Chapter 2

Orignal Text | Annotations | Valerius Terminus: | Of the Interpretation{1} of Nature | 1A. | The word "interpretation" occurs | also e.g. in the title of the essay | DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURAE PROEMIUM | (1603; in Spedding vol. III) and in | his definition of man as "the servant | and interpreter of Nature" (IV,47). | This definition of man is the same | definition that we find in the | magico-alchemical tradition which is | in general refuted by Bacon. Paolo | Rossi ("Bacon's idea of science", in: | THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO BACON, ed. | by Markku Peltonen [1996], 25-46) | gives the following comment: | | "Bacon condemned magic and alchemy on | ethical grounds. He accused them of | imposture and of megalomania. He | refuted their non-participatory | method and their intentional | unintelligibility, their attempt to | replace human sweat by a few drops of | elixir. But he borrows from the | magico-alchemical tradition the idea | that man can attempt to make himself | the master of nature. Bacon | understands knowledge not as | contemplation or recognition, but as | VENATIO, a hunt, an exploration of | unknown lands, a discovery of the | unknown. Nature can be transformed | from its foundations. Bacon's | definition of man as "the servant and | interpreter of Nature" is the same | definition we find in the magico- | alchemical tradition, for instance in | the texts of Cornelius Agrippa von | Nettesheim. | | But for all the exponents of magic | and alchemistic culture, the texts of | ancient wisdom take the form of | sacred texts which indude secrets | that only a few men can decipher The | truth is hidden in the past and in | the profound. Like when dealing with | sacred texts, it is necessary | continuously to go BEYOND THE LETTER, | in search of a message which is more | and more hidden.The secret message | expresses a Truth which is at the | Origins and which is always the same. | | In the Hermetic tradition, as in the | tradition of Platonism, the natural | world is conceived as the image or | living manifestation of God. | Understanding nature can reveal the | presence in the world of divine ideas | and archetypes. Bacon's rejection of | any natural philosophy founded on | allegorical interpretations of | Scriptures meant a withdrawal from | exemplarism and symbolism, both | common features of mediaeval | philosophy and still flourishing in | the seventeenth century. As all works | --says Bacon--show the power and | ability of their maker, but not his | image, so God's works "do shew the | omnipotency and wisdom of the maker | but not his image" (III, 350). The | distinction between the will and | power of God, so fully and subtly | present in Baconian texts, is very | important. "The heavens declare the | glory of God, and the firmament | showeth his handworks": this verse | from the Psalms (18,2) is quoted by | Bacon several times. The image of the | world, immediately after the Word, is | a sign of the divine wisdom and | power, and yet the Scriptures do not | call the world ,"the image of God," | but regard it only as "the work of | his hands," neither do they speak of | any image of God other than man. | Theology is concerned with knowing | the book of the word of God, natural | philosophy studies the book of God's | works. The book of Scripture reveals | the will of God, the book of nature, | his power. The study of nature has | nothing to say about God's essence or | his will (IV; 340-3). | | Bacon proposed to the European | culture an alternative view of | science. For him science had a | public, democratic, and collaborative | character, individual efforts | contributing to its general success. | In science, as Bacon conceives it, | truly effective results (not the | illusory achievements of magicians | and alchemists) can be attained only | through collaboration among | researchers, circulation of results, | and clarity of language. Scientific | understanding is not an individual | undertaking. The extension of man's | power over nature is never the work | of a single investigator who keeps | his results secret, but is the fruit | of an organized community financed by | the state or by public bodies. Every | reform of learning is always a reform | also of cultural institutions and | universities. | | Not only a new image of science, but | also a new portrait of the "natural | philosopher" took shape in Bacon's | writings. This portrait differed both | from that of the ancient philosopher | or sage and from the image of the | saint, the monk, the university | professor, the courtier, the perfect | prince, the magus. The values and the | ends theorized for the composite | groups of intellectuals and artisans | who contributed in the early | seventeenth century to the | development of science were different | from the goals of individual sanctity | or literary immortality and from the | aims of an exceptional and "demonic" | personality. | | A chaste patience, a natural modesty, | grave and composed manners, a smiling | pity are the characteristics of the | man of science in Bacon's portrait of | him. In the REDARGUTIO PHILOSOPHIARUM | Bacon wrote: | | Then he told me that in Paris a | friend had taken him along and | introduced him to a gathering, 'the | sight of which', he said, 'would | rejoice your eyes. lt was the | happiest experience of my life'. | There were some fifty men there, all | of mature years, not a young man | among them, all bearing the stamp of | dignity and probity... At his entry | they were chatting easily among | themselves but sitting in rows as if | expecting somebody. Not long after | there entered to them a man of | peaceful and serene air, save that | his face had become habituated to the | expression of pity... he took his | seat, not on a platform or pulpit, | but on level with the rest and | delivered the following address... | (III, 559; Farrington's translation). | | Bacon's portrait doubtless resembles | Galileo or Einstein more than it does | the turbulent Paracelsus or the | unquiet and skittish Cornelius | Agrippa. The titanic bearing of the | Renaissance magus is now supplanted | by a classical composure similar to | that of the "conversations" of the | earliest Humanists. Also in Galileo's | DIALOGO and in Descartes's RECHERCHE | DE LA VERITÉ we find the same | familiar tone and style of | conversation in which [Descartes | wrote] "several friends, frankly and | without ceremony, disclose the best | of their thoughts to each other." But | there is besides, in Bacon, the quiet | confidence that comes from knowing | the new powers made available to man | by technology and collaboration.The | new kind of learning, for which Bacon | is searching, must get away from | touches of genius, arbitrary | conclusions, chance, hasty summaries. | The emphasis Iaid by Bacon on the | social factor in scientific research | and in determining its ends, places | his philosophy on a radically | different plane from that of the | followers of Hermetic tradition." | | In DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM Bacon | describes Orpheus as the mythical | prototype of the philosopher ("Orpheus | sive Philosophia", VI, 646-649). | | 1B. | Bacon gives the following | definition of "interpretation: "that | reason which is elicited from facts | by a just and methodological process, | I call INTERPRETATION OF NATURE" (IV, | 51). Now, this definition means a | harsh critique of Aristotelianism, | Scholasticism and Ramism. Michel | Malherbe comments on this: | | "The main and most characteristic | feature of Bacon's epistemology is | that it rests upon a single method, | which is INDUCTION... It must help | the understanding on its way toward | truth... Thus, true knowledge will go | from a lower certainty to a higher | liberty and from a lower liberty to a | higher certainty, and so on. This | rule is the basic principle of | Bacon's theory of science; prepared | in the natural and experimental | history, determining the relationship | between the tables of presence, it | governs the induction of axioms and | the abstraction of notions and | ordains the divisions of sciences | within the general system of | knowledge. lt is well known that this | rule of invention originates in | Ramus's methodology and, more | formerly, in Aristotle's POSTERIOR | ANALYTICS. To characterize the nature | of the premises required for the | foundation of true demonstrations, | Aristotle had set down three | criteria: the predicate must be true | in every instance of its subject; it | must be part of the essential nature | of the subject; and it must be | universal, that is, related to the | subject by itself and QUA itself. | Aristotle was defining first | propositions as being essential | propositions; and he referred | universality to necessity and | extension to comprehension These | three criteria were much commented | upon during the whole scholastic | period, and were transformed, or | rather extended, by Ramus and others | in the sixteenth century. Whereas in | Aristotle they had expressed the | initial conditions of any conclusive | syllogism, in Ramus they became the | conditions of every systematic art: | within a system, methodically | organized for the exhibiting of | knowledge, any statement must be | taken in its full extension, it must | join things which are necessarily | related and it must be equivalent to | a definition. But these rules for | syllogistic or dialectic art in | Aristotle or Ramus become rules for | inductive invention in Bacon: and | their meaning is quite different. | With the rule of certainty and | liberty, Bacon aims at directiy | opposing the old logic, infected by | syllogistic or rhetoric formalism. | | By its title, the NOVUM ORGANUM makes | Bacon's ambition clear: to replace | the Aristotelian organon, which has | governed all knowledge until the end | of the sixteenth century with an | entirely new logical instrument, a | new method for the progress and | profit of human science. And the | Chancellor proclaims that he has | achieved his aim, if posterity | acknowledges that, even if he has | failed to discover new truths or | produce new works, he will have built | the means to discover such truths or | to produce such works (III, 520). He | insists that his method has nothing | to do with the old one nor does it | try to improve it. And he puts out | the choice in these terms: | | There are and can be only two ways of | searching into and discovering truth. | The one flies from the senses and | particulars to the most general | axioms, and from these principles, | the truth of which it takes tor | settled and immoveable, proceeds to | judgment and to the discovery of | middle axioms. And this way is now in | fashion. The other derives axioms | from the senses and particulars, | rising by a gradual and unbroken | ascent, so that it arrives at the | most general axioms last of all. This | is the true way, but as yet untried. | (IV, 50) | | When it is left to itself, the | understanding follows the first way, | hastily applies itself to reality and | generates ANTICIPATIONS OF NATURE. | But "that reason which is elicited | from facts by a just and | methodological process, I call | INTERPRETATION OF NATURE" (IV, 51). | | Taken as a whole, Bacon's critique | comes to this: from a formal point of | view, Aristotle's syllogism is | essentially a logic for deductive | reasoning, which goes from the | principles to the consequences, from | the premises to the conclusions. And, | of course, in this kind of reasoning, | the truth of the conclusions is | necessarily derived from the truth of | the premises, so that knowledge will | start with primary truths that are | supposed to be necessary and | universal, that is, essential. Now, | Bacon asks, how does the mind acquire | the knowledge of these primary | truths, since, as it is allowed by | Aristotle himself, all knowledge | starts with experience, which | experience is always contingent and | particular? How does the mind go from | the empirical knowledge of facts or | sensible effects (phenomena) to the | knowledge of the very nature of | things? The formal necessity of the | syllogism (or deductive reasoning) | makes the old logic forget the pre- | judicial question of how we set up | first principles. Therefore, any | attempt to define the valid form of | theories must go through the inquiry | upon how we establish truth. | | From this general critique, it is | easy to understand Bacon's various | comments on the old organon. First, | since such a logic induces a kind of | double start, the empirical one and | the rational one, and since it | confuses the origin of knowledge with | its foundation, the mind is condemned | to jump immediately from empirical | particulars to first principles (or | axioms, in Bacon's terms) and to | render superfluous the required | induction which would gradually lead | from one point to the other. This | instantaneous slip from empirical | data to rational and essential dogmas | is made possible by the very nature | of the human mind. Left to itself, | the mind hurries toward certainty; it | is prone to gain assent and consent; | it fills the imagination with idols, | untested generalities. And it is this | natural haste and prejudice which | gives mental activity its | anticipative form. By themselves, | anticipations draw the most general | principles from immediate experience, | in order to proceed, as quickly as | possible, to the formal deduction of | consequences. Therefore, however | paradoxical it may appear, the old | logic is unduly empirical and unduly | logical. And the critique of | formalism [formalism draws the | conclusions from the premises without | inquiring upon the truth of the | premises] must be attended by the | critique of the nature of the human | mind. | | The human mind is so disposed that it | relies on the senses, which provide | it with the rudiments of all | knowledge. Of course, Bacon argues, | we cannot get any information about | things except with the senses, and | skeptics are wrong when, questioning | them, they plunge the mind into | despair. "But by far the greatest | hindrance and aberration of the human | understanding proceeds from the | dulness, incompetency, and deceptions | of the senses" (IV, 58). On the one | hand, they are too dull and too | gross, and let the more subtle parts | of nature escape our observation: | their range is limited to the most | conspicuous information. On the other | hand, they are misleading, by a | fundamental illusion: they offer | things to the mind according to the | measure of human nature. "For it is a | false assertion that the sense of man | is the measure of things. On the | contrary, all perceptions as well of | the sense as of the mind are | according to the measure of the | individual and not according to the | measure of the universe" (IV, 54). In | order to have access to reality, we | have to rectify their information and | reduce a double delusion: the | illusion that the sensible qualities | offered by them are the real | determinations of things and the | illusion that things are divided | according to our human sensibility | (IV, 194 et sq.). | | Thus we can understand a third | critique against the old method: the | Aristotelian logic rests upon a | metaphysics which believes that | sensible experience gives the human | mind the things as they are, with | their essential qualities, and that | philosophy can be satisfied with | taking empirical phenomena for the | true reality of nature, thanks to a | mere generalization that erases the | particular circumstances of | existence. Nevertheless, empirically | qualified existences are not to be | mistaken for the things themselves. | So far, Bacon is undoubtedly a | modern, since he claims that the | object of knowledge is reality and | that reality, if it can be | inductively known from empirical | data, cannot be reduced to the matter | of experience. | | Bacon's fourth censure of the old | logic follows from this. He agrees | with the sixteenth-century | dialecticians that Aristotle was | wrong when he thought that | understanding could skip, without the | hard work of induction, from what is | immediately given to the senses to | what is posed in the first principles | of science. Aristotle wanted to know | the truth, but did not explain the | method of invention. On the other | hand, the dialecticians, giving up | the attempt to set up the first | principles (and thereby the | traditional Aristotelian | demonstrative science), gave up any | attempt to reach the truth. They only | retained the deductive and systematic | form of discourse to introduce order | into men's opinions, and maintained | that invention could be reduced to | the mere search for arguments, that | is, for probable reasons invented to | persuade or convince. | | Bacon, however, wants to promote the | idea of an inductive science and | argues that Aristotle's mistake | affects the syllogistic form. In the | fourth chapter of the fifth book of | the DE AUGMENTIS, Bacon develops a | remarkable critique of the syllogism | and is partly responsible for the | widespread disregard of formal logic | in the seventeenth and eighteenth | centuries. | | According to Bacon, "in all | inductions, whether in good or | vicious form the same action of the | mind which inventeth, judgeth" (III, | 392). One cannot find without | proving, nor prove without finding. | But this is not the case in the | syllogism: "for the proof being not | immediate but by mean, the invention | of the mean is one thing, and the | judgement of the consequence is | another, the one exciting only, the | other examining" (III, 392). The | syllogism needs the means (the middle | term) so that the derived conclusion | amounts to a proof. But since the | syllogism is incapable of inventing | the middle term, it must have been | known before. In other words, | syllogistic form leaves the invention | of the middle term to the natural | shrewdness of the mind or to good | fortune. Thus, it is because of its | own demonstrative form that the | syllogism is unable to provide a | method of truth and is useless for | science. | | By now it is clear why the old logic | and the knowledge which is built on it | are unable to produce works or why the | extant works "are due to chance and | experience rather than to sciences" | (IV, 48). To deduce practical effects, | the mind must know real causes or laws | of nature. Since the old method does | not supply the mind with the means of | inventing causes and does not set up | the scale of the intermediate | propositions that are needed to reduce | sensible experience and reach the real | science, or to derive rightly and by | degrees the consequences from the | principles, it is not surprising that | invented works are too few and not | very useful for men's lives. Thus, | from the start in sensible experience | to the end in practical deduction, | this old method is of no use. And an | entirely new one must be proposed, | which will be able to carry the human | mind from empirical data to the real | causes, to supply it with the means of | invention, to justify the position of | first truths and to manage a secure | deduction of practical consequences. | And, as the critique of the old logic | has to be understood as a whole, so | the interpretation of nature has to be | conceived as a continuous attempt, | proceeding by degrees, by successive | stages, to invent truth and to derive | works. ("Bacon's method of science", | in: THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO BACON. | ed. by Markku Peltonen [1996], 76-82). | | 1C. | Harvey Wheeler comments: | | Most historians of the philosophy of science | are unfamiliar with Bacon's transformation | of his innovative theory of juridical | lawfinding into scientific empiricist | lawfinding. Baconian law-finding is not to | be confused with cause-finding in modern | "classical" physics. | | Bacon's quest changed as he matured. In | VALERIUS TERMINUS he is writing in | English, trying to lay the groundwork for | the validity of the co-existence of Religion | and Science. | | Bacon’s early experimental treatises--like | Dense and Rare--are experimental and of | limited value. Historians of the philosophy | of science have little trouble in disposing | these early experimentalist efforts of Bacon. | | His work on sound was somewhat better-- | experimental-theoretical. It is a | post-pythagorean theory of harmonics and | still not appropriately analyzed. | Contemproary musicologists like to quote | the passages on sound in NEW ATLANTIS | for being compatible with today’s approach | to music. | | By the time of the Novum Organum Bacon | was seeking a more "general theory of | science." Its 'logic machine' (Hooke) was | designed to be relevant to all | non-theological domains. | | However, most Bacon interpreters evaluate | his science in contrast to the prior | Aristotelian approaches and in comparison | to the Ramist approaches of Bacon’s day. | He rejected them both. | | Scholars then look beyond Bacon and | evaluate his logic machine in contrast to the | "classical mechanics" of Newtonian Optics | (physics): linear time-sequence prediction. | | Bacon was not seeking that type of | "cause/prediction"science. He was seeking | hidden, "unwritten" "laws" of nature, | more on the model of Pasteur than of | Newton. | | Any treatment that tries to interpret | Bacon's Logic Machine in the light of what | classical physics called "science" will | distort Bacon's meaning and achievement. | | Note: if a scholar's interpretation of | Bacon's Science does not square with the | detailed description of the application of | Bacon's science in "Salomon's House" in | NEW ATLANTIS, it should be viewed with | scepticism. | | Bacon's science is more applicable to what | we call post-modern neo-hermeutics than to | Newtonian mechanics. (Patrick Heelan is | good on post-modern neo-hermeneutics.) | | Consider: why did Bacon conclude that his | New Logic Machine would produce | scientific knowledge in the form of | aphorisms and apothegms--not linear | time-sequence predictions? | | To summarize the above:: Most | contemporary interpreters of Bacon | evaluate his science by comparison with | Newtonian mechanics. If one interprets | Bacon on the basis of classical mechanics, | the result will not truly reflect Bacon's | science. | | A more fruitful modern model is the | Watson-Crick type of "science" illustrated | by their discovery of the double helix. Their | process, as described carefully in Watson's | book, could have been lifted from Bacon. It | was not. But the point is that it tells of a | highly successful, highly empiricist (in | Bacon's and Kant's meaning of | phenomenological empiricism) approach to | the "understanding" of the "unwritten | laws" of cell theory and genetics. | | NOTE: It is very instructive to study why | Linus Pauling failed to dsiscover the genetic | code. He was an expert in the physics of | biochemistry and applied quantum theory | to molecular biology. His theory of the | molecular bond won a Nobel Laureate. | | Read Watson's explanation of why Pauling | failed to crack the genetic code. | | Guenther Stent, the molecular biologist of | U.C. Berkeley is an avowed Kantian | who narrowly missed cracking the genetic | code, His philosophy of science is | highly relevant to the application of | neo-hermeneutics to contemporary biology. | | Today's philosophy of physics, as developed | by John Wheeler and David Bohm | describes a "Baconian" idea of the | "participant-observer universe" to account | "scientifically" and empirically for the | evidence produced in post-modern physics. | | I hold to two points that may not persuade | others. The first is the relevance of | "law-finding" to the phenemonological | empiricism at the heart of Bacon's Nov Org | logic machine--as contrasted with his early | experimentalism. The second is the | standard for us to use in evaluating Bacon's | science. Those who apply the model of | science widespread in the social sciences | and humanities during the 19th and mid | 20th centuries--essentially a model based | upon pre-Einsteinian physics--argue that | Bacon's science is not "science." | | In the last half of the 20th century | "science" in both the "hard" and "soft" | sciences underwent the so-called "second | scientific revolution." The results, in | physics and biology, produced a | phenomenology and an empiricism | that were both quite compatible with the | pre-Newtonian science of Bacon. | | About 80% of the actual research in | laboratories done today by scientists of | all fields, (unaware) follows remarkably | closely to the process explained by | Bacon in Novum Organum and described in | New Atlantis--except that taskforce | research is not today quite as well | organized as was described by Bacon in | New Atlantis. | | In thinking of Bacon's philosophy of science | remember the three features in the Latin of | Novum Organum: Schematismus, | Processus, Form. These operations, which | have counterparts in the "case method" of | searching for the implicit unwritten law | behind a series of judge rulings, cannot be | understood from a reading of the Ellis | translation. Nobody who works from that | version can understand, nor do justice to, | Bacon's science. with the Annotations of | Hermes Stella{2} | 2. Franz Trägfer sums up the Harley MSS.6463 | discussion on "Hermes Stella" | and "Valerius Terminus" "Der Titel des | Fragments wurde zweimal entscheidend | interpretiert. Ellis (Vorwort, | 201/2): | | "It is impossible to ascertain | the motive which determined | Bacon to give the supposed | author the name of Valerius | Terminus, or to his | commentator, of whose | annotations we have no remains, | that of Hermes Stella. It may | be conjectured that by the name | Terminus he intended to | intimate that the new | philosophy would put an end to | the wandering of mankind in | search of truth, that it would | be the TERMINUS AD QAEM in | which when it was once attained | the mind would finally | acquiesce. | | Again the obscurity of the text | was to be in some measure | removed by the annotations of | Stella; not however wholly, for | Bacon in the epitome of the | eighteenth chapter commends the | manner of publishing knowledge | 'whereby it shall not be to the | capacity nor taste of all, but | shall as it were single and | adopt his reader.' Stella was | therefore to throw a kind of | starlight on the subject, | enough to prevent the student's | losing his way, but not much | more." | | Die andere klassische | Interpretation gibt Anderson | (op.cit.16/17): | | "The word 'terminus' probably | indicates the 'limits and end' | to which investigation may | proceed. The ANNOTATIONS, of | which 'none are set down in | this fragments'--to quote a | statement written on the | manuscript by Bacon's hand, are | to throw a light as by a star | (STELLA). Now 'star' is the | symbol used by Bacon in the | GESTA GRAYORUM, the ADVANCEMENT | OF LEARNING, and the DE | AUGMENTIS to represent the | sovereign. And the significance | which he attaches to the word | 'Hermes' is evident from his | address to King James in the | Introduction to the ADVANCEMENT | OF LEARNING. 