
him the issue of Jupiter and Hybris, that is, Reproach.
But whatever his origin was, the Destinies are allowed
his sisters.

"He is described by antiquity with pyramidal horns
reaching up to heaven, a rough and shaggy body, a very
long beard, of a biform figure, human above, half-brute
below, ending in goat's feet. His arms, or ensigns of power,
are a pipe in his left hand, composed of seven reeds; in his
right a crook; and he wore for his mantle a leopard's skin.

"His attributes and titles were, the god of hunters, shep
herds, and all the rural inhabitants; president of the moun
tains, and after Mercury the next messenger of the gods.
He was also held the leader and ruler of the Nymphs, who
continually danced and frisked about him, attended with
the Satyrs, and their elders the Sileni. He had also the
power of striking terrors, especially such as were vain and
superstitious; whence they came to be called panic terrors. a

"Few actions are recorded of him; only a principal one
is, that he challenged Cupid at wrestling, and was worsted.
He also catched the giant Typhon ia a net, and held him
fast. They relate further of him, that when Ceres growing

1 Hymn to Pan, Horn. Odyss. ver. Jin. 2 Cicero, Epis. to Atticus, 5.

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disconsolate for the rape of Proserpine, hid herself, and all
the gods took the utmost pains to find her, by going out
different ways for that purpose, Pan only had the good
fortune to meet her as he was hunting, and discovered her
to the rest. He likewise had the assurance to rival Apollo
in music; and in the judgment of Midas was preferred: but
the judge had, though with great privacy and secrecy, a
pair of ass's ears fastened on him for his sentence.3

"There is very little said of his amours, which may seem
strange among such a multitude of gods, so profusely amor
ous. He is only reported to have been very fond of Echo,
who was also esteemed his wife; and one nymph more called
Syrinx, with the love of whom Cupid inflamed him for his
insolent challenge; so he is reported, once, to have solicited
the moon to accompany him apart into the deep woods.

"Lastly, Pan had no descendant, which also is a wonder,
when the male gods were so extremely prolific; only he was
the reputed father of a servant girl, called lambe, who used
to divert strangers with her ridiculous and prattling stories."

This fable is, perhaps, the noblest of all antiquity, and
pregnant with the mysteries and secrets of nature. Pan, as
the name imports, represents the universe, about whose
origin there are two opinions; viz., that it either sprung
from Mercury, that is, the Divine Word, according to the
Scriptures and philosophical divines; or from the confused
seeds of things. For some of the philosophers4 held that
the seeds and elements of nature were infinite in their sub
stance; whence arose the opinion of homogeneous primary
parts, which Anaxagoras either invented or propagated.
Others more accurately maintain that the variety of nature
can equally spring from seeds, certain and definite in sub
stance, but only diversified in form and figure, and attribute
the remaining varieties to the interior organization of the
seeds themselves. From this source the doctrine of atoms
is derived, which Democritus maintained, and Leucippus

3 Ovid, Metamorphoses, ii. 4 Anaxagoras, in Diog. Laert.

120 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

found out. But others teach only one principle of nature—
Thales, water; Anaximenes, air; Heraclitus, fire5 — and de
fined this principle, which is one in act, to be various and
dispensable in powers, and involving the seeds of all natural
essences. They who introduced — as Aristotle and Plato6 —
primordial matter, every way disarranged, shapeless, and
indifferent to any form, approached nearer to a resemblance
of the figure of the parable. For they conceived matter as
a courtesan, and the forms as suitors; so that the whole dis
pute comes to these two points: viz., either that nature pro
ceeds from Mercury, or from Penelope and all her suitors.7
The third origin of Pan seems borrowed by the Greeks
from the Hebrew mysteries, either by means of the Egyp
tians, or otherwise; for it relates to the state of the world,
not in its first creation, but as made subject to death and
corruption after the fall: and in this state it was and re-

y mains the offspring of God and Sin, or Jupiter and Re
proach. And, therefore, these three several accounts of
Pan's birth may seem true, if duly distinguished in respect
of things and times. For this Pan, or the universal nature
of things, which we view and contemplate, had its origin

* from the Divine Word, and confused matter, first created by
• God himself, with the subsequent introduction of sin, and
consequently corruption.

The Destinies are justly made Pan's sisters; for the rise,
preservation, and dissolution of things; their depressions,
exaltations, processes, triumphs, and whatever else can be
ascribed to individual natures, are called fates and destinies,

5 This difference between the three philosophies is nothing else, as Hippoc
rates has observed (De Dicta, lib. i.} than a mere dispute about words. For if
there be but one single element or substance identical in all its parts, as the
primary mover of things, it follows, as this substance is equally indifferent to the
forms of each of the three elements, that one name may attach to it quite as
philosophically as the other. In strict language, such a substance could not be
defined by any of these terms ; as fire, air, or water, appear only as its acci
dental qualities, and it is not allowable to define anything whose essential prop
erties remain undiscovered. — Ed.

• Plato's Timseus.

7 Bacon directs his interpretation here to the confused mixture of things,
as sung by Yirgil, Eel. vi. 31.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 121

but generally pass unnoticed, except indeed in striking ex
amples, as in men, cities, and nations. Pan, or the nature
of things, is the cause of these several changes and effects,
and in regard to individuals as the chain of natural causes,
and the thread of the Destinies, links them together. The
ancients likewise feigned that Pan ever lived in the open
air; but the Parcae or the Destinies in a large subterraneous
cave, from which they emerged with inconceivable swift
ness, to operate on mankind, because the common face of
the universe is open; but the individual fates, dark, swift,
and sudden. The analogy will also correspond if fate be
enlarged above its ordinary acceptation as applicable to in
animate nature. Since, also, in that order nothing passes
without a cause, and nothing is so absolutely great as to be
independent, nature holding in her lap and bosom every
event either small or great, and disclosing them in due
season, it is, therefore, no marvel that the Parcae are intro
duced as the sisters of Pan: for Fortune is the daughter of
the foolish vulgar, and finds favor only with the more un
sound philosophers. And the words of Epicurus savor less
of dotage than profanity — "Praestare credere fabulam De-
orum quam fatum asserere8 — as if anything in the frame
of nature could, like an island, stand apart from the rest.
But Epicurus framed his natural philosophy on his moral,
and would hear of no opinion which might press or sting
his conscience, or in any way trouble that euthymia or tran
quillity of mind which he had received from Democritus.
Hence, being more indulgent to his own fancies than patient
of truth, he fairly cast off tne yoke, and abandoned as well
the necessity of fate as the fear of the gods.

Horns are given him broad at the roots, but narrow and
sharp atop, because the nature of all things seems pyra
midal: for individuals are infinite: but being collected into
a variety of species, they rise up into kinds; and these
again ascend, and are contracted into generals, till at length

8 Seneca's Epistles.
SCIENCF — Vol. 21 — 6

122 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

nature may seem collected to a point, which is signified by
the pyramidal figure of Pan's horns. And no wonder if
Pan's horns reach to the heavens, since the sublimities
of nature, or abstract ideas, reach in a manner to things
divine. Thus Homer's famous chain of natural causes is
tied to the foot of Jupiter's chair;9 and indeed no one can
treat of metaphysics, or of the internal and immutable in
nature, without rushing at once into natural theology.

Pan's body, or the body of nature, is, with great pro
priety and elegance, painted shaggy and hairy, as represent
ing the rays of things: for rays are as the hair or fleece of
nature, and more or less worn by all bodies. This evidently
appears in vision, and in all effects or operations at a dis
tance: for whatever operates thus may be properly said to
emit rays.10 But particularly the beard of Pan is exceeding
long, because the rays of the celestial bodies penetrate, and
act to a prodigious distance, and have descended into the
interior of the earth so far as to change its surface;11 and
the sun himself, when clouded on its upper part, appears
to the eye bearded.

Again, the body of nature is justly described biform,
because of the difference between its superior and inferior
parts; as the former, for their beauty, regularity of motion,
and influence over the earth, may be properly represented
by the human figure, and the latter, because of their dis
order, irregularity, and subjection to the celestial bodies,
are by the brutal. This biform figure also represents the
participation of one species with another, for there appear
to be no simple natures, but all participate or consist of

9 Iliad, ix.

10 This is always supposed to be the case in vision, the mathematical
demonstrations in optics proceeding invariably upon the assumption of this
phenomenon. — Ed.

11 Bacon had no idea of a central fire, and how much it has contributed
to work these interior revolutions. The thermometer of Drebbel, which he
describes in the second part of the "Novum Organum," has shown that down
to a certain depth beneath the earth's surface the temperature (in all climates)
undergoes no change, and beyond that limit, that the heat augments in propor
tion to the descent. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 123

two: thus man has somewhat of the brute, the brute some
what of the plant, the plant somewhat of the mineral; so
that all natural bodies have really two faces, or consist of
a superior and an inferior species.

There lies a curious allegory in the making of Pan goat-
footed, on account of the motion of ascent, which the terres
trial bodies have toward the air and heavens: for the goat is
a clambering creature, that delights in climbing up rocks
and precipices; and in the same manner the matters destined
to this lower globe strongly affect to rise upward, as ap
pears from the clouds and meteors. And it was not with
out reason that Gilbert, who has written a painful and
elaborate work upon the magnet, doubted whether ponder
ous bodies, after being separated a long distance from the
earth, do not lose their gravitating tendency toward it.

Pan's arms, or the ensigns he bears in his hands, are
of two kinds; the one an emblem of harmony, the other
of empire. His pipe, composed of seven reeds, plainly de
notes the consent and harmony, or the concords and discords
of things, produced by the motion of the seven planets. If
there be other planets yet concealed, or any greater muta
tions in the heavens, as in superlunary comets, they seem
like pipes either altogether united or silent for a time, be
cause their influence either does not reach so low as us,
or leaves uninterrupted the harmony of the seven pipes
of Pan. His crook also contains a fine representation of
the ways of nature, which are partly straight and partly
crooked: thus the staff, having an extraordinary bend
toward the top, denotes that the works of Divine Provi
dence are generally brought about by remote means, or in
a circuit, as if somewhat else were intended, rather than the
effect produced; as in the sending of Joseph into Egypt.
So, likewise, in human government, they who sit at the
helm manage and wind the people more successfully by
pretext and oblique courses than they could by such as are
direct and straight; so that in effect all sceptres are crooked
on the top. Kay, in things strictly natural you may sooner

124: ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

deceive nature than force her, so improper and self-con
victing are open, direct endeavors, whereas an oblique and
insinuating way gently glides along, and secretly accom
plishes the purpose.

Pan's mantle, or clothing, is with great ingenuity made
of a leopard's skin, because of the spots it has: for, in like
manner, the heavens are sprinkled with stars, the sea with
islands, the earth with flowers, and almost each particular
thing is variegated, or wears a mottled coat.

The office of Pan could not be more livelily expressed
than by making him the god of hunters: for every natural
action, every motion and process, is no other than a chase;
thus arts and sciences hunt out their works, and human
schemes and counsels their several ends, and all living
creatures either hunt out their aliment, pursue their prey,
or seek their pleasures, and this in a skilful and sagacious
manner.12 He is also styled the god of the rural inhabitants,
because men in this situation live more according to nature
than they do in cities and courts, where nature is so cor
rupted with effeminate arts, that the saying of the poet may
be verified:

" pars minima est ipsa pue]la sui." 13

He is likewise particularly styled president of the moun
tains, because in mountains and lofty places the nature of
things lies more open and exposed to the eye and the
understanding.

In his being called the messenger of the gods, next
after Mercury, lies a divine allegory; as, next after the
word of Grod, the image of the world is the herald of the
divine power and wisdom, according to the expression of
the Psalmist: "The heavens declare the glory of (rod, and
the firmament showeth his handiwork."14

1-2 "Torva lesena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam:
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella."

Virgil, Eel. ii. 63.

13 Ovid, Rem. A.moris, v. 343. Mart. Epist. u Psalm xix. 1.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 125

Pan is delighted with the company of the Nymphs: that
is, the souls of all living creatures are the delight of the
world, and lie is properly called their governor, because
each of them follows its own nature as a leader, and all
dance about their own respective rings with, infinite variety
and never-ceasing motion. Hence one of the moderns has
ingeniously reduced all the power of the soul to motion,
noting the precipitancy of some of the ancients, who, fixing
their thoughts prematurely on memory, imagination, and
reason, have neglected the cogitative faculty, which, how
ever, plays the chief role in the work of conception. For
he that remembers, cogitates, as likewise he who fancies or
reasons; so that the soul of man in all her moods dances
to the musical airs of the cogitations, which is that rebound
ing of the Nymphs. And with these continually join the
Satyrs and Sileni, that is, youth and age; for all things have
a kind of young, cheerful, and dancing time; and again
their time of slowness, tottering, and creeping. And who
ever, in a true light, considers the motions and endeavors
of both these ages, like another Democritus, will perhaps
find them as odd and strange as the gesticulations and antic
motions of the Satyrs and Sileni.

The power he had of striking terrors contains a very
sensible doctrine, for nature has implanted fear in all living
creatures, as well to keep them from risking their lives as
to guard against injuries and violence; and yet this nature
or passion keeps not its bounds, but with just and profitable
fears always mixes such as are vain and senseless; so that
all things, if we could see their insides, would appear full
of panic terrors. Nor is this superstition confined to the
vulgar, but sometimes breaks out in wise men. As Epi
curus, "Non Deos vulgi negare profanum; sed vulgi opin-
iones Diis applicare profanum." 1&

The presumption of Pan in challenging Cupid to the
conflict, denotes that matter has an appetite and tendency

15 Laertius's Life of Epicurus.

126 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

to a dissolution of the world, and falling back to its first
chaos again, unless this depravity and inclination were re
strained and subdued by a more powerful concord and
agreement of things, properly expressed by love or Cupid;
it is therefore well for mankind, and the state of all things,
that Pan was thrown and conquered in the struggle.

His catching and detaining Typhon in the net receives
a similar explanation; for whatever vast and unusual swells,
which the word Typhon signifies, may sometimes be raised
in nature, as in the sea, the clouds, the earth, or the like;
yet nature catches, entangles, and holds all such outrages
and insurrections in her inextricable net, wove as it were
of adamant.

That part of the fable which attributes the discovery of
lost Ceres to Pan, while he was hunting, a happiness denied
the other gods, though they diligently and expressly sought
her, contains an exceeding just and prudent admonition;
viz., that we are not to expect the discovery of things useful
in common life, as that of corn, denoted by Ceres, from
abstract philosophies, as if these were the gods of the first
order — no, not though we used our utmost endeavors this
way — but only from Pan, that is, a sagacious experience
and general knowledge of nature, which is often found, even
by accident, to stumble upon such discoveries, while the
pursuit was directed another way.

The event of his contending with Apollo in music,
affords us a useful instruction, that may help to humble
the human reason and judgment, which is too apt to boast
and glory in itself. There seem to be two kinds of harmony;
the one of Divine Providence, the other of human reason:
but the government of the world, the administration of its
affairs, and the more secret divine judgments, sound harsh
and dissonant to human ears or human judgment; and
though this ignorance be justly rewarded with ass's ears,
yet they are put on and worn, not openly, but with great
secrecy; nor is the deformity of the thing seen or observed
by the vulgar.

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We must not find it strange if no amours are related
of Pan, besides his marriage with Echo; for nature enjoys
itself, and in itself all other things: he that loves, desires
enjoyment; but in profusion there is no room for desire; &
and therefore Pan, remaining content with himself, had no
passion, unless it be for discourse, which is well shadowed
out by Echo, or talk; or when it. is more accurate, by
Syrinx, or writing.16 But Echo makes a most excellent
wife for Pan, as being no other than genuine philosophy,
which faithfully repeats his words, or only transcribes ex- //
actly as nature dictates; thus representing the true image
and reflection of the world, without adding a tittle. The
calling the moon aside into a deeply irnbrowned wood,
seems to refer to the convention between the sense and (f
spiritual things. For the ear of Endymion and Pan are
different, the moon of her own accord in the latter case
stooping down from her sphere as Endymion lay asleep,
intimating that divine illuminations oft glide gently into the
understanding, cast asleep and withdrawn from the senses.
But if they be called by sense, representing Pan, they aiford
no other light than that

"Quale, per incertam lunam, sub luce maligna,
Est Her in sylvis." n

It tends also to the support and perfection of Pan or
nature, to be without offspring; for the world generates in
its parts, and not in the way of a whole, as wanting a body
external to itself wherewith to generate.

Lastly, for the supposed or spurious prattling daughter
of Pan, it is an excellent addition to the fable, and aptly
represents the talkative philosophies that have at all times >
been stirring, and filled the world with idle tales; being
ever barren, empty, and servile, though sometimes indeed
diverting and entertaining, and sometimes again trouble
some and importunate.

16 Syrinx signifying a reed, or the ancient pen. n ^Eneid, vi. 270.

128 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

PERSEUS 18 OR WAR
Explained of the Preparation and Conduct necessary to "War

"THE fable relates, that Perseus was despatched from
the east by Pallas, to cut off Medusa's head, who had
committed great ravage upon the people of the west; for
this Medusa was so dire a monster, as to turn into stone
all those who but looked upon her. She was a Gorgon,
and the only mortal one of the three; the other two being
invulnerable. Perseus, therefore, preparing himself for this
grand enterprise, had presents made him from three of .the
gods: Mercury gave him wings for his heels; Pluto, a hel
met; and Pallas, a shield and a mirror. But though he was
now so well equipped, he posted, not directly to Medusa,
but first turned aside to the Grese, who were half-sisters to
the Gorgons. These Greae were gray-headed, and like old
women from their birth, having among them all three but
one eye, and one tooth, which, as they had occasion to go
out, they each wore by turns, and laid them down again
upon coming back. This eye and this tooth they lent to
Perseus, who, now judging himself sufficiently furnished,
he, without further stop, flies swiftly away to Medusa, and
finds her asleep. But not venturing his eyes, for fear she
should wake, he turned his head aside, and viewed her in
Pallas 's mirror, and thus directing his stroke, cut off her
head; when immediately, from the gushing blood, there
darted Pegasus winged. Perseus now inserted Medusa's
head into Pallas's shield, which thence retained the faculty
of astonishing and benumbing all who looked on it.7'

This fable seems invented to show the prudent method
of choosing, undertaking, and conducting a war. The chief
thing to consider in undertaking war is a commission from
Pallas, certainly not from Yen us, as the Trojan war was, or
other slight motive. Because the designs of war ought to
be justified- by wise counsels. As to the choice of war, the
fable propounds three grave and useful precepts.

18 Ovid, Metam. iv.

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The first is, that no prince should be over-solicitous to
subdue a neighboring nation: for the method of enlarging
an empire is very different from that of increasing an estate.
Kegard is justly had to contiguity or adjacency in private
lands and possessions; but in the extending of empire, the
occasion, the facility, and advantage of a war, are to be re
garded instead of vicinity. Thus Perseus, though an eastern
prince, readily undertook an expedition into the remotest
parts of the western world. An opposite instance of the
wisdom of this precept occurs in the different strategy of
war practiced by Philip and Alexander. For Philip urged
war only on the frontiers of his empire, and with great strife
and peril barely succeeded in bringing a few cities under his
rule, but Alexander carried his invading arms into distant
countries; and with a felicitous boldness undertook an ex
pedition against Persia, and subduing multitudinous na
tions on his journey, rested at last rather fatigued with
conquest than with arms. This policy is further borne
out by the propagation of the Koman power; for at the
time that the arms of this martial people on the side of
the west stretched no further than Liguria, they had
brought under their dominion all the provinces of the
east as far as Mount Taurus. In like manner, Charles
the Eighth, finding a war with Great Britain attended with
some dangers, directed his enterprise against Naples, which
he subdued with wonderful rapidity and ease. One of the
causes of these wonderful successes in distant wars is the low
state of discipline and equipment, which invites the attack
of the invading power, and the terror which is generally
struck into the enemy from the bold audacity of the enter
prise. Nor can the enemy retaliate or effect any reciprocal
invasion, which always results from a war waged with the
frontier nations. But the chief point is, that in subduing
a neighboring state the choice of stratagems is narrowed by
circumstances; but in a distant expedition, a man may roll
the tide of war where the military discipline is most relaxed,
or where the strength of the nation is most torn and wasted

130 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

"by civil discord, or in whatever part the enemy can be the
most easily subjugated.

The second precept is, that the cause of the war be just
and honorable; for this adds alacrity both to the soldiers
and the people who find the supplies, procures aids, alli
ances, and numerous other conveniences. Now, there is
no cause of war more just and laudable than the sup
pressing of tyranny, by which a people are dispirited,
benumbed, or left without life and vigor, as at the sight
of Medusa. Such heroic acts transformed Hercules into a
divinity. It was undoubtedly a point of religion with the
Romans to aid with valor and speed such of their allies
and confederates as were in any way distressed. So just
and vindictive wars have generally met with success; as
the war of the triumvirate in revenge for the death of
Caesar, the war of Severus for the death of Pertinax, and
of Junius Brutus for the death of Lucretia; for they who
take up arms to relieve and revenge the calamities of men
fight under the standard of Perseus.

Lastly, it is prudently added, that as there were three
of the Gorgons who represent war, Perseus singled her out
for his expedition that was mortal; which affords this pre
cept, that such kind of wars should be chosen as may be
brought to a conclusion without pursuing vast and infinite
hopes.

Again, Perseus' setting out is extremely well adapted to
his undertaking, and in a manner commands success — he
received despatch from Mercury, secrecy from Pluto, and
foresight from Pallas. It also contains an excellent alle
gory, that the wings given him by Mercury were for his
heels, not for his shoulders, because expedition is not so
much required in the first preparations for war as in the
subsequent matters that administer to the first; for there
is no error more frequent in war than, after brisk prepara
tions, to halt for subsidiary forces and effective supplies.

The allegory of Pluto's helmet rendering men invisible
and secret, is sufficiently evident of itself; for secretness

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 131

appertains to celerity, inasmuch as speed prevents the dis
closure of counsels: it therefore succeeds in importance.
Pluto's helmet also seems to imply, that authority over
the army is to be lodged in one chief; as directing com
mittees in such cases are too apt to scatter dissensions
among the troops, and to be swayed by paltry freaks and
jealousies rather than by patriotism. It is not of less im
portance to discover the designs of the enemy, for which
purpose the mirror of Pallas must be joined to the helmet
of Pluto to disclose the weakness, the divisions, counsels,
spies, and factions of the enemy. But as these arms are
not sufficient to cope with all the casualties- of war, we
must grasp the shield of Pallas, i.e., of Providence, as a
defence from the caprices of fortune. To this belong the
despatch of spies, the fortification of camps, the equipment
and position of the army, and whatever tends to promote
the success of a just defensive war. For in the issue of
contests the shield of Pallas is of greater consequence than
the sword of Mars.

But though Perseus may now seem extremely well pre
pared, there still remains the most important thing of all — •
before he enters upon the war he must of necessity consult
the Grreae. These Grrea3 are treasons, half but degenerate
sisters of the Gorgons, who are representatives of wars; for
wars are generous and noble, but treasons base and vile.
The GrreaB are elegantly described as hoary-headed, and
like old women from their birth, on account of the per
petual cares, fears, and trepidations attending traitors.
Their force also, before it breaks out into open revolt,
consists either in an eye or a tooth; for all faction alien
ated from a state is both watchful and biting, and this eye
and tooth is as it were common to all the disaffected, be
cause whatever they learn and know is transmitted from
one to another, as by the hands of faction. And for the
tooth they all bite with the same, and clamor with one
throat, so that each of them singly expresses the multitude.

These G-rea3, therefore, must be prevailed upon by Per-

132 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

sens to lend him their eye and their tooth — the eye to give
him indications and make discoveries, the tooth for sowing
rumors, raising envy, and stirring up the minds of the people.
And when all these things are thus disposed and prepared,
then follows the action of the war.

He finds Medusa asleep; for whoever undertakes a war
with prudence generally falls upon the enemy unprepared,
and nearly in a state of security; and here is the occasion
for Pallas's mirror, for it is common enough, before the
danger presents, to see exactly into the state and posture
of the enemy; but the principal use of the glass is in the
very instant of danger, to discover the manner thereof and
prevent consternation, which is the thing intended by Per
seus' turning his head aside and viewing the enemy in the
glass.19

Two effects here follow the conquest — 1. The darting
forth of Pegasus, which evidently denotes fame, that flies
abroad, proclaiming the victory far and near. 2. The
bearing of Medusa's head in the shield, which is the
greatest possible defenc7 and safeguard; for one grand
and memorable enterprise, happily accomplished, bridles
all the motions and attempts of the enemy, stupefies dis
affection, and quells commotions.

DIONYSUS, OR BACCHUS M
Explained of the Passions

"THE fable runs, that Semele, Jupiter's mistress, hav
ing bound him by an inviolable oath to grant her an un
known request, desired he would embrace her in the same
form and manner he used to embrace Juno; and the prom
ise being irrevocable, she was burned to death with light
ning in the performance. The embryo, however, was sewed
up, and carried in Jupiter's thigh, till the complete time of

19 Thus it is the excellence of a general early to discover what turn the
battle is likety to take, and looking prudently behind, as well as before, to
pursue a victory so as not to be unprovided for a retreat.

20 Ovid's Metamorphoses, iii. iv. and vi. ; and Fasti, iii. 767.

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its birth; but the burden thus rendering the father lame,
and giving him pain, the child was thence called Dionysus.
When born, he was committed for some years to be nursed
by Proserpina; and when grown up, appeared with such an
effeminate face that his sex seemed somewhat doubtful. He
also died and was buried for a time, but afterward revived.
When a youth, he first introduced the cultivation and dress
ing of vines, the method of preparing wine, and taught the
use thereof; whence becoming famous, he subdued the world,
even to the utmost bounds of the Indies. He rode in a char
iot drawn by tigers: there danced about him certain deformed
demons called Cobali, etc. ; the Muses also joined in his train.
He married Ariadne, who was deserted by Theseus. The ivy
was sacred to him. He was also held the inventor and in-
stitutor of religious rites and ceremonies, but such as were
wild, frantic, and full of corruption and cruelty. He had
also the power of striking men with frenzies. Pentheus
and Orpheus were torn to pieces by the frantic women at
his orgies, the first for climbing a tree to behold their out
rageous ceremonies, and the other for the music of his harp.
But the acts of this god are much entangled and confounded
with those of Jupiter."

This fable seems to contain a little system of morality, so
that there is scarce any better invention in all ethics. Un
der the history of Bacchus is drawn the nature of unlawful
desire, or affection and disorder; for the appetite and thirst
of apparent good is the mother of all unlawful desire, though
ever so destructive; and all unlawful desires are conceived
in unlawful wishes or requests, rashly indulged or granted
before they are well understood or considered ; and when the
affection begins to grow warm, the mother of it (the nature
of good) is destroyed and burned up by the heat. And
while an unlawful desire lies in the embryo, or unripened
in the mind, which is its father, and here represented by
Jupiter, it is cherished and concealed, especially in the in
ferior part of the mind, corresponding to the thigh of the
body, where pain twitches and depresses the mind so far

134 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

as to render its resolutions and actions imperfect and lame.
And even after this child of the mind is confirmed, and
gains strength by consent and habit, and comes forth into
action, it must still be nursed by Proserpina for a time;
that is, it skulks and hides its head in a clandestine man
ner, as it were underground, till at length, when the checks
of shame and fear are removed, and the requisite boldness
acquired, it either assumes the pretext of some virtue, or
openly despises infamy. And it is justly observed, that
every vehement passion appears of a doubtful sex, as hav
ing the strength of a man at first, but at last the impotence
of a woman. It is also excellently added, that Bacchus died
and rose again; for the affections sometimes seem to die and
be no more; but there is no trusting them, even though they
were buried, being always apt and ready to rise again when
ever the occasion or object offers.

That Bacchus should be the inventor of wine carries
a fine allegory with it; for every affection is cunning and
subtile in discovering a proper matter to nourish and feed
it; and of all things known to mortals, wine is the most
powerful and effectual for exciting and inflaming passions
of all kinds, being indeed like a common fuel to them all.

It is again with great elegance observed of Bacchus, that
he subdued provinces and undertook endless expeditions;
for the affections never rest satisfied with what they enjoy,
but with an endless and insatiable appetite thirst after some
what further. And tigers are prettily feigned to draw the
chariot; for as soon as any affection shall, from going on
foot, be advanced to ride, it triumphs over reason, and
exerts its cruelty, fierceness, and strength against all that
oppose it.

It is also humorously imagined, that ridiculous demons
should dance and frisk about this chariot; for every passion
produces indecent, disorderly, interchangeable, and de
formed motions in the eyes, countenance, and gesture — so
that the person under the impulse whether of anger, insult,
love, etc., though to himself he may seem grand, lofty, or

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 135

obliging, yet in the eyes of others appears mean, contemp
tible, or ridiculous.

The Muses also are found in the train of Bacchus; for
there is scarce any passion without its art, science, or doc
trine to court and flatter it; but in this respect the indul
gence of men of genius has greatly detracted from the
majesty of the Muses, who ought to be the leaders and
conductors of human life, and not the handmaids of the
passions.

The allegory of Bacchus falling in love with a cast mis
tress is extremely noble; for it is certain that the' affections
always court and covet what has been rejected upon experi
ence. And all those who, by serving and indulging their
passions immensely raise the value of enjoyment, should
know, that whatever they covet and pursue, whether riches,
pleasure, glory, learning, or anything else, they only pursue
those things that have been forsaken, and cast off with con
tempt by great numbers in all ages, after possession and
experience.

Nor is it without a mystery that the ivy was sacred to
Bacchus; and this for two reasons — First, because ivy is an
evergreen, or flourishes in the winter; and, secondly, be
cause it winds and creeps about so many things, as trees,
walls, and buildings, and raises itself above them. As to
the first, every passion grows fresh, strong, and vigorous
by opposition and prohibition, as it were by a kind of con
trast or antiperistasis,21 like the ivy in the winter. And for

21 The word avriTrepio-Too-ts, used by the Greeks to express the forces of ac
tivity and resistance, which are continually producing all the variegated tissue
of phenomena which mark the history of the moral and physical world, and are
necessary to their preservation. Without reaction, action could not take place,
as force can be only displayed in overcoming resistance, and we can have no idea
of its existence except from its effect upon the antagonistic force it attempts to
subdue. In mechanics, Newton has observed that reaction is always equal to
action, and we may observe a similar principle in the antiperistasis of the moral
world. The reactions in communities and individuals against any dominant
principle are generally marked with excesses proportionally antagonistic to the
fashions over which they prevail; and though no precise certainty can be ac
quired in the interpretation of phenomena connected with the human will, yet
we think a vast amount of proximate truth might be elicited and a flood of
light thrown upon the springs of our spiritual nature by a philosophic attempt

136 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

the second, the predominant passion of the mind throws
itself, like the ivy, round all human actions, entwines all
our resolutions, and perpetually adheres to and mixes itself
in, among, or even overtops them.

And no wonder that superstitious rites and ceremonies
are attributed to Bacchus, when almost every ungovernable
passion grows wanton and luxuriant in corrupt religions;
nor again, that fury and frenzy should be sent and dealt out
by him, because every passion is a short frenzy and if it be
vehement, lasting, and take deep root, it terminates in mad
ness. And hence the allegory of Pentheus and Orpheus
being torn to pieces is evident; for every headstrong
passion is extremely bitter, severe, inveterate, and revenge
ful upon all curious inquiry, wholesome admonition, free
counsel and persuasion.

Lastly, the confusion between the persons of Jupiter and
Bacchus will justly admit of an allegory, because noble
and meritorious actions may sometimes proceed from virtue,
sound reason, and magnanimity, and sometimes again from
a concealed passion and secret desire of ill, however they
may be extolled and praised; insomuch that it is not easy
to distinguish between the acts of Bacchus and the acts of
Jupiter.

But perhaps we remain too long in the theatre — it is time
we should advance to the palace of the mind.

to generalize such movements and connect them with the higher laws of our
mental constitution. Physically speaking, the force of the body resisting only
augments the effect of the force which endeavors to conquer it; while in the
moral world it increases both the effect and the power, as resistance irritates
the assailing force and consequently excites it to redouble its efforts: hence
may be seen the wisdom of that Providence who has hidden the springs of the
universe from ocular vision to sharpen man's faculties in their discovery, and
who ordinarily surrounds the course of genius with difficulties, in order that it
may burst through them with purer flame. — Ed.

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THIRD BOOK

CHAPTEK I

Division of Learning into Theology and Philosophy. The latter divided
into the Knowledge of God, of Nature, and of Man. Construction of
Philosophia Prima as the Mother of all the Sciences

TO THE KING

ALL history, excellent king, treads the earth, perform-
ing the office of a guide rather than of a light: and
poetry is, as it were, the stream of knowledge — a
pleasing thing full of variations, and affects to be inspired
with divine rapture, to which treasures also pretend. But
now it is time I should awake and raise myself from the
earth, and explore the liquid regions of philosophy and
the sciences. Knowledge is like waters; some descend from
the heavens, some spring from the earth. For all knowl
edge proceeds from a twofold source — either from divine '\
inspiration or external sense. As for that knowledge which
is infused by instruction, that is cumulative, not original,
as it is in waters, which, besides the headsprings, are in
creased by the reception of other rivers which fall into
them. We shall, therefore, divide sciences into theology •
and philosophy. In the former we do not include natural
theology, of which we are to speak anon, but restrict our
selves to inspired divinity, the treatment of which we re
serve for the close of the work, as the fruit and sabbath of
all human contemplations. Philosophy has three objects; ^
viz., God, nature, and man; as also three kinds of rays —
for nature strikes the human intellect with a direct ray,
God with a refracted ray, from the inequality of the medium //
between the Creator and the creatures, and man, as ex-

138 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

hibited to himself, with a reflected ray: whence it is propei
to divide philosophy into the doctrine of the deity, the doc
trine of nature, and the doctrine of man.

But as the divisions of the sciences are not like different
lines that meet in one angle, but rather like the branches
of trees that join in one trunk,1 it is first necessary that we
constitute a universal science as a parent to the rest, and
as making a part of the common road to the sciences before
the ways separate. And this knowledge we call "philoso-
phia prima," primitive or primative or summary philosophy;
it has no other for its opposite, and differs from other sci
ences rather in the limits whereby it is confined than in the
subject as treating only the summits of things. And whether
this should be noted as wanting may seem doubtful, though
I rather incline to note it; for 1 find a certain rhapsody of
natural theology, logics, and physics, delivered in a certain
sublimity of discourse, by such as aim at being admired for
standing on the pinnacles of the sciences; but what we mean
is, without ambition, to design, some general science, for the
reception of axioms, not peculiar to any one science, but
common to a number of them.

Axioms of this kind are numerous; for example, if
equals be added to unequals, the wholes will be unequal.
This is a rule in mathematics, which holds also in ethics,
with regard to distributive justice. For in commutative
justice, equity requires, that equal portions be given to
unequal persons; but in distributive justice, that unequal
portions should be distributed to unequals. Things agree
ing to the same third, agree also with one another: this,
likewise, is an axiom in mathematics, and, at the same time,
so serviceable in logic as to be the foundation of syllogism.2
Nature shows herself best in her smallest works. This is a
rule in philosophy, that produced the atoms of Democritus,

1 This observation is the foundation of Father Castel's late piece De Maflie-
matique Qniverselle, wherein, by the help of sensible representations and divi
sions, he proposes to teach the sciences readily, and even abstract mathematics,
to common capacities. — Shaw.

2 Whately's Logic, ii. 3, § 1.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 139

and was justly employed by Aristotle in politics, when he
begins the consideration of a commonwealth in a family.
All things change, but nothing is lost.3 This is an axiom
in physics, and holds in natural theology; for as the sum of '
matter neither diminishes nor increases, so it is equally the
work of omnipotence to create or to annihilate it which even
the Scripture testifies: "Didici quod omnia opera, qua3 fecit
Deus, perseverent in perpetuum: non possumus eis quic-
quam addere, nee auferre."4 Things are preserved from
destruction, by bringing them back to their principles. This
is an axiom in physics, but holds equally in politics; for the
preservation of states, as is well observed by Machiavel,5
depends upon little more than reforming and bringing them
back to their ancient customs. A putrid malady is more
contagious in its early than in its more matured stages,
holds in natural as in moral philosophy; for wicked and
desperately impious persons do not corrupt society so much
as they who blend with their vices a mixture of virtue.
What tends to preserve the effects of the greatest laws of
nature, displays the strongest action, is a rule in natural
philosophy. For the first and universal motion, that pre
serves the chain and contexture of nature unbroken, and
prevents a vacuum, as they call it, or empty discontinuity
in the world, controls the more particular law which draws
heavy bodies to the earth, and preserves the region of gross
and compacted natures. The same rule is good in politics;
for those things which conduce to the conservation of the
entire commonwealth, control and modify those made for
the welfare of particular members of a government. The
same principle may be observed in theology; for, among
the virtues of this class, charity is the most communicative,
and excels all the rest. The force of an agent is augmented
by the antiperistatis of the counteracting body,6 is a rule in

3 Of. Plat. Theset. i. 152. 4 Eccl. iii. 14, and xlii. 21.

5 Discorso sopra la Prima Deca di Tito Livio, libro 3.

6 Aristotle, Meteors, Problem 1, § 11.

140 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

civil states as in nature, for all faction is vehemently moved
and incensed at the rising of a contrary faction.

A discord ending immediately in a concord sets off the
harmony. This is a rule in music that holds also true in
morals. A trembling sound in music gives the same pleas
ure to the ear, as the coruscation of water or the sparkling
of a diamond to the eye —

" splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus." T

The organs of the senses resemble the organs of reflection,
as we see in optics and acoustics, where a concave glass
resembles the eye, and a sounding cavity the ear. And of
these axioms an infinite number might be collected; and
thus the celebrated Persian magic was, in effect, no more
than a notation of the correspondence in the structure and
fabric of things natural and civil. NOY let any one under
stand all this of mere similitudes, as they might at first
appear, for they really are one and the same footsteps, and
impressions of nature, made upon different matters and sub
jects. And in this light the thing has not hitherto been
carefully treated. A few of these axioms may indeed be
found in the writings of eminent men, here and there inter
spersed occasionally; but a collected body of them, which
should have a primitive and summary tendency to the
sciences, is not hitherto extant, though a thing of so great
moment as remarkable to show nature to be one and the
same, which is supposed the office of a primary philosophy.
There is another part of this primary philosophy regard
ing the adventitious or transcendental condition of things;
as little, much, like, different, possible, impossible, entity,
nonentity, etc. For as these things do not properly come
under physics, and as their logical consideration rather ac
commodates them to argumentation than existence, it is
proper that this point be not quite deserted, as being of
considerable dignity and use, so as to have some place in

7 ^neid, vii. 9.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 141

the arrangement of the sciences. But this should be done
in a manner very different from the common : for example,
no writer who has treated of much and little, endeavors to
assign the cause why some things in nature are so numer
ous and large, and others so rare and small; for, doubtless,
it is impossible in the nature of things, that there should be
as great a quantity of gold as of iron, or roses as plenty as
grass, and as great a variety of specific as of imperfect or
non-specific nature.8 So, likewise, nobody that treats of
like and different has sufficiently explained, why" between
particular species there are almost constantly interposed
some things that partake of both; as moss9 between cor
ruption and a plant; motionless fish between a plant and
an animal; bats between birds and quadrupeds, etc. Nor
has any one hitherto discovered why iron does not attract
iron, as the loadstone does; and why gold does not attract
gold, as quicksilver does, etc. But of these particulars we
find no mention in the discourses of transcendentals; for
men have rather pursued the quirks of words than the sub-
tilties of things. And, therefore, we would introduce into
primary philosophy a real and solid inquiry into these
transcendentals, or adventitious conditions of beings, ac
cording to the laws of nature, not of speech.

8 Specific bodies; that is, those which have a certain homogeneous form
and regularity in their organization, and which exist in such variety as to urge
the mind to form them into species. — Ed.

9 By the aid of the microscope, moss has been discovered to be only a col
lection of small plants, with parts as distinct and regular in their conformation
as the larger plants. The vervain which generally covers the surface of moist
bodies long exposed to the air presents similar appearances. — Ed.

142 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

CHAPTEK II

Natural Theology with its Appendix, the Knowledge of Angeli and Spirits

HITS having first seated the common parent of the
sciences, as Berecynthia rejoicing over her celestial
offspring —

"Omnes coelicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes," ' —

we return to our division of philosophy into divine, nat
ural, and human; for natural theology may be justly called
I divine philosophy. Divine philosophy is a science, or rather
/ I the rudiments of a science, derivable from God by the light
lof nature, and the contemplation of his creatures; so that
I with regard to its object, it is truly divine; but with re-
!gard to its acquirement, natural. The bounds of this
knowledge extend to the confutation of atheism, and the
ascertaining the laws of nature, but not to the establishing
of religion. And, therefore, God never wrought a miracle
/f to convert an atheist, because the light of nature is sum
s/I I cient to demonstrate a deity; but miracles were designed
1 for the conversion of the idolatrous and superstitious, who
acknowledged a God, but erred in the worship of him — the
light of nature being unable to declare the will of God, or
assign the just form of worshipping him. Fox^as^the power
and skill of a workman are seen in his works, but noFhi^
person, so the works of God express the wisdom and .om:
nipotence of the Creator, without the least representation
ojLJiis image. And in this particular, the opinion of the
heathens differed from the sacred verity, as supposing
the world to be the image of God, and man a little im
age of the world. The Scripture never gives the world
that honor, but calls it the work of his hands; making
only man the image of God.2 And, therefore, the being

1 JEueid, vi. 787. * Ps. viii. 3, cii. 25, et al.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 143

of a God, that he governs the world, that he is all-power
ful, wise, prescient, good, a just rewarder and punisher,
and to be adored, may be shown and enforced from his
works; and many other wonderful secrets, with regard to \
his attributes, and much more as to his dispensation and
government over the universe, may also be solidly deduced,
and made appear from the same. And this subject has been
usefully treated by several.3

But from the contemplation of nature, and the prin
ciples of human reason, to dispute or urge anything with
vehemence, as to the mysteries of faith, or over-curiously
to examine and sift them, by prying into the manner of the
mystery, is no safe thing: "Give unto faith the things that '
are faith's." And the heathens grant as much in that ex
cellent and divine fable of the golden chain, where "men
and gods are represented as unable to draw Jupiter to earth,
but Jupiter able to draw them up to heaven."4 So that it
is a vain attempt to draw down the sublime mysteries of ]
religion to our reason, but we should rather raise our minds (
to the adorable throne of heavenly truth. And in this part
of natural theology, we find rather an excess than any de
fect; which we have however turned a little aside to note,
on account of the extreme prejudice and danger which both
religion and philosophy hence incur, because a mixture of
these makes both a heretical religion and a fantastic and '
superstitious philosophy.6

It is otherwise, as to the nature of spirits and angels;
this being neither unsearchable nor forbid, but in a great

3 And more particularly since, by Cudworth, in his "Intellectual System of
the Universe"; Mr. Boyle, in his "Christian Virtuoso"; Mr. Ray, in his
"Wisdom of the Creation"; Dr. Bentley in his "Discourse of the Folly and
Unreasonableness of Atheism"; Dr. Clarke, in his "Demonstration of the
Being and Attributes of G-od" ; and by Derham, in his "Physico Theology."
See also Raphson's "De Deo"; Dr. Nieuwentyt's "Religious Philosopher";
Mr. Winston's "Astronomical Principles of Religion"; Commenius's "Physicge
ad lumen divinum reformatae Synopsis"; Paley's "Natural Religion"; the
Bridgewater Treatises, and Cardinal Wiseman's "Connection of Science with
Revealed Religion."— Ed.

4 Iliad, ix.

5 See above, Prelim, sec. iii. 8, and hereafter of Theology, sec. ult.

144 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

part level to the human mind, on account of their affinity.
We are, indeed, forbid in Scripture to worship angels, or to
entertain fantastical opinions of them,6 so as to exalt them
above the degree of creatures, or to think of them higher
than we have reason; but the sober inquiry about them,
which either ascends to a knowledge of their nature by the
1 scale of corporeal beings, or views them in the mind, as in
j a glass, is by no means forbid. The same is to be under
stood of revolted or unclean spirits: conversation with them,
or using their assistance, is unlawful; and much more in
any manner to worship or adore them: but the contem
plation and knowledge of their nature, power, and illu
sions, appears from Scripture, reason, and experience, to
be no small part of spiritual wisdom. Thus says the
apostle, "Strategematum ejus non ignari sumus.'17 And
thus it is as lawful in natural theology to investigate the
nature of evil spirits, as the nature of poisons in physics,
or the nature of vice in morality. But this part of knowl
edge relating to angels and spirits, which we call the ap
pendage to natural theology, cannot be noted for deficient
as having been handled by many; but we may justly tax
no small part of the writers in this way, either with levity,
superstition, or fruitless speculation.

CHAPTER III

Natural Philosophy divided into Speculative and Practical. The Neces
sity of keeping these Two Branches distinct

BUT to leave natural theology, and proceed to natural
philosophy; as it was well said by Democritus, that
"the knowledge of nature lies concealed in deep
mines and caves";1 and by the alchemists, that "Yulcan
is a second nature, imitating concisely what the first takes
time and circuit to effect" ;a suppose natural philosophy

6 St. Paul, Coloss. ii. 5, 18. 7 II. Cor. ii. 11.

1 Laertius, Life of Seneca. 2 Paracelsus de Philos. Sagac.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 145

were divided, as it regards the mine and the furnace, and
two offices of philosophers, miners, and smelters introduced?
This, indeed, may appear jocular, yet such a kind of divi
sion we judge extremely useful, when proposed in just and
familiar terms; so that the doctrine of nature be divided
into speculative and practical, or the search after causes,
and the production of effects: the one entering into the
bowels of nature, and the other forming her upon the an
vil. Nor are we insensible of the strict union between
causes and effects; so that the explanation of them must,
in some measure, be coupled together: but as all solid and
fruitful natural philosophy hath both an ascending and a
descending scale of parts, leading from experience to ax
ioms, and from axioms to new discoveries, it seems most
advisable here, in the division of sciences, to separate
speculation from operation, and treat them distinct.

CHAPTER IV

Division of the Speculative Branch of Natural Philosophy into Physics and
Metaphysics. Physics relate to the Investigation of Efficient Causes ..
and Matter; Metaphysics to that of Final Causes and the Form. Divi- V
sion of Physics into the Sciences of the Principles of Things, the
Structure of Things, and the Variety of Things. Division of Physics
in relation to the Variety of Things into Abstract and Concrete.
Division of Concretes agrees with the Distribution of the Parts of
Natural History. Division of Abstracts into the Doctrine of Material
Forms and Motion. Appendix of Speculative Physics twofold: viz.,
Natural Problems and the Opinions of Ancient Philosophers. Meta
physics divided into the Knowledge of Forms and the Doctrine of
Final Causes

THE speculative or theoretical part of natural philos
ophy we divide into physics and metaphysics; tak
ing the word metaphysics in a sense different from
that received. And here we must, once for all, declare,
as to our use of words, that though our conceptions and
notions are new, and different from the common, yet we
SCIENCE — Vol. 21 — 7

146 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

religiously retain the ancient forms of speech; for as
we hope that the method, and clear explanation, we en
deavor at, will free us from any misconstruction that might
arise from an ill choice of words; so in everything else, it
is our desire, as much as possible, without prejudice to
truth and the sciences, not to deviate from ancient opin
ions and forms of speech. And here I cannot but wonder
that Aristotle should proceed in such a spirit of contradic
tion, as he did to all antiquity; not only coining new terms
of science at pleasure, but endeavoring to abolish all the
knowledge of the ancients; so that he never mentions any
ancient author but to reprove him, nor opinion but to con
fute it; which is the ready way to procure fame and fol
lowers. For certainly it happens in philosophical, as it
does in divine truth: "I came in the name of my Father,
and ye received me not; but if one came in his own name,
ye would receive him."1 Which divine aphorism, as ap
plied to Antichrist, the great deceiver, plainly shows us
that a man's coming in his own name, without regard to
antiquity or paternity, is no good sign of truth, though
joined with the fortune and success of being received. But
for so excellent and sublime a genius as Aristotle, one
would think he caught this ambition from his scholar, and
affected to subdue all opinions, as Alexander did all na
tions; and thus erect himself a monarchy in his own con
templation. Though for this, perhaps, he may not escape
the iash of some severe pen, no more than his pupil; and
be called a successful ravager of learning, as the other was
of countries.2 Some are doubtless disposed to treat him with
the same courtesy as his scholar, in saying,

1 St. John v. 43.

2 We should rather say that Alexander caught the fire of ambition from his
master, as Aristotle put forth his pretensions to mental empire long before his
pupil overran Egypt. In addition, it may be observed that Aristotle was an
Athenian, and that the strong antipathies which his countrymen bore to the
king of Persia were increased by the ties of blood and friendship which bound
him to Hermius, king of Atarne, whom the eastern despot had abused. It is
most likely, therefore, that Aristotle never missed an opportunity of exciting

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 147

"Fcelix doctrinae prsedo, non utile mundo
Editus exemplum." 3

But on the other hand, desiring, by all possible means, to
cultivate and establish a free commerce between ancient
and modern learning, we judge it best religiously to side
with antiquity, and therefore to retain ancient terms, though
we frequently alter their sense, according to that moderate
and laudable usage in politics, of introducing a new state
of things, without changing the styles and titles of gov
ernment.4

Thus then we jiistafigsigk, metaphysics, as may appear
by wEa t ""was^abo ve delivered, fronaNprimary philosophy,6
which has hitherto been taken from it, making \this_the
common parent of the sciences, and that a part of natural '
philosophy. We have assigned the common and promiscu
ous axioms of the sciences to primitive philosophy; and all
relative and accidental conditions of essences, which we call
transcendent, as multitude, paucity, identity, diversity, pos
sible, impossible, and the like, we have included in the same
province, with this understanding, that they be handled ac
cording to their effects in nature, and not logically. We
have referred the inquiry concerning God, unity, goodness,'
angels, and spirits, to natural philosophy. But to assign the
proper office of metaphysics, as contradistinguished from
primary philosophy, and natural theology, we must note, \
that as physics regards the things which are wholly im
mersed in matter and, movable, so metaphysics regards \ <
what is more abstracted and fixed; that physics supposes \
only existence, motion, and natural necessity, while meta- \
physics supposes also mind and idea. But to be more
express: as we have divided natural philosophy into the
investigation of causes, and the production of effects, and

his royal pupil to that conquest, which the Athenians had previously attempted
to execute; as affording him the satisfaction of retaliating the injuries of a de
parted friend, as well as an opportunity of collecting a store of natural facts on
which he might erect the superstructure of the physical sciences. — Ed.

3 Lucan, x. 21. 4 Tacitus, Annals, i.

6 Concerning primary philosophy, see above.

148 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

referred the investigation of causes to theory, which we again
divide into physical and metaphysical; it is necessary that
the real difference of these two be drawn from the nature
of the causes they inquire into; and therefore, plainly, phys
ics inquires into the efficient and the matter, and meta
physics into the form and the end. Physics, therefore, is
vague and unstable as to causes, and treats movable bodies
as its subjects, without discovering a constancy of causes in
different subjects. Thus the same fire gives hardness to
clay and softness to wax, though it be no constant cause
either of hardness or softness.6

"Limns ut hie durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit
Uno eodernque igni. " 7

We divide physics into three parts; for nature is either
collected into one total, or diffused and distributed. Nature
is directed in its collocations either by the common elements
in the diversity of things, or by the unity which prevails in
the one integral fabric of the universe. Whence this union
of nature produces two parts of physics; the one relating
to the principles of things, and the other to the structure
of the universe; while the third exhibits all the possible
varieties and lesser collections of things. And this latter
is like a first gloss, or paraphrase in the interpretation of
nature. None of the three are deficient entirely, but how
justly and solidly they have been treated is another question.

The third part we again divide into two others, with re
gard to concretes and abstracts, or into physics of creatures
and physics of natures: the one inquiring into substances,
and all the variety of their accidents; the other into acci
dents through all the variety of substances. Thus if in
quiry be made about a lion or an oak; these support many

6 Physics, therefore, may be defined that part of universal philosophy which
observes and considers the procedure of nature in bodies, so as to discover her
laws, powers, and effects; and the material origins, and causes thereof, in dif
ferent subjects ; and thence from rules for imitating, controlling, or even excel
ling her works, in the instances it considers. — Shaw.

7 Yirgil's Eclogues, viii. 80.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 149

different accidents: so if the inquiry were about heat or
gravity; these are found in many different substances. But
as all physics lies in the middle, between natural history and
metaphysics; so the former part approaches nearer to natural
history, and the latter to metaphysics.

Concrete physics has the same division with natural his
tory; being conversant either about celestial appearances,
meteors, and the terrestrial globe; or about the larger as
semblages of matter, called the elements; and the lesser
or particular bodies: as also about praeter-generations and
mechanics. For in all these, natural history examines
and relates the matters of fact; and physics their instable,
or material and efficient causes. And among these parts
of physics, that is absolutely lame and incomplete, which
regards the celestial bodies, though for the dignity of the
subject it claims the highest regard. Astronomy, indeed,
is well founded in phenomena; yet it is low and far from
solid. But astrology is in many things destitute of all
foundation. And to say the truth, astronomy itself seems
to offer Prometheus's sacrifice to the understanding; for as
he would have imposed upon Jupiter a fair large hide
stuffed with straw, and leaves, and twigs, instead of the
ox itself, so astronomy gives us the number, situation, mo
tion, and periods of the stars, as a beautiful outside of the
heavens, while the flesh and the entrails are wanting; that
is, a well-fabricated system, or the physical reasons and
foundations for a just theory, that should not only solve
phenomena, as almost any ingenious theory may do, but
show the substance, motions, and influences of the heavenly
bodies, as they really are. For those dogmas are long since
exploded, which asserted the rapture of the first morn and
the solidity of the heavens, in which the stars were supposed
fastened like nails in the vaulted roof of a hall, and other
opinions almost as silly; viz., that the zodiac has several
poles ; that there exists a movement of resilience against the
rapture of the first motion; that all parts of the firmament
are wheeled round in perfect circles, with eccentric and epi-

150 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

cycles to preserve their circular rotation; that the moon has
no influence over bodies higher in the heavens; the absurd
ity of which notions have thrown men upon the extravagant
idea of the diurnal motion of the earth, an opinion which
we can demonstrate to be most false.8 But scarce any one
has inquired into the physical causes of the substance of the
heavens, stellar and interstellar; the different velocities of
the celestial bodies with regard to one another; the different
accelerations of motion in the same planet; the sequences
of their motion from east to west;9 the progressions, stations,
and retrogradations of the planets, the stoppage and acci
dents of their motion in perigee and apogee, the obliquity
of their motions; why the poles of rotation are principally
in one quarter of the heavens; why certain planets keep a
fixed distance from the sun, etc. Inquiries of this kind have
hitherto been hardly touched upon, but the pains have been
chiefly bestowed in mathematical observations and demon
strations; which indeed may show how to account for all
these things ingeniously, bat not how they actually are
in nature: how to represent the apparent motions of the
heavenly bodies, and machines of them, made according
to particular fancies; but not the real causes and truth of
things. And therefore astronomy, as it now stands, loses
its dignity by being reckoned among the mathematical
arts, for it ought in justice to make the most noble part
of physics.10 And whoever despises the imaginary separa-

8 That doctrine had been recently demonstrated by Galileo, and defended by
Gilbert.

9 That is, from west to east, according to the Copernican system. — Ed.

10 Bacon maps out the entire region of human knowledge, breaking up the
old sections, and assigning to each science new boundaries more conformable in
his view to strict philosophical notions than the old ; yet he capriciously enough
makes mathematics an essential part of metaphysics, or inquiry into forms, and
astronomy a compartment of mathematics, and then decries this absurd arrange
ment as the notion of the age. It is evident, however, that the age was inno
cent of the charge, and that Bacon snatched up the idea from the demonstra
tions which Copernicus, Kepler, and Gilbert employed to dethrone the Ptolemaic
theory of the heavens. Bacon was too jealous of Gilbert to entertain one moment
any doctrine that he advanced; and a little further on he alludes to his mathe
matical thesis in favor of the earth's diurnal motion as proofs contradicted by
natural philosophy, though incapable of being confuted by observation. From

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 151

tion between terrestrial and celestial things, and well under
stands the more general appetites and passions of matter,11
which are powerful in both, may receive a clear information
of what happens above from that which happens below; and
from what passes in the heavens, he may become acquainted
with some inferior motions hitherto undiscovered, not as
these are governed by those, but as they both have the
same common passions. We, therefore, report this physi
cal part of astronomy as wanting, in comparison of which
the present animated astronomy is but as the stuffed ox of
Prometheus — aping the form but wanting the substance.

But for astrology, it is so full of superstition, that scarce
anything sound can be discovered in it; though we judge
it should rather be purged than absolutely rejected. But
if any one shall pretend that this science is founded, not
in reason and physical contemplations, but in the direct
experience and observation of past ages, and therefore not
to be examined by physical reasons, as the Chaldeans
boasted, he may at the same time bring back divination,
auguries, soothsaying, and give in to all kinds of fables;
for these also were said to descend from long experience.

such demonstrations, however, astronomy could no more be regarded as a
branch of mathematics than commerce or politics, because they sometimes call
in the aid of arithmetic ; and if Bacon had followed out this strange notion, he
must have made, with lamblicus, numbers the parent of all knowledge, as there
is no department of science advanced beyond mere empiricism which does not
rest upon the basis of figures. The degradation which Bacon imputes to astron
omy from its association with mathematics shows that the most acute minds are
no more privileged than the weakest to decide questions in relation to things of
which they are perfectly ignorant. It is needless to say that a science only
advances beyond empiricism to those intermediate or general axioms which
Bacon so ardently desired to reach, so far as its phenomena admit of being ex
tended and corrected by mathematical forms, and that it was only through such
agencies that astronomy, almost in the space of a single age, was transformed
from a mere empiric colligation of facts into the highest of the deductive sci
ences. The confusion arose from the consequence of Bacon's fundamental
division of the sciences, which confounded those which are purely formal with
the substantive sciences of which they are in some measure a universal condi
tion, and hindered Bacon from seizing with precision upon the functions ani
limits of these sciences, and comprehending the important part the mathe
matical portion of them perform, in extending and corroborating physical
discovery. — Ed.

11 Tendencies, forces, efforts, and effects. — Ed.

152 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

But we receive astrology as a part of physics, without
attributing more to it than reason and the evidence of
things allow, and strip it of its superstition and conceits.
Thus we banish that empty notion about the horary reign
of the planets, as if each resumed the throne thrice in
twenty -four hours, so as to leave three hours supernumer
ary: and yet this fiction produced the division of the
week, a thing so ancient and so universally received. Thus
likewise we reject, as an idle figment, the doctrine of horo
scopes, and the distribution of the houses, though these are
the darling inventions of astrology, which have kept revel,
as it were, in the heavens. And we are surprised that some
eminent authors in astrology should rest upon so slender
an argument for erecting them, as because it appears by
experience that the solstices, the equinoxes, the new and
full moon, etc., have a manifest operation upon natural
bodies, therefore the more curious and subtile positions of
the stars must produce more exquisite and secret effects:
whereas, laying aside those operations of the sun, which are
owing to manifest heat, and a certain attractive virtue of
the moon, which causes the spring tide; the other effects
of the planets upon natural bodies are, so far as experience
reaches, exceeding small, weak, and latent. Therefore the
argument should run thus: since these greater revolutions
are able to effect so little, those more nice and trifling differ
ences of positions will have no force at all. And lastly, for
the calculation of nativities, fortunes, good or bad hours of
business, and the like fatalities, they are mere levities that
have little in them of certainty and solidity, and may be
plainly confuted by physical reasons.

And here we judge it proper to lay down some rules for
the examination of astrological matters, in order to retain
what is useful therein, and reject what is insignificant.
Thus, 1. Let the greater revolutions be retained, but the
lesser of horoscopes and houses be rejected — the former
being like ordnance, which shoot to a great distance, while
the other are but like small bows, that do no execution.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 153

2. The celestial operations affect not all kinds of bodies,
but only the more sensible, as humors, air, and spirits.18
Here we expect the operations of the sun's heat, which may
doubtless penetrate metals and other subterranean bodies,
and confine the other operations chiefly to the air, the
humors, and the spirits of things. 3. All the celestial
operations rather extend to masses of things than to indi
viduals. Though they may obliquely reach some individ
uals also, which are more sensible than the rest, as a pesti
lent constitution of the air affects those bodies which are
least able to resist it. 4. All the celestial operations pro
duce not their effects instantaneously and in a narrow com
pass, but exert them in large portions of time and space.
Thus predictions as to the temperature of a year may hold
good, but not with regard to single days. 5. There is no
fatal necessity in the stars; and this the more prudent as
trologers have constantly allowed. 6. We will add one
thing more, which, if amended and improved, might make
for astrology, viz., that we are certain the celestial bodies
have other influences besides heat and light, but these in
fluences act not otherwise than by the foregoing rules,
though they lie so deep in physics as to require a fuller
explanation. So that, upon the whole, we must register as
defective an astrology wrote in conformity to these princi
ples, under the name of Astrologia Sana.

This just astrology should contain — 1. The doctrine of
the commixture of rays, viz., the conjunctions, oppositions,
and other situations, or aspect of the planets with regard to
one another, their transits through the signs of the zodiac,
and their situation in the same signs, as the situation of
planets in a sign is a certain conjunction thereof with the
stars of that sign; and as the conjunctions, so likewise
should the oppositions and other aspects of the planets,
with regard to the celestial signs, be remarked, which has
not hitherto been fully done. The commixtures of the rays

12 But if celestial bodies act upon humors, air, and spirits, and these in turn
affect solid bodies, it follows that they also act on solid bodies. — Ed.

154 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

of the fixed stars with one another are of use in contemplat
ing the fabric of the world, and the nature of the subjacent
regions, but in no respect for predictions, because at ail
times alike. 2. This astrology should take in the nearest
approaches and the furthest removes of each planet to and
from the zenith, according to the climate; for all the planets
have their summer and winter, wherein they dart their rays
stronger or weaker, according to their perpendicular or ob
lique direction. So we question not but the moon in Leo
has, in the same manner as the sun, a greater effect upon
natural bodies with us than when in Pisces, not because
the moon in Leo moves the head, and under Pisces affects
the feet, but by reason of her greater perpendicular eleva
tion and nearer approach to the larger stars. 3. It should
receive the apogees and perigees of the planets, with a
proper inquiry into what the vigor of the planets may per
form of itself, and what through their nearness to us; for a
planet is more brisk in its apogee, but more communicative
in its perigee. 4. It should include all the other accidents
of the planets' motions, their accelerations, retardations,
courses, stations, retrogradations, distances from the sun, in
crease and diminutions of light, eclipses, etc. For all these
things affect the rays of the planets, and cause them to act
either weaker, stronger, or in a different manner. 5. This
astrology should contain all that can by any means be
known or discovered of the nature of the stars, both erratic
and fixed, considered in their own essence and activity, viz.,
their magnitude, color^ aspect, sparkling and vibrating of
light; their situation with regard to the poles or equinoc
tial; the constellations, which thicker set and which thinner,
which higher, which lower; what fixed stars are in the
zodiac, and what out of it; the different velocities of the
planets, their different latitudes, which of them are retro
grade, and which not; their different distances from the
sun; which move swiftest in their apogee, and which in
their perigee; the irregularities of Mars, the excursions of
Venus, and the extraordinary phases, accidents, and ap-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 155

pearances observable in Venus and the sun; with other
things of this kind. 6. Lastly, let it contain, from tradi
tion, the particular natures and alterations of the planets
and fixed stars; for as these are delivered with general
consent, they are not lightly to be rejected, unless they
directly contradict physical reasons. And of such obser
vations let a just astrology be formed: and according to
these alone should schemes of the heavens be made and
interpreted.

Such an astrology should be used with greater confidence
in prediction, but more cautiously in election, and in both
cases with due moderation. Thus predictions may be made
of comets, and all kinds of meteors, inundations, droughts,
heats, frosts, earthquakes, fiery eruptions, winds, great rains,
the seasons of the year, plagues, epidemic diseases, plenty,
famine, wars, seditions, sects, transmigrations of people, and
all commotions or great innovations of things natural
and civM. Predictions may possibly be made more par
ticular, though with less certainty, if when the general
tendencies of the times are found, a good philosophical
or political judgment applies them to such things as are
most liable to this kind of accidents. For example, from
a foreknowledge of the seasons of any year they might be
apprehended more destructive to olives than grapes, more
hurtful in distempers of the lungs than the liver, more
pernicious to the inhabitants of hills than valleys, and,
for want of provisions, to monks than courtiers, etc. Or
if any one, from a knowledge of the influence which the
celestial bodies have upon the spirits of mankind, should
find it would affect the people more than their rulers,
learned and inquisitive men more than the military, etc.
For there are innumerable things of this kind that require
not only a general knowledge, gained from the stars,
which are the agents, but also a particular one of the
passive subjects.

Nor are elections to be wholly rejected, though not so
much to be trusted as predictions; for we find in planting^

156 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

sowing, and grafting, observations of the moon are not ab
solutely trifling, and there are many particulars of this
kind. But elections are more to be curbed by our rules
than predictions; and this must always be remembered,
that election only holds in such cases where the virtue of
the heavenly bodies, and the action of the inferior bodies
also, is not transient, as in the examples just mentioned;
for the increases of the moon and planets are not sudden
things. But punctuality of time should here be abso
lutely rejected. And perhaps there are more of these
instances to be found in civil matters than some would
imagine.

There are but four ways of arriving at this science,
viz., 1. By future experiments; 2. Past experiments; 3.
Traditions; and, 4. Physical reasons. But, 1. It is in
vain at present to think of future experiments, because
many ages are required to procure a competent stock of
them. And, 2. As for the past, it is true they are within
our reach, but it is a work of labor and much time to pro
cure them. Thus astrologers may, if they please, draw from
real history all greater accidents, as inundations, plagues,
wars, seditions, deaths of kings, etc., as also the positions
of the celestial bodies, not according to fictitious horo
scopes, but the above-mentioned rules of their revolu
tions, or such as they really were at the time, and where
the event conspires, erect a probable rule of prediction. 3,
All traditions should be well sifted, and those thrown out
that manifestly clash with physical reasons, leaving such in
their full force as comport well therewith. And, 4. Those
physical reasons are best suited to this inquiry which search
into the universal appetites and passions of matter, and the
simple genuine motions of the heavenly bodies. And this
we take for the surest guide to astrology.

There remains another piece of wild astrology, though
usually separated from it, and transferred to celestial inagic
as they call it. It is a strange fiction of the human brain,13

is Agrippa, Mystical Philosophy.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 157

the receiving the benign action of the stars upon seals and
signets of gems or metal suited to the purpose, so as to
detain and fix, as it were, the felicity of that hour which
would otherwise be volatile and fugitive. The poet pas
sionately complains of a similar art among the ancients
long since buried in oblivion —

"Annulus infuso non vivit mirus Olympo,
Non magis ingentes humili sub lumine Phoebos,
Pert gemma, aut celso divulsas cardine lunas."

