book i. “He who is unable to mingle in society, or who requires

nothing, by reason of sufficing for himself, is no part of the state, so that he is either a wild beast or a divinity.”

[304] Epimenides, a poet of Crete (of which Candia is the modern name), is said by Pliny to have fallen into a sleep which lasted 57 years. He was also said to have lived 299 years. Numa pretended that he was instructed in the art of legislation by the divine nymph Egeria, who dwelt in the Arician grove. Empedocles, the Sicilian philosopher, declared himself to be immortal, and to be able to cure all evils. He is said by some to have retired from society that his death might not be known, and to have thrown himself into the crater of Mount Ætna. Apollonius of Tyana, the Pythagorean philosopher, pretended to miraculous powers, and after his death a temple was erected to him at that place. His life is recorded by Philostratus; and some persons, among whom are Hierocles, Dr. More, in his Mystery of Godliness, and recently Strauss, have not hesitated to compare his miracles with those of our Saviour.

[305] “A great city, a great desert.”

[306] Sarsaparilla.

[307] A liquid matter of a pungent smell, extracted from a portion of the body of the beaver.

[308] “Partakers of cares.”

[309] Plutarch (_Vit. Pomp._ 19) relates that Pompey said this upon Sylla’s refusal to give him a triumph.

[310] Plut. Vit. J. Cæs. 64.

[311] Cic. Philip. xiii. 11.

[312] “These things, by reason of our friendship, I have not concealed _from you_.”—Vide _Tac. Ann._ iv. 40.

[313] Dio Cass. lxxv.

[314] Such infamous men as Tiberius and Sejanus hardly deserve this commendation.

[315] Philip de Comines.

[316] Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the valiant antagonist of Louis XI. of France. De Comines spent his early years at his court, but afterwards passed into the service of Louis XI. This monarch was notorious for his cruelty, treachery, and dissimulation, and had all the bad qualities of his contemporary, Edward IV. of England, without any of his redeeming virtues.

[317] Pythagoras went still further than this, as he forbade his disciples to eat flesh of any kind whatever. See the interesting speech which Ovid attributes to him in the fifteenth book of the Metamorphoses. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Pseudoxia (_Browne’s Works_, Bohn’s Antiq. ed. vol. i. p. 27, _et seq._), gives some curious explanations of the doctrines of this philosopher.—_Plut. de Educat. Puer._ 17.

[318] Tapestry. Speaking hypercritically, Lord Bacon commits an anachronism here, as Arras did not manufacture tapestry till the middle ages.

[319] Plut. Vit. Themist. 28.

[320] Ap. Stob. Serm. v. 120.

[321] James i. 23.

[322] He alludes to the recommendation which moralists have often given, that a person in anger should go through the alphabet to himself, before he allows himself to speak.

[323] In his day, the musket was fixed upon a stand, called the “rest,” much as the gingals or matchlocks are used in the East at the present day.

[324] From debts and incumbrances.

[325] Plut. Vit. Themist. ad init.

[326] “Equal to business.”

[327] He alludes to the following passage, St. Matthew xiii. 31: “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”

[328] Virg. Ecl. vii. 51.

[329] Vide. _A. L._ i. vii. 11.

[330] He was vanquished by Lucullus, and finally submitted to Pompey.—_Plut. Vit. Lucull._ 27.

[331] He alludes to the prophetic words of Jacob on his death-bed, Gen. xlix. 9, 14, 15: “Judah is a lion’s whelp; ... he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion.... Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.”

[332] Sums of money voluntarily contributed by the people for the use of the sovereign.

[333] Young trees.

[334] “A land strong in arms and in the richness of the soil.”—_Virg. Æn._ i. 535.

[335] He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which is mentioned Daniel iv. 10; “I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.”

[336] “Right of citizenship.”

[337] “Right of trading.”

[338] “Right of intermarriage.”

[339] “Right of inheritance.”

[340] “Right of suffrage.”

[341] “Right of honors.”

[342] Long since the time of Lord Bacon, as soon as these colonies had arrived at a certain state of maturity, they at different periods revolted from the mother country.