'There is met in | your Majesty, says Bacon, 'a | rare conjunction as well of | divine and sacred literature as | of profane and human; so as | your Majesty standeth invested | of that triplicity which in | great veneration was ascribed | to the ancient Hermes; the | power and fortune of a King, | the knowledge and illumination | of a Priest, and the learning | and the universality of a | Philosopher.' Bacon is, or | pretended to be, greatly | impressed by James's learning: | 'To drink indeed', he says, 'of | the true fountains of learning, | nay to have such a fountain of | learning in himself, in a king, | and in a king born, is always a | miracle.' And it would appear | that he hopes at the beginning | of James's reign--long before | he suffers disillusionment | respecting his sovereign's | interest in the advance of | 'solid' knowledge--that, | whether or not he can obtain a | greater position of state | beyond that alloted to him by | Elizabeth, he may be enabled to | have the modern Hermes, king of | the realm and head of the | church, and a literary man of | no mean fame and importance, | annote a subject's work on the | new science. James, when he has | done this, may well be | prevailed upon to make | provision for the operation of | the new method of knowledge | either by subsidizing helpers | or by placing at the author's | disposal old or new foundations | of learning (Works, II, 175, | 180; VI, 90, 172; VIII, 396, | 401)." | | Brandt (op.cit., 54) Iehnt | diese Interpretation ab: | "1. findet sich keine klare | Bezeichnung des Königs als | eines Sterns, es läßt sich den | von Anderson angegebenen Texten | nicht entnehmen, daß Stella als | Symbol für Jakob I. zu gelten | hat. 2. kann nur ein König als | Hermes-Trismegistos | angesprochen werden (so VIII, | 335 und I, 432, nicht in der | englischen Fassung III, 263), | weil im Namen die Einheit von | Priester, Philosoph und König | liegt, aber im Titel unserer | Schrift steht nur Hermes, und | die Figur des Hermes hat eme | vielfältige Bedeutung; Hermes | ist der Grenzgott, auf ihn wird | schon in dem Wort 'Terminus' | des Titels angespielt; weiter | ist Hermes der Götterbote, der | 'hermeneus' oder Interpret-- | die Hermesmythologie ist | hineingesponnen in die | interpretatio naturae, die sich | Bacon zur Aufgabe stellt und in | seine Rolle als 'keryx´ und | `buccinator', als Bote des | Friedens (I, 580-581). Man wird | also lieber Hermes Stella eine | der vielen Masken Bacons sein | lassen und sich damit zugleich | von der peinlichen Vorstellung | befreien, Bacon künde im Titel | seines Werkes an, daß der König | die Fußnoten dazu verfaßt (eben | das folgt aus der Annahme von | Anderson)." | | Dieser Auseinandersetzung urn | die Bedeutung des Titels eine | neue Erklärung anzufügen, halte | ich, solange keine neuen | Dokumente gefunden werden, für | wenig sinnvoll. Allein, es sei | angemerkt, wollten wir uns mit | Brandt von dieser peinlichen | Vorstellung bezüglich Bacons | Denken und Trachten befreien, | so blieben noch genug | Peinlichkeiten der Hybris | Bacons." | | Franz Träger (Hg.), Valerius | Terminus. Von der | Interpretation der Natur | Würzburg: Königshausen und | Neumann, 1984,25-26. | in: The Works of Francis Bacon. Faksimile- | Neudruck der Ausgabe von Spedding, Ellis | und Heath, London 1857-1874, in vierzehn | Bänden (Stuttgart/Bad Cannstadt: Friedrich | Fromann, Verlag Günther Holzboog, 1963), | vol. 3.{3} | 3. Franz Träger discovered that the | Spedding & Ellis as MS6462 is not | correct, in fact it is MS6463. In | his opinion Valerius Terminus was | written before The Advancement of | Learning. Anderson, Farrington | and Rossi also have the opinion | that it was written in 1603. | Stephens in his edition of 1734 | uses the same order as the | handwritten copy of Bacon's text. | Later editors, including Spedding | and Ellis, choose an order which | corresponds to Bacon's new order | of chapters given in his index. | Franz Träger compared the | translation of the 11th chapter | with the translation of Guiseppe | Furlani, DIE ENTSTEHUNG UND DAS | WESEN DER BACONISCHEN METHODE in: | Archiv für Geschichte der | Philosophie, ed. L. Stein, 33. | Bd., Berlin, 1921, S.23-47. (1. | Teil, 32. Bd., S. 189 ff). | Träger has also checked the | following Bacon translations: | | ESSAYS, übers. von Elisabeth | Schücking, Stuttgart, 1970; | | NEUES ORGANON DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, | übers. von Anton Theobald Brück, | Darmstadt, 1981 (Nachdruck der | Ausgabe, Leipzig, 1830); | | NOVUM ORGANON, übers. von Rudolf | Hoffmann, bearb. von Gertraud Korf, | hrsg. von Manfred Buhr, Berlin (DDR), | 1982. | | | | | | OF THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE. | | | CAP. 1. | Of the limits and end of knowledge. | | In the divine nature both religion and | philosophy hath acknowledged goodness in | perfection, science or providence | comprehending all things, and absolute | sovereignty or kingdom. In aspiring to the | throne of power the angels transgressed | and fell{4}, in presuming to come within | 4. Antje Peters checked the Old the oracle of knowledge man transgressed | Testament and the New Testament on the and | fall of the angels: | | Jesaja 14, 14 | Das Judentum ist geprägt von der | antithetisch parallelen Vorstellung | von Dämonen und Engeln als Schädiger | bzw. Helfer des Menschen. Sie wird in | der Erzählung vom Engelfall entfaltet. | | Das Buch Jesaja (Jes 14,12ff)14:12 | Ach, du bist vom Himmel gefallen, du | strahlender Sohn der Morgenröte. Zu | Boden bist du geschmettert, du | Bezwinger der Völker. | | 14:13 Du aber hattest in deinem | Herzen gedacht: Ich ersteige den | Himmel; dort oben stelle ich meinen | Thron auf, über den Sternen Gottes; | auf den Berg der (Götter)versammlung | setze ich mich, im äußersten Norden. | | 14:14 Ich steige weit über die Wolken | hinauf, um dem Höchsten zu gleichen. | | 14:15 Doch in die Unterwelt wirst du | hinabgeworfen, in die äußerste Tiefe. | | Im AT gehörte Satan zu den "Söhnen | Gottes" im himmlischen Hofstaat, wie | die wohl alte Vorstellung Ijob 1,6 | zeigt. | | Das Buch Ijob (Ijob 1,6)1:6 Nun | geschah es eines Tages, da kamen die | Gottessöhne, um vor den Herrn | hinzutreten; unter ihnen kam auch der | Satan. | | Er gilt als Diener Gottes und | verkörpert eine ursprünglich Gott | zugeschriebene Funktion. | Der von dann von Gott abgefallene und | mit seinem Diener aus dem Himmel | gestürzte Engelsfürst wird zum Gegner | Gottes und Verführer der Menschen. | | Auch im NT findet der Teufel als ein | oder der Fürst der gefallenen bösen | Engel Erwähnung. | | Das Evangelium nach Lukas (Lk | 10,18)10:18 Da sagte er zu ihnen: Ich | sah den Satan wie einen Blitz vom | Himmel fallen. | | Der zweite Brief an die Korinther (2 | Kor 11,14)11:14 Kein Wunder, denn auch | der Satan tarnt sich als Engel des | Lichts. | | | Neben den Bibeltexten wird Bacon auch | "De Civitate Dei" (Der Gottesstaat) | von Aurelius Augustinus, dem größten | lateinischen Kirchenlehrer des | christlichen Altertums, vorgelegen | haben, in der das Thema Engelfall | mehrfach unter verschiedenen | Gesichtspunkten erwähnt wird. | So wird im elften Buch die Situation | der Engel besonders beleuchtet. | | Buch XI, 11 | ... Von dieser Erleuchtung haben sich | gewisse Engel abgewendet und sich die | Auszeichnung eines weisen und seligen | Lebens nicht bewahrt, das zweifellos | nur das ewige, seiner Ewigkeit sichere | und vergewisserte Leben sein kann. Sie | besitzen nur noch ein Vernunftleben, | wenn auch ein einsichtsloses und | derart, daß sie es, selbst wenn sie | wollen, nicht verlieren können. ... | | Buch XI, 13 | ... Die sündigen Engel, die durch ihre | Schlechtigkeit jenes Lichtes verlustig | gingen, haben sie (die | Glückseligkeit), wie wir schlüssig | folgern müssen, auch bevor sie fielen, | nicht gehabt. ... | | Buch XI, 19 | ... Denn diese Scheidung (zwischen | Licht und Finsteris) konnte nur er | allein treffen, der auch, bevor sie | fielen, ihren