Indeed the Eoman Church has upheld the venerableness of
saints' relics and their virtues, since the flux of time has
no power to abate the force and efficacy of spiritual things;
but to assert that the relics of persons might be so deter
mined as to continue and perpetuate the virtue of an hour
which is past, and as it were dead, is mere superstition and
imposture.

Abstract physics may be justly divided into two parts —
the doctrine of the schemes of matter, and the doctrine of
appetites and motions. The schemes of matter are density,
rarity, gravity, levity, heat, cold, tangibility, intangibility,
volatile, fixed, determinate, fluid, humid, dry, unctuous,
crude, hard, soft, fragile, tensile, porous, united, spiri
tuous, jejune, simple, compound, absolute, imperfectly
mixed, fibrous and veiny, simple position, or equable,
similar, dissimilar, specificate, unspecificate, organical, in-
organical, animate and inanimate; and further than this we
proceed not. For sensible and insensible, rational and ir
rational, we refer to the doctrine of man.

Appetites and motions are of two kinds — as being either
simple motions, wherein the spring of all natural actions is
contained, that is, in respect of their schemes of matter; or
motions compounded or produced, and with these the com
mon philosophy, which enters but little into the body of
nature, begins. But these compound motions, such as gen
eration, corruption, etc., should be esteemed certain results
or effects of simple motions, rather than primitive motions

158 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

themselves. The simple motions are — 1. Motion of resist
ance, or preventive of penetration of dimensions; 2. Motion
of connection, preventive of a vacuum, as it is called; 3.
Motion of liberty, preventive of preternatural compression,
or extension; 4. Motion in a new orb, with regard to rare
faction and condensation; 5. Motion of the second connec
tion, or preventive of solution of continuity; 6. Motion of
the greater congregation, or with regard to masses of con
natural bodies, commonly called natural motion; 7. Motion
of the lesser congregation, vulgarly termed motion of sym
pathy and antipathy; 8. Disponent motion, with regard to
the just placing of parts in the whole; 9. Motion of as
similation, or multiplicative of its own nature upon another
body; 10. Motion of excitation, where the noble agent ex
cites the latent and benumbed motion in another thing; 11.
Motion of the seal, or impression, by an operation without
communication of substance; 12. Eegal motion, or the re
straint of other motions by a predominant one; 13. Endless
motion, or spontaneous rotation; 14. Motion of trepidation,
or the motion of systole and diastole, with regard to bodies
placed between things advantageous and hurtful; 15. And
lastly, Motion couchant, or a dread of motion, which is
the cause of many effects. And such are the simple mo
tions that really proceed out of the inward recesses of
nature; and which being complicated, continued, used al
ternately, moderated, repeated, and variously combined,
produce those compound motions or results of motion we
call generation, corruption, increase, diminution, alteration,
translation, mixtion, separation, and conversion.

The measures of motions are an attendant on physics, as
showing the effects of quantity, distance, or the sphere of
activity, intension and remission, short and long continu
ance, activity, dulness, and incitation. And these are the
genuine parts of abstract physics, which wholly consists — 1.
In the schemes of matter; 2. Simple motions; 3. The re
sults of sums of motions; and, 4. The measures of motions.
As for voluntary motion in animals — the motion in the ac-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 159

tion of the senses, the motions of the imagination, appetite,
and will, the motion of mind, the determination, and other
intellectual faculties — they have their own proper doctrines
under which we range them, confining the whole of physics
to matter and efficient, and assigning over forms and ends
to metaphysics.

We must annex two remarkable appendages to physics,
with regard rather to the manner, than the matter of in
quiry; viz., natural problems, and the opinions of the an
cient philosophers. The first is an appendage of nature at
large, and the other of nature united or summed up; both re
lating to a diligent kind of doubting* which is no contemp
tible part of knowledge. Now, problems contain particular
doubts and opinions, general ones, as to principles and
structure. In the books of Aristotle we have a noble
example of problems, deserving not only the praises but
the imitation of posterity, since new doubts are daily aris
ing. But the utmost caution is to be used in such an un
dertaking. The recording and proposing of doubts has two
advantages; the one, as it defends philosophy against errors,
when that which is not clear is neither judged nor asserted,
lest error thus should multiply error, but judgment is sus
pended upon it, and not made positive; the other is, that
doubts once registered are like so many sponges, which
perpetually suck and draw to themselves the increases of
knowledge; whence those things which would have been
slightly passed over, unless they had been doubted of be
fore, come now from this very doubting to be more atten
tively considered. But these two advantages will scarce
balance this single inconvenience, unless well provided
against; viz., that when a doubt is once admitted for
just, and becomes, as it were, authentic, it presently
raises up disputants on both sides, who transmit to pos
terity the same liberty of doubting still; so that men seem
to apply their wits rather to nourish the doubt than solve
it. And of this we everywhere meet with examples in law
yers and scholars; who, when a doubt once gains admit-

160 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tance, would have it remain a doubt forever, and engage
themselves in doubting as well as asserting; whereas the
true use of wit is to render doubtful things certain, and not
certain ones doubtful. And therefore I set down as want
ing a calendar of doubts or problems in nature, and recom
mend it to be undertaken, with care to blot out daily, as
knowledge increases, those that are clearly discussed and
settled. And this calendar we would have attended with
another of no less utility; for as in every inquiry there are
things plainly true, things doubtful, and things plainly false,
it were exceeding proper that along with a calendar of doubts
should go a calendar of falsehoods and vulgar errors, both in
natural history and opinions, that they may no longer dis
turb the sciences.

As to the opinions of the ancient philosophers, for ex
ample those of Pythagoras, Philolaus, Xenophanes, Anax-
agoras, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, and others,
which men usually pass slightly over, it is proper to cast
a modest eye upon them. For though Aristotle, after the
Ottoman manner, thought he could not reign secure with
out putting all his brethren to death, yet those who do not
affect dominion and rule, but the inquiry and illustration of
truth, will find their account in beholding, at one view, the
different opinions of different philosophers, as to the nature
of things. But there is no room to expect any pure truth
from these or the like theories: for as the celestial appear
ances are solved both upon the suppositions of Ptolemy and
Copernicus; so common experience, and the obvious face
of things, may be applied to many different theories: while
a much stricter procedure is required in the right discovery
of truth. For as Aristotle accurately remarks, that children,
when they first begin to speak, call every woman mother;
but afterward learn to distinguish their own:14 so a childish
experience calls every philosophy its mother, but when
grown up, will easily distinguish its true one. In the mean-

14 Aristotle's Physics.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 161

time, it is proper to read the disagreeing philosophies, as so
many different glosses of nature. We could therefore wish
there were, with care and judgment, drawn up a work of the
ancient philosophies,15 from the lives of old. philosophers,
Plutarch's collection of their opinions, the citations of Plato,
the confutations of Aristotle, and the scattered relations of
other books, whether ecclesiastical or heathen; as Lactan-
tius, Philo, Philostratus, etc. For such a work is not yet
extant; and we would advise it to be done distinctly; so
that each philosophy be drawn out and continued separate,
and not ranged under titles and collections, as Plutarch has
done. For every philosophy, when entire, supports itself,
and its doctrines thus add light and strength to each other;
which, if separated, sound strange and harsh. Thus, when
we read in Tacitus the acts of Nero or Claudius, clothed
with the circumstances of times, persons, and occasions,
everything seems plausible; but when the same are read in
Suetonius, distributed under chapters and commonplaces,
and not described in the order of time, they look monstrous,
and absolutely incredible. And the case is the same with
philosophy proposed entire, and dismembered, or cut into
articles. Nor do we exclude from this calendar the modern
theories and opinions, as those of Paracelsus, elegantly re
duced by Severinus into a body and harmony of philosophy;
or of Telesius, who, in restoring the philosophy of Parmen-
ides, has turned their own weapons against the Peripatetics;
or of Gilbert, who revived the doctrines of Philolaus; or of
any other, provided he be worthy. But as there are whole
volumes of these authors extant, we would only have the

16 The work here proposed is of vast extent, and a fit undertaking for a
society, as intended to include ali the ancient and modern systems of philoso-
ph}r, or the history of knowledge through all ages and countries. Considerable
progress has, however, been made in it, particularly by Vossius "De Philoso-
phia, et Philosophorm Sectis," continued with a supplement by Bussel, printed
at Jena, in the year 1105; by Pancirollus, "De Rebus inventis et perditis"; by
Paschius, "De Novis Inventis, quibus facem prsetulit antiquitas"; by Stanley
in his "Lives of the Philosophers"; by Herbelot in his "Bibliotheque Univer-
selle"; by M. Bayle in his "Dictionary," etc. For more collections, histories,
and writings to this purpose, see "Struvii Bibliotheca Philosophica, " Morhof's
"Polyhistor, " and "Stoltii Introductio in Historiam Literariam. "•— Shaw.

162 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

result drawn out and joined to the rest. And so much for
physics and its appendages.

To metaphysics we assign the inquiry of formal and final

causes. But an opinion has prevailed, as if the essential

forms, or real differences of things, were absolutely undis-

coverable by liuman means; granting, at the same time,

that if they could be discovered, this, of all the parts of

knowledge, would be the most worthy of inquiry. As to

the possibility of the thing, there are indolent discoverers,

who see nothing but sea and sky, absolutely deny there can

be any land beyond them. But it is manifest that Plato,

a man of a sublime genius, who took a view of everything

[• as from a high rock, saw in his doctrine of ideas, that forms

were the true object of knowledge";16 though he lost the

advantage of this just opinion by contemplating and grasp-

fing at forms totally abstracted from matter, and not as

determined in it;" whence he turned aside to theological

speculations, and therewith infected all his natural philoso-

i phy. But if with diligence, seriousness, and sincerity, we

/ turn our eyes to action and use, we may find, and become

| acquainted with those forms, the knowledge whereof will

wonderfully enrich and prosper human affairs.

The forms of substances, indeed, viz., the species of
creatures,18 are so complicated and interwoven, that the
inquiry into them is either vain, or should be laid aside for
a time, and resumed after the forms of a more simple nature
iiave been duly sifted and discovered. For as it were neither
easy nor useful to discover the form of a sound that shall
make a word, since words, by the composition and trans
positions of letters are infinite; but practicable, easy, and
useful to discover the form of a sound expressing a single
letter, or by what collision or application of the organs of

16 In the Timseus, passim, et Rep. x. init. Of. Hooker, i. 3, 4; compare
also Hallam's Literature of Europe, part iii. c. 3, p. 402.

17 As Mr. Boyle has excellently shown, by a large induction of experiments
and crucial instances, wherewith most of his physical inquiries are enriched.

18 As plants, animals, minerals ; the elements fire, air, water, earth, etc.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 163

the voice, it was made; and as these forms of letters being
known, we are thence directly led to inquire the forms of
words: so, to inquire the form of an oak, a lion, gold,
water, or air, were at present vain ; but to inquire the form
of density, rarity, heat, cold, gravity, levity, and other
schemes of matter and motions, which, like the letters of
the alphabet, are few in number, yet make and support
the essences and forms of all substances, is what we would
endeavor after, as constituting and determining that part of
metaphysics we are now upon.

Nor does this hinder physics from considering the same
natures in their fluxile causes only; thus, if the cause of
whiteness in snow, or froth, were inquired into, it is judged
to be a subtile intermixture of air with water; but this is far
from being the form of whiteness, since air intermixed with
powdered glass or crystal is also judged to produce white
ness no less than when mixed with water: this, therefore,
is only the efficient cause, and no other than the vehicle of
the form. But if the inquiry be made in metaphysics, it
will be found that two transparent bodies, intermixed
in their optical portions, and in a simple order, make
whiteness. This part of metaphysics I find defective; and
no wonder; because in the method of inquiry hitherto used,
the forms of things can never appear. The misfortune lies
here, that men have accustomed themselves to hurry away,
and abstract their thoughts too hastily, and carry them too
remote from experience and particulars, and have given
themselves wholly up to their own meditations and argu
ments.

The use of this part of metaphysics is recommended by
two principal things: first, as it is the office and excellence
of all sciences to shorten the long turnings and windings of //
experience, so as to remove the ancient complaint of the ~~^
scantiness of life, and the tediousness of art;19 this is best
performed by collecting and uniting the axioms of the sci-

19 Compare Plat. Thseet. i. 155, 156.

164: ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

ences into more general ones, that shall suit the matter of
all individuals. For the sciences are like pyramids, erected
upon the single basis of history and experience, and there
fore a history of nature is, 1, the basis of natural philoso
phy; and 2, the first stage from the basis is physics; and 3,
that nearest the vertex metaphysics; but 4, for the vertex
itself, "the work which God worketh from the beginning
to the end,"20 or the summary law of nature, we doubt
whether human inquiry can reach it. But for the other
three, they are the true stages of the sciences, and are used
by those men who are inflated by their own knowledge, and
a daring insolence, as the three hills of the giants to invade
heaven.

"Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam
Scilicet, atque Ossse frondosum involvere Olympum." S1

But to the humble and the meek they are the three accla
mations, Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus; for God is holy in the
multitude of his works, as well as in their order and union,951
and therefore the speculation was excellent in Parmenides
and Plato, that all things by denned gradations ascend to
unity.23 And as that science is the most excellent, which
least burdens the understanding by its multiplicity; this
property is found in metaphysics, as it contemplates those

{simple forms of things, density, rarity, etc., which we call
forms of the first class; for though these are few, yet, by
their commensurations and co-ordinations, they constitute
all truth.

The second thing that ennobles this part of metaphysics,

\ relating to forms, is, that it releases the human power, and

i leads it into an immense and open field of work; for physics

direct us through narrow rugged paths, in imitation of the

crooked ways of ordinary nature; but the ways of wisdom,

which were anciently defined as "rerum divinarum et huma-

narum scientia,"24 are everywhere wide, and abounding in

20 Eccles. iii. 1. 21 Yirgil, Georgics, i. 281. 22 Apocalypse, iv.

23 See conclusion of the Dialogue entitled Parmenides.

24 Plato's Phsedo; Cicero, Tuscul. Qusest. 4 Defin. 2.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 165

plenty, and variety of means. Physical causes, indeed, by
means of new inventions, afford light and direction in a like
case again; but he that understands a form knows the ulti-
mate possibility of superinducing that nature upon all kinds
of matter, and is therefore the less restrained or tied down
in his working, either as to the basis of the matter or the
condition of the efficient. Solomon also describes this kind
of knowledge, though in a more divine manner: "Non arcta-
buntur gressus tui, et currens non habebis offendiculum. " 25
Thus denoting that the paths of wisdom are not liable to
straits and perplexities.

The second part of metaphysics, is the inquiry of final
causes, which we note not as wanting, but as ill-placed;
these causes being usually sought in physics, not in meta
physics, to the great prejudice of philosophy; for the treat
ing of final causes in physics has driven out the inquiry of
physical ones, and made men rest in specious and shadowy
causes, without ever searching in earnest after such as
are real and truly physical. And this was not only done
by Plato, who constantly anchors upon this shore; but
by Aristotle, Galen, and others, who frequently introduce
such causes as these: "The hairs of the eyelids are for
a fence to the sight.26 The bones for pillars whereon to
build the bodies of animals. The leaves of trees are to
defend the fruit from the sun and wind. The clouds are
designed for watering the earth," etc. All which are prop-* /
erly alleged in metaphysics; but in physics are impertinent,
and as remoras to the ship, that hinder the sciences from
holding on their course of improvement, and introducing a
neglect of searching after physical causes. And therefore
the natural philosophies of Democritus and others, who
allow no Grod or mind in the frame of things, but attribute
the structure of the universe to infinite essays and trials of
nature, or what they call fate or fortune, and assigned the
causes of particular things to the necessity of matter without

86 Prov. iv. 12. «« Of. e.g. Arist. Phys, «. 8.

166 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

any intermixture of final causes, seem, so far as we can
judge from the remains of their philosophy, much more
^ solid, and to have gone deeper into nature, with regard to
physical causes, than the philosophy of Aristotle or Plato;
, and this only because they never meddled with final causes,
which the others were perpetually inculcating. Though in
this respect Aristotle is more culpable than Plato, as banish
ing God," the. fountain of final causes, and substituting

21 From the text it must not be judged that Aristotle invested nature with
the general powers usually attributed to a divine intelligence, in designing and
executing her various ends with wisdom and precision, but only that he re
garded nature as an active and intelligent principle performing her agencies
by means palpable to herself, yet according to the laws and faculties conferred
upon her by the prime mover of things. The Spinozist principle which the
text attributes to the Stagyrite has been understood by many critics of the sen
sational school to intimate that Aristotle was of their way of thinking, though
the idea of an independent material intelligence is expressly contradicted by
numerous passages in his Metaphysics. In book xii. chap. 5, of the works
which go under this name, the principal being is held to exclude the idea of

matter from his nature: *Tt TOIVW ravras §el ouaias eli>ai aveu vAr)?* iiSiovs yap Sel" K.T.A.;
and (ibid. 8) TO fie TI %v elvai OVK lx«i vAiji' TO TrpwToV evT«Aex«ia yap. In chap. 7 he

affirms this principle to be spirit — <*PXV *i voi?<rts; that matter cannot move of itself,
but needs the action of an exterior agent — ou yap >j ye v^ »«vijo-ei avr^ eainV, «AA«
TexToviKij- and that this principle must be eternal and active — 'Ai'Siov *a! ovo-iaKoi
eVepyeia ovo-a. Aristotle further proceeds to show that all other beings are only a
species of means transmitting the motion to others which have been communi
cated to them, but that this primary being, possessing the spring of motion in
itself, moves without being moved; illustrating this kind of action by the emo
tions and deeds that spring from the love, pity, or hatred that agents at rest
excite in others. In another place he affirms that this being is not only eternal
in duration but immutable in essence, and quite distinct from sensible things:

<m Aap eo-Tiv ovcria. Tt« aiStos *ea! anivrfroy Ka K€xto)Plo7Aeia7 T^v OMrfaiW, fyavepbv SK T<av

fipwevw and that heaven and nature hang upon its behests — « m«*r*f apa dp^s
jjp-njTai 6 ovpavbs /cai ^ <J»vais. He further shows that life belongs to it by essence,
and as the action of intelligence is life, and vice versd, essential action constitutes
the eternal life of this being. Aristotle then calls this independent principle
God, and assigns to it endless duration : <£<*/**" &* ™ eEO'N *lvai fro* aihov ap^rov.
"It remains," says the Stagyrite, "to determine whether this principle be one
or several ; but upon this point we need only remember that those who have de
cided for a plurality have advanced nothing worthy of consideration in support

Of their belief. ' ' 'AAAd nefJLvyvOai /eal ras T£>V a\\<av diro</>ao-«t? 6-n. *epl TrAjjflovs ovSi

cipijKoo-tv 6 TI Kai o-a#€s ciirelv. (Ibid. chap. 8.) "For the principle of existence, or
the immovable being which is the source of all movement, being pure action,
and consequently foreign to matter, is one in reason and number .... all the
rest is the creation of a mythology invented by politicians to advance the public
interest and occupy the attention of mankind." TbW« iJveW OVK £*« vA>,v rb

vp&ToV evreAe'xcia yap. (Supp. note 1.) "Ev M«v apa mu Aoyw ical api0p¥ rb irpS>rov KIVOVV
flucivTjrov. (Ibid. Chap. 8.) Ta Se AoiTra /uvfliKw? qft) 7rpoo-^x^ *p6« TIJV wOia TWV TroAAAir
KOI irpJ>s TTIV ei$ TOUS venous *al TO ov^epov XPW>-V- (Ibid.) — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 167

nature in his stead; and, at the same time, receiving final
causes through his affection to logic, not theology.

These final causes, however, are not false, or unworthy
of inquiry into metaphysics, but their excursion into the
limits of physical causes hath made a great devastation
in that province; otherwise, when contained within their
own bounds, they are not repugnant to physical causes; for
the cause, that "the hairs of the eyelids are to preserve
the sight," is no way contradictory to this, that "pilosity
is incident to the orifices of moisture" — "Muscosi fontes,"
etc. ;a8 nor does the cause which assigns the firmness of
hides in beasts to a protection against the injuries of ex
treme weather, militate against the other cause, which attrib
utes the firmness to the contraction of the pores on thei
exterior of the skin, through cold and deprivation of air; '
and so of the rest: these two kinds of causes agreeing excel- 1
lently together; the one expressing the intention, and the
other the consequence only.

Nor does this call Divine Providence in question, but
rather highly confirms and exalts it; for as he is a greater
politician, who can make others the instruments of his will,
without acquainting them with his designs, than he who
discloses himself to those he employs; so the wisdom of
God appears more wondrous, when nature intends one thing,
and Providence draws out another, than if the characters of
Providence were stamped upon all the schemes of matter
and natural motions. So Aristotle had no need of a Grod,
after having once impregnated nature with final causes, and
laid it down that "nature does nothing in vain; always ob
tains her ends when obstacles are removed," a9 etc. But
Democritus and Epicurus, when they advanced their atoms,
were thus far tolerated by some, but when they asserted the
fabric of all things to be raised by a fortuitous concourse of j.
these atoms, without the help of mind, they became univer-j
sally ridiculous. So far are physical causes from drawing

28 Virg. Eclogues, vii. 45. w Aristotle on the Heavens, 1.

168 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

men off from God and Providence, that, on the contrary,
the philosophers employed in discovering them can find
no rest, but by flying to God or Providence at last.

CHAPTER V

Division of the Practical Branch of Natural Philosophy into Mechanics and
Magic (Experimental Philosophy), which correspond to the Speculative
Division — Mechanics to Physics, and Magic to Metaphysics. The word
Magic cleared from False Interpretation. Appendix to Active Science
twofold ; viz. , an Inventory of Human Helps and a Catalogue of Things
of Multifarious Use

THE practical doctrine of nature we likewise necessarily
divide into two parts, corresponding to those of spec
ulative; for physics, or the inquiry of efficient and
material causes produces mechanics; and metaphysics, the
inquiry of forms, produces magic; while the inquiry of final
causes is a barren thing, or as a virgin consecrated to God.
We here understand that mechanics which is coupled with
physical causes; for besides the bare effective or empirical
mechanics, which has no dependence on physics, and be
longs to natural history, there is another not absolutely
operative, and yet not strictly philosophical. For all dis
coveries of works either had their rise from accident, and
so were handed down from age to age, or else were sought
by design; and the latter were either discovered by the light
of causes and axioms, or acquired by extending, transfer
ring, or compounding some former inventions, which is a
thing more ingenious and sagacious than philosophical.
But the mechanics here understood is that treated by Aris
totle promiscuously, by Hero in his Pneumatics, by that
very diligent writer in metallics, George Agricola, and by
numerous others in particular subjects: so that we have no
omission to note in this point only that the miscellaneous
mechanics, after the example of Aristotle, should have been
more carefully continued by the moderns, especially with

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 169

regard to such contrivances whose causes are more obscure,
or their effects more noble; whereas the writers upon these
subjects hitherto have only coasted along the shore — "pre-
mendo littus iniquum." 1 And it appears to us that scarce
anything in nature can be fundamentally discovered, either
by accident, experimental attempts, or the light of physical /
causes, but only by the discovery of forms.2 Since, there
fore, we have set down as wanting that part of metaphysics *
which treats of forms, it follows that natural magic, which
is relative to it, must also be wanting.

We here understand magic in its ancient and honorable
sense — among the Persians it stood for a sublimer wisdom,
or a knowledge of the relations of universal nature, as may
be observed in the title of those kings who came from the
East to adore Christ. And in the same sense we would
have it signify that science, which leads to the knowledge
of hidden forms, for producing great effects, and by joining
agents to patients setting the capital works of nature to
view. The common natural magic found in books gives
us only some childish and superstitious traditions and ob
servations of the sympathies and antipathies of things, or
occult and specific properties, which are usually intermixed
with many trifling experiments, admired rather for their
disguise than for themselves ; but as to the truth of nature,
this differs from the science we propose as much as the ro
mances of Arthur of Britain, Hugh of Bordeaux, or other
imaginary heroes, do from the Commentaries of Ca3sar in
truth of narration. Caesar in reality performed greater
things, though not by romantic means, than such fabu
lous heroes are feigned to do. This kind of learning is
well represented by the fable of Ixion,8 who, thinking to
enjoy Juno, the goddess of power, embraced a cloud, and
thence produced centaurs and chimaeras; for so those who,

1 Hor. Odes, b. ii. ode x. 3.

a Bacon means by forms general laws which co-operate with certain agents
in producing the qualities of bodies. — Shaw.
3 Find. Pyth. ii. 21.
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —8

170 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

with a hot and impotent desire, are carried to such things
as they see only through the fumes and clouds of imagina
tion, instead of producing works, beget nothing but vain
hopes and monstrous opinions. This degenerate natural
magic has also an effect like certain sleepy medicines which
procure pleasing dreams; for so it first lays the understand
ing asleep, by introducing specific properties and occult vir
tues — whence men are no longer attentive to the discovery
of real causes, but rest satisfied in such indolent and weak
opinions; and thus it insinuates numberless pleasing fictions,
like so many dreams.

And here we may properly observe, that those sciences
which depend too much upon fancy and faith, as this de
generate magic, alchemy and astrology, have their means
and their theory more monstrous than their end and action.
I'he conversion of quicksilver into gold is hard to con
ceive, though it may much more probably be effected by a
man acquainted with the nature of gravity, color, malleabil
ity, fixedness, volatility, the principles of metals and men-
struums, than by one who is ignorant of these natures, by
the bare projection of a few grains of the elixir. The same
may be understood of the prolongation of youth or retard
ing of old age, which may more rationally be expected by
dietary, regimen, bathings, anointing and proper medicines,
directed by an accurate knowledge of the human frame, the
nature of rarefaction, sustention, assimilation and the recip
rocal action of. the mind upon the body, than by a few drops
or scruples of some precious liquor or quintessence. But
men are so headstrong and notional, as not only to promise
themselves things impossible, but also hope to obtain the
most difficult ends without labor or exertion.

This practical doctrine of nature requires two appendages
of very great consequence. The first is, that an inventory
be made of the stock of mankind, containing their whole
possessions and fortunes, whether proceeding from nature
or art, with the addition also of things formerly known, but
now lost; so that he who goes upon new discoveries may

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 171

have a knowledge of what has already been done. This
inventory will be the more artificial and useful, if it also
contain things of every kind, which, according to common
opinion, are impossible; as likewise such as seemed next
to impossible, yet have been effected, the one to whet the
human invention, and the other to direct it, so that from
these optatives and potentials actives may the more readily
be deduced.

The second thing is, that a calendar be made of such
experiments as are most extensively useful, and that lead
to the discovery of others. For example, the experiment
of artificial freezing, by means of ice and bay salt, is of
infinite extent, and discovers a secret method of condensa
tion of great service to mankind; fire is ready at hand for
rarefaction, but the means of condensation are wanted. And
it would greatly shorten the way to discoveries, to have
a particular catalogue of these leading experiments.

CHAPTEE VI

IT WAS well observed by Aristotle, that physics and
mathematics produce practice, or mechanics;1 there-
fore as we have treated both the speculative and
practical part of the doctrine of nature we should also
consider mathematics as an auxiliary science to both, which
being revived into philosophy, comes in as a third part after
physics and metaphysics. But upon due recollection, if we
designed it as a substantial and principal science, it were
more agreeable to method and the nature of the thing to
make it a part of metaphysics. For quantity, the subject
of mathematics applied to matter, is as the dose of nature,

1 Metaphysics, i. and xi.

172 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

and productive of numerous effects in natural things, and
therefore ought to be reckoned among essential forms. And
^ so much did the power of figures and numbers prevail with

the ancients, that Democritus chiefly placed the principles
of the variety of things in the figures of their atoms;3 and
Pythagoras asserted that the nature of things consisted of
numbers.' Thus much is true, that of natural forms, such
as we understand them, quantity is the most abstracted and
separable from matter; and for this reason it has been more
carefully cultivated and examined into by mankind than any
other forms, which are all of them more immersed in matter.
For, as to the great disadvantage of the sciences, it is natural
for men's minds to delight more in the open fields of gen
erals, than in the inclosures of particulars, nothing is found
more agreeable than mathematics, which fully gratifies this
appetite of expatiating and ranging at large. But as we
regard not only truth and order, but also the benefits and
'advantages of mankind, it seems best, since mathematics is
V of great use in physics, metaphysics, mechanics and magics,

to make it an appendage or auxiliary to them all. And this
we are in some measure obliged to do, from the fondness
and towering notions of mathemajicians, who would have
their science preside over physics. It is a strange fatality,
^ that mathematics and logic, which ought to be but hand-
\jnaids to physics, should boast their certainty before it, and
even exercise dominion against it. But the place and dig
nity of this science is a secondary consideration with regard
to the thing itself.

Mathematics is either pure or mixed. To the pure belong
the sciences employed about quantity, wholly abstracted
from matter and physical axioms. This has two parts —
geometry and arithmetic; the one regarding continued, and
the other discrete quantity. These two sciences have been
cultivated with very great subtilty and application; but in
plain geometry there has nothing considerable been added

2 Laertius, Life of Democritus. 3 Lamblicus, Life of Pythagoras.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 173

to the labors of Euclid, though he lived many ages since.
The doctrine of solids has not been prosecuted and extended
equal to its use and excellency, neither by the ancients nor
the moderns; and in arithmetic there is still wanting a suf
ficient variety of short and commodious methods of calcu
lation, especially with regard to progressions, whose use in
physics is very considerable.4 Neither is algebra brought
to perfection. As for the Pythagorical and mystical arith
metic, which began to be recovered from Proclus,6 and cer
tain remains of Euclid, it is a speculative excursion, the
mind having this misfortune, that when it proves unequal
to solid and useful things, it spends itself upon such as are
unprofitable.

Mixed mathematics has for its subject axioms and the

4 In nature no two beings exist perfectly equal, and the same being cannot
retain its qualities unchanged for an instant of time together. In the universe
everything moves in a constant progression and series, and it probably was the
presentiment of this truth that led the greatest mathematicians after Bacon's
time to turn nearly all their attention to this department of mathematics. Be
yond the analogy, however, there is nothing in these phenomena which has any
relation with the reality of things ; nor have auy philosophers since Flud's day
ever dealt with them except as pure conditional verities. With data sufficiently
determinate, we may approach the solution of any question to which they refer;
but if these facts are not given, the problem must remain unresolved. The
mathematician may draw consequences ; but it is not allowed him to form prin
ciples, and if he attempt to apply figures to any hypothesis not warranted by
facts, he must be content with the fate of the Samian who constructed the
world out of arithmetic, and has been rewarded by the derision of ages for
his pains.

No part of learning has perhaps been more cultivated since this author
wrote than mathematics, as every other science, or the body of philosophy
itself, seems rendered mathematical. The doctrine of solids has been improved
by several; the shorter ways of calculation here noted as deficient are in a
great measure supplied by the invention of logarithms. Algebra has been so
far improved and applied as to rival, or almost prejudice, the ancient geometry ;
add to this the new discoveries of the Method of Fluxions, the Method of Tan
gents, the Doctrine of Infinites, the Squaring of Curves, etc. For the general
system of mathematical learning, see "Wolfii Elementa Matheseos Universae,"
in two volumes 4to, printed at Halle in the year 1715; or for a more cursory
view, Father Castel's "Mathe"matique Universelle, " published in the year 1731;
but for the history of mathematics, see Yossius "De Universee Matheseos Na-
tura et Constitutione" ; the "Almagest" of Ricciolus; Morhof's "Poly hist.
Mathemat"; and "Wolfius's "Commentatio de Scriptis Mathematicis, " at the
end of the second volume of his "Elementa Matheseos Universe;" "Montucla'e
"Hist. Math. ;" and De la Croix's "Analysis of Infinites." — Ed.

6 He ought to have said from lamblicus. Proclus was, like himself, totally
ignorant even of the little mathematical learning extant in his day. — Ed.

174 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

parts of physics, and considers quantity so far as may "be
assisting to illustrate, demonstrate, and actuate those; for
without the help of mathematics many parts of nature could
neither be sufficiently comprehended, clearly demonstrated,
nor dexterously fitted for use. And of this kind are per
spective, music, astronomy, cosmography, architecture, and
mechanics. In mixed mathematics we at present find no
entire parts deficient, but foretell there will be many found
hereafter, if men are not wanting to themselves; for if phys
ics be daily improving, and drawing out new axioms, it
will continually be wanting fresh assistances from mathe
matics; so that the parts of mixed mathematics must grad
ually grow more numerous.

We have now gone through the physical sciences, and
marked out the waste ground in them. If, however, we
have departed from the ancient and received opinions, and
arrayed opponents against us, we have not affected contra
diction, and therefore will not enter into the lists of conten
tion. If we have spoken the truth,

"Non canimus surdis; respondent omnia sylvse,"6 —

the voice of nature will cry it up, though the voice of man
should cry it down; and as Alexander Borgia was wont to
say of the expedition of the French against Naples, that
they came with chalk in their hands to. mark up their lodg
ings, and not with weapons to fight, so we prefer that entry
of truth which comes peaceably, when the minds of men
capable of lodging so great a guest are signed as it were with
chalk, than that which comes with pugnacity, and forces its
way by contentions and controversies. Wherefore, having
gone through the two parts of philosophy that relate to God
and to Nature, we come to the third, which is man himself.

6 Virg. Eclogues, x. 8.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 175

FOURTH BOOK

CHAPTER I

Division of the Knowledge of Man into Human and Civil Philosophy.
Human Philosophy divided into the Doctrine of the Body and Soul.
The Construction of one General Science, including the Nature and
State of Man. The latter divided into the Doctrine of the Human
Person and the Connection of the Soul with the Body. Division of
the Doctrine of the Person of Man into that of his Miseries and Pre
rogatives. Division of the Relations between the Soul and the Body
into the Doctrines of Indications and Impressions. Physiognomy and
the Interpretation of Dreams assigned to the Doctrine of Indications.

IF ANY man, excellent king, shall assault or wound me
for any of these precepts, let him know that he in
fringes the code of military honor; for in addition to
being under the gracious protection of your Majesty, I
do not begin the fight, but am only one of those trumpeters
of whom Homer speaks —

Xcupere KTjpvAces Aios ayysA.ot, fjSe *cal avSpuf— '

who pass inviolate even between enraged armies. Nor does
our trumpet summon men to tear one another in frenzied
combat, but rather to conclude a peace, that they who are
now divided may direct their united forces against nature
herself; and by taking her high towers and dismantling her
fortified holds, enlarge as far as Grod will permit the borders
of man's dominion. We nowcome to the knowledge of our
selves, whither we are directed by the ancients,2 which
merits a closer examination, since the knowledge of him
self is to man the end and time of the sciences, of which!

* j

nature only forms a portion. And here we must admonish'
mankind, that all divisions of the sciences are to be under-

1 Iliad, i. 334. « Plato's Alcibiades.

176 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

stood and employed, so as only to mark out and distin
guish, not tear, separate, or make any solution of continuity
:in their body;8 the contrary practice having rendered par-
'ticular sciences barren, empty, and erroneous, while they
are not fed, supported, and kept right by their common
parent. Thus we find Cicero complaining of Socrates, that
he first disjoined philosophy from rhetoric, which is thence
become a frothy, talkative art.* And it is likewise evident,
that although the opinion of Copernicus about the earth's
rotation cannot be confuted by astronomical principles, be
cause it agrees with phenomena, yet it may easily be ex
ploded by natural philosophy. In like manner the art
of medicine, without the assistance of natural philosophy,
differs but little from empiricism.

The doctrine of man divides itself into two parts, or into
human and civil philosophy, as it considers man separate,
or joined in society. Human philosophy consists in the
sciences that regard the body, and those that regard the
soul of man. But before we descend to a more particular
distribution, it is proper to make one general science of
the nature and state of man, which certainly deserves to
be freed from the rest, and reduced to a science by itself.
And this will consist of such things as are common both
to the body and the soul. It may, likewise, be divided into
two parts; viz., according to the individual nature of man,
and the connection of the soul and body. The former we
call the doctrine of the person of man, and the other the
doctrine of union. All which, being common and mixed
matters, cannot be separately referred to the sciences that
regard the body, nor to those that regard the soul.

The doctrine of the human person principally consists in
two things: the consideration of the miseries of mankind,
and its prerogatives or excellencies. There are many writ
ings, both philosophical and theological, that elegantly and
copiously bewail the human miseries, and it is an agreeable

3 Seneca's Epistles, § 89. 4 De Oratore.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 177

and wholesome topic; bat the prerogatives of mankind are
not hitherto described. Pindar, in his praise of Hiero, says,
with his usual elegance, that he cropped the .tops of every
virtue;5 and methinks it would greatly contribute to the
encouragement and honor of mankind, to have these tops,
or utmost extents of human nature, collected from faithful
history: I mean the greatest length whereto human nature
of itself has ever gone, in the several endowments of body
and mind. Thus it is said of Caesar,6 that he could dictate
to five amanuenses at once. We read, also, of the ancient
rhetoricians, as Protagoras and Grorgias; and of the ancient
philosophers, as Callisthenes, Possidonius, and Carneades,
who could with eloquence and copiousness dispute offhand,
on either side of an argument,7 which shows the power of
the mind to advantage. So does, also, what Cicero relates
of his master Archias, viz., that he could make extempore
a large number of excellent verses upon the common trans
actions of life. It is a great honor to the memory, that
Cyrus or Scipio could call so many thousands of men by
their names.8 Nor are the victories gained in the moral
virtues less signal than those of the intellectual faculties.
What an example of patience is that of Anaxarchus, who,
when put to the torture, bit off his own tongue, and spit it in
the tyrant's face! Nor, to come to our own times, is that
a less example of scorn of suffering, which the murderer of
the prince of Orange displayed in the midst of his tortures.
This Burgundian, though scourged with iron thongs and
torn with red-hot pincers, did not heave a sigh; and when
a broken fragment of the scaffold fell on the head of one
of the bystanders, he, even girt around with flames, could
not repress his laughter. We have many instances of great
serenity and composure of mind at the time of death, as
particularly in the centurion mentioned by Tacitus, who

5 Pindar, Olymp. i. The triumphs of men, and the summits of human
nature.

6 Suetonius's Life. ' Quint ilian'a Institutes, iii., and Laertius's Lives.
8 Xenophon's Cyropredia, v. ; and Quintihan's Institutes, xi.

178 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

being bid by his executioner to stretch out his neck, val
iantly replied, "I would thou wouldst strike as strongly." 9
John, duke of Saxony,10 while playing at chess, received
the order for his execution the following day ; whereupon,
turning round to one that stood by him, he said, with a
smile, " Judge whether so far 1 am not the winner of the
game. For as soon as I am dead, he," pointing to his
antagonist, "will say that the game was his own." Sir
Thomas More, the day before his execution, being waited
upon by his barber, to know if he would have his hair
off, refused it; with this answer, that "the king and he had
a dispute about his head, and till that were ended he would
bestow no cost upon it." And even when he had laid his
head upon the block, he raised himself again a little, and
gently putting his long beard aside, said, "This surely has
not offended the king." By these examples it will appear
that the miracles of human nature, and the utmost powers
and faculties, both of mind and body, are what we would
have collected into a volume, that should be a kind of
register of human triumphs. And with regard to such a
work, we commend the design of Valerius Maximus and
Pliny, but not their care and choice.

The doctrine of union, or of the common tie of soul

: and body, has two parts: for as, in all alliances, there is
mutual intelligence and mutual offices, so the union of the
mind and body requires a description of the manner wherein
they discover, and act upon each other by notices, or indi
cation and impression. The description by indication has
produced two arts of prediction: the one honored with the
inquiry of Aristotle, and the other with that of Hippocrates.

1 And though later ages have debased these arts with super
stitious and fantastical mixtures, yet, when purged and
truly restored, they have a solid foundation in nature,

' and use in life. The first of these is physiognomy, which,

9 Annals, xv. 67.

10 Meteren, History of the Civil Wars in the Netherlands.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 179

by the lineaments of the body, discovers the dispositions of
the mind; the second is the interpretation of natural dreams,
which, from the agitations of the mind, discovers the state
and dispositions of the body. I find the former deficient in
one part; for though Aristotle has, with great ingenuity
and diligence, treated the structure of the body at rest, he
dropped the consideration of it in motion or gesture,11 which
is no less subject to the observations of art, and more useful
than the other. For the lineaments of the body show the
general inclinations and dispositions of the mind, while
the motions of the face, and the gestures of the other parts,
not only do the same, but also express the present disposi
tion and inclination: for, if I may use one of your Majesty's
most forcible and elegant expressions, "as the tongue applies
to the ear, so does gesture to the eye." And this is well
known to many subtile and designing persons, who watch
fully observe the countenance and gestures of others, and
value themselves for their talent of turning such discoveries
to their own advantage; and it must be acknowledged an
excellent way of discovering dissimulation in others, and
of admonishing men to choose proper times and oppor
tunities for their addresses, which is no small part of civil
prudence. A work upon this doctrine of gesture would not
only prove useful in particular cases, but serve as a general
rule; for all men laugh, weep, blush, frown, etc., alike:
and this holds of nearly all the more subtile motions. But
for chiromancy, it is absolutely a vain thing, and unworthy
to be mentioned among those we are now treating.

The interpretation of natural dreams has been much
labored; but mixed with numerous extravagances. We
shall here only observe of it, that at present it stands not
upon its best foundation; which is, that where the same
thing happens from an internal cause, as also usually hap
pens from an external one, there the external action passes

11 Bacon's memory here fails him ; for Aristotle in his Physiognomia Corporis
in Motu, has treated the matter elaborately, though without going much into
detail.— #cf.

180 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

into a dream. Thus the stomach may be oppressed by a
gross internal vapor, as well as by an external weight;
whence those who have the nightmare dream that a weight
is laid upon them, with a great concurrence of circum
stances. So, again, the viscera being equally tossed by the
agitation of the waves at sea, as by a collection of wind in
the hypochondria, hence melancholy persons frequently
dream of sailing and tossing upon the waters; and instances
of this kind are numerous.

The second part of the doctrine of union, which we
call impression, is not yet reduced to an art; and but oc
casionally mentioned by writers. This also has two parts:
as considering, 1st, how, and to what degree, the humors
and constitution of the body may affect the soul, or act
upon it; and 2d, how, and to what degree, the passions
and apprehensions of the soul may affect and work upon
the body. The first of these we sometimes find touched
in medicine; but it has strangely insinuated itself into re
ligion. Physicians prescribe remedies for the diseases of
the mind, viz., madness, melancholy, etc., as also to cheer
the spirits, strengthen the memory, etc. ; but for diet, choice
of meats and drinks, washings, and other observances relat
ing to the body, they are found immoderately "in the sect
of the Pythagoreans, the Manichean heresy, and the law of
Mahomet. There are, also, numerous and strict ordinances
in the ceremonial law, prohibiting the eating of blood and
fat, and distinguishing the unclean animals from the clean
for food.18 Even the Christian religion, though it has thrown
off the veil of ceremonies, still retains the use of fasting, ab
stinence, and other things that regard the subjection and
humiliation of the body; as things not merely ritual, but
advantageous. The root of all these ordinances, besides
the ceremony and exercise of obedience, is, that the soul
should sympathize and suffer with the body. And if any
man of weaker judgment thinks that such macerations ques-

12 Deut. xii.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 181

tion the immortality, or derogate from the sovereignty of
the soul, let him find an answer in the instances, either of
an infant in its mother's womb, which shares in the vicis
situdes, and yet is distinct from its mother's body, or of
monarchs, who, though in possession of absolute power,
are frequently influenced and swayed by their servants.

The other part, which considers the operations of the
soul upon the body, has likewise been received into medi
cine; for every prudent physician regards the accidents of
the mind as a principal thing in his cures, that greatly
promote or hinder the effects of all other remedies. But
one particular has been hitherto slightly touched, or not
well examined, as its usefulness and abstruse nature re
quire; viz., how far a fixed and riveted imagination may
alter the body of the imaginant; for though this has a
manifest power to hurt, it does not follow, it has the same
to relieve: no more than because an air may be so pestilent
as suddenly to destroy, another air should be so wholesome
as suddenly to recover. This would be an inquiry of noble
use; but, as Socrates would say, it requires a Delian diver,
for it is deep plunged.18

But among these doctrines of union, or consent of soul
and body, there is none more necessary than an inquiry into
the proper seat and habitation of each faculty of the soul in
the body and its organs. Some, indeed, have prosecuted
this subject; but all usually delivered upon it is either con
troverted or slightly examined, so as to require more pains
and accuracy. The opinion of Plato, which seats the un
derstanding in the brain, courage in the heart, and sensu
ality in the liver, should neither be totally rejected nor
fondly received.14

13 Laertius' Life.

14 Plato's Timseus, and Aristotle on the Generation of Animals.

182 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

CHAPTER II

THE doctrine of the human body divides itself accord
ing to the perfections of the body, whereto it is
subservient. These perfections are four: viz., 1st,
health; 2d, comeliness; 3d, strength; and 4th, pleasure: to
which correspond as relatives: 1st, the arts of medicine;
2d, beautifying; 3d, gymnastics; and 4th, the art of ele
gance, which Tacitus calls eruditum luxurn.1 Medicine
is a noble art, and honorably descended, according to the
poets, who make Apollo the primary god, and his son MB-
culapius, whom they also deify, the first professor thereof:
for as, in natural things, the sun is the author and fountain
of life, so the physician, who preserves life, seems a second
origin thereof. But medicine receives far greater honor from
the works of our Saviour, who was physician both to soul
and body, arid made the latter the standing subject of his
miracles,, as the soul was the constant subject of his
doctrine.

Of all the things that nature has created, the human
body is most capable of relief, though this relief be the
most liable to error. For as the subtilty and variety of
the subject affords many opportunities of cure, so likewise
a great facility of mistake. And, therefore, as this art, es
pecially at present, stands among the most conjectural ones,
so the inquiry into it is to be placed among the most subtile
and difficult. Neither are we so senseless as to imagine,
with Paracelsus and the alchemists, that there are to be

1 Annals, xvi. 18.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 183

found in man's body definite analogies to all the variety of
specific natures in the world, perverting very impertinently
that emblem of the ancients, that man was a microcosm or
model of the whole world, to countenance their idle fancies,
Of all natural bodies, we find none so variously compounded
as the human: vegetables are nourished by earth and water;
brutes by herbs and fruits; but man feeds upon the flesh
of living creatures, herbs, grain, fruits, different juices
and liquors; and these all prepared, preserved, dressed,
and mixed in endless variety. Besides, the way of living
among other creatures is more simple, and the affections
that act upon the body fewer and more uniform ; but man
in his habitation, his exercises, passions, etc., undergoes
numberless changes. So that it is evident that the body of
man is more fermented, compounded, and organized, than
any other natural substance; the soul, on the other side,
is the simplest, as is well expressed —

" purumque reliquit

^Ethereum sensum, atque aural simplicis ignem ;"* —

so that we need not marvel that the soul so placed enjoys
no rest, since it is out of its place: "Motus rerum extra
locum est rapid us, placidus in loco.'" This variable and
subtile composition, and fabric of the human body, makes
it like a kind of curious musical instrument, easily dis
ordered; and therefore, the poets justly joined music and
medicine in Apollo; because the office of medicine is to
tune the curious organ of the human body, and reduce it
to harmony.

The subject being so variable has rendered the art more
conjectural, and left the more room for imposture. Other
arts and sciences are judged of by their power and ability,
and not by success or events. The lawyer is judged by the
ability of his pleading, not the issue of the cause; the pilot,
by directing his course, and not by the fortune of the voy
age; while the physician and statesman have no particular

2 Virg. ^Eneid, vi. 746. 3 Arist. on the Heavens.

184 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

act that clearly demonstrates their ability, but are princi
pally censured by the event, which is very unjust: for who
can tell, if a patient die or recover, or a state fall into de
cay, whether the evil is brought about by art or by acci
dent? Whence imposture is frequently extolled, and
virtue decried. Nay, the weakness and credulity of men
is such, that they often prefer a mountebank, or a cunning
woman, to a learned physician. The poets were clear
sighted in discerning this folly, when they made .^Escula-
pius and Circe brother and sister, and both children of
Apollo, as in the verses —

"Ille repertorem medieinae talis et artis,
Fulmine Phcebigenam Stygiaa detrusit ad undaa":

and similarly of Circe, daughter of the sun —

"Dives inacceesis ubi Solis filia lucis
TJrit odoratam nocturna in luraina codrum." 4

For in all times, witches, old women, and impostors, have,
in the vulgar opinion, stood competitors with physicians.
And hence physicians say to themselves, in the words of
Solomon, "If it befall to me, as befalleth to the fools, why
should I labor to be more wise?"6 And, therefore, one
cannot greatly blame them, that they commonly study
some other art, or science, more than their profession.
Hence, we find among them poets, antiquaries, critics,
politicians, divines, and in each more knowing than in
medicine. Nor does this fall out, because as a certain de-
claimer against physicians suggests,5 being so often in con
tact with loathsome spectacles, that they seize the first hour
of leisure to draw their minds from such contemplations. For
as they are men — "Nihil humani a se alienum putent" — no
doubt, because they find that mediocrity and excellency in
their own art makes no difference in profit or reputation:
for men's impatience of diseases, the solicitations of friends,

4 JEneid, vii. 772, 11. 5 Eccles. ii. 15. 6 Agrippa, Scientia Vana.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 135

the sweetness of life, and the inducement of hope, make
them depend upon physicians with all their defects. But
when this is seriously considered, it turns rather to the re
proach than the excuse of physicians, who ought not hence
to despair, but to use greater diligence. For we see what
a power the subtilty of the understanding has over the
variety both of the matter and form of things. There is
nothing more variable than men's faces, yet we can re
member infinite distinctions of them; and a painter with
a few colors, the practice of the hand and eye, and help
of the imagination, could imitate thousands if brought be
fore him. As variable as voices are, yet we can easily dis
tinguish them in different persons, and a mimic will express
them to the life. Though the sounds of words differ so
greatly, yet men can reduce them to a few simple letters.
And certainly it is not the insufficiency or incapacity of the
mind, but the remoteness of the object that causes these
perplexities and distrusts in the sciences: for as the sense
is apt to mistake at great distances, but not near at hand,
so is the understanding. Men commonly take a view of
nature as from a remote eminence, and are too much
amused with generalities: whereas, if they would de- «,
scend, and approach nearer to particulars, and more ex
actly and considerately examine into things themselves,
they might make more solid and useful discoveries. The
remedy of this error, therefore, is to quicken or strengthen
the organ, and thus to approach the object. No doubt,
therefore, if physicians, leaving generalities for a while,
and suspending their assent, would advance toward na
ture, they might become masters of that art of which the
poet speaks —

"Et quoniam variaiit morbi, variabimus artea
Mille mali species mille salutis erunt. " 7

They should the rather endeavor this, because the philoso
phies whereon physicians, whether methodists or chemists,

7 Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 525.

186 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

depend, are trifling, and because medicine, not founded on
philosophy, is a weak thing. Therefore, as too extensive
generals, though true, do not bring men home to action,
there is more danger in such generals as are false in them
selves and seduce instead of directing the mind. Medicine,
therefore, has been rather professed than labored, and yet
more labored than advanced, as the pains bestowed thereon
were rather circular than progressive; for I find great repe
tition, and but little new matter, in the writers of physic.

We divide medicine into three parts, or offices: viz., 1st
the preservation of health; 2d, the cure of diseases; and 3d,
the prolongation of life. For this last part, physicians seem
to think it no capital part of medicine, but confound it with
the other two; as supposing, that if diseases be prevented,
or cured after invasion, long life must follow of course.
But, then, they do not consider that both preservation and
cure regard only diseases, and such prolongation of life as
is intercepted by them: whence the means of spinning out
the full thread of life, or preventing, for a season, that kind
of death which gradually steals upon the body by simple
resolution, and the wasting of age, is a subject that no
physician has treated suitably to its merit. Let none im
agine we are here repealing the decrees of fate and Provi
dence, by establishing a new office of medicine; for, doubt
less, Providence alike dispenses all kinds of deaths, whether
they proceed from violence, diseases, or the course and period
of age; yet without excluding the use of remedies and pre
ventions, for art and industry do not here overrule, but ad
minister to nature and fate.

Many have unskilfully written upon the preservation of
health, particularly by attributing too much to the choice,
and too little to the quantity of meats. As to quantity,
they, like the moral philosophers, highly commend moder
ation; whereas, both fasting changed to custom, and full
feeding, where a man is used to it, are better preservatives
of health than those mediocrities they recommend, which
commonly dispirit nature, and unfit her to bear excess, or

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 187

want, upon occasion. And for the several exercises, which
greatly conduce to the preservation of health, no physician
has well distinguished or observed them, though there be
scarce any tendency to a disease, that may not be corrected
by some appropriate exercise. Thus bowling is suited to
the diseases of the kidneys, shooting with the long bow
to those of the lungs, walking and riding to those of the
stomach, etc.

Great pains have been bestowed upon the cure of dis
eases, but to small purpose. This part comprehends the
knowledge of the diseases incident to the human body,
together with their, causes, symptoms and cures. In this
second office of medicine there are many deficiencies. And
first, we may note the discontinuance of that useful method
of Hippocrates,8 in writing narratives of particular cures
with diligence and exactness, containing the nature, the
cure, and event of the distemper. And this remarkable
precedent of one accounted the father of his art, need not
to be backed with examples derived from other arts, as
from the prudent practice of the lawyers, who religiously
enter down the more eminent cases and new decisions, the
better to prepare and direct themselves in future. This
continuation, therefore, of medicinal reports we find defi
cient, especially in forms of an entire body, digested with
proper care and judgment. But we do not mean, that this
world should extend to every common case that happens
every day, which were an infinite labor, and to little pur
pose; nor yet to exclude all but prodigies and wonders, as
several have done: for many things are new in their manner
and circumstances, which are not new in their kind; and he
who looks attentively will find many particulars worthy of
observation, in what seems vulgar.

So in anatomy, the general parts of the human body are
diligently observed, and even to niceness: but as to the va
riety found in different bodies, here the diligence of phy-

8 Narrationes MedicaJes.

188 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

sicians fails. And, therefore, though simple anatomy "has
been fully and clearly handled, yet comparative anatomy
is deficient. For anatomists have carefully examined into
all the parts, their consistencies, figures and situations; but
pass over the different figure and state of those parts in dif
ferent persons. The reason of this defect 1 take to be, that
the former inquiry may terminate upon seeing two or three
bodies dissected; but the other being comparative and cas
ual, requires attentive and strict application to many differ
ent dissections: besides, the first is a subject wherein learned
anatomists may show themselves to their audience; but the
other a rigorous knowledge, to be acquired only by silent
and long experience. And no doubt but the internal parts,
for variety and proportions, are little inferior to the exter
nal; and that hearts, livers and stomachs, are as different in
men, as foreheads, noses and ears. And in these differences
of the internal parts are often found the immediate causes of
many diseases, which physicians not observing, sometimes
unjustly accuse the humors, when the fault lies only in the
mechanic structure of a part. And in such diseases it is
in vain to use alternatives, as the case admits not of being
altered by them, but must be affected, accommodated, or
palliated by a regimen and familiar medicines.

Again, comparative anatomy requires accurate observa
tions upon all the humors, and the marks and impressions of
diseases in different bodies upon dissection ; for the humors
are commonly passed over in anatomy, as loathsome and ex-
crementitious things; whereas it is highly useful and neces
sary to note their nature and the various kinds that may
sometimes be found in the human body, in what cavities
they principally lodge, and with what advantage, disadvan
tage and the like. So the marks and impressions of dis
eases, and the changes and devastations they bring upon
the internal parts, are to be diligently observed in differ
ent dissections; viz., imposthurnes, ulcerations, solutions of
continuity, putrefactions, corrosions, consumptions, contrac
tions, extensions, convulsions, luxations, dislocations, ob-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 189

structions, repletions, tumors; and preternatural excres
cences, as stones, carnosities, wens, worms, etc., all which
should be very carefully examined, and orderly digested
in the comparative anatomy we speak of; and the experi
ments of several physicians be here collected and compared
together. But this variety of accidents, is by anatomists
either slightly touched or else passed over in silence.

That defect in anatomy, owing to its not having been
practiced upon live bodies, needs not be spoken to, the
thing itself being odious, cruel and justly condemned by
Celsus;9 yet the observation of the ancients is true, that
many subtile pores, passages and perforations appear not
upon dissection, because they are closed and concealed in
dead bodies, that might be open and manifest in live ones.
Wherefore, if we would consult the good of mankind, with
out being guilty of cruelty, this anatomy of live creatures
should be entirely deserted or left to the casual inspection
of chirurgeons, or may be sufficiently performed upon living
brutes, notwithstanding the dissimilitude between their parts
and those of men, so as to answer the design, provided it
be done with judgment.

Physicians, likewise, when they inquire into diseases,
find so many which they judge incurable, either from their
first appearance, or after a certain period, that the proscrip
tions of Sylla and the Triumvirate were trifling to the pro
scriptions of the physicians, by which, with an unjust sen
tence, they deliver men over to death; numbers whereof,
however, escape with less difficulty than under the Koman
proscriptions. A work, therefore, is wanting upon the cures
of reputed incurable diseases, that physicians of eminence
and resolution may be encouraged and excited to pursue
this matter as far as the nature of things will permit; since
to pronounce diseases incurable, is to establish negligence
and carelessness, as it were by a law, and screen ignorance
from reproach.

» De Re Medica, i. 5.

190 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

And further, we esteem it the office of a physician
to mitigate the pains and tortures of diseases, as well as to
restore health; and this not only when such a mitigation,
as of a dangerous symptom, may conduce to recovery; but
also, when there being no further hopes of recovery, it can
only serve to make the passage out of life more calm and
easy. For that complacency in death, which Augustus
Caesar so much desired, is no small felicity.10 This was
also observed in the death of Antoninus Pius, who seemed
not so much to die as to fall into a deep and pleasing sleep.
And it is delivered of Epicurus, that he procured himself
this easy departure; for after his disease was judged des
perate, he intoxicated himself with wine, and died in that
condition, which gave rise to the epigram:

"Kinc Stygias ebrius transit aquas." n

But the physicians of our times make a scruple of attending
the patient after the disease is thought past cure, though,
in my judgment, if they were not wanting to their own
profession and to humanity itself, they should here give
their attendance to improve their skill, and make the dying
person depart with greater ease and tranquillity. We there
fore set down as deficient an inquiry after a method of re
lieving the agonies of the dying, calling it by the name
of euthanasia exteriori, to distinguish it from the internal
composure, procured to the soul in death.

Again, we generally find this deficiency in the cures of
diseases, that though the present physicians tolerably pur
sue the general intentions of cures, yet they have no par
ticular medicines, which, by a specific property, regard
particular diseases; for they lose the benefit of traditions
and approved experience by their authoritative procedure
in adding, taking away, and changing the ingredients of
their receipts at pleasure, after the manner of apothecaries
substituting one thing for another, and thus haughtily com-

10 Suetonius' Life Aug. Cses. 100. " Laertius' Life Epic. x. § 15.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 191

manding medicine, so that medicine can no longer command
the disease. For except Yenice treacle, mithridate, dias-
cordium, the confection of alkermes, and a few more, they
commonly tie themselves strictly to no certain receipts: the
other salable preparations of the shops being in readiness,
rather for general purposes than accommodated to any par
ticular cures; for they do not principally regard some one
disease, but have a general virtue of opening obstructions,
promoting concoction, etc. And hence it chiefly proceeds,
that empirics and women are often more successful in their
cures than learned physicians, because the former keep
strictly and invariably to the use of experienced medicines,
without altering their compositions. I remember a famous
Jew physician in England would say, "Your European phy
sicians are indeed men of learning, but 'they know nothing
of particular cures for diseases." And he would sometimes
jest a little irreverently, and say, "Our physicians were like
bishops, that had the keys of binding and loosing, but no
more." To be serious; it might be of great consequence if
some physicians, eminent for learning and practice, would
compile a work of approved and experienced medicines in
particular diseases. For though one might speciously pre
tend, that a learned physician should rather suit his medi
cines occasionally, as the constitution of the patient, his
age, customs, the seasons, etc., require, than rest upon any
certain prescriptions; yet this is a fallacious opinion that
underrates experience and overrates human judgment. And
as those persons in the Roman state were the most service
able, who being either consuls, favored the people, or trib
unes, and inclined to the senate; so are those the best phy
sicians, who being either learned, duly value the traditions
of experience; or men of eminent practice, that do not de
spise methods and the general principles of the art. But
if medicines require, at any time, to be qualified, this may
rather be done in the vehicles than in the body of the medi
cine, where nothing should be altered without apparent
necessity. Therefore, this part of physic which treats of

192 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

authentic and positive remedies we note as deficient; but
the business of supplying it is to be undertaken with great
judgment, and as by a committee of physicians chosen for
that purpose.

And for the preparation of medicines; it seems strange,
especially as mineral ones have been so celebrated by chem
ists, though safer for external than internal use, that nobody
has hitherto attempted any artificial imitations of natural
baths and medicinal springs, while it is acknowledged that
these receive their virtues from the mineral veins through
which they pass; and especially since human industry can,
by certain separations, discover with what kind of minerals
such waters are impregnated, as whether by sulphur, vitriol,
iron, etc. And if these natural impregnations of waters are
reducible to artificial compositions, it would then be ill
the power of art to make more kinds of them occasion
ally, and at the same time to regulate their temperature
at pleasure. This part, therefore, of medicine, concerning
the artificial imitation of natural baths and springs, we set
down as deficient, and recommend as an easy as well as
useful undertaking.

The last deficiency we shall mention seems to us of great
importance; viz., that the methods of cure in use are too
short to effect anything that is difficult or very consider
able. For it is rather vain and flattering, than just and
rational, to expect that any medicine should be so effectual,
or so successful, as by the sole use thereof to work any
great cure. It must be a powerful discourse, which, though
often repeated, should correct any deep-rooted and invet
erate vice of the mind. Such miracles are not to be ex
pected; but the things of greatest efficacy in nature, are
order, perseverance, and an artificial change of applications,
which, though they require exact judgment to prescribe, and
precise observance to follow, yet this is amply recompensed
by the great effects they produce. To see the daily labors
of physicians in their visits, consultations, and prescriptions,
one would think that they diligently pursued the cure, and

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 193

went directly in a certain beaten track about it; but who
ever looks attentively into their prescriptions and directions,
will find, that the most of what they do is full of uncer
tainty, wavering, and irresolution, without any certain view
or foreknowledge of the course of the cure. Whereas they
should from the first, after having fully and perfectly dis
covered the disease, choose and resolve upon some regular
process or series of cure, and not depart from it without
sufficient reason. Thus physicians should know, for ex
ample, that perhaps three or four remedies rightly pre
scribed in an inveterate disease, and taken in due order,
and at due distances of time, may perform a cure; and yet
the same remedies taken independently of each other, in an
inverted order, or not at stated periods, might prove abso
lutely prejudicial. Though we mean not, that every scru
pulous and superstitious method of cure should be esteemed,
the best, but that the Wcvy should be as exact as it is con
fined and difficult. And this part of medicine we note as
deficient, under the name of the physicians' clew or direc
tory. And these are the things wanting in the doctrine of
medicine, for the cure of diseases; but there still remains
one thing more, and of greater use than all the rest; viz.,
a genuine and active natural philosophy, whereon to build
the science of physic.

We make the third part of medicine regard the prolon
gation of life: this is a new part, and deficient, though the
most noble of all; for if it may be supplied, medicine will
not then be wholly versed in sordid cures, nor physicians be
honored only for necessity, but as dispensers of the greatest
earthly happiness that could well be conferred on mortals;
for though the world be but as a wilderness to a Christian
travelling through it to the promised land, yet it would be
an instance of the divine favor, that our clothing, that is,
our bodies, should be little worn while we sojourn here.
Arid as this is a capital part of physic, and as we note it for
deficient, we shall lay down some directions about it.

And first, no writer extant upon this subject has made

SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —9

194 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

'any great or useful discovery therein. Aristotle,1* indeed,
has left us a short memoir, wherein there are some admoni
tions after his manner, which he supposes to be all that
can be said of the matter; but the moderns have here
written so weakly and superstitiously, that the subject
itself, through their vanity, is reputed vain and senseless.
2. The very intentions of physicians upon this head are of
no validity, but rather lead from the point than direct to
it. For they talk as if death consisted in a destitution
of heat and moisture, and therefore that natural heat should
be comforted, and radical moisture cherished; as if the work
were to be effected by broths, lettuce, and mallows; or
again, by spices, generous wines, spirits, or chemical oils;
all which rather do hurt than good. 3. We admonish man
kind to cease their trifling, and not weakly imagine that
such a great work as retarding the course of nature can be
effected by a morning's draught, the use of any costly
medicines, pearls, or aurum potabile itself; but be assured,
that the prolongation of life is a laborious work, that re
quires many kinds of remedies, and a proper continuation
and intermixture thereof; for it were stupidity to expect,
that what was never yet done, should be effected, otherwise
than by means hitherto unattempted. 4. Lastly, we admon
ish them rightly to observe and distinguish between what
conduces to health, and what to a long life; for some things,
though they exhilarate the spirits, strengthen the faculties,
and prevent diseases, are yet destructive to life, and, with
out sickness, bring on a wasting old age; while there are
others which prolong life and prevent decay, though not to
be used without danger to health; so that when employed
for the prolongation of life, such inconveniences must be
guarded against, as might otherwise happen upon using
them.