[343] The laws and ordinances promulgated by the sovereigns of Spain were so called. The term was derived from the Byzantine empire.

[344] Qualifications.

[345] Attend to.

[346] For a short or transitory period.

[347] Be in a hurry.

[348] It was its immense armaments that in a great measure consumed the vitals of Spain.

[349] “Pompey’s plan is clearly that of Themistocles; for he believes that whoever is master of the sea will obtain the supreme power.”—_Ad Att._ x. 8.

[350] Encomiums.

[351] St. Matthew vi. 27; St. Luke xii. 25.

[352] The effects of which must be felt in old age.

[353] Of benefit in your individual case.

[354] Any striking change in the constitution.

[355] Take medical advice.

[356] Incline rather to fully satisfying your hunger.

[357] Celsus _de Med._ i. 1.

[358] To hope the best, but be fully prepared for the worst.

[359] “Suspicion is the passport to faith.”

[360] A censure of this nature has been applied by some to Dr. Johnson, and possibly with some reason.

[361] To start the subject.

[362] Requires to be bridled.

[363] He quotes here from Ovid: “Boy, spare the whip, and tightly grasp the reins.”—_Met._ ii. 127.

[364] One who tests or examines.

[365] The galliard was a light active dance, much in fashion in the time of Queen Elizabeth.

[366] Hits at, or remarks intended to be applied to, particular individuals.

[367] A slight or insult.

[368] A sarcastic remark.

[369] The old term for colonies.

[370] He perhaps alludes covertly to the conduct of the Spaniards in extirpating the aboriginal inhabitants of the West India Islands, against which the venerable Las Casas so eloquently but vainly protested.

[371] Of course, this censure would not apply to what is primarily and essentially a convict colony; the object of which is to drain the mother country of its impure superfluities.

[372] Times have much changed since this was penned, tobacco is now the staple commodity, and the source of “the main business” of Virginia.

[373] To labor hard.

[374] Marshy; from the French _marais_, a marsh.

[375] Gewgaws, or spangles.

[376] He alludes to Ecclesiastes v. 11, the words of which are somewhat varied in our version: “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?”

[377] “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city.”—_Proverbs_ x. 15; xviii. 11.

[378] “In his anxiety to increase his fortune, it was evident that not the gratification of avarice was sought, but the means of doing good.”

[379] “He who hastens to riches will not be without guilt.” In our version the words are: “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”—_Proverbs_ xxviii. 22.

[380] Pluto being the king of the infernal regions, or place of departed spirits.

[381] Rent-roll, or account taken of income.

[382] Wait till prices have risen.

[383] “In the sweat of another’s brow.” He alludes to the words of Genesis iii. 19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.”

[384] Planter of sugar-canes.

[385] “Wills and childless persons were caught _by him_, as though with a hunting-net.”—_Tacit. Ann._ xiii. 42.

[386] “Pythoness,” used in the sense of witch. He alludes to the witch of Endor, and the words in Samuel xxviii. 19. He is, however, mistaken in attributing these words to the witch: it was the spirit of Samuel that said, “To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.”

[387] “But the house of Æneas shall reign over every shore, both his children’s children, and those who shall spring from them.”—_Æn._ iii. 97.

[388] “After the lapse of years, ages will come in which Ocean shall relax his chains around the world, and a vast continent shall appear, and Tiphys shall explore new regions, and Thule shall be no longer the utmost verge of earth.”—_Sen. Med._ ii. 375.

[389] He was king of Samos, and was treacherously put to death by Orœtes, the governor of Magnesia, in Asia Minor. His daughter, in consequence of her dream, attempted to dissuade him from visiting Orœtes, but in vain.—_Herod._ iii. 124.

[390] Plut. Vit. Alex. 2.

[391] “Thou shalt see me again at Philippi.”—_Appian Bell. Civ._ iv. 134.

[392] “Thou, also, Galba, shalt taste of empire.”—_Suet. Vit. Gall._ 4.

[393] Hist. v. 13.

[394] Suet. vit. Domit. 23.