künftigen Fall | vorauswissen kont, und daß sie, des | Lichtes der Wahrheit verlustig, im | finsteren Hochmut verharren würden. | | Buch XI, 33 | Daß es aber Engel gibt, die gesündigt | haben und in die tiefste Tiefe dieser | Welt verstoßen sind, die ihnen zu | einer Art von Kerker wurde, darin sie | bis zur bevorstehenden letzten | Verurteilung am Tage des Gerichtes zu | bleiben haben: das offenbart ganz | deutlich der Apostel Petrus. Er sagt, | daß Gott die sündigen Engel nicht | geschont, sondern sie in die finsteren | Abgründe der Hölle hinabgestoßen hat, | wo die bis zur Bestrafung im Gerichte | gefangengehalten werden. ... | ... Und da ja Gott, wie geschrieben | steht, "den Stolzen widersteht, den | Demütigen aber Gnade gibt" (Jak 4,6; 1 | Petr 5,5), wohnt die eine | (Engelsgenossenschaft) im Himmel der | Himmel und ist die andre von dort | hinabgestürzt in diesen untersten | Lufthimmel, um hier ruhelos in und her | zu schwirren. | | Buch XXII,1 | Gott ist es, der mit dem freiwilligen | Sturz der Engel die völlig gerechte | Strafe ewiger Unseligkeit verknüpft | hat und den übrigen Engeln, die im | höchsten Gut verblieben sind, als Lohn | für ihr Verbleiben die Sicherheit | gewährt hat, daß dieses Verbleiben | kein Ende haben wird. | | Aufgrund dieser Erkenntnisse zieht | Augustin Parallelen zum Leben der | Menschen, besonders im 12. Buch: | | Buch XII,1 | ... Während die einen standhaft in dem | allen gemeinsamen Gut, das für sie | Gott selbst ist, und in seiner | Ewigkeit, Wahrheit und Liebe | verharren, sind die anderen, von ihrer | eigenen Macht berauscht, als wären sie | sich selbst ihr Gut , vom höheren, | allen gemeinsamen, beseligenden Gut | zum eigenen Selbst abgefallen. ... fell{5}: but in pursuit towards the | 5. Spedding's footnote:This clause is similitude of God's goodness or love | repeated in the margin, in the (which is one thing, for love is nothing | transcriber's hand. else but goodness put in motion or | applied) neither man or spirit ever | hath transgressed, or shall transgress.{6} | 6. similarly in: : I.M. Praefatio Sp. | I,132, 19-22; AL Sp. III, 12 seq. The angel of light that was, when he | (D.A. Sp. I, 742, 1 9 seq. (footnote presumed before his fall, said within | taken from the French translation of himself, I WILL ASCEND AND BE LIKE UNTO | Valerius Terminus by Francois Vert, | Meridiens Klincksieck, 1986) THE HIGHEST{7}; not God, but the highest. | 7. Isaiah 14, 14: To be like to God in goodness, was no part | Authorized Version: I will ascend of his emulation; knowledge, being in | above the heights of the clouds; I creation an angel of light, was not the | will be like the most high. want which did most solicit him; only | because he was a minister he aimed at a | supremacy; therefore his climbing or | ascension was turned into a throwing down | or precipitation. | | Man on the other side, when he was tempted | before he fell, had offered unto him this | suggestion, THAT HE SHOULD BE LIKE | UNTO GOD{8}. But how? Not simply, but in | 8. Genesis 3, 5: this part, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL. For | Authorized Version: For God does know being in his creation invested with | that in the day ye eat thereof, then sovereignty of all inferior | your eyes shall be opened, and ye | shall be as gods, knowing good and | evil. | | For Bacon's alleged use of the Geneva | Bible see Henri Durel-Leon in | Transactions of the Cambridge | Bibliographical Society, XI:2 (1997), | p. 160 and n. 74, modified in the | direction of AV by, probably, Lancelot | Andrewes in AL. (Thanks to Dr. | Leedham-Green) | | Geneva Bible: The First Boke of Moses, | called Genesis, Chap 3,4+5: Then the | serpent said to the woman, Ye shal not | dye at all, But God doeth knowe, that | when ye shall eat thereof, your eyes | shalbe opened, & ye shalbe as gods | knowing good and evil. [footnote c: As | thogh he shulde say, God doeth not | forbid you to eat of the frute, save | that he knoweth that if you shulde eat | thereof, you shulde be like to him] | | Authorized Version: And the serpent | said unto the woman, Ye shall not | surely die: For God doth know that in | the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes | shall be opened, and ye shall be as | gods, knowing good and evil. | | Vulgata: dixit autem serpens ad | mulierem nequaquam morte moriemini / | scit enim Deus quod in quocumque die | comederitis ex eo aperientur oculi | vestri et eritis sicut dii scientes | bonum et malum creatures{9}, he was not needy of power or | 9. Genesis I, 1,26 dominion; but again, being a spirit newly | Geneva Bible: Furthermore God said, inclosed in a body of earth, he was | Let us make man in our image according fittest to be allured with appetite of | to our lickeness, and let them rule light and liberty of knowledge; therefore | over the fish of the sea, and over the this approaching and intruding into God's | foule of the heaven, and over the secrets and mysteries was rewarded with a | beastes, & over all the earth, and further removing and estranging from God's | over everiething that crepeth & moveth presence. But as to the goodness of God, | on earth. there is no danger in contending or | advancing towards a similitude thereof, as | Authorized Version: And God said, Let that which is open and propounded to our | us make man in our image, after our imagination. For that voice (whereof the | likeness: and let them have dominion heathen and all other errors of religion | over the fish of the sea, and over the have ever confessed that it sounds not | fowl of the air, and over the cattle, like man), LOVE YOUR ENEMIES; BE YOU LIKE | and over all the earth, and over every UNTO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER, THAT SUFFERETH | creeping thing that creepeth upon the HIS RAIN TO FALL BOTH UPON | earth. | | Vulgata: Et ait faciamus hominem ad | imaginem et similitudinem nostram et | praesit piscibus maris et volatilibus | caeli et bestiis universaeque terrae | omnique reptili quod movetur in terra THE JUST AND THE UNJUST{10}, doth well | 10. Matthew 5, 44-45 declare, that we can in that point commit | Geneva Bible: Love your enemies... no excess; so again we find it often | That you may be the children of your repeated in the old law, BE YOU HOLY AS I | Father that is in heaven: for he AM | maketh his sunne to arise on the | evil, and the good, and he sendeth | raine on the iuste, & unjuste. | | Authorized Version: Love your | enemies:... That you may be the | children of your father which is in | heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise | on the evil and on the good, and | sendeth rain on the just and on the | unjust. | Vulgata: Ego autem dico vobis diligite | inimicos vestros ... ut sitis filii | Patris vestri qui in caelis est qui | solem suum oriri facit super bonos et | malos et pluit super iustos et | iniustos. HOLY{11}; and what is holiness else but | 11. Leviticus 11,44: goodness, as we consider it separate and | Authorized Version: For I am the Lord guarded from all mixture and all access of | your God: ye shall therefore sanctify evil? | yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for | I am holy: neither shall ye defile Wherefore seeing that knowledge is of the | yourself with any manner of creeping number of those things which are to be | thing that creepeth upon the earth. accepted of with caution and | 1 Peter 1, 16: | | Authorized Version: For it is written, | Be ye holy; for I am holy. | see also Leviticus 20,7 and 20,26 distinction{12}; being now to open a | 12. cf. A.L. Sp.III, 264, 1.18 (D.A. fountain, such as it is not easy to | Sp. I, 433, I. 29,30) discern where the issues and streams | thereof will take and fall; I thought it | good and necessary in the first place to | make a strong and sound head or bank to | rule and guide the course of the waters; | by setting down this position or | firmament{13}, namely, THAT ALL KNOWLEDGE | 13. Melek Hasgün comments: IS TO BE LIMITED BY RELIGION, AND TO BE | ‘Firmament’ means, apart from the arch REFERRED | or vault of heaven overhead, in which | the clouds and the stars appear, in | the literal etymological sense a firm | support or foundation. At the | beginning of his text Bacon sets | the basis for his further theories. | According to Bacon it is important not | to try to find out the secrets and | mysteries of God or to desire to be | like God, as was the case in the Fall | of Man and the Fall of Angels. Thus it | is forbidden to exceed these limits, | but to inquire into nature and its | creatures is legitimate, because God | has "...let man have dominion over | (...) all the earth..."