Things seem to us preservable either in their own sub
stance or by repair; in their own substance, as a fly, or an

19 De Longitudino el Novitate Yitae.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 195

ant, in amber; a flower, an apple, etc., in conservatories
of snow; or a corps of balsam; by repair, as in flame and
mechanic engines. He who attempts to prolong life, must
practice both these methods together; for separate, their
force is less. The human body must be preserved as bodies
inanimate are; again, as flame; and lastly, in some measure
as machines are preserved. There are, therefore, three in
tentions for the prolongation of life; viz., 1, to hinder
waste; 2, secure a good repair; and 3, to renew what begins
to decay. I. Waste is caused by two depredations; viz.,
that of the internal spirit, and that of the external air; and
both are prevented two ways; viz., by making these agents
less predatory, or the patients, that is the juices of the body,
less apt to be preyed on. The spirit is rendered less preda
tory, if either its substance be condensed; as, 1, by the use
of opiates, preparations of nitre, and in contestation; or, 2,
if it be lessened in quantity, as by fasting and diet; and
3, if it be moderated in its motion, as by rest and quiet.
The ambient air becomes less predatory, either when it is
less heated by the sun, as in the cold countries, caves, hills;
or kept from the body, as by close skins, the plumage of
birds, and the use of oil and unguents, without spices. The
juices of the body are rendered less subject to be preyed on,
if made more hardy, or more oleaginous, as by a rough
astringent diet, living in the cold, robust exercises, the use
of certain mineral baths, sweet things, and abstaining from
such as are salt or acid; but especially by means of such
drinks as consist of subtile parts, yet without acrimony
or tartness. II. Eepair is procured by nourishment, and
nourishment is promoted four ways: 1, by forwarding in
ternal concoction, which drives forth the nourishment,
as by medicines that invigorate the principal viscera; 2,
by exciting the external parts to attract the nourishment,
as by exercise, proper frictions, unctions, and baths; 3, by
preparing the aliment itself, that it may more easily insin
uate, and require less digestion; as in many artificial ways
of preparing meats, drinks, bread, and reducing the effects

196 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

of these three to one: again, 4, by the last act of assimila
tion, as in seasonable sleep and external applications. III.
The renovation of parts worn out is performed two ways;
either by softening the habit of the body, as with supplying
applications, in the way of bath, plaster, or unction, of such
qualities as to insinuate into the parts, but extract nothing
from them; or by discharging the old, and substituting new
moisture, as in seasonable and repeated purging, bleeding,
and attenuating diets, which restore the bloom of the body.
Several rules for the conduct of the work are derivable
from these indications; but three of the more principal are
the following. And first, prolongation of life is rather to
be expected from stated diets, than from any common regi
men of food, or the virtues of particular medicines; for those
things that have force enough to turn back the course of na
ture, are commonly too violent to be compounded into a
medicine, much more to be mixed with the ordinary food,
and must therefore be administered orderly, regularly, and
at set periods. 2. We next lay it down as a rule, that the
prolongation of life be expected, rather from working upon
the spirits, and mollifying the parts, than from the manner
of alimentation. For as the human body, and the internal
structure thereof, may suffer from three things, viz., the
spirits, the parts, and aliments; the way of prolonging life
by means of alimentation is tedious, indirect, and winding;
but the ways of working upon the spirits and the parts,
much shorter; for the spirits are suddenly affected, both by
effluvia and the passions, which may work strangely upon
them; and the parts also by baths, unguents, or plasters,
which will likewise have sudden impressions. 3. Our last
precept is, that the softening of the external parts be at
tempted by such things as are penetrating, astringent, and
of the same nature with the body; the latter are readily re
ceived and entertained, and properly soften; and pene
trating things are as vehicles to those that mollify, and
more easily convey, and deeply impress -the virtue thereof;
while themselves also in some measure operate upon the

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 197

parts: bat astringents keep in the virtue of them both, and
somewhat fix it, and also stop perspiration, which would
otherwise be contrary to mollifying, as sending out the
moisture; therefore the whole affair is to be effected by
these three means used in order and succession, rather than
together. Observe only, that it is not the intention of molli
fying to nourish the parts externally, but only to render
them more capable of nourishment; for dry things are less
disposed to assimilate. And so much for the prolongation
of life, which we make the third, or a new part of medicine.

The art of decoration, or beautifying, has two parts,
civil and effeminate. For cleanliness and decency of the
body were always allowed to proceed from moral modesty
and reverence; first, toward God, whose creatures we are;
next, toward society, wherein we live; and lastly, toward
ourselves, whom we ought to reverence still more than
others. Bat false decorations, fucuses, and pigments, de
serve the imperfections that constantly attend them; being
neither exquisite enough to deceive, nor commodious in
application, nor wholesome in their use. And it is much
that this depraved custom of painting the face should so
long escape the penal laws both of the church and state,
which have been very severe against luxury in apparel and
effeminate trimming of the hair. We read of Jezebel, that
she painted her face; but not so of Esthe'r and Judith.

We take gymnastics, in a large sense, to signify what
ever relates to the hability whereto the human body may
be brought, whether of activity or suffering. Activity has
two parts, strength and swiftness; so has endurance or
suffering, viz., with regard to natural wants, and fortitude
under torture. Of all these, we have many remarkable in
stances in the practices of rope-dancers, the hardy lives of
savages, surprising strength of lunatics, and the constancy
and resolution of many under exquisite torments. Any
other faculties that fall not within the former division, as
diving, or the power of continuing long under water with
out respiration, and the like, we refer them also to gymnas-

198 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tics. And here, though the things themselves are common,
yet the philosophy and causes thereof are usually neglected,
perhaps because men are persuaded that such masteries over
nature are only obtainable either from a peculiar and natural
disposition in some men, which comes not under rules, or by
a constant custom from childhood, which is rather imposed
than taught. And though this be not altogether true, yet it
is here of small consequence to note any deficiency, for the
Olympic games are long since ceased, and a mediocrity in
these things is sufficient for use, while excellence in them
serves commonly but for mercenary show.

The arts of elegance are divided with respect to the two
senses of sight and hearing. Painting particularly delights
the eye; so do numerous other magnificent arts, relating
to buildings, gardens, apparel, vessels, gems, etc. Music
pleases the ear with great variety and apparatus of sounds,
voices, strings, and instruments; and anciently water-organs
were esteemed as great masterpieces in this art, though now
grown into disuse. The arts which relate to the eye and
ear, are, above the rest, accounted liberal; these two senses
being the more pure, and the sciences thereof more learned,
as having mathematics to attend them. The one also has
some relation to the memory and demonstrations; the other,
to manners and the passions of the mind. The pleasures
of the other senses, and the arts employed about them, ai-e
in less repute, as approaching nearer to sensuality than mag
nificence. Unguents, perfumes, the furniture of the. tabld,
but principally incitements to lust, should rather be cen
sured than taught. And it has been well observed, tl at
while states were in their increase, military arts flourished;
when at their heights, the liberal arts; but when upon their
decline, the arts of luxury. With the arts of pleasure, we
join also the jocular arts: for the deception of the senses
may be reckoned one of their delights.

And now, as so many things require to be considered
with relation to the human body, viz., the parts, humors,
functions, faculties, accidents, etc., since we ought to have

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 199

an entire doctrine of the body of man, which should com
prehend them all; yet lest arts should be thus too much
multiplied, or their ancient limits too much disordered, we
receive into the system of medicine, the doctrines of the
parts, functions, and humors of the body; respiration,
sleep, generation; the foetus, gestation in the womb;
growth, puberty, baldness, fatness, and the like; though
these do not properly belong either to the preservation of
health, the cure of diseases, or the prolongation of life, but
because the human body is, in every respect, the subject of
medicine. But for voluntary motion and sense, we refer
them to the doctrine of the soul as two principal parts
thereof. And thus we conclude the doctrine of the body,
which is but as a tabernacle to the soul.

CHAPTEK III

Division of the Doctrine of the Human Soul into that of the Inspired Essence
and the Knowledge of the Sensible or Produced Soul. Second Division
of the same philosophy into the Doctrine of the Substance and the Fac
ulties of the Soul. The Use and Objects of the latter. Two Appen
dices to the Doctrine of the Faculties of the Soul: viz., Natural Divina
tion and Fascination (Mesmerism). The Faculties of the Sensible Soul
divided into those of Motion and Sense

WE NOW come to the doctrine of the human soul,
from whose treasures all other doctrines are de
rived. It has two parts — the one treating of the
rational soul, which is divine, the other of the irrational
soul, which we have in common with brutes. Two dif
ferent emanations of souls are manifest in the first crea
tion, the one proceeding from the breath of God, the
other from the elements. As to the primitive emanation
of the rational soul, the Scripture says, God formed man
of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; but the generation of the irrational and
brutal soul was in these words — Let the water bring forth;

200 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

let the earth bring forth. And this irrational soul in man
is only an instrument to the rational one, and has the same
origin in us as in brutes, viz., the dust of the earth; for it
is not said, God formed the body of man of the dust of
the earth, but God formed man, that is, the whole man,
the breath of life excepted, of the dust of the earth. We
will, therefore, style the first part of the general doctrine
of the human soul the doctrine of the inspired substance,
and the other part the doctrine of the sensitive or produced
soul. But as we are here treating wholly of philosophy, we
would not have borrowed this division from divinity, had
it not also agreed with the principles of philosophy. For
there are many excellences of the human soul above the
souls of brutes, manifest even to those who philosophize
only according to sense. And wherever so many and such
great excellences are found, a specific difference should
always be made. We do not, therefore, approve that con
fused and promiscuous manner of the philosophers in treat
ing the functions of the soul, as if the soul of man differed
in degree rather than species from the soul of brutes, as the
sun differs from the stars, or gold from other metals.

There may also be another division of the general doc
trine of the human soul into the doctrine of the substance
and faculties of the soul, and that of the use and objects of
the faculties. And these two divisions being premised, we
come to particulars.

The doctrine of the inspired substance, as also of the sub
stance of the rational soul, comprehends several inquiries
with relation to its nature, as whether the soul be native or
adventitious, separable or inseparable, mortal or immortal;
how far it is subject to the laws of matter, how far not, and
the like. But the points of this kind, though they might
be more thoroughly sifted in philosophy than hitherto they
have been, yet in the end they must be turned over to re
ligion, for determination and decision ; otherwise they will
lie exposed to various errors and illusions of sense. For as
the substance of the soul was not, in its creation, extracted

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or deduced from the mass of heaven and earth, but immedi
ately inspired by God; and as the laws of heaven and earth
are the proper subjects of philosophy, no knowledge of the
substance of the rational soul can be had from philosophy,
but must be derived from the same Divine inspiration,
whence the substance thereof originally proceeded.1

But in the doctrine of the sensitive or produced soul,
even its substance may be justly inquired into, though
this inquiry seems hitherto wanting. For of what signifi
cance are the terms of actus ultimus and forma corporis,
and such logical trifles, to the knowledge of the soul's sub
stance ? The sensitive soul must be allowed a corporeal
substance, attenuated by heat and rendered invisible, as a
subtile breath or aura, of a flamy and airy nature, having
the softness of air in receiving impressions, and the activity
of fire in exerting its action, nourished partly by an oily and
partly by a watery substance, and diffused through the whole
body; but in perfect creatures, residing chiefly in the head,
and thence running through the nerves, being fed and re
cruited by the spirituous blood of the arteries, as Telesius2
and his follower Donius in some measure have usefully
shown. Therefore let this doctrine be more diligently
inquired into,1 because the ignorance of it has produced

1 To separate God from human reason, appears to be one of the great aims
of one of the modern schools of philosophy, and sometimes the theory has re
ceived indirect confirmations from quarters by no means favorable to its advo
cates. Pascal wrote, "Selon les lumieres naturelles, nous sommes incapable de
connaitre ce que Dieu est." In the edition of this philosopher's works, by
Yoltaire and Condorcet, the text was enriched with the addition of the phrase,
"Ni s'il est;" and the following note appended to the passage, by Voltaire:
"II est etrange que Pascal ait cru qu'on pouvait deviner le peche originel par la
raison, et qu'il dise qu'on lie peut connaitre par la raison si Dieu est." At this
specimen of deistic candor, Gondorcet exclaims, in a subsequent note, "How
marvellous to behold Yoltaire contending with Pascal for the existence of
God!"— Ed.

2 Re rum Natura, book 5.

8 This inquiry is greatly embroiled by the moderns ; some seeking the soul
all over the body, some in the blood, some in the animal spirits, some in the
heart, some in the ventricles of the brain, and some, with Descartes, in the
glandula pinealis. M. Petit wrote a curious piece relating to this subject,
entitled "De Anima Corpori coextensa" ; printed at Paris, 1665. See also
"Hobokenius de Sede Animse in Corpore Humano." — Ed.

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superstitious and very corrupt opinions, that greatly lessen
the dignity of the human soul — such as the transmigration
and lustration of souls through certain periods of years, and
the too near relation in all respects of the human soul to the
soul of brutes. For this soul in brutes is a principal soul,
whereof their body is the organ; but in man it is itself an
organ of the rational soul, and may rather be called by the
name spirit than soul.

The faculties of the soul are well known;4 via., the un
derstanding, reason, imagination, memory, appetite, will, and
all those wherewith logic and ethics are concerned. In the
doctrine of the soul the origin of these faculties must be
physically treated, as they may be innate and adhering to
the soul, but their uses and objects are referred to other
arts; and in this part nothing extraordinary has hitherto
appeared, though we do not indeed report it as wanting.
This part of the faculties of the soul has also two appen
dages, which as they have yet been handled, rather present
us with smoke than any clear flame of truth — one being the
doctrine of natural divination, the other of fascination.

Divination has been anciently and properly divided into
artificial and natural. The artificial draws its predictions
by reasoning from the indication of signs; but the natural
predicts from the internal foresight of the mind, without the
assistance of signs. Artificial divination is of two kinds —
one arguing from causes, the other only from experiments

4 The text is indistinct. We are not told whether the faculties here enumer
ated belong to the produced or to the rational soul. Though from the language
of the text, and the order of inquiry, the former appears to be the most prob
able opinion : yet we do not see how the origin of conscience to which they
refer can be physically treated, or how the same substance can unite appetite,
and the principle to which it is almost invariably opposed. To obviate such
difficulties, Aristotle and Plato made a similar distinction between the rational
and the sensitive principle in man, and assigned reason, imagination and mem
ory to the one, while they restricted appetite and sensational feeling to the
other. Bacon, however, seems to place all these faculties in the sensitive soul,
and leaves the inspired substance a mere breath or aura, without either faculties
or functions. By thus implying the cogitative power of matter, he has in some
measure countenanced the dangerous belief of the corruptibility of the human
soul and its expiration with the body; at least, sceptics have not been slow
in putting this interpretation upon his doctrine.— Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 203

conducted by blind authority. The latter is generally su
perstitious. Such were the heathen doctrines about the in
spection of entrails, the flight of birds, etc. ; and the formal
astrology of the Chaldeans was little better. Both kinds of
artificial divination spread themselves into various sciences.
The astrologer has his predictions from the aspect of the
stars; the physician, too, has his, as to death, recovery,
and the subsequent symptoms of diseases, from the urine,
pulse, aspect of the patient, etc. ; the politician also is not
without his predictions — "O urbem venalem, et cito peri-
turam si emptorem invenerit!"& — the event of which proph
ecy happened soon after, and was first accomplished in
Sylla and again in Caesar. But the predictions of this kind
being not to our present purpose, we refer them to their
proper arts, and shall here only treat of natural divination,
proceeding from the internal power of the soul.

This also is of two kinds — the one native, the other by
influx. The native rests upon this supposition, that the
mind abstracted or collected in itself, and not diffused in
the organs of the body, has from the natural power of its
own essence some foreknowledge of future things; and this
appears chiefly in sleep, ecstasies, and the near approach of
death; but more rarely in waking, or when the body is in
health and strength. And this state of the mind is com
monly procured or promoted by abstinence, and principally
such things as withdraw the mind from exercising the func
tions of the body, that it may thus enjoy its own nature with
out any external interruption. But divination by influx is
grounded upon another supposition, viz., that the mind, as
a mirror, may receive a secondary illumination from the
foreknowledge of Grod and spirits, whereto likewise the
above-mentioned state and regimen of the .body are con
ducive. For the same abstraction of the mind causes it
more powerfully to use its own nature, and renders it more
susceptive of divine influxes, only in divinations by influx

5 "0 city set to sale, whose destruction is at hand, if it find a purchaser!"
uttered by Jugurtha, on leaving Rome. Sallust's Jugurtha, 35.

204 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

the soul is seized with a kind of rapture, and as it were im
patience of the Deity's presence, which the ancients called
by the name of sacred fury, whereas in native divination the
soul is rather at its ease and free.

Fascination is the power and intense act of the imagina
tion upon the body of another. And here the school of
Paracelsus, and the pretenders to natural magic, abusively
so called, have almost made the force and apprehension of
the imagination equal to the power of faith, and capable
of working miracles; others keeping nearer to truth, and
attentively considering the secret energies and impressions
of things, the irradiations of the senses, the transmissions
of thought from one to another, and the conveyances of
magnetic virtues, are of opinion that impressions, convey
ances, and communications, might be made from spirit to
spirit, because spirit is of all things the most powerful in
operation and easiest to work on; whence many opinions
have spread abroad of master spirits, of men ominous and
unlucky, of the strokes of love, envy, and the like. And
this is attended with the inquiry, how the imagination
may be heightened and fortified ; for if a strong imagina
tion has such power, it is worth knowing by what means
to exalt and raise it.8

But here a palliative or defence of a great part of cere
monial magic would slily and indirectly insinuate itself,
under a specious pretence that ceremonies, characters,
charms, gesticulations, amulets, and the like, have not
their power from any tacit or binding contract with evil
spirits, but that these serve only to strengthen and raise
the imagination of such as use them, in the same manner
as images have prevailed in religion for fixing men's minds
in the contemplation of things and raising the devotion in
prayer. But allowing the force of imagination to be great,

6 The ways of working upon or with the imagination, are touched by the
author, in his "Sylva Sylvarum," under the article Imagination. See more to
this purpose in "Descartes upon the Passions," "Casaubon upon Enthusiasm,"
Father Malebranche's "Recherche de la Verite," and Lord Shaftesburj's "Let
ter upon Enthusiasm." — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 205

and that ceremonies do raise and strengthen it; allowing also,
that ceremonies may be sincerely used to that end, as a
physical remedy, without the least design of thereby pro
curing the assistance of spirits; yet ought they still to be
held unlawful, because they oppose and contradict that Di
vine sentence passed upon man for sin: "In the sweat of
thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread." For this kind of magic
offers those excellent fruits which God had ordained should
be procured by labor at the price of a few easy and slight
observances.

There are two other doctrines which principally regard
the faculties of the inferior or sensitive soul, as chiefly com
municating with the organs of the body — the one is of vol
untary motion, the other of sense and sensibility. The
former has been bat superficially inquired into, and one
entire part of it is almost wholly neglected. The office
and proper structure of the nerves, muscles, etc., requisite
to muscular motion, what parts of the body rest while
others move, and how the imagination acts as director of
this motion, so far than when it drops the image whereto
the motion tended, the motion itself presently ceases — as in
walking, if another serious thought come across our mind,
we presently stand still ; with many other such subtilties —
have long ago been observed and scrutinized. But how
the compressions, dilatations, and agitations of the spirit,
which, doubtless, is the spring of motion, should guide
and rule the corporeal and gross mass of the parts, has not
yet been diligently searched into and treated. And no
wonder, since the sensitive soul itself has been hitherto
taken for a principle of motion and a function, rather than
a substance.7 But as it is now known to be material, it be-

7 The original is, pro entelechia et functione quadam, alluding to the techni
cal term entelechy, which Aristotle introduced into his Physics (iii. 1) to denote
the act through which any substance exercises its power. The rational soul
was never taken in the sense of a simple act, or entelechy, as Bacon would
insinuate, but was affirmed even by Aristotle, who introduced the phrase, to
be a certain power apart and distinguished from the rest of the human system,
as the eternal is distinguishable from the incorruptible. His words arei'^P1 Se

206 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

comes necessary to inquire by what efforts so subtile and
minute a breath can put such gross and solid bodies in
motion. Therefore, as this part is deficient, let due inquiry
be made concerning it.

Sense and sensibility have been much more fully and
diligently inquired into, as well in general treatises upon
the subject as in particular arts; viz., perspective, music,
etc. ; but how justly, is not to the present intention. And,
therefore, we cannot note them as deficient; yet there are
two excellent parts wanting in this doctrine: one upon the
difference of perception and sense, and the other upon
the form of light. In treating of sense and sensibility,
philosophers should have premised the difference between
perception and sense, as the foundation of the whole: for
we find there is a manifest power of perception in most nat
ural bodies, and a kind of appetite to choose what is agree
able, and to avoid what is disagreeable to them. Nor is
this meant of the more subtile perceptions only; as when
the loadstone attracts iron, or flame flies to petrol, or one
drop of water runs into another; or when the rays of light
are reflected from a white object, or when animal bodies

TOW vov Kal TTJS fletopT/TiKTJs Suva/xew? ovfieTrw <f)avep6v. 'AAA.' eoitce \fjv\Yis yevos eTepov eti/ai,
KCU TOUTO uovov evSe^cTat xwp^o'flai KaOdrrep diSiov TOV (j>9a.pTov (Afist. De An. ii. 2) "

and as this power is not a simple act, but the effect of a vital substance,
possessing the principle of activity virtually in itself, he implies its capabil
ity to communicate motion to surrounding bodies even in a state of immo-

bilitV ! ^°'a)5 yo-P °v V-ovov i/feCSo? eon TO Tr\v oixrLav aurjjs Tot avrrjv elvai olav <$>a.o\v oi
AeyovTes elvai, TTJV \fjv\jjv TO KLVOVV avTo 17 Swdftevov Kiveiv aAA' et> n TWV aSvvdrtav TO

virdpxei.v avry Kivrftriv. (Arist. ibid. iii. 1.) "With regard to the precise mean
ing of the word entelechy there have been many disputes among the learned.
The origin of the term ought to be allowed to indicate its signification ; but
Aristotle used it in distinct senses, as signifying not only a simple act or func
tion of an unsubstantial quality, but also as the act of a substantial power; and
his followers have never hit upon a generic term capable of uniting the two
notions. Many have abandoned it as untranslatable. Budasus uses the word
efficacia; Cicero paraphrases it as a certain continuous and eternal motion
(Tusc. i. 10), which only implies the motion of unsubstantial qualities, to which
Bacon confined it. This signification, however, was but the exceptional use of
the term, and does not coincide with the general applications of it in the Greek
schools. Hermonlaus Barbarus is said to have been so much oppressed with
this difficulty of translation, that he consulted the evil spirit by night, entreating
to be supplied with a more common and familiar substitute for this word; the
mocking fiend, however, suggested only a word equally obscure, and the tians-
lator, discontented with this, invented for himself the word perfect! bilia. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 207

assimilate what is proper for them, and reject what is hurt
ful; or when a sponge attracts water, and expels air, etc.;
for in all cases, no one body placed near to another can
change that other, or be changed by it, unless a reciprocal
perception precede the operation. A body always perceives
the passages by which it insinuates; feels the impulse of
another body, where it yields thereto; perceives the re
moval of any body that withheld it, and thereupon
recovers itself; perceives the separation of its continuity,
and for a time resists it; in fine, perception is diffused
through all nature. But air has such an acute perception
of heat and cold, as far exceeds the human touch, which
yet passes for the measure of heat and cold. This doctrine,
therefore, has two detects: one, in that men have generally
passed it over untouched, though a noble subject; the other,
that they who did attend to it have gone too far, attributed
sense to all bodies, and made it almost a sin to pluck a twig
from a tree, lest the tree should groan, like Polydorus in
Virgil.8 But they ought carefully to have searched after
the difference between perception and sense; not only in
comparing sensible with insensible things, in the entire
bodies thereof, as those of plants and animals, but also to
have observed in the sensible body itself, what should be
the cause that so many actions are performed without any
sense at all. Why the aliments are digested and discharged,
the humors and juices carried up and down in the body; why
the heart and pulse beat; why the viscera act as so many
workshops, and each performs its respective office; yet all
this, and much more, be done without sense. But men
have not yet sufficiently found of what nature the action
of sense is, and what kind of body, what continuance, what
repetitions of the impression are required to cause pain or
pleasure. Lastly, they seem totally ignorant of the differ
ence between simple perception and sense, and how far
perception may be caused without sense. Nor is this a

8 Yirg. ^Jneid, iii.

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controversy about words, but a matter of great importance.
Wherefore let this doctrine be better examined, as a thing
of capital, and very extensive use: for the ignorance of some
ancient philosophers in this point, so far obscured the light
of reason, that they thought there was a soul indifferently
infused into all bodies; nor did they conceive how motion of
election could be caused without sense, or sense exist with
out a soul.

That the form of light should not have been duly in
quired into, appears a strange oversight, especially as men
have bestowed so much pains upon perspective: for neither
has this art, nor others afforded any valuable discovery in
the subject of light. Its radiations, indeed, are treated, but
not its origin; and the ranking of perspective with mathe
matics has produced this defect, with others of the like na
ture, because philosophy is thus deserted too soon. Again,
the doctrine of light, and the causes thereof, have been al
most superstitiously treated in physics, as a subject of a
middle nature, between natural and divine; whence certain
Platonists would have light prior to matter itself: for they
vainly imagined that space was first filled with light, and
afterward with body; but the Scriptures plainly say, that
the mass of heaven and earth was dark before the creation
of light. And as for what is physically delivered upon
this subject, and according to sense, it presently descends
to radiations, so that very little philosophical inquiry is ex
tant about it. And men ought here to lower their contem
plations a little, and inquire into the properties common to
all lucid bodies, as this relates to the form of light; how im
mensely soever the bodies concerned may differ in dignity,
as the sun does from rotten wood, or putrefied fish. We
should likewise inquire the cause why some things take fire,
and when heated throw out light, and others not. Iron,
metal, stones, glass, wood, oil, tallow, by fire yield either
a flame, or grow red-hot. But water and air, exposed to
the most intense heat they are capable of, afford no light,
nor so much as shine. That it is not the property of fire

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 209

alone to give light; and that water and air are not utter
enemies thereto, appear from the dashing of salt water in
a dark night, and a hot season, when the small drops of
the water, struck off by the motion of the oars in rowing,
seem sparkling and luminous. We have the same ap
pearance in the agitated froth of the sea, called sea-lungs.
And, indeed, it should be inquired what affinity flame and
ignited bodies have with glow-worms, the Luciola, the In
dian fly, which casts a light over a whole room; the eyes
of certain creatures in the dark; loaf-sugar in scraping or
breaking; the sweat of a horse bard ridden, etc. Men
have understood so little of this matter, that most imagine
the sparks, struck between a flint and steel, to be air in at
trition. But since the air ignites not with heat, yet appar
ently conceives light, whence owls, cats, and many other
creatures see in the night (for there is no vision without
light), there must be a native light in air; which, though
weak and feeble, is proportioned to the visual organs of
such creatures, so as to suffice them for sight. The error,
as in most other cases, lies here, that men have not de
duced the common forms of things from particular in
stances, which is what we make the proper business of
metaphysics. Therefore let inquiry be made into the
form and origins of light; and, in the meantime, we set
it down as deficient. And so much for the doctrine of the
substance of the soul, both rational and sensitive, with its
faculties, and the appendages of this doctrine.

210 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

FIFTH BOOK
CHAPTER 1

Division of the Use and Objects of the Faculties of the Soul into Logic and

Ethics. Division of Logic into the Arts of Invention, Judgment,

Memory and Tradition.

THE doctrine of the human understanding, and of the
human will, excellent king, are like twins; for the
purity of illumination, and the freedom of will, be
gan and fell together: nor is there in the universe so inti
mate a sympathy, as that between truth and goodness. The
more shame for men of learning, if in knowledge they are
like the winged angels, but in affections like the crawling
serpents, having their minds indeed like a mirror; but a
mirror foully spotted.

The doctrine of the use and objects of the mental facul
ties has two parts, well known and generally received; viz.,
logic and ethics. Logic treats of the understanding and
reason, and ethics of the will, appetite, and affections; the
one producing resolutions, the other actions. The imagina
tions, indeed, on both sides, performs the office of agent, or
ambassador, and assists alike in the judicial and ministerial
capacity. Sense commits all sorts of notions to the imagi
nation, and the reason afterward judges of them. In like
manner reason transmits select and approved notions to the
imagination before the decree is executed: for imagination
always precedes and excites voluntary motion, and is there
fore a common instrument both to the reason and the will,
only it has two faces: that turned toward reason bearing
the effigy of truth; but that toward action the effigy of
goodness: yet they are faces:

"quales decet esse sororum." l

1 Ovid, Metam. ii. 14.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 211

But the imagination is more than a mere messenger;
as being invested with, or, at least, usurping no small au
thority, besides delivering the message. Thus, Aristotle
well observes, that the mind has the same command over
the body, as the master over the slave; but reason over
the imagination, the same that a magistrate has over a free
citizen, who may come to rule in his turn.2 For in matters
of faith and religion, the imagination mounts above reason.
Not that divine illumination is seated in the imagination,
but, as in divine virtues, grace makes use of the motions
of the will; so in illumination it makes use of the motions
of the imagination; whence religion solicits access to the
mind, by similitudes, types, parables, dreams, and visions.
Again, the imagination has a considerable sway in persua
sion, insinuated by the power of eloquence: for when the
mind is soothed, enraged, or any way drawn aside by the
artifice of speech, all this is done by raising the imagina
tion; which, now growing unruly, not only insults over,
but, in a manner, offers violence to reason, partly by blind
ing, partly by incensing it. Yet there appears no cause
why we should quit our former division: for in general,
the imagination does not make the sciences; since even
poetry, which has been always attributed to the imagina
tion, should be esteemed rather a play of wit than a science.
As for the power of the imagination in natural things, we
have already ranged it under the doctrine of the soul;
and for its affinity with rhetoric, we refer it to the art of
rhetoric.

This part of human philosophy which regards logic, is
disagreeable to the taste of many, as appearing to them no
other than a net, and a snare of thorny subtilty. For as
knowledge is justly called the food of the mind, so in the
desire and choice of this food, most men have the appetite
of the Israelites in the wilderness, who, weary of manna, as
a thin though celestial diet, would have gladly returned to

2 Aristotle's Politics, i. 5, 6.

212 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

the fleshpots: thus generally those sciences relish best that
are subjective, and nearer related to flesh and blood; as civil
history, morality, politics, whereon men's affections, praises,
and fortunes turn, and are employed, while the other dry
light offends, and dries up the soft and humid capacities of
most men. But if we would rate things according to their
real worth, the rational sciences are the keys to all the rest;
for as the hand is the instrument of instruments, and the
mind the form of forms, so the rational sciences are to be
esteemed the art of arts. Nor do they direct only, but also
strengthen and confirm; as the use and habit of shooting
not only enables one to shoot nearer the mark, but likewise
to draw a stronger bow.

The logical arts are four, being divided according to the
ends they lead to: for in rational knowledge man endeavors,
1, either to find what he seeks; 2, to judge of what he finds;
3, to retain what he has approved ; or 4, to deliver what he
has retained: whence there are as many rational arts; viz.,
1, the art of inquiry or invention; 2, the art of examination
or judging; 3, the art of custody or memory; and 4, the art
of elocution or delivery.

CHAPTER II

I Division of Invention into the Invention of Arts and Arguments. The
former, though the more important of them, is wanting. Division of
the Invention of Arts into Literate (Instructed) Experience and a New
Method (Novum Organum). An Illustration of Literate Experience.

INVENTION is of two very different kinds: the one
of arts and sciences, the other of arguments and dis
course. The former I set down as absolutely deficient.
And this deficiency appears like that, when, in taking the
inventory of an estate, there is set down, in cash, nothing:
for as ready money will purchase all other commodities, so
this art, if extant, would procure all other arts. And as the
immense regions of the West Indies had never been dis-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 213

covered, if the use of the compass had not first been known,
it is no wonder that the discovery and advancement of arts
has made no greater progress, when the art of inventing
and discovering the sciences remains hitherto unknown.
That this part of knowledge is wanting, seems clear: for
logic professes not, nor pretends to invent, either mechanical
or liberal arts, nor to deduce the operations of the one, or
the axioms of the other; but only leaves us this instruction \
in passage, to believe every artist in his own art.1 Celsus, »
a wise man, as well as a physician, speaking of the empirical
and dogmatical sects of physicians, gravely and ingenuously
acknowledges, that medicines and cures were first discov
ered, and the reasons and causes of them discoursed after
ward,* not that causes, first derived from the nature of
things, gave light to the invention of cures and remedies.
And Plato, more than once, observes, that particulars are
infinite, that the highest generalities give no certain direc- /
tions; and, therefore, that the marrow of all sciences,/
whereby the artist is distinguished from the unskilM
workman, consists in middle propositions, which experij
ence has delivered and taught in each particular science.1
Hence those who write upon the first inventors of things,)
and the origin of the sciences, rather celebrate chance than
art, and bring in beasts, birds, fishes, and serpents, rather
than men, as the first teachers of arts.

"Dictamnum genitrix Cretsea carpit ab Ida,
Puberibus caulem foliis, et flore comantem
Purpureo: non ilia feris incognita capris
Gramina, cum tergo volucres hsesere sagitta3. " 4

No wonder, therefore, as the manner of antiquity was to
consecrate the inventors of useful things, that the Egyp
tians, an ancient nation, to which many arts owe their rise,
had their temples filled with the images of brutes, and but
a few human idols among them.

1 See Whately's Intro. § 5, b. iii. (on Fallacies) § 2, and b. iv. ; also Arist.
Eth. Mag. i. 1.-17.

2 Re Medica, i. 3. s The Timseus. 4 ^Eneid. xii. 412.

214 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

"Omnigen umque Deum monstra et latrator Anubis
Contra Neptunum et Venerem, contraque Minervam." '

And if we should, according to the traditions of the
Greeks, ascribe the first invention of arts to men, yet we
cannot say that Prometheus studied the invention of fire;
or that when he first struck the flint he expected sparks,
but that he fell upon it by accident, and, as the poets say,
stole it from Jupiter. So that as to the invention of arts,
we are rather beholden to the wild goat for chirurgery, to
the nightingale for music, to the stork for glysters, to the
accidental flying off of a pot's cover for artillery, and, in
a word, to chance, or anything else, rather than to logic.
Nor does the manner of invention, described by Virgil,
differ much from the former; viz., that practice and intent
thought by degrees struck out various arts.

"Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artes
Paulatim." 6

For this is no other than what brutes are capable of, and
frequently practice; viz., an intent solicitude about some
one thing, and a perpetual exercise thereof, which the ne
cessity of their preservation imposes upon them; for Cicero
truly observed, that practice applied wholly to one thing,
often conquers both nature and art — "Usus uni rei deditus,
et naturam et artem saepe vincit. n 7 And therefore, if it
may be said with regard to men, that continued labor and
cogent necessity master everything,

"Labor omnia vincit

Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas;" 8

so it may be asked with regard to brutes, who taught them

instinct,

"Quis expedivit Psittaco suum Xalpe ?" »

Who taught the raven, in a drought, to drop pebbles into a
hollow tree, where she chanced to spy water, that the water

5 ^Eneid, viii. 698. 8 Georg. i. 133.

7 Oratio pro L. Cor. Balbo, xx. 8 Virg. Georg. i. 145.

9 Perseus, Prol. 8.

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might rise for her to drink? Who taught the bee to sail
through the vast ocean of air, to distant fields, and find
the way back to her hive? 10 Who taught the ant to gnaw
every grain of corn that she hoards, to prevent its sprout
ing? And if we observe in Virgil the word extundere,
which implies difficulty, and the word paulatim, which im
ports slowness, this brings us back to the case of the Egyp
tian gods; since men have hitherto made little use of their
rational faculties, and none at all of art, in the investigation
of things.

And this assertion, if carefully attended to, is proved
from the form of logical induction, for finding and examin
ing the principles of the sciences; which form being abso
lutely defective and insufficient, is so far from perfecting
nature, that it perverts and distorts her. For whoever at
tentively observes how the ethereal dew of the sciences,
like that of which the poet speaks,

"Aerii mellis coelestia dona," n

is gathered (the sciences being extracted from particular
examples, whether natural or artificial, as from so many
flowers), will find that the mind of its own natural motion '
makes a better induction than that described by logicians.
From a bare enumeration of particulars in the logical man
ner, where there is no contradictory instance, follows a false
conclusion; nor does such an induction infer anything more
than probable conjecture. For who will undertake, when
the particulars of a man's own knowledge or memory appear
only on one side, that something directly opposite shall not
lie concealed on the other ? as if Samuel should have taken
up with the sons of Jesse brought before him, and not have
sought David, who was in the field. And to say the truth,
as this form of induction is so gross and stupid, it might
seem incredible that such acute and subtile geniuses as
have been exercised this way, could ever have obtruded

10 Pliny's Natural History. 1] Yirgil, Georg. iv. 1.

216 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

it upon the world, but that they hasted to theories and
opinions, and, as it were, disdained to dwell upon particu
lars; for they have used examples and particular instances
but as whifflers to keep the crowd off and make room for
their own opinions, without consulting them from the be
ginning, so as to make a just and mature judgment of the
truth of things. And this procedure has, indeed, struck
me with an awful and religious wonder, to see men tread
the same paths of error both in divine and human inquiries.
For as in receiving divine truths men are averse to become
as little children, so in the apprehending of human truths,
for men to begin to read, and, like children, come back
again to the first elements of induction, is reputed a low
and contemptible thing.

But, allowing the principles of the sciences might be
justly formed by the common induction, or by sense and
experience, yet it is certain that the lower axioms cannot,
in natural things, be with certainty deduced by syllogism
from them. For syllogism reduces propositions to princi
ples by intermediate propositions. And this form, whether
of invention or proof, has place in the popular sciences, as
ethics, politics, law, etc., and even in divinity, since God
has been pleased to accommodate himself to the human
capacity; but in physics, where nature is to be caught by
works, and not the adversary by argument, truth in this
way slips through our fingers, because the subtilty of the
operations of nature far exceeds the subtilty of words. So
that syllogism thus failing, there is everywhere a necessity
for employing a genuine and correct induction, as well in
the more general principles, as the inferior propositions.
For syllogisms consist of propositions, propositions of
words, but words are the signs of notions; wherefore if
these notions, which are the souls of words, be unjustly
and unsteadily abstracted from things, the whole structure
must fall. Nor can any laborious subsequent examination
of the consequences of arguments, or the truth of proposi
tions, ever repair the ruin; for the error lies in the first

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 217

digestion, which cannot be rectified by the secondary func
tions of nature.

It was not, therefore, without cause, that many of the
ancient philosophers, and some of them eminent in their
way, became academics and sceptics, who denied all cer
tainty of human knowledge, and held that the understand
ing went no further than appearance and probability. It is
true, some are of opinion that Socrates, when he declared
himself certain of nothing, did it only in the way of irony,
and put on the dissimulation of knowledge, that, by re
nouncing what he certainly knew, he might be thought to
know what he was ignorant of. Nor in the latter academy,
which Cicero followed, was this opinion held with much
reality; but those who excelled in eloquence, commonly
chose this sect as the fittest for their purpose, viz., acquir
ing the reputation of disputing copiously on both sides of
the question, thus leaving the high road of truth for private
walks of pleasure. Yet it is certain there were some few,
both in the old and new academies, but more among the
sceptics, who held this principle of doubting in simplicity
and sincerity of heart. But their chief error lay in accusing
the perceptions of the senses, and thus plucked up the
sciences by their roots. For though the senses often de
ceive or fail us, yet, when industriously assisted, they may
suffice for the sciences, and this not so much by the help of
instruments, which also have their use, as of such experi
ments as may furnish more subtile objects than are per
ceivable by sense. But they should rather have charged
the defects of this kind upon the errors and obstinacy of
the mind, which refuses to obey the nature of things; and
again, upon corrupt demonstrations, and wrong ways of
arguing and concluding, erroneously inferred from the per
ceptions of sense. And this we say, not to detract from
the human mind, or as if the work were to be deserted, bat
that proper assistances may be procured and administered
to the understanding, whereby to conquer the difficulties of
things and the obscurities of nature. What we endeavor
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —10

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is, that the mind, by the help of art, may become equal to
things, and to find a certain art of indication or direction,
to disclose and bring other arts to light, together with their
axioms and effects. And this art we, upon just ground,
report as deficient.

This art of indication has two parts; for indication
proceeds, 1, from experiment to experiment; or 2, from
experiments to axioms, which may again point out new
experiments. The former we call learned experience, and
the latter the interpretation of nature, Novum Organum,
or new machine for the mind. The first, indeed, as was
formerly intimated, is not properly an art, or any part of
philosophy, but a kind of sagacity; whence we sometimes
call it the chase of Pan, borrowing the name from the fable
of that god. And as there are three ways of walking, viz.,
either by feeling out one's way in the dark; or 2, when
being dim-sighted, another leads one by the hand; and 3,
by directing one's steps by a light: so when a man tries all
kinds of experiments without method or order, this is mere
groping in the dark; but when he proceeds with some direc
tion and order in his experiments, it is as if he were led by
the hand; and this we understand by learned experience:
but for the light itself, which is the third way, it must be
derived from the Kovum Organum.

The design of learned experience, or the chase of Pan,
is to show the various ways of making experiments; and as
we note it for deficient, and the thing itself is none of the
clearest, we will here give some short sketch of the work.
The manner of experimenting chiefly consists in the varia
tion, production, translation, inversion, compulsion, appli
cation, conjunction, or any other manner of diversifying,
or making chance experiments. And all this lies without
the limits of any axiom of invention; but the interpretation
of nature takes in all the transitions of experiments into
axioms, and of axioms into experiments.

Experiments are varied first in the subject, as when a
known experiment, having rested in one certain substance,

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 219

is tried in another of the like kind; thus the making of
paper is hitherto confined to linen, and not applied to silk,
unless among the Chinese,13 nor to hair-stuffs and camblets,
nor to cotton and skins; though these three seem to be more
unfit for the purpose, and so should be tried in mixture
rather than separate. Again, engrafting is practiced in fruit
trees, but rarely in wild ones; yet an elm grafted upon an
elm is said to produce great foliage for shade. Incision
likewise in flowers is very rare, though now the experi
ment begins to be made upon musk-roses, which are suc
cessfully inoculated upon common ones. We also place the
variations on the side of the thing among the variations in
the matter. Thus we see a scion grafted upon the trunk of
a tree thrives better than if set in earth; and why should
not onion-seed set in a green onion grow better than when
sown in the ground by itself, a root being here substituted
for the trunk, so as to make a kind of incision in the root?

An experiment may be varied in the efficient. Thus,
as the sun's rays are so contracted by a burning glass, and
heightened to such a degree as to fire any combustible
matter, may not the rays of the moon, by the same means,
be actuated to some small degree of warmth, so as to show
whether all the heavenly bodies are potentially hot? and
as luminous heats are thus increased by glasses, may not
opaque heats, as of stones and metals, before ignition, be
increased likewise, or is there not some proportion of light
here also? Amber and jet, chafed, attract straws, whence
query, if they will not do the same when warmed at the
fire?

An experiment may be varied in quantity, wherein very
great care is required, as being subject to various errors.
For men imagine, that upon increasing the quantity the
virtue should increase proportionably ; and this they com
monly postulate as a mathematical certainty, and yet it is
utterly false. Suppose a leaden ball of a pound weight, let

12 The Chinese also manufacture their paper out of the interior bark of
ca»e. — Ed.

220 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

fall from a steeple, reaches the earth in ten seconds, will
a ball of two pounds, where the power of natural motion,
as they call it, should be double, reach it in five ? No, they
will fall almost in equal times, and not be accelerated ac
cording to quantity.13 Suppose a drachm of sulphur would
liquefy half a pound of steel, will, therefore, an ounce of
sulphur liquefy four pounds of steel? It does not follow;
for the stubbornness of the matter in the patient is more
increased by quantity than the activity of the agent.14
Besides, too much as well as too little may frustrate the
effect — thus, in smelting and refining of metals it is a com
mon error to increase the heat of the furnace or the quantity
of the flux; but if these exceed a due proportion, they preju
dice the operation, because by their force and corrosiveness
they turn much of the pure metal into fumes, and carry it
off, whence there ensues not only a loss in the metal, but
the remaining mass becomes more sluggish and intractable.
Men should therefore remember how ^Esop's housewife was
deceived, who expected that by doubling her feed her hen
should lay two eggs a day; but the hen grew fat, and laid
none. It is absolutely unsafe to rely upon any natural ex
periment before proof be made of it, both in a less and a
larger quantity.

An experiment is produced two ways; viz., by repeti
tion and extension, the experiment being either repeated
or urged to a more subtile thing. It may serve for an ex
ample of repetition, that spirit of wine is made of wine by
one distillation, and thus becomes much stronger and more

13 Because its surface in relation to its solidity is less than the first ball, and
consequently encounters less resistance from the air, with respect to the entire
quantity of its motion. — Ed.

14 This only happens when the increased content is attended with augmenta
tion of surface. It may be accepted as a principle, that bodies are exposed to
the action of external agents in proportion as their surface is extended, an in
creased size presenting a greater quantity of pores, through which the agent
may insinuate itself. As surfaces are only as the squares of their diameters,
and the contents increase in the ratio of the cubes of their diameters, it follows
that, in the same subject matter, those bodies are more extended in relation to
their solidity, which have less bulk, and consequently more liable to the action
of external bodies, as Bacon remarks. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 221

acrid than the wine itself — will likewise spirit of wine pro
portionally exceed itself in strength by another distillation ?
Bat the repetition also of experiments may deceive; thus
here the second exaltation does not equal the excess of the
first; and frequently, by repeating an experiment after a
certain pitch is obtained, nature is so far from going further,
that she rather falls back. Judgment, therefore, must be
used in this affair. So quicksilver put into melted lead,
when it begins to grow cold, will be arrested, and remain
no longer fluid; but will the same quicksilver, often served
so, become fixed and malleable ?

For an example of extension, water made pendulous
above, by means of a long glass stem, and dipped into a
mixture of wine and water, will separate the water from
the wine, the wine gently rising to the top, and the water
descending and settling at the bottom. Now, as wine and
water, being two different bodies, are separable by this
contrivance, may likewise the more subtile parts of wine,
which is an entire body, be separated from the more gross
by this kind of distillation, performed as it were by gravity,
so as to have floating atop a liquor like spirit of wine, or
perhaps more subtile ? Again, the loadstone draws iron
in substance, but will loadstone plunged into a solution of
iron attract the iron and cover itself with it? So the mag
netic needle applies to the poles of the world; but does it
do this after the same course and order that the celestial
bodies move ? Suppose the needle held at the south point,
and then let go, would it now turn to the north by the west
or east? 1B Thus gold imbibes quicksilver contiguous to it;
but does the gold do this without increasing its own bulk,
so as to become a mass specifically heavier than gold?
Thus men help their memories by setting up pictures of
persons in certain places; but would they obtain the same

15 This question is impossible to decide, as we are never certain at the
moment of the experiment that the needle has not been deflected from the south
point, and the slightest imperceptible degree, too fine for human instrument to
discover, would render the trial nugatory. — Ed.

222 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

end if, neglecting their faces, they only imagined the actions
or habits of the persons ?

An experiment may be transferred three ways; viz., by
nature or chance into an art; 2, from one art or practice to
another; and, 3, from one part of an art to another. There
are innumerable examples of the transferring of experiments
from nature or chance to arts, as nearly all the mechanical
arts owe their origins to slender beginnings afforded by
nature or accident. It is authorized by a proverb, that
grapes among grapes ripen sooner. And our cider-makers
observe the rule; for they do not stamp and press their
apples without laying them on heaps for a time, to ripen
by mutual contact, whereby the liquor* is prevented from
being too tart. So the making of artificial rainbows by the
thick sprinkling of little drops of water, is an easy transla
tion from natural rainbows made in a rainy cloud. So the
art of distillation might be taken either from the falling of
rain and dew, or that homely experiment of boiling water,
where drops adhere to the cover of the vessel. Mankind
might have been afraid to imitate thunder and lightning by
the invention of great guns, had not the chemical monk
received the first hint of it by the impetuous discharge
and loud report of the cover of his vessel. But if man
kind were desirous to search after useful things, they ought
attentively, minutely, and on set purpose, to view the work
manship and particular operations of nature, and be con
tinually examining and casting about which of them may
be transferred to arts; for nature is the mirror of art.

Nor are there fewer experiments transferable from one
art or practice to another, though this be rarely used. For
nature lies everywhere obvious to us all, though particular
arts are only known to particular artists. Spectacles were
invented for weak sights — might not, therefore, an instru
ment be discovered that, applied to the ears, should help
the hearing? Embalming preserves dead bodies — could not,
therefore, something of like kind be transferred to medi
cine, for the preservation of live ones? So the practice of

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 223

sealing in wax, cements, and lead, is ancient, and paved
the way to the printing on paper, or the art of the press.
So in cookery, salt preserves meats better in winter than
in summer — might not this be usefully transferred to baths,
and the occasional regulation of their temperature ? So by
late experience salt is found of great efficacy in condensing,
by the way of artificial freezing — might not this be trans
ferred to the condensing of metals, since it is found that the
aqua3-fortes, composed of salts, dissolve particles of gold out
of some lighter metals ? So painting refreshes the memory
by the image of a thing; and is not this transferred in what
they call the art of memory ? And let it be observed, in
general, that nothing is of greater efficacy in procuring a
stock of new and useful inventions, than to have the experi
ments of numerous mechanic arts known to a single person,
or to a few, who might mutually improve each other by
conversation; so that by this translation of experiments
arts might mutually warm and light up each other, as it
were, by an intermixture of rays. For although the rational
waJ> by means of a new machine for the mind, promises
much greater things; yet this sagacity, or learned experi
ence, will in the meantime scatter among mankind many
matters, which, as so many missive donatives among the
ancients, are near at hand.

The transferring of experiments from one part of an art
to another differs little from the transferring one art to an
other. But because some arts are so extensive as to allow
of the translation of experiments within themselves, it is
proper to mention this kind also, especially as it is of very
great moment in some particular arts. Thus it greatly con
tributes to enlarge the art of medicine to have the experi
ments of that part which treats of the cures of diseases,
transferred to those parts which relate to the preservation
of health and the prolongation of life. For if any famous
opiate should, in a pestilential distemper, suppress the vio
lent inflammation of the spirits, it might thence seem prob
able that something of the same kind, rendered familiar

224 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

by a due dose, might in good measure check that wasting
inflammation which steals on with age.

An experiment is inverted when the contrary of what
the experiment shows is proved; for example, heat is in
creased by burning glasses; but may cold be so too? So
heat in diffusing itself rather mounts upward, but cold in
diffusing itself rather moves downward. Thus, if an iron
rod be heated at one end, then erected upon its heated end,
and the hand be applied to the upper part of the rod, the
hand will presently be burned; but if the heated end be
placed upward and the hand applied below, it will be burned
much slower. But if the whole rod were heated, and one
end of it wet with snow or a sponge dipped in cold water,
would the cold be sooner propagated downward than up
ward if the sponge were applied below? Again, the rays
of the sun are reflected from a white body, but absorbed by
a black one. Are shadows also scattered by black and col
lected by white bodies? We see in a dark place, where
light comes in only at a small hole, the images of external
objects are received upon white paper, but not upon black.

An experiment is compelled where it is urged or pro
duced to the annihilation or destruction of the power, the
prey being only caught in the other chases, but killed in
this. Thus the loadstone attracts iron — urge, therefore, the
iron, or urge the loadstone, till they attract no longer; for
example, if the loadstone were burned, or steeped in aqua
fortis, would it entirely, or only in part, lose its virtue?
So if iron were reduced to a crocus, or made into prepared
steel, as they call it, or dissolved in aqua-fortis, would the
loadstone still attract it ? The magnet draws iron through
all known mediums — gold, silver, glass, etc. Urge the me
dium, therefore, and, if possible, find out one that intercepts
the virtue. Thus make trial of quicksilver, oil, gums,
ignited gold, and such things as have not yet been tried.
Again, microscopes have been lately introduced which
strangely magnify minute objects; urge the use of them,
either by applying them to objects so small that their power

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 225

is lost, or so large till it is confounded. Thus, for example,
can microscopes clearly discover those things in urine
which are not otherwise perceptible? Can they discover
any specks or clouds in gems that are perfectly clear and
bright to appearance ? Can they magnify the motes of the
sun, which Democritus mistook for atoms and the princi
ples of things?16 Will they show a mixed powder of ver
milion and ceruse in distinct grains of red and white ? Will
they magnify larger objects — as the face, the eye, etc. — as
much as they do a gnat or a mite, or represent a piece of
fine linen open as a net? But we need not insist longer
on compulsory experiments, as they do not justly come
within the limits of literate experience, but are rather re
ferred to axioms, causes, and the New Organum.

The application of an experiment is no more than an in
genious translation of it to some other experiment of use;
for example, all bodies have their own dimensions and
gravities. Gold has more gravity and less bulk than silver,
and water than wine — hence a useful experiment is derived
for discovering what proportion of silver is mixed with gold,
or of water with wine, from a knowledge of their measure
and weight, which was the grand discovery of Archimedes.17
Again, as flesh putrefies sooner in some cellars than in
others, it were useful to transfer this experiment to the
examination of airs, as to their being more or less whole
some to live in, by finding those wherein flesh remains
longest unputrefied; and the same experiment is applicable
to discover the more wholesome or pestilential seasons of
the year. But examples of this kind are endless, and re
quire that men should have their eyes continually turned
one while to the nature of things and another while to
human uses.

18 Epistles of Hippocrates, or Pliny's Nat. History.

17 The means that Bacon proposes, and to which the chemists still adhere,
is the reverse of that of Archimedes. The ancient compared, in his experiment,
three bodies of the same weight, but of different volume, while the text advises
three bodies of the same volume, but of different weight. This reversion, how-
ever, does not affect the result. — Ed.

226 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

The conjunction of an experiment is a connection and
chain of applications, when those things which were not
useful single, are made useful by connection; for example,
to have roses or fruits come late, the way is to pluck off the
early buds, or to lay bare the roots and expose them to
the open air, toward the middle of spring; but it is much
better to do both together. So ice and nitre separate have
a great power of cooling, but a much greater when mixed
together. But there may be a fallacy in this obvious affair,
as in all cases where axioms are wanting, if the conjunction
be made in things that operate by different and, as it were,
contrary ways.18

As for chance experiments, these are plainly an irrational
and wild procedure, when the mind suggests the trial of a
thing, not because any reason or experiment persuades it,
but only because nothing of the kind has been tried before;
yet even here, perhaps, some considerable mystery lies con
cealed, provided no stone in nature were left unturned; for
the capital things of nature generally lie out of the beaten
paths, so that even the absurdness of a thing sometimes
proves useful. But if reason also be here joined, so as to
show that the like experiment never was attempted, and
yet that there is great cause why it should be; then this
becomes an excellent instrument, and really enters the
bosom of nature. For example, in the operation of fire
upon natural bodies it has hitherto always happened that
either something flies off, as flame and smoke in our com
mon fires, or at least that the parts are locally separated to
some distance, as in distillation, where the vapor rises and
the faeces are left behind; but no man has hitherto tried
close distillation. Yet it seems probable, that if the force
of heat may have its action confined in the cavities of a
body, without any possibility of loss or escape, this Proteus
of matter will be manacled, as it were, and forced to undergo

18 Such are the compounds of very active substances, which chemists desig
nate neuter: for example, the greater part of salts, as nitre, sea-salt, the salt of
Glauber, and generally ail those substances composed of an acid united to an
alkaline or earthy base. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 227

numerous transformations, provided only the heat be so
moderated and changed as not to break the containing
vessel. For this is a kind of natural matrix, where heat
has its effect without separating or throwing off the parts
of a body. In a true matrix, indeed, there is nourishment
supplied; but in point of transmutation the case is the
same. And here let none despair or be confounded, if
the experiments they attempt should not auswer their ex
pectation; for though success be indeed more pleasing,
yet failure, frequently, is no less informing; and it must
ever be remembered, that experiments of light are more to
be desired than experiments of profit. And so much for
learned experience, as we call it, which thus appears to be
rather a sagacity, or a scenting of nature, as in hunting,
than a direct science.19

As regards the Novum Organum, we shall state here
nothing either summarily or in detail, it being our inten
tion, with the Divine assistance, to devote an entire treatise
to that subject, which is more important than all the rest.

CHAPTER III

THE invention of arguments is not properly an inven
tion; for to invent, is to discover things unknown
before, and not to recollect or admit such as are
known already. The office and use of this kind of inven-

9 This section appears to have been little understood even by some eminent
men, who censure the scheme of the author, and think that experiments must
need be casual, and the human understanding unable to direct and conduct them
to useful purposes unless by accident. The misfortune seems to lie here, that
few converse so familiarly with nature as to judge what may be done in this
way; or how the numerous discoveries of Lord Bacon, Mr. Boyle, Dr. Hook, Sir
Isaac Newton, etc., were made. An attentive perusal of the Novurn Organum,
where this subject is largely prosecuted, will unravel the mystery. — Shaw.

228 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tion seems to be no more than dexterously to draw out from
the stock of knowledge laid up in the mind such things as
make to the present purpose; for one who knows little
or nothing of a subject proposed, has no use of topics or
places of invention, while he who is provided of suitable
matter, will find and produce arguments, without the help
of art and such places of invention, though not so readily
and commodiously; whence this kind of invention is rather
a bare calling to memory, or a suggestion with application,
than a real invention. But since the term is already re
ceived, it may still be called invention, as the hunting in a
park may be called hunting no less than that in the open
field. But not to insist upon the word, the scope and the
end of the thing itself, is a quick and ready use of our
thoughts, rather than any enlargement or increase of them.

There are two methods of procuring a stock of matter for
discourse; viz., 1, either by marking out, and indicating
the parts wherein a thing is to be searched after, which is
what we call the topical way; or 2, by laying up arguments
for use, that were composed beforehand, relating to such
things as frequently happen and come in dispute; and this
we call the prornptuary way: but the latter can scarce be
called a part of science, as consisting rather in diligence
than any artificial learning. Aristotle on this head ingen
iously derides the Sophists of his time, saying, they acted
like a professed shoemaker, who did not teach the art of
shoemaking, but set out a large stock of shoes, of different
shapes and sizes.1 Bat it might be replied, that the shoe
maker who should have no shoes in his shop, and only
make them as they were bespoke, would find few custom
ers. Our Saviour speaks far otherwise of divine knowl
edge, saying, ': Therefore every scribe which is instructed
into the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an
householder, which brings forth out of his treasure things
new and old." a

We find also that the ancient rhetoricians gave it in

1 De Reprelien. Soph. ii. 9. 2 St. Matt. xiii. 52.

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precept to the orators to be always provided of various
commonplaces, ready furnished and illustrated with argu
ments on both sides; as for the intention of the law against
the words of the law; for the truth of arguments against
testimonies, and vice versa.3 And Cicero himself, being
taught by long experience, roundly asserts, that a diligent
and experienced orator should have such things as come
into dispute, ready labored and prepared, so as that in
pleading there should be no necessity of introducing any
thing new or occasional, except new names, and some
particular circumstances.4 But as the first opening of the
cause has a great effect in preparing the minds of the audi
ence, the exactness of Demosthenes judged it proper to
compose beforehand, and have in readiness, several intro
ductions to harangues and speeches;6 and these examples
and authorities may justly overrule the opinion of Aristotle,
who would have us change a whole wardrobe for a pair of
shears. This promptuary method, therefore, should not be
omitted; but as it relates as well to rhetoric as to logic,
we shall here touch it but slightly; designing to consider
it more fully under rhetoric.8

We divide topical inventions into general and particu
lar. The general is so copiously and diligently treated in
the common logics, that we need not dwell upon its expla
nation: we only observe by the way, that this topical
method is not only used in argumentation and close con
ference, but also in contemplation, when we meditate or
revolve anything alone. Nor is its office only confined
to the suggesting or admonishing us of what should be
affirmed or asserted, but also what we should examine or
question; a prudent questioning being a kind of half-
knowledge; for, as Plato justly observes, a searcher must
have some general notion of the thing he searches after,
otherwise he could never know it when he had found it;7

3 De Oratore. 4 Epistles to Atticus, vi. 16.

5 The prefaces alluded to are of doubtful authorit}'.

6 See hereafter, sect. 18. 7 In Menone, ii. 80.

230 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

and, therefore, the more comprehensive and sure our antici
pation is, the more direct and short will be the investiga
tion. And hence the same topics which conduce to the
close examining into our own understandings, and collect
ing the notices there treasured up, are likewise assistant in
drawing forth our knowledge. Thus, if a person, skilful
in the point under question, were at hand, as we might
prudently and advantageously consult him upon it; in like
manner, we may usefully select and turn over authors and
books, to instruct and inform ourselves about those things
we are in quest of.

But the particular topical invention is much more con
ducive to the same purposes, and to be esteemed a highly
fertile thing. Some writers have lately mentioned it, but
it is by no means treated according to its extent and merit.
Not to mention the error and haughtiness which have too
long reigned in the schools, and their pursuing with infinite
subtilty such things as are obvious, without once touching
upon those that lie remote, we receive this topical invention
as an extremely useful thing, that affords certain heads of
inquiry and investigation appropriated to particular subjects
and sciences. These places are certain mixtures of logic
and the peculiar matter of each science. It is an idle thing,
and shows a narrow mind, to think that the art of discover
ing the sciences may be invented and proposed in perfection
from the beginning, so as to be afterward only exercised
and brought into use; for men should be made sensible that
the solid and real arts of invention grow up and increase
along with inventions themselves; so that when any one
first comes to the thorough examination of a science, he
should have some useful rules of discovery; but after he has
made a considerable progress in the science itself, he may,
and ought, to find out new rules of invention, the better
to lead him still further. The way here is like walking on
a flat, where, after we have gone some length, we not only
approach nearer the end of our journey, but also have a
clearer view of what remains to be gone of it; so in the

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 231

sciences, every step of the way, as it leaves some things
behind, also gives us a nearer prospect of those that remain:
and as we report this particular topical invention deficient,
we think proper to give an example of it in the subject of
gravity and levity.

1. Let inquiries be made what kind of bodies are suscep
tible of the motion of gravity; what of levity; and if there
be any of a middle or neutral nature.

2. After the simple inquiry of gravity and levity, pro
ceed to a comparative inquiry; viz., which heavy bodies
weigh more, and which less, in- the same dimensions; and
of like ones, which mount upward the swifter, and which
the slower.

3. Inquire what effect the quantity of the body has in
the motion of gravity. This at first sight may appear a
needless inquiry, because motion may seem proportionable
to quantity; but the case is otherwise. For although in
scales quantity is equal to the gravity, yet where there is
a small resistance, as in the falling of bodies through the
air, quantity has but little force to quicken the descent;
but twenty pounds of lead, and a single pound, fall nearly
in the same .time.

4. Inquire whether the quantity of a body may be so
increased as that the motion of gravity shall be -entirely
lost, as in the globe of the earth, which hangs pendulous
without falling. Query, therefore, whether other masses
may be so large as to sustain themselves ? For that bodies
should move to the centre of the earth is a fiction; and
every mass of matter has an aversion to local motion, till
this be overcome by some stronger impulse.

5. Inquire into the effects and nature of resisting me
diums, as to their influencing the motion of gravity; fora
falling body either penetrates and cuts through the body
it meets in its way, or else is stopped by it. If it pass
through, there is a penetration, either with a small resist
ance, as in air, or with a greater, as in water. If it be
stopped, it is stopped by an unequal resistance, where

232 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

there is a preponderancy, as when wood is laid upon wax;
or by an equal resistance, as when water is laid upon water,
or wood upon wood of the same kind; which is what the
schools pretend, when they idly imagine that bodies do not
gravitate in their own places. And all these circumstances
alter the motion of gravity; for heavy bodies move after
one way in the balance, and after another in falling: and,
which may seem strange, after one way in a balance sus
pended in the air, and after another in a balance plunged
in water; after one way in falling through water, and after
another when floating upon it.

6. Inquire into the effects of the figure of the descending
body, in directing the motion of gravity: suppose of a figure
broad and thin, cubical, oblong, round, pyramidal, etc. ; and
how bodies turn themselves while they remain in the same
position as when first let go.

7. Inquire into the effects of the continuation and pro
gression of the fall or descent itself, as to the acquiring a
greater impulse or velocity, and in what proportion and
to what length this velocity is increased; for the ancients,
upon slender consideration, imagined that this motion,
being natural, was always upon the* increase.

8. Inquire into the effects of distance, or the near ap
proach of a body descending to the earth, so as to fall
swifter, slower, or not at all, supposing it were to be out
of the earth's sphere of activity, according to Gilbert's
opinion; as also the effects of plunging the falling body
deeper into the earth, or placing it nearer the surface; for
this also varies the motion, as is manifest to those who work
in mines.

9. Inquire into the effects of the difference of bodies,
through which the motion of gravity is diffused and com
municated; and whether it is equally communicated through
soft and porous bodies, as through hard and solid ones.
Thus if the beam of a scale were one half of wood, and the
other half of silver, yet of the same weight; inquire whether
this would not make an alteration in the scales: and again,

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 233

whether metal laid upon wool, or a blown bladder, would
weigh the same as in the naked scale.

10. Inquire into the effects of the distance of a body
from the point of suspension in the communication of the
motion of gravity; that is, into the earlier or later percep
tion of its inclination or depression: as in scales, where one
side of the beam is longer, though of the same weight with
the other, whether this inclines the beam; or in siphons,
where the longer leg will draw the water, thrugh the shorter,
being made wider, contains a greater weight of water.

11. Inquire into the effects of intermixing or coupling
a light body and a heavy one, for lessening the gravity of
bodies; as in the weight of creatures alive and dead.

12. Inquire into the ascents and descents of the lighter
and heavier parts of one entire body : whence curious sepa
rations are often made, as in the separation of wine and
water, the rising of cream from milk, etc.

13. Inquire what is the line and direction of the motion
of gravity, and how far it respects the earth's centre, that is,
the mass of the earth; or the centre of its own body, that
is, the appetite of its parts. For these centres are properly
supposed in demonstrations, but are otherwise unserviceable
in nature.

14. Inquire into the comparative motion of gravity, with
other motions, or to what motions it yields, and what it ex
ceeds. Thus in the motion they call violent, the motion of
gravity is withheld for a time; and so when a large weight
of iron is raised by a little loadstone, the motion of gravity
gives way to the motion of sympathy.

15. Inquire concerning the motion of the air, whether it
rises upward, or be as it were neutral, which is not easy
to be discovered without some accurate experiments; for
the rising up of air at the bottom of water, rather proceeds
from a resistance of the water, than the motion of the air,
since the same also happens in wood. But air mixed with
air makes no discovery; for air in air may seem as light, as
water in water seems heavy: but in bubbles, which are air

234 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

surrounded with a thin pellicle of water, it stands still for
a time.

16. Let the bounds of levity be inquired after; for
though men make the centre of the earth the centre of
gravity, they will perhaps hardly make the ultimate con
vexity of the heavens the boundary of levity; but rather,
perhaps, as heavy bodies seem to J^e carried so far, that
they rest, and grow as it were immovable; light bodies are
carried so far, that they begin a rotation or circular motion.

17. Inquire the cause why vapors and effluvia are carried
so high as that called the middle region of the air, since the
matter of them is somewhat gross, and the rays of the sun
cease alternately by night.

18. Inquire into the tendency of flame upward, which is
the more abstruse, because flame perishes every moment,
unless perhaps in the midst of larger flames; for flames
broken from their continuity are of small duration.