[395] Catherine de Medicis, the wife of Henry II. of France, who died from a wound accidentally received in a tournament.

[396] James I. being the first monarch of Great Britain.

[397] “The eighty-eighth will be a wondrous year.”

[398] “Aristophanes, in his Comedy of the Knights, satirizes Cleon, the Athenian demagogue. He introduces a declaration of the oracle, that the Eagle of hides (by whom Cleon was meant, his father having been a tanner), should be conquered by a serpent, which Demosthenes, one of the characters in the play, expounds as meaning a maker of sausages. How Lord Bacon could for a moment doubt that this was a mere jest, it is difficult to conjecture. The following is a literal translation of a portion of the passage from The Knights (l. 197): “But when a leather eagle with crooked talons shall have seized with its jaws a serpent, a stupid creature, a drinker of blood, then the tan-pickle of the Paphlagonians is destroyed; but upon the sellers of sausages the deity bestows great glory, unless they choose rather to sell sausages.”

[399] This is a very just remark. So-called strange coincidences, and wonderful dreams that are verified, when the point is considered, are really not at all marvellous. We never hear of the 999 dreams that are not verified, but the thousandth that happens to precede its fulfilment is blazoned by unthinking people as a marvel. It would be a much more wonderful thing if dreams were not occasionally verified.

[400] Under this name he alludes to the Critias of Plato, in which an imaginary “terra incognita” is discoursed of under the name of the “New Atlantis.” It has been conjectured from this by some, that Plato really did believe in the existence of a continent on the other side of the globe.

[401] Hot and fiery.

[402] With the eyes closed or blindfolded.

[403] He was a favorite of Tiberius, to whose murder by Nero he was said to have been an accessary. He afterwards prostituted his own wife to Caligula, by whom he was eventually put to death.

[404] Liable to.

[405] Chirpings like the noise of young birds.

[406] Jewels or necklaces.

[407] Spangles, or O’s of gold or silver. Beckmann says that these were invented in the beginning of the seventeenth century. See Beckmann’s Hist. of Inventions (Bohn’s Stand. Lib.), vol. i. p. 424.

[408] Or antic-masques. These were ridiculous interludes dividing the acts of the more serious masque. These were performed by hired actors, while the masque was played by ladies and gentlemen. The rule was, the characters were to be neither serious nor hideous. The “Comus” of Milton is an admirable specimen of a masque.

[409] Turks.

[410] “He is the best asserter _of the liberty_ of his mind, who bursts the chains that gall his breast, and at the same moment ceases to grieve.”—This quotation is from _Ovid’s Remedy of Love_, 293.

[411] “My soul has long been a sojourner.”

[412] “The wish is father to the thought,” is a proverbial saying of similar meaning.

[413] _Vide_ Disc. Sop. Liv. iii. 6.

[414] Jacques Clement, a Dominican friar, who assassinated Henry III. of France, in 1589. The sombre fanatic was but twenty-five year of age; and he had announced the intention of killing with his own hands the great enemy of his faith. He was instigated by the Leaguers, and particularly by the Duchess of Montpensier, the sister of the Duke of Guise.

[415] He murdered Henry IV. of France, in 1610.

[416] Philip II. of Spain having, in 1582, set a price upon the head of William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, the leader of the Protestants, Jaureguy attempted to assassinate him, and severely wounded him.

[417] He assassinated William of Nassau, in 1584. It is supposed that this fanatic meditated the crime for six years.

[418] A resolution prompted by a vow of devotion to a particular principle or creed.

[419] He alludes to the Hindoos, and the ceremony of Suttee, encouraged by the Brahmins.

[420] Flinching.—_Vide_ Cic. Tuscul. Disp. ii. 14.

[421] “Every man is the architect of his own fortune.” Sallust, in his letters “De Republicâ Ordinandâ,” attributes these words to Appius Claudius Cæcus, a Roman poet whose works are now lost. Lord Bacon, in the Latin translation of his Essays, which was made under his supervision, rendered the word “poet” “comicus;” by whom he probably meant Plautus, who has this line in his “Trinummus” (Act ii, sc. 2): “Nam sapiens quidem pol ipsus fingit fortunam sibi,” which has the same meaning, though in somewhat different terms.