(Gen.I, 1,26). | He maintains that all knowledge is | limited by religion and by this | statement he also avoids any suspicion | on heresy, which could arise because | of his desire for progress and | knowledge. TO USE AND ACTION{14}. | 14. "Ad meritum et usus vitae", Works, | vol. I, p. 132 ; Italics in order to For if any man shall think by view and | stress the importance; probably not a inquiry into these sensible and material | quotation. things, to attain to any light for the | revealing of the nature or will of God, he | shall dangerously abuse himself. It is | true that the contemplation of the | creatures of God hath for end (as to the | natures of the creatures themselves) | knowledge, but as to the nature of God, no | knowledge, but wonder; which is nothing | else but contemplation broken off, or | losing itself. Nay further, as it was | aptly said by one of Plato's school THE | SENSE OF MAN RESEMBLES THE SUN, WHICH | OPENETH AND REVEALETH THE TERRESTRIAL | GLOBE, BUT OBSCURETH AND CONCEALETH THE | CELESTIAL{15}; so doth the sense discover | 15. Philo d'Alexandrie, Des Songes, natural things, but darken and shut up | Livre I, 83-4 (footnote taken from the divine. And this appeareth sufficiently in | Vert translation) that there is no proceeding in invention | of knowledge but by similitude; and God is | only self-like, having nothing in common | with any creature, otherwise than as in | shadow and trope. Therefore attend his | will as himself openeth it, and give unto | faith that which unto faith belongeth{16}; | 16. St. Matthew 22, 21: for more worthy it is to believe than to | Authorized Version: ... Then saith he think or know, considering that in | unto them, Render therefore unto knowledge (as we now are capable of it) | Caesar the things which are Caesar's; the mind suffereth from inferior natures; | and unto God the things that are but in all belief it suffereth from a | God's. spirit which it holdeth superior and | more authorised than itself.{17} | 17. cf. A.L. Sp. III,478,1.8 sq. (D.A. | Sp. I, 830, I. 24 seq. To conclude, the prejudice hath been | infinite that both divine and human | knowledge hath received by the | intermingling and tempering of the one | with the other; as that which hath filled | the one full of heresies, and the other | full of speculative fictions and | 18. similarly: A.L. Sp.III, 350,I.24 Vanities{18}. | seq. (D.A. Sp. I, 545, I.35 swq.) | John Channing Briggs (""Bacon's But now there are again which in a | science and religion", in: THE contrary extremity to those which give to | CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO BACON, ed. by contemplation an over-large scope, do | Markku Peltonen, Cambridge 1996) offer too great a restraint to natural and | comments on Bacon's separation of lawful knowledge, being unjustly jealous | divinity and natural philosophy that every reach and depth of knowledge | (quotations in Briggs' text are from wherewith their conceits have not been | THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING): acquainted, should be too high an | elevation of man's wit, and a searching | A longstanding commonplace in Bacon and ravelling too far into God's secrets; | scholarship has been the notion that an opinion that ariseth either of envy | the Baconian advancement of learning (which is proud weakness and to be | depends upon a strict separation of censured and not confuted), or else of a | divinity and natural philosophy. In deceitful simplicity. For if they mean | a number of memorable passages Bacon that the ignorance of a second cause doth | indeed warns his readers of the dire make men more devoutly to depend upon the | consequences of confusing divinity providence of God, as supposing the | with natural science: to combine effects to come immediately from his hand, | them, he says, is to confound them. I demand of them, as Job demanded of his | This is supposedly what Plato and the friends, WILL YOU LIE FOR GOD AS MAN WILL | scholastics did, and what Bacon FOR MAN TO | explicitly designs the new learning | to overcome. Even the acceptable | hybrid "divine philosophy," when it | is "commixed together" with natural | philosophy, leads to "an heretical | religion, and an imaginary and | fabulous philosophy" (III, 350). | According to this emphatic strand of | Baconian doctrine, religion that | joins with the study of nature is in | danger of becoming atheistic, or an | enthusiastic rival of the true | church. Natural philosophy that | traffics unwisely with divinity | collapses into idolatry or fakery. | | Bacon's exemplum of these abuses in a | modern proto-science is the divine | philosophy of the Paracelsian school, | which seeks "the truth of all natural | philosophy in the Scriptures." The | Paracelsians mirror and reverse the | heresies of pagan pantheism by | seeking what is "dead" (mortal or | natural) from among the "living" | (eternal) truths of divinity, when | "the scope or purpose of the Spirit | of God is not to express matters of | nature in the Scriptures, otherwise | than in passage, and for application | to man's capacity and to matters | moral or divine" (ut 485-6). If we | take Thomas Sprat at his word, the | Royal Society was founded on | generally similar principles. The | first corruption of knowledge, he | argues, resulted from the Egyptians' | concealment of wisdom "as sacred | Mysteries." The current age of | inquiry benefitted from "the | dissolution of the ABBYES, whereby | their Libraries came forth into the | light, and fell into industrious Mens | hands." Surrounded by the warring | forces of contrary religions (the | society's rooms at Gresham College, | London, were occupied by soldiers in | 1658), the founders of the Royal | Society--according to Sprat's | account--were "invincibly arm'd" not | only against scholastic Catholicism, | but against the "inchantments of | ENTHUSIASM" and "spiritual Frensies" | that sometimes characterized the | Protestant revolutionaries. | | In Bacon's project, there is an | explicit, delineated role for the | study of divinity, which he carefully | separates from his own work. Reason | is at work "in the conception and | apprehension of the mysteries of God | to us revealed" and in "the inferring | and deriving of doctrine and | direction thereupon" (III, 479). In | the first instance reason stirs | itself only to grasp and illustrate | revelation; it does not inquire. This | is the foundation of Bacon's | distinction between true natural | philosophy, which inquires into the | world as God's manifestation of his | GLORY or power, and true theology, | which piously interprets the | scripturally revealed meaning of | God's inscrutable will. The natural | world declares God's glory but not | his will (III, 478). Reason's power | in theology therefore "consisteth of | probation and argument." lt | formulates doctrine only insofar as | God's revelation, largely or wholly | through Scripture, makes it possible. | The Lord "doth grift [graft) his | revelations and holy doctrine upon | the notions of our reason, and | applieth his inspirations to open our | understanding" (III, 480). (pp. 172- | 173) GRATIFY HIM?{19} But if any man without | 19. Job 13, 7-9: any sinister humour doth indeed make doubt | Authorized Version: Will ye speak that this digging further and further into | wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully | for him? Will ye accept his person? | will ye contend for God? Is it good | that he should search you out? as one | man mocketh another, do ye so mock | him? the mine of natural knowledge{20} is a | 20. This image is also used in A.L. Sp. thing without example and uncommended in | III, 351, I, 16 where Bacon refers to the Scriptures, or fruitless; let him | Democritus (Vert's footnote) remember and be instructed; for behold it | was not that pure light of natural | knowledge, whereby man in paradise was | able to give unto every living creature a | name according to his propriety{21}, which | 21. Genesis 2,19-20 gave occasion to the fall; but it was an | Geneva Bible: So the Lord God formed aspiring desire to attain to that part of | of the earth everie beast of the moral knowledge which defineth of good and | field, and everie foule of the heaven, evil, whereby to dispute God's | & broght them unto the man to se how commandments and not to depend upon the | he wolde call them: for howsoever the revelation of his will, which was the | man named the living creature, so was original temptation. And the first holy | the name thereof.The man therefore records, which within those brief | gave names unto all cattle, and to the memorials of things which passed before | foule of the heaven, and to everie the flood entered few things as worthy to | beast of the field: but for Adam found be registered but only | he not an help mete for him. | | Authorized Version: And out of the | ground the Lord God formed every beast | of the field, and every fowl of the | air; and brought THEM unto Adam to see | what he would call them: and | whatsoever Adam called every living | creature, that WAS the name thereof. | And Adam gave names to all cattle, and | to the fowl of the air, and to every | beast of the field; but for Adam there | was not found an help meet for him. | | Vulgata:Igitur Dominus Deus de humo | cunctis animantibus terrae et | universis volatilibus caeli adduxit ea | ad Adam ut videret quid vocaret ea / | omne enim quod vovavit Adam animae | viventis ipsum est nomen eius / | appelavitque Adam nominibus suis | cuncat animantia / et universa | volatilia et omnes bestias terrae / | Adam vero non inveniebatur adiutor | similis eius lineages{22} and propagations, yet | 22. Spedding's footnote: LINAGES in nevertheless honour the remembrance | original. See note 3, p. 148 of the inventor both of music{23} and | 23. Genesis 4,21: | Authorized Version: And his brother's | name was Jubal: he was the father of | all such as handle the harp and organ. | | Vulgata: et nomen fratris eius Iuabal | ipse fuit pater canentium cithara et | organo works in metal{24}. Moses again (who was | 24. Genesis, 4,22: the reporter) is said to have been seen in | Authorized Version: And Zillah, she all | also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of | every artificer in brass and iron... | | Vulgata: Sella quoque genuit | Thubalcain qui fuitmalleator et faber | in cuncta opera aeris et ferri... the Egyptian learning{25}, which nation | 25. The Acts 7,22: was early and leading in matter of | Authorized Version: And Moses was | learned in all the wisdom of the | Egyptians, and was mighty in words and | deeds. knowledge. And Salomon the king,{26} as | 26. cf. A.L. Sp.III, 298,I.38; N.A. Sp. out of a branch of his wisdom | III, 145, I seq. extraordinarily petitioned and granted | from God, is said to have written a | natural history of all that is green from | the cedar to the moss{27}, (which is but a | 27. 1 Kings 4, 29-34 rudiment between putrefaction and | Geneva Bible: And God gave Salomon | wisdome, und understanding exceeding | muche, and a large heart, even as the | sand that is on the sea shore. And | Salomons wisdome excelled the wisdome | of all the children of the East and | all the wisdome of Egypt. For he was | wiser than anie man.... and he was | famous throughout all nacions rounde | about. And Salomon spake thre thousand | proverbes: and his songs were a | thousand and five. And he spake of | trees, from the cedar tre that is in | Lebanon, even unto the hyssope that | springeth out of the wall: he spake | also of beastes, and of foules, and of | creping things, and of fishes. And | there came all the people to heare the | wisdome of Salomon, from all Kings of | the earth, which had heard of his | wisdome. | | Authorized Version:And God gave | Salomon wisdom and understanding | exceeding much, and largeness of | heart, even as the sand that is on the | sea shore. And Salomon's wisdom | excelled the wisdom of all the | children of the east country, and all | the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser | than all men...and his fame was in all | nations round about. And he spake | three thousands proverbs; and his | songs were a thousand and five. And he | spake of trees, from the cedar tree | that is in Lebanon even unto the | hyssop that springeth out of the wall: | he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, | and of creeping things, and of fishes. | And there came all people to hear the | wisdom of Salomon. From all kings of | the earth, which had heard of his | wisdom. | | Vulgata: Liber Malachim 4, 29-34: | Dedit quoque Deus sapientiam Salomoni | et prudentiam multam nimis et | latitudinem cordis quasi harenam quae | est in litore maris / et praecedebat | sapientia Salomonis sapientiam omnium | orientalium et Aegyoptorum / et erat | sapientia cunctis hominibus.. Et erat | nominatus inuniversis gentibus per | cicuitum / locutus est quoque Salomon | tria milia parabolas et fuerunt | carmina eius quinque et mille / et | disputavit super lignis a cedro quae | est in Libano usque ad hysopum quae | egreditur de pariete et disseuit de | iumentis et volucribus et reptilibus | et piscibus / et veniebant de cunctis | populis ad audiendam sapientiam | Salomonis et ab universis regibus | terrae qui audiebant sapientiam eius | | Luther Bible: 1. Könige 5, 9-14 | | Melek Hasgün comments: The hyssop is | mentioned in Shakespeare’s OTHELLO | I,3: "Sow lettuce, set hyssop and | weed up thyme". Hyssop and thyme were | believed to aid the growth of each | other, one being moist and the other | dry. The reason why Bacon used moss | instead of hyssop could be that moss | is also a moist plant and he chose an | expression which is more general or | known. an herb{28},) and also of all that liveth | 28. The plant mentioned in the Bible is and moveth. And if the book of Job be | not "moss", but HYSOPPUS OFFICINALIS turned over; it will be found to have much | [in German: JOSEFSKRAUT, KIRCHENSEPPL, aspersion of natural | EISOP, YSOP)]. "The Greek plant name | HÝSSOOPOS is probably derived from | Hebrew ESOB (mentioned in the | Bible...), although it is not clear | whether ESOB referred to the plant | called hyssop today. Another | explanation gives Arabic AZZOF "holy | herb" as the source of the name (cf. | French HERBE SACRÉ) (Gernot Katzer | Website on Spices). Gernot Katzer in | his entry on the pomegranate | (http://www- | ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/germ/index | .html) considers the problem of the | names of plants in the Bible: | | "The pomegranate tree is an ancient | cultigen in Western Asia; it is | mentioned in the oldest part of the | Old Testament (the Pentateuch). | Although the Old Testament is not a | collection of cooking recipes, it | names many plants of everyday or | cultic usage in ancient Israel; the | New Testament, though, has less | descriptive character, and plants are, | consequently, named much less | frequently. | | If one wants to set up a "collection | of biblical spices", one must not | forget that there are three millennia | between the language of the Old | Testament and ours; therefore, exact | translations are sometimes impossible. | The following quote (Isaiah 28,27) may | illustrate the difficulties of | translation: | | 'QETSACH is not threshed with a | sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over | KAMMON; QETSACH is beaten out with a | rod, and KAMMON with a stick.' | | Because of the dialectic structure, we | may infer that the two plants are | similar, but differ in details of | their harvest. The term KAMMON | obviously is related to Greek KÝMINON | (cumin), but also lies behind English | CARAWAY; QETSACH is more difficult to | analyze. Probably it means NIGELLA, | sometimes also called BLACK CUMIN, | whose seeds ripen in a closed capsule, | which must first be opened. | | Yet in translating the Bible, botanic | accuracy is less an aim than general | matters of style. "Black cumin" is | less elegant than "cumin", and | "nigella" is not an English word at | all. Therefore, English Bible | translations render QETSACH as DILL, | CARAWAY or "fitches", a word that is | missing from every modern dictionary. | German translators, on the other hand, | who don't have a traditional, elegant | word for CUMIN, commonly translate | KAMMON as CARAWAY (which is almost | certainly wrong), and have to resort | to DILL for QETSACH. | | Comparing different translations of | the Old Testament, one find some or | all of the following (Hebrew terms are | given in parenthesis): garlic (shuwm), | onion (b@tsel), nigella (qetsach, also | rendered as caraway oder dill, quite | obscure), cumin (kammon, also | caraway), coriander (gad), caper | (abiyownah, also translated "desire"), | cinnamon (qinnamown), cassia (qiddah, | also interpreted as a synonym of | cinnamon or cassia buds), hyssop | (ezowb, frequent but very obscure), | myrtle (hadac), olive (shemen and | zayith, very frequent), juniper | (b@rowsh, also given as "fir" or | "pine"), almond (shaqed), pomegranate | (rimmown or rimmon), rose | (chabatstseleth, very obscure) and | saffron (karkom). | | Similarly, the New Testament has not | been translated by biologists--the | latter had not suspected birds to live | in mustard plants (sínapi). Other | plant names from the New Testament | include the following (Greek given in | parenthesis): mint (heedýosmon, this | is not the common name of mint in | Greek), cumin (kýminon, also | translated caraway), anis (áneethon, | also rendered dill), rue (peéganon, | not the common term), cinnamon | (kinnámoomon), hyssop (hýssoopos, | referring to the obscure word in the | Old Testament) and olive (agriélaios | "olive tree" and elaíon "olive oil"). | | The DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE (ed. by | James Hastings and John A. Selbie, | Edinburgh, 3rd ed.1914) says about the | HYSSOP: "It was used for sprinkling | blood (Ex. 12,22) and in the ritual of | the cleansing of lepers (Lv 14,4, Nu | 19,6); it was an insignificant plant | growing out of the wall (1 K 4,33); it | could afford a branch strong enough to | support a wet sponge (Jn 19,29). It is | possible that all these references are | not to a single species. Among many | suggested plants the most probable is | either a species of majoran, e.g., | ORIGANUM MARU, or the common caper- | plant (CAPPARIS SPINOSA), which may be | seen growing out of crevices in walls | all over Palestine" (E.W.G.Masterman). | | For the German traditions about the | hyssop Jacob and Wilhem Grimm in | DEUTSCHES WÖRTERBUCH (1854 seq.) give | the following information: | YSOP, isop, ispe(n), eisop; hysop, m. | (F.),HYSSOPUS OFFICINALIS L., KLEINER | BUSCH MIT STARK DUFTENDEN BLÄTTERN und | VIOLETTEN BLÜTEN. GELEGENTLICH WIRD | DER NAME AUF VERWANDTE PFLANZEN | ÜBERTRAGEN, VOR ALLEM AUF SATUREJA | HORTENSIS L., VGL. MARZELL WB. D. DT. | PFLANZENN. 