19. Inquire into the motion and activity of heat upward;
as when heat in ignited iron sooner creeps upward than
downward. And thus much by way of example of our par
ticular topical inquiry. We must, for a conclusion, ad
monish mankind to alter their particular topics in such
manner, as after some considerable progress made in the
inquiry, to raise topic after topic, if they desire to ascend
to the pinnacle of the sciences. For my own part, I at
tribute so much to these particular topics, that I design
a particular work upon their use, in the more eminent and
obscure subjects of nature; for we are masters of questions,
though not of things. And here we close the subject of
invention.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 235

CHAPTER IY

The Art of Judgment divided into Induction and the Syllogism. Induction
developed in the Novum Organum. The Syllogism divided into Direct
and Inverse Reduction. Inverse Reduction divided into the Doctrine
of Analytics and Confutations. The division of the latter into Confu
tations of Sophisms, the Unmasking of Vulgarisms (Equivocal Terms),
and the Destruction of Delusive Images or Idols. Delusive Appear
ances divided into Idola Tribes, Idola Speeds, and Idola Fori. Appen
dix to the Art of Judgment. The Adapting the Demonstration to the
Nature of the Subject

WE GOME now to the art of judgment, which treats
of the nature of proof or demonstration. This
art, as it is commonly received, concludes either
by induction or syllogism: for enthymemes and examples
are only abridgments of these two/ As to judgment by
induction, we need not be large upon it, because what is
sought we both find and judge of, by the same operation
of the mind. Nor is the matter here transacted by a
medium, but directly almost in the same manner as by the
sense; for sense, in its primary objects, at once seizes the
image of the object, and assents to the truth of it. It is
otherwise in syllogism, whose proof is not direct, but medi
ate; and, therefore, the invention of the medium is one
thing, and judgment, as to the consequence of an argument,
another: for the mind first casts about, and afterward ac
quiesces. But for the corrupt form of induction, we en
tirely ignore it, and refer the genuine one to our method
of interpreting nature. And thus much of judgment by
induction.

The other by syllogism is worn by the file of many

1 An enthymeme is no other than a syllogism of two propositions, the third
being supplied by the mind, as the word itself imports. — Ed.

236 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

a subtile genius, and reduced to numerous fragments, as
having a great sympathy with the human understanding;
for the mind is wonderfully bent against fluctuating, and
endeavors to find something fixed and unmovable, upon
which, as a firm basis, to rest in its inquiries. And as
Aristotle endeavors to prove that, in all motion of bodies,
there is something still at rest, and elegantly explains the
ancient fable of Atlas, sustaining the heavens on his shoul
ders, of the poles of the world, about which the revolutions
are performed :* so men have a strong desire to retain within
themselves an atlas, or pole for their thoughts, in some
measure to govern the fluctuations and revolutions of the
understanding, as otherwise fearing their heaven should
tumble. And hence it is, that they have been ever hasty
in laying the principles of the sciences, about which all the
variety of disputes might turn without danger of failing;
not at all regarding, that whoever too hastily catches at
certainties shall end in doubts, as he who seasonably with
holds his judgment shall arrive at certainties.

It is therefore manifest that this art of judging by syl
logism is nothing more than a reduction of propositions to
their principles by middle terms.8 But principles are sup
posed to be received by consent, and exempt from question,
while the invention of middle .terms is freely permitted to
the subtilty and investigation of the wit. This reduction is
of two kinds, direct and inverse. It is direct when the
proposition itself is reduced to the principle, and this

8 Animal. Mot. 3.

8 Bacon here only gives us a loose translation of the Dictum de omne et nullo,
as inclosing the essentiality of the syllogism. Thus, to develop his thought,
when a certain attribute does not appear to belong to a proposed subject, the
logician presents another subject, in which the contested quality is admitted by
his hearers to enter, and having shown that this new subject — the middle term
— may be affirmed of the original subject with which he set out, he concludes
that its inseparable attribute must also belong to it. If these two primary prop
ositions, viz., those which affirm the attribute of the middle term, and connect
this term with the original subject, need proof, he is obliged to seek other mid-
die terms, and employ them in the same manner, until he establish his disputed
premises on the basis of experience or consentaneous principles. If such funda
ments, common to the minds of the disputants, do not exist, the argument ia
nugatory, and rational conviction impossible. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 237

is called ostensive proof: it is inverse when the contradic
tory of the proposition is reduced to the contradictory of the
principle, which they call proof by absurdity: but the num
ber or scale of the middle term is diminished, or increased,
according to the remoteness of the proposition from the
principle.4

Upon this foundation we divide the art of judgment
nearly, as usual, into analytics, and the doctrine of elenches,
or confutations; the first whereof supplies direction, and the
other caution: for analytics directs the true forms of the
consequences of arguments, from which, if we vary, we
make a wrong conclusion. And this itself contains a kind
of elench, or confutation; for what is right shows not only
itself, but also what is wrong. Yet it is safest to employ
elenches as monitors, the easier to discover fallacies, which
would otherwise insnare the judgment. We find no defi
ciency in analytics; for it is rather loaded with superfluities
than deficient.5

We divide the doctrine of confutations into three parts;
viz., 1. The confutation of sophisms; 2. The confutation of
interpretation; and 3. The confutation of images or idols.
The doctrine of the confutation of sophisms is extremely
useful: for although a gross kind of fallacy is not improp
erly compared, by Seneca, to the tricks of jugglers,6 where
we know not by what means the things are performed, but

4 For no proof can be considered conclusive, unless the conclusion be an
immediate consequence from the propositions which involve the last middle
term. Now, if the proposition we seek to establish be particular (singular), and
the principle from which we set out general (universal), it is clear that, to con
nect principle and consequent, we must either climb gradually from principles
less general to ones more enlarged, until we reach a proposition which con
nects the last consequent with the general principle in question; or we must
descend by a similar gradation from principles less general to others more par
ticular, until wo reach the proposition which affirms the last consequence of
the particular conclusion. The number, therefore, of these intermediate links,
must augment or diminish in proportion to the interval which separates the
principle and consequent. — Ed.

5 Upon the subject of analytics, see Weigelius in his "Analysis Aiistotelica,
ex Ruclide restituta;" and Morhof ia his "Polyhistor, " torn. i. lib. ii. c. 7, da
Methodis van is.

6 Epist. 45, c. 7.

238 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

are well assured they are not as they appear to be, yet the
more subtile sophisms not only supply occasions of answer,
but also in reality confound the judgment. This part con
cerning the confutation of sophisms is. in precept, excel
lently treated by Aristotle, but still better by Plato, in
example; not only in the persons of the ancient sophists,
Gorgias, Hippias, Protagoras, Euthydemus, etc., but even
in the person of Socrates himself,7 who, always professing
to affirm nothing, but to confute what was produced by
others, has ingeniously expressed the several forms of objec
tions, fallacies, and confutations. Therefore in this part we
find no deficiency, but only observe by the way, that though
we place the true and principal use of this doctrine in the
confutation of sophisms, yet it is plain that its degenerate
and corrupt use tends to the raising of cavils and contradic
tions, by means of those sophisms themselves; which kind
of faculty is highly esteemed, and has no small uses, though
it is a good distinction made between the orator and the
sophist, that the former excels in swiftness, as the grey
hound, the other in the turn, as the hare.

With regard to the confutations of interpretation, we
must here repeat what was formerly said of the transcen
dental and adventitious conditions of beings, such as greater,
less, whole, parts, -motion, rest, etc. For the different way
of considering these things, which is either physically or
logically, must be remembered.8 The physical treatment
of them we have allotted to primary philosophy, but their
logical treatment is what we here call the confutation of
interpretation. And this we take for a sound and excellent
part of learning, as general and common notions, unless
accurately and judiciously distinguished from their origin,
are apt to mix themselves in all disputes, so as strangely to
cloud and darken the light of the question, and frequently
occasion the controversy to end in a quarrel about words:

7 See the opening of the Thesetetus.

8 He might have added, mathematically, as greater and less have different
significations in arithmetic and algebra. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 239

for equivocations and wrong acceptations of words, espe
cially of this kind, are the sophisms of sophisms;* wherefore
it is better to treat of them separate than either to receive
them into primary philosophy or metaphysics, or again, to
make them a part of analytics, as Aristotle has confusedly
done. We give this doctrine a name from its use, because
its true use is indeed redargution and caution about the
employing of words. So, likewise, that part concerning
predicaments, if rightly treated, as to the cautions against
confounding or transposing the terms of definitions and
divisions, is of principal use, and belongs to the present
article. And thus much for the confutation of interpre
tation.

As to the confutation of images, or idols, we observe
that idols are the deepest fallacies of the human mind; for
they do not deceive in particulars, as the rest, by clouding
and insnaring the judgment; but from a corrupt predispo
sition, or bad complexion of the mind, which distorts and
infects all the anticipations of the understanding. For the
mind, darkened by its covering the body, is far from being
a flat, equal, and clear mirror that receives and reflects the
rays without mixture, but rather a magical glass, full of
superstitions and apparitions. Idols are imposed upon the
understanding, either, 1. by the general nature of mankind;
2, the nature of each particular man; or 3, by words, or com-
mucative nature. The first kind we call idols of the tribe;
the second kind, idols of the den; and the third kind, idols
of the market. There is also a fourth kind, which we call
idols of the. theatre, Being superinduced by false theories,
or philosophies, and the perverted laws of demonstration.
This last kind we are not at present concerned with, as it
may be rejected and laid aside; but the others seize the
mind strongly, and cannot be totally eradicated. Therefore
no art of analytics can be expected here, but the doctrine
of the confutation of idols is the primary doctrine of idols.

9 Rather, vulgarisms; since sophisms imply a use of the intellect, though
a perverted use; but the wrong acceptations of words imply no use at all. — Ed.

240 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

"Nor indeed can the doctrine of idols be reduced to an art,
bat can only be employed by means of a certain contem
plative prudence to prevent them.

For the idols of the tribe,10 it is observable, that the
nature of the understanding is more affected with affirma
tives and actives than with negatives and privatives, though
in justness it should be equally affected with them both;
but if things fall out right, or keep their course, the mind
receives a stronger impression of this than of a much greater
number of failures, or contrary events, which is the root
of all superstition and credulity. Hence Diagoras, being
shown in Neptune's temple many votive pictures of such
as had escaped shipwreck, and thereupon asked by his
guide, if he did not acknowledge the divine power? an
swered wisely, "But first show me where those are painted
that were shipwrecked, after having thus paid their vows." "
And the case is the same, in the similar superstitions of
astrological predictions, dreams, omens, etc. Again, the
mind, being of itself an equal and uniform substance, pre
supposes a greater unanimity and uniformity in the nature
of things than there really is, as may be observed in astro
nomical mathematicians, who, rejecting spiral lines, assert
that the heavenly bodies move in perfect circles;11 whence
our thoughts are continually drawing parallels, and sup
posing relations in many things that are truly different and
singular. Hence the chemists have fantastically imagined
their four principles corresponding to the heavens, air, earth,
and water; dreaming that the series of existences formed a

10 These might otherwise be called partial idols, as owing to the partiality
or obliquity of the mind, which has its particular bent, and admits of some
things more readily than others, without a manifest reason assigned for it to
the understanding. However this be, they manifestly belong to the tribe of
mankind. — Shaw.

n Cicero, Natur. Deor. v. 9.

12 The observations of Bradley and Molyneux directly establish the elliptical
orbit, in which the earth performs its yearly revolution. The spiral lines.,
which Bacon suggests in place of the concentric and elliptical theory, are only
the apparent paths which the planets seem to follow when viewed by the naked
eye, and have long since, with the cumbersome machinery of Ptolemy, been
swept from the heavens. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 241

kind of square battalion, and that each element contained
species of beings corresponding to each other, and possess
ing, as it were, parallel properties.13 And again, men make
themselves, as it were, the mirror and rule of nature. It is
incredible what a number of idols have been introduced
into philosophy by the reduction of natural operations to
a correspondence with human actions; that is, by imagining
nature acts as man does, which is not much better than the
heresy of the anthropomorphites, that sprung up in the cells
and solitude of ignorant monks;14 or the opinion of Epi
curus, who attributed a human figure to the gods. Yelleius
the Epicurean need not, therefore, have asked why God
should have adorned the heavens with stars and lights, as
master of the works ? For if the grand architect had acted
a human part, he would have ranged the stars into some
beautiful and elegant order, as we see in the vaulted roofs
of palaces; whereas we scarce find among such an infinite
multitude of stars any figure either square, triangular, or
rectilinear; so great a difference is there between the spirit
of man, and the spirit of the universe.

The idols of the den have their origin from the peculiar
nature, both of mind and body, in each person; as also from
education, custom, and the accidents of particular persons.
It is a beautiful emblem, that of Plato's den;16 for, to drop
the exquisite subtilty of the parable, if any one should be
educated from his infancy in a dark cave till he were of full
age, and should then of a sudden be brought into broad
daylight, and behold this apparatus of the heavens and of
things, no doubt but many strange and absurd fancies would
arise in his mind; and though men live indeed in the view
of the heavens, yet our minds are confined in the caverns of
our bodies; whence of necessity we receive infinite images
of errors and falsehoods, if the mind does but seldom, and
only for a short continuance, leave its den, and not con-

3 This hypothesis gave rise to the romance of Lamekis.

14 Epiphanius, adv. Haer. p. 811, in which the heresy of Audius is explained.

15 Kepub. vii.

SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —11

242 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

stantly dwell in the contemplation of nature, as it were, in
the open daylight. And with this emblem of Plato's den
agrees the saying of Heraclitus; viz., that men seek the sci
ences in their own narrow worlds, and not in the wide one.

But the idols of the market give the greatest disturbance,
and from a tacit agreement among mankind, with regard to
the imposition of words and names, insinuate themselves
into the understanding: for words are generally given ac
cording to vulgar conception, and divide things by such
differences as the common people are capable of: but when
a more acute understanding, or a more careful observation,
would distinguish things better, words murmur against it.
The remedy of this lies in definitions; but these themselves
are in many respects irremediable, as consisting of words:
for words generate words, however men may imagine they
have a command over words, and can easily say they will
speak with the vulgar, and think with the wise. Terms of
art also, which prevail only among the skilful, may seem
to remedy the mischief, and definitions premised to arts in
the prudent mathematical manner, to correct the wrong
acceptation of words; yet all this is insufficient to prevent
the seducing incantation of names in numerous respects,
their doing violence to the understanding, and recoiling
upon it, from whence they proceeded. This evil, therefore,
requires a new and a deeper remedy; but these things we
touch lightly at present, in the meantime noting this doc
trine of grand confutations, or the doctrine of the native and
adventitious idols of the mind, for deficient.

There is also wanting a considerable appendix to the art
of judgment. Aristotle indeed marks out the thing, but has
nowhere delivered the manner of effecting it. The design
is to show what demonstrations should be applied to what
subjects, so that this doctrine should contain the judging
of judgments. For Aristotle well observes, that we should
not require demonstrations from orators, nor persuasion
from mathematicians;16 so that if we err in the kind of

16 Ethics, xiii. 1.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 243

proof, judgment itself cannot be perfect. And as there are
four kinds of demonstration, viz., 1, by immediate consent
and common notions; 2, by induction; 3, by syllogism; and
4, by congruity,17 which Aristotle justly calls demonstration
in circle,18 each of these demonstrations has its peculiar sub
jects, and parts of the sciences, wherein they are of force,
and others again from which they are excluded; for insist
ing upon too strict proofs in some cases, and still more the
facility and remissness in resting upon slight proofs in
others, is what has greatly prejudiced and obstructed the
sciences. And so much for the art of judgment.

17 Analogical demonstration, or proof a latere, to which Bacon seems to
refer, consists in showing that the disputed attribute may be affirmed of several
subjects analogical to the one proposed, and thence proceeds to draw the infer
ence that such attribute enters also into the subject in question. In addition to
these last three kinds of mediate positive proof, there are three others, which
may be called mediate negative; viz., 1, a posteriori, which in inferring conclu
sions erroneous from the contradictory of that which is sought to be maintained,
shows that the opposition is formed on false principles, and establishes the truth
of their contradictories. 2, a priori, which in showing that the contradictory
of the original proposition is a necessary consequence of some exploded princi
ple, and also contradictory to the principle of which the contested proposition
is also a consequence, infers the truth of such proposition with the principle of
which it is a corollary. 3, d latere, whose object is to show that the attribute
diametrically opposite to the one in question, agrees with a subject also dia
metrically opposite to the one proposed, that the last attribute may be inferred
to agree with the last subject. — Ed.

18 Bacon seems to imply that Aristotle not only admitted demonstration in
a circle, but even understood it in the sense of analogical proof or demonstration
d latere ; whereas the Stagyrite only introduced the term for the purpose of con
troverting it. Some of the ancient materialists, in order to rid themselves of the
illogical consequences of a series of proofs ad inflnitum, in which the denial of
first principles involved them, asserted the possibility of demonstrating all things
from each other, a line of argument in which the chain of proof would run into

itself: aAAo. TrafTwv eZj/cu, airoSeigiv oufiev xcoAvcf ei/Se^erai yap KVK\U yeveffOai TTJV aTroSeifiv

*cai e| iMijAwv. (Arist. Anal. Post. i. 3.) The Stagyrite, however, confronted
this assertion with the reason, that demonstration could only be effected by
evolving new truths out of things prior and more known, and pronounced the
formation of a body of scientific truths without admitting first principles more
palpable to the mind than any proof could make them, impossible. See, also,
Arist. Analyt. Pri. ii. 5, 1.— Ed.

244 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

CHAPTER V

Division of the Retentive Art into the Aids of the Memory and the Nature

of the Memory itself. Division of the Doctrine of Memory

into Prenotion and Emblem

WE DIVIDE the art of memory, or the keeping and
retaining of knowledge, into two parts; viz., the
doctrine of helps for the memory, and the doc
trine of the memory itself. The help for the memory is
writing; and we must observe, that the memory, without
this assistance, is unequal to things of length and accuracy,
and ought not otherwise to be trusted. And this holds par
ticularly in inductive philosophy, and in the interpretation
of nature; for one might as well undertake to make an
almanac by the memory, without writing, as to interpret
nature by bare contemplation. Scarce anything can be
more useful in the ancient and popular sciences than a true
and solid help for the memory, that is, a just and learned
digest of commonplaces. Some, indeed, condemn this
method as prejudicial to erudition, hindering the course
of reading, and rendering the memory indolent; but as it
is a wrong procedure in the sciences to be over-hasty and
quick, we judge it is of great service in studies, unless a
man be solid, and completely instructed, to bestow dili
gence and labor in setting down commonplaces; as it affords
matter to invention, and collects and strengthens the judg
ment. But among all the methods and commonplace books
we have hitherto seen, there is not one of value;1 as savor
ing of the school rather than the world, and using rather
vulgar and pedantical divisions than such as any way pene
trate things.

1 Upon the subject of commonplace, consult Morhof's "Polyhistor, *' torn.
i. lib. i. cap. 21, de Locorum Comrnunium Scriptoribus ; Mr. Locke's common
place, in his "Discourse of the Conduct of the Understanding"; and Julian's
"Emploi du Temps." — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 245

And for the memory itself, it seems hitherto to have
been negligently and superficially inquired into. There is,
indeed, some art of memory extant; but I know that much
better precepts for confirming and enlarging the memory
may be had than this art contains, and that a better practice
of the art itself may be formed than what is at present re
ceived. And I doubt not, if any one were disposed to make
an ostentatious show of this art, that many surprising things
might be performed by it; and yet, as now managed, it is
but barren and useless. We do not, however, pretend that
it spoils or surcharges the natural memory, which is the
common objection, but that it is not dexterously applied for
assisting the memory in real business, and serious affairs.
But this turn, perhaps, I may receive from the political
course of life I have led, never to value what has the ap
pearance of art without any use. For immediately to repeat
a multitude of names, or words, once repeated before, or
offhand to compose a great number of verses upon a sub
ject, or to touch any matter that occasionally turns up with
a satirical comparison, or to turn serious things into jest,
or to elude anything by contradiction, or cavil, etc., of all
which faculties there is a great fund in the mind, and which
may, by a proper capacity and exercise, be carried to almost
a miraculous height; yet I esteem all the things of this kind
no more than rope-dancing, antic postures, and feasts of
activity. And indeed they are nearly the same things, the
one being an abuse of the bodily, as the other is of the
mental powers; and though they may cause admiration,
they cannot be highly esteemed.

This art of memory has two intentions; viz., prenotion
and emblem. By prenotion we understand the breaking off
of an endless search ; for when one endeavors to call any
thing to mind without some previous notion, or perception
of what is sought for, the mind strives and exerts itself,
endeavors and casts about in an endless manner; but if it
has any certain notion beforehand, the infinity of the search
is presently cut short, and the mind hunts nearer home as

246 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

in an inclosure. Order, therefore, is a manifest help to
memory; for here there is a previous notion, that the things
sought for must be agreeable to order. And thus verse is
easier remembered than prose, because if we stick at any
word in verse, we have a previous notion that it is such a
word as must stand in the verse, and this prenotion is the
first part of artificial memory. For in artificial memory we
have certain places digested, and proposed beforehand; but
we make images extemporary as they are required, wherein
we have a previous notion that the image must be such as
may, in some measure, correspond to its place; while this
stimulates the memory, and, as it were, strengthens it to
find out the thing sought for.

But emblems bring down intellectual to sensible things;
for what is sensible always strikes the memory stronger, and
sooner impresses itself than what is intellectual. Thus the
memory of brutes is excited by sensible, but not by intel
lectual things. And, therefore, it is easier to retain the
image of a sportsman hunting the hare, of an apothecary
ranging his boxes, an orator making a speech, a boy repeat
ing verses, or a player acting his part, than the correspond
ing notions of invention, disposition, elocution, memory,
and action. There are also other things that contribute to
assist the memory, but the art at present in use consists
of the two above mentioned;2 and to treat of the particular
defects of the arts is foreign to our present purpose.

2 I suppose that the art of memory, now commonly taught by memory-
masters, is little more than a lecture upon the foundations here laid down ; and
perhaps their secrets are disclosed in Sir Hugh Plat's "Jewel House of Art
arid Nature," printed in London in the year 1653. See page 77-80 of that
edition. Consult also upon the means of improving the memory, Morhof's
"Polyhistor," torn. i. lib. ii. cap. 4, de Subsidiis dirigeridi Judicii. — Shaw.
[Grey's "Memoria Technica" and Feinagle's "Art of Memory" are the modern
works on the same subject. — Ed.~\

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 247

SIXTH BOOK

CHAPTEK I

Division of Tradition into the Doctrine of the Organ, the Method and the
Illustration of Speech. The Organ of Speech divided into the Knowl
edge of the Marks of Things, of Speaking and "Writing. The last two
comprise the two Branches of Grammar. The Marks of Things divided
into Hieroglyphics and Real Characters. Grammar again divided into
Literary and Philosophical. Prosody referred to the Doctrine of Speech,
and Ciphers to the Department of Writing

ANY man may, excellent King, when he pleases, take
the liberty to jest and laugh at himself or his own
projects. Who, then, knows — as there is a book in
the famous library of St. Victor, entitled "Formicarum
Artium," 1 whether our book may not be an accidental
transcript of its contents. We have indeed only accumu
lated a little heap of dust, and deposited therein many
grains of the arts and sciences whereto ants may creep to
repose a while, and then betake themselves to their labors:
nay, the wisest of kings points out the ant as an example
to those whose only care is to live upon the main stock,
neglecting to cultivate the fields of science, and reap a new
harvest of discoveries.3

We next proceed to the art of delivering, uttering, and
communicating such things as are discovered, judged of,
and treasured up in the memory; and this we call by the
general name of traditive doctrine, which takes in all the arts
relating to words and discourse. For although reason be as
the soul of discourse, yet they ought both to be treated
separate, no less than the soul and body. We divide this
traditive doctrine into three parts; viz., with regard, 1, to

1 Pantagruel, ii. 7, p. 76. 2 ii. 6, 6.

248 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

the organ; 2, the method; and 3, the illustration or orna
ment of speech and discourse.

The vulgar doctrine of the organ of speech called gram
mar is of two kinds, the' one having relation to speaking,
the other to writing. For, as Aristotle well observed, words
are the marks of thoughts, and letters of words; and we
refer both of these to grammar.3 But before we proceed to
its several parts, it is necessary to say something in general
of the organ of this traditive doctrine, because it seems to
have more descendants besides words and letters. And
here we observe, that whatever may be split into differ
ences, sufficiently numerous for explaining the variety of
notions, provided these differences are sensible, may be
a means of conveying the thoughts from man to man; for
we find that nations of different languages hold a commerce,
in some tolerable degree, by gestures. And from the prac
tice of some persons born deaf and dumb, but otherwise
ingenious, we see conversation may be held between them
and such of their friends as have learned their gestures.
And it is now well known, that in China and the more
eastern provinces, they use at this day certain real, not
nominal, characters,4 to express, not their letters or words,

3 Interpret, i. 2.

4 The original is, "nee literas nee. verba," which in Latin signify oral aa
well as written language; so that, to avoid equivocation, we should annex the
two adjectives, sonorous and written, to fix their signification. With regard to
the relation which exists between the oral and written speech of the Chinese,
it is, as the text would imply, not different from that which prevails among us.
In articulating, we pronounce as the Chinese the sonorous signs which corre
spond to the written words, and their art of reading, no less than ours, consists
iii the struggle to transplant this correspondence in our minds, and learn its
reciprocal relations. Even allowing that the Chinese, in addition to their vulgar
tongue, had adopted hieroglyphical writing, so designed as to convey, without
the interposition of oral signs, the exact ideas which they represent, yet each of
these signs would invariably awaken the idea which represented it in the oral
language, as well as the vocal word refer to the idea indicated by the written
hieroglyphic. The only persons who appear not to intrude intermediate signs
between the hieroglyphic and the idea which it conveys to the mind, are those
who are incapacitated by nature. But in this respect there is no resemblance
between the deaf and dumb and our Asiatic contemporaries.

Bacon therefore has not seized the exact distinction between the Chinese
writing and our own. which consists not in dispensing with vocal signs, but in
the diversified elements of which it is composed. Our language contains only

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 249

but things and notions; insomuch, that numerous nations,
though of quite different languages, yet, agreeing in the
use of these characters, hold correspondence by writing.5
And thus a book written in such characters may be read
and interpreted by each nation in its own respective lan
guage.

The signs of things significative without the help or
interposition of words are therefore of two kinds, the one
congruous, the one arbitrary. Of the first kind, are hiero
glyphics and gestures; of the second, real characters. The
use of hieroglyphics is of great antiquity, being held in
veneration, especially among that most ancient nation, the
Egyptians, insomuch that this seems to have been an early
kind of writing, prior to the invention of letters, unless,
perhaps, among the Jews.8 And gestures are a kind of
transitory hieroglyphics; for as words are fleeting in the
pronunciation, but permanent when written down, so hiero
glyphics, expressed by gesture, are momentary; but when
painted, durable. When Periander, being consulted how
to preserve a tyranny newly usurped, bid the messenger re
port what he saw; and going into the garden, cropped all
the tallest flowers;7 he thus used as strong a hieroglyphic
as if he had drawn it upon paper.

Again, it is plain that hieroglyphics and gestures have

twenty-five letters, while the Chinese letters are as innumerable as our words ;
and what makes the distinction perhaps more startling, there never has been,
an attempt on the part of that nation to analyze this infinite series of words, or
to reduce them to the common elements of vocal sounds. Through this want
of philosophic analysis, which characterizes nearly all the Asiatic tribes, the
Chinese may be said never perfectly to understand their own language. — Ed.

5 See Spizelius "De Re Literaria Chinensium, " ed. Lugd. Bat. 1660; Webb's
"Historical Essay upon the Chinese Language," printed at London, 1669;
Father Besuier's "Reunion des Langues"; Father le Compe, and other of the
Missionaries' Letters. — Ed.

b See Causinus's "Polyhistor. Symbolicus," and "Symbolica yEgyptiorum
Sapientia," ed. Par. 1618. And for other writers upon this subject, see Mor-
hof s "Polyhistor," torn. i. lib. iv. cap. 2, de Yariis Scripture Modis. — Ed.

7 Arist. Polit. iii. 13. The person who sent to consult Periander was Thra-
sybulus of Miletus. Herodotus (v. 92) gives the opposite version of the story,
making Periander consult Thrasybulus. Compare the story of Tarquin, told
by Ovid, Fast. ii. 701.

250 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

always some similitude with the things signified, and are in
reality emblems; whence we call them congruous marks
of things: but real characters have nothing of emblem, as
being no less mute than the elementary letters themselves,
and invented altogether at discretion, though received by
custom as by a tacit agreement. Yet it is manifest that a
great number of them is required in writing; for they must
be as numerous as the radical words. This doctrine, there
fore, concerning the organ of speech, that is, the marks of
things, we set down as wanting; for although it may seem
a matter of little use, while words and writing with letters
are much more commodious organs of delivery; yet we
think proper here to mention it as no inconsiderable thing.
For while we are treating, as it were, of the coin of intel
lectual matters, it is not improper to observe that as money
may be made of other materials besides gold and silver, so
other marks of things may be invented besides words and
letters.8

Grammar holds the place of a conductor in respect of the
other sciences; and though the office be not noble, it is ex
tremely necessary, especially as the sciences in our times
are chiefly derived from the learned languages. Nor should
this art be thought of small dignity, since it acts as an anti
dote against the curse of Babel, the confusion of tongues.
Indeed, human industry strongly endeavors to recover those
enjoyments it lost through its own default. Thus it guards
against the first general curse, the sterility of the earth, and
the eating our bread in the sweat of the brow, by all the
other arts; as against the second, the confusion of languages,
it calls in the assistance of grammar. Though this art is of
little use in any maternal language, but more serviceable

8 On this foundation, Bishop Wilkins undertook his laborious treatise of a
real character, or philosophical language ; though Dalgarn published a treatise
on the same subject before him; viz., at London, in the year 1661. In the same
year, Becher also published another to the same purpose at Frankfort, entitled
"Character pro Notitia Linguarum Universali." See more upon this subject in
Joachim Fritschii ''Lingua Ludovicea," Kircher's "Polygraphia, " Paschius's
"Inventa Nova-Antiqua," and Morhof's "Polyhistor. " — SJiaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 251

in learning the foreign ones, and most of all in the dead
ones, which now cease to be popular, and are only pre
served in books.

We divide grammar also into two parts — literary and
philosophical; the one employed simply about tongues
themselves, in order to their being more expeditiously
learned or more correctly spoken, but the other is in some
sort subservient to philosophy; in which view Caesar wrote
his books of Analogy,9 though we have some doubt whether
they treated of the philosophical grammar now under con
sideration. We suspect, however, that they contained noth
ing very subtile or sublime, but only delivered precepts of
pure and correct discourse, neither corrupted by any vulgar,
depraved phrases, and customs of speech, nor vitiated by
affectation; in which particular the author himself ex
celled. Admonished by this procedure, I have formed in
my thoughts a certain grammar, not upon any analogy
which words bear to each other, but such as should dili
gently examine the analogy or relation between words and
things, yet without any of that hermeneutical doctrine, or
doctrine of interpretation, which is subservient to logic.
It is certain that words are the traces or impressions of
reason ; and impressions afford some indication of the body
that made them. I will, therefore, here give a small sketch
of the thing.

And first, we cannot approve that curious inquiry, which
Plato however dW not contemn, about the imposition and
original etymology of names,10 as supposing them not given
arbitrarily at first, but rationally and scientifically derived
and deduced. This indeed is an elegant, and, as it were,
a waxen subject, which may handsomely be wrought and
twisted; but because it seems to search the very bowels
of antiquity, it has an awful appearance, though attended
with but little truth and advantage. But it would be a
noble kind of a grammar, if any one, well versed in numer-

9 Suetonius' Life. 10 Cratvl.

252 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

ous languages, both the learned and vulgar, should treat
of their various properties, and show wherein each of thejn
excelled and fell short; for thus languages might be en
riched by mutual commerce, and one beautiful image of
speech, or one grand model of language for justly express
ing the sense of the mind, formed, like the Venus of
Apelles, from the excellences of several. And thus we
should, at the same time, have some considerable marks
of the genius and manners of people and nations from
their respective languages. Cicero agreeably remarks, that
the Greeks had no word to express the Latin ineptum;11
"because," says he, "the fault it denotes was so familiar
among them, that they could not see it in themselves"; a
censure not unbecoming the Eoman gravity. And as the
Greeks used so great a licentiousness in compounding
words, which the Romans so religiously abstained from,
it may hence be collected that the Greeks were better fitted
for arts, and the Eomans for exploits; as variety of arts
makes compound words in a manner necessary, while civil
business, and the affairs of nations, require a greater sim
plicity of expression. The Jews were so averse to these
compositions, that they would rather strain a metaphor than
introduce them. Nay, they used so few words and so un
mixed, that we may plainly perceive from their language
they were a Nazarite people, and separate from other na
tions. It is also worth observing, though it may seem a
little ungrateful to modern ears, that the ancient languages
are full of declensions, cases, conjugations, tenses, and the
like; but the later languages, being almost destitute of
them, slothfully express many things by prepositions and
auxiliary verbs. For from hence it may easily be conjec
tured, that the genius of former ages, however we may
flatter ourselves, was much more acute than our own. And
there are things enough of this kind to make a volume. It
seems reasonable, therefore, to distinguish a philosophical

11 Orator, ii. 4.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 253

grammar from a simple literary one, and to set it down as
deficient.19

All the accidence of words — as sound, measure, accent —
likewise belong to grammar; but the primary elements of
simple letters, or the inquiry with what percussion of the
tongue, opening of the mouth, motion of the lips, and use
of the throat, the sound of each letter is produced, has no
relation to grammar, but is a part of the doctrine of sounds,
to be treated under sense and sensible objects.18 The gram
matical sound we speak of regards only sweetness and harsh
ness. Some harsh and sweet sounds are general; for there
is no language but in some degree avoids the chasms of con
curring vowels or the roughness of concurring consonants.
There are others particular or respective, and pleasing or
displeasing to the ears of different nations. The Greek lan
guage abounds in diphthongs, which the Roman uses much
more sparingly, and so of the rest. The Spanish tongue
avoids letters of a shrill sound, and changes them into let
ters of a middle tone. The languages of the Teutonic stock
delight in aspirates, and numerous others which we have
not space to cite.

But the measure of words has produced a large body of
art; viz., poetry, considered not with regard to its matter,
which was considered above, but its style and the struct
ure of words; that is, versification; which, though held as
trivial, is honored with great and numerous examples. Nor
should this art, which the grammarians call prosodia, be
confined only to teaching the kinds of verse and measure;
but precepts also should be added, as to what kind of verse

12 Considerable pains have been bestowed upon this subject by various
authors; an account whereof is given by Morhof in his "Polyhistor. " See
torn. i. lib. iv. cap. 3, 4, 5; or more particularly, Abraham Mylii "De Linguae
Belgicse cum aliis Linguis Communitate" ; Henrici Schsevii "Dissertationes Phi-
lologicse de Origine Linguarum et quibusdam earum attributis" ; Thorn. Hayne
"De Linguis in genere, et de variarum Linguarum Harmonia," in the appen
dix to his "Grammaticfe Latinse Compendium," and Dr. "Wallis's "Grammatics
Linguae Anglicanse." — Ed.

13 This is the subject which J. Conrad. Amman has prosecuted with great
diligence, in his "Surdus loquens," and "Dissertatio de Loquela" ; first printed
at Amsterdam in 1692, and the last in 1700. — Shaw.

254 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

is agreeable to every subject. The ancients applied heroic
verse to encomium, elegy to complaint, iambic to invective,
and lyric to ode and hymn; and the same has been pru
dently observed by the modern poets, each in his own
language: only they deserve censure in this, that some of
them, through affectation of antiquity, have endeavored
to set the modern languages to ancient measure; as sap-
phic, elegiac, etc., which is both disagreeable to the ear,
and contrary to the structure of such languages.14 And in
these cases, the judgment of the sense is to be preferred
to the precepts of art. As the poet says,

"Coense Ferculae nostrse

Mallera convivis quam placuisse cocis. " 15

Nor is this an art, but the abuse of art, as it does not per
fect nature, but corrupt her. As to poetry, both with re
gard to its fable and its verse, it is like a luxuriant plant,
sprouting not from seed, but by the mere vigor of the soil;
whence it everywhere creeps up, and spreads itself so wide,
that it were endless to be solicitous about its defects. And
as to the accents of words, there is no necessity for taking
notice of so trivial a thing; only it may be proper to inti
mate, that these are observed with great exactness, while
the accents of sentences are neglected; though it is nearly
common to all mankind to sink the voice at the end of a
period, to raise it in interrogation, and the like.16 And so
much for that part of grammar which regards speaking.

Writing is practiced either by means of the common al
phabet, now vulgarly received, or of a secret and private
one, agreed upon between particular persons, and called
by the name of cipher. But here a question arises about
the common orthography; viz,, whether words should be
wrote as they are pronounced, or after the common manner?

14 For some examples of this kind, see Southey's Epics.

15 Martial, Epig. ix. 82.

16 The stage having cultivated the accentuation of sentences more than the
school, the rules of the art might, perhaps, to advantage, be borrowed from
thence, in order to form an early habit of graceful speaking. — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 255

Certainly that reformed kind of writing, according to the
pronunciation, is but a useless speculation, because pro
nunciation itself is continually changing, and the derivations
of words, especially from the foreign languages, are very
obscure; and lastly, as writing in the received manner no
way obstructs the manner of pronunciation, but leaves it
free, an innovation in it is to no purpose.

There are several kinds of ciphers, as the simple,17 those
mixed with non-significants,18 those consisting of two kinds
of characters,18 wheel-ciphers,80 key-ciphers,91 word-ciphers,33
etc. There are three properties required in ciphers; viz., 1,
that they be easy to write and read; 2, that they be trusty
and undecipherable; and 3, if possible, clear of suspicion.
For if a letter should come into the hands of such as have
a power over the writer or receiver, though the cipher itself
be trusty and impossible to decipher, it is still subject to
examination and question, unless there be no room to sus
pect or examine it.

There is a new and useful invention to elude the exami
nation of a cipher; viz., to have two alphabets, the one of
significant, and the other of non-significant letters; and
folding up two writings together, the one conveying the
secret, while the other is such as the writer might probably
send without danger. In case of a strict examination about

17 In which each letter corresponds to a different letter of the alphabet. — Ed.

18 That is, joined to other letters and words, the juncture of which destroys
the sense to an ordinary observer, which the first letters and words are intended
to convey. — Ed.

19 Abbreviated writing, or shorthand. — Ed.

20 This is a kind of dial, on which are drawn the circumferences of two
concentric circles, bordered by the letters of the alphabet. Each letter being
marked with a sign, we know to what letter of the exterior circle, each of the
interior corresponds in relation to its rank in the alphabet. For example, sup
pose that it had been previously determined that the letter f should represent
a, g b, and h c, the receiver of the missive should turn the interior circle of
the dial round until the a in this circle pointed to / in the exterior, and then in
the place of the letters in the note he had received, he would read those which
corresponded to them in the interior circle. — Ed.

81 The key-ciphers are those figures which explain the latent sense of the
letter, and are either conveyed with it, or previously concerted by those who
are parties to the communication. — Ed.

29 Verbal ciphers are those which represent entire words. — Ed.

256

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the cipher, the bearer is to produce the non-significant al
phabet for the true, and the true for the non-significant;
by which means the examiner would fall 'upon the outward
writing, and finding it probable, suspect nothing of the
inner.23

But to prevent all suspicion, we shall here annex a
cipher of our own, that we devised at Paris in our youth,
and which has the highest perfection of a cipher — that of
signifying omnia per ortmia (anything by everything)," pro
vided only the matter included be five times less than that
which includes it, without any other condition or limitation.
The invention is this: first let all the letters of the alphabet
be resolved into two only, by repetition and transposition;
for a transposition of two letters through five places, or
different arrangements, will denote two-and-thirty differ
ences, and consequently fewer, or four-and- twenty, the
number of letters in our alphabet, as in the following
example:

A BILITERAL ALPHABET,

Consisting only of a and b changed through five places, so as to represent all the
letters of the common alphabet

aaaaa
aaaab
aaaba
aaabb
aabaa
aabab
aabba
aabbb

abaaa

baaaa

abaab

baaab

ababa

baaba

ababb

—

baabb

abbaa

babaa

abbab

babab

abbba

babba

abbbb

babbb

Thus, in order to write an A, you write five a's, or aaaaa;
and to write a B, you write four a's and one &, or aaaab;
and so of the rest.

And here, by the way, we gain no small advantage, as
this contrivance shows a method of expressing and signify -

23 The publishing of this secret frustrates its intention ; for the examiner,
though he should find the outward letter probable, would doubtless, when thua
advertised, examine the inner, notwithstanding its alphabet were delivered to
him for non-significants. — Shaw.

24 For this cipher is practicable in all things that are capable of two
differences.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

257

ing one's mind to any distance, by objects that are either
visible or audible — provided only the objects are but capa
ble of two differences, as bells, speaking-trumpets, fireworks,
cannon, etc. But for writing, let the included letter be re
solved into this biliteral alphabet; suppose that letter were
the word FLY, it is thus resolved:

FLY

aabab ababa babba

Let there be also at hand two other common alphabets,
differing only from each other in the make of their letters;
so that, as well the capital as the small be differently shaped
or cut at every one's discretion: as thus, for example, in
Roman and Italic; each Eoman letter constantly represent
ing A, and each Italic letter B.

THE FIRST, OB ROMAN ALPHABET

All the letters of this Eoman alphabet are read or de
ciphered, by translating them into the letter A only.

A, a

B, b

C, c

D, d

JJJ 6

F, f

G, g

THE SECOND, OR ITALIC ALPHABET
Jjf, h
I, *

L, I
M, m

N, n

All the letters of this Italic alphabet are read by trans-
lating them into the letter B only.

Now adjust or fit any external double-faced writing,
letter by letter, to the internal writing, first made biliter-
ate; and afterward write it down for the letter or epistle
to be sent. Suppose the external writing were, "Stay till
I come to you," and the internal one were, "Fly"; then,

258 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

as we saw above, the word "Fly," resolved by means of
the biliteral alphabet, is

PLY

aabab ababa babba

whereof I fit, letter by letter, the words uStay till I come
to you," observing the use of my two alphabets of differ
ently shaped letters, thus:

s aabab ababa babba

Stay t iZi co me to you

Having now adjusted my writing according to all my alpha
bets, I send it to my correspondent, who reads the secret
meaning by translating the Koman letters into a's, and the
Italic ones into 5's, according to the Koman and Italic al
phabets, and comparing each combination of five of them
with the biliteral alphabet.86

We herewith annex a fuller example of the cipher of
writing "omnia per omnia," viz., an interior letter once sent
by the Ephores of Sparta in a scytale or round ciphered
staff:

"Perditae res. Minidarus cecidit. Milites esuriunt,
neque hinc nos extricare, neque hie diutius manere pos-

sumus."

The exterior letter in which the above is involved is
taken from the first epistle of Cicero. We adjoin it:

"Ego omni ofiicio ac potius pietate erga te, cssteris satis-
facio omnibus; mihi ipse numquam satisfacio. Tanta est
enim magnitude tuorum erga me meritorum, ut quoniam tu
nisi perfecta re, de me non conquiesti. Ego quia non idem
tu tua causa efncio, vitatn mihi esse acerbam putem. In
causa haec sunt; Ammonius regis legatus aperte pecunia
non oppugnat. Ees agitur per eosdem creditores per quos,

86 Those who desire a fuller explanation may consult Bishop Wilkins's
"Secret and Swift Messenger," or rather Mr. Falconer's "Cryptomenysis Pate-
facta, or Art of Secret Information disclosed without a Key." The trustiness
of this cipher depends upon a dexterous use of two hands, or two different kinds
of letters, in the same writing, which the skilful decipherer, being thus adver
tised of, will be quick-sighted enough to discern, and consequently be able to
decipher, though a foundation seems here laid for several other ciphers, that
perhaps could neither be suspected nor deciphered. — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 259

cum tu aderas, agebatur regis causa, si qui sunt, qui velint
qui pauci sunt, omnes ad Pompeium rem deferri volunt.
Senatus religionis calumniam, non religione, sed malevo-
lentia, et illius regise largitionis invidia, comprobat," etc.
The doctrine of ciphers has introduced another, relative
to it, viz., the art of deciphering without the alphabet of the
cipher, or knowing the rules whereby it was formed. This
indeed is a work of labor and ingenuity, devoted, as well
as the former, to the secret service of princes. Yet by
a diligent precaution it may be rendered useless, though,
as matters now stand, it is highly serviceable: for if the
ciphers in use were good and trusty, several of them would
absolutely elude the labor of the decipherer, and yet remain
commodious enough, so as to be readily written and read.
But through the ignorance and unskilfulness of secretaries
and clerks in the courts of princes, the most important
affairs are generally committed to weak and treacherous
ciphers.26 — And thus much for the organ of speech.

CHAPTEK 11

Method of Speech includes a wide Part of Tradition. Styled the Wisdom

of Delivery. Various kinds of Methods enumerated. Their

respective Merits

THE doctrine concerning the method of speech has been
usually treated as a part of logic; it has also found
a place in rhetoric, under the name of disposition;
but the placing of it in the train of other arts has introduced

26 The art of ciphering is doubtless capable of great improvement. It is said
that King Charles I. had a cipher consisting only of a straight line differently
inclined; and there are ways of ciphering by the mere punctuation of a letter,
while the words of the letter shall be non-significants, or sense, that leave no
room for suspicion. It may also be worth considering, whether the art of
deciphering could not be applied to languages, so as to translate for instance, a
Hebrew book without understanding Hebrew. See Morhof, De variis Scripturae
Modis, "Polyhist." torn. i. lib. iv. cap. 2, and Mr. Falconer's "Cryptomenysis
Patefacta. ' ' — Shaw.

260 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

a neglect of many useful things relating to it. We, there
fore, think proper to advance a substantial and capital doc
trine of method, under the general name of traditive pru
dence. But as the kinds of method are various, we shall
rather enumerate than divide them; but for one only
method, and perpetually splitting and subdividing, it
scarce need be mentioned, as being no more than a light
cloud of doctrine that soon blows over, though it also
proves destructive to the sciences, because the observers
tliereof, when they wrest things by the laws of their method,
and either omit all that do not justly fall under their divi
sions, or bend them contrary to their own nature, squeeze,
as it were, the grain out of the sciences, and grasp nothing
but the chaff — whence this kind of method produces empty
compendiums, and loses the solid substance of the sciences.1
Let the first difference of method be, therefore, between
the doctrinal and initiative. By this we do not mean that
the initiative method should treat only of the entrance into

1 The design of Ramus, whose method of Dichotomies is here censured, was
to reduce all divisions and subdivisions to two members, with a view to obtain
a basis for the construction of dilemmas and disjunctive syllogisms. We are
never certain that these species of reasoning are legitimate, except when the
divisions out of which they rise are exact; and the only test of this accuracy
is to be sought in a dichotomous contradictory division, where the supposition
of one member necessarily leads to the exclusion of the other. This method of
exhausting a subject by an analytic exhaustion of its parts, which he mainly
derived from Plato, has its proper sphere in logic; and though condemned in
the text, was employed by Bacon in many of his prerogative instances. The
error of Ramus consisted in taking only a part for the whole of logic, and ap
plying what is strictly applicable to subjects of a peculiar nature, to the whole
range of inference. It is evident, however, that the dichotomous process can
only be employed in the investigation of subjects which admit of a twofold con
tradictory division, and that where the primitive elements are composed of four
or five distinct members, the method is totally inapplicable. Its use, therefore,
ought to be attended with the greatest caution, as the Ramist can hardly be
certain that the twofold division, in many cases, is not more apparent than real,
and that a further analysis would not necessitate a multiform classilication.
For want of this foresight, Ramus, with all his subtilty, falls into inconceivable
errors, and a great many of Bacon's exemplifications of his method in the cru
cial instance are direct paralogisms. Milton framed a logic on the model of
Ranms's method, seduced rather by the bold antagonism of the latter against
Aristotle, than by its philosophic justness. Both the original and the copy are
now forgotten, and Ramus is committed to the judgment of posterity rather on
his absurdities than his merits. See Hooker, i. 6, with Keble's note. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 261

the sciences, and the other their entire doctrine; but borrow
ing the word from religion, we call that method initiative
which opens and reveals the mysteries of the sciences; so
that as the doctrinal method teaches, the initiative method
should intimate, the doctrinal method requiring a belief of
what is delivered, but the initiative rather that it should
be examined. The one deals out the sciences to vulgar
learners, the other as to the children of wisdom — the one
having for its end the use of the sciences as they now stand,
and the other their progress and further advancement. But
this latter method seems deserted; for the sciences have
hitherto been delivered as if both the teacher and the learner
desired to receive errors by consent — the teacher pursuing
that method which procures the greatest belief to his doc
trine, not that which most commodiously submits it to
examination, while the learner desires present satisfaction
without waiting for a just inquiry, as if more concerned not
to doubt than not to mistake. Hence the master, through
desire of glory, never exposes the weakness of his own
science, and the scholar, through his aversion to labor, tries
not his own strength; whereas knowledge, which is deliv
ered to others as a web to be further wove, should if pos
sible be introduced into the mind of another in the manner
it was first procured; and this may be done in knowledge
acquired by induction; but for that anticipated and hasty
knowledge we have at present it is not easy for the possessor
to say by what road he came at it. Yet in a greater or less
degree any one might review his knowledge, trace back the
steps of his own thoughts, consent afresh, and thus trans
plant his knowledge into the mind of another as it grew up
in his own. For it is in arts as in trees — if a tree were to
be used, no matter for the root, but if it were to be trans
planted, it is a surer way to take the root than the slips.
So the transplantation now practiced of the sciences makes
a great show, as it were, of branches, that without the roots
may be fit indeed for the builder, but not for the planter.
He who would promote the growth of the sciences should

262 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

be less solicitous about the trunk or body of them, and bend
his care to preserve the roots, and draw them out with some
little earth about them. Of this kind of transplantation
there is some resemblance in the method of mathemati
cians;2 but in general we do not see that it is either used
or inquired after; we therefore place it among the deficien
cies, under the name of the traditive lamp, or a method for
posterity.3

There is another difference of method, bearing some re
lation to the former intention, though in reality almost op
posite to it; both of them have this in common, that they
separate the vulgar audience from the select; but herein
they are opposite, that the former introduces a more open
and the other a more secret way of instruction than the
common; hence let them be distinguished, by terming
the former plain or open, and the latter the learned or
concealed method, thus transferring to the manner of de
livery the difference made use of by the ancients, especially
in publishing their books. This concealed or enigmatical
method was itself also employed by the ancients with pru
dence and judgment, but is of late dishonored by many,
who use it as a false light to set off their counterfeit wares.
The design of it seems to have been, by the veil of tradi
tion, to keep the vulgar from the secrets of sciences, and to
admit only such as had, by the help of a master, attained
to the interpretation of dark sayings, or were able, by the
strength of their own genius, to enter within the veil.

The next difference of method is of great moment with
regard to the sciences, as these are delivered either in the
way of aphorism or methodically. It highly deserves to be

2 To this purpose see Wolfius' "Brevis Commentatio de Methodo Mathemat-
ica," prefixed to his "Elementa Matheseos Universae"; as also his "Logics and
Metaphysics." — Shaiu.

3 Perhaps M. Tschimhaus's "Medicina Mentis, sive Tentamen genuine
Logicae, in qua disseritur de Methodo detegendi incognitas Veritates," may
pave the way for supplying this desideratum; proceeding as it docs upon a
mathematical and algebraical foundation, to raise a method of discovering
unknown truths. — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 263

noted, that the general custom is, for men to raise as it were
a formal and solemn art from a few axioms and observations
upon any subject, swelling it out with their own witty in
ventions, illustrating it by examples, and binding the whole
up into method. But that other way of delivery by aphor
isms has numerous advantages over the methodical. And
first, it gives us a proof of the author's abilities, and shows
whether he has entered deep into his subject or not.
Aphorisms are ridiculous things, unless wrought from the
central parts of the sciences; and here all illustration, ex
cursion, variety of examples, deduction, connection, and
particular description, is cut off, so that nothing besides
an ample stock of observations is left for the matter of
aphorisms. And, therefore, no person is equal to the form
ing of aphorisms, nor would ever think of them, if he did
not find himself copiously and solidly instructed for writing
upon a subject. But in methods so great a power have
order, connection, and choice —

"Tantum series juncturaque pollet;

Tantum de medio sumptis accedit honoris" — 4

that methodical productions sometimes make a show of I
know not what specious art, which, if they were taken
to pieces, separated, and undressed, would fall back again
almost to nothing. Secondly, a methodical delivery has the
power of enforcing belief and consent, but directs not much
to practical indications, as carrying with it a kind of demon
stration in circle, where the parts mutually enlighten each
other, and so gratifies the imagination the more; but as
actions lie scattered in common life, scattered instructions
suit them the best. Lastly, as aphorisms exhibit only cer
tain scraps ,and fragments of the sciences, they carry with
them an invitation to others for adding and lending their
assistance, whereas methods dress up the sciences into
bodies, and make men imagine they have them complete.
There is a further difference of method, and that too

4 Hor. Art. Poet. 242.

264 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

very considerable; for as the sciences are delivered either
by assertions with their proofs, or by questions with their
answers, if the latter method be pursued too far, it retards
the advancement of the sciences no less than it would the
march of an army, to be sitting down against every little
fort in the way; whereas, if the better of the battle be
gained, and the fortune of the war steadily pursued, such
lesser places will surrender of themselves, though it must
be allowed unsafe to leave any large and fortified place at
the back of the army. In the same manner confutations are
to be avoided or sparingly used in delivering the sciences,
so as only to conquer the greater prejudices and prepos
sessions of the mind, without provoking and engaging the
lesser doubts and scruples.

Another difference of method lies in suiting it to the
subject; for mathematics,*the most abstract and simple of
the sciences, is delivered one way, and politics, the more
compound and perplexed, another. For a uniform method
cannot be commodiously observed in a variety of matter.
And as we approve of particular topics for invention, so
we must in some measure allow of particular methods of
delivery.

There is another difference of method to be used with
judgment in delivering the sciences, and this is governed
by the informations and anticipations of the science to be
delivered that are before infused and impressed upon the
mind of the learner. For that science which comes as an
entire stranger to the mind is to be delivered one way, and
that which is familiarized by opinions already imbibed
and received another. And therefore, Aristotle, when he
thought to chastise, really commended Democritus, in say
ing, "If we would dispute in earnest, and not hunt after
comparisons," etc.; as if he would tax Democritus with
being too full of comparisons; whereas they whose instruc
tions are already grounded in popular opinion have nothing
left them but to dispute and prove, while others have a
double task whose doctrines transcend the vulgar opinions;

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 260

viz., first to render what they deliver intelligible, and then
to prove it; whence they must of necessity have recourse to
simile and metaphor, the better to enter the human capac
ity.6 Hence we find in the more ignorant ages, when learn
ing was in its infancy, and those conceptions which are now
trite and vulgar were new and unheard of, everything was
full of parables and similitudes, otherwise the things then
proposed would either have been passed over without due
notice and attention, or else have been rejected as para
doxes. For it is a rule in the doctrine of delivery, that
every science which comports not with anticipations and
prejudices must seek the assistance of similies and allu
sions. And thus much for the different kinds of methods,
which have not hitherto been observed; but for the others,
as the analytic, systatic, diaeretic, cryptic, homeric, etc.,
they are already justly discovered and ranged.

Method has two parts, one regarding the disposition of
a whole work or the subject of a book, and the other the
limitation of propositions. For architecture not only re
gards the fabric of the whole building, but also the figure
of the columns, arches, etc. ; for method is as it were the
architecture of the sciences. And herein Ramus has de
served better, by reviving the ancient rules of method,6
than by obtruding his own dichotomies. But I know not
by what fatality it happens that, as the poets often feign,
the most precious things have the most pernicious keepers.
Doubtless the endeavors of Ramus about the reduction of
propositions threw him upon his epitomes, and the flats
and shallows of the sciences : for it must be a fortunate and
well-directed genius that shall attempt to make the axioms
of the sciences convertible, and not at the same time render
them circular, that is, keep them from returning into them-

5 The reader will bear in mind that this was the situation of the author in
his time, and on that account dispense with his figurative style, though it may
not be altogether so necessary at present, when we are accustomed to the freest
range of philosophical inquiry. — Ed.

6 KafloA.of fl-pwTov, KOTO. PCWTOS, Ka0' aurb, *.T.\.: relation to the first principle, re
lation to all, and relation to one's self.

SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —12

266 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

selves/ And yet the attempt of Eamus in this way has not
been useless.

There are still two other limitations of propositions, be
sides that for making them convertible — the one for extend
ing and the other for producing them. For if it be just that
the sciences have two other dimensions, besides depth, viz.,
length and breadth, their depth bearing relation to their
truth and reality, as these are what constitute their solidity;
their breadth may be computed from one science to another,
and their length from the highest degree to the lowest in
the same science — the one comprehends the ends and true
boundaries of the sciences, whence propositions may be
treated distinctly, and not promiscuously, and all repeti
tion, excursion, and confusion avoided; the other prescribes
a rule how far and to what particular degree the propositions
of the sciences are to be reduced. But no doubt something
must here be left to practice and experience; for men ought
to avoid the extreme of Antoninus Pius, and not mince
cumin-seed in the sciences, nor multiply divisions to the
utmost. And it is here well worth the inquiry, how far
we should check ourselves in this respect; for we see that
too extensive generals, unless they be reduced, afford little
information, but rather expose the sciences to the ridicule
of practical men, as being no more fitted for practice than
a general map of the world to show the road from London

7 The axioms in the text must not be understood as applying to the mathe
matical sciences, which being, as Condillac observes, purely ideal, exact in their
conversion nothing more than a detailed exposition of the properties we have
already included in their definition ; but of the objective sciences, where, since
our knowledge of the subject is generally so imperfect as to render any direct
definition uncertain, we are obliged to involve ourselves in a chain of reasoning
to prove that the interchangeable attribute can be affirmed of the subject in its
whole extent, and that both possess no qualities which are not convertible with
each other. In establishing this reciprocal accordance of parts, it frequently
happens that, having to connect a series of propositions in a chain of mutual
dependence on each other, the first being proved by the second and the second
by the third, etc., we arrive at and rest the whole proof upon a conclusion
which is nothing else than the enunciation of the very proposition which we
are laboring lo establish, instead of grounding the argument upon some univer
sally admitted principle or well-ascertained fact. This fallacy logicians term
a vicious circle, and is the error to which Bacon alludes in the text. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 267

to York. The best rules may well be compared to a metal
line speculum, which represents the images of things, but
not before it is polished; for so rules and precepts are useful
after having undergone the file of experience. But if these
rules could be made exact and clear from the first, it were
better, because they would then stand in less need of ex
perience.

We must not omit that some men, rather ostentatious
than learned, have labored about a certain method not de
serving the name of a true method, as being rather a kind
of imposture, which may nevertheless be acceptable to some
busy minds. This art so scatters the drops of the sciences,
that any pretender may misapply it for ostentation, with
some appearance of learning. Such was the art of Lully,
and such the typocosmia cultivated by some; for these are
only a collection of terms of art heaped together, to the end
that those who have them in readiness may seem to under
stand the arts whereto the terms belong. Collections of
this kind are like a piece-broker's shop, where there are
many slips, but nothing of great value. And thus much
for the science which we call traditive prudence.8

8 Concio, who preceded Bacon, anticipates, in his treatise "De Methodo,"
many of the fundamental principles of the inductive logicians, and discriminates
many branches of analysis, which they confound. Descartes, in his book on
the same subject, has endeavored to reduce the whole business of method to
four rules, which, however, are found in the precepts of Aristotle. Johan.
Beyer undertook to write upon this subject, in his "Filum Labyrinthi," accord
ing to the design of Bacon, but appears not to have understood the author, and
has rather obscured his doctrine than improved it. M. Tschirnhaus, however,
has treated the subject more suitably to its merit, in his "Medicina Mentis,"
mentioned above, in the note to § 2. A great variety of methods have been
advanced by different authors, an ample catalogue of whom may be found in
Morhof's "Polyhist." torn. L lib. ii. cap. 7," "De Methodis Variis."— Ed.

268 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

CHAPTER III

The Grounds and Functions of Rhetoric. Three Appendices which belong
only to the Preparatory Part, viz. , the Colors of Good and Evil, both
simple and composed; the Antithesis of Things (the pro and con of
General Questions) ; the Minor Forms of Speech (the Elaboration
of Exordiums, Perorations, and Leading Arguments)

WE NEXT proceed to the doctrine of ornament in
speech, called by the name of rhetoric or oratory.
This in itself is certainly an excellent science,
and has been laudably cultivated by writers. But to form
a just estimate, eloquence is certainly inferior to wisdom.
The great difference between them appears in the words of
God to Moses upon his refusing, for want of elocution, the
charge assigned him: "Aaron shall be thy speaker, and thou
shalt be to him as God." ' But for advantage and popular
esteem, wisdom gives place to eloquence. "The wise in
heart shall be called prudent, but the sweet of tongue shall
find greater things," says Solomon:2 clearly intimating that
wisdom procures a name and admiration, but that eloquence
is of greater efficacy in business and civil life. And for the
cultivation of this art, the emulation between Aristotle and
the rhetoricians of his time, the earnest study of Cicero,
his long practice and utmost endeavor every way to dignify
oratory, has made these authors even exceed themselves in
their books upon the subject. Again, the great examples
of eloquence found in the orations of Demosthenes and
Cicero, added to the perfection and exactness of their pre
cepts, have doubled its advancement. And therefore the
deficiencies we find in it rather turn upon certain collections
belonging to its train, than upon the doctrine and use of the
art itself.

1 Exodus iv. 14, 15, 16. 3 Prov. i. 21.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 269

But in our manner to open and stir the earth a little
about the roots of this science, certainly rhetoric is subser
vient to the imagination, as logic is to the understanding.
And if the thing be well considered, the office and use
of this art is but to apply and recommend the dictates of
reason to the imagination, in order to excite the affections
and will. For the administration of reason is disturbed
three ways; viz., 1, either by the insnaring of sophistry,
which belongs to logic; 2, the delusion of words, which
belongs to rhetoric ; or 3, by the violence of the affections,
which belongs to ethics. For as in transacting business
with others, men are commonly overreached, or drawn
from their own purposes either by cunning, importunity,
or vehemence; so in the inward business we transact with
ourselves, we are either, 1, undermined by the fallacy of
arguments; 2, disquieted and solicited by the assiduity
of impressions and observations; or 3, shaken and carried
away by the violence of the passions. Nor is the state of
human nature so unequal, that these arts and faculties
should have power to disturb the reason, and none to con
firm and strengthen it; for they do this in a much greater
degree. The end of logic is to teach the form of arguments
for defending, and not for insnaring, the understanding.
The end of ethics is so to compose the affections, that they
may co-operate with reason, and not insult it. And lastly,
the end of rhetoric is to fill the imagination with such
observations and images as may assist reason, and not
overthrow it. For the abuses of an art come in obliquely
only, and not for practice, but caution. It was therefore
great injustice in Plato, though it proceeded from a just
contempt of the rhetoricians of his time, to place rhetoric
among the voluptuary arts,3 and resemble it to cookery,
which corrupted wholesome meats, and, by variety of sauces,
made unwholesome ones more palatable. For speech is,
doubtless, more employed to adorn virtue than to color

8 As it was in Bacon to place painting and music in the sanr3 -a^^

270 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

vice. This faculty is always ready, for every man speaks
more virtuously than he either thinks or acts. And it is
excellently observed by Thucydides, that something of this
kind was usually objected to Cleon;4 who, as he always
defended the worst side of a cause, was ever inveighing
against eloquence and the grace of speech, well knowing
that no man could speak gracefully upon a base subject,
though every man easily might upon an honorable one: for
Plato elegantly observed, though the expression is now
grown trite, that if virtue could be beheld, she would have
great admirers.6 But rhetoric, by plainly painting virtue
and goodness, renders them, as it were, conspicuous; for as
they cannot be seen by the corporeal eye, the next degree
is to have them set before us as lively as possible by the
ornament of words and the strength of imagination. The
Stoics, therefore, were deservedly ridiculed by Cicero for
endeavoring to inculcate virtue upon the mind by short
and subtile sentences, and conclusions,8 which have little
or no relation to the imagination and the will.

Again, if the affections were orderly and obedient to
reason/ there would be no great use of persuasion and in
sinuation to gain access to the mind; it would then be
sufficient that things themselves were nakedly and simply
proposed and proved; but, on the contrary, the affections
revolt so often, and raise such disturbances and seditions —

" Video meliora, proboque;

Deteriora sequor" 7 —

that reason would perfectly be led captive, did not the per
suasion of eloquence win over the imagination from the side
of the passions, and promote an alliance between it and
reason against the affections. For we must observe that
the affections themselves always aim at an apparent good,
and in this respect have something common with reason.
But here lies the difference, that the affections principally

4 "R. iii. 42. 5 Phedias.

1 Exou8' Tusc- I)i8p* "' 18' 42> ' Ovid' Metam- *"• 20-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 271

regard a present good, while reason, seeing far before it,
chooses also the future and capital good. And therefore,
as present things strike the imagination strongest, reason
is generally subdued; but when eloquence and the power of
persuasion raise up remote and future objects, and set them
to view as if they were present; then imagination goes over
to the side of reason, and renders it victorious.

Hence we conclude, that rhetoric can no more be accused
of coloring the worst part, than logic of teaching sophistry.
For we know that the doctrines of contraries are the same,
though their use be opposite; and logic does not only differ
from rhetoric, according to the vulgar notion, as the first is
like the hand clenched, and the other like the hand open;
but much more in this, that logic considers reason in its
natural state, and rhetoric as it stands in vulgar opinion;
whence Aristotle prudently places rhetoric between logic
and ethics, along with politics, as partaking of them both.
For the proofs and demonstrations of logic are common to
all mankind, but the proof and persuasion of rhetoric must
be varied according to the audience, like a musician suiting
himself to different ears.

"Orpheus in sylvis, inter Delphinas Arion." 8

And this application and variation of speech should, if we
desire its perfection, extend so far, that if the same things
were to be delivered to different persons, yet a different set
of words should be used to each.9 Though it is certain that
the greatest orators, generally, have not this political and
sociable eloquence in private discourse; for while they en
deavor at ornament and elegant forms of speech, they fall
not upon that ready application and familiar style of dis
course which they might with more advantage use to partic
ulars. And it were certainly proper to begin a new inquiry

8 Virg. Eel. viii. 5G.

8 For one of the most perfect exemplifications of this rule, see Lord
Brougham's discourse to the Glasgow University and to the Manchester llS °
chanics' Institution. — Ed.

272 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

into this subject; we therefore place it among the deficien
cies under the title of prudential conversation,10 which the
more attentively a man considers, the higher value he will
set upon it; but whether this be placed under rhetoric or
politics is of no great significance.

We have already observed that the desiderata in this
art are rather appendages than parts of the art itself; and
all of them belong to the repository thereof, for the furnish
ing of speech and invention. To proceed in this view; first,
we find no writer that hath carefully followed the prudent
example of Aristotle, who began to collect popular marks
or colors of apparent good and evil, as well simple as com
parative.11 These, in reality, are but rhetorical sophisms,
though of excellent use, especially in business and private
discourse. But the labor of Aristotle about these colors has
three defects; for 1, though they are numerous, he recites
but few; 2, he has not annexed their redargutions; and 3T
he seems not to have understood their full use: for they
serve as well to affect and move as to demonstrate. There
are many forms of speech which, though significative of the
same things, yet affect men differently; as a sharp instru
ment penetrates more than a blunt one, supposing both of
them urged with equal force. There is nobody but would
be more affected by hearing this expression, How your
enemies will triumph upon this:

"Hoc Ithacus velit, et rnagno mercentur Atridse," 12

than if it were simply said, This will injure your affairs:
therefore these stings and goads of speech are not to be
neglected. And since we propose this as a desideratum,
we will, after our manner, give a sketch of it, in the way
of examples; for precepts will not so well illustrate the

10 The foundations for this are, in some measure, laid by the learned Morhof
in the sketch of his "Homiletice Erudita." See "Polyhistor," torn. i. lib. i. cap.
25. See also Jo. Andr. Bosii "De Prudentia et Eloquentia Civili comparanda, "
ed. Jense, 1698; and "Prudentia Consultatoria in Usum Auditorii Thomasiani,"

Halas Magdeburg, 1721.— Ed.

3-8. 12 JEneid, ii. 104.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 273

thing. In deliberatives, we inquire what is good, what
evil; and of good, which is the greater, and of evil, which
the less. Whence the persuader's task is to make things
appear good or evil, and that in a higher or lower degree;
which may be performed by true and solid reasons, or rep
resented by colors, popular glosses, and circumstances of
such force as to sway an ordinary judgment; or even a wise
man that does not fully and considerately attend to the sub
ject. But besides this power to alter the nature of the
subject in appearance, and so lead to error, they are of use
to quicken and strengthen such opinions and persuasions
as are true; for reasons nakedly delivered, and always after
one manner, enter but heavily, especially with delicate
minds; whereas, when varied and enlivened by proper
forms and insinuations, they cause a stronger apprehen
sion, and often suddenly win the mind to a resolution.
Lastly, to make a true and safe judgment, nothing can be
of greater use and preservation to the mind than the dis
covery and reprehension of these colors, showing in what
cases they hold and in what not; which cannot be done
without a comprehensive knowledge of things; but when
performed it clears the judgment, and makes it less apt to
slip into error.13

SOPHISM I. — What men praise and celebrate, is good; what they dispraise
and censure, evil

This sophism deceives four ways; viz., either through
ignorance, deceit, party, or the natural disposition of the
praiser or dispraiser. 1. Through ignorance; for what sig
nifies the judgment of the rabble in distinguishing good
and evil ? Phocion took it right, who, being applauded by

13 This paragraph is taken from the fragment of the Colors of Good and
Evil, usually printed as an appendix to the author's essays. That fragment
was reconsidered, better digested, and finished by the author, in order to fit it
for tiiis place, in the De Augmentis Scientiarum; to which himself assigned
it in the Latin edition. The reason of its being called a fragment was, that the
author had made a large collection of such kind of sophisms in his youth ; but
could only find time, in his riper years, to add the fallacies and confutations of
the following twelve. — Shaw.

274 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

the multitude, asked, What he had done amiss ? u 2.
Through deceit; for those who praise or dispraise com
monly have their own views in it, and speak not their real
sentiments.

"Laudat venales, qui vult extrudere, merces." 15

"It is faulty, it is faulty, says the buyer; but when he is
gone, he congratulates himself upon the bargain." 16 3.
Through party; for men immoderately extol those of their
own and depress those of the opposite party. 4. Through
disposition or temper; for some men are naturally formed
servile and fawning, and others captious and morose; so
that when such persons praise or~ dispraise, they do but
gratify their humor, without much regard to truth.

II. — What is commended, even by an enemy, is a great good; but what is
censured, even by a friend, a great evil

The fallacy seems to lie here, that it is easily believed
the force of truth extorts from us what we speak against
our inclination.

This color deceives through the subtilty both of friends
and enemies. For praises of enemies are not always against
their will, nor forced from them by truth; but they choose
to bestow them where they may create envy or danger to
their adversary. Hence the foolish conceit was current
among the Greeks, that he who was praised by another
with malicious intent, never failed to have his nose dis
figured with a pustule. Again this color deceives, because
enemies sometimes use praises like prefaces, that they may
the more freely calumniate afterward. On the other side,
it deceives by the craft of friends, who also sometimes ac
knowledge our faults, and speak of them not as compelled
thereto by any force of truth, but touch only such as may
do little hurt, and make us, in everything else, the best
men in the world. And lastly, it deceives, because friends
also use their reproofs, as enemies do their commendations,

14 Plutarch. 15 Hor. Epist. ii. 11. 16 Prov. xx.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 275

by way of preface, that they may afterward launch out more
fully in our praises.

III. —To be deprived of a good, is an evil; and to be deprived of an evil, a good

This color deceives two ways; viz., either by the com
parison of good and evil, or by the succession of good to
good, or evil to evil. 1. By comparison: thus if it were
good for mankind to be deprived of acorns, it follows not
that such food was bad, but that acorns were good, though
bread be better. Nor, if it were an evil for the people of
Sicily to be deprived of Dionysius the Elder, does it follow
that the same Dionysius was a good prince, but that he was
less evil than Dionysius the Younger. 2. By succession:
for the privation of a good does not always give place to
an evil, but sometimes to a greater good — as when the blos
som falls, the fruit succeeds. Nor does the privation of an
evil always give place to a good, but sometimes to a greater
evil; for Milo, by the death of his enemy Clodius, lost a
fair harvest of glory.

IV. — What approaches to good, is good; and what recedes from good, is evil

It is almost universal, that things agreeing in nature
agree also in place, and that things disagreeing in nature
differ as widely in situation; for all things have an appetite
of associating with what is agreeable, and of repelling what
is disagreeable to them.

This color deceives three ways; viz., by depriving, ob
scuring and protecting, 1. By depriving: for the largest
things, and most excellent in their kind, attract all they
can to themselves, and leave what is next them destitute;
thus the underwood growing near a large tree is the poorest
wood of the field, because the tree deprives it of sap and
nourishment — whence it was well said, that the servants of
the rich are the greatest slaves;17 and it was witty of him
who compared the inferior attendants in the courts of princes
to the vigils of feast days, which, though nearest to feast

17 Divitis servi maxime servi.

276 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

days, are themselves but meagre. 2. By obscuring: for it
is also the nature of excellent things in their kind, though
they do not impoverish the substance of what lies near them,
yet to overshadow and obscure it; whence the astrologers
say, that though in all the planets conjunction is the most
perfect amity, yet the sun, though good in aspect, is evil
in conjunction. 3. By protecting: for things come together,
not only from a similitude of nature, but even what is evil
flies to that which is good (especially in civil society) for
concealment and protection. Thus hypocrisy draws near to
religion for shelter:

"Ssepe latet vitium proximitate boni." 18

So sanctuary men, who were commonly malefactors, used to
be nearest the priests and prelates; for the majesty of good
things is such, that the confines of them are reverend. On
the other side, good draws near to evil, not for society, but
for conversation and reformation; and hence physicians visit
the sick more than the sound, and hence it was objected to
our Saviour, that he conversed with publicans and sinners."

Y. — As all parties challenge the first place, that to which the rest unanimously

give trie second seems the best; each taking the first place out of affection

to itself, but giving the second where it is really due

Thus Cicero attempted to prove the Academics to be the
best sect; for, saith he, "Ask a Stoic which philosophy is
best, and he will prefer his own; then ask him which is the
next best, and he will confess, the Academics. Ask an
Epicurean the same question, who can scarce endure the
Stoic, and as soon as he hath placed his own sect, he places
the Academics next him.'7 ao So if a prince separately ex
amined several competitors for a place, perhaps the ablest
and most deserving man would have most second voices-

This color deceives in respect of envy; for men are
accustomed, next after themselves and their own faction,
to prefer those that are softest and most pliable, with intent

18 Ovid, Ars Amandi, ii. 662. 19 Matt. tx.

20 Academ. Frag. By Yarro.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 277

to exclude such as would obstruct their measures; whence
this color of meliority and pre-eminence becomes a sign
of enervation and weakness.

VI. — That is absolutely best the excellence whereof is greatest

This color has these forms — let us not wander in generals,
let us compare particular with particular, etc., and though
it seem strong, and rather logical than rhetorical, yet it is
sometimes a fallacy: — 1. Because many things are exposed
to great danger, but if they escape, prove more excellent
than others; whence their kind is inferior, as being subject
to accident and miscarriage, though more noble in the indi
vidual. Thus, to instance, in the blossoms of March, one
whereof, according to the French proverb, is, if it escape
accidents, worth ten blossoms of May; so that though in
general the blossoms of May excel the blossoms of March,
yet in individuals the best blossoms of March may be pre
ferred to the best of May. 2. Because the nature of things
in some kinds or species is more equal, and in others more
unequal. Thus warm climates generally produce people of
a sharper genius than cold ones; yet the extraordinary
geniuses of cold countries usually excel the extraordinary
geniuses of the warmer. So in the case of armies, if the
cause were tried by single combat, the victory might often
go on the one side, but if by a pitched battle, on the other;
for excellences and superiorities are rather accidental things,
while kinds are governed by nature or discipline. 3. Lastly,
many kinds have much refuse, which countervails what they
have of excellent; and, therefore, though metal be generally
more precious than stone, yet a diamond is more precious
than gold.

VII. — What keeps a matter safe and entire, is good ; but what leaves no retreat,
is bad: for inability to retire is a kind of impotence, but power is a good

Thus ^Esop feigned that two frogs consulting together
in a time of drought what was to be done, the one proposed
going down into a deep well, because probably the water
would not fail there, but the other answered, "If it should

278 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

fail there, too, how shall we get up again?" And the foun
dation of the color lies here, that human actions are so un
certain and exposed to danger, that the best condition seems
to be that which has most outlets. And this persuasion
turns upon such forms as these — You shall engage yourself;
You shall not be your own carver; You shall keep the mat
ter in your hands, etc.21

The fallacy of the sophism lies here: — 1. Because fortune
presses so close upon human affairs, that some resolution is
necessary; for not to resolve is to resolve, so that irresolu
tion frequently entangles us in necessities more than resolv
ing. And this seems to be a disease of the mind, like to
that of covetousness, only transferred from the desire of
possessing riches to the desire of free will and power; for
as the covetous man enjoys no part of his possessions, for
fear of lessening them, so the unresolved man executes noth
ing, that he may not abridge his freedom and power of act
ing. 2. Because necessity and the fortune of the throw adds
a spur to the mind; whence that saying, "In other respects
equal, but in necessity superior." aa

VIII. — That evil we bring upon ourselves, is greater; and that proceeding from

without us, less

Because remorse of conscience doubles adversity, as a
consciousness of one's own innocence is a great support
in affliction — whence the poets exaggerate those sufferings
most, and paint them leading to despair, wherein the person
accuses and tortures himself.

"Seque imam clamat causamque, capntque malorum. " 23

On the other side, persons lessen and almost annihilate their
misfortunes, by reflecting upon their own innocence and
merit. Besides, when the evil comes from without, it leaves

21 Sertorius having so far obstructed Pompey as to burn one of the towns of
his allies in his sight, without experiencing from him the slightest opposition,
added, with scorn, "I will teach this young scholar of Sylla, that it is more
necessary for a general to look behind than before him" — a piece of advice,
we need hardly say, since the whole of life id a combat, as applicable to civil
as to military warfare. — Ed.

92 Livy, iv. 28. 23 JBneid, xii. 600.

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a man to the full liberty of complaint, whereby he spends
his grief and eases his heart; for we conceive indignation
at human injuries, and either meditate revenge ourselves, or
implore and expect it from the Divine vengeance. Or if the
injury came from fortune itself, yet this leaves us to an
expostulation with the Divine Powers —

"Atque Decs, atque astra, vocat crudelia mater." 24

But if the evil be derived from ourselves, the stings of grief
strike inward, and stab and wound the mind the deeper.

This color deceives — 1. By hope, which is the greatest
antidote to evils; for it is commonly in our power to amend
our faults, but not our fortunes; whence Demosthenes said
frequently to the Athenians, "What is worst for the past is
best for the future, since it happens by neglect and miscon
duct that your affairs are come to this low ebb. Had you,
indeed, acted your parts to the best, and yet matters should
thus have gone backward, there would be no hopes of
amendment; but as it has happened principally through
your own errors, if these are corrected, all may be re
covered.1' 25 So Epictetus, speaking of the degrees of the
mind's tranquillity, assigns the lowest place to such as ac
cuse others, a higher to those who accuse themselves, but
the highest to those who neither accuse themselves nor oth
ers. 2. By pride, which so cleaves to the mind that it will
scarce suffer men to acknowledge their errors; and to avoid
any such acknowledgment they are extremely patient under
those misfortunes which they bring upon themselves; for as,
when a fault is committed, and before it be known who did
it, a great stir and commotion is made; but if at length it
appears to be done by a son or a wife, the bustle is at an
end. And thus it happens when one must take a fault to
one's self. And hence we frequently see that women, when
they do anything against their friends' consent, whatever
misfortune follows, they seldom complain, but set a good
face on it.

24 Virg. Eel. v. 23. 25 Philip, i.

280 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

IX.— The degree of privation seems greater than that of diminution, and the
degree of inception greater than that of increase

It is a position in mathematics, that there is no propor
tion between something and nothing, and therefore the de
grees of nullity and quiddity seem larger than the degrees
of increase and decrease, as it is for a monoculus to lose
an eye than for a man who has two. So if a man has lost
several children, it gives him more grief to lose the last
than all the rest, because this was the hope of his family.
Therefore, the Sibyl, when she had burned two of her three
books, doubled her price upon the third, because the loss
of this would only have been a degree of privation, and
not of diminution.

This color deceives — 1. In things whose use and service
lie in a sufficiency, competency, or determinate quantity:
thus if a man were to pay a large sum upon a penalty,
it might be harder upon him to want twenty shillings for
this than ten pounds for another occasion. So in running
through an estate, the first step toward it — viz., breaking
in upon the stock — is a higher degree of mischief than
the last, viz., spending the last penny. And to this color
belong those common forms — It is too late to pinch at the
bottom of the purse; As good never a whit as never the
better, etc. 2. It deceives from this principle in nature,
that the corruption of one thing is the generation of an
other; whence the ultimate degree of privation itself is often
less felt, as it gives occasion and a spur to some new course.
So when Demosthenes rebuked the people for hearkening to
the dishonorable and unequal conditions of King Philip, he
called those conditions the food of their sloth and indolence,
which they had better be without, because then their indus
try would be excited to procure other remedies. So a blunt
physician whom I knew, when the delicate ladies com
plained to him, they were they could not tell how, yet
could not endure to take physic, he would tell them their
way was to be sick, for then they would be glad to take
anything. 3. Nay, the degree of privation itself, or the

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 281

extremest indigence, may be serviceable, not only to excite
our industry, but to command our patience.

The second part of this sophism stands upon the same
foundation, or the degrees between something and nothing;
whence the commonplace of extolling the beginnings of
everything, Well begun is half done, etc.

"Dimidium facti, qui ccepit, habet. ' 96

And hence the superstition of the astrologers, who judge
the disposition and fortune of a man from the instant of his
nativity or conception.

This color deceives — 1. Because many beginnings are
but imperfect offers and essays, which vanish and come
to nothing without repetition and further advancement; so
that here the second degree seems more worthy and power
ful than the first, as a body- horse in a team draws more
than the fore-horse: whence it is not ill said, The second
word makes the quarrel; for the first might perhaps have
proved harmless if it had not been retorted; therefore the
first gives the occasion indeed, but the second makes recon
ciliation more difficult. 2. This sophism deceives by weari
ness, which makes perseverance of greater dignity than
inception; for chance or nature may give a beginning, but
only settled affection and judgment can give continuance.

3. It deceives in things whose nature and common course
carries them contrary to the first attempt, which is therefore
continually frustrated, and gets no ground unless the force
be redoubled: hence the common forms — Not to go forward
is to go backward — running up hill — rowing against the
stream, etc. But if it be with the stream, or with the hill,
then the degree of inception has by much the advantage.

4. This color not only reaches to the degree of inception
from power to action, compared with the degree from action
to increase, but also to the degree from want of power to
power, compared with the degree from power to action;

8(5 Hor. Epist. 1, ii. 40.

282 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

for the degree from want of power to power seems greater
than that from power to action.

X.— What relates to truth is greater than what relates to opinion; but the
measure and. trial of what relates to opinion is what a man would not do
if he thought he were secret

So the Epicureans pronounce of the stoical felicity placed
in virtue, that it is the felicity of a player, who, left by his
audience, would soon sink in his spirit; whence they in
ridicule call virtue a theatrical good; but it is otherwise
in riches —

"Populus me sibilat; at mihi plaudo," w
and pleasure,

"Grata sub imo

Gaudia corde premens, vultu simulante pudorem," w

which are felt more inwardly.

The fallacy of this color is somewhat subtile, though the
answer to the example be easy, as virtue is not chosen for
the sake of popular fame, and as every one ought princi
pally to reverence himself; so that a virtuous man will be
virtuous in a desert as well as a theatre, though perhaps
virtue is made somewhat more vigorous by praise, as heat
by reflection. But this only denies the supposition, and
does not expose the fallacy. Allowing, then, that virtue,
joined with labor, would not be chosen but for the praise
and fame which usually attend it, yet it is no consequence
that virtue should not be desired principally for its own
sake, since fame may be only an impellent, and not a con
stituent or efficient cause. Thus, if when two horses are
rode without the spur, one of them performs better than
the other, but with the spur the other far exceeds, this will
be judged the better horse: and to say that his mettle lies
in the spur, is not making a true judgment; for since the
spur is a common instrument in horsemanship, and no im
pediment or burden to the horse, he will not be esteemed
the worse horse that wants it, but the going well without
it is rather a point of delicacy than perfection. So glory

27 Hor. i. Sat. i. 66. 28 Ibid.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 283

and honor are the spurs to virtue, which, though it might
languish without them, yet since they are always at hand
unsought, virtue is not less to be chosen for itself, because
it needs the spur of fame and reputation, which clearly
confutes the sophism.

XI. — What is procured by our own virlue and industry is a greater good; and
what by another's, or by the gift of fortune, a less

The reasons are — 1. Future hope, because in the favors
of others, or the gifts of fortune, there is no great certainty;
but our own virtue and abilities are always with us: so that
when they have purchased us one good, we have them as
ready, and by use better edged to procure us another. 2.
Because what we enjoy by the benefit of others carries with
it an obligation to them for it, whereas what is derived from
ourselves comes without clog or encumbrance. Nay, when
the Divine Providence bestows favors upon us, they require
acknowledgments and a kind of retribution to the Supreme
Being; but in the other kind, men rejoice (as the prophet
speaks), and are glad; they offer to their toils, and sacrifice
to their nets.29 3. Because what comes to us unprocured by
our own virtue, yields not that praise and reputation we
affect; for actions of great felicity may produce much
wonder, but no praise: so Cicero said to Caesar, "We have
enough to admire, but want somewhat to praise."30 4.
Because the purchases of our own industry are commonly
joined with labor and struggle, which have not only some
sweetness themselves, but give an edge and relish to enjoy
ment. Venison is sweet to him that kills it.31

There are four opposites or counter-colors to this soph
ism, and may serve as confutations to the four preceding
colors respectively. 1. Because felicity seems to be a work
of the Divine favor, and accordingly begets confidence and
alacrity in ourselves, as well as respect and reverence from
others. And this felicity extends to casual things, which

29 Habac. i. 15, 16.

30 "Quae miremur habemus, quse laudemus expectamus." — Orat. pro Mar-
cellus. 31 Suavis cibus a venatu.

284 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

human virtue can hardly reach. So when Caesar said to the
master of the ship in a storm, "Thou earnest Caesar and his
fortune1'; if he should have said, "Thou earnest Caesar
and his virtue," it had been but a small support against
the danger. 2. Because those things which proceed from
virtue and industry are imitable, and lie open to others;
whereas felicity is inimitable, and the prerogative of a singu
lar person: whence, in general, natural things are preferred
to artificial, because incapable of imitation; for whatever is
imitable seems common, and in every one's power. 3. The
things that proceed from felicity seem free gifts unpurchased
by industry, but those acquired by virtue seem bought:
whence Plutarch said elegantly of the successes of Timoleon
(an extremely fortunate man), compared with those of his
contemporaries Agesilaus and Epaminondas, "that they
were like Homer's verses, and besides their other excel
lences, ran peculiarly smooth and natural." 4. Because
what happens unexpectedly is more acceptable, and enters
the mind with greater pleasure; but this effect cannot be
had in things procured by our own industry.

XII. — What consists of many divisible parts is gr.eater, and more one than what
consists of fewer ; for all things when viewed in their parts seem greater,
whence also a plurality of parts shows bulky ; but a plurality of parts has
the stronger effect, if they lie in no certain order, for thus they resemble
infinity and prevent comprehension

This sophism appears gross at first sight; for it is not
plurality of parts alone, without majority, that makes the
total greater; yet the imagination is often carried away, and
the sense deceived with this color. Thus to the eye the
road upon a naked plain may seem shorter, than where
there are trees, buildings, or other marks, by which to dis
tinguish and divide the distance. So when a moneyed man
divides his chests and bags, he seems to himself richer than
he was; and therefore a way to amplify anything is to break
it into several parts, and examine them separately. And
this makes the greater show, if done without order; for
confusion shows things more numerous than they are.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 285

But matters ranged and set in order appear more confined,
and prove that nothing is omitted; while such as are rep
resented in confusion not only appear more in number, but
leave a suspicion of many more behind.

This color deceives — 1. If the mind entertain too great
an opinion of anything; for then the breaking of it will
destroy that false notion, and show the thing really as it is,
without amplification. Thus if a man be sick or in pain,
the time seems longer without a clock than with one; for
though the irksomeness of pain makes the time seem longer
than it is, yet the measuring it corrects the error, and shows
it shorter than that false opinion had conceived it. And so
in a naked plain, contrary to what was just before observed,
though the way to the eye may seem shorter when undi
vided, yet the frustration of that false expectation will after
ward cause it to appear longer than the truth. Therefore,
if a man design to encourage the false opinion of another as
to the greatness of a thing, let him not divide and split it,
but extol it in the general. This color deceives — 2. If the
matter be so far divided and dispersed as not all to appear
at one view. So flowers growing in separate beds show
more than if they grow in one bed, provided all the beds
are in the same plot, so as to be viewed at once; otherwise
they appear more numerous when brought nearer than when
scattered wider; and hence landed estates that lie contiguous
are usually accounted greater than they are; for if they lie
in different counties, they could not so well fall within
notice. 3. This sophism deceives through the excellence
of unity above multitude; for all composition is an infal
lible sign of deficiency in particulars—

"Et quae non prosunt singula, muHa juvant." 32

For if one would serve the turn, it were best; but defects
and imperfections require to be pieced and helped out. So
Martha, employed about many things, was told that one was
sufficient.33 And upon this foundation JEsop invented the

82 Ovid, Eemedia Amoris, 429. ;« Luke x. 41.

286 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

fable how the fox bragged to the eat what a number of de
vices and stratagems he had to get from the hounds, when
the cat said she had one, and that was to climb a tree, which
in fact was better than all the shifts of reynard; whence the
proverb, "Multa novit vulpes, sed felis unum magnum."8*
And the moral of the fable is this, that it is better to rely
upon an able and trusty friend in difficulty than upon all
the fetches and contrivances of one's own wit.

It were easy to collect a large number of this kind of
sophisms — which we collected in our youth, but without
their illustrations and solutions. These at last we have
found time to digest, and think the performance of con
siderable service — whereto if their fallacies and detections
were annexed, it might be a work of considerable service,
as launching into primary philosophy and politics as well
as rhetoric. And so much for the popular marks or colors
of apparent good and evil, both simple and comparative.

A second collection wanting to the apparatus of rhetoric
is that intimated by Cicero, when he directs a set of com
monplaces, suited to both sides of the question, to be had
in readiness: such are, "pro verbis legis," et "pro sententia
legis." But we extend this precept further, so as to include
not only judicial, but also deliberate and demonstrative
forms. Our meaning is, that all the places of common
use, whether for proof, confutation, persuasion, dissuasion,
praise, or dispraise, should be ready studied, and either
exaggerated or degraded with the utmost effort of genius,
or, as it were, perverse resolution beyond all measure of
truth. And the best way of forming this collection, both
for conciseness and use, we judge to be that of contracting
and winding up these places into certain acute and short
sentences; as into so many clews, which may occasionally
be wound off into larger discourses. And something of this
kind we find done by Seneca;86 but only in the way of sup
positions or cases. The following examples will more fully
illustrate our intention :

34 The fox had many shifts, but the cat a capital one. . M Controversia.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

287

For

BEAUTY36

Against

The deformed endeavor, by malice,
to keep themselves from contempt.

Deformed persons are commonly
revenged of nature.

Virtue is internal beauty, and beauty
external virtue*

Beauty makes virtue shine, and vice
blush.

For BOLDNESS

Virtue, like a diamond, is best plain
set.

As a good dress to a deformed per
son, so is beauty to a vicious man.

Those adorned with beauty, and
those affected by it, are generally
shallow alike.

Against

A bashful suitor shows the way to
deny him.

Boldness in a politician is like action
in an orator — the lirst, second, and
third qualification.

Love the man who confesses his
modesty; but hate him who ac
cuses it.

A confidence in carnage soonest
unites affections.

Give me a reserved countenance
and open conversation.

Boldness is the verger to folly.

Impudence is fit for nothing but
imposture.

Confidence is the fool's empress and
the wise man's buffoon.

Boldness is a kind of dulness joined
with a perverseness.

For

A graceful deportment is the true
ornament of virtue.

If we follow the vulgar in the use
of words, why not in habit and
gesture ?

He who observes not decorum in
smaller matters may be a great man,
but is unwise at times.

Virtue and wisdom, without all
respect and ceremony, are, like for
eign languages, unintelligible to the
vulgar.

He who knows not the sense of the
people, neither by congruity nor ob
servation, is senseless.

Ceremonies are the translation of
virtue into our own language.

CEREMONIES Against

What can be more disagreeable than
in common life to copy the stage ?

Ingenuous behavior procures es
teem, but affectation and cunning,
hatred.

Better a painted face and curled
hair, than a painted and curled be
havior.

He is incapable of great matters,
who breaks his mind with trifling ob
servations.

Affectation is the glossy corruption
of ingenuity.

36 In the original there is a different arrangement. We have followed the
alphabetical order.

288

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

For

Constancy is the
virtue.

He is miserable who has no notion
of what he shall be.

If human judgment cannot be con
stant to things, let it at least be true
to itself.

Even vice is set off by constancy.

Inconstancy of fortune with incon
stancy of mind makes a dark scene.

Fortune, like Proteus, is brought to
herself by persisting.

For CRUELTY

CONSTANCY Against

foundation of Constancy, like a churlish porteress,
turns away many useful informations.
It is just that constancy should en
dure crosses, for it commonly brings
them.

The shortest folly is the best

Againei

No virtue is so often delinquent as
clemency.

Cruelty proceeding from revenge is
justice; if from danger, prudence.

He who shows mercy to his enemy
denies it to himself.

Phlebotomy is as necessary in the
body politic as in the body natural.

He who delights in blood is either
a wild beast or a fury.

To a good man, cruelty Besms a mere
tragical fiction.

For

Fortune sells many things to the
hasty which she gives to the slow.

Hurrying to catch the beginnings
of things is grasping at shadows.

"When things hang wavering, mark
them, and work when they incline.

Commit the beginning of actions to
Argus, with his hundred eyes, the end
to Briareus, with his hundred hands.

DELAY Against

Opportunity offers the handle of the
bottle first, then the belly.

Opportunity, like the Sibyl, dimin
ishes the commodity blit enhances the
price.

Despatch is Pluto's helmet.

Things undertaken speedily are
easily performed.

For

DISSIMULATION

Against

Dissimulation is a short wisdom.

"We are not all to say, though we
all intend, the same thing.

Nakedness, even in the mind, is
uncomely.

Dissimulation is both a grace and
a guard.

Dissimulation is the bulwark of
counsels.

If we cannot think justly, at least
let us speak as we think.

In shallow politicians, dissimulation
goes for wisdom.

The dissembler loses a principal in
strument of action, belief.

Dissimulation invites dissimulation.

The dissembler is a slave.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 289

Some fall a prey to fair dealing.

The open dealer deceives as well as
the dissembler ; for many either do not
understand him or not believe him.

Open dealing is a weakness of mind.

For EMPIRE Against

To enjoy happiness is a great bless- It is a miserable state to have few

ing, but to confer it a greater. things to desire and many to fear.

Kings are more like stars than men, Princes, like the celestial bodies,

for they have a powerful influence. have much veneration but no rest.

To resist God's vicegerents is to war Mortals are admitted to Jupiter's

against heaven. table only for sport.

For ENVY Against

It is natural to hate those who Envy has no holidays,
reproach us. Death alone reconciles envy to

Envy in a state is like a wholesome virtue.

severity. Envy puts virtue to the trial, as

Juno did Hercules.

EVIDENCE AGAINST ARGUMENTS

For Against

To rely upon arguments is the part If evidence were to prevail against

of a pleader, not a judge. arguments, a judge would need no

He who is swayed more by argu- sense but his hearing,

ments than testimony, trusts more to Arguments are an antidote against

wit than sense. the poison of testimonies.

Arguments might be trusted, if men Those proofs are safest believed

committed no absurdities. which seldomest deceive.

Arguments against testimonies make
the case appear strange, but not true.

For FACILITY Against

Give me the man who complies to Facility is want of judgment
another's humor without flattery. The good offices of easy natures seem

The flexible man comes nearest to debts, and their denials, injuries.
the nature of gold. He thanks only himself who prevails

upon an easy man.

All difficulties oppress a yielding
nature, for he is engaged in all.

Easy natures seldom come off with
cred-'»
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —13

290 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

For FLATTERY Against

Flattery proceeds from custom rather Flattery is the style of a slave,
than ill design. Flattery is the varnish of vice.

To convey instruction with praise is Flattery is fowling with a bird-call.
a form due to the great. The deformity of flattery is comedy,

but the injury, tragedy.

To convey good counsel is a hard
task.

For FORTITUDE Against

Nothing is terrible but fear itself. A strange virtue that, to desire to

Pleasure and virtue lose their nature destroy, to secure destruction.

where fear disquiets. A goodly virtue truly, which even

To view danger is looking out to drunkenness can cause.

avoid it. A prodigal of his own life threatens

Other virtues subdue vice, but forti- the lives of others.

tude even conquers fortune. Fortitude is a virtue of the iron age.

For FORTUNE Against

Public virtues procure praise ; but The folly of one man is the fortune

private ones, fortune. of another.

Fortune, like the milky way, is a This may be commended in fortune,

cluster of small, twinkling, nameless that if she makes no election, she

virtues. gives no protection.

Fortune is to be honored and re- The great, to decline envy, worship

spected, though it were but for her fortune.

daughters, Confidence and Authority.

For FRIENDSHIP Against

Friendship does the same as forti- To contract friendship is to procure
tude, but more agreeably. encumbrance.

Friendship gives the relish to hap- It is a weak spirit that divides for-
piness. tune with another.

The worst solitude is to want
friendship.

It is just that the hollow-hearted
should not find friendship.

For HEALTH Against

The care of health subjects the Recovery from sickness is rejuve-

mind to the body. nescency.

A healthy body is the tabernacle, Pretence of sickness is a good ex-

but a sickly one the prison of the cu&e for the healthy.

soul. Health too strongly cements the

A sound constitution forwards busi soul and body.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

291

ness, but a sickly one makes many
holidays.

For HONORS

The couch has governed empires,
and the litter, armies.37

Against

Honors are the suffrages, not of
tyrants, but Divine Providence.

Honors make both virtue and vice
conspicuous.

Honor is the touchstone of virtue.

The motion of virtue is rapid to its
place, but calm in it ; but the place of
virtue is honor.

For

A jest is the orator's altar.

Humor in conversation preserves
freedom.

It is highly politic to pass smoothly
from jest to earnest, and vice versd.

Witty conceits are vehicles to truths
that could not be otherwise agreeably
conveyed.

To seek honor is to lose liberty.

Honors give command where it is
best not to will ; and next, not to be
able.

The steps of honor are hard to climb,
slippery atop, and dangerous to go
down.

Men in great place borrow others'
opinions, to think themselves happy.

Against

Hunters after deformities and com
parisons are despicable creatures.

To divert important business with
a jest is a base trick.

Judge of a jest when the laugh
is over.

Wit commonly plays on the surface
of things, for surface is the seat of
a jest.

For INGRATITUDE

Ingratitude is but perceiving the
cause of a benefit.

The desire of being grateful neither
does justice to others nor leaves one's
self at liberty.

A benefit of an uncertain value
merits the less thanks.

Against

The sin of ingratitude is not made
penal here, but left to the furies.

The obligations for benefits exceed
the obligation of duties; whence in
gratitude is also unjust.

No public fortune can exclude pri
vate favor.

For INNOVATION Against

Every remedy is an innovation. New births are deformed things.

He who will not apply new remedies
must expect new diseases.

Time is the greatest innovator : and
why may we not imitate time ?

Ancient precedents are unsuitable,
and late ones corrupt and degenerate.

Let the ignorant square their actions
by example.

No author is accepted till time has
authorized him.

All novelty is injury, for it defaces
the present state of things.

Things authorized by custom, if not
excellent, are yet comfortable and sort
well together.

What innovator follows the example

As happened in the persons of Charles Y. and the Marechal Be Saxe.

292

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

As they who first derive honor to
their family are commonly more wor
thy than those who succeed them, so
innovations generally excel imitations.

An obstinate adherence to customs
is as turbulent a thing as innovation.

Since things of their own course
change for the worse, if they are not
by prudence altered for the better,
what end can there be of the ill?

The slaves of custom are the sport

of time.

For JUSTICE

of time, which brings about new things
so quietly as to be almost impercepti
ble ?

Things that happen unexpected are
less agreeable to those they benefit
and more afflicting to those they
injure.

Against

Power and policy are but the ap
pendages of justice; for if justice
could be otherwise executed, there
were no need of them.

It is owing to justice that man to
man is a god, not a wolf.

Though justice cannot extirpate
vice, it keeps it under.

If justice consist in doing to an
other what we would have done to
ourselves, then mercy is justice.

If every one must receive his due,
then surely mortals must receive
pardon.

The common justice of a nation,
like a philosopher at court, renders
rulers awful.

KNOWLEDGE AND CONTEMPLATION

For Against

A contemplative life is but a spe
cious laziness.

To think well is little better than
to dream well.

Divine Providence regards the
world, but man regards only his
country.

A political man sows even his
thoughts.

That pleasure only is according to
nature, which never cloys.

The sweetest prospect is that below,
into the errors of others.

It is best to have the orbits of the
mind concentric with those of the uni
verse.

All depraved affections are false
valuations, but goodness and truth
are ever the same.

For LAW

It is not expounding, but divining,
to recede from the letter of the law.

To leave the letter of the law makes
the judge a legislator.

For LEARNING

Against

Generals are to be construed so as
to explain particulars.

The worst tyranny is law upon the
rack.

Against

To write books upon minute particu
lars were to render experience almost
useless.

Beading is conversing with the wise.

Men in universities are taught to
believe.

What art ever taught the seasonable
use of art ?

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

293

but acting is generally conversing with
fools.

Sciences of little significance in
themselves may sharpen the wit and
marshal the thoughts.

To be wise by precept and wise by
experience are contrary habits, the one
sorts not with the other.

A vain use is made of art, lest it
should otherwise be unemployed.

It is the way of scholars to show-
all they know and oppose further
information.

For LIFE

It is absurd to love the accidents

of life above life itself.

A long course is better than a short

one, even for virtue.

Without a compass of life, we can

neither learn, nor repent, nor perfect.

Against

The philosophers, by their great
preparation for death, have only ren
dered death more terrible.

Men fear death through ignorance,
as children fear the dark.

There is no passion so weak but,
if a little urged, will conquer the fear
of death.

A man would wish to die, even
through weariness of doing the same
things over and over again.

For

Silence argues a man to suspect
either himself or others.

All restraints are irksome, but espe
cially that of the tongue.

Silence is the virtue of fools.

Silence, like the night, is fit for
treacheries.

Thoughts, like waters, are best in
a running stream.

Silence is a kind of solitude.

He who is silent exposes himself to
censure.

For LOVE

Every man seeks, but the lover only
find*, himselt

The mind is b§st regulated by the
predominance of some powerful affec
tion.

He who is wise will pursue some
one desire ; for he that affects not one
tiling above another, finds all flat au3
distasteful.

LOQUACITY Against

To speak little gives grace and au
thority to what is delivered.

Silence is like sleep, it refreshes
wisdom.

Silence is the fermentation of the
thoughts.

Silence is the atyle of wisdom and
the candidate for truth,

Against

The stage is more beholden to love
than civil life.

I like not such men as are wholly
taken up with one thing.

love is but a narrow contemplation.

294: ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

Why should not one man rest in
one individual ?

For MAGNANIMITY Against

When the mind proposes honorable Magnanimity is a poetical virtue.
ends, not only the virtues but the dei
ties are ready to assist.

Yirtues proceeding from habit or
precept are vulgar, but those that pro
ceed from the end, heroical.

For NATURE Against

Custom goes in arithmetical, but na- Men think according to nature,

ture in geometrical progression. speak according to precept, but act

As laws are to custom in stales, according to custom,

so is nature to custom in particular Nature is a kind of schoolmaster;

persons. custom, a magistrate.

Custom against nature is a kind of
tyranny, but easily suppressed.

For NOBILITY Against

Where virtue is deeply implanted Nobility seldom springs from virtue,

from the stock, there can be no and virtue seldomer from nobility,
vice. Nobles oftener plead their ancestors

Nobility is a laurel conferred by for pardon than promotion,
time. New rising men are so industrious

If we reverence antiquity in dead as to make nobles seem like statues,
monuments, we should do it much Nobles, like bad racers, look back
more in living ones. too often iu the course.

If we despise nobility in families,
what difference is there between men
and brutes ?

Nobility shelters virtue from envy
and recommends it to favor.

For POPULARITY Against

Uniformity commonly pleases wise He who suits with fools may him-
men, yet it is a point of wisdom to self be suspected. *
humor the changeable nature of fools. He who pleases the rabble is corn-
To honor the people is the way to monly turbulent.
be honored. No moderate counsels take with the

Men in place are usually awed not vulgar.

by one man but the multitude. To fawn on the people is the basest

flattery.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

295

For

PRAISE

Praise is the reflected ray of virtue.

Praise is honor obtained by free
voices.

Many states confer honors, but
praise always proceeds from liberty.

The voice of the people hath some
thing of divine, else how should so
many become of one mind ?

No wonder if the commonalty speak
truer than the nobility, because they
speak with less danger.

Fame makes a quick messenger but
a rash judge.

What has a good man to do with
the breath of the vulgar ?

Fame, like a river, buoys up things
light and swollen, but drowns those
that are weighty.

Low virtues gain the praise of the
vulgar, ordinary ones astonish them,
but of the highest they have no
feeling.

Praise is got by bravery more than
merit, and given rather to the vain
and empty than to the worthy and
substantial.

For

PREPARATION

He who attempts great matters with
small means hopes for opportunity to
keep him in heart,.

Slender provision buys wit, but not
fortune.

Against

The first occasion is the best prepa
ration.

Fortune is not to be fettered in the
chains of preparation.

The interchange of preparation and
action are politic, but the separation of
them ostentatious and unsuccessful.

Great preparation is a prodigal both
of time and business.

For PRIDE Against

Pride is inconsistent even with vice ; Pride is the ivy of virtue.

and as poison expels poison, so are
many vices expelled by pride.

An easy nature is subject to other
men's vices, but a proud one only to
its own.

Pride, if it rise from a contempt of
others to a contempt of itself, at length
becomes philosophy.

For READINESS

That is unseasonable wisdom which
is not ready.

He who errs suddenly, suddenly
reforms his error.

To be wise upon deliberation, and

Other vices are only opposites to
virtues, but pride is even contagious.

Pride wants the best condition of
vice, concealment.

A proud man, while he despises
others, neglects himself.

Against

That knowledge is not deep fetched
which lies ready at hand.

"Wisdom is like a garment, lightest
when readiest.
• They whose counsels are not

296

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

not upon present occasion, is no great
matter.

For

ripened by deliberation have not
their prudence ripened by age.

What is suddenly invented sud
denly vanishes.
REVENGE Against

Private revenge is a kind of wild
justice.

He who returns injury for injury
violates the law, not the person.

The fear of private revenge is use
ful, for laws are often asleep.

For

They despise riches who despair of
them.

Envy at riches has made virtue a
goddess.

While philosophers dispute whether
all things should be referred to virtue
or pleasure, let us be collecting the
instruments of both.

Riches turn virtue into a common
good.

The command of other advantages
are particular, but that of riches uni
versal.

For SUPERSTITION

He who does the wrong is the ag
gressor, but he who returns it the
protractor.

The more prone men are to revenge,
the more it should be weeded out.

A revengeful man may be slow in
time, though not in will.
RICHES Against

Great riches are attended either with
care, trouble, or fame, but no use.

What an imaginary value is set upon
stones and other curiosities, that riches
may seem to be of some service.

Many who imagine all things may
be bought by their riches, forget they
have sold themselves.

Riches are the baggage of virtue,
necessary though cumbersome.

Riches are a good servant but a bad
master.

Against

They who err out of zeal, though
they are not to be approved, should
yet be pitied.

Mediocrity belongs to morality, ex
tremes to divinity.

A superstitious man is a religious
formalist.

I should sooner believe all the fa
bles and absurdities of any religion
than that the universal frame is with
out a deity.

As an ape appears the more de
formed for his resemblance to man,
so the similitude of superstition to
religion makes it the more odious.

What affectation is in civil matters
such is superstition in divine.88

It were better to have no belief of
a God than such a one as dishonors
him.

It was not the school of Epicurus,
but the Stoics, that disturbed the
states of old.

The real atheists are hypocrites,
who deal continually in holy things
without feeling.

38 Superstition is anything but affectation. They are hypocrites who dis
semble: those who believe too much are generally overearnest. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

29V

For

Distrust is the sinew of prudence,
and suspicion a strengthener of the
understanding.

That sincerity is justly suspected
which suspicion weakens.

Suspicion breaks a frail integrity,
but confirms a strong one.

For

SUSPICION Against

Suspicion breaks the bonds of trust.
To be overrun with suspicion is a
kind of political madness.

Nothing is concealed from a silent
man, for all is safely deposited with
him.

He who easily talks what he knows,
will also talk what he knows not.

Mysteries are due to secrets.

TACITURNITY Against

From a silent man all things are
concealed, because he returns noth
ing but silence.

Change of customs keeps men secret.

Secrecy is the virtue of a confessor.

A close man is like a man unknown.

For

To abstain and sustain are nearly
the same virtue.

Uniformity, concords, and the meas
ure of motions, are things celestial and
the characters of eternity.

Temperance, like wholesome cold,
collects and strengthens the force of
the mind.

"When the senses are too exquisite
and wandering, they want narcotics,
so likewise do wandering affections.

TEMPERANCE Against

I like not bare negative virtues;
they argue innocence, not merit.

The mind languishes that is not
sometimes spirited up by excess.

I like the virtues which produce the
vivacity of action, not the dulness of
passion.

The sayings, "Not to use, that you
may not desire" ; "Not to desire, that
you may not fear," etc., proceed from
pusillanimous and distrustful natures.

For

He who seeks his own praise at the
same time seeks the advantage of
others.

He who is so strait-laced as to
regard nothing that belongs to others,
will perhaps account public affairs im
pertinent.

Such dispositions as have a mixture
of levity, more easily undertake a pub
lic charge.

For UNCHASTITY

VAINGLORY Against

The vainglorious are always fa
cetious, false, fickle, and upon the
extreme.

Thraso is Gnatho's prey.

It is shameful in a lover to court
the maid instead of the mistress, but
praise is only virtue's handmaid.

It is jealousy that makes chastity
a virtue.

Against

Incontinence is one of Circe's worst
transformations.

298

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

He must be a melancholy mortal
who thinks Yenus a grave lady.

Why is a part of regimen, pretended
cleanness, and the daughter of pride,
placed among the virtues ?

In amours, as in wild fowl, there is
property ; but the right is transferred
with possession.

The unchaste liver has no reverence
for himself, which is slackening the
bridle of vice.

They who, with Paris, make beauty
their wish, lose, as he did, wisdom
and power.

Alexander fell upon no popular
truth when he said that sleep and
lust were the earnest of death.

For

WATCHFULNESS

Against

More dangers deceive by fraud than
force.

It is easier to prevent a danger than
to watch its approach.

Danger is no longer light if it once
seem light.

He bids danger advance, who
buckles against it.

Even the remedies of dangers are
dangerous.

It is better to use a few approved
remedies than to venture upon many
unexperienced particulars.

For

WIFE AND CHILDREN

Against

Charity to the commonwealth be
gins with private families.

"Wife and children are a kind of
discipline, but unmarried men are
morose and cruel.

A single life and a childless state
fit men for nothing but flight.

He sacrifices to death who begets
no children.

The happy in other respects are
commonly unfortunate in their chil
dren, lest the human state should too
nearly approach the divine.

For YOUTH

He who hath wife and children
hath given hostages to fortune.

Generation and issue are human
acts, but creation and its works are
divine.

Issue is the eternity of brutes ; but
fame, merit, and institutions the eter
nity of men.

Private regards generally prevail
over public.

Some affect the fortune of Priam,
in surviving his family.

Against

The first thoughts and counsels of
youth have somewhat divine.

Old men are wise for themselves,
but less for others and the public
good.

If it were visible, old age deforms
the mind more than the body.

Old men fear all things but the
gods.

Youth is the field of repentance.

Youth naturally despises the au
thority of age, that every one may
grow wise at his peril.

The counsels whereat time did not
assist are not ratified by him.

Old' men commute Yenus for the
graces.39

89 Understand propriety and decorum.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 299

The examples of antithets here laid down may not, per
haps, deserve the place assigned them; but as they were
collected in my youth, and are really seeds, not flowers,
I was unwilling they should be lost. In this they plainly
show a juvenile warmth, that they abound in the moral and
demonstrative kind, but touch sparingly upon the delibera
tive and judicial.

A third collection wanting to the apparatus of rhetoric,
is what we call lesser forms. And these are a kind of por
tals, postern-doors, outer rooms, back-rooms, and passages
of speech, which may serve indifferently for all subjects;
such as prefaces, conclusions, digressions, transitions, etc.
For as in building, a good distribution of the frontispiece,
staircases, doors, windows, entries, passages, and the like,
is not only agreeable but useful; so in speeches, if the ac
cessories or under-parts be decently and skilfully contrived
and placed, they are of great ornament and service to the
whole structure of the discourse. Of these forms, we will
just propose one example or two; for though they are mat
ters of no small use, yet because here we add nothing of our
own, and only take naked forms from Demosthenes, Cicero,
or other select authors, they may seem of too trivial a nature
to spend time therein.

EXAMPLES OF LESSER FORMS

A CONCLUSION IN THE DELIBERATIVE

So the past fault may be at once amended, and future in
convenience prevented.

COROLLARY OF AN EXACT DIVISION

That all may see I would conceal nothing by silence, nor
cloud anything by words.

A TRANSITION, WITH A CAVEAT

But let us leave the subject for the present, still reserving to
ourselves the liberty of a retrospection.

300 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

A PREPOSSESSION AGAINST AN INVETERATE OPINION
/ will let you understand to the full what sprung from the

thing itself, what error has tacked to it, and what envy has

raised upon it.

And these few examples may serve to show our meaning
as to the lesser forms of speech.40

CHAPTER IV

Two General Appendices to Tradition, via., the Arts of Teaching
and Criticism

THERE remain two general appendages to the doctrine
of delivery; the one relating to criticism, the other
to school-learning. For as the principal part of trad-
itive prudence turns upon the writing; so its relative turns
upon the reading of books. Now reading is either regulated
by the assistance of a master, or left to every one's pri
vate industry; but both depend upon criticism and school-
learning.

Criticism regards, first, the exact correcting and publish
ing of approved authors; whereby the honor of such authors
is preserved, and the necessary assistance afforded to the
reader. Yet the misapplied labors and industry of some
have in this respect proved highly prejudicial to learning;
for many critics have a way, when they fall upon anything

40 Though the ancients may seem to have perfected rhetoric, yet the moderns
have given it new light. Gerhord Vossius bestowed incredible pains upon this
art, as appears by his book "De Natura et Constitutione Rhetorics"; and still
more by his "Institutionea Oratories." See also Wolfgang; Schoensleder's
"Apparatus Eloquentiae" ; "Tesmari Exercitationes Rhetoricse," etc. Several
French authors have likewise cultivated this subject; particularly Rapin, in his
"Reflexions sur 1'Eloquence"; Bohour, in his "Maniere de bien Penser dans
les Ouvrages de 1'Esprit" and his "Pensees Ingenieuses" ; Father Lamy,
in his "Art de Parler." See also M. Cassander's French translation of Aris
totle's Rhetorics; the anonymous pieces, entitled, "L'Art de Penser," and
"L'Art de Persuader"; Le Clerc's "Historie Rhetoricse," in his "Ars Cril-
ica"; and "Stollius de Arte Rhetoricse," in his "Introductio in Historiam
Literariam, " — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 301

they do not understand, of immediately supposing a fault
in the copy. Thus, in that passage of Tacitus, where a
certain colony pleads a right of protection in the Senate,
Tacitus tells us they were not favorably heard ; so that the
ambassadors distrusting their cause, endeavored to procure
the favor of Titus Vinius by a present, and succeeded;
upon which Tacitus has these words: "Turn dignitas et
antiquitas colonise valuit" : "Then the honor and antiquity
of the colony had weight," in allusion to the sum received.1
But a considerable critic here expunges "turn," and substi
tutes "tantum," which quite corrupts the sense. And from
this ill practice of the critics, it happens that the most cor
rected copies are often the least correct. And to say the
truth, unless a critic is well acquainted with the sciences
treated in the books he publishes, his diligence will be
attended with danger.

A second thing belonging to criticism is the explanation
and illustration of authors, comments, notes, collections,
etc. But here an ill custom has prevailed among the critics
of skipping over the obscure passages, and expatiating upon
such as are sufficiently clear, as if their design were not so
much to illustrate their author, as to take all occasions of
showing their own learning and reading. It were therefore
to be wished, that every original writer who treats an ob
scure or noble subject, would add his own explanations
to his own work, so as to keep the text continued and un
broken by digressions or illustrations, and thus prevent any
wrong interpretation by the notes of others.

Thirdly, there belongs to criticism the thing from whence
its name is derived; viz., a certain concise judgment or cen
sure of the authors published, and a comparison of them
with other writers who have treated the same subject.
Whence the student may be directed in the choice of his
books, and come the better prepared to their perusal; and
this seems to be the ultimate office of the critic, and has

Hist. b. i. c. 68.

302 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

indeed been honored by some greater men in our age than
critics are usually thought.

For the doctrine of school-learning, it were the shortest
way to refer it to the Jesuits, who, in point of usefulness,
have herein excelled; yet we will lay down a few admoni
tions about it. We highly approve the education of youth
in colleges, and not wholly in private houses or schools.9
For in colleges, there is not only a greater emulation of the
youth among their equals, but the teachers have a venerable
aspect and gravity, which greatly conduces toward insinu
ating a modest behavior, and the forming of tender minds
from the first, according to such examples; and besides
these, there are many other advantages of a collegiate educa
tion. But for the order and manner of discipline, it is of
capital use to avoid too concise methods and too hasty an
opinion of learning, which give a pertness to the mind, and
rather make a show of improvement than procure it. Bat
excursions of genius are to be somewhat favored; so that
if a scholar perform his usual exercises, he may be suffered
to steal time for other things whereto he is more inclined.
It must also be carefully noted, though it has, perhaps,
hitherto escaped observation, that there are two correspon
dent ways of inuring, exercising, and preparing the genius;
the one beginning with the easier, leads gradually on to
more difficult things; and the other, commanding and im
posing such as are the harder at first; so that when these
are obtained, the easier may be more agreeably despatched.
For it is one method to begin swimming with bladders, and
another to begin dancing with loaded shoes. Nor is it easy
to see how much a prudent intermixture of these two ways
contributes to improve the faculties both of body and mind.
Again, the suiting of studies to the genius is of singular
use; which masters should duly attend to, that the parent
Imay thence consider what kind of life the child is fittest
^for. And further, it must be carefully observed, not only

8 See Osboru's Advice to a Son.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 303

that every one makes much greater progress in those things
whereto he is naturally inclined, but also, that there are
certain remedies in a proper choice of studies for particu
lar indispositions of mind. For example, inattention and
a volatility of genius may be remedied by mathematics,
wherein, if the mind wander ever so little, the whole dem
onstration must be begun anew. Exercises, also, are of
great efficacy in teaching, but few have observed that these
should not only be prudently appointed, but prudently
changed. For, as Cicero well remarks, "faults as well as
faculties are generally exercised in exercises' ' ; whence a
bad habit is sometimes acquired and insinuated together
with a good one. It is therefore safer that exercises should
be intermitted, and now and then repeated, than always
continued and followed. These things, indeed, may at first
sight appear light and trivial, yet they are highly effectual
and advantageous. For as the great increase of the Roman
empire has been justly attributed to the virtue and prudence
of those six rulers who had, as it were, the tuition of it in
its youth, so proper discipline, in tender years, has such
a power, though latent and unobserved, as neither time
nor future labor can any way subdue in our riper age. It
also deserves to be remarked, that even ordinary talents
in great men, used on great occasions, may sometimes pro
duce remarkable effects. And of this we will give an
eminent instance, the rather because the Jesuits judiciously
retain the discipline among them. And though the thing
itself be disreputable in the profession of it, yet it is excel
lent as a discipline; we mean the action of the theatre, which
strengthens the memory, regulates the tone of the voice and
the efficacy of pronunciation; gracefully composes the coun
tenance and the gesture; procures a becoming degree of
assurance; and lastly, accustoms youth to the eye of men.
The example we borrow from Tacitus, of one Vibulenus,
once a player, but afterward a soldier in the Pannonian
army. This fellow, upon the death of Augustus, raised a
mutiny; so that Blesus, the lieutenant, committed some

304 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

of the mutineers; but the soldiers broke open the prison
and released them. Upon which, Yibulenus thus har
angued the army: "You," says he, "have restored light
and life to these poor innocents; but who gives back life
to my brother, or my brother to me? He was sent to you
from the German army for a common good, and that man
murdered him last night, by the hands of his gladiators,
whom he keeps about him to murder the soldiers. Answer,
Blesus, where hast thou thrown his corpse? Even enemies
refuse not the right of burial. When I shall, with tears and
embraces, have performed my duty to him, command me
also to death; but let our fellow-soldiers bury us, who are
murdered only for our love to the legions." 8 With which
words, he raised such a storm of consternation and revenge
in the army, that unless the thing had presently appeared to
be all a fiction, and that the fellow never had a brother, the
soldiers might have murdered their leader; but he acted
the whole as a part upon the stage. And thus much for
the logical sciences.

We now come to that portion of our treatise which we
have allotted to rational knowledge. Let no one, however,
think that we hold the received division of the sciences of
small account, because we have wandered out of the beaten
paths. In so digressing we have been influenced by a two
fold necessity — First, to unite two methods, which both iu
their end and nature are altogether different, viz., the
ranging in the same class those things which are naturally
related to each other, and to throw into one heap all those
things which are likely to be called immediately into use.
Thus, as a secretary of a prince or of some civil department
ranges his papers according to their distinct heads — treaties,
instructions, foreign and domestic letters — each occupying
a separate corner of his study, and yet does not fail to col
lect in some particular cabinet those papers he is likely
to use together, so in this general cabinet of knowledge we

3 Annal. i. 22.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 305

have selected our divisions according to the nature of things
themselves; but if any particular science required to be
treated at length, we have followed those divisions which
are most conformable to use and practice. The second ne
cessity arose from supplying the addenda to the sciences,
and reducing them to an entire body, which completely
changed the old boundaries. For, say that the existing arts
are fifteen in number, and that the deficiencies increase the
number to twenty, as the parts of fifteen are not the parts
of twenty, two, four, and three being prime numbers in
each, it is plain that a new division was forced upon us.

SEVENTH BOOK
CHAPTER I

Ethics divided into the Doctrine of Models and the Georgics (Culture) of the
Mind. Division of Models .into the Absolute and Comparative Good.
Absolute Good divided into Personal and National

WE NEXT, excellent King, proceed to ethics, which
has the human will for its subject. Reason gov
erns the will, but apparent good seduces it: its
motives are the affections, and its ministers the organs and
voluntary motions. It is of this doctrine that Solomon says,
"Keep thy heart with all diligence,1 for out of it are the
actions of life." The writers upon this science appear like
writing-masters, who lay before their scholars a number of
beautiful copies, but give them no directions how to guide
their pen or shape their letters; for so the writers upon
ethics have given us shining drafts, descriptions, and
exact images of goodness, virtue, duties, happiness, etc.,
as the true objects and scope of the human will and desire;
but for obtaining these excellent and well-described ends,

1 Prov. iv. 23.

306 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

or by what means the mind may be broke and fashioned for
obtaining them, they either touch this subject not at all or
slightly.* We may dispute as much as we please, that moral
virtues are in the human mind by habit, not by nature; that
generous spirits are led by reason, but the herd by reward
and punishment; that the mind must be set straight, like
a crooked stick, by bending it the contrary way, etc.' But
nothing of this kind of glance-and-touch can in any way
supply the want of the thing we are now in quest of.

The cause of this neglect I take to be that latent rock
whereon so many of the sciences have split, viz., the aver
sion that writers have to treat of trite and vulgar matters,
which are neither subtle enough for dispute nor eminent
enough for ornament. It is not easy to see how great a mis
fortune has proceeded hence — that men, through natural
pride and vainglory, should choose such subjects and
methods of treating them, as may rather show their own
capacities, than be of use to the reader. Seneca says ex
cellently, "Eloquence is hurtful to those it inspires with
a desire of itself, and not of things";4 for writings should
make men in love with the subject, and not with the writer.
They, therefore, take the just course who can say of their
counsels as Demosthenes did — "If you put these things in
execution, you shall not only praise the orator for the
present, but yourselves also soon after, when your affairs
are in a better posture."5 As for myself, excellent King,
to speak the truth, I have frequently neglected the glory of
my order, name, and learning, both in the works I now
publish and those which I have already designed to execute,
in following out my direct purpose of advancing the happi
ness of mankind; so that I may fairly say, though marked

8 For the History of Morality, consult Scheurlius* "Bibliographia Moralis,"
ed. 1686; Placcius' "Epitome Bibliothecse Moralis"; "Paschius de variis Mo-
ralia tradendi Modis Formisque," 1707; Barbeyrac's Preface to his French
translation of Puffendorf "De Jure Naturae et Gentium"; and "Stollii Intro-
ductio in Historiam Literariam," pp. 692-752. — Ed.

3 Arist. Ethics, ii. 4 Epist. 100, toward the end*

6 Olynthias 25, toward the end.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 307

out by nature to be the architect of philosophy and the
sciences, I have submitted to become a common workman
and laborer, there being many mean things necessary to the
erection of the structure, which others, out of a natural dis
dain, refused to attend to. But in ethics the philosophers
have culled out a certain splendid mass of matter, wherein
they might principally show their force of genius or power
of eloquence; but for other things that chiefly conduce to
practice, as they could not be so gracefully set off, they
have entirely neglected them. Yet so many eminent men,
surely, ought not to have despaired of a like success with
Virgil, who procured as much glory for eloquence, ingenu
ity, and learning, by explaining the homely observations of
agriculture as in relating the heroic acts of ^Eneas —

"Nee sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere rnagnum
Quam sit, et angustis hunc addere rebus honorem. " 6

And certainly, if men were bent, not upon writing at leisure
what may be read at leisure, but really to cultivate and im
prove active life, the georgics of the mind ought to be as
highly valued as those heroical portraits of virtue, good
ness, and happiness wherein so much pains have been taken.
We divide ethics into two principal doctrines— the one of
the model or image of good, the other of the regulation and
culture of the mind, which I commonly express by the word
georgics. The first describes the nature of good, and the
other prescribes rules for conforming the mind to it. The
doctrine of the image of good, in describing the nature
of good, considers it either as simple or compounded, and
either as to the kinds or degrees thereof. In the latter of
these the Christian faith has at length abolished those
infinite disputes and speculations as to the supreme degree
of good, called happiness, blessedness, or the "summum
bonum," which was a kind of heathen theology. For, as
Aristotle said, "Youth might be happy, though only in
hope";7 so, according to the direction of faith, we must

6 Georg. iii. 289 ' Nic. Ethics, i. 10; Rhet. ii. 12, 8.

308 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

put ourselves in the state of minors, and think of no other
felicity, but that founded in hope. Being, therefore, thus
delivered from this ostentatious heaven of the heathens,
who, following Seneca, "Vere magnum habere fragilitatem
hominis, securitatern Dei,"8 exaggerated the perfectibility
of man's nature — we may, with less offence to truth and
sobriety, receive much of what they deliver about the
image of good. As for the nature of positive and simple
good, they have certainly drawn it beautifully and accord
ing to the life, in several pieces exactly representing the
form of virtue and duty — their order, kinds, relations, parts,
subjects, provinces, actions, and dispensations. And all this
they have recommended and insinuated to the mind with
great vivacity and subtilty of argument, as well as sweet
ness of persuasion, at the same time faithfully guarding,
as much as was possible by words, against depraved and
popular errors and insults. And in deducing the nature of
comparative good they have not been wanting, but ap
pointed three orders thereof — they have compared contem
plative and active life together;9 distinguished between
virtue with reluctance, and virtue secured and confirmed;
represented the conflict between honor and advantage;
balanced the virtues, to show which overweighed, and the
like — so that this part of the image of good is already nobly
executed; and herein the ancients have shown wonderful
abilities. Yet the pious and strenuous diligence of the
divines, exercised in weighing and determining studies,
moral virtues, cases of conscience, and fixing the bounds
of sin, have greatly exceeded them. But if the philoso
phers, before they descended to the popular and received
notions of virtue and vice, pain and pleasure, etc., had
dwelt longer upon discovering the roots and fibres of good
and evil, they would, doubtless, have thus gained great
light to their subsequent inquiries, especially if they had
consulted the nature of things, as well as moral axioms.

8 Epist. 63, § 12. 9 See Arist. Eth. Nic. i. 3, sq.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 309

they would have shortened their doctrines and laid them
deeper. But as they have entirely omitted this or con
fusedly touched it, we will here briefly touch it over again,
and endeavor to open and cleanse the springs of morality,
before we come to the georgics of the mind, which we set
down as deficient.

All things are indued with an appetite to two kinds of
good — the one as the thing is a whole in itself, the other as
it is a part of some greater whole; and this latter is more J
worthy and more powerful than the other, as it tends to the
conservation of a more ample form. The first may be called j
individual or self good, and the latter, good of communion.
Iron by a particular property moves to the loadstone, but
if the iron be heavy, it drops its affection to the loadstone
and tends to the earth, which is the proper region of such
ponderous bodies. Again, though dense and heavy bodies
tend to the earth, yet rather than 'nature will suffer a separa
tion in the continuity of things, and leave a vacuum, as they
speak, these heavy bodies will be carried upward, and forego
their affection to the earth, to perform their office to the
world. And thus it generally happens, that the conserva
tion of the more general form regulates the lesser appetites.
But this prerogative of the good of communion is more
particularly impressed upon man, if he be not degenerate,
according to that remarkable saying of Pompey, who, being
governor of the city purveyance at a time of famine in
Rome, and entreated by his friends not to venture to sea
while a violent storm was impending, answered, "My going
is necessary, but not my life";10 so that the desire of life,
which is greatest in the individual, did not with him out
weigh his affection and fidelity to the state. But no phi
losophy, sect, religion, law, or discipline, in any age, has so
highly exalted the good of communion, and so far depressed
the good of individuals, as the Christian faith; whence it
may clearly appear that one and the same God gave those

10 Plut. Life Pomp.

310 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

laws of nature to the creatures and the Christian law to
men. And hence we read that some of the elect and holy
men, in an esctasy of charity and impatient desire of the
good of communion, rather wished their names blotted out
of the book of life than that their brethren should miss of
salvation.11

This being once laid down and firmly established, will
put an end to some of the soberest controversies in moral
philosophy. And first, it determines that question about
the preference of a contemplative to an active life, against
the opinion of Aristotle; as all the reasons he produces for
a contemplative life regard only private good, and the
pleasure or dignity of an individual person, in which re
spects the contemplative life is doubtless best, and like
the comparison made by Pythagoras,18 to assert the honor
and reputation of philosophy, when being asked by Hiero
who he was, he answered, "I am a looker-on; for as at the
Olympic games some come to try for the prize, others to sell,
others to meet their friends and be merry, but others again
come merely as spectators, I am one of the latter." But
men ought to know that in the theatre of human life it is
only for God and angels to be spectators. Nor could any
doubt about this matter have arisen in the Church, if a
monastic life had been merely contemplative and unexer-
cised in ecclesiastical duties — as continual prayer, the sacri
fice of vows, oblations to God, and the writing of theological
books, for propagating the Divine law — as Moses retired in
the solitude of the mount, and Enoch, the seventh from
Adam, who, though the Scripture says he walked with God,
intimating he was the first founder of the spiritual life, yet
enriched the Church with a book of prophecies cited by St.
Jude. But for a mere contemplative life, which terminates
in itself, and sends out no rays either of heat or light into
human society, theology knows it not.

11 St. Paul, Rom. ix.

$ 1S lamblicue' life, in the Tus. Quaest. v. 3. Cicero substitutes Leontius,
prince of the Phoenicians, for Hieron.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 311

It also determines the question that has been so vehe
mently controverted between the schools of Zeno and Soc
rates on the one side, who placed felicity in virtue, simple
or adorned, and many other sects and schools on the
other — as particularly the schools of the Cyrenaics and
Epicureans, who placed felicity in pleasure;13 thus making
virtue a mere handmaid, without which pleasure could not
be well served. Of the same side is also that other school
of Epicurus, as on the reformed establishment, which de
clared felicity to be nothing but tranquillity and serenity
of mind. With these also joined the exploded school of
Pyrrho and Herillus, who placed felicity in an absolute
exemption from scruples, and the allowing no fixed and
constant nature of good and evil, but accounting all actions
virtuous or vicious, as they proceed from the mind by a
pure and undisturbed motion, or with aversion and reluc
tance.14 But it is plain that all things of this kind relate
to private tranquillity and complacency of mind, and by
no means to the good of communion.

Again, upon the foundation above laid we may confute
the philosophy of Epictetus, which rests upon supposing
felicity placed in things within our power, lest we should
otherwise be exposed to fortune and contingence,15 as if it
were not much happier to fail of success in just and honor
able designs, when that failure makes for the public good,
than to secure an uninterrupted enjoyment of those things
which make only for our private fortune. Thus Gronsalvo
at the head of his army, pointing to Naples, nobly protested
he had much rather, by advancing a step, meet certain
death, than by retiring a step prolong his life. And to this
agrees the wise king, who pronounces "a good conscience
to be a continual feast";18 thereby signifying that the con-

13 For an account of these sects, consult Bitter's "Geschichte der Philosophic
alter Zeit."

14 This opinion has been revived in the Anabaptist heresy, who measure
everything by the humors and instincts of the spirit and constancy or vacillation
of faith.— Ed.

15 Enchir. Arrian. i. 16 Prov. xv. 15.

o!2 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

sciousness of good intentions, however unsuccessful, affords
a joy more real, pure, and agreeable to nature, than all the
other means that can be furnished, either for obtaining
one's desires or quieting the mind.

It likewise censures that abuse which prevailed about
the time of Epictetus, when philosophy was turned into a
certain art or profession of life, as if its design were not to
compose and quiet troubles, but to avoid and remove the
causes and occasions thereof, whence a particular regimen
was to be entered into for obtaining this end, by introducing
such a kind of health into the mind as was that of Herodicus
in the body, mentioned by Aristotle,17 while he did nothing
all his life long but take care of his health, and therefore
abstained from numberless things, which almost deprived
him of the use of his body; whereas, if men were determined
to perform the duties of society, that kind of bodily health
is most desirable which is able to suffer and support all sorts
of attacks and alterations. In the same manner, that mind
is truly sound and strong which is able to break through
numerous and great temptations and disorders; whence
Diogenes seems to have justly commended the habit which
did not warily abstain, but courageously sustain — '8 which
could check the sallies of the soul on the steepest precipice,
and make it, like a well-broken horse, stop and turn at the
shortest warning.

Lastly, it reproves that delicacy and unsociable temper
observed in some of the most ancient philosophers of great
repute, who too effeminately withdrew from civil affairs, in
order to prevent indignities and trouble to themselves, and
live the more free and unspotted in their own opinions; as
to which point the resolution of a true moralist should be
such as Gronsalvo required of a soldier — viz., "Not to weave
his honor so fine, as for everything to catch and rend it."

17 Rhet. i. 5, 10. 18 ave^ou aneXov. Summa Stoic. Philof.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 313

CHAPTER II

Division of Individual Good into Active and Passive. That of Passive Good

into Conservative and Perfective. Good of the Commonwealth

divided into General and Respective

WE DIVIDE individual or self good into active and
passive. This difference of good is also found
impressed upon the nature of all things, but prin
cipally shows itself in two appetites of the creatures; viz.—
1. That of self-preservation and defence; and, 2. That of
multiplying and propagating. The latter, which is active,
seems stronger and more worthy than the former, which is
passive; for throughout the universe the celestial nature
is the principal agent, and the terrestrial the patient; and
in the pleasures of animals that of generation is greater than
that of feeding; and the Scripture says, "It is more blessed
to give than to receive."1 And even in common life, no
man is so soft and effeminate, as not to prefer the performing
and perfecting of anything he had set his mind upon before
sensual pleasures. The pre-eminence of active good is also
highly exalted from the consideration of the state of man
kind, which is mortal and subject to fortune; for if per
petuity and certainty could be had in human pleasures, this
would greatly enhance them; but as the case now stands,
when we count it a happiness to die late, when we cannot
boast of to-morrow, when we know not what a day may
bring forth, no wonder if we earnestly endeavor after such
things as elude the injuries of time: and these can be no
other than our works. Accordingly it is said, "Their works
follow them."8

Another considerable pre-eminence of active good is
given it, and supported by that inseparable affection of

1 Acts Ap. xx. 35. 2 Apoc. xiv. 13.

SOIENCE — Vol. 21 — 14

314 ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING

liuman nature — the love of novelty or variety. But this
affection is greatly limited in the pleasures of the senses,
which make the greatest part of passive good. To consider
how often the same things come over in life — as meals,
sleep, and diversion — -it might make not only a resolute,
a wretched, or a wise, but even a delicate person wish to
die.3 But in actions, enterprises, and desires, there is a
remarkable variety, which we perceive with great pleasure,
while we begin, advance, rest, go back to recruit, approach,
obtain, etc.: whence it is truly said, "That life without
pursuit is a vague and languid thing";4 and this holds true
both of the wise and unwise indifferently. So Solomon
says, "Even a brain-sick man seeks to satisfy his desire,
and meddles in everything."5 And thus the most potent
princes, who have all things at command, yet sometimes
choose to pursue low and empty desires, which they prefer
to the greatest affluence of sensual pleasures: thus Nero
delighted in the harp, Commodus in fencing, Antonius in
racing, etc. So much more pleasing is it to be active than
in possession.

It must, however, be well observed, that active, indi
vidual good differs entirely from the good of communion,
notwithstanding they may sometimes coincide; for although
this individual active good often produces works of benefi
cence, which is a virtue of communion, yet herein they
differ, that these works are performed by most men, not
with a design to assist or benefit others, but wholly for their
own gratification or honor, as plainly appears when active
good falls upon anything contrary to the good of commu
nion; for that gigantic passion wherewith the great dis
turbers6 of the world are carried away, as in the case of

3 Seneca. 4 Seneca, Epist. xxiv. § 23-25. 5 Prov. xxi. 25.

6 So Barrow, "Sermon iii. on Redemption." There are some persons of that
wicked and gigantic disposition, contracted by evil practice, that should one
offer to instruct them in truth or move them to piety, would exclaim with
Polyphemus —

NIJTTIO? ei?, w £ eiv1, ij TT}A6#ei> eiA.jjA.ov#a?,

»} 8et.SiiJ.ev, 17 <iA4a<r0<u.— OdjS3. ix. 273.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 315

Sylla and others, who would render all their friends happy
and all their enemies miserable, and endeavor to make the
world carry their image, which is really warring against
heaven — this passion, I say, aspires to an active individual
good, at least in appearance, though it be infinitely differ
ent from the good of communion.

We divide passive good into conservative and perfec
tive; for everything has three kinds of appetite with regard
to its own individual good — the first to preserve itself, the *
second to perfect itself, and the third to multiply and diffuse
itself. The last relates to active good, of which we have
spoken already; and of the other two the perfective is the
most excellent; for it is a less matter to preserve a thing in
its state, and a greater to exalt its nature. But throughout
the universe are found some nobler natures, to the dignity
and excellence whereof inferior ones aspire, as to their
origins — whence the poet said well of mankind, that "they
have an ethereal vigor and a celestial origin":

"Igneus est ollis vigor et coelestis origo" :7

for the perfection of the human form consists in approaching fi
the Divine or angelic nature. The corrupt and preposterous
imitation of this perfective good is the pest of human life,
and the storm that overturns and sweeps away all things,
while men, instead of a true and essential exaltation, fly
with blind ambition only to a local one; for as men in sick
ness toss and roll from place to place, as if by change of
situation they could get away from themselves, or fly from
the disease, so in ambition, men hurried away with a false
imagination of exalting their own nature, obtain no more
than change of place or eminence of post.

Conservative good is the receiving and enjoying things
agreeable to our nature; and this good, though it be the
most simple and natural, yet of all others it seems the
lowest and most effeminate. It is also attended with a
difference, about which the judgment of mankind has been

7 See Virgil, ^]neid, vi. 730.

316 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

partly unsettled and the inquiry partly neglected; for the
dignity and recommendation of the good of fruition or
pleasure, as it is commonly called, consists either in the
reality or strength thereof — the one being procured by
uniformity, and the other by variety. The one has a less
mixture of evil, the other a stronger and more lively im
pression of good: which of these is the best, is the ques
tion; but whether human nature be not capable of both at
once, has not been examined.

As for the question, it began to be debated between
Socrates and a Sophist. Socrates asserted that felicity lay
in a constant peace and tranquillity of mind, but the Sophist
placed it in great appetite and great fruition. From reason
ing they fell to railing, when the Sophist said, the felicity
of Socrates was the felicity of a stock or a stone; Socrates,
on the other hand, said, the felicity of the Sophist was the
felicity of one who is always itching and always scratching.
And both opinions have their supporters;8 for the school
even of Epicurus, which allowed that virtue greatly con
duced to felicity, is on the side of Socrates; and if this be
the case, certainly virtue is more useful in appeasing dis
orders than in obtaining desires. The Sophist's opinion
is somewhat favored by the assertion above mentioned,
viz., that perfective good is superior to conservative good,
because every obtaining of a desire seems gradually to per
fect nature, which though not strictly true, yet a circular
motion has some appearance of a progressive one.

As for the other point, whether human nature is not at
the same time capable both of tranquillity and fruition, a
just determination of it will render the former question un
necessary. And do we not often see the minds of men so
framed and disposed, as to be greatly affected with present
pleasures, arid yet quietly suffer the loss of them ? — Whence
that philosophical progression, "Use not, that you may not
wish; wish not, that you may not fear," seems an indication
of a weak, diffident, and timorous mind. And, indeed, most

8 Plato, Gorgiaa, i. 492.

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doctrines of the philosophers appear to be too distrustful,
and to take more care of mankind than the nature of the
thing requires. Thus they increase the fears of death by
the remedies they bring against it; for while they make the
life of man little more than a preparation and discipline for
death, it is impossible but the enemy must appear terrible,
when there is no end of the defence to be made against him.
The poet did better for a heathen, who placed the end of
life among the privileges of nature—

"Qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat

Naturae." 9

Thus the philosophers, in all cases, endeavor to render the
mind too uniform and harmonical, without inuring it to
extreme and contrary motions; and the reason seems to be,
that they give themselves up to a private life, free from
disquiet and subjection to others; whereas men should
rather imitate the prudence of a lapidary, who, finding a
speck or a cloud in a diamond, that may be ground out
without too much waste, takes it away, or otherwise leaves
it untouched ; and so the serenity of the mind is to be con
sulted without impairing its greatness. And thus much for
the doctrine of self-good.

The good of communion, which regards society, usually
goes by the name of duty, a word that seems more properly
used of a mind well disposed toward others; while the term
virtue is used of a mind well formed and composed within
itself. Duty, indeed, seems at first to be of political con
sideration; but if thoroughly weighed, it truly relates to
the rule and government of one's self, not others. And as
in architecture it is one thing to fashion the pillars, rafters,
and other parts of the building, and prepare them for the
work, and another to fit and join them together, so the doc
trine of uniting mankind in society differs from that which
renders them conformable and well affected to the benefits
of society.

9 Juvenal, Sat. x. 360.

318 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

This part concerning duties is likewise divided into
two — the one treating of the duties of man in common, and
the other of respective duties, according to the profession,
vocation, state, person, and degree of particulars.10 The
first of these, we before observed, has been sufficiently
cultivated and explained by the ancient and later writers.
The other also has been touched here and there, though not
digested and reduced into any body of science." We do
not, however, except to its being treated piecemeal, as
judging it the best way to write upon this subject in sepa
rate parts; for who will pretend he can justly discourse and
define upon the peculiar and relative duties of all orders
and conditions of men? But for treatises upon this subject,
which have no tincture of experience, and are only drawn
from general and scholastic knowledge, they commonly
prove empty and useless performances; for though a by
stander may sometimes see what escaped the player, and
although it be a kind of proverb, more bold and true with
regard to prince and people, "that a spectator in the valley
takes the best view of a mountain," }^et it were greatly to
be wished that none but the most experienced men would
write upon subjects of this kind; for the contemplations of
speculative men in active matters appear no better to those
who have been conversant in business than the dissertations
of Phormio upon war appeared to Hannibal, who esteemed
them but as dreams and dotage. One fault, however, dwells
with such as write upon things belonging to their own office
or art, viz., that they hold no mean in recommending and
extolling them.

In speaking of books of this kind, it would indeed be
sacrilege in me to omit mention of your Majesty's excellent

10 For the modern writers in this way, see Morhof's "Polyhistor, " torn. iii.
lib. i. "De Philosophise moralis Scriptoribus" ; and "Stollii Introductio in
Historiam Literariam, de Philosophia generatim morali" ; in particular, consult
Puffendorf, "De Officio Hominis and Givi*."—Shaw.

11 This appears to be attempted by Grotius, in his book "De Jure Belli ac
Pacis" ; and by Puffendorf, in his "De Jure Naturae et Gentium." See M.
Barbevrac's translation of the latter into French, with annotations. — Ib.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 319

work on the duty of a king. This work incloses the leading
treasures of divinity, politics, and ethics, besides a sprink
ling of all other arts; and I am not afraid to pronounce it
one of the soundest and most profitable works I have ever
read. It does not swell with the heat of invention, or flag
with the coldness of negligence. The author is nowhere
seized with that dizziness which confuses his sight of the
main subject, and consequently avoids those digressions
which, by a sort of circuitous method, descants on matter
foreign to the purpose. Neither are its pages disfigured with
the arts of rhetorical perfumes and paintings, designed rather
to please the reader than to corroborate the argument. But
they contain life and spirit, as well as solidity and bulk,
containing excellent precepts, adapted as well to theoretical
truth as to the expediency of use and action. The work is
also entirely exempt from that vice even more censured,
and which, if it were tolerable, it were so in kings, and in
works on regal majesty, viz., that it does not exaggerate the
privileges of the crown or invidiously exalt their power.
For your Majesty has not described a king of Persia or
Assyria, shining forth in all their pomp and glory, but
a Moses and a David, pastors as well as rulers of their
people. Nor can I forget that memorable saying which
your Majesty delivered on an important point of judica
ture — That kings rule by the laws of their kingdoms, as
God by the laws of nature, and ought as rarely to exercise
their prerogative, which transcends law, as God exercises
his power of working miracles. And in your Majesty's
other book on a free monarchy, you give all men to under
stand that your Majesty knows and comprehends the pleni
tude of the regal power, as well as its limits; I, therefore,
have not shrunk from citing this book as one of the best
treatises ever published upon particular and respective
duties. I can also assure your Majesty, that had the book
been a thousand years in existence it would not have lost
any of the praises I have bestowed upon it; nor am I pre
scribed by the adage which forbids praise in presence; since

320 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

this rule of decorum applies only to unseasonable and ex
cessive eulogy. Surely Cicero, in his excellent oration in
defence of Marcellus, is only bent upon drawing a picture
with singular art, of Caesar's virtues, though in his presence^
as the second Pliny did for Trajan. But let us proceed with
our subject.

To this part of the respective duties of vocations and
particular professions belongs another, as a doctrine relative
or opposite to it, viz., the doctrine of cautions, frauds, im
postures, and their vices; for corruptions and vices are op
posite to duties and virtues; not but some mention is already
made of them in writings, though commonly but cursorily
and satirically, rather than seriously and gravely; for more
labor is bestowed in invidiously reprehending many good
and useful things in arts and exposing them to ridicule,
than in separating what is corrupt and vicious therein from
what is sound and serviceable. Solomon says excellently,
"A scorner seeks wisdom, and finds it not; but knowledge
is easy to him that understands";18 for whoever comes to a
science with an intent to deride and despise, will doubtless
find things enough to cavil at, and few to improve by. But
the serious and prudent treatment of the subject we speak
of may be reckoned among the strongest bulwarks of virtue
and probity; for as it is fabulously related of the basilisk,
that if he sees a man first, the man presently dies; but if
the man has the first glance, he kills the basilisk: so frauds,
impostures, and tricks do not hurt, if first discovered; but
if they strike first, it is then they become dangerous, and
not otherwise: hence we are beholden to Machiavel, and
writers- of that kind, who openly and unmasked declare
what men do in fact, and not what they ought to do;18 for
it is impossible to join the wisdom of the serpent and the
innocence of the dove, without a previous knowledge of

12 Prov. xiv. 6.

13 Perhaps the treatise of Hieron. Cardan "De Arcanis Prudentiae Civilis,"
is a capital performance in this way; as exposing numerous tricks, frauds and
stratagems of government, so as to prevent the honest-minded from being im
posed upon by them. — Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 321

the nature of evil; as without this, virtue lies exposed and
unguarded. And further, a good and just man cannot cor
rect and amend the vicious and the wicked, unless he has first
searched into all the depths and dungeons of wickedness; for
men of a corrupt and depraved judgment ever suppose that
honesty proceeds from ignorance, or a certain simplicity
of manners, and is rooted only in a belief of our tutors,
instructors, books, moral precepts, and vulgar discourse,
whence — 'Unless they plainly perceive that their perverse
opinions, their corrupt and distorted principles, are thor
oughly known to those who exhort and admonish them as
well as to themselves — they despise all wholesome advice;
according to that admirable saying of Solomon, "A fool
receives not the words of the wise, unless thou speakest
the very things that are in his heart." 14 And this part of
morality, concerning cautions and respective vice, we set
down as wanting, under the name of sober satire, or the
insides of things.

To the doctrine of respective duties belong also the
mutual duties between husband and wife, parent and child,
master and servant, as also the laws of friendship, gratitude,
and the civil obligations of fraternities, colleges, neighbor
hoods, and the like, always understanding that these things
are to be treated, not as parts of civil society, in which view
they belong to politics, but so far as the minds of particulars
ought to be instructed and disposed to preserve these bonds
of society.

The doctrine of the good of communion, as well as of
self -good, treats good not only simply, but comparatively,
and thus regards the balancing of duty between man and
man, case and case, private and public, present and future,
etc. — as we may observe in the cruel conduct of Lucius
Brutus to his own sons, which by the generality was ex
tolled to the skies; yet another said,

"Infelix, utcunque ferent ea facta minores." 16

«* Prov. xviii. 2. 1B V~irg. JEa. vi. 823.

322 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

So in the discourse between Brutus, Cassius, and others, as
to the conspiracy against Caesar, the question was artfully
introduced whether it were lawful to kill a tyrant;" the
company divided in their opinions about it, some saying
it was lawful, and that slavery was the greatest of evils;
others denying it, and asserting tyranny to be less destruc
tive than civil war; while a third kind, as if followers of
Epicurus, made it an unworthy thing that wise men should
endanger themselves for fools. But the cases of compara
tive duties are numerous, among which this question fre
quently occurs, whether justice may be strained for the
safety of one's country, or the like considerable good in
future? as to which Jason the Thessalian used to say, Some
things must be done unjustly, that many more may be done
justly. But the answer is ready — Present justice is in our
power, but of future justice we have no security: let men
pursue those things which are good and just at present,
and leave futurity to Divine providence.17 And thus much
for the doctrine of the image of good.18

CHAPTER III

The Culture of the Mind divided into the Knowledge of Characteristic Differences
of Affections, of Remedies and Cures. Appendix relating to the Har
mony between the Pleasures of the Mind and the Body

WE NEXT proceed to the cultivation of the mind,
without which the preceding part of morality is
no more than an image or beautiful statue, with
out life or motion. Aristotle expressly acknowledges as

16 Pint. Life Brut. 1T Plutarch, Moral. Prsec. Gerend. Reip. i. 24.

18 Such was the pretext of Titus Quintius Flaminius, who, perceiving that
the Achaean League, by which all the Grecian states were associated in one
grand confederation, imposed the principal obstacle to the arms of Rome, de
ceitfully alleged that his sole design was to free each individual state from the
thraldom of one dominant power, and leave it to the action of its own laws.
The sequel showed, however, that his policy was only an exemplification of the
old fable, for the untying the bundle was immediately followed by the subjuga
tion of each community. — Ed.

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much — "It is, therefore, necessary," says he, "to speak
of virtue, what it is, and whence it proceeds; for it were
in a manner useless to know virtue, and yet be ignorant of
the ways to acquire her." 1 Concerning virtue, therefore,
we must ascertain both what kind it is and by what means
it may be acquired; for we desire a knowledge of the thing
itself and the manner of procuring its pleasures.2 And
though he has more than once repeated the same thing,
yet himself does not pursue it. And so Cicero gives it as a
high commendation to the younger Cato, that he embraced
philosophy, not for the sake of disputing, as most do, but
of living philosophically.3 And though at present few have
any great regard to the cultivation and discipline of the
mind and a regular course of life, as Seneca phrases it —
"De partibus vitse quisque deliberat, de summa nemo"
whence this part may appear superfluous, yet we cannot be
persuaded to leave it untouched, but rather conclude with
the aphorism of Hippocrates, that those who labor under a
violent disease, yet seem insensible of their pain, are dis
ordered in their mind. And men in this case want not only
a method of cure, but a particular remedy, to bring them to
their senses. If any one shall object, that the cure of the
mind is the office of divinity, we allow it; yet nothing
excludes moral philosophy from the train of theology,
whereto it is as a prudent and faithful handmaid, attend
ing and administering to all its wants. But though, as the
Psalmist observes, "the eyes of the maid are perpetually
waiting on the hands of the mistress," 5 yet doubtless many
things must be left to the care and judgment of the servant.
So ethics ought to be entirely subservient to theology, and
obedient to the precepts thereof, though it may still contain
many wholesome and useful instructions within its own
limits. And therefore, when we consider the excellence
of this part of morality, we cannot but greatly wonder it

1 Eth. Mag. ad init. 2 Mag. Moral, i. 3 Juv. Murasn. xxx. 62.

4 Epist. Ixxi. § 1. * Psal. cxxii. 3.

324 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

is not hitherto reduced to a body of doctrine, which we are
obliged to note as deficient; and shall therefore give some
sketch for supplying it.

And first, as in all cases of practice, we must here dis
tinguish the things in our power, and those that are not:
for the one may be altered, while the other can only be ap
plied. Thus the farmer has no command over the nature
of the soil, or the seasons of the year; nor the physician
over the constitution of the patient, or the variety of acci
dents. In the cultivation of the mind, and the cure of its
diseases, there are three things to be considered; viz., 1, the
different dispositions; 2, the affections; and 3, the remedies:
answering in physic to the constitution, the distemper, and
the medicines. And of these three, only the last is in our
power. Yet we ought as carefully to inquire into the things
that are not in our power, as into those that are; because
a clear and exact knowledge thereof is to be made the
foundation of the doctrine of remedies, in order to their
more commodious and successful application. For clothes
cannot be made to fit, unless measure of the body be first
taken.

The first article, therefore, of the culture of the mind,
will regard the different natures or dispositions of men.
But here we speak not of the vulgar propensities to virtues
and vices, or perturbations and passions, but of such as are
more internal and radical. And I cannot sometimes but
wonder that this particular should be so generally neglected
by the writers both of morality and politics; whereas it
might afford great light to both these sciences. In astro
logical traditions, the natures and dispositions of men are
tolerably distinguished according to the influences of the
planets; whence some are said to be by nature formed for
contemplation, others for politics, others for war, etc. So,
likewise, among the poets of all kinds, we everywhere find
characters of natures, though commonly drawn with excess,
and exceeding the limits of nature. And this subject of the
different characters of dispositions is one of those things

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 325

wherein the common discourse of men is wiser than books —
a thing which seldom happens. But much the best matter
of all for such a treatise may be derived from the more
prudent historians; and not so well from elogies or panegy
rics, which are usually written soon after the death of an
illustrious person, but much rather from a whole body of
history, as often as such a person appears: for such an inter
woven account gives a better description than panegyric.
And such examples we have in Livy, of Africanus and
Cato; in Tacitus, of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero; in Hero-
dian, of Septimius Severus; in Philip de Comines, of Louis
the Eleventh; in Guicciardini, of Ferdinand of Spain, the
Emperor Maximilian, Pope Leo, and Pope Clement. For
these writers having the image of the person to be described
constantly before them, scarce ever mention any of their
acts, but at the same time introduce something of their
natures. So, likewise, some relations which we have seen
of the conclaves at Kome give very exact characters of the
cardinals : as the letters of ambassadors do of the counsellors
of princes. Let, therefore, an accurate and full treatise be
wrote upon this fertile and copious subject. But we do not
mean, that these characters should be received in ethics
as perfect civil images, but rather as outlines, and first
drafts of the images themselves, which, being variously
compounded and mixed one among another, afford all kinds
of portraits. So that an artificial and accurate dissection
may be made of men's minds and natures, and the secret
disposition of each particular man laid open, that, from a
knowledge of the whole, the precepts concerning the cures
of the mind may be more rightly formed.6

And not only the characters of dispositions impressed

6 Compare "Les Caracteres des Passions," par M. de la Chambre, ed. Amst.
1658; M. Clarmont, "De Conjectandis latentibus Animi Affectibus, " reprinted
by Conringius; "Neuheusii Theatrum Ingenii humani, seu de Hominum cogno-
scenda Indole et Animi Secretis," 1633; Mr. Evelyn's digression concerning
Physiognomy, in his Discourse of Medals; "Les Caracteres de Theophraste,
avec les Mceurs de ce Siecle," par M. de la Bruyere, 1700. See "Stollii Intro-
ductio in Historiam Literariam," p. 823. See also more to this purpose above,
sect. iv. — Ed.

326 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

by nature should be received into this treatise, but those
also which are otherwise imposed upon the mind by the
sex, age, country, state of health, make of body, etc. And
again, those which proceed from fortune, as in princes,
nobles, common people, the rich, the poor, magistrates, the
ignorant, the happy, the miserable, etc. Thus we see Plau-
tus makes it a kind of miracle to find an old man beneficent.

"Benignitas quidem hujus oppido ut adolescentuli est." '

And St. Paul, commanding a severity of discipline toward
the Cretans, accuses the temper of that nation from the
poet: "The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and slow
bellies." 8 Sallust notes it of the temper of kings, that it is
frequent with them to desire contradictories — "Plerumque
regiae voluntates, ut vehementes sunt; sic mobiles, saepeque
ipsae sibi- adversae."9 Tacitus observes, that "honors and
dignities commonly change the temper of mankind for the
worse." "Solus Vespasianus mutatus in melius." 10 Pindar
remarks that "a sudden flush of good fortune generally
enervates and slackens the mind."

"Sunt qui raagnara felicltatem concoquere non possimt. " u

The Psalmist intimates, that it is easier to hold a mean in
the height, than in the increase of fortune — "If riches fly to
thee, set not thy heart upon them." 12 It is true, Aristotle,
in his Ehetorics, cursorily mentions some such observations;
and so do others up and down in their writings: but they
were never yet incorporated into moral philosophy, whereto
they principally belong, as much as treatises of the differ
ence of the soil and glebe belong to agriculture, or dis
courses of the different complexions or habits of the body
to medicine. The thing must, therefore, be now procured,
unless we would imitate the rashness of empirics, who em
ploy the same remedies in all diseases and constitutions.

7 Miles Gloriosus, act 3. sc. i. v. 39. 8 Epist. Tit. i. 12.

9 Jugurtha, i, 50. 10 Hist. i. 53, toward the end.

11 Or, Karajre^ai fttyav 6A/3oi> OVK eSvi-aaflij.— Olymp. i. 65. 12 Psalm Ixi. 1 1.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 327

Next to this doctrine of characters follows the doctrine
of affections and perturbations, which, we observed above,
are the diseases of the mind. For as the ancient politicians
said of democracies, that "the people were like the sea, and
the orators like the wind"; so it may be truly said, that
the nature of the mind would be unruffled and uniform, if
the affections, like the winds, did not disturb it. And here,
again, we cannot but remember that Aristotle, who wrote so
many books of ethics, should never treat of the affections,
which are a principal branch thereof; and yet has given
them a place in his Rhetorics, where they come to be but
secondarily considered:13 for his discourses of pleasure and
pain by no means answer the ends of such a treatise, no
more than a discourse of light and splendor would give the
doctrine of particular colors: for pleasure and pain are to
particular affections, as light is to colors. The Stoics, so
far as may be conjectured from what we have left of them,
cultivated this subject better, yet they rather dwelt upon
subtile definitions than gave any full and copious treatise
upon it. We also find a few short elegant pieces upon some
of the affections; as upon anger, false modesty, and two or
three more; but to say the truth, the poets and historians
are the principal teachers of this science; for they com
monly paint to the life in what particular manner the affec
tions are to be raised and inflamed, and how to be soothed
and laid; how they are to be checked and restrained from
breaking into action ; how they discover themselves, though
suppressed and smothered ; what operations they have ; what
turns they take; how they mutually intermix; and how they
oppose each other, etc. Among which, the latter is of ex
tensive use in moral and civil affairs; I mean, how far one
passion may regulate another, and how they employ each
other's assistance to conquer some one, after the manner of
hunters and fowlers, who take beast with beast, and bird
with bird; which man, perhaps, without such assistance,

13 See b. ii. and cf. Eth. Nic. ii. 4, 1.

328 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

could not so easily do. And upon this foundation rests
that excellent and universal use of rewards and punishments
in civil life.14 For these are the supports of states, and sup
press all the other noxious affections by those two predomi
nant ones, fear and hope. And, as in civil government, one
faction frequently bridles and governs another; the case is
the same in the internal government of the mind.16

We come now to those things which are within our own
power, and work upon the mind, and affect and govern the
will and the appetite; whence they have great efficacy in
altering the manners. And here philosophers should dili
gently inquire into the powers and energy of custom, exer
cise, habit, education, example, imitation, emulation, com
pany, friendship, praise, reproof, exhortation, reputation,
laws, books, studies, etc. ; for these are the things which
reign in men's morals. By these agents the mind is formed
and subdued; and of these ingredients remedies are pre
pared, which, so far as human means can reach, conduce to
the preservation and recovery of the health of the mind.

To give an instance or two in custom and habit, the
opinion of Aristotle seems narrow and careless, which
asserts that u custom has no power over those actions which
are natural" ;16 using this example, that if a stone be a thou
sand times thrown up into the air, yet it will acquire no
tendency to a spontaneous ascent. And again, that "by
often seeing or hearing, we see and hear never the better."
For though this may hold in some things, where nature is
absolute, yet it is otherwise in things where nature admits
intension and remission in a certain latitude. He might
have seen, that a strait glove, by being often drawn upon

14 See Butler's "Analogy," chap, on rewards and punishments.

15 See "Lselius Peregririus de noscendis et emendandia Animi Affectionibus, "
ed. Lipsiie, 1714; "Placcius de Typo Medieinaa moralis" ; M. Perault, "De
1'Usage des Passions," 1668; "Johan. Francisc. Buddseus de Morbis mentis
humanee, de Sanitate mentis humanee, et de Remediis morborum, quibua mena
laborat," in his "Elementa Philosophise Praclicae," lib. de Phiiosophia morali,
sect. iii. cap. 3, 4, 6. See "Stollii Introduct. in Historiam Literariam," pp. 813,
814.— Shaw.

16 Nicom. Eth. ii. last ch.

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the hand, will become easy; that a stick, by use and con
tinuance, will acquire and retain a bend contrary to its
natural one; that the voice, by exercise, becomes stronger
and more sonorous; that heat and cold grow more tolerable
by custom, etc. And these last two examples come nearer
to the point than those he has produced. Be this as it will,
the more certain he had found it that virtues and vices
depended upon habit, the more he should have endeavored
to prescribe rules how such habits were to be acquired or
left off; since numerous precepts may be formed for the
prudent directing of exercises, as well those of the mind as
the body. We will here mention a few of them.

And the first shall be, that from the beginning we be
ware of imposing both more difficult, and more superficial
tasks than the thing requires. For if too great a burden be
laid upon a middling genius, it blunts the cheerful spirit of
hope; and if upon a confident one, it raises an opinion, from
which he promises himself more than he can perform, which
leads to indolence; and in both cases the experiment will
not answer expectation. And this always dejects and con
founds the mind. But if the tasks are too light, a great
loss is sustained in the amount of the progress.

Secondly, to procure a habit in the exercise of any fac
ulty, let two seasons be principally observed: the one when
the mind is best, and the other when it is worst disposed
for business; that by the former, the greater despatch may
be made; and by the latter, the obstructions of the mind
may be borne down with a strenuous application; whence
the intermediate times slide away the more easily and
agreeably.

The third example shall be the precept which Aristotle
transiently mentions; viz., to endeavor our utmost against
that whereto we are strongly impelled by nature; thus, as
it were, rowing against the stream, or bending a crooked
stick the contrary way, in order to bring it straight.17

11 Nicom. Eth. ii. 95, toward the end.

830 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

A fourth precept may be founded on this sure principle;
that the mind is easier, and more agreeably drawn on to
those things which are not principally intended by the oper
ator, but conquered or obtained without premeditated de
sign, because our nature is such, as in a manner hates to be
commanded. There are many other useful precepts for the
regulating of custom; and if custom be prudently and skil
fully introduced, it really becomes a second nature; but if
unskilfully and casually treated, it will be but the ape of
nature, and imitate nothing to the life, or awkwardly, and
with deformity.

So with regard to books, studies, and influence over our
manners, there are numerous useful rules and directions.
One of the fathers, in great severity, called poetry the
devil's wine; as indeed it begets many temptations, de
sires, and vain opinions. And it is a very prudent saying
of Aristotle, deserving to be well considered, that "young
men are improper hearers of moral philosophy,"18 because
the heat of their passions is not yet allayed and tempered by
time and experience. And to say the truth, the reason why
the excellent writings and moral discourses of the ancients
have so little effect upon our lives and manners, seems to
be, that they are not usually read by men of ripe age and
judgment, but wholly left to inexperienced youths and
children. And are not young men much less fit for poli
tics than for ethics, before they are well seasoned with
religion, and the doctrines of morality and civility ? For
being, perhaps, depraved and corrupted in their judgment,
they are apt to think that moral differences are not real and
solid; but that all things are to be measured by utility and
success. Thus the poet said, "Successful villany is called
virtue" — "Prosperum et felix scelus, virtus vocatur. "J9
And again, "Ille crucem pretium sceleris tulit, hie dia-
dema."ao The poets, indeed, speak in this manner satiri
cally, and through indignation; but some books of politics

18 Nic. Eth. i. 15. 19 Seneca, Here. Fur. v. 251. 80 Juv. Sat. xiii. 105.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 331

suppose the same positively, and in earnest. For Machia-
vel is pleased to say, "if Caesar had been conquered, he
would have become more odious than Catiline:" as if there
was no difference, except in point of fortune, between a fury
made up of lust and blood, and a noble spirit, of all natural
men the most to be admired, but for his ambition. And
hence we see how necessary it is for men to be fully in
structed in moral doctrines and religious duties, before they
proceed to politics. For those bred up from their youth in
the courts of princes, and the midst of civil affairs, can
scarce ever obtain a sincere and internal probity of manners.
Again, caution also is to be used even in moral instruc
tions, or at least in some of them, lest men should thence
become stubborn, arrogant, and unsociable. So Cicero says
of Cato: "The divine and excellent qualities we see in him
are his own; but the things he sometimes fails' in are all
derived, not from nature, but his instructors."81 There are
many other axioms and directions concerning the things
which studies and books beget in the minds of men; for it
is true that studies enter our manners, and so do conversa
tion, reputation, the laws, etc.

But there is another cure of the mind, which seems still
more accurate and elaborate than the rest; depending upon
this foundation, that the minds of all men are, at certain
times, in a more perfect, and at others in a more depraved
state. The design of this cure is, therefore, to improve the
good times, and expunge the bad. There are two practical
methods of fixing the good times; viz., 1, determined reso
lutions; and 2, observances or exercises; which are not of
so much significance in themselves, as because they contin
ually keep the mind in its duty. There are also two ways
of expunging the bad times; viz., by some kind of redemp
tion, or expiation of what is past, and a new regulation of
life for the future. But this part belongs to religion, where
to moral philosophy is, as we said before, the genuine
handmaid.

21 Pro L. Mursena, 39.

332 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

We will therefore conclude these georgics of the mind
with that remedy which of all others is the shortest, noblest,
and most effectual for forming the mind to virtue, and plac
ing it near a state of perfection; viz., that we choose and
propose to ourselves just and virtuous ends of our lives and
actions, yet such as we have in some degree the faculty of
obtaining. For if the ends of our actions are good and vir
tuous, and the resolutions of our mind for obtaining them
fixed and constant, the mind will directly mold and form
itself at once to all kinds of virtue. And this is certainly
an operation resembling the works of nature, while the
others above mentioned seem only manual. Thus the stat
uary finishes only that part of the figure upon which his
hand is employed, without meddling with the others at that
time, which are still but unfashioned marble; whereas na
ture, on the contrary, when she works upon a flower or an
animal, forms the rudiments of all the parts at once.82 So
when virtues are acquired by habit, while we endeavor at
temperance, we make but little advances toward fortitude
or the other virtues; but when we are once entirely devoted
to just and honorable ends, whatever the virtue be which
those ends recommend and direct, we shall find ourselves
ready disposed, and possessed of some propensity to obtain
and express it. And this may be that state of mind which
Aristotle excellently describes, not as virtuous, but divine.23
His words are these: "We may contrast humanity with that
virtue which is above it, as being heroic and divine." And
a little further on: "For as savage creatures are incapable
of vice or virtue, so is the Deity." For the divine state
is above virtue, which is only the absence of vice. So
Pliny proposes the virtue of Trajan, not as an imitation, but

22 Harvey, who was Bacon's physician, and the most celebrated anatomist
of his day, contradicts this doctrine, affirming that nature operates like man by
production and elaboration of parts. — Ed.

23 "Humanitati autem consentaneurn est opponere earn quse supra humani-
tatem est heroicam sive divinam virtutem"; and a little after, "Nam ut ferse
neque vitium ueque virtus est, hie neque Dei: sed hie quidem status altius
quiddam virtute est, Hie aliud quiddam a vitio. " — Nic. Ethics, vii. 1. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 333

as an example of the divine virtue, when he says, "Men
need make no other prayers to the gods than that they
would be but as good and propitious to morals as Trajan
was."24 But this savors of the profane arrogance of the
heathens, who grasped at shadows larger than the life. The
Christian religion comes to the point, by impressing charity
upon the minds of men; which is most appositely called the
bond of perfection,25 because it ties up and fastens all the
virtues together. And it was elegantly said by Menander of
sensual love, which is a bad imitation of the divine, that it
was a better tutor for human life than a left-handed Sophist;
intimating that the grace of carriage is better formed by love
than by an awkward preceptor, whom he calls left-handed,
as he cannot by all his operose rules and precepts, form a
man so dexterously and expeditiously, to value himself f/
justly, and behave gracefully, as love can do. So, without
doubt, if the mind be possessed with the fervor of true
charity, he will rise to a higher degree of perfection than by
all the doctrine of ethics, which is but a Sophist compared
to charity. And as Xenophon well observed,28 while the
other passions, though they raise the mind, yet distort and
discompose it by their ecstasies and excesses; while love
alone, at the same time composes and dilates it; so all other
human endowments which we admire, while they exalt and
enlarge our nature, are yet liable to extravagance: but of
charity alone there is no excess. The angels aspiring to be
like God in power, transgressed and fell: "I will ascend,
and be like the Most High";27 and man aspiring to be like
God in knowledge, transgressed and fell: "Ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil": but in aspiring to be like
God in goodness or charity, neither man nor angel can or
shall transgress. Nay, we are invited to an imitation of it:
"Love your enemies; do good to those that hate you; pray
for those that despitefjilly use and persecute you; that ye
may be the children of your Father, which is in heaven: for

*4 Paneg. Ixxiv. § 4 and 5. *= Colos. Hi.

56 Cyropsedia. 21 Isa xiv> 14

334 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

he maketh his sun to rise upon the good and upon the evil,
and sends his rain upon the just and upon the unjust."28
And thus we conclude this part of moral doctrine, relating
to the georgics of the mind.

So in the archetype of the Divine nature — the heathen
religion — the words "Optimus maximus, T' and the Scripture
pronounces the mercy of God to be above all his works.29

We have now concluded that portion of morals which
appertains to the georgics of the mind; and should any one
imagine, in reading the different parts of this science which
we have already handled, that all our labor consists in unit
ing into one digest of the sciences all that has been neg
lected by other writers, and that such a work is at best only
supplying what is clear and evident, and easily arrived at
by reflection, let him freely enjoy his judgment; but at the
same time we beg him to keep in mind our first assertion,
that we sought in these researches, not the flourish and
ornament of things, but theix use and verity. He may also
recall the ancient parable of the Two Gates of Sleep:

"Sunt gemmae Somni Portoe, quarum altera fertur
Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris:
Altera, candenti perfecta nitens elephanto;
Sed falsa ad coelum mitt.unt insomnia manes." ^

A gate of ivory is indeed very stately, but true dreams pass
through the gate of horn.

There might, however, be added, by way of appendix,
this observation, that there is a certain relation and con-
gruity found between the good of the mind and the good
of the body. For as the good of the body consists in—
1. Health; 2. Comeliness; 3. Strength; and, 4. Pleasure-
so the good of the mind, considered in a moral light, tends
to render it — 1. Sound and calm; 2. Graceful; 3. Strong
and agile for all the offices of life; and, 4. Possessed of
a constant quick sense of pleasure* and noble satisfaction.
But as the four former excellences are seldom found to-

28 Matt. v. 44. 29 Eccles. xviii. 12. *° Virg. Mn. vi. 893.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 335

gether in the body, so are the four latter seldom found
together in the mind.31 For it is evident that many are full
of wit and courage, without being either calm or elegant in
their deportment, or beautiful in their person; others again
possess an elegant and fine deportment, and yet eschew
honesty and justice; others again have pure minds, but
without any qualifications for the business of life;38 others
who perchance unite all these three qualities, possess a
sullen humor of stoical sadness and stupidity — they practice
a virtue, but refuse to enjoj1 its pleasures; and if perchance
of these qualities two or three are sometimes found together,
it seldom if ever happens that all four can be met with in
the same person. And thus we have finished that principal
branch of human philosophy, which considers man out of
society, and as consisting of a body and a soul.

EIGHTH BOOK

CHAPTER I

Civil Knowledge divided into the Art of Conversation, the A_rt of Negotiation,
and the Art of State Policy

THERE goes an old tradition, excellent King, that many
Grecian philosophers had a solemn meeting before
the ambassador of a foreign prince, where each en
deavored to show his parts, that the ambassador might have
somewhat to relate of the Grecian wisdom; but one among
the number kept silence, so that the ambassador, turning to

31 This doctrine of the georgics of the mind is expressly endeavored to be
supplied by Professor "Weseufeld, in the books he entitles "Arnoldi Weeenfeld
Georgica Anirai et Vitse, seu Pathologia practica, moralis nempe et civilis, ex
physicis ubique fontibus repetita." Francof. 1695, and 1712. Some account
of "this work is given in the "Acta Eruditorum." Mens. August, 1696. See
also "Joan. Franc. Brudens de Cultura Ingeniorura," ed. Halse, 1699. — Shaw.

32 Mirabeau expressed the same sentiment with his usual felicity. Energy
of character is scarcely ever found except in union with violent temperaments.
The wicked only are active. — -Ed.

336 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

him, asked, "But what have you to say, that I may report
it?" He answered, "Tell your king that you have found
one among the Greeks who knew how to be silent."1
Indeed, I had forgot in this compendium of arts to insert
the art of silence. For as we are now soon to be led, by
the course of the work, to treat the subject of government;
and knowing that I write to a king who is so perfect a mas
ter of this science since his infancy, and being also mindful
of the high office I hold under your Majesty, we thought
we could not have a better occasion for putting the art of
silence in practice.2 Cicero makes mention not only of an
art, but even of an eloquence to be found in silence; and
relates in an epistle to Atticus, how once in conversation
he made use of this art: "On this occasion," says he, "I
assumed a part of your eloquence; for I said nothing."
And Pindar, who peculiarly strikes the mind unexpectedly
with some short surprising sentence, has this among the
rest: "Things unsaid have sometimes a greater effect than
said." And, therefore, I have determined either to be
silent upon this subject, or, what is next to it, very concise.
Civil knowledge turns upon a subject of all others the
most immersed in matter, and therefore very difficult to
reduce to axioms. And yet there are some things that ease
the difficulty. For, 1, as Cato said, "that the Romans were
like sheep, easier to drive in the flock than single"; so in
this respect the office of ethics is in some degree more diffi
cult than that of politics.3 2. Again, ethics endeavors to
tinge and furnish the mind with internal goodness, while
civil doctrine requires no more than external goodness,
which is sufficient for society.4 Whence it often happens,

1 Plut. Moral.

2 The author here makes a compliment of his silence to King James, deem
ing it impertinent to speak of the arts of empire, to one who knew them so well;
but the true reason appears to be, that he thought it improper to reveal the
mysteries of state. See below, sect. xxv. — Ed.

3 Plut. Cato.

4 Hence there ought to be a due difference preserved between ethics and
politics, though many writers seem to mix them together; and form a promis
cuous doctrine of the law of nature, morality, policy, and religion together; as
particularly certain Scriptural casuists, and political divines. — Sliaiv.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 337

that a reign may be good and the times bad. Thus we
sometimes find in sacred history, when mention is made of
good and pious kings, that the people had not yet turned
their hearts to the Lord God of their fathers. And there
fore, in this respect also, ethics has the harder task. 3.
States are moved slowly, like machines, and with difficulty;
and consequently not soon put out of order. For, as in
Egypt, the seven years of plenty supplied the seven years
of famine; so in governments, the good regulation of former
times will not presently suffer the errors of the succeeding
to prove destructive. But the resolutions and manners
of particular persons are more suddenly subverted; and
this, in the last place, bears hard upon ethics, but favors
politics.

Civil knowledge has three parts, suitable to the three
principal acts of society; viz., 1. Conversation; 2. Business;
and 3. Government. For there are three kinds of good that
men desire to procure by civil society; viz., 1. Eefuge from
solitude; 2. Assistance in the affairs of life; and 3. Protec
tion against injuries. And thus there are three kinds of
prudence, very different, and frequently separated from
each other; viz., 1. Prudence in conversation; 2. Prudence
in business; 3. Prudence in government.5

Conversation, as it ought not to be overaffected, much

5 From a mixture of these three parts of civil doctrine, there has of late been
formed a new kind of doctrine, which they call by the name of civil prudence.
This doctrine has been principally cultivated among the Germans; though hith
erto carried to no great length. Hermannus Conringius has dwelt upon it at
considerable length, in his book "De Civili Prudentia," published in the year
KG2; and Christian Thomasius has treated it excellently in the little piece en
titled, "PrimaB Linese de Jure-consultorum Prudentia Consultatoria, " etc., first
published in the year 1705, but the third edition, with notes, in 1712. The
heads it considers, are, 1, "de Prudentia in genere" ; 2, "de Prudentia consul-
tatoria"; 3, "de Prudentia Juris-consultorum" ; 4, "de Prudentia consulendi
intuitu actionum propriarum" ; 5, "de Prudentia dirigendi actiones proprias in
conversatione quotidiana" ; 6, "de Prudentia in conversatione selecta" ; 7, "de
Prudentia intuitu societatum domesticarum" ; 8, "de Prudentia in societate
civili"; and 9, "de Prudentia alios et aliis consulendi." The little piece also
of Andr. Bossius, "De Prudentia Givili comparauda," deserves the perusal.
See Morhof, "De Prudentise Civilis Scriptoribus" ; "Struvii Bibliotheca Philo-
sophica," cap. 7 ; and "Stoliii Introductio in Historiam Literariam, de Prudentia
Politica. "— Shaw.

SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —15

338 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

less should it be slighted; since a prudent conduct therein
not only expresses a certain gracefulness in men's manners,
but is also of great assistance in the commodious despatch
both of public and private business. For as action, though
an external thing, is so essential to an orator as to be pre
ferred before the other weighty and more internal parts of
that art, so conversation, though it consist but of externals,
is, if not the principal, at least a capital thing in the man
of business, and the prudent management of affairs. What
effect the countenance may have, appears from the precept
of the poet — "Contradict not your words by your look" —

"Nee vultu destrue verba tuo." 6

For a man may absolutely cancel and betray the force of
speech by his countenance. And so may actions them
selves, as well as words, be destroyed by the look; accord
ing to Cicero, who, recommending affability to his brother
toward the provincials, tells him it did not wholly consist
in giving easy access to them, unless he also received them
with an obliging carriage. "It is doing nothing," says he,
"to admit them with an open door and a locked- up coun
tenance."

"Nil interest habere ostium apertum, vultum clausum. " 7

We learn also that Atticus, previous to the first interview
between Cicero and Caesar, in which the issue of the war
was involved, seriously advised his friend, in his letters, to
compose his countenance and assume a calm tranquillity.
But if the management of the face alone has so great an
effect, how much greater is that of familiar conversation,
with all its attendants. Indeed the whole of decorum and
elegance of manners seems to rest in weighing and maintain
ing, with an even balance, the dignity between ourselves
and others; which is well expressed by Livy, though upon
a different occasion, in that character of a person, where

6 Ovid, Ars Amandi, i. 312. 7 De Petit. Consulatus, xi. 44.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

he says, that I may neither seem arrogant nor obnoxious;
that is, neither forget my own nor others' liberty.8

On the other side; a devotion to urbanity and external
elegance terminates in an awkward and disagreeable affec
tation. For what is more preposterous than to copy the
theatres in real life? And though we did not fall into
this vicious extreme, yet we should waste time and depress
the mind too much by attending to such lighter matters.
Therefore, as in universities, the students, too fond of com
pany, are usually told by their tutors, that friends are the
thieves of time; so the assiduous application to the decorum
of conversation steals from the weightier considerations.
Again, they who stand in the first rank for urbanity, and
seem born, as it were, for this alone, seldom take pleasure
in anything else, and scarce ever rise to the higher and more
solid virtues. On the contrary, the consciousness of a de
fect in this particular makes us seek a grace from good
opinion, which renders all things else becoming; but where
this is wanting, men endeavor to supply it by good breed
ing. And further, there is scarce any greater or more fre
quent obstruction to business, than an overcurious observ
ance of external decorum, with its attendant too solicitous
and scrupulous a choice of times and opportunities. Solo
mon admirably says, "He that regards the winds shall not
sow, and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.1'8 For
we must make opportunities oftener than we find them. In
a word, urbanity is like a garment to the mind, and there
fore ought to have the conditions of a garment; that is —
1, it should be fashionable; 2, not too delicate or costly; 3, it
should be so made, as principally to show the reigning virtue
of the mind, and to supply or conceal deformity; 4, and
lastly, above all things, it must not be too strait, so as to

8 Speech of Hanno. "Nunc mterroganti senatori, poeniteatne me adhuc
suscepti adversus Romanes belli ? si reticeam, aut superbus aut obnoxius videar;
quorum alterum est hominis alienee libertatis obliti, alterum suse." Livy, b.
xxiii. c. 12.

9 Eccles. xi. 4.

340 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

cramp the mind and confine its motions in business. But
this part of civil doctrine relating to conversation is ele
gantly treated by some writers, and can by no means be
reported as deficient.1*

CHAPTEE II

WE DIVIDE the doctrine of business into the doc
trine of various occasions, and the doctrine of
rising in life. The first includes all the possible
variety of affairs, and is as the amanuensis to common life;
but the other collects and suggests such things only as regard
the improvement of a man's private fortune, and may there
fore serve each person as a private register of his affairs.

No one has hitherto treated the doctrine of business suit
ably to its merit, to the 'great prejudice of the character
both of learning and learned men; for from hence proceeds
the mischief, which has fixed it as a reproach upon men of
letters, that learning and civil prudence are seldom found
together. And if we rightly observe those three kinds of
prudence, which we lately said belong to civil life, that of
conversation is generally despised by men of learning as a
servile thing and an enemy to contemplation: and for the

10 It seems of late more cultivated among the French and Germans, than
among the English. The "Morale du Monde''; the "Modeles de Conversa
tion"; the "Reflexions sur la Ridicule, and sur les moyens de 1'eviter" ; "La
Politesse des Moaurs" ; "L'Art de Plaire dans la Conversation"; and Frid.
Gentzkenius's "Doctrina de Decoro, " in his Systema Philosophise, deserve
perusal. This last work, published in Germany, treats 1, of the nature of
decorum and its foundation; 2, of national decorum; 3, of human decorum;
4, the decorum of youth and age; 5, the decorum of men and women; 6, the
decorum of husband and wife; 7, the decorum of the clergy; 8, the decorum
of princes; and 9, the decorum of the nobility and men of letters. See "Stollii
Introductio in Historian! Literariarn, de Doctrina ejus quod est Decorum," p.
795-6.— Shaw.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 341

government of states, though learned men acquit themselves
well when advanced to the helm, yet this promotion hap
pens to few of them; but for the present subject, the pru
dence of business, upon which our lives principally turn,
there are no books extant about it, except a few civil ad
monitions, collected into a little volume or two, by no means
adequate to the copiousness of the subject. But if books
were written upon this subject as upon others, we doubt not
that learned men, furnished with tolerable experience, would
far excel the unlearned, furnished with much greater experi
ence, and outshoot them in their own bow.

Nor need we apprehend that the matter of this science is
too various to fall under precept, for it is much less exten
sive than the doctrine of government, which yet we find
very well cultivated. There seem to have been some pro
fessors of this kind of prudence among the Eomans in their
best days; for Cicero declares it was the custom, a little be
fore his time, among the Senators most famous for knowl
edge and experience, as Coruncanius, Curius, Laelius, etc.,
to walk the forum at certain hours, where they offered them
selves to be consulted by the people, not so much upon law,
but upon business of all kinds; as the marriage of a daugh
ter, the education of a son, the purchasing of an estate, and
other occasions of common life.1 Whence it appears, that
there is a certain prudence of advising even in private affairs,
and derivable from a universal knowledge of civil business,
experience, and general observation of similar cases. So
we find the book which Q. Cicero wrote to his brother, De
Petitione Consulatus (the only treatise, so far as we know,
extant upon any particular business), though it regarded
chiefly the giving advice upon that present occasion, yet
contains many particular axioms of politics, which were not
only of temporary use, but prescribe a certain permanent
rule for popular elections. But in this kind, there is noth
ing any way comparable to the aphorisms of Solomon, of
whom the Scripture bears testimony, that "his heart was as

1 Orat. § iii. 33.

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the sand of the sea.77 2 For the sand of the sea encompasses
the extremities of the whole earth; so his wisdom compre
hended all things, both human and divine. And in those
aphorisms are found many excellent civil precepts and ad
monitions, besides things of a more theological nature, flow
ing from the depth and innermost bosom of wisdom, and
running out into a most spacious field of variety. And as
we place the doctrine of various occasions among the desid
erata of the sciences, we will here dwell upon it a little, and
lay down an example thereof, in the way of explaining some
of these aphorisms or proverbs of Solomon.

A SPECIMEN OF THE DOCTRINE OF VARIOUS OCCASIONS IN

THE COMMON BUSINESS OF LIFE, BY WAY OF

APHORISM AND EXPLANATION

APHORISM I. — A soft answer appeases anger3

If the anger of a prince or superior be kindled against
you, and it be now your turn to speak, Solomon directs, 1,
that an answer be made; and, 2, that it be soft. The first
rule contains three precepts; viz., 1, to guard against a mel
ancholy and stubborn silence, for this either turns the fault
wholly upon you, as if you could make no answer, or
secretly impeaches your superior, as if his ears were not
open to a just defence. 2. To beware of delaying the
thing, and requiring a longer day for your defence; which
either accuses your superior of passion, or signifies that you
are preparing some artificial turn or color. So that it is
always best directly to say something for the present, in
your own excuse, as the occasion requires. And, 3. To
make a real answer, an answer, not a mere confession or
bare submission, but a mixture of apology and excuse. For
it is unsafe to do otherwise, unless with very generous and
noble spirits, which are extremely rare. Then follows the
second rule, that the answer be mild and soft, not stiff and
irritating.

8 III. Kings iv. 27. 3 Prov. xv. 1

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 343

II. — A prudent servant shall rule over a foolish son, and divide the inheritance
among the brethren4

In every jarring family there constantly rises up some
servant or humble friend of sway, who takes upon him to
compose their differences at his own discretion; to whom,
for that reason, the whole family, even the master himself, is
subject. If this man has a view to his own ends, he foments
and aggravates the differences of the family; but if he prove
just and upright, he is certainly very deserving. So that he
may be reckoned even as one of the brethren, or at least
have the direction of the inheritance in trust.

III. — If a wise man contends with a fool, whether he be in anger or in jest,

there is no quiet5

We are frequently admonished to avoid unequal con
flicts; that is, not to strive with tl ~ronger: but the admo
nition of Solomon is no less useful, that we should not strive
with the worthless; for here the match is very unequal,
where it is no victory to conquer, and a great disgrace to be
conquered. Nor does it signify if, in such a conquest, we
should sometimes deal as in jest, and sometimes in the way
of disdain and contempt; for what course soever we take, we
are losers, and can never come handsomely off. But the
worst case of all is, if our antagonist have something of the
fool in him, that is, if he be confident and headstrong.

IV. — Listen not to all that is spoken, lest thou shouldst hear thy servant
curse thee6

It is scarce credible what uneasiness is created in lire by
a useless curiosity about the things that concern us; as when
we pry into such secrets, as, being discovered, give us dis
taste, but afford no assistance or relief. For, 1, there fol
lows vexation and disquiet of mind, as all human things are
full of perfidiousness and ingratitude. So that though we
could procure some magic glass, wherein to view the ani
mosities, and all that malice which is any way at work

4 Prov. xvii. 2. 5 Prov. xxix. 9. • Eccles. vii. 22.

844 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

against us, it were better for us to break it directly than to
use it. For these things are bat as the rustling of leaves,
soon over. 2. This curiosity always loads the mind with
suspicion, which is a violent enemy to counsels, and renders
them unsteady and perplexed. 3. It also frequently fixes
the evils themselves, which would otherwise have blown
over: for it is a dangerous thing to provoke the consciences
of men, who, so long as they think themselves concealed,
are easily changed for the better; but if they once find them
selves discovered, drive out one evil with another. It was
therefore justly esteemed the utmost prudence in Pompey
that he directly burned all the papers of Sertorius, unpe-
rased by himself or others.

V. — Poverty comes as a traveller, but want as an armed man7

This aphorism elegantly describes how prodigals, and
such as take no care of their affairs, make shipwreck of their
fortunes. For debt, and diminution of the capital, at first
steals on gradually and almost imperceptibly like a travel
ler, but soon after want invades as an armed man; that is,
with a hand so strong and powerful as can no longer be re
sisted ; for it was justly said by the ancients, that necessity
is of all things the strongest. We must, therefore, prevent
the traveller, and guard against the armed man.

VI. — He who instructs a scoffer, procures to himself reproach; and he who
reproves a wicked man, procures to himself a stain8

This agrees with the precept of our Saviour, not to throw
pearls before swine.9 This aphorism distinguishes between
the actions of precept and reproof, and again between the
persons of the scorner and the wicked, and lastly, the reward
is distinguished. In the former case, precept is repaid by a
loss of labor, and in the latter, of reproof, it is repaid with
a stain also. For when any one instructs and teaches a
scorner, he first loses his time; in the next place, others
laugh at his labor, as fruitless and misapplied; and lastly,

7 Prov. vi. 11, and xxiv. 34. 8 Prov. ix. 7. 9 Matt. vii. 6.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 345

the scorner himself disdains the knowledge delivered. But
there is more danger in reproving a wicked man, who not
only lends no ear, but turns again, and either directly rails
at his admonisher, who has now made himself odious to
him; or, at least, afterward traduces him to others.

VII. — A wise son rejoices his father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to
his mother10

The domestic joys and griefs of father and mother from
their children are here distinguished; for a prudent and
hopeful son is a capital pleasure to the father, who knows
the value of virtue better than the mother, and therefore re
joices more at his son's disposition to virtue. This joy may
also be heightened, perhaps, from seeing the good effect of
his own management, in the education of his son, so as to
form good morals in him by precept and example. On the
other hand, the mother suffers and partakes the most in the
calamity of her son, because the maternal affection is the
more soft and tender: and again, perhaps, because she is
conscious that her indulgence has spoiled and depraved him.

VIII. — The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked
shall rot11

We have here that distinction between the character of
good and evil men, which usually takes place after death.
For in the case of good men, when envy, that pursues them
while alive, is extinguished, their name presently flourishes,
and their fame increases every day. But the fame of bad
men, though it may remain for a while, through the favor
of friends and faction, yet soon becomes odious, and at
length degenerates into infamy, and ends, as it were, in a
loathsome odor.

IX. — He who troubles his own house, shall inherit the wind12

This is a very useful admonition, as to domestic jars and
differences. For many promise themselves great matters

10 Prov. x. 1. » Prov. x. 7. 12 Prov. xi. 29.

346 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

from the separation of their wives, the disinheriting of their
children, the frequent changing of servants, etc., as if they
should thence procure greater peace of mind, or a more suc
cessful administration of their affairs; but such hopes com
monly turn to wind; these changes being seldom for the
better. And such disturbers of their families often meet
with various crosses and ingratitude, from those they after
ward adopt and choose. They, by this means, also bring ill
reports, and ambiguous rumors upon themselves. For as
Cicero well observes, "All men's characters proceed from
their domestics." 13 And both these mischiefs Solomon
elegantly expresses by the "possession of the wind": for
the frustration of expectation, and the raising of rumors,
are justly compared to the winds.

X. — The end of a discourse is better than the beginnng14

This aphorism corrects a common error, prevailing not
only among such as principally study words, but also the
more prudent; viz., that men are more solicitous about the
beginnings and entrances of their discourses than about
the conclusions, and more exactly labor their prefaces and
introductions than their closes. Whereas they ought not
to neglect the former, but should have the latter, as being
things of far the greater consequence, ready prepared be
forehand; casting about with themselves, as much as possi
ble, what may be the last issue of the discourse, and how
business may be thence forwarded and ripened. They
ought further, not only to consider the windings up of dis
courses relating to business, but to regard also such turns
as may be advantageously and gracefully given upon de
parture, even though they should be quite foreign to the
matter in hand. It was the constant practice of two great
and prudent privy counsellors, on whom the weight of the
kingdom chiefly rested, as often as they discoursed with
their princes upon matters of state, never to end the con
versation with what regarded the principal subject; but

13 Petit. Consulates, § 5. 14 Eccles. vii. 9.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 347

always to go off with a jest, or some pleasant device; and
as the proverb runs, "Washing off their salt-water dis
courses with fresh at the conclusion." And this was one
of the principal arts they had.

XI. — As dead flies cause the best; ointment to yield an ill odor, so does a little
folly to a man in reputation for wisdom and honor15

The condition of men eminent for virtue is, as this aph
orism excellently observes, exceeding hard and miserable;
because their errors, though ever so small, are not over
looked. But as in a clear diamond, every little grain, or
speck, strikes the eye disagreeably, though it would not be
observed in a duller stone; so in men of eminent virtue,
their smallest vices are readily spied, talked of; and severely
censured; while in an ordinary man, they would either have
lain concealed, or been easily excused. Whence a little
folly in a very wise man, a small slip in a very good man,
and a little indecency in a polite and elegant man, greatly
diminish their characters and reputations. It might, there
fore, be no bad policy, for men of uncommon excellences
to intermix with their actions a few absurdities, that may be
committed without vice, in order to reserve a liberty, and
confound the observation of little defects.

XII. — Scornful men in snare a city, but wise men prevent calamity18

It may seem strange, that in the description of men,
formed, as it were, by nature, for the destruction of states,
Solomon should choose the character, not of a proud and
haughty, not of a tyrannical and cruel, not of a rash and
violent, not of a seditious and turbulent, not of a foolish
or incapable man, but the character of a scorner. Yet this
choice is becoming the wisdom of that king, who well kne^
how governments were subverted, and how preserved. For
there is scarce such another destructive thing to kingdoms,
and commonwealths, as that the counsellors, or senators,
who sit at the helm, should be naturally scorners; who, to

15 Eccles. x. 1. 16 Prov. xxix, 8.

348 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

show themselves courageous advisers, are always extenu
ating the greatness of dangers, insulting, as fearful wretches,
those who weigh them as they ought, and ridiculing the
ripening delays gf counsel and debate, as tedious matters
of oratory, unserviceable to the general issue of business.
They despise rumors as the breath of the rabble, and things
that will soon pass over, though the counsels of princes are
to be chiefly directed from hence. They account the power
and authority of laws but nets unfit to hold great matters.
They reject, as dreams and melancholy notions, those coun
sels and precautions that regard futurity at a distance.
They satirize and banter such men as are really prudent
and knowing in affairs, or such as bear noble minds, and
are capable of advising. In short, they sap all the founda
tions of political government at once — a thing which de
serves the greater attention, as it is not effected by open
attack, but by secret undermining; nor is it, by any means,
so much suspected among mankind as it deserves.

XIII. — The prince who willingly hearkens to lies, has all his servants wicked17

When a prince is injudiciously disposed to lend a credu
lous ear to whisperers and flatterers, pestilent breath seems to
proceed from him, corrupting and infecting all his servants;
and now some search into his fears, and increase them with
fictitious rumors; some raise up in him the fury of envy,
especially against the most deserving; some, by accusing of
others, wash their own stains away; some make room for
the preferment and gratification of their friends, by calum
niating and traducing their competitors, etc. And these
agents are naturally the most vicious servants of the prince.
Those again, of better principles and dispositions, after find
ing little security in their innocence, their master not know
ing how to distinguish truth from falsehood, drop their
moral honesty, go into the eddy winds of the court, and
servilely submit to be carried about with them. For as
Tacitus says of Claudius, "There is no safety with that

" Prov. xxix. 12.

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prince, into whose mind all things are infused and
directed." 18 And Comines well observes, that "it is better
being servant to a prince whose suspicions are endless, than
whose credulity is great." 19 «•)/*•

XIY. — A just man is merciful to the life of his beast, but the mercies of

wicked are cruel'20

Nature has endowed man with a noble and excellent
principle of compassion, which extends itself even to the
brutes, that by divine appointment are made subject to
him. Whence this compassion has some resemblance with
that of a prince toward his subjects. And it is certain, that
the noblest souls are most extensively merciful; for narrow
and degenerate spirite think compassion belongs not to
them, but a great soul, the noblest part of the creation,
is ever compassionate. Thus under the old law there were
numerous precepts not merely ceremonial, as the ordaining
of mercy, for example, the not eating of flesh with the blood
thereof, etc. So, likewise, the sects of the Essenes and
Pythagoreans totally abstained from flesh, as they do also
to this day, with an in violated superstition, in some parts of
the empire of Mogul. Nay, the Turks, though a cruel and
bloody nation, both in their descent and discipline, give
alms to brutes, and suffer them not to be tortured. But
lest this principle might seem to countenance all kinds of
compassion, Solomon wholesomely subjoins, "That the
mercies of the wicked are cruel"; that is, when such great
offenders are spared, as ought to be cut off with the sword
of justice. For this kind of mercy is the greatest of all
cruelties, as cruelty affects but particular persons; while
impunity lets loose the whole army of evil-doers, and drives
them upon the innocent.

XV. — A fool speaks all his mind, but a wise man reserves something
for hereafter21

This aphorism seems principally levelled, not against the
futility of light persons, who speak what they should con-

18 Annals, xii. 3. 1S> Memoires et Chroniques du Quinzieme Sidele.

20 Prov. xii. 1. 81 Prov. xxix. 11.

350 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

ceal, nor against the pertness with which they indiscrimi
nately and injudiciously fly out upon men and things, nor
against the talkative humor with which some men disgust
their hearers, but against a more latent failing, viz., a very
imprudent and impolitic management of speech; when a
man in private conversation so directs his discourse as, in
a continued string of words, to deliver all he can say, that
any way relates to the subject, which is a great prejudice
to business. For, 1, discourse interrupted and infused by
parcels, enters deeper than if it were continued and un
broken; in which case the weight of things is not distinctly
and particularly felt, as having not time to fix themselves;
but one reason drives out another before it had taken root.
2. Again, no one is so powerful or happy in eloquence,
as at first setting out to leave the hearer perfectly mute
and silent; but he will always have something to answer,
and perhaps to object in his turn. And here it happens,
that those things which were to be reserved for confutation,
or reply, being now anticipated, lose their strength and
beauty. 3. Lastly, if a person does not utter all his mind
at once, but speaks by starts, first one thing, then another,
he will perceive from the countenance and answer of the
person spoken to, how each particular affects him, and in
what sense he takes it; and thus be directed more cautiously
to suppress or employ the matter still in reserve.

XVI. — If the displeasure of great men rise up against thee, forsake not thy
place ; for pliant behavior extenuates great offences22

This aphorism shows how a person ought to behave,
when he has incurred the displeasure of his prince. The
precept has two parts — 1, that the person quit not his post;
and 2, that he, with diligence and cautionr apply to the
cure, as of a dangerous disease. For when men see their
prince incensed against them, what through impatience of
disgrace, fear of renewing their wounds by sight, and partly
to let their prince behold their contrition and humiliation,

82 Eccles. x. 4.

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it is usual with them to retire from their office or employ,
and sometimes to resign their places and dignities into their
prince's hands. Bat Solomon disapproves this method as
pernicious. For, 1, it publishes the disgrace too much;
whence both our enemies and enviers are more emboldened
to hurt us, and our friends the more intimidated from lend
ing their assistance. 2. By this means the anger of the
prince, which perhaps would have blown over of itself, had
it not been made public, becomes more fixed; and having
now begun to displace the person, ends not but in his down
fall. 3. This resigning carries something of ill-will with
it, and shows a dislike of the times, which adds the evil of
indignation to that of suspicion. The following remedies
regard the cure: 1. Let him above all things beware how
by any insensibility, or elation of mind, he seems regardless
of his prince's displeasure, or not affected as he ought. He
should not compose his countenance to a stubborn melan
choly, but to a grave and decent dejection; and show him
self, in all his actions, less brisk and cheerful than usual.
It may also be for his advantage to use the assistance and
mediation of a friend with the prince, seasonably to insin
uate, with how great a sense of grief the person in disgrace
is inwardly affected. 2. Let him carefully avoid even the
least occasions 'of reviving the thing which caused the dis
pleasure; or of giving any handle to fresh distaste, and
open rebuke. 3. Let him diligently seek all occasions
wherein his service may be acceptable to his prince, that
he may both show a ready desire of retrieving his past
offence, and his prince perceive what a servant he must lose
if he quit him. 4. Either let him prudently transfer the
blame upon others, or insinuate that the offence was com
mitted wkh no ill design, or show that their malice, who
accused him to the prince, aggravated the thing above
measure. 5. Lastly, let him in every respect be watchful
and intent upon the cure.

852 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

XVII. — The first in his own cause is just; then comes the other party, and
inquires into him23

The first information in any cause, if it dwell a little
with the judge, takes root, tinges, and possesses him so, as
hardly to be removed again, unless some manifest falsity
be found in the matter itself, or some artifice be discovered
in delivering it. For a naked and simple defence, though
just and prevalent, can scarce balance the prejudice of a
prior information, or of itself reduce to an equilibrium the
scale of justice that has once inclined. It is, therefore,
safest for the judge to hear nothing as to the merits of a
cause, before both parties are convened; and best for the
defendant, if he perceive the judge prepossessed, to en
deavor, as far as ever the case will allow, principally
to detect some artifice, or trick, made use of by the plaintiff
to abuse the judge.

XVIII. — He who brings up his servant delicately, shall find him stubborn

in the end24

Princes and masters are, by the advice of Solomon, to
observe moderation in conferring grace and favor upon their
servants. This moderation consists in three things. 1. In
promoting them gradually, not by sudden starts. 2. In ac
customing them sometimes to denial. And 3, as is well
observed by Machiavel, in letting them always have some
thing further to hope for. And unless these particulars be
observed, princes, in the end, will doubtless find from their
servants disrespect and obstinacy, instead of gratitude and
duty. For from sudden promotion arises insolence; from
a perpetual obtaining one's desires, impatience of denial;
and if there be nothing further to wish, there's an end of
alacrity and industry.

XIX. — A man diligent in his business shall stand before kings, and not be
ranked among the vulgar25

Of all the virtues which kings chiefly regard and require
in the choice of servants, that of expedition and resolution

23 Prov. xvii. 1*7 ; but the sense is different. 24 Prov. xxix. 21.

25 prOV xxii. 29. Franklin cited this aphorism as exemplified in his person.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 353

in the despatch of business is the most acceptable. Men of
depth are held suspected by princes, as inspecting them too
close, and being able by their strength of capacity, as by
a machine, to turn and wind them against their will and
without their knowledge. Popular men are hated, as stand
ing in the light of kings, and drawing the eyes of the mul
titude upon themselves. Men of courage are generally es
teemed turbulent and too enterprising. Honest and just
men are accounted morose, and not compilable enough to
the will of their masters. Lastly, there is no virtue but
has its shade, wherewith the minds of kings are offended;
but despatch alone in executing their commands has noth
ing displeasing to them. Besides, the motions of the minds
of kings are swift and impatient of delay; for they think
themselves able to effect anything, and imagine that nothing
more is wanting but to have it done instantly. Whence de
spatch is to them the most grateful of all things.

XX, — I saw all the living which walk under the sun, with the succeeding
young prince that shall rise up in his stead26

This aphorism points out the vanity of those who flock
about the next successors of princes. The root of this is
the folly naturally implanted in the minds of men; viz.,
their being too fond of their own hopes: for scarce any one
but is more delighted with hope than with enjoyment.
Again, novelty is pleasing and greedily coveted by human
nature; and these two things, hope and novelty, meet in
the successor of a prince. The aphorism hints the same
that was formerly said by Pompey to, Sylla, and again by
Tiberius of Macro, that the sun has more adorers rising
than setting.27 Yet rulers in possession are not much
affected with this, or esteem it any great matter, as neither
Sylla nor Tiberius did; but rather laugh at the levity of

He was caressed by Louis XVI., feared by George III., and lived on terms of
easy friendship with the heads of other powers who had combined against
England. His pre-eminence he attributed entirely to his industry. — Ed.

28 Eccles. iv. 15. Solomon, in his old age, seeing all his courtiers desert
him to pay court to his son Rehoboam, uttered this sentiment. — Ed.

27 Tacit Annals, vi.

354 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

men, and encounter not with dreams; for hope, as was
well said, is but a waking dream.25

XXI. — There was a little city manned but by a few, and a mighty king drew
his army to it,' erecting bulwarks against it, and intrenched it round : now
there was found within the walls a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom
delivered the city ; but none remembered the same poor man29

This parable describes the corrupt and malevolent nature
of men, who, in extremities and difficulties, generally fly
to the prudent and the courageous, though they before
despised them; and as soon as the storm is over, they show
ingratitude to their preservers. Machiavel had reason to
put the question, "Which is the more ungrateful toward
the well-deserving, the prince or the people"? though he
accuses both of ingratitude.30 The thing does not proceed
wholly from the ingratitude either of princes or people, but
it is generally attended with the envy of the nobility, who
secretly repine at the event, though happy and prosperous,
because it was not procured by themselves. Whence they
lessen the merit of the author and bear him down.

XXII. — The way of the slothful is a hedge of thorns31

This aphorism elegantly shows that sloth is laborious in
the end: for diligent and cautious preparation guards the
foot from stumbling, and smooths the way before it is trod;
but he who is sluggish, and defers all things to the last mo
ment, must of necessity be at every step treading as upon
brambles and thorns, which frequently detain and hinder
him; and the same may be observed in the government of a
family, where, if due ca-re and forethought be used, all
things go On calmly, and, as it were, spontaneously, with
out noise and bustle; but if this caution be neglected, when
any great occasion arises, numerous matters crowd in to be
done at once, the servants are in confusion, and the house
rings.

88 Eccles. xiii. 18. 29 Eccles. ix. 14.

30 Discorso sepra Liv. lib. i. 31 Prov. xv. 19.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 355

XXIII. — He who respects persons in judgment does ill, and will forsake the
truth for a piece of bread32

This aphorism wisely observes, that facility of temper is
more pernicious in a judge than bribery; for bribes are not
offered by all, but there is no cause wherein something may
not be found to sway the mind of the judge, if he be a re
specter of persons. Thus, one shall be respected for his
country, another for his riches, another for being recom
mended by a friend, etc. So that iniquity must abound
where respect of persons prevails, and judgment be cor
rupted for a very trifling thing, as it were for a morsel of
bread.

XXIV. — A poor man, that by extortion oppresses the poor, is like a land-flood
that causes famine33

This parable was anciently painted by the fable of the
leech, full and empty; for the oppression of a poor and
hungry wretch is much more grievous than the oppression
of one who is rich and full; as he searches into all the cor
ners and arts of exactions and ways of raising contributions.
The thing has been also usually resembled to a sponge,
which sucks strongly when dry, but less when moist. And
it contains a useful admonition to princes, that they commit
not the government of provinces or places of power to indi
gent men, or such as are in debt; and again to the people,
that they permit not their kings to struggle with want.

XX Y. — A just man falling before the wicked, is a troubled fountain and
a corrupted spring34

This is a caution to states, that they should have a capi
tal regard to the passing an unjust or infamous sentence in
any great and weighty cause, where not only the guilty is
acquitted, but the innocent condemned. To countenance
private injuries, indeed, disturbs and pollutes the clear
streams of justice, as it were, in the brook; but unjust and
great public sentences, which are afterward drawn into prec
edents, infect and defile the very fountain of justice. For
. s .

32 Prov. xxviii 31. 33 Prov. xxviii. 3. M Prov. xxv. 29.

356 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

when once the court goes on the side of injustice, the law
becomes a public robber, and one man really a wolf to an
other.

XXYI. — Contract no friendship with an angry man, nor walk v/ith a
furious one35

The more religiously the laws of friendship are to be ob
served among good men, the more caution should be used
in making a prudent choice of friends. The nature and
humor of friends, so far as concerns ourselves alone, should
be absolutely tolerated; but when they lay us under a neces
sity, as to the character we should put on toward others, this
becomes an exceeding hard and unreasonable condition of
friendship. It is therefore of great moment to the peace
and security of life, according to the direction of Solomon,
to have no friendship with passionate men, and such as
easily stir up or enter into debates and quarrels. For such
friends will be perpetually entangling us in strifes and con
tentions, so that we must either break oft' with them or have
no regard to our own safety.

XXVII. — He who conceals a fault seeks friendship, but he who repeats
a matter separates friends36

There are two ways of composing differences and recon
ciling the minds of men; the one beginning with oblivion
and forgiveness, the other with a recollection of the injuries,
interweaving it with apologies and excuses. I remember it
is the opinion of a very wise politician, "That he who treats
of peace without repeating the conditions of the difference,
rather deceives the mind with the sweetness of reconciliation
than equitably makes up the matter." But Solomon, a still
wiser man, is of a contrary opinion, and approves of forget
ting, but forbids a repetition of the difference, as being at
tended with these inconveniences: 1, That is rakes into the
old sore; 2, that it may cause a new difference; 3, and,
lastly, that it brings the matter to end in excuses; whereas
both sides had rather seem to forgive the injury than allow
of an excuse.

35 Prov. xxii. 24. 36 Prov. xvii. 9.

ADVANCEMENT QF LEARNING 357

XXVIII.- In every good work is plenty; but where words abound, there

is commonly a want37

Solomon here distinguishes the fruit of the labor of the
tongue, and that of the labor of the hand, as if from the one
came want, and from the other abundance. For it almost
constantly happens that they who speak much, boast much,
and promise largely, are but barren, and receive no fruit
from the things they talk of; being seldom industrious or
diligent in works, but feed and satisfy themselves with dis
course alone as with wind; while, as the poet intimates, "he
who is conscious to himself that he can really effect," feels
the satisfaction inwardly, and keeps silent:

"Qui silet est firmus":38

whereas, he who knows he grasps nothing but empty air, is
full of talk and strange stories.

XXIX. — Open reproof is better than secret affection39
This aphorism reprehends the indulgence of those who
use not the privilege of friendship freely and boldly to ad
monish their friends as well of their errors as their dangers.
"What shall I do?" says an easy, good-natured friend, "or
what course shall I take ? I love him as well as man can
do, and would willingly suffer any misfortune in his stead:
but I know his nature; if I deal freely with him, I shall
offend him; at least chagrin him, and yet do him no ser
vice. Nay, 1 shall sooner alienate his friendship from me,
than win him over from those things he has fixed his mind
upon." Such an effeminate and useless friend as this Solo
mon reprehends, and pronounces that greater advantage may
be received from an open enemy; as a man may chance to
hear those things from an enemy by way of reproach, which
a friend, through too much indulgence, will not speak out.

XXX. — A prudent man looks well to his steps, but a fool turns aside to deceit40

There are two kinds of prudence; the one true and
sound, the other degenerate and false: the latter Solomon

37 Prov. xiv. 23. 38 Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 697.

39 Prov. xxvii. 5. 40 Prov. xv. 21.

358 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

calls by the name of folly. The candidate for the former
has an eye to his footings, looking out for dangers, contriv
ing remedies, and by the assistance of good men defending
himself against the bad: he is wary in entering upon busi
ness, and not unprovided of a retreat; watching for oppor
tunities, powerful against opposition, etc. But the follower
of the other is wholly patched up of fallacy and cunning,
placing all his hope in the circumventing of others, and
forming them to his fancy. And this the aphorism justly
rejects as a vicious and even a weak kind of prudence. For,
I, it; is by no means a thing in our own power, nor depend
ing upon any constant rule; but is daily inventing of new
stratagems as the old ones fail and grow useless. 2. He
who has once the character of a crafty, tricking man, is en
tirely deprived of a principal instrument of business — trust;
whence he will find nothing succeed to his wish. 3. Lastly,
however specious and pleasing these arts may seem, yet
they are often frustrated; as well observed by Tacitus, when
he said, that crafty and bold counsels, though pleasant in
the expectation, are hard to execute, and unhappy in the
event.

XXXI. — Be not over-righteous, nor make thyself over-wise: for why shouldst
thou suddenly be taken off ! 41

There are times, says Tacitus, wherein great virtues meet
with certain ruin.48 And this happens to men eminent for
virtue and justice, sometimes suddenly, and sometimes after
it was long foreseen. But if prudence be also joined, so as
to make such men cautious and watchful of their own safety,
then they gain thus much, that their ruin shall come sud
denly, and entirely from secret and dark counsels— whence
they may escape envy, and meet destruction unexpected.
But for that over-righteousness expressed in the aphorism,
it is not understood of virtue itself, in which there is no
excess, but of a vain and invidious affectation and show
thereof, like what Tacitus intimates of Lepidus — making it

41 Eccles. vii. 17. 42 Hist. i. 2.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 359

a kind of miracle that he never gave any servile opinion,
and yet stood safe in severe times.45

XXXII. — Give occasion to a wise man, and his wisdom will be increased44

This aphorism distinguishes between that wisdom which
has grown up and ripened into a true habit, and that which
only floats in the brain, or is tossed upon the tongue with
out having taken root. The former, when occasion offers,
is presently roused, got ready, and distended, so as to ap
pear greater than itself; whereas the latter, which was pert
before, stands amazed and confounded when occasion calls
for it: so that the person who thought himself endowed with
this wisdom, begins to question whether his preconceptions
about it were not mere dreams and empty speculations.

.XXXIII.— To praise one's friend aloud, rising early, has the same effect
as cursing him45

Moderate and sensible praises, dropped occasionally, are
of great service to the reputation and fortunes of men; while
immoderate, noisy, and fulsome praises do no good, but
rather hurt, as the aphorism expresses it. For, 1, they
plainly betray themselves to proceed from an excess of good
will, or to be purposely designed rather to gain favor with
the person by false encomiums, than to paint him justly.
2. Sparing and modest praises generally invite the company
somewhat to improve them, but profuse and immoderate ones
to detract and take off from them. 3. The principal thing
is, that immoderate praises procure envy to the person
praised, as all extravagant commendations seem to reproach
others that may be no less deserving.

XXXI Y. — As the face shines in water, so are men's hearts manifest
to the wise46

This aphorism distinguishes between the minds of pru
dent men and those of others, by comparing the former to
water, or a mirror, which receives the forms and images of

43 Annals, iv. 20. ** Prov. ix. 9.

45 Prov. xxiv. 14. 46 Prov. xxvii. 19.

360 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

things; while the latter are like earth, or unpolished stone,
which reflects nothing. And the mind of a prudent man is
the more aptly compared to a glass, because therein one's
own image may, at the same time, be viewed along with
those of others, which could not be done by the eye without
assistance: but if the mind of a prudent man be so capa
cious as to observe and distinguish an infinite diversity of
natures and manners in men, it remains that we endeavor to
render it as various in the application as it is in the repre
sentation.

"Qui sapit, innumeris raoribus aptus srit. " 47

If we have dwelt too long upon those parables, and used
them for higher purposes than mere illustrations, the dig
nity of both author and subject must be our excuse. For
thus, it was not only usual among the Jews, but very com
mon also among the wise men of other ancient nations, when
they had, by observation, hit upon anything useful in com
mon life, to reduce and contract it into some short sentence,
parable, or fable. Fables anciently supplied the defect of
examples; but now that times abound with variety of his
tories, it is better and more enlivening to draw from real
life. But the method of writing best suited to so various
and intricate a subject as the different occasions of civil
business, is that which Machiavel chose for treating poli
tics; viz., by observation or discourse upon histories and
examples.48 For the knowledge which is newly drawn,
and, as it were, under our own eye, from particulars, best
finds the way to particulars again. And doubtless it is
much more conducive to practice that the discourse follow
the example, than that the example follow the discourse;
and this regards not only the order, but the thing itself; for
when an example is proposed as the basis of a discourse, it
is usually proposed with its whole apparatus of circum
stances, which may sometimes correct and supply it; whence
it becomes as a model for imitation and practice; while ex-

47 Ars Amandi, i. 760. « Discorso sopra Liv.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 361

amples, produced for the sake of the treatise, are but suc
cinctly and nakedly quoted, and, as slaves, wholly attend
the call of the discourse.

It is worth while to observe this difference, that as the
histories of times afford the best matter for discourses upon
politics, such as those of Machiavel,49 so the histories of lives
are most advantageously used for instructions of business,
because they contain all the possible variety of occasions
and affairs, as well great as small. Yet a more commo
dious foundation may be had for the precepts of business
than either of these histories, and that is, the discoursing
upon prudent and serious epistles, such as those of Cicero
to Attious; for epistles represent business nearer and more
to the life than either annals or lives. And thus we have
treated of the matter and form of the first part of the doc
trine of business, which regards variety of occasions, and
place it among the desiderata.

There is another part of the doctrine of business differing
as much from the former as the being wise in general, and
the being wise for one's self — the one seems to move as from
the centre to the circumference, and the other as from the
circumference to the centre. For there is a certain prudence
of giving counsel to others, and another of looking to
one's own affairs. Both these, indeed, are sometimes found
united, but oftenest separate; as many are prudent in the
management of their own private concerns, and weak in
public administration, or the giving advice, like the ant,
which is a wise creature for itself, but pernicious in a
garden. This virtue of self-wisdom was not unknown even
to the .Romans, those great lovers of their country; whence,
says the comedian, "the wise man forms his own fortune" —

"Nam pol sapiens fingit fortunam sibi" ;50

and they had it proverbial among them— ''Every man's

49 Especially his II Principe, with the notes of Conringius, which was found
in the carriage of Napoleon after the battle of Mont St. Jean, with the annota
tions of the emperor. — Ed.

50 Plautus, Trinum. Act ii. sc. 2. v. 84.
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —16

362 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

fortune lies in his own hand"— "Faber quisque fortunse
proprise." So Livy gives this character of the elder Cato:
"Such was his force of mind and genius, that wherever he
had been born he seemed formed for making his own
fortune.1'51

But if any one publicly professed or made open show
of this kind of prudence, it was always accounted not only
impolitic, but ominous and unfortunate, as was observed of
Timotheus the Athenian, who, after having performed many
great exploits for the honor and advantage of his country,
and giving an account of his conduct to the people, as the
manner then was, he concluded the several particulars thus:
"And here fortune had no share";" after which time noth
ing ever succeeded in his hands. This was, indeed, too
arrogant and haughty, like that of Pharaoh in Ezekiel,
"Thou sayest, The river is mine, and I made myself";63
or that of Habakkuk, "They rejoice, and sacrifice to their
net";64 or, again, that of Mezentius, who called his hand
and javelin his god;

"Dextra mihi dens, et telum, quod missile libro,
Nunc adsint";55

or, lastly, that of Julius Cassar, the only time that we find
him betraying his inward sentiments; for when the Aruspex
related to him that the entrails were not prosperous, he mut
tered softly, "They shall be better when I please," which
was said not long before his unfortuntae death.56 And,
indeed, this excessive confidence, as it is a profane thing,
so it is always unhappy; whence great and truly wise men
think proper to attribute all their successes to their felicity,
and not to their virtue and industry. So Sylla styled him
self happy, not great; and Ca3sar, at another time, more
advisedly said to the pilot, "Thou earnest Ca3sar and his
fortune."67

61 Livy, xxxix. 40. 52 Plut. Sylla. 53 Ezek. xxix. 3.

54 Habak. i. 15. 55 Mneid., x. 773. 56 Suetonius.

67 Plutarch. Compare with this a curious letter from Cato to Cicero (ap. Cic.
ad Fam. xv. 5), wherein he says, "Supplicationem decretam, si tu, qua in re

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 363

But these expressions — "Every one's fortune is in his
own hand," "A wise man shall control the stars," "Every
way is passable to virtue," etc. — if understood, and used
rather as spurs to industry than as stirrups to insolence,
and rather to beget in men a constancy and firmness of reso
lution than arrogance and ostentation, they are deservedly
esteemed sound and wholesome; and hence, doubtless, it
is that they find reception in the breasts of great men, and
make it sometimes difficult for them to dissemble their
thoughts; so we find Augustus Ca3sar, who was rather
different from than inferior to his uncle, though doubtless
a more moderate man, required his friends, as they stood
about his deathbed, to give him their applause at his exit,58
as if conscious to himself that he had acted his part well
upon the stage of life. And this part of doctrine also is to
be reckoned as deficient, not but that it has been much used
and beaten in practice, though not taken notice of in books.
Wherefore, according to our custom, we shall here set down
some heads upon the subject, under the title of the Self-
politician, or the Art of rising in Life.

It may seem a new and odd kind of thing to teach men
how to make their fortunes — a doctrine which every one
would gladly learn before he finds the difficulties of it; for
the things required to procure fortune are not fewer or less
difficult than those to procure virtue. It is as rigid and hard
a thing to become a true politician as a true moralist, yet
the treating of this subject nearly concerns the merit and
credit of learning. It is of great importance to the honor
of learning, that men of business should know erudition is
not like a lark, which flies high and delights in nothing but
singing, but that it is rather like a hawk, which soars aloft
indeed, but can stoop when she finds it convenient to
pounce upon her prey. Again, this also regards the per
fection of learning; for the true rule of a perfect inquiry

nihil forluito, sed summa tua ratione et continentia reipublicse, provisum eat diia
immortalibus gratulari nos quam tibi referre acceptum mavis gaudeo."
58 Suetonius.

364 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

is, that nothing can be found in the material globe which
has not its correspondent in the crystalline globe — the
understanding, or that there is nothing found in practice
which has not its particular doctrine and theory. But
learning esteems the building of a private fortune as a
work of an inferior kind; for no man's private fortune
can be an end any way worthy of his existence; nay, it
frequently happens that men of eminent virtues renounce
their fortune to pursue the things of a sublimer nature.
Yet even private fortune, as it is the instrument of virtue
and doing good, is a particular doctrine, worthy of con
sideration.

This doctrine has its precepts, some whereof are sum
mary or collective, and others scattered and various. The
collective precepts are founded in a just knowledge — 1, of
ourselves; and, 2, of others. Let this, therefore, be the
first whereon the knowledge of the rest principally turns,
that we procure to ourselves, as far as possible, the window
once required by Momus, who, seeing so many corners and
recesses in the structure of the human heart, found fault
that it should want a window, through which those dark and
crooked turnings might be viewed.59 This window may be
procured by diligently informing ourselves of the particular
persons we have to deal with — their tempers, desires, views,
customs, habits; the assistances, helps, and assurances
whereon they principally rely, and whence they receive
their power; their defects and weaknesses, whereat they
chiefly lie open and are accessible; their friends, factions,
patrons, dependants, enemies, enviers, rivals; their times
and manner of access —

"Sola viri molles aditus et tempora noras" ;60

their principles, and the rules they prescribe themselves,
etc. Butr our information should not wholly rest in the
persons, but also extend to the particular actions, which

59 Plato, Reip. ; Lncan, Hermot. xx. ; and Eras. Chii. i. 74.

60 ^Eneid, iv. 423.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 365

from time to time come upon the anvil; how they are con
ducted, with what success, by whose assistance promoted,
by whom opposed, of what weight and moment they are,
and what their consequences. For a knowledge of present
actions is not only very advantageous in itself, but without
it the knowledge of persons will be very fallacious and un
certain; for men change along with their actions, and are
one thing while entangled and surrounded with business,
and another when they return to themselves. And these
particular informations, with regard to persons as well as
actions, are like the minor propositions in every active syl
logism; for no truth, nor excellence of observations or
axioms, whence the major political propositions are formed,
can give a firm conclusion, if there be an error in the minor
proposition. And that such a kind of knowledge is pro
curable, Solomon assures us, who says, that "counsel in
the heart of man is like a deep water, but a wise man will
draw it out" ;61 for although the knowledge itself doss not
fall under precept, because it regards individuals, yet in
structions may be given of use for fetching it out.

Men may be known six different ways; viz. — 1, by their
countenances; 2, their words; 3, their actions; 4, their tem
pers; 5, their ends; and, 6, by the relation of others. 1. As
to the countenance, there is no great matter in that old
proverb, "Fronti nulla fides";62 for although this may be
said with some truth of the external and general composure
of the countenance and gesture, yet there lie concealed
certain more subtile motions and actions of the eyes, face,
looks, and behavior, by which the gate, as it were, of the
mind isjinlocked and thrown open.63 Who was more close
than Tiberius? yet Tacitus observes a difference between
his inward thoughts and his language in eulogizing the
exploits of Drusus and Grermanicus — thus characterizing his
panegyric of the latter: "Magis in speciem verbis adornatia
quam ut penitus sentire crederetur' ' ; and then that of

61 Prov. xx. 5. ea Martial, i. Ep. 25, v. 4.

b3 Cicero, Petit. Consulatus, § 2.

366 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

Drusus — "Paucioribus sed intentior, et fida oratione."64
Again, Tacitus sketches the manner of the emperor on
other occasions when he was less crafty, and sums up his
remarks thus: "Quin ipse compositus alias atque velut
eluctantium verborum; solutius prompti usque loquebatur
quoties subveniret." 65 And indeed, it is hard to find so
great and masterly a dissembler, or a countenance so well
broke and commanded, as to carry on an artful and counter
feit discourse without some way or other betraying it.

2. The words of men are full of deceit; but this is well
detected in two ways; viz., either when words are spoken on
the sudden, or in passion. So Tiberius, being suddenly
surprised and hurried beyond himself, with a stinging
speech from Agrippina, went a step out of his natural dis
simulation; for, says Tacitus, she thus drew an uncommon
expression from his secret breast, and he rebuked her as
being offended because she did not rale.66 Whence the poet
not unjustly calls these perturbations tortures, mankind
being compelled by them to betray their own secrets.

"Vino tortus et ira." 67

And experience shows that there are very few so true to
their own secrets, and of so close a temper, as not some
times, through anger, ostentation, love to a friend, impo
tence of mind, or some other affection, to reveal their own
thoughts. But nothing searches all the corners of the mind
so much as dissimulation practiced against dissimulation,
according to the Spanish proverb, "Tell a lie and find a
truth."

3. Even facts themselves, though the surest pledges of
the human mind, are not altogether to be trusted, unless
first attentively viewed and considered as to their magnitude
and propriety; for it is certain that deceit gets itself a credit
in small things, that it may practice to more advantage in

64 Annals, i. 52. 65 Annals iv. 31. 66 Annals, iv. 52.

67 Hor. Ep. ii. 18, v. 38. It must be remembered that Augustus had some
intention of conferring the empire upon her husband Germanic us. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 36T

larger. And the Italian thinks himself upon the cross with
the crier, or put up to sale, when, without manifest cause,
he is treated better than usual; for small favors lull man
kind, and disarm them both of caution and industry; whence
they are properly called by Demosthenes the baits of sloth.
Again, we may clearly see the crafty and ambiguous nature
of some actions which pass for benefits, from that trick
practiced by Mucianus upon Antony; for after a pretended
reconciliation he most treacherously advanced many of An
tony's friends to lieutenancies, tribuneships, etc., and by
this cunning entirely disarmed and defeated him; thus
winning over Antony's friends to himself.68

But the surest key for unlocking the minds of others
turns upon searching and sifting either their tempers and
natures, or their ends and designs; and the more weak
and simple are best judged by their temper, but the more
prudent and close by their designs. It was prudently and
wittily, though in my judgment not substantially, advised
by the Pope's nuncio as to the choice of another to succeed
him in his residence at a foreign court, that they should by
no means send one remarkably but rather tolerably wise;
because a man wiser than ordinary could never imagine
what the people of that nation were likely to do. It is
doubtless a common error, particularly in prudent men,
to measure others by the model of their own capacity;
whence they frequently overshoot the mark, by supposing
that men project and form greater things to themselves,
and practice more subtile arts than ever entered their
minds. This is elegantly intimated by the Italian proverb —

"Di denari, di senno, e di fede,
C' ne manco che non crede" ;69

and therefore, in men of small capacities, who commit many
absurdities, a conjecture must rather be formed from the

68 Tacit. Hist. iv.

"There is always less money, less wisdom, and less honesty, than people
imagine."

868 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

propensity of their nature than from their ends in view.
Whence princes also, though for a quite different reason,
are best judged by their tempers as private persons are by
their ends; for princes, who are at the top of human desires,
have seldom any ends to aspire after with ardor and perse
verance, by the situation and distance whereof a direction
and measure might be taken of their other actions. And
this among others is a principal reason why their hearts,
as the Scripture declares, are unsearchable.70 But every
private man is like a traveller, who proceeds intently to the
end of his journey, where he sets up: hence one may toler
ably conjecture what a private man will or will not do; for
if a thing be conducive to his ends, it is probable he will
do it; and vice versa. And this information, from the
diversity of the ends and natures of men, may be taken
comparatively as well as simply, so as to discover what
humor or disposition overrules the rest. Thus Tigellinus,
when he found himself outdone by Turpilianus, in admin
istering and suggesting to Nero's pleasures, searched, as
Tacitus says, into the fears of Nero, and by this means got
rid of his rival.71

As for that second-hand knowledge of men's minds
which is had from the relation of others, it will be suffi
cient to observe of it, that defects and vices are best learned
from enemies, virtues and abilities from friends, manners
and times from servants, and opinions and thoughts from
intimate acquaintance; for popular fame is light, and the
judgment of superiors uncertain, before whom men walk
more masked and secret. The truest character comes from
domestics — "Yerior fama e domesticis emanat. " 7a

Bat the shortest way to this whole inquiry rests upon
three particulars; viz. — 1. In procuring numerous friend-

10 prov. xxv. 3.

71 This expression occurs Tacit. Annal. xiv. 57. It is spoken, however, of
the intrigues of Tigellinus against Plautus and Sulla, by which he induced Nero
to have both of them murdered. Petronius Turpilianus was put to death by
Galba because he had enjoyed Nero's confidence. Annal. xvi. 18, 19.

13 Cicero, Petit. Consul.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 369

snips with such as have an extensive and general knowl
edge both of men and things, or at least in securing a set
of particular friends, who, according to the diversity of
occasions, may be always ready to give a solid information
upon any point that shall turn up. 2. In observing a pru
dent mean and moderation between the freedom of discourse
and silence, using frankness of speech most frequently; but
when the thing requires it, taciturnity; for openness of
speech invites and excites others to use the same toward
ourselves, which brings many things to our knowledge;
while taciturnity procures trust, and makes men willing to
deposit their secrets with us as in their own bosom. 3. In
gradually acquiring such a habit of watchfulness and intent-
ness in all discourse and action, as at once to promote the
business in hand, yet take notice of incidental matters; for,
as Bpictetus would have a philosopher say to himself in
every action, "I will do this, yet keep to my rule,"73 so
a politician should resolve with himself in every business,
"I will drive this point, and yet learn somewhat of future
use." And, therefore, such tempers as are wholly intent
upon a present business without at all regarding what may
intervene, which Montaigne acknowledges was his own de
fect, make excellent ministers of state, but fail in advancing
their private fortunes. A principal caution must also be
had to restrain the impetuosity and too great alacrity of the
mind, lest much knowledge should drive us on to meddle
in many matters; for nothing is more unfortunate and rash
than such a procedure. Therefore the variety of knowledge
to be here procured of men and things comes but to this,
that we make a judicious choice both of the matters we
undertake and of the persons whose assistance we use, that
we may thence know how to manage and dispose all things
with the greater dexterity and safety.

Next to the knowledge of others comes the knowledge
of ourselves; and it requires no less diligence, but rather

13 Enchiridion, iv.

370 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

more, to get a true and exact information of ourselves than
of others. For that oracle, "Know thyself," is not only a
rule of general prudence, but has also a principal place in
politics. And St. James excellently observes of mankind,
that "he who views his face in a glass, instantly forgets his
features." T4 Whence we had need be often looking. And
this also holds in politics. But there is a difference in
glasses — the divine one, wherein we are to behold ourselves,
is the Word of Grod; but the political glass is no other than
the state of things and times wherein we live. A man,
therefore, must make a thorough examination, not partially
like a self-lover, into his own faculties, powers, and abilities,
and again into his defects, inabilities, and obstacles, sum
ming up the account, so as to make the latter constantly
appear greater^ and the former rather less than they are.
And upon such an examination the following particulars
may come to be considered.

Let the first particular be, how far a man's manners and
temper suit with the times; for if they agree in all respects,
he may act more freely and at large, and follow the bent
of his genius; but if there be any contrariety, then he must
walk more cautiously and covertly in the whole scene of
his life, and appear less in public, as Tiberius did, who,
being conscious that his temper suited not with the age,
never frequented the public shows, and for the last twelve
years of his life came not to the Senate; whereas Augus
tus lived continually in open sight.75

Let the second consideration be, how a man can relish
the professions or kinds of life in Use and repute, out of
which he is to make a choice, so that if his profession be not
already entered upon, he may take that which is most suit
able to his genius : but if he be already got into a kind of
life for which he is unlit, that he may, upon the first oppor
tunity, quit it and take to another — as Valentine Borgia did,

14 Ep. i. 23, 24.

w The expression of Tacitus is, "alia Tiberio morum via." Annals, i. 54.

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who, being educated by his father for the priesthood, after
ward renounced, followed his own inclination, and appeared
in a military character.

Let a third consideration be, how a man stands compared
with his equals and rivals, who may also probably be his
competitors in his fortune, and let him hold that course of
life in which there is the greatest want of eminent men, and
wherein it is most likely that himself may rise the highest,
as Cassar did, who was first an orator, a pleader, and scarce
anything more than a gownman; but when he found that
Cicero, Hortensius, and Catullus bore away the prize of elo
quence, and that none had greatly signalized themselves in
war, except Pompey, he quitted the gown, and taking a
long farewell of civil power, went over to the arts of the
general and the emperor, whereby he rose to the top pin
nacle of sovereignty.

Let the fourth consideration be, to regard one's own
nature and temper in the choice of friends and dependants;
for different men require different kinds of friends — some
those that are grave and secret, others such as are bold and
ostentatious, etc. It is worth observing of what kind the
friends of Julius Caesar were; viz., Antony, Hirtius, Bal-
bus, Dolobella, Pollio, etc., who usually swore to die that
he might live;76 thereby expressing an infinite affection for
Caesar, but an arrogance and contempt toward everybody
else. And they were all men diligent in business, but of
no great fame and reputation.

Let a fifth consideration be, to beware of examples, and
not fondly square one's self to the imitation of others, as if
what was achieved by them must needs be achieved by us,
without considering the difference there may be between our
own disposition and manners compared with theirs we pro
pose to imitate. Pompey manifestly fell into this error,
who, as Cicero writes of him, had these words often in his
mouth — "Sylla could do this, why shall not I?'177 In

16 Ita vivente Csesare moriar. 77 Epist. Alticus, ix. Ep. 10.

372 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

which particular he greatly imposed upon himself; for
Sjlla's temper and method of acting differed infinitely from
his — the one's being fierce, violent, and pressing to the end,
the other's composed, mindful of the laws, and directing all
to majesty and reputation; whence he was greatly curbed
and restrained in executing his designs. And these con
siderations may serve as a specimen of the rest.

But it is not enough for a man to know himself; he must
also consider how he may most commodiously and prudently
— 1, show, 2, express, 3, wind and fashion himself. 1. As
for show, we see nothing more frequent in life than for the
less capable man to make the greater figure. It is, there
fore, no small excellence of prudence, by means of a certain
act and grace, to represent one's best side to others, by set
ting cut our own virtues, merits, and fortunes to advantage,
which may be done without arrogance or rendering one's self
disagreeable; and, on the other side, artificially concealing
our vices, defects, misfortunes, and disgraces, dwelling upon
the former, and turning them as it were to the light, but
palliating the latter, or effacing them by a well-adapted
construction or interpretation, etc. Hence Tacitus says of
Mucianus, the most prudent man of his time and the most
indefatigable in business, that "he had an art of showing
the fair side of whatever he spoke or acted." 78 And cer
tainly it requires some art to prevent this conduct from be
coming fulsome and despicable; yet ostentation, though to
the first degree of vanity, is a fault in ethics rather than in
politics. For as it is usually said of calumny, that if laid
on boldly some of it will stick, so it may be said of osten
tation, unless perfectly monstrous and ridiculous, "Paint
yourself strongly, and some of it will last." Doubtless it
will dwell with the crowd, though the wiser sort smile at it;
so that the reputation procured with the number will abun
dantly reward the contempt of a few. But if this ostentation
be managed with decency and discretion, it may greatly con-

'« Hist. ii. 80.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 373

tribute to raise a man's reputation, as particularly if it carry
the appearance of native candor and ingenuity, or be used at
times surrounded with dangers, as among the military men
in time of war. Or again, if our own praises are let fall as
it were by accident, and be not too seriously or .largely in
sisted on, or if any one, in praising himself, at the same time
mixes it with censure and ridicule, or lastly, if he does it
not spontaneously, but is provoked to it by the insolence
and reproach of others. And there are many who, being
by nature solid, and consequently wanting in this art of
spreading canvas to their own honor, find themselves pun
ished for their modesty, with some diminution of their
dignity.

But however persons of weak judgment or too rigid
morals may disallow this ostentation of virtue, no one will
deny that we should endeavor to keep virtue from being
•undervalued through our neglect, and less esteemed than it
deserves. This diminution in the esteem of virtue happens
three ways; viz., 1. When a person presents and thrusts
himself and his service into a business unasked; for such
services are thought sufficiently rewarded by accepting
them. 2. When a man at the beginning of a business
overexerts himself, and performs that all at once, which
should have been done gradually; though this, indeed,
gains early commendation where affairs succeed; but in the
end it produces satiety. 3. When a man is too quick and
light in receiving the fruit of his virtue — in praise, applause,
and favor — and pleases himself therewith; against which
there is this prudent admonition, "Beware lest thou seem
unaccustomed to great things, if such small ones delight
thee."

A diligent concealment of defects is no less important
than a prudent and artful manifestation of virtues. De
fects are principally concealed and covered under three
cloaks; viz., 1. Caution, 2. Pretext, and 3. Assurance. 1.
We call that caution, when a man prudently keeps from
meddling in matters to which he is unequal; while, on the

374 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

other hand, daring and restless spirits are injudiciously
busying themselves in things they are not acquainted
with, and thereby publish and proclaim their own defects.

2. We call that pretext, when a man with sagacity and
prudence paves and prepares himself a way for securing a
favorable and commodious interpretation of his vices and
defects; as proceeding from different principles, or having
a different tendency than is generally thought. For as to
the concealment of vices, the poet said well, that vice often
skulks in the verge of virtue.

"Ssepe latet vitium proximate borii." 19

Therefore, when we find any defect in ourselves, we must
endeavor to borrow the figure and pretext of the neighbor
ing virtue for a shelter; thus the pretext of dulness is grav
ity; that of indolence, considerateness, etc. And it is of
service to give out some probable reason for not exerting
our utmost strength, and so make a necessity appear a virtue.

3. Assurance, indeed, is a daring, but a very certain and
effectual remedy, whereby a man professes himself abso
lutely to slight and despise those things he could not obtain,
like crafty merchants, who usually raise the price of their
own commodities and sink the price of other men's. Though
there is another kind of assurance, more impudent than this,
by which a man brazens out his own defects, and forces
them upon others for excellences; and the better to secure
this end, he will feign a distrust of himself in those things
wherein he really excels: like poets, who, if you except to
any particular verse in their composition, will presently tell
you that single line cost them more pains than all the rest;
and then produce you. another, as suspected by themselves,
for your opinion; while, of all the number, they know it to
be the best and least liable to exception. But above all,
nothing conduces more to the well representing a man's self,
and securing his own right, than not to disarm one's self by
too much sweetness and good-nature, which exposes a man

79 Ovid, Ars. Amand. i. 661

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 375

to injuries and reproaches; but rather, in all cases, at times,
to dart out some sparks of a free and generous mind, that
have no less of the sting than the honey. This guarded be
havior, attended with a ready disposition to vindicate them
selves, some men have from accident and necessity, by means
of somewhat inherent in their person or fortune, as we find
in the deformed, illegitimate, and disgraced; who, if they
do not want virtue, generally prove fortunate.

The expressing or declaring of a man's self is a very dif
ferent thing from the showing himself, as not relating to
virtue, but to the particular actions of life. And here noth
ing is more politic than to preserve a prudent or sound mod
eration or medium in disclosing or concealing one's mind as
to particular actions. For though profound silence, the hid
ing of counsels, and managing all things by blind and deaf
artifice, is a useful and extraordinary thing; yet it often
happens that dissimulation produces errors which prove
snares. And we see that the men of greatest repute for
politics, scruple not openly and generously to declare their
ends without dissimulation: thus Sylla openly declared,
"He wished all mortals happy or unhappy, as they were
his friends or enemies."80 So Ca3sar, upon his first expe
dition into Gaul, professed "he had rather be the first man
in an obscure village, than the second at Kome. "81 And
when the war was begun, he proved no dissembler, if Cicero
says truly of him, "That he did not refuse, but in a manner
required to be called tyrant, as he was." ea So we find, in
an epistle of Cicero to Atticus, how little of a dissembler
Augustus was, who, at his first entrance upon affairs, while
he remained the delight of the Senate, used to swear in this
form when he harangued the people: "Ita Parentis honores
consequi liceat":83 which was no less than tyranny itself.
It is true, to salve the matter a little, he would at those
times stretch his hand toward the statue of Julius Ca3sar
erected in the place, while the audience smiled, applauded,

80 Plut. 81 Ib. 82 Epist. ad Att. x. Ep. iv. 83 B. xvi. Ep. 15.

376 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

admired, and cried out among themselves, "What does the
youth mean?" but never suspected him of any ill design,
who thus candidly and ingenuously spoke his mind.84 And
yet all these we have named were prosperous men. Pom-
pey, on the other hand, who endeavored at the same ends
by more dark and concealed methods,86 wholly bent himself,
by numberless stratagems, to cover his desires and ambition,
while he brought the state to confusion, that it might then
of necessity submit to him, and he thus procure the sover
eignty to appearance against his will. And when he thought
he had gained his point, as being made sole consul, which
no one ever was before him, he found himself never the
nearer, because those who would doubtless have assisted
him, understood not his intentions; so that at length he was
obliged to go in the beaten path, and under pretence of op
posing Caesar, procured himself arms and an army: so slow,
casual, and generally unsuccessful, are the counsels covered
with dissimulation! And Tacitus seems to have had the
same sentiment, when he makes the artifice of dissimulation
an inferior prudence, compared with policy, attributing the
former to Tiberius, and the latter to Augustus; for speaking
of Li via, he says, "She was well tempered with the arts of
her husband, and the dissimulation of her son."86

As for the bending and forming of the mind, we should
doubtless do our utmost to render it pliable, and by no
means stiff and refractory to occasions and opportunities;
for to continue the same men, when we ought not, is the
greatest obstacle business can meet with; that is, if men
remain as they did, and follow their own nature after the
opportunities are changed.87 Whence Livy, introducing the
elder Cato as a skilful architect of his own fortune, adds that
"he was of a pliant temper": 88 and hence it is, that grave,
solemn, and unchangeable natures generally meet with more

84 Ore probo, animo inverecundo. Sallust.

85 Occultior, non melior. Tacit. Hist. ii. c. 38.

8t) Annals, v. 1. 81 Cic. in Brut, speaking of Hortensius, c. 95.

88 B. xxxix. 40.

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respect than felicity. This defect some men have implanted
in them by nature, as being in themselves stiff, knotty, and
unfit for bending; but in others it is acquired by custom,
which is a second nature, or from an opinion, which easily
steals into men's minds, that they should never change the
method of acting they had once found good and prosperous.
Thus Machiavel prudently observes of Fabius Maximus,
"That he would obstinately retain his old inveterate custom
of delaying and protracting the war, when now the nature
was changed and required brisker measures"89 In others
again, the same defect proceeds from want of judgment,
when men do not seasonably distinguish the periods of
things and actions, but alter too late, after the opportunity
is slipped. And something of this kind Demosthenes rep
rehended in the Athenians, when he said, "They were like
rustics in a fencing school, who always, after a blow, guard
the part that was hit, and not before." 90 And lastly, this
defect in others, because they are unwilling that the labor
they have taken in the way once entered should be lost, and
know not how to sound a retreat, but rather trust they shall
conquer occasions by perseverance. But this obstinacy and
restiveness of the mind, from whatever root it proceeds, is
highly prejudicial to business and men's private fortunes:
on the contrary, nothing is more politic than to make the r
wheels of the mind concentric with the wheels of fortune,
and capable of turning together with them. And thus much
of the two summary or collective precepts for advancing
one's fortune.

The scattered precepts for rising in life are numerous:
we shall single out a few by way of example. The first is,
that the builder of his fortune properly use and apply his
rule, that is, accustom his mind to measure and estimate the
price and value of things, as they conduce more or less to
his particular fortune and ends, and this with diligence, not
by halves. It is surprising, yet very true, that many have

89 Discorso sopra Liv. w Philippic i.

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the logical part of their mind set right and the mathematical
wrong, and judge truly of the consequences of things, but
very unskilfully of their value. Hence some men are fond
of access to and familiarity with princes; others of popular
fame, and fancy these to be great enjoyments; whereas both
of them are frequently full of envy and dangers. Others,
again, measure things according to their difficulty and the
labor bestowed in procuring them, imagining themselves
must needs have advanced as far as they have moved. So
Caesar, to describe how diligent and indefatigable the
younger Cato was to little purpose, said in the way of
irony, "That he did all things with great labor." And
hence it happens, that men frequently deceive themselves,
when, having the assistance of some great or honorable per
sonage, they promise themselves all manner of success;
while the truth is, they are not the greatest, but the fittest
instruments that perform business best and quickest. For
improving the true mathematics of the mind, it should be
principally noted what ought to come first, what second,
etc., in the raising and promoting a man's fortune. And,
in the first place, we set down the emendation of the mind;
for by removing the obstacles, and levelling the inequalities
of the rnind, a way may be sooner opened to fortune, than
the impediments of the mind be removed with the assistance
of fortune. And, in the second place, we set down riches,
whereto most, perhaps, would have assigned the first, as
their use is so extensive. But we condemn this opinion for
a reason like that of Machiavel in a similar case; for though
it was an established notion, that "Money is the sinews of
war," he said, more justly, that "War had no sinews but
those of good soldiers." In the same manner, it may be
truly affirmed that the sinews of fortune are not money, but
rather the powers of the mind, address, courage, resolution,
intrepidity, perseverance, moderation, industry, etc. In the
third place come fame and reputation; and this the rather,
because they have certain tides and seasons, wherein, if they
be not opportunely used, it will be difficult to recover them

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 379

again ; for it is a hopeless attempt to recover a lost reputa
tion. In the last place, we set down honors, which are easier
acquired by any of the former three, much more by a con
junction of them all, than any one of them can be procured
by honors. But as much depends upon observing the order
of things, so likewise in observing the order of time, in dis
turbing of which men frequently err and hasten to the end,
when they should only have consulted the beginning, and
suddenly flying at the greatest things ot all, rashly skip over
those in the middle— thus neglecting the useful precept,
"Attend to what is immediately before you" —

"Quod nunc instat agamus. " 91

Our second precept is, to beware of being carried by
greatness and presumption of mind to things too difficult,
and thus of striving against the stream. It is a prudent ad
vice, in the raising of one's fortune, to yield to necessity.

"Fatis accede, deisque." 92

Let us look all round us, and observe where things lie open,
where they are inclosed and locked up, where they stoop,
and where they mount, and not misemploy our strength
where the way is impassable: in doing this we shall prevent
repulse, not stick too long in particulars, win a reputation
of being moderate, give little offence, and lastly, gain an
opinion of felicity; while the things that would probably
have happened of themselves, will be attributed to our own
industry.

A third precept; which seems somewhat to cross the
former, though not when well understood, is, that we do
not always wait for opportunities, but sometimes excite and
lead them. This Demosthenes intimates in a high strain,
when he says, "That as it is a maxim for the general to lead
his army, so a wise man should lead things, make them exe-

91 Virg. Eclog. ix. 66.

92 Lucan, viii. 486. Quoted also by Jeremy Taylor in Ms "Life of Christ,"
Preface.

380 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

cute his will, and not himself be obliged to foMow events." 98
And if we attend, we shall find two different kinds of men
held equal to the management of affairs; for some know
how to make an advantageous use of opportunities, yet con
trive or project nothing of themselves; while others are
wholly intent upon forming schemes, and neglect the lay
ing hold of opportunities as they offer: but either of these
faculties is quite lame without the other.

It is a fourth precept to undertake nothing that neces
sarily requires much time, but constantly to remember time
is ever on the wing — •

"Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus. " M

And the only reason why those who addict themselves to
toilsome professions and employs, as lawyers, authors, etc.,
are less versed in making their fortune, is the want of time
from their other studies to gain a knowledge of particulars,
wait for opportunities, and project their own rising. We see
in the courts of princes the most effectual men in making
their own fortunes, and invading the fortunes of others, are
such as have no public employ, but are continually plotting
their own rise and advantage.

A fifth precept is, that we in some measure imitate
nature, which does nothing in vain; and this is not very
difficult, if we skilfully mix and interlace our affairs of all
kinds: for in every action the mind is to be so instructed
and prepared, and our intentions to be so dependent upon
and subordinate to each other, that if we cannot gain the
highest step, we may contentedly take up with the second,
or even the third. But if we can fix on no part of our pros
pect, then we should direct the pains we have been at to
some other end; so, as if we receive no benefit for the
present, yet at least to gain somewhat of future advantage.
But if we can obtain no solid good from our endeavor
neither in present nor in future, let us endeavor at least to
gain a reputation by it, or some one thing or other; always

93 Philippic i. 51. M Georg. iii. 284.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 381

computing with ourselves, that from every action we receive
some advantage more or less, and by no means suffering the
mind to despond or be astonished when we fail of our prin
cipal end. For there is nothing more contrary to political
prudence than to be wholly intent upon any single thing,
as he who is so must lose numberless opportunities which
come sidewise in business, and which perhaps would be
more favorable and conducive to the things that shall turn
up hereafter, than to those that were before pursued. Let
men therefore well understand the rule — "These things
should be done, but those should not be omitted."

The sixth precept is, that we do not too peremptorily
oblige ourselves to anything, though it seem at first sight
not liable to contingency; but always reserve a window
open to fly out, or some secret back-door for retreat.

A seventh precept is, that old one of Bias, provided it
be not used treacherously, but only by way of caution and
moderation — "Love your friend as if he were to become an
enemy, and hate your enemy as if he were to become your
friend";98 for it surprisingly betrays and corrupts all sorts
of utility, to plunge one's self too far in unhappy friend
ships, vexations, and turbulent quarrels or childish and
empty emulations. And so much, by way of example,
upon the doctrine or art of rising in life.

We are well aware that good fortune may be had upon
easier conditions than are here laid down; for it falls almost
spontaneously upon some men, while others procure it only
by diligence and assiduity, without much art, though still
with some caution. But as Cicero, when he draws the per
fect orator, does not mean that every pleader either could
or should be like him; and as in describing the prince or
the politician, which some have undertaken, the model is

95 Which is inculcated by ancient as well as modern wisdom. Epic. Enchir.
and Matt. xx. 23, and Luke xi. 42. — Ed.

96 Arist. Rhet. ri. 13, 4; and cf. Cic. Lsel. xvi. Canning, in one of his
speeches, condemns this principle as unworthy of an honorable mind. But it
undoubtedly contains much wisdom, when it is restricted to the moderation
of the affections. — Ed,

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formed to the perfect rules of art, and not according to
common life — the same method is observed by us in this
sketch of the self-politician.

It must be observed that the precepts we have laid down
upon this subject are all of them lawful, and not such im
moral artifices as Machiavel speaks of, who directs men to
have little regard for virtue itself, but only for the show
and public reputation of it: "Because," says he, "the credit
and opinion of virtue are a help to a man, but virtue itself
a hindrance."97 He also directs his politician to ground
all his prudence on this supposition, that men cannot be
truly and safely worked to his purpose but by fear, and
therefore advises him to endeavor, by all possible means,
to subject them to dangers and difficulties. Whence his
politician may seem to be what the Italians call a sower of
thorns."8 So Cicero cites this principle, "Let our friends fall,
provided our enemies perish";99 upon which the triumvirs
acted, in purchasing the death of their enemies by the
destruction of their nearest friends. So Catiline became
a disturber and incendiary of the state, that he might the
better fish his fortune in troubled waters, declaring, that if
his fortune was set on fire, he would quench it, not with
water, but destruction.100 And so Lysander would say, that
children were to be decoyed with sweetmeats and men by
false oaths; and there are numerous other corrupt and per
nicious maxims of the same kind, more indeed, as in all
other cases, than of such as are just and sound. Now if any
man delight in this corrupt or tainted prudence, we deny
not but he may take a short cut to fortune, as being thus
disentangled and set at large from all restraint of laws,
good- nature, and virtue, and having no regard but to his
own promotion — though it is in life as in a journey, where
the shortest road is the dirtiest, and yet the better not much
about.

91 Libro del Principe. 98 H seminatore delie spine.

99 Cadant amici, dummodo inimici intercidant. Orat. pro reg. Deiot

100 Cicero pro L. Mursena, and Cat. Conspir. 31.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 383

But if men were themselves, and not carried away with
the tempest of ambition, they would be so far from studying
these wicked arts, as rather to view them, not only in that
general map of the world, which shows all to be vanity and
vexation of spirit,101 but also in that more particular one,
which represents a life separate from good actions as a
curse; that the more eminent this life, the greater the
curse; that the noblest reward of virtue is virtue itself;
that the extremest punishment of vice is vice itself; and
that as Yirgil excellently observes, good actions are re
warded, as bad ones also are punished — by the conscious
ness that attends them.

"Quse vobis, quse digna, viri, pro laudibus istis
Praemia posse rear solvi ? Pulcherrima primum
Dii moresque dabunt vestri. " 102

And, indeed, while men are projecting and every way
racking their thoughts to provide and take care for their
fortunes, they ought, in the midst of all, to have an eye
to the Divine Providence, which frequently overturns and
brings to naught the machinations and deep devices of the
wicked, according to that of the Scripture, "He has con
ceived iniquity, and shall bring forth vanity." 103 And
although men were not in this pursuit to practice injustice
and unlawful arts, yet a continual and restless search and
striving after fortune, takes up too much of their time, who
have nobler things to observe, and prevents them from
paying their tribute to Grod, who exacts from all men the
tenth part of their substance and the seventh of their time.
Even the heathens observed, that man was not made to keep
his mind always on the ground; and, like the serpent, eating
the dust —

"Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aurse," 104

And again—

"Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri
Jussit; et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus." 105

101 Eccles. i. 2-14. w ^Eneid, ix. 252.

103 Psal. vii. 15, but in another sense. 104 Hor. Sat. ii. 79.

105 Ovid. Metam. i. 85.

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Some, however, may flatter themselves, that, by what
sinister means soever their fortune be procured, they are
determined to use it well when obtained; when it was said
of Augustus Caesar and Septimus Severus, that "they ought
never to have been born, or never to have died": so much
evil they committed in aspiring, and so much good they
did when seated. But let such men know that this recom
pensing of evil with good, though it may be approved after
the action, yet is justly condemned in the design. Lastly,
it may not be amiss, in this eager pursuit of fortune, for
men to cool themselves a little with the saying of Charles
the Fifth to his son; viz. "Fortune is like the ladies, who
generally scorn and discard their overearnest admirers."
But this last remedy belongs to such as have their taste
vitiated by a disease of the mind. Let mankind rather rest
upon the cornerstone of divinity and philosophy, both
which nearly agree in the thing that ought first to be
sought. For Divinity says. "Seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and all other things shall be added unto you":108
so philosophy directs us first to seek the goods of the mind,
and the rest will either be supplied, or are not much wanted.
For although this foundation, laid by human hands, is some
times placed upon the sand, as in the case of Brutus, who,
at his death, cried out, "0 virtue, I have reverenced thee as
a being, but alas, thou art an empty name!" 107 yet the same
foundation is ever, by the Divine hand, fixed upon a rock.
And here we conclude the doctrine of rising in life, and the
general doctrine of business, together,

106 Matt. vi. 33.

107 *fj TArj^xov aperrj, \6yos ap1 ijtrfl' • eyu> Se ae

*i)s epyov r)<rKovv <rv 6' dp* eSovAeues ro\^ Dio. CaSS. xlvii. 49,

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 385

CHAPTEE III

The Arts of Empire or State Policy omitted. Two Deficiencies alone noticed.

The Art of Enlarging the Bounds of Empire, and the Knowledge

of Universal Justice drawn from the Fountains of Law

WE COME now to the art of empire, or the doctrine
of governing a state, which includes economics,
as a city includes a family. But here, according
to my former resolution, I impose silence upon myself; how
well qualified soever I might seem to treat the subject, from
the constant course of life, studies, employs, and the public
posts I have, for a long series of years, sustained, even to
the highest in the kingdom, which, through his Majesty's
favor, and no merit of my own, I held for four years. And
this I speak to posterity, not out of ostentation; but because
1 judge it may somewhat import the dignity of learning, to
have a man born for letters rather than anything else, who
should, by a certain fatality, and against the bent of his
genius, be compelled into active life, and yet be raised, by
a prudent king, to the greatest posts of honor, trust, and
civil employ. And if I should hereafter have leisure to
write upon government, the work will probably either be
posthumous or abortive. But in the meantime, having now
seated all the sciences, each in its proper place, lest such a
high chair as that oi government should remain absolutely
vacant, we here observe, that two parts of civil doctrine,
though belonging not to the secrets of state, but of a more
open and vulgar nature, are deficient, and shall, therefore,
in our manner, give specimens for supplying them.

The art of government includes the political offices; viz.,
1, the preservation; 2, the happiness; and 3, the enlarge
ment of a state. The two former have, in good measure,
been excellently treated by some;1 but there is nothing ex-

1 For an account of these authors, see Morhof's "Poly hist. " torn. iii. De
Prudentise Civilis Scriptoribus ; and "Stollii Introduct. in Hist. Literar." cap.
v. De Prudentia Politica.

SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —17

386 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tant upon the last; which we, therefore, note as deficient,
and propose the following sketch, by way of example, for
supplying it, under the title of the Military Statesman, or
the Doctrine of extending the Bounds of Empire.

THE MILITARY STATESMAN

OB A SPECIMEN OF THE DOCTRINE OF ENLARGING THE BOUNDS OF EMPIRE

The saying of Themistocles, if applied to himself, was
indecent and haughty; but if meant in general, contains a
very prudent observation, and as grave a censure. Being
asked, at a feast, to touch a lute, he answered, "He could
not fiddle; but he could raise a small village to a great
city."2 Which words, if taken in a political sense, excel
lently describe and distinguish two very different faculties
in those who are at the helm of states. For upon an exact
survey, we shall find some, though but very few, that, being
raised to the council-board, the senate, or other public office,
can enlarge a small state, or city, and yet have little skill
in music; but many more, who, having a good hand upon
the harp, or the lute, that is, at the trifles of a court, are so
far from enlarging a state, that they rather seem designed
by nature to overturn and ruin it, though ever so happy
and flourishing. And. indeed, those base arts and tricks
by which many counsellors and men of great place procure
the favor of their sovereign, and a popular character, de
serve no other name than a certain knack of fiddling; as
being things more pleasing for the present, and more orna
mental to the practitioner, than useful, and suited to enlarge
the bounds, or increase the riches of the state, whereof they
are ministers. Again, there are, doubtless, counsellors and
governors, who, though equal to business, and of no con
temptible abilities, may commodiously manage things so
as to preserve them from manifest precipices and inconven
iences, though they by no means have the creative power
of building and extending an empire. But whatever the
workmen be, let us regard the work itself; viz., what is to

2 Plutarch, Tus. Qusest. b. i. 2.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 387

be deemed the true extent of kingdoms and republics, and
by what means this may be procured — a subject well de
serving to lie continually before princes, for their diligent
meditation; lest, by overrating their own strength, they
should rashly engage in too difficult and vain enterprises,
or, thinking too meanly of their power, submit to timorous
and effeminate counsels.

The greatness of an empire, in point of bulk and terri
tory, is subject to mensuration, and for its revenue, to cal
culation. The number of inhabitants may be known by
valuation or tax, and the number and extent of cities and
towns, by survey and maps; yet in all civil affairs there is
not a thing more liable to error than the making a true and
intrinsic estimate of the strength and riches of a state. The
kingdom of heaven is compared, not to an acorn, or any
large nut, but to a grain of mustard-seed; which, though
one of the least grains, has in it a certain quick property,
and native spirit, whereby it rises soon, and spreads itself
wide: so some states of very large compass "are little suited
to extend their limits, or procure a wider command, while
others of small dimension prove the foundations of the
greatest monarchies.

Fortified towns, well-stored arsenals, noble breeds of
war-horses, armed chariots, elephants, engines, all kinds
of artillery, arms, and the like, are nothing more than a
sheep in a lion's skin, unless the nation itself be, from its
origin and temper, stout and warlike. Nor is number
of troops itself of any great service, where the soldiers are
weak and enervate: for, as Virgil well observes, "The wolf
cares not how large the flock is.1'3 The Persian army in
the plains of Arbela, appeared to the eyes of the Mace
donians as an immense ocean of people; insomuch that
Alexander's leaders, being struck at the sight, counselled
their general to fall upon them by night; but he replied,
"1 will not steal the victory";4 and it was found an easier
conquest than he expected. Tigranes, encamped upon a

3 Eclog. vii. 52. 4 Quintus Curtius, iv. 15, and Plutarch.

388 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

hill, with an army of four hundred thousand men, seeing
the Koman army, consisting but of fourteen thousand, mak
ing up to him, he jested at it, and said, "Those men are too
many for an embassy, but much too few for a battle":6 yet
before sunset he found them enough to give him chase, with
infinite slaughter. And we have abundant examples of the
great inequality between number and strength. This, there
fore, may be first set down as a sure and certain maxim, and
the capital of all the rest, with regard to the greatness of
a state, that the people be of a military race,6 or both by
origin and disposition warlike. The sinews of war are not
money, if the sinews of men's arms be wanting, as they
are in a soft and effeminate nation. It was a just answer
of Solon to Croesus, who showed him all his treasure: "Yes,
sir, but if another should come with better iron than you,
he would be master of all this gold." 7 And, therefore, all
princes whose native subjects are not hardy and military,
should make a very modest estimate of their power; as, on
the other hand, those who rule a stout and martial people,
may well enough know their own strength, if they be not
otherwise wanting to themselves. As to hired forces, which
is the usual remedy when native forces are wanting, there
are numerous examples, which clearly show, that whatever
state depends upon them, though it may perhaps for a time
extend its feathers beyond its nest, yet they will mew soon
after.

The blessing of Judah and Issachar can never meet; so
that the same tribe, or nation, should be both the lion's
whelp, and the ass under the burden:8 nor can a people,
overburdened with taxes, ever be strong and warlike. It is
true, that taxes levied by public consent less dispirit and
sink the minds of the subject than those imposed in absolute
governments; as clearly appears by what is called excise in
the Netherlands, and in some measure by the contributions
called the subsidies in England. We are now speaking of

5 Lucul. 6 Machi. Discorso sopra Livio, lib. ii.

7 Plut. 8 Genesis xlix. 9, 14.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 389

the minds, and not of the wealth of the people: for tributes
by consent, though the same thing with tributes imposed, as
to exhausting the riches of a kingdom, yet very differently
affect the minds of the subject. So that this also must be
a maxim of state, "That a people oppressed with taxes is
unfit to rule."

States and kingdoms that aspire to greatness, must be
very careful that their nobles and gentry increase not too
much; otherwise, the common people will be dispirited,
reduced to an abject state, and become little better than
slaves to the nobility: as we see in coppices, if the staddles
are left too numerous, there will never be clean underwood;
but the greatest part degenerates into shrubs and bushes.
So in nations, where the nobility is too numerous, the com
monalty will be base and cowardly; and, at length, not one
head in a hundred among them prove fit for a helmet, espe
cially with regard to the infantry, which is generally the
prime strength of an army. Whence, though a nation be
full-peopled, its force may be small. We need no clearer
proof of this than by comparing England and France. For
though England be far inferior in extent and number of
inhabitants, yet it has almost constantly got the better
of France in war: for this reason, that the rustics, and
lower sort of people in England, make better soldiers than
the peasants of France. And in this respect it was a very
political and deep foresight of Henry the Seventh of Eng
land, to constitute lesser settled farms, and houses of hus
bandry, with a certain fixed and inseparable proportion of
land annexed, sufficient for a life of plenty: so that the
proprietors themselves, or at least the renters, and not hire
lings, might occupy them. For thus a nation may acquire
that character which Virgil gives of ancient Italy: "A
country strong in arms, and rich of soil" —

"Terra potens armis, atque ubere glebse. " 9

We must not here pass over a sort of people, almost pecul
iar to England, viz., the servants of our nobles and gentry;

9 ^Eneid, i. 531.

S90 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

as the lowest of this kind are no way inferior to the yeo
manry for foot service. And it is certain that the hospi
table magnificence and splendor, the attendance and large
train, in use among the nobility and gentry of England,
add much to our military strength; as, on the other hand, a
close retired life among the nobility causes a want of forces.
It must be earnestly endeavored, that the tree of mon
archy, like the tree of Nebuchadnezzar, have its trunk suffi
ciently large and strong, to support its branches and leaves;
or that the natives be sufficient to keep the foreign subjects
under: whence those states best consult their greatness,
which are liberal of naturalization. For it were vain to
think a handful of men, how excellent soever in spirit and
counsel, should hold large and spacious countries under the
yoke of empire. This, indeed, might perhaps be done for a
season, but it cannot be lasting. The Spartans were re
served and difficult in receiving foreigners among them;
and, therefore, so long as they ruled within their own nar
row bounds, their affairs stood firm and strong; but soon
after they began to widen their borders, and extend their
dominion further than the Spartan race could well command
the foreign crowd, their power sunk of a sudden. Never
did commonwealth receive new citizens so profusely as the
Eoman; whence its fortune was equal to so prudent a con
duct: and thus the Komans acquired the most extensive
empire on the globe. It was their custom to give a speedy
denization, and in the highest degree; that is, not only a
right of commerce, of marriage and inheritance, but also the
right of suffrage, and of candidature for places and honors.10
And this not only to particular persons; but they conferred
it upon entire families, cities, and sometimes whole nations
at once. Add to this their custom of settling colonies,
whereby Koman roots were transplanted in foreign soil.
And to consider these two practices together, it might be
said, that the Komans did not spread themselves over the
globe, but that the globe spread itself over the Komans:

10 Cic. pro L. C. Bal.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 391

which is the securest method of extending an empire. I
have often wondered how the Spanish government could
with so few natives inclose and curb so many kingdoms and
provinces. But Spain may be esteemed a sufficiently large
trunk, as it contains a much greater tract of country than
either Rome or Sparta did at first. And although the Span
iards are very sparing of naturalization, yet they do what
conies next to it: promiscuously receive the subjects of all
nations into their army; and even their highest military
office is often conferred upon foreign leaders. Nay, it
appears that Spain at length begins to feel their want of
natives, and are now endeavoring to supply it.

It is certain, that the sedentary mechanic arts, practiced
within doors, and the more curious manufactures, which
require the finger rather than the arm, are in their own
nature opposite to a military spirit. Men of the sword uni
versally delight in exemption from work, and dread dangers
less than labor. And in this temper they must be somewhat
indulged, if we desire to keep their minds in vigor. It was,
therefore, a great advantage to Sparta, Athens, Eome, and
other ancient republics, that they had the use, not of free
men, but generally of slaves for this kind of domestic arts.
But after the Christian religion gained ground, the use of
slaves was in great measure abolished. What comes nearest
this custom is to leave such arts chiefly to strangers, who for
that purpose should be invited to come in, or at least be
easily admitted. The native vulgar should consist of three
kinds; viz., husbandmen, free servants, and handicraftsmen,
used to the strong masculine arts; such as smithery, ma
sonry, carpentry, etc., without including the soldiery.

But above all, it is most conducive to the greatness of
empire, for a nation to profess the skill of arms as its prin
cipal glory and most honorable employ; for the things
hitherto spoken of are but preparatory to the use of arms;
and to what end this preparation, if the thing itself be not
reduced to action? Romulus, as the story goes, left it in
charge to his people at his death, that of all things they

392 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

should cultivate the art of war, as that which would make
their city the head of the world.11 The whole frame and
structure of the Spartan government tended, with more dili
gence, indeed, than prudence, only to make its inhabitants
warriors. Such was also the practice of the Persians and
Macedonians, though not so constant and lasting. The
Britons, Gauls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, and Normans,
for some time also principally cultivated military arts.
The Turks did the same, being not a little excited thereto
by their law, and still continue the discipline, notwithstand
ing their soldiery be now on its incline. Of all Christian
Europe, the only nation that still retains and professes this
discipline is the Spanish. But it is so plain, that every one
advances furthest in what he studies most, as to require no
enforcing. It is sufficient to intimate, that unless a nation
professedly studies and practices arms and military disci
pline, so as to make them a principal business, it must not
expect that any remarkable greatness of empire will come
of its own accord. On the contrary, it is the most certain
oracle of time, that those nations which have longest con
tinued in the study and profession of arms, as the Romans
and the Turks have principally done, make the most sur
prising progress in enlarging the bounds of empire. And
again, those nations which have flourished, though but for
a single age, in military glory, yet during that time have
obtained such a greatness of empire as has remained with
them long after, when their martial discipline was slackened.
It bears some relation to the foregoing precept, that "a
state should have such laws and customs as may readily ad
minister just causes, or at least pretexts, of taking arms."
For there is such a natural notion of justice imprinted in
men's minds, that they will not make war, which is attended
with so many calamities, unless for some weighty or at least
some specious reason. The Turks are never unprovided of
a cause of war, viz., the propagation of their law and relig
ion. The Romans, though it was a high degree of honor for

11 Livy, v. 37.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 393

their emperors to extend the borders of their empire, yet
never undertook a war for that sole end. Let it, therefore,
be a rule to all nations that aim at empire, to have a quick
and lively sensibility of any injury done to their frontier
subjects, merchants, or public ministers. And let them not
sit too long quiet after the first provocation. Let them also
be ready and cheerful in sending auxiliaries to their friends
and allies, which the Komans constantly observed, insomuch
that if an invasion were made upon any of their allies, who
also had a defensive league with others, and the former
begged assistance severally, the Komans would ever be the
first to give it, and not suffer the honor of the benefit to be
snatched from them by others. As for the wars anciently
waged from a certain conformity or tacit correspondence of
states, I cannot see on what law they stood. Such were the
wars undertaken by the Eomans for restoring liberty to
Greece; such were those of the Lacedaemonians and Athe
nians, for establishing or overturning democracies or oli
garchies; and such sometimes are those entered into by
republics or kingdoms, under pretext of protecting the sub
jects of other nations, or delivering them from tyranny. It
may suffice for the present purpose, that no state expect
any greatness of empire, unless it be immediately ready to
seize any just occasion of a war.

No one body, whether natural or political, can preserve
its health without exercise; and honorable war is the whole
some exercise of a kingdom or commonwealth. Civil wars,
indeed, are like the heat of a fever, but a war abroad is like
the heat of motion — wholesome; for men's minds are ener
vated and their manners corrupted by sluggish and inactive
peace. And, however it may be as to the happiness of a
state, it is doubtless best for its greatness to be as it were
always in arms. A veteran army, indeed, kept constantly
ready for marching, is expensive, yet it gives a state the
disposal of things among its neighbors, or at least procures
it a great reputation in other respects, as may' be clearly seen
in the Spaniard, who has now, for a long succession of years,

394 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

kept a standing army, though not always in the same part of
the country.

The dominion of the sea is an epitome of monarchy.
Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, writing of Pompey's prepara
tion against Csesar, says, the designs of Pompey are like
those of Themistocles; for he thinks they who command
the sea command the empire.18 And doubtless Pompey
would have wearied Caesar out, and brought him under, had
he not, through a vain confidence, abandoned his design. It
is plain, from many examples, of how great consequence sea-
fights are. The fight at Actium decided the empire of the
world; the fight of Lepanto struck a hook in the nose of
the Turk; and it has frequently happened that victories or
defeats at sea have put a final end to the war, that is, when
the whole fortune of it has been committed to them. Doubt
less the being master of the sea leaves a nation at great lib
erty to act, and to take as much or as little of the war as it
pleases, while those who are superior in land forces have
yet numerous difficulties to struggle with. And at present,
among the European nations, a naval strength, which is the
portion of Great Britain, is more than ever of the greatest
importance to sovereignty, as well because most of the king
doms of Europe are not continents, but in good measure sur
rounded by the sea, as because the treasures of both Indies
seem but an accessory to the dominion of the seas.

The wars of later times seem to have been waged in the
dark, compared with the variety of glory and honor usually
reflected upon the military men of former ages. It is true,
we have at this day certain military honors designed per
haps as incentives to courage, though common to men of the
gown as well as the sword; we have also some coats-of-arms
and public hospitals, for soldiers worn out and disabled in
the service; but among the ancients, when a victory was
obtained, there were trophies, funeral orations, and magnifi
cent monuments for such as died in the wars. Civic crowns
and military garlands were bestowed upon all the soldiers.

12 B. 10, ep. 8.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 395

The very name of emperor was afterward borrowed by the
greatest kings from leaders in the wars; they had solemn
triumphs for their successful generals; they had donatives
and great largesses for the soldiers, when the army was dis
banded ; these are such great and dazzling things in the eyes
of mortals, as to be capable of firing the most frozen spirits
and inflaming them for war. In particular, the manner of
triumph among the Komans was not a thing of pageantry or
empty show, but deserving to be reckoned among the wis
est and most noble of their customs, as being attended with
these three particulars; viz., 1. The glory and honor of
their leaders; 2. The enriching of the treasury with the
spoils; and, 3. Donatives to the army. But their trium
phal honors were, perhaps, unfit for monarchies, unless in
the person of the king or his son, which also obtained at
Rome in the times of its emperors, who reserved the honor
of the triumph as peculiar to themselves and their sons upon
returning from the wars whereat they were present, and had
brought to a conclusion, only conferring their vestments and
triumphal ensigns upon the other leaders

But to conclude, though no man, as the Scripture testi
fies, can by taking care add one cubit to his stature,13 that
is, in the little model of the human body; yet in the vast
fabric of kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power
of kings and rulers to extend and enlarge the bounds of em
pire; for by prudently introducing such laws, orders, and
customs as those above mentioned, and the like, they might
sow the seeds of greatness for posterity and future ages.
But these counsels seldom reach the ears of princes, who
generally commit the whole to the direction and disposal of
fortune.

The other desideratum we note in the art of government,
is the doctrine of universal justice, or the fountains of law.
They who have hitherto written upon laws were either as
philosophers or lawyers: the philosophers advance many
things that appear beautiful in discourse, but lie out of the

13 Matt. vi. 27, and Luke xii. 25.

396 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

road of use; while the lawyers, being bound and subject to
the decrees of the laws prevailing in their several countries,
whether Eoman or pontifical, have not their judgment free,
but write as in fetters. This doctrine, doubtless, properly
belongs to statesmen, who best understand civil society, the
good of the people, natural equity, the customs of nations,
and the different forms of states; whence they are able to
judge of laws by the principles and precepts, as well of nat
ural justice as of politics. The present view, therefore, is
to discover the fountains of justice and public good, and in
all the parts of equity to give a certain character and idea
of what is just, according whereto those who desire it may
examine the laws of particular kingdoms and states, and
thence endeavor to amend them. And of this doctrine we
shall, in our usual way, give an example, aphoristically, in
a single title.

A SPECIMEN OF THE METHOD OF TREATING UNIVERSAL JUSTICE, OR

THE FOUNTAINS OF EQUITY14
Introduction

APHORISM I. Either law or force prevails in civil society.
But there is some force that resembles law, and some law
that resembles force more than justice; whence there are
three fountains of injustice; viz., 1. Mere force; 2. Mali
cious insnaring under color of law; and 3. The severity
of the law itself.

II. The ground of private right is this: He who does an
injury receives profit or pleasure in the action, and incurs
danger by the example; while others partake not with him
in that profit or pleasure, but think the example concerns
them; whence they easily agree to defend themselves by
laws, lest each particular should be injured in his turn. But
if it should happen, from the nature of the times, and a com
munion of guilt, that the greater or more powerful part

14 Compare Morhof's "Polyhistor, " torn. iii. lib. vK De Jurisprudent^
universalis Scriptoribus ; "Struvii Bibliothec. Philosoph." cap. 6, 7, De Scrip-
toribus Politicis; and "Slollii Introduct. in Hist. Liter." p. 753, etc., De Jure
Naturali.— Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 397

should be subject to danger, rather than defended from
it by law, faction here disannuls the law; and this case
frequently happens.

III. But private right lies under the protection of public
laws; for law guards the people, and magistrates guard the
laws. But the authority of the magistrate is derived from
the majesty of the government, the form of the constitution,
and its fundamental laws; whence, if the political constitu
tion be just and right, the laws will be of excellent use;
but if otherwise, of little security.

IY. Public law is not only the preserver of private right,
so as to keep it unviolated and prevent injuries, but extends
also to religion, arms, discipline, ornaments, wealth, and all
things that regard the good of a state.

Y. For the end and scope of laws, whereto all their
decrees and sanctions ought to tend, is the happiness of
the people; which is procurable — 1, by rightly instructing
them in piety, religion, and the duties of morality; 2, secur
ing them by arms against foreign enemies; 3, guarding them
by laws against faction and private injuries; 4, rendering
them obedient to the government and magistracy; and, 5,
thus causing them to flourish in strength and plenty. But
laws are the instruments and sinews for procuring all this.

VI. The best laws, indeed, secure this good end, but
many other laws fail of it; for laws differ surprisingly
from one another, insomuch that some are — 1, excellent;
others, 2, of a middle nature; and 3, others again absolutely
corrupt. We shall, therefore, here offer, according to the
best of our judgment, certain laws, as it were, of laws;18
from whence an information may be derived as to what is
well or what is ill laid down, or established by particular
laws.

15 As laying down the just foundations and rules of the law ; for the law itself
is governed by reason, justice and good sense. But perhaps these aphorisms of
the author follow the particular law of England too close to be allowed by other
nations for the foundations of universal justice, which is a very extensive sub
ject. See "Struvii Bibliothec. Philosoph. " cap. 8, De Scriptoribus Juris Naturae
et Gentium. — Ed,

398 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

VII. But before we proceed to the body of particular
laws, we will briefly touch upon the excellences and dig
nities of laws in general. Now, that may be esteemed a
good law which is — 1, clear and certain in its sense; 2, just
in its command; 3, commodious in the execution; 4, agree
able to the form of government; and, 5, productive of virtue
in the subject.16

TITLE I
Of that primary dignity of the law, certainty

VIII. Certainty is so essential to a law, that a law with
out it cannot be just; for if the trumpet gives an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle ? 17 So if the
law has an uncertain sense, who shall obey it? A law,
therefore, ought to give warning before it strikes: and it
is a true maxim, that the best law leaves least to the breast
of the judge; which is effected by certainty.

IX. Laws have two uncertainties — the one where no law
is prescribed, the other when a law is ambiguous and ob
scure; wherefore we must first speak of cases omitted by
the law, that in these also may be found some 'rules of
certainty.

Cases omitted in law

X. The narrowness of human prudence cannot foresee
all the cases that time may produce. Whence new cases,
and cases omitted, frequently turn up. And for these there
are three remedies or supplies; viz., 1, by proceeding upon
analogy: 2, by the use of precedents, though not yet
brought into a law; and 3, by juries, which decree accord
ing to conscience and discretion, whether in the courts of
equity or of common law.

Application and extension of laws

XI. 1. In cases omitted, the rule of law is to be deduced
from similar cases, but with caution and judgment. And
here the following rules are to be observed: Let reason be

16 These are so many several titles, or general heads, laid down by the
author, as if he intended a full treatise upon the subject; but he here only
considers the first of them. — Shaw.

17 I. Cor. xiv. 8.

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esteemed a fruitful, and custom a barren thing, so as to
breed no cases. And therefore what is received against the
reason of a law, or where its reason is obscure, should not
be drawn into precedents.

XII A great public good must draw to itself all cases
omitted; and therefore, when a law remarkably, and in an
extraordinary manner, regards and procures the good of the
public, let its interpretation be full and extensive.

XIII. It is a cruel thing to torture the laws, that they
may torture men; whence penal laws, much less capital
laws, should not be extended to new offences. But if the
offence be old, and known to the law, and its prosecution
fall upon a new case not provided for by law, the law must
rather be forsaken than offences go unpunished.

XIY. Statutes that repeal the common law, especially in
common and settled cases, should not be drawn by analogy
to cases omitted; for when the republic has long been with
out an entire law, and that in express cases, there is little
danger if cases omitted should wait their remedy from a
new statute.

XV. It is enough for such statutes as were plainly tem
porary laws, enacted upon particular urgent occasions of
state, to contain themselves within their proper cases after
those occasions cease; for it were preposterous to extend
them in any measure to cases omitted.

XVI. There is no precedent of a precedent; but exten
sion should rest in immediate cases, otherwise it would
gradually slide on to dissimilar cases, and so the wit of
men prevail over the authority of laws.

XVII. In such laws and statutes as are concise, exten
sion may be more freely allowed; but in those which ex
press particular cases, it should be used more cautiously.
For as exception strengthens the force of a law in un
accepted cases, so enumeration weakens it in cases not
enumerated.

XVIII. An explanatory statute stops the current of a
precedent statute ; nor does either of them admit extension

400 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

afterward. Neither should the judge make a superexten-
sion where the law has once begun one.

XIX. The solemnity of forms and acts admits not of
extension to similar cases : for it is losing the nature of so
lemnity to go from custom to opinion, and the introduction
of new things takes from the majesty of the old.

XX. The extension of law is easy to after-cases, which
had no existence at the time when the law was made: for
where a case could not be described because not then in
being, a case omitted is deemed a case expressed, if there
be the same reason for it.

Precedents and the use of forms

XXL 2. We come next to precedents; from which jus
tice may be derived where the law is deficient, but reserving
custom, which is a kind of law, and the precedents which,
through frequent use, are passed into custom, as into a tacit
law; we shall at present only speak of such precedents as
happen but rarely, and have not acquired the force of a law,
with a view to show how and with what caution a rule of
justice may be derived from them when the law is defective.

XXII. Precedents are to be derived from good and mod
erate times, and not from such as are tyrannical, factious, or
dissolute; for this latter kind are a spurious birth of time,
and prove more prejudicial than instructive.

XXIII. Modern examples are to be held the safest. For
why may not what was lately done, without any inconven
ience be safely done again? Yet recent examples have the
less authority; and, where things require a restoration, par
ticipate more of their own times than of right reason.

XXIV. Ancient precedents are to be received with cau
tion and choice; for the course of time alters many things;
so that what seems ancient, in time may, for disturbance
and unsuitableness, be new at the present; and therefore
the precedents of intermediate times are the best, or those
of such times as have most agreement with the present,
which ancient times may happen to have more than later.

XXV. Let the limits of a precedent be observed, and

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rather kept within than exceeded; for where there is no rule
of law, everything should be suspected: and therefore, as
this is a dark road, we should not be hasty to follow.

XXVI. Beware of fragments and epitomes of examples,
and rather consider the whole of the precedent with all its
process; for if it be absurd to judge upon part of a law
without understanding the whole, this should be much
rather observed of precedents, the use whereof is precari
ous, without an evident correspondence.

XXVII. It is of great consequence through what hands
the precedents pass, and by whom they have been allowed.
For if they have obtained only among clerks and secretaries,
by the course of the court, without any manifest knowledge
of their superiors; or have prevailed among that source of
errors, the populace, they are to be rejected or lightly
esteemed. But if they come before senators, judges, or
principal courts, so that of necessity they must have been
strengthened, at least by the tacit approval of proper per
sons, their dignity is the greater.

XXVIII. More authority is to be allowed to those ex
amples which, though less used, have been published and
thoroughly canvassed; but less to those that have lain
buried and forgotten in the closet or archives: for exam
ples, like waters, are wholesomest in the running stream.

XXIX. Precedents in law should not be derived from
history, but from public acts and accurate traditions; for
it is a certain infelicity, even among the best historians,
that they dwell not sufficiently upon laws and judicial pro
ceedings; or if they happen to have some regard thereto,
yet their accounts are far from being authentic.

XXX. An example rejected in the same, or next succeed
ing age, should not easily be received again when the same
case recurs; for it makes not so much -in its favor that men
sometimes used it, as in its disfavor that they dropped it
upon experience.

XXXI. Examples are things of direction and advice, not
rules or orders, and therefore should be so managed as to

402 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

bend the authority of former times to the service of the
present.

Praetorian and censorian courts

XXXII. 3. There should be both courts and juries, to
judge according to conscience and discretion, where the rule
of the law is defective; for laws, as we before observed,
cannot provide against all cases, but are suited only to
such as frequently happen: time, the wisest of all things,
daily introducing new cases.

XXXIII. But new cases happen both in criminal mat
ters, which require punishment; and in civil causes, which
require relief. The courts that regard the former, we call
censorial, or courts of justice; and those that regard the
latter, prsetorial, or courts of equity.

XXXIV. The courts of justice should have jurisdiction
and power, not only to punish new offences, but also to
increase the penalties appointed by the laws for old ones,
where the cases are flagrant and notorious, yet not capital;
for every enormous crime may be esteemed a new one.

XXXY. In like manner, the courts of equity should have
power as well to abate the rigor of the law as to supply its
defects; for if a remedy be afforded to a person neglected
by the law, much more to him who is hurt by the law.

XXXVI. Both the censorial and praBtorial courts should'
absolutely confine themselves to enormous and extraordinary
cases, without invading the ordinary jurisdictions; lest other
wise the law should rather be supplanted than supplied.

XXXVII. These jurisdictions should reside only in su
preme courts, and not be communicated to the lower; for
the power of supplying, extending, or moderating the laws,
differs but little from a power of making them.

XXXVIII. These courts of jurisdiction should not be
committed to a single person, but consist of several; and let
not their verdict be given in silence, but let the judges pro
duce the reasons of their sentence openly and in full audi
ence of the court; so that what is free in power may yet be
limited by regard to fame and reputation.

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XXXIX. Let there be no records of blood, nor sentence
of capital crimes, passed in any court, but upon known and
certain laws: God himself first pronounced, and afterward
inflicted death. Nor should a man lose his life without first
knowing that he had forfeited it.

XL. In the courts of justice, let there be three returns
of the jury, that the judges may not only lie under no neces
sity of absolving or condemning, but also have a liberty of
pronouncing the case not clear. And let there be, besides
penalty, a note of infamy or punishment by way of admon
ishing others, and chastising delinquents, as it were, by put
ting them to the blush with shame and scandal.

XLI. In courts of justice, let the first overtures and in
termediate parts of all great offences be punished, though
the end were not accomplished. And this should be the
principal use of such courts; for it is the part of discipline
to punish the first buddings of offences; and the part of
clemency, to punish the intermediate actions, and prevent
their taking effect.

XLIL Great regard must be had in courts of equity, not
to afford relief in those cases which the law has not so much
omitted as despised for their levity, or, for their odiousness,
judged unworthy of a remedy.

XLIII. But above all, it is of the greatest moment to the
certainty of the laws we now speak of, that courts of equity
keep from swelling and overflowing, lest, under pretence of
mitigating the rigor of the law, they should cut its sinews
and weaken its strength by wresting all things to their own
disposal.

XLIY. No court of equity should have a right of de
creeing against a statute, under any pretext of equity what
ever; otherwise the judge would become the legislator, and
have all things dependent upon his will.

XLY. Some conceive the jurisdiction which decrees ac
cording to equity and conscience, and that which proceeds
according to strict justice, should be deputed to the same
courts, while others would have them kept distinct; which

404 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

seems much the better way. There will be no distinction of
cases where there is a mixture of jurisdictions; but arbitra
tion will at length supersede the law.

XLYI. The use of the praetor's table stood upon a good
foundation among the Eomans, as that wherein he set down
and published in what manner he would administer justice.
According to which example, the judges in courts of equity
should propose to themselves some certain rules to go by,
and fix them up to public view: for as that law is ever the
best, which leaves least to the breast of the judge; so is that
judge the best, who leaves least to himself.18
Retrospect and relation of laws

XLVII. There is also another way of supplying cases
omitted; viz., when one law is made upon another, and
brings the cases omitted along with it. This happens in
those laws or statutes, which, according to the common
phrase, look backward. But laws of this kind are to be
seldom used, and with great caution; for a Janus-face is
not to be admired in the law.

XLVI1I. He who captiously and fraudulently eludes
and circumscribes the words or intention of a law, deserves
to be hampered by a subsequent law. Whence, in fraudu
lent and evasive cases, it is just for laws to carry a retro
spection, and prove of mutual assistance to each other; so
that he who invents loopholes and plots the subversion of
present laws, may at least be awed by future.

XLIX. Such laws as strengthen and confirm the true in
tentions of acts and instruments against the defects of forms
and solemnities, very justly include past actions; for the
principal fault of a retrospective law is. its causing disturb
ance; but these confirming laws regard the peace and settle
ment of transactions. Care, however, must be had not to
disturb things once adjudged.

L. It should be carefully observed, that not only such
laws as look back to what is past invalidate former transac-

18 The author made a speech to this effect, upon receiving the seal and
taking his place in Chancery.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 405

tions, but such also as prohibit and restrain things future,
which are necessarily connected with things past: so, if any
law should prohibit certain artificers the sale of their wares
in future, this law, though it speaks for hereafter, yet oper
ates upon times past, though such artificers had then no
other lawful means of subsisting.

LI. All declaratory laws, though they make no mention
of time past, yet are, by the very declaration itself, entirely
to regard past matters; for the interpretation does not begin
with the declaration, but, as it were, is made contemporary
with the law itself. And therefore declaratory laws should
not be enacted, except in cases where the law may be retro-
spected with justice. And so much for the uncertainty of
laws, where the law is extant. We proceed to the other
part, where the laws, though extant, are perplexed and
obscure.

Obscurity of laws

LII. The obscurity of laws has four sources; viz., 1.
An accumulation of laws, especially if mixed with such as
are obsolete. 2. An ambiguous description, or want of
clear and distinct delivery. 3. A neglect or failure in in
stituting the method of interpreting justice. 4. And lastly,
a clashing and uncertainty of judgments.

Excessive accumulation of laws

L11I. The prophet says, "It shall rain snares upon
them":19 but there are no worse snares than the snares
of laws, especially the penal, which, growing excessive in
number, and useless through time, prove not a lantern, but
nets to the feet.

LIV. There are two ways in use of making new statutes;
the one confirms and strengthens the former statutes in the
like cases, at the same time adding or altering some particu
lars; the other abrogates and cancels all that was enacted
before, and instead thereof, substitutes a new uniform law.
And the latter method is the best: for in the former the
decrees become complicate and perplexed, and though the

19 Psal. x. t.

406 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

business be performed, yet the body of laws in the mean
time becomes corrupt; but in the latter, greater diligence
must be used when the law itself comes to be weighed
anew, and what was before enacted to be reconsidered an
tecedent to its passing; by which means the future agree
ment and harmony of the laws is well consulted.

LV. It was in use among the Athenians for six persons
annually to examine the contradictory titles of their laws,
and propose to the people such of them as could not be rec
onciled, that some certain resolution might be taken about
them. According to which example, the legislators of every
state should once in three or five years, as it shall seem
proper, take a review of these contrarieties in law; but let
them first be inspected and prepared by committees ap
pointed for the purpose, and then brought in for the gen
eral assembly to fix and establish wliat shall be approved
by vote.

LYI. But let not an overdiligent and scrupulous care
be used in reconciling the contradictory titles of laws, by
subtile and far-fetched distinctions; for this is the weaving
of the wit; and whatever appearance it may have of mod
esty and reverence, it is to be deemed prejudicial, as render
ing the whole body of the laws dissimilar and incoherent.
It were, therefore, much better to suppress the worst, and
suffer the best to stand alone.

LVIL Obsolete laws, that are grown into disuse, should
in the same manner be cancelled. For as an express statute
is not regularly abrogated by disuse, it happens that, from a
contempt of such as are obsolete, the others also lose part of
their authority; whence follows that torture of Mezentius,
whereby the living laws are killed in the embraces of the
dead ones. But above all things a gangrene in the laws is
to be prevented.

LVIII. And let courts of equity have a right of decree
ing contrary to obsolete laws and statutes not newly enacted;
for although, as is well observed, nobody should be wiser
than the laws, yet this should be understood of the laws

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 407

when they are awake, and not when they sleep. But let it
be the privilege, not of judges in the courts of equity, but
of kings, solemn councils, and the higher powers, to over
rule later statutes found prejudicial to public justice, and to
suspend the execution thereof by edicts or public acts, till
those meetings are held which have the true power of re
pealing them, lest otherwise the safety of the people should
be endangered.

New digests of laws

LIX. But if laws heaped upon laws shall swell to such
a vast bulk, and labor under such confusion as renders it
expedient to treat them anew, and reduce them into one
sound and serviceable corps, it becomes a work of the ut
most importance, deserving to be deemed heroical, and let
the authors of it be ranked among legislators, and the re
storers of states and empires.

LX. Such an expurgation and new digest of laws is to
be effected by five particulars; viz., 1. By omitting all the
obsolete laws, which Justinian calls ancient fables; 2. By
receiving the most approved contradictories, and abolishing
the rest; 3. By expunging laws of the same purport, and
retaining only one, or the most perfect; 4. By throwing out
such laws as determine nothing — only propose questions,
and leave them undecided; 5. And lastly, by contracting
and abridging those that are too verbose and prolix.

LX1. And it would be very useful in such a new digest,
separately to range and bring together all those laws re
ceived for common law which have a kind of immemorial
origin, and on the other side the statutes superadded from
time to time; because in numerous particulars in the prac
tice of the law, the interpretation and administration of the
common law differs from the statute law. And this method
was observed by Trebonianus in his digest and code.

LXII. But in such a second birth of the law, and such a
recompilement of the ancient books and laws, the very words
and text of the law itself should be retained: and though it
were necessary to collect them by fragments and small por-

408 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tions, they may afterward be regularly wove together. For
allowing it might perhaps be more commodious, and, with
regard to the true reason of the thing, better, to do it by a
new text than by such kind of patchwork, yet in the law,
style and description are not so much to be regarded as
authority, and its patron antiquity; otherwise this might
rather seem a work of mere scholarship and method than a
corps of majestic laws.

LXI1I. 'Twere advisable, in making this new digest, not
utterly to abolish the ancient volumes, and give them up to
oblivion, but suffer them at least to remain in some library,
though with a prohibition of their common use; because in
weighty cases it might be proper to consult and inspect the
revolutions and series of ancient laws. 'Tis also a solemn
thing to intermix antiquity with things present. And such
a new body of laws ought to receive the sanction of all those
who have any legislative power in the state, lest under a
pretence of digesting the old laws new ones should be
secretly obtruded.

LXIV. 'Twere to be wished that such a recompilement
of the laws might be undertaken in such times as excel the
ancient (whose acts and works they model anew) in point of
learning and universal knowledge; the contrary whereof
happened in the work of Justinian. For 'tis an unfortu
nate thing to have the works of the ancients mangled, and
set together again at the discretion and choice of a less pru
dent and less learned age. But it often happens that what
is necessary is not best.

Obscure and involved exposition of laws

LXY. Laws are obscurely described either — 1, through
their loquacity and superfluity of words; 2, through over-
conciseness; or, 3, through their preambles contradicting
the body of the law.

LXYI. We at present treat of the obscurity which arises
from their ill description, and approve not the loquacity
and prolixity now used in drawing up the laws, which in
no degree obtains what is intended by it, but rather the con-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 409

trary; for while it endeavors to comprehend and express all
particular cases in apposite and proper diction (as expecting
greater certainty from thence), it raises numerous questions
about terms, which renders the true and real design of the
law more difficult to come at through a huddle of words.

LXVII. Nor yet can we approve of a too concise and
affected brevity, used for the sake of majesty and authority,
especially in this age; lest the laws should become like the
Lesbian rule.30 A mediocrity, therefore, is to be observed,
and a well-defined generality of words to be found, which
though it does not accurately explain the cases it compre
hends, yet clearly excludes those it does not comprehend.

LXVIII. Yet in the ordinary politic laws and edicts,
where lawyers are seldom consulted, but the politicians
trust to their own judgment, things ought to be largely ex
plained and pointed out to the capacity of the vulgar.

LXIX. Nor do we approve of tedious preambles at the
head of laws: they were anciently held impertinent, as intro
ducing laws in the way of dispute, not in the way of com
mand. But as we do not suit ourselves to the manners of
the ancients, these prefaces are now generally used of neces
sity, not only as explanations, but as persuasives to the
passing of the law in the assemblies of states, and likewise
to satisfy the people; yet as much as possible let preambles
be avoided, and the law begin with commanding.

LXX. Though the intent and mind of the law may be
sometimes drawn from these preambles, yet its latitude and
extent should by no means be derived from them; for the
preamble frequently fixes upon a few of the more plausible
and specious particulars, by way of example, while the law
itself * contains many more; or on the contrary, the law re
strains and limits many things, the reason whereof it were
not necessary to insert in the preamble; wherefore the ex-

20 The Lesbians are said to have made their rules from their buildings ; so
that if the buildings were erroneous, the rules they worked by became so, too,
and thus propagated the error : so if the laws were written concise, as if drawn
up in perfect times, or with an affectation of a sententious or majestic brevity,
they might propagate errors, instead of correcting them.
SCIENCE— Vol. 21 —18

410 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

tent of the law is to be derived from the body of the law,
the preamble often exceeding or falling short of this ex
tent.

LXXI. There is one very faulty method of drawing up
the laws, viz., when the case is largely set forth in the pre
amble, and then by the force of the word which, or some
such relative, the body of the law is reflected back upon
the preamble, and the preamble inserted and incorporated
in the body of the law; whence proceed both obscurity and
danger, because the same care is not usually employed in
weighing and examining the words of the preamble, as the
words of the law itself.

Different methods of expounding laws and solving doubts

LXXII. There are five ways of interpreting the law,
and making it clear; viz., 1, by recording of judgments;
2, by instituting authentic writers; 3, by auxiliary books;
4, by readings; and, 5, by the answers or counsel of quali
fied persons. A due use of all these affords a great and
ready assistance in clearing the laws of their obscurity.

Reports of judgments

LXXIII. And above all, let the judgments of the su
preme and principal courts be diligently and faithfully
recorded, especially in weighty causes, and particularly
such as are doubtful, or attended with difficulty or novelty.
For judgments are the anchors of the laws, as laws are the
anchors of states.

LXXIV. And let this be the method of taking them
down — 1. Write the case precisely, and the judgments ex
actly, at length; 2. Add the reasons alleged by the judges
for their judgment; 3. Mix not the authority of cases,
brought by way of example, with the principal case; 4.
And for the pleadings, unless they contain anything very
extraordinary, omit them.

LXXV. Let those who take down these judgments be
of the most learned counsel in the law, and have a liberal
stipend allowed them by the public. But let not the judges
meddle in these reports, lest, favoring their own opinions

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too much, or relying upon their own authority, they exceed
the bounds of a recorder.

LXXYI. Let these judgments be digested in the order
of time, and not in method and titles; for such writings are
a kind of histories or narratives of the laws; and not only
the acts themselves, but also their times, afford light to a
prudent judge.

Authentic writers

LXXVII. Let a body of law be wholly compiled, 1, of
the laws that constitute the common law; 2, of the statutes;
and, 3, of the judgments on record: and besides these, let
nothing be deemed authentic, or else be sparingly received.

LXXVI1T. Nothing conduces more to the certainty of
laws, whereof we now speak, than that the authentic writings
should be kept within moderate bounds; and that vast mul
titude of authors and learned men in the law excluded,
which otherwise rend the mind of the laws, distract the
judge, make lawsuits endless: and the lawyer himself, find
ing it impossible to peruse and digest so many books, hence
takes up with compendiums. Perhaps some good glossary,
a few of the exactest writers, or rather a very few portions
of a few authors, might be usefully received for authentic.
But let the books be still reserved in libraries, for the judges
and counsel to inspect occasionally, without permitting them
to be cited in pleading at the bar, or suffering them to pass
into authority.

Auxiliary writings

LXXIX. But let not the knowledge and practice of the
law want its auxiliary books, which are of six kinds; viz.,
I. Institutes; 2. Explanations of words; 3. The rules of
law; 4. The antiquities of law; 5. Summaries or abridg
ments; and 6. Forms of pleading.

LXXX. Students are to be trained up to the knowledge
and higher parts of the law by institutes, which should be
written in a clear method. Let the whole of private right,
of the laws of Meum and Tuum, be gone over in these ele
ments, not omitting some things and dwelling too much

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upon others, but giving a little taste of all, that when the
student comes to peruse the corps of the law, he may meet
with nothing entirely new, or without having received some
previous notion thereof. But the public law is not to be
touched in these institutes, this being to be drawn from the
fountains themselves.

LXXXI. Let a commentary be made of the terms of the
law, without endeavoring too curiously and laboriously to
give their full sense and explanation ; the purport hereof
being not to search the exact definitions of terms, but to
afford such explanations only as may open an easy way to
reading the books of the law. And let not this treatise be
digested alphabetically — rather leave that to the index; but
place all those words together which relate to the same
thing, so that one may help to the understanding of an
other.

LXXXII. It principally conduces to the certainty of
laws, to have a just and exact treatise of the different rules
of law; a work deserving the diligence of the most ingen
ious and prudent lawyers; for we are not satisfied with what
is already extant of this kind. Not only the known and
common rules are to be here collected, but others also, more
subtile and latent, which may be drawn from the harmony
of laws and adjudged cases; such as are sometimes found in
the best records. And these rules or maxims are general
dictates of reason running through the different matters of
law, and make, as it were, its ballast.

LXXXIII. But let not the positions or placets of law be
taken for rules, as they usually are, very injudiciously; for
if this were received, there would be as many rules as there
are laws: a law being no other than a commanding rule.
But let those be held for rules which cleave to the very
form of justice; whence in general the same rules are found
through the civil law of different states, unless they some
times vary with regard to the form of government.

LXXXIY. After the rule is laid down in a short and
solid expression, let examples and clear decisions of cases

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 413

be subjoined by way of explanation; distinctions and ex
ceptions by way of limitation; and things of the same kind
by way of amplification to the rule.

LXXXY. It is justly directed not to take Jaws from
rules, but to make the rules from the laws in being: neither
must the proof be derived from the words of the rule, as if
that were the text of the law; for the rule, like the magnetic
needle, does not make, but indicate the law.

LXXXYI. Besides the body of the law, it is proper to
take a view of the antiquities of laws, which, though they
have lost their authority, still retain their reverence. Those
writings upon laws and judgments, whether published or
unpublished, are to be held for antiquities of law, which
preceded the body of the laws in point of time; for these
antiquities should not be lost, but the most useful of them
being collected, and such as are frivolous and impertinent
rejected, they should be brought into one volume without
mixing ancient fables, as Treboninaus calls them, with the
laws themselves.

LXXXYI1. But for practice, 'tis highly proper to have
the whole law orderly digested under heads and titles,
whereto any one may occasionally turn on a sudden, as to
a storehouse furnished for present use. These summaries
brin^ intc order what lay dispersed, and abridge what was
caftusive and prolix, in the law. But care must be had lest
these abridgments should make men ready for practice, and
indolent in the science itself; for their office is to serve but
as remembrancers, and not as perfect teachers of the law.
And they are to be made with great diligence, fidelity, and
judgment, that they may fairly represent, and not steal from
the laws.

LXXXVIIL Let different forms of pleading be collected
in every kind, for this tends to practice; and doubtless they
lay open the oracles and mysteries of the law, which con
ceals many such. And these are better and more fully dis
played in forms of pleading than otherwise, as the hand is
better seen when opened.

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Answers and consultations

LXXXIX. Some method ought to be taken for solving
and putting an end to particular doubts which arise from
time to time; for it is a hard thing, if they who desire to
keep clear of error, should find no one to set them right,
but that their actions must be still endangered, without any
means of knowing the law, before the case is determined.

XG. But we approve not that the answers of prudent
men, whether counsellors or professors of law, given to
such as ask their advice, should have so great authority, as
that the judge might not lawfully depart from their opmioD.
Let points of law be taken from sworn judges.

XCI. We approve not that judgments should be tried by
feigned cases and persons, with a view to predetermine what
will be the' rule of law; for this dishonors the majesty of
laws, and should be judged as a prevarication. Besides, 'tis
monstrous for judgments to copy the stage.

XCI1. Therefore let as well judgments as answers and
advice proceed from none but the judges, the former in suits
depending, and the latter in the way of opinion upon diffi
cult points of law. But these notices, whether in private or
public affairs, are not to be expected from the judges them
selves, for that were to make the judge a pleader; but from
the prince or state: and let them recommend it to the judges,
who, invested with such authority, are to hear the arguments
on both sides, and the pleadings of the counsel employed
either by those whom it concerns, or appointed by the judges
themselves if necessary; and after the matter is weighed, let
the judges declare the law, and give their opinion; and such
kind of opinions should be recorded and published among
judged cases, and be reckoned of equal authority with them.

Prelections

XCIII. Let the readings upon the law, and the exercises
of such as study it, be so instituted and ordered, that all
things may tend to the resolving and putting an end, and
not to the raising and maintaining of questions and contro
versies in the law. But at present a school seems every-

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 415

where opened for multiplying disputes, wranglings, and
altercations about the laws, in the way of showing the wit
of the disputants; though this is also an ancient evil, for it
was esteemed a piece of glory of old to support numerous
questions of law, as it were by sects and fashions, rather
than to end them. But this ought to be prevented.

Instability of judgments

XCIY. Judgments prove uncertain, either, 1, through
an untimely and hasty passing of sentence; 2, the emula
tion of courts; 3, a wrong and unskilful recording of judg
ments; or, 4, through a too easy and ready way opened for
their reversion. Therefore let care be taken, 1, that judg
ments proceed upon mature deliberation; 2, that courts pre
serve a due reverence for each other; 3, that judgments be
faithfully and prudently recorded; and, 4, that the way for
reversing of judgments be made narrow, craggy, and thorny.

XCV. If judgment be given upon a case in any principal
court, and a like case come into another court, proceed not
to judgment before a consultation be held in some consider
able assembly of the judges. For if decrees are of necessity
to be cut off, at least let them be honorably interred.

XCVL For courts to quarrel and contend about jurisdic
tion is a piece of human frailty, and the more, because of a
childish opinion, that it is the duty of a good and able judge
to enlarge the jurisdiction of his court; whence this disorder
is increased, and the spur made use of instead of the bridle.
But that courts, through this heat of contention should on
all sides uncontrollably reverse each other's decrees which
belong not to jurisdiction, is an intolerable evil, and by all
means to be suppressed by kings, the senate, or the govern
ment. For it is a most pernicious example that courts,
which make peace among the subjects, should quarrel
among themselves.

XCVIL Let not too easy a passage be opened for the
repealing of sentence by appeal, writ of error, rehearing,
etc. Some are of opinion, that a cause should be removed,
to a higher court as a new cause, and the judgment given

416 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

upon it in the lower be entirely laid aside and suspended;
while others again would have the judgment remain in its
force, and only the execution to be stopped. We approve
of neither, unless the court where the sentence passed were
of a very inferior nature; but would rather have both the
judgment stand and its execution proceed, provided a caveat
be put in by the defendant for costs and damages if the sen
tence should be reversed.

Let this title, of the certainty of laws, serve for a speci
men of that digest we propose, and have in hand.91 And
thus we conclude the head of civil doctrine, and with it
human philosophy; as with human philosophy, philosophy
in general.

And now standing still to breathe, and look back upon
the way we have pas&ed, we seem all along to hare been
but tuning and trying the instruments of the Muses, for a
concert to be played upon them by other hands; or to have
been grating men's ears, that they may have the better music
hereafter. And indeed, when I set before me the present
state of the times, wherein learning makes her third visit to
mankind ;aa and carefully reflect how well she finds us pre
pared and furnished with all kinds of helps, the sublimity
and penetration of many geniuses of the age, those excellent
monuments of the ancient writings which shine as so many
great lights before us; the art of printing, which largely sup
plies men of all fortunes with books; the open traffic of the
globe,23 both by sea and land, whence we receive numerous
experiments, unknown to former ages, and a large accession
to the mass of natural history; the leisure which the greatest
minds in the kingdoms and provinces of Europe everywhere
enjoy, as being less immersed in business than the ancient
Greeks, by reason of their populous states; or the Eomans,

21 Though the design itself was not executed by the author, some progress
was made in the history of the nature, use and proceedings of the laws of Eng
land. — Shaw.

22 Alluding only to the two famous ones, among the Greeks and Romans.

23 He might have added the discovery of a new world. — Ed.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 417

through the extensiveness of their empire; the peace at
present spread over Britain, Spain, Italy, France, and many
other countries; the exhaustion of all that can be invented
or said in religious controversies,24 which have so long di
verted many of the best geniuses from the study of other
arts; the uncommon learning of his present Britannic Maj
esty, about whom, as about a phoenix, the fine geniuses flock
from all quarters; and lastly, the inseparable property of time,
which is daily to disclose truth: when all these things, I
say, are considered by us, we cannot but be raised into a
persuasion that this third period of learning may far exceed
the two former of the Greeks and Romans, provided only
that men would well and prudently understand their own
powers and the defects thereof; receive from each other the
lamps of invention, and not the firebrands of contradiction;
and esteem the search after truth as a certain noble enter
prise, not a thing of delight or ornament, and bestow their
wealth and magnificence upon matters of real worth and ex
cellence, not upon such as are vulgar and obvious. As to
my own labors, if any one shall please himself or others in
reprehending them, let him do it to the full, provided he
observe the ancient request, and weigh and consider what
he says — "Yerbera, sed audi." a5 And certainly the appeal
is just, though the thing perhaps may not require it, from
men's first thoughts to their second, and from the present
age to posterity.

We come, lastly, to that science which the two former
periods of time were not blessed with; viz., sacred and in
spired theology: the sabbath of all our labors and peregri
nations.

24 This is spoken like one who was versed in ecclesiastical history and
polemical divinity ; for scarce any religious dispute is now raised, that has not
been previously contested ; but many have found the art, by heat and warmth,
to revive old doctrines, opinions and heresies, and pass them upon the crowd
for new; rekindling the firebrands of their ancestors, as if religious controver
sies were to be entailed upon mankind, and descend from one generation to
another. — Ed.

25 Themistocles to Eurybiades. Pint. Reg. et Imper. Apop.

418 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

NINTH BOOK

The Compartments of Theology omitted. Three Deficiencies pointed out.
The Right Use of Reason in Matters of Faith. The Knowledge of the
Degrees of Unity in the City of God. The Emanations of the Holy
Scriptures

HAYING now, excellent King, with our small bark
of knowledge, sailed over, and surrounded the
globe of the sciences, as well the old world as
the new (let posterity judge with what success), we should
pay our vows and conclude; did there not still remain
another part to be viewed; viz., sacred or inspired the
ology. But if we were disposed to survey it, we must quit
the small vessel of human reason and put ourselves on
board the ship of the church, which alone possesses the
divine needle for justly shaping the course. Nor will the
stars of philosophy, that have hitherto principally lent their
light, be of further service to us; and, therefore, it were not
improper to be silent, also, upon this subject, as well as
upon that of government. For which reasoD, we will omit
the just distribution of it, and only contribute, according to
our slender ability, a few particulars in the way of good
wishes. And this we do the rather, because we find no
tract in the whole region of divinity, that is absolutely
deserted or uncultivated: so great has the diligence of men
been, in sowing either wheat or tares. We shall, therefore,
only propose three appendages of theology; treating not of
the matter already formed, or to be formed by divinity, but
only of the manner of forming it. Neither will we here,
as we have hitherto practiced, give any sketches, annex any
specimens, or lay down any precepts for these treatises; but
leave all this to divines.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 419

The prerogative of God extends over the whole man, and
reaches both to his will and his reason; so that man must
absolutely renounce himself, aad submit to God : and there
fore, as we are obliged to obey the divine law, though our
will murmur against it, so are we obliged to believe the
word of &od, though, our reason be shocked at it. For if
we should believe only such things as are agreeable to our
reason, we assent to the matter, and not to the author;
which is no more than we do to a suspected witness. But
the faith imputed to Abraham for righteousness consisted
in a particular, laughed at by Sarah,1 who, in that respect,
was an image of the natural reason. And, therefore, the
more absurd and incredible any divine mystery is, the
greater honqr we do to God in believing it; and so much
the more noble the victory of faith: as sinners, the more
they are oppressed in conscience, yet relying upon the mercy
of God for salvation, honor him the more; for all despair is
a kind of reproaching the Deity. And if well considered,
belief is more worthy than knowledge; such knowledge, I
mean, as we have at present: for in knowledge, the human
mind is acted upon by sense, which results from material
things; but in faith, the spirit is affected by spirit, which
is the more worthy agent. It is otherwise in the state of
glory: for then, faith shall cease, and we shall know as we
are known.2 ±

Let us, therefore, conclude, that sacred theology must
be drawn from the word and oracles of God;3 not from the
light of nature, or the dictates of reason. It is written,
that "the heavens declare the glory of God": but we no
where find it, that the heavens declare the will of God,
which is pronounced a law, and a testimony, that men
should do according to it, etc. Nor does this hold only in
the great mysteries of the Godhead, of the creation, and of
the redemption, but belongs, also, to the true interpretation
of the moral law. "Love your enemies, do good to them

1 Gen. xviii. 2 I. Cor. xiii. 12. 3 Psal. xviii. 2.

420 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

that hate you," etc., "that ye may be the children of your
heavenly Father, who sends his rain upon the just and the
unjust." 4 Which words are more than human —

/,- "Nee vox hominem sonat" — 5

and go beyond the light of nature. So the heathen poets,
especially when they speak pathetically, frequently expos
tulate with laws and moral doctrines (though these are far
more easy and indulgent than divine laws), as if they had
a kind of malignant opposition to the freedom of nature —

"Et quod natura remittit

Invida jura negant" ; 6

according to the expression of Dendamis, the Indian, to the
messengers of Alexander; viz., "That he had heard, indeed,
somewhat of Pythagoras, and the other wise men of Greece,
and believed them to have been great men; but that they
held a certain fantastical thing, which they called law and
morality, in too great veneration and esteem." 7 We,cannot
doubt, therefore, that a large part of the moral law is too
sublime to be attained by the light of nature: though it is
Hill certain, that men, even from the light and law of nature,
have some notions of virtue, vice, justice, wrong, good,
and evil.

We must observe, that the light of nature has two sig
nifications; 1, as it arises from sense, induction, reason, and
argument, according to the laws of heaven and earth; and 2,
as it shines in the human mind, by internal instinct, accord
ing to the law of conscience, which is a certain spark, and,
as it were, a relique of our primitive purity. And in this lat
ter sense, chiefly, the soul receives some light, for beholding
and discerning the perfection of the moral law; though this
light be not perfectly clear, but of such a nature as rather
to reprehend vice than give a full information of duty;
whence religion, both with regard to mysteries and morality,
depends upon divine revelation.

4 Matt. v. 44, 45. 5 ^Eneid, i. 332.

6 Ovid, Metam. x. 330. 7 Strabo, xv.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 421

Yet the use of human reason in spiritual things is va
rious, and very extensive: for religion is justly called a
reasonable service.8 The types and ceremonies of the old
law were rational and significative, differing widely from
the ceremonies of idolatry and magic: which are a kind
of deaf and dumb show, and generally uninstructive even
by innuendo. But the Christian faith, as in all things else,
excels in this, that it preserves the golden mean in the use
of reason, and dispute the child of reason, between the laws
of the heathens and of Mahomet, which go into extremes:
for the heathen religion had no constant belief or confes
sion, and the Mohammedan forbids all disputes in religion:9
whence one appears with the face of manifold error, the other
as a crafty and subtile imposture; while the sacred Christian
faith both receives arid rejects the use of reason and dispute
under due limitation.10

The use of human reason in matters of religion is of two
kinds; the one consisting in the explanation of mysteries,
the other in the deductions from them. As to the explana
tion of mysteries, we find that Grod himself condescends to
the weakness of our capacity, and opens his mysteries,
so as they may be best understood by us; inoculating, as
it were, his revelations into the notions and comprehensions ^
of our reason, and accommodating his inspirations to the
opening of our understanding, as a key is fitted to open
the lock. Though, in this respect, we should not be want
ing to ourselves: for as God makes use of our reason in his
illuminations, so ought we likewise to exercise it every
way, in order to become more capable of receiving and
imbibing mysteries; provided the mind be enlarged, accord
ing to its capacity, to the greatness of the mysteries, and

8 St. Paul, Rom. xii. 1.

9 This is erroneous. The Mohammedan religion, though not divided into
so many churches as the Christian, is, notwithstanding, disturbed by the cry
of conflicting parties under the generic titles of Soonees and Sheeahs ; the former
comprise the orthodox, the latter the heretics. It is needless to add that the
hatred of the rival sects is most cordial and intense. — Ed.

10 Hooker, Eccles. Polit.

422 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the
mind.

With regard to inferences, we must know that we have
a certain secondary and respective, not a primitive and
absolute, use of reason and arguing left us about mysteries.
For after the articles and principles of religion are so seated,
as to be entirely removed from the examination of reason,
we are then permitted to draw inferences from them, agree
able to their analogy. But this holds not in natural things,
where principles themselves are subject to examination by
induction, though not by syllogism, and have, besides, no
repugnance to reason: so that both the first and middle
propositions are derivable from the same fountain. It is
otherwise in religion, where the first propositions are self-
existent, and subsist of themselves, uncontrolled by that
reason which deduces the subsequent propositions. Nor is
this the case in religion alone, but likewise in other sciences,
as well the serious as the light, where the primary proposi
tions are postulated: as things wherein the use of reason
cannot be absolute. Thus in chess, or other games of the
like nature, the first rules and laws of the play are merely
positive postulates, which ought to be entirely received,
not disputed: but the skilful playing of the game is a
matter of art and reason. So, in human laws, there are
numerous maxims, or mere placits of law received, which
depend more upon authority than reason, and come not into
dispute. But, then, for the inquiry, what is not absolutely,
but relatively most just herein: viz., in conformity with
those maxims; this, indeed, is a point of reason, and affords
a large field for dispute. Such, therefore, is that secondary
reason which has place in sacred theology, and is founded
upon the good pleasure of Grod.

And as the use of human reason, in things divine, is of
two kinds, so it is attended with two excesses: 1, the one,
when it too curiously inquires into the manner of a mystery;
2, the other, when it attributes an equal authority to the
inference as to the principles. For he may seem a disciple

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 423

of Nicodemus, who shall obstinately inquire, "How can a
man be born when he is old" ? n But he can be esteemed
no disciple of St. Paul, who does not sometimes insert in
his doctrine, "I, not the Lord," or, according to my judg
ment,11 which is the style that generally suits with infer
ences. Whence it seems a thing of capital use and benefit,
to have a sober and diligent treatise wrote concerning the
proper use of human reason in divinity, by way of a divine
logic. For this would be like an opiate in medicine; and
not only lay asleep those empty speculations which some
times disturb the schools, but also allay that fury of con
troversy which raises such tumults in the church. This
treatise, therefore, we place among the things that are
wanted, under the name of the Moderator, or the true Use
of human Eeason in Theology.

It is of the utmost importance to the peace of the church,
to have the covenant of Christians prescribed by our Saviour
in two particulars that seem somewhat contradictory, well
and clearly explained; the one whereof runs thus: "He
who is not with us is against us";18 and the other thus:
"He who is not against us is for us";14 whence it plainly
appears, that there are some points wherein he who differs
is to be excluded the covenant; and others again, wherein
Christians may differ, and yet keep terms. The bonds of
the Christian communion are, one faith, one baptism,16 etc.,
not one ceremony, one opinion, etc. Our Saviour's coat
was seamless;16 but the garment of the church of many
colors. The chaff must be separated from the wheat, but
the tares in the field are not to be hastily plucked up from
the corn. Moses, when he saw the Egyptian contending
with the Israelite, did not say, "Why strive ye?" but drew
his sword, and killed the Egyptian; but when he saw two
Israelites fighting together, though the cause of one of

11 John iii. 4. 12 I. Cor. vii. 12.

13 Matt. xii. 30, and Luke xi. 23. 14 Luke ix. 60.

16 St. Paul, Eph. ix. 51. " St. John xix. 23.

424 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

them might have been unjust, yet he says to them, MYe
are brethren, why strive ye" ? 1T All which being well con
sidered, it seems a thing of great use and moment to define
what, and of how great latitude those matters are, which
totally cut off men from the body of the church, and ex
clude them the communion of the faithful. And if any one
shall imagine this done already, we advise him seriously to
reflect, with what justice and moderation. But it is highly
probable, that whoever speaks of peace will meet with that
answer of Jehu to the messenger: ''What has peace to do
with Jehu? — What hast thou to do with peace? — Turn, and
follow me." 18 For the hearts of most men are not set upon
peace, but party. And yet we think proper to place among
the things wanting, a discourse upon the degrees of unity in
the city of God, as a wholesome and useful undertaking.

The holy Scriptures having so great a share in the con
stitution of theology, a principal regard must be had to
their interpretation. We speak not of the authority of
interpreting, established by the consent of the church, but
of the manner of interpreting, which is either methodical
or loose. For the pure waters of divinity are drawn and
employed, nearly in the same manner as the natural waters
of springs; viz., 1, either received in cisterns, and thence
derived through different pipes, for the more commodious
use of men; or 2, immediately poured into vessels for pres
ent occasions. The former methodical way has produced
the scholastic divinity, whereby the doctrine of theology
is collected into an art, as in a cistern; and thence distrib
uted around, by the conveyance of axioms and positions.

But the loose way of interpreting has two excesses: the
one supposes such a perfection in the Scriptures, that all
philosophy should be derived from their fountains, as if
every other philosophy were a profane and heathenish
thing. And this distemper principally reigned in the
school of Paracelsus, and some others, though originally

" Exodus ii. 13. 18 IV. Kings ix. 19.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 425

derived from the rabbis and cabalists. But these men
fail of their end; for they do not, by this means, honor the
Scriptures as they imagine, but rather debase and pollute
them. For they who seek a material heaven, and a mate
rial earth, in the word of God, absurdly seek for transitory
things among eternal. To look for theology in philosophy
is looking for the living among the dead, and to look for
philosophy in theology is to look for the dead among the
living.

The other excess, in the manner of interpretation, ap
pears, at first sight, just and sober; yet greatly dishonors
the Scriptures, and greatly injures the church, by explain
ing the inspired writings in the same manner as human writ
ings are explained. For we must remember, that to God,
the author of the Scriptures, those two things lie open which
are concealed from men; the secrets of the heart, and the
successions of time. Therefore, as the dictates of Scripture
are directed to the heart, and include the vicissitudes of all
ages, along with an eternal and certain foreknowledge of all
heresies, contradictions, and the mutable states of the church,
as well in general as in particulars, these Scriptures are not
to be interpreted barely according to the obvious sense of
the place, or with regard to the occasion upon which the
words were spoken, or precisely by the context, or the prin
cipal scope of the passage, but upon a knowledge of their
containing, not only in gross or collectively, but also dis-
tributively, in particular words and clauses, numberless rivu
lets and veins of doctrine, for watering all the parts of the
church and all the minds of the faithful. For it is excel
lently observed, that the answers of our Saviour are not
suited to many of the questions proposed to him, but ap
pear, in a manner, impertinent: and this for two reasons, 1,
because as he knew the thoughts of those who put the ques
tion, not from their words as men know them, but immedi
ately, and of himself, he answered to their thoughts, and not
to their words; and, 2, because he spoke not to those alone
who were present, but to us, also, now living, and to the

426 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

men of every age and place, where the Gospel shall be
preached. And this observation holds in other parts of
Scripture.

We find, among theological writings, too many books of
controversy; a vast mass of that we call positive theology,
commonplaces, particular treatises, cases of conscience, ser
mons, homilies, and numerous prolix comments upon the
several books of the Scriptures : but the thing we want and
propose, as our third appendix to theology, is, a short,
sound, and judicious collection of notes and observations
upon particular texts of Scripture; without running into
commonplace, purusing controversies, or reducing these
notes to artificial method; but leaving them quite loose
and native — a thing we find something done in the more
learned kind of sermons, which are seldom of long duration,
though it has not hitherto prevailed in books designed for
posterity. But certainly, as those wines which flow from
the first treading of the grape are sweeter and better than
those forced out by the press, which gives them the rough
ness of the husk and the stone; so are those doctrines best
and wholesomest, which flow from a gentle crush of the
Scripture, and are not wrung into controversies and com
monplace. And this treatise we set down as wanting, under
the title of the first Sowings of the Scriptures.

And now we have finished our small globe of the intel
lectual world with all the exactness we could, marking out
and describing those parts of it which we find either not
constantly inhabited or not sufficiently cultivated. And if
through the course of the work we should anywhere seem
to depart from the opinion of the ancients, we would have it
remembered that this is not done for the sake of novelty,
or striking into different paths from them, but with a desire
of improving; for we could neither act consistently with
ourselves nor the design, without resolving to add all we
could to the inventions of others, at the same time wishing
that our own discoveries may be exceeded by those of pos
terity. And how fairly we have dealt in this matter may

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 427

appear from hence, that our opinions are everywhere pro
posed naked and undefended, without endeavoring to bribe
the liberty of others by confutations; for where the things
advanced prove just, we hope that if any scruple or objec
tion arise in the first reading, an answer will of itself be
made in the second. And wherever we have erred, we are
certain to have done no violence to the truth by litigious
arguments, the effect whereof is the procuring authority to
error, and detracting from what is well invented; for error
receives honor and truth a repulse from contention.

And here 1 cannot but reflect how appositely that answer
of Themistocles may be applied to myself which he made to
the deputy of a small village haranguing upon great things,
"Friend, thy words require a city." For so it may be said
of my views, that they require an age, perhaps a whole age,
to prove, and numerous ages to execute. But as the great
est things are owing to their beginnings, it will be enough
for me to have sown for posterity, and the honor of the Im
mortal Being, whom I humbly entreat, through his Son, our
Saviour, favorably to accept these, and the like sacrifices
of the human urfderstanding, seasoned with religion, and
offered up to his glory!

428 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

THE COAST OP
THE NEW INTELLECTUAL WORLD

OR A RECAPITULATION OF THE DEFICIENCIES OF KNOWLEDGE,

POINTED OUT IN THE PRECEDING WORK, TO BE

SUPPLIED BY POSTERITY

THE History of Monsters; or irregular productions of
nature, in all the three kingdoms— vegetable, animal, and
mineral.

The History of Arts; or nature formed and wrought by
human industry.

A well -purged History of Nature in her extent; or the
phenomena of the universe.

Inductive History; or historical matters consequentially
deduced from phenomena, facts, observations, experiments,
arts, and the active sciences.

A Universal Literary History; or the affairs relating to
learning and knowledge, in all ages and countries of the
world.

Biography ; or the lives of all eminent persons.

The History of Prophecy; or the accomplishment of
Divine predictions, to serve as a guide in the interpreta
tion of prophecies.

The Philosophy of the Ancient Fables; or a just inter
pretation of the mythology of the ancients.

Primary Philosophy; or a collection of general axioms,
subservient to all the sciences.

Physical Astronomy: or a philosophical history of the
heavens.

A Just Astrology; or the real effects of the celestial
bodies upon the terrestrial.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 429

A Calendar of Doubts; or natural problems, to be con
tinued through all ages, along with a calendar of vulgar
errors.

A Collection of the Opinions of the Ancient Philoso
phers.

An Inquiry into the Simple Forms of Things; or that
which constitutes -their essences and differences.

Natural Magic; relative to the doctrine of forms.

An Inventory of Knowledge; or an account of the stock
of learning among mankind.

A Calendar of leading Experiments; for the better in
terpretation of nature.

Short and commodious Methods of Calculation, in busi
ness, astronomy, etc.

The Doctrine of Gesture; or the motions of the body,
with a view to their interpretation.

Comparative Anatomy between different Human Bodies.

A work upon Incurable Diseases, to lessen their number,
and fix a true notion of incurable in medicine.

The Laudable Means of procuring easy Deaths.

A Set of approved and effectual Kemedies for Diseases.

The Ways of Imitating Natural Springs and Bath
Waters.

The Filum Medicinale; or Physician's Clew in Prescrip
tion.

A Natural Philosophy fundamental to Physic.

The Ways of Prolonging Life.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Substance of the sen
sitive Soul.

The Doctrine of Muscular Motion; or the efficacy of the
spirits in moving the body.

The Doctrine of Sense and Sensibility; or the difference
between perception and sease.

An Inquiry into the Origin and Form of Light; or the
foundation of optics.

The Art of Inventing Arts.

The True Use of Induction in Philosophy.

430 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

The Art of Indication or Direction in Philosophy.

A Learned or Sagacious Kind of Experience, different
from the vulgar, and leading to the direct improvement of
arts.

A Particular Topical Invention, directed by the light of
leading questions, or proper heads of inquiry.

The Doctrine of Idols; or a detection and confutation of
the prejudices, false conceptions, and errors of the mind.

A New Engine; or helps for the mind corresponding to
those of the hand.

An Appendix to the Art of Judgment; assigning the
kinds of demonstration proper to every subject.

An Interpretation of the Marks, Signatures, or Impres
sions of things.

A Philosophical Grammar; or an account of the various
properties of different languages, in order to form one per
fect pattern of speech.

The Traditive Lamp; or the proper method of delivering
down the sciences to posterity.

The Doctrine of Prudence in private discourse; or colors
of good and ill.

A Collection of Sophisms, with their confutations.

A Collection of studied Antithets; or short and strong
sentences, on both sides of the question, in a variety of sub
jects.

A Collection of lesser Forms of Speech, for all the occa
sions of writing and speaking.

Sober Satire; or the insides of things.

The Georgics of the Mind; or the means of procuring the
true moral habit of virtue.

An Account of the Characters or Natures of Persons.

The Doctrine of the Affections, Passions, or Perturba
tions of the Mind.

The Secretary to the Uses of Life; or the doctrine of
various occasions.

The Doctrine of Business; or books upon all kinds of
civil employments, arts, trades, etc.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 431

Self -Policy, the doctrine of rising in life; or the means
of advancing a man's private fortune.

The Military Statesman ; or the political doctrine of en
larging the bounds of empire.

The Doctrine of Universal Justice; or the fountains of
equity.

The Moderator in Divinity; or the true use of human
reason in the business of revelation.

The Degrees of Unity in Eeligion adjusted, with a view
to preserve the peace of the Church.

The First Flo wings of the Scriptures; or a set of short,
Bound, and judicious notes upon particular texts, tending
to use and practice.

END OP "ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING"

BINDING SECT. AUG 8

B Bacon, Francis

1191 Advancement of learning

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

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