[422] “A serpent, unless it has devoured a serpent, does not become a dragon.”

[423] Or “desenvoltura,” implying readiness to adapt one’s self to circumstances.

[424] Impediments, causes for hesitation.

[425] “In that man there was such great strength of body and mind, that, in whatever station he had been born, he seemed as though he should make his fortune.”

[426] “A versatile genius.”

[427] “A little of the fool.”

[428] “Thou carriest Cæsar and his fortunes.”—_Plut. Vit. Cæls._ 38.

[429] “The Fortunate.” He attributed his success to the intervention of Hercules, to whom he paid especial veneration.

[430] “The Great.”—_Plut. Syll._ 34.

[431] A successful Athenian general, the son of Conon, and the friend of Plato.

[432] Fluency, or smoothness.

[433] Lord Bacon seems to use the word in the general sense of “lending money upon interest.”

[434] “Drive from their hives the drones, a lazy race.”—_Georgics_, b. iv. 168.

[435] “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.”—_Gen._ iii. 19.

[436] “In the sweat of the face of another.”

[437] In the middle ages the Jews were compelled, by legal enactment, to wear peculiar dresses and colors; one of these was orange.

[438] “A concession by reason of hardness of heart.” He alludes to the words in St. Matthew xix. 8.

[439] See note to Essay xix.

[440] Hold.

[441] The imaginary country described in Sir Thomas More’s political romance of that name.

[442] Regulation.

[443] Be paid.

[444] Our author was one of the earliest writers who treated the question of the interest of money with the enlightened views of a statesman and an economist. The taking of interest was considered, in his time, immoral.

Laws on this matter are extremely ancient. Moses forbids the Jews to require interest of each other. “Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:

“Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury.”—_Deut._ xxiii. 19, 20.

Among the Greeks, the rate of interest was settled by agreement between the borrower and the lender, without any interference of the law. The customary rate varied from ten to thirty-three and one third per cent.

The Romans enacted laws against usurious interest; but their legal interest, admitted by the law of the Twelve Tables, was, according to some, twelve per cent., or, to others, one twelfth of the capital, i. e. eight and one third per cent. Justinian reduced it to six per cent.

In England, the legal rate of interest was, in Henry the Eighth’s reign, ten per cent. It was reduced, in 1624, to eight per cent. It was further diminished, in 1672, to six per cent. And definitively, in 1713, fixed at five per cent., the ordinary rate of interest throughout Europe. In France, the rates of interest have been nearly similar at the same periods.

[445] “He passed his youth full of errors, of madness even.”—_Spartian. Vit. Sev._

[446] He was nephew of Louis the Twelfth of France, and commanded the French armies in Italy against the Spaniards. After a brilliant career, he was killed at the battle of Ravenna, in 1512.

[447] Joel ii. 28, quoted Acts ii. 17.

[448] He lived in the second century after Christ, and is said to have lost his memory at the age of twenty-five.

[449] “He remained the same, but _with the advance of years_ was not so becoming.”—_Cic. Brut._ 95.

[450] “The close was unequal to the beginning.” This quotation is not correct; the words are: “Memorabilior prima pars vitæ quam postrema fuit,”—“The first part of his life was more distinguished than the latter.”—_Livy_ xxxviii. ch. 53.

[451] By the context, he would seem to consider “great spirit” and “virtue” as convertible terms. Edward IV., however, has no claim to be considered as a virtuous or magnanimous man, though he possessed great physical courage.

[452] Features.

[453] “The autumn of the beautiful is beautiful.”

[454] By making allowances.

[455] Rom. i. 31; 2 Tim. iii. 3.

[456] “Where she errs in the one, she ventures in the other.”

[457] Spies.

[458] Solyman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Turks.

[459] Site.

[460] Knoll.

[461] Have a liking for cheerful society. Momus being the god of mirth.

[462] Eats up.

[463] Plut. Vit. Lucull. 39.

[464] A vast edifice, about twenty miles from Madrid, founded by Philip II.

[465] Esth. i. 5; “The King made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.”

[466] The cylinder formed by the small end of the steps of winding stairs.

[467] The funnel of a chimney.

[468] Where to go.

[469] Bow, or bay, windows.

[470] Flush with the wall.

[471] Antechamber.

[472] Withdrawing-room.

[473] Watercourses.

[474] Pine trees.

[475] Kept warm in a greenhouse.

[476] The damson, or plum of Damascus.

[477] Currants.

[478] An apple that is gathered very early.

[479] A kind of quince, so called from “cotoneum,” or “cydonium,” the Latin name of the quince.

[480] The fruit of the cornel-tree.

[481] The warden was a large pear, so called from its keeping well. Warden-pie was formerly much esteemed in this country.

[482] Perpetual spring.

[483] Flowers that do not send forth their smell at any distance.

[484] A species of grass of the genus argostis.

[485] The blossoms of the bean.

[486] Bring or lead you.

[487] Impeding.

[488] Causing the water to fall in a perfect arch, without any spray escaping from the jet.

[489] Lilies of the valley.

[490] In rows.

[491] Insidiously subtract nourishment from.

[492] To consider or expect.

[493] Love, are pleased with.

[494] It is more advantageous to deal with men whose desires are not yet satisfied, than with those who have gained all they have wished for, and are likely to be proof against inducements.

[495] In the sense of the Latin “gloriosus,” “boastful,” “bragging.”

[496] Professions or classes.

[497] Weakness, or indecision of character.

[498] He probably alludes to the ancient stories of the friendship of Orestes and Pylades, Theseus and Pirithoüs, Damon and Pythias, and others, and the maxims of the ancient philosophers. Aristotle considers that equality in circumstances and station is one requisite of friendship. Seneca and Quintus Curtius express the same opinion. It seems hardly probable that Lord Bacon reflected deeply when he penned this passage, for between equals, jealousy, the most insidious of all the enemies of friendship, has the least chance of originating. Dr. Johnson says: “Friendship is seldom lasting but between equals, or where the superiority on one side is reduced by some equivalent advantage on the other. Benefits which cannot be repaid, and obligations which cannot be discharged, are not commonly found to increase affection; they excite gratitude indeed, and heighten veneration, but commonly take away that easy freedom and familiarity of intercourse, without which, though there may be fidelity, and zeal, and admiration, there cannot be friendship.”—_The Rambler_, No. 64.

[499] In such a case, gratitude and admiration exist on the one hand, esteem and confidence on the other.

[500] Lowering, or humiliating.

[501] Referees.

[502] Disgusted.

[503] Giving no false color to the degree of success which has attended the prosecution of the suit.

[504] To have little effect.

[505] To this extent.

[506] Of the information.

[507] “Ask what is exorbitant, that you may obtain what is moderate.”

[508] This formed the first essay in the earliest edition of the work.

[509] Attentively.

[510] Vapid: without taste or spirit.

[511] “Studies become habits.”

[512] “Splitters of cummin-seeds;” or, as we now say, “splitters of straws,” or “hairs.” Butler says of Hudibras:—

“He could distinguish and divide A hair ’twixt south and southwest side.”

[513] Causes one side to preponderate.

[514] “The common father.”

[515] “As one of us.” Henry the Third of France, favoring the league formed by the Duke of Guise and Cardinal De Lorraine against the Protestants, soon found that, through the adoption of that policy, he had forfeited the respect of his subjects.

[516] See a note to Essay 15.

[517] Of Castile. She was the wife of Ferdinand of Arragon, and was the patroness of Columbus.

[518] The words in our version are: “He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.—_Ecclesiastes_ xi. 1.

[519] Exact in the extreme. Point-de-vice was originally the name of a kind of lace of very fine pattern.

[520] “Appearances resembling virtues.”

[521] “A good name is like sweet-smelling ointment.” The words in our version are, “A good name is better than precious ointment.—_Ecclesiastes_ vii. 1.

[522] “Disregarding _his own_ conscience.”

[523] “To instruct under the form of praise.”

[524] “The worst kind of enemies are those who flatter.”

[525] A pimple filled with “pus,” or “purulent matter.” The word is still used in the east of England.

[526] The words in our version are: “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.”—_Proverbs_ xxvii. 14.

[527] In other words, to show what we call an _esprit de corps_.

[528] Theologians.

[529] 2 Cor. xi. 23.

[530] “I will magnify my apostleship.” He alludes to the words in Romans xi. 13: “Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.”

[531] Vaunting, or boasting.

[532] Noise. We have a corresponding proverb: “Great cry and little wool.”

[533] A high or good opinion.

[534] _Vide_ Liv. xxxvii. 48.

[535] By express command.

[536] “Those who write books on despising glory, set their names in the title-page.” He quotes from Cicero’s “Tusculanæ Disputationes,” b. i. c. 15, whose words are; “Quid nostri philosophi? Nonne in his libris ipsis, quos scribunt de contemnendâ gloriâ, sua nomina inscribunt.”—“What do our philosophers do? Do they not, in those very books which they write on despising glory, set their names in the title-page?”

[537] Pliny the Younger, the nephew of the elder Pliny, the naturalist.

[538] “One who set off every thing he said and did with a certain skill.” Mucianus was an intriguing general in the times of Otho and Vitellius.—_Hist._ xi. 80.

[539] Namely, the property of which he was speaking, and not that mentioned by Tacitus.

[540] Apologies.

[541] Concessions.

[542] Plin. Epist. vi. 17.

[543] Boastful.

[544] “All fame emanates from servants.”—_Q. Cic. de Petit. Consul._ v. 17.

[545] “Founders of empires.”

[546] He alludes to Ottoman, or Othman I., the founder of the dynasty now reigning at Constantinople. From him, the Turkish empire received the appellation of “Othoman,” or “Ottoman” Porte.

[547] “Perpetual rulers.”

[548] Surnamed the Peaceful, who ascended the throne of England A. D. 959. He was eminent as a legislator, and a rigid assertor of justice. Hume considers his reign “one of the most fortunate that we meet with in the ancient English history.”

[549] These were a general collection of the Spanish laws, made by Alphonso X. of Castile, arranged under their proper titles. The work was commenced by Don Ferdinand his father, to put an end to the contradictory decisions in the Castilian courts of justice. It was divided into seven parts, whence its name “Siete Partidas.” It did not, however, become the law of Castile till nearly eighty years after.

[550] “Deliverers,” or “preservers.”

[551] “Extenders,” or “defenders of the empire.”

[552] “Fathers of their country.”

[553] “Participators in cares.”

[554] “Leaders in war.”

[555] Proportion, dimensions.

[556] “Equal to their duties.”

[557] “To expound the law.”

[558] “To make the law.”

[559] The Mosaic law. He alludes to Deuteronomy xxvii. 17. “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark.”

[560] “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring.”—_Proverbs_ xxv. 26.

[561] “Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.”—_Amos_ v. 7.

[562] “He who wrings the nose strongly brings blood.” _Proverbs_ xxx. 33: “Surely, the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.”

[563] “He will rain snares upon them.” Psalm xi. 6: “Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest.”

[564] Strained.

[565] “It is the duty of a judge to consider not only the facts, but the circumstances of the case.”—_Ovid. Trist._ I. i. 37.

[566] Pliny the Younger, Ep. B. 6, E. 2, has the observation: “Patientiam ... quæ pars magna justitiæ est;” “Patience, which is a great part of justice.”

[567] Is not successful.

[568] Makes him to feel less confident of the goodness of his cause.

[569] Altercate, or bandy words with the judge.

[570] “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles!”—_St. Matthew_ vii. 16.

[571] Plundering.

[572] “Friends of the court.”

[573] “Parasites,” or “flatterers of the court.”

[574] Which were compiled by the decemvirs.

[575] “The safety of the people is the supreme law.”

[576] “Mine.”

[577] “Yours.”

[578] He alludes to 1 Kings x. 19, 30: “The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps.” The same verses are repeated in 1 Chronicles ix. 18, 19.

[579] “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.”—1 _Timothy_ i. 8.

[580] A boast.

[581] In our version it is thus rendered: “Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”—_Ephesians_ iv. 26.

[582] Sen. De Ira i. 1.

[583] “In your patience possess ye your souls.”—_Luke_ xvi. 19.

[584] “And leave their lives in the wound.” The quotation is from Virgil’s Georgics, iv. 238.

[585] Susceptibility upon.

[586] “A thicker covering for his honor.”

[587] Pointed and peculiarly appropriate to the party attacked.

[588] “Ordinary abuse.”

[589] “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us.”—_Ecclesiastes_ i. 9, 10.

[590] In his Phædo.

[591] “There is no remembrance of former things: neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come, with those that shall come hereafter.”—_Ecclesiastes_ i. 11.

[592] “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”—1 _Kings_ xvii. 1. “And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”—1 _Kings_ xviii. 1.

[593] Confined to a limited space.

[594] The whole of the continent of America then discovered is included under this name.

[595] Limited.

[596] _Vide_ Plat. Tim. iii. 24, seq.

[597] Mach. Disc. Sop. Liv. ii. 2.

[598] Sabinianus of Volaterra was elected Bishop of Rome on the death of Gregory the Great, A. D. 604. He was of an avaricious disposition, and thereby incurred the popular hatred. He died in eighteen months after his election.

[599] This Cicero speaks of as “the great year of the mathematicians.” “On the Nature of the Gods,” B. 4, ch. 20. By some it was supposed to occur after a period of 12,954 years, while, according to others, it was of 25,920 years’ duration.—_Plat. Tim._ iii. 38, seq.

[600] Conceit.

[601] Observed.

[602] A curious fancy or odd conceit.

[603] The followers of Arminius, or James Harmensen, a celebrated divine of the 16th and 17th centuries. Though called a heresy by Bacon, his opinions have been for two centuries, and still are, held by a large portion of the Church of England.

[604] A belief in astrology, or at least the influence of the stars was almost universal in the time of Bacon.

[605] Germany.

[606] Charlemagne.

[607] When led thither by Alexander the Great.

[608] Striking.

[609] Application of the “aries,” or battering-ram.

[610] This fragment was found among Lord Bacon’s papers, and published by Dr. Rawley in his Resuscitatio.

[611] Tac. Hist. ii. 80.

[612] Cæs. de Bell. Civ. i. 6.

[613] Tac. Ann. i. 5.

[614] _Vide_ Herod. viii. 108, 109.

[615] Varro distributes the ages of the world into three periods; viz: the unknown, the fabulous, and the historical. Of the former, we have no accounts but in Scripture; for the second, we must consult the ancient poets, such as Hesiod, Homer, or those who wrote still earlier, and then again come back to Ovid, who, in his Metamorphoses, seems, in imitation perhaps of some ancient Greek poet, to have intended a complete collection, or a kind of continued and connected history of the fabulous age, especially with regard to changes, revolutions, or transformations.

[616] Most of these fables are contained in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Fasti, and are fully explained in Bohn’s Classical Library translation.

[617] Homer’s Hymn to Pan.

[618] Cicero, Epistle to Atticus, 5.

[619] Ovid, Metamorphoses, b. ii.

[620] This refers to the confused mixture of things, as sung by Virgil:—

“Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta Semina terrarumque animæque marisque fuissent; Et liquidi simul ignis; ut his exordia primis Omnia, et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis.”—

_Ecl._ vi. 81.

[621] This is always supposed to be the case in vision, the mathematical demonstrations in optics proceeding invariably upon the assumption of this phenomenon.

[622]

“Torva leæna lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam: Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella.”

_Virgil_, _Ecl._ ii. 63.

[623] Ovid, Rem. Amoris, v. 343. Mart. Epist.

[624] Psalm xix. 1.

[625] Syrinx, signifying a reed, or the ancient pen.

[626] Ovid, Metam. b. iv.

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

[628] It may be remembered that the Athenian peasant voted for the banishment of Aristides, because he was called the Just. Shakspeare forcibly expresses the same thought:—

“Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o’ nights: Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.”

If Bacon had completed his intended work upon “Sympathy and Antipathy,” the constant hatred evinced by ignorance of intellectual superiority, originating sometimes in the painful feeling of inferiority, sometimes in the fear of worldly injury would not have escaped his notice.

[629] Thus we see that Orpheus denotes learning; Eurydice, things, or the subject of learning; Bacchus, and the Thracian women, men’s ungoverned passions and appetites, &c. And in the same manner all the ancient fables might be familiarly illustrated, and brought down to the capacities of children.

[630]

“Quod procul a nobis flectat Fortuna gubernans; Et ratio potius quam res persuadeat ipsa.”

[631] Proteus properly signifies primary, oldest, or first.

[632] Bacon nowhere speaks with such freedom and perspicuity as under the pretext of explaining these ancient fables; for which reason they deserve to be the more read by such as desire to understand the rest of his works.

[633] As she also brought the author himself.

[634]

“—————cadit Ripheus, justissimus unus, Qui fuit ex Teucris, et servantissimus æqui: Diis aliter visum.”—_Æneid_, lib. ii.

[635] Te autem mi Brute sicut debeo, amo, quod istud quicquid est nugarum me scire voluisti.

[636]

“Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina sistro; Necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit angues.”

_Æneid_, viii. 696.

[637] Ovid’s Metamorphoses, b. iii., iv., and vi.; and Fasti, iii. 767.

[638] “Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit.”

[639] The author, in all his physical works, proceeds upon this foundation, that it is possible, and practicable, for art to obtain the victory over nature; that is, for human industry and power to procure, by the means of proper knowledge, such things as are necessary to render life as happy and commodious as its mortal state will allow. For instance, that it is possible to lengthen the present period of human life; bring the winds under command: and every way extend and enlarge the dominion or empire of man over the works of nature.

[640] “All-gift.”

[641] Viz: that by Pandora.

[642]

“Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.”

_Georg._ ii. 490.

[643] _De Augmentis Scientiarum_, sec. xxviii. and supplem. xv.

[644] An allusion which, in Plato’s writings, is applied to the rapid succession of generations, through which the continuity of human life is maintained from age to age; and which are perpetually transferring from hand to hand the concerns and duties of this fleeting scene. Γεννῶντες τε καὶ ἐκτρέφοντες παῖδας, κάθαπερ λαμπάδα τὸν βίον παραδιδόντες ἄλλοις ἐξ ἄλλων—Plato, Leg. b. vi. Lucretius also has the same metaphor:—

“Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.”

[645] Eccles. xii. 11.

[646] This is what the author so frequently inculcates in the _Novum Organum_, viz: that knowledge and power are reciprocal; so that to improve in knowledge is to improve in the power of commanding nature, by introducing new arts, and producing works and effects.

[647]

“Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento: Hæ tibi erunt artes.”

_Æneid_, vi. 851.

[648]

“Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alta Æthere, cognati retinebat semina cœli.”—_Metam._ i. 80.

[649] Many philosophers have certain speculations to this purpose. Sir Isaac Newton, in particular, suspects that the earth receives its vivifying spirit from the comets. And the philosophical chemists and astrologers have spun the thought into many fantastical distinctions and varieties.—See Newton, _Princip._ lib. iii. p. 473, &c.

[650] This policy strikingly characterized the conduct of Louis XIV., who placed his generals under a particular injunction, to advertise him of the success of any siege likely to be crowned with an immediate triumph, that he might attend in person and appear to take the town by a _coup de main_.

[651] The one denoted by the river Achelous, and the other by Terpsichore, the muse that invented the cithara and delighted in dancing.

[652]

“Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus; Rumoresque senum severiorum Omnes unius estimemus assis.”—_Catull. Eleg._ v.

And again—

“Jura senes norint, et quod sit fasque nefasque Inquirant tristes; legumque examina servent.”

_Metam._ ix. 550.