2, 966 ff.; PRITZEL-JESSEN | PFLANZEN (1882) 363 f.; FISCHER | SCHWÄB. 4, 53. | | HERKUNFT UND form. | | ASS. zûpu; SYR.-ARAB. züfä; HEBR. .; | GRIECH. ; ; LAT. hyss_pus F., hyss_pum | N.; GOT. hwssopon (DAT. SG.); AGS. | ysope f.; AHD. hysop ST. M. NEBEN | SPÄTEREM ISOPO, isipo 5W. M.; MHD. | ysope M. (NOCH BEI LUTHER MEIST | SCHWACH FLEKTIERT: EXOD. 12, 22; | LEVIT. 14, 52; PS. 51, 9; HEBR. 9, | 19); SPÄTAHD.-FRÜHNHD. AUCH ALS FEM. | (YSOPUS îspa [12. JH.] AH. GL. 3, 264, | 53 ST.-S.; DE ISOPO von der ispen | [12.JH.] EBDA 4, 365, 46; von der | ispen [UM 1350] KONRAD V. MEGENBEEG | BUCH D. NATUR 405 PF.; VGL. 420; | yspen, die nit felt LIEDERBUCH D. | HÄTZLERIN 234 HALTAUS). NHD. (h)ysop, | isop, WEITERES S.U. | | AUF DER BIBELSPRACHLICHEN TRADITION | (1) UND AUF DER FRÜHEN EINFÜHRUNG DES | ORIENTALISCH-SÜDEUROPÄISCHEN YSOPS ALS | HEIL- UND GEWÜRZPFLANZE (2) BERUHT | SEINE REICHE BEZEUGUNG IN NAHEZU | ALLEN EUROPÄISCHEN SPRACHEN. NEUER- | DINGS WIRD DIE IDENTITÄT DES | BIBLISCHEN ysop MIT HYSSOPUS | OF/ICINALIS WIEDER BEZWEIFELT MARZELL | A. A. 0. (ZUR DISKUSSION UM JOAN. 19, | 29 VGL. BAUER GRIECH.-DT. WB. ZUM | NEUEN TESTAM. [4 1952] 1541). DER NAME | ERSCHEINT BIBEL-SPRACHLICH DURCHWEG | ALS MASK., GELEGENTLICH BIS INS 14. | JH. IN LAT. FLEXIONSFORM (S. U. | DAT. SG. isupo NOTKER, ysopo TRIERER | PS., ysopo PASSIONAL; AKK. SG.. ysopum | WERNHER MARIENLEBEN) UND AUCH SPÄTER | NOCH MIT SPIRANTISCHEM ANLAUT: hyssop | ABR. A S. CLARA etw. f. alle (1699) 1, | 98; hysop BRENNER ERZ. U. SCHR. (1864) | 1, 20; hyssop TILLMANN NEUES TEST. | (LPZ. 6 1958) 625. WEITER | EINGEDEUTSCHT IST DAS WORT IN SEINER | VOLKSSPRACHLICHEN VERWENDUNG (2): | SYNKOPE DES MITTELSILBENVOKALS S.. OB. | SOWIE isp (12. JH.) AHD. GL. 4, 235, | 38 ST.-S.; yspe (14. JH.) EBDA 3, 542, | 25; ispe (U. Ä.) 14./16. JH. | DIEFENBACH GL. 310b ; isp(e) FISCHER | SCHWÄB. 4, 53 (STÄRKER ABWEICHENDE | MISCHFORMEN zispe EBDA, zwispe 6, | 1472), SCHMELLER-FR. BAYER. 1, 168. | NICHT SELTEN DIPHTHONGIERT | garteneisop, zwibeleisop ALBERTUS | dict. (1540) FF la ; eisop FÄBRICUS | RER. MISNIAC. (1569) 246; eysopwein | ZEHNER NOMENCL. (1643) 365; eisop M. | BÖHME VIEHARTZNEY (1682) 31. DIE | ZAHLREICHEN MUNDARTLICHEN NEBENFORMEN | S. IM ÜBRIGEN BEI MARZELL A. A. O.; | VGL. NOCH eisop TEIL 3, SP. 380, | eisewig 3, 377, hispe F., 4, 2, 1579 | SOWIE isop 4, 2, 2182. | | GEBRAUCH. | 1)BIBELSPRACHLICH. EXOD. 12, 22; | LEVIT. 14, 4 U. 6; 14, 49fl.; num. 19, | 6 u. 18; PS. 50 9 U. HEBR. 9, 19 | ERWÄHNEN DEN YSOP IM ZUSAMMENHANG | KULTISCHER REINIGUNGSZEREMONIEN. 3. | REG. 4, 33 DIENT ER EINEM VERGLEICH | ZUR VERANSCHAUIICHUNG DER WEISHEIT | SALOMOS (S.U.). JOAN. 19, 29 WIRD DEM | GEKREUZIGTEN DER ESSIGSCHWAMM UM EINEN | YSOP GEWICKELT GEREICHT (HIERZU VGL. | BAUER GRIECH.-DT. WB. ZUM NEUEN | TESTAM. [4 1952] 1541). AN DIESEN | STELLEN IST DAS WORT IN ALLEN | DEUTSCHEN BIBELÜBERSETZUNGEN BIS IN | DIE GEGENWART IN FESTEM GEBRAUCH: | afaruh þan ÞO in wato wairpandans | hrain jah hwssopon jah wullai raudai | ufartrusnjandans (SKEIREINS 3, 16) | GOT. BIBEL 21 , 461 STREITBERG; | FASCICULUM HYSOPI uuadal hysopes | (EXODUS 12, 22) (8./9. JH.) AHD. GL. | 1, 335, 38 ST.-S.; so er chumet, so | besprenget er mih mit isopo (ASPERGES | ME YSOPO, PS. 50, 9) also die | miselsuhtigen, unde danne uuirdo ih | gereinet; uuunda so ist gepoten in | demo puoche, daz die miselsuhtigen | siben stunt besprenget uurten mit | gedunchetemo isopo in demo opferpluote | (VGL. LEV. 14, 4ff.; 49ff.) NOTKER 3, | 172 PIPER (VGL. 2, 195f.); du | besprenges mih, herro, mit dem isipen | unde ih wirde gereinet (12. JH., | WINDBERGER INTERLINEARVERSION), du | solt besprengen mich mit demo ysopo | unde ih wirde gereinet (13. JH., | TRIERER INTERLINEARVERSION) (PS. 50, | 9) DT. INTERLINEARVERSIONEN D. PSALMEN | (1839) 232 GRAFF; wann sy fulten ein | schwamp mit essig sy vmbgaben in mit | ysopp: sy brachten in seinen mund | (JOAN. 19, 29) ERSTE DT. BIBEL 1, 415 | KURR.; vnd er (SALOMO) redet | dreytausent spruch, vnd seyner liede | waren tausent vnd funffe. vnd er redet | von bewmen, vom ceder an zu Libanon | bis an den isop, der aus der wand | wechst (3. REG. 4, 33) LUTHER DT. | BIBEL 1, 150 W., VGL. 9, 1, 408f. AUS | BIBELSPRACHLICHER TRADITION ERWACHSEN | FOLGENDE BELEGE, ZU PS. 50, 8: | | Maria sunderinne, | du bist in gutem sinne | vf einen burnen alda kumen | ... | betouche dich zv male | des du macht Immer wesen vro | der besprenget dich mit ysopo | des bistu wiz ob alleme sne | (UM 1300) PASSIONAL 371, 22 HAHN; | | nun spreng mich herr mit ysop gut, | so wird all sünd verderbet | SPEE GÜLD. TUGENDBUCH (1649) 35; | | und so, meint der meister ferner, | werde ich auch bald gewaschen werden, | und mit hysop besprengt, der ich über | so viele das miserere gesungen BRENNER | ERZ. U. SCHR. (1864) 1, 20. ZU JOAN. | 19, 29: | | 'mich durstet', sprach er och dar na. | do stûnd ain vas mit essich da, | dar in lait ainer ysopum | und fuitent sin ainen schwum: | den bot er zû der selben stunt | mit ainem sper an sinen munt | (HS. 1182) WERNHER MARIENIEBEN | 10 607 PÄPKE-HÜBNER. | | IN NEGATIVIERENDER UMDEUTUNG DER | HILFREICHEN TRÄNKUNG AUS JOAN. 19, 29 | (VGL. MATTH. 27, 34): wie . . dem | volk...der ysop der furcht vor den | ewigen strafen dargereicht würde | SCHLEIERMACHER S. W. (1834) 1 5, 98; | | nur gift und galle war, o pabst, | was du vom pol bis zu den tropen | der welt mit deinem scepter gabst, | mit deinem scepter von ysopen | HERWEGH GED. E. LEBENDIGEN (21841) 116. | | ZU 3. REG. 4, 31 von der zeder bis zum | ysop (S 0. LUTHERS ÜBERSETZUNG), | ZUNÄCHST NUR VON DER GRÖSZE DER | WEISHEIT SALOMOS: Salomon ... von dem | ceder baum, so auf dem berg Libano | ist, bisz auf den hyssop, so aus der | wand wächst, disputieret ABR. A S. | CLARA ETWAS F. ALLE (1699) 1, 48; | (ÜBERSCHRIFT:) Salomons königs van | Israel und Juda güldne worte von der | ceder biss zum issop GÖTHE 1 37, 295 | W.; AUF ANDERE PERSONEN ÜBERTRAGEN: | weil du (RÜBEZAHL) aber der kräuter | und pflanzen kundig bist, vom ysop an, | der auf der mauer wächst, bis auf die | ceder zu Libanon MUSÄUS VOLKSMÄRCHEN | 1, 34 HEMPEL, VGL. DERS., PHYSIOGN. | REISEN (1778) 1, 171; ich habe die | ehre, ihnen einen gelehrten zu | präsentieren, dar alles weiss und | kennt, van der ceder bis zum ysop | KOTZEBUE SÄMMTL. DRAM. W. (1827) 1, | 314. SCHLIESZLICH DIE WEITE DER | SCHÖPFUNG ÜBERHAUPT BEZEICHNEND: jedes | gewäche von der ceder bis zum ysop | hängt an erde und sonnenschein HERDER | 20, 73 S.; VGL. 22, 237; der nahme | meines helden ist kurz und gut: ABC | bis XYZ, ... ritter vieler orden | trauriger und fröhlicher gestalt, von | der ceder auf Libanon bis zum ysop | HIPPEL KREUZ- U. QUERZUGC (1793) 1, 3; | die menschengattung ist die erste von | alless diesen einheiten; die andern, | vom elephanten bis zur milbe, von der | ceder bis an den ysop, sind in dar | zweiten und dritten linie J. G. | FORSTER S. SCHR. (1843) 4, 319. | | 2) ALS GEWÜRZ- UND HEIL PFLANZE. IN | DEN VERSCHIEDENSTEN REZEPTEN SEIT DEM | 11./12. JH. SEHR REICH BEZEUGT; DIE | BLÄTTER WERDEN VEREINZELT BIS IN DIE | GEGENWART ALS SOSZENWÜRZE UND ZUM | GURGELN GEGEN HALSBESCHWERDEN BENUTZT; | DARÜBER HINAUS IST DIE PFLANZE 'VOR | ALLEM IN DER SCHWEIZ EIN BESTANDTEIL | DER IN DIE KIRCHE (BESONDERS VON | ÄLTEREN FRAUEN) MITGENOMMENEN | RIECHSTRÄUSZLEIN' MARZELL WB. D. | DT. PFLANZENN. 2, 069: isopo ist g_t | chrût, obe diu geb_rt stirbet in demo | wîbe; trinche iz mit warmem wazzer, SÔ | vert iz vone ire. er ist g_t vur den | stenken vnte hilfet och den der mage | swirt (11./12. JH.) GERMANIA 8, 300; | ÄHNLICH (13. JH.) MENHARDT VERZ. D. | ALTDT. LIT. HSS. 1 (1960) 46; von der | ispen. isopus haizt isp...wenn man | ispen kocht mit honig, daz ist der | lungel guot . und genuog ander | tugent hât si an ir (UM 1350) KONRAD | V. MEGENBERG BUCH der NATUR 405 PF.; | vgl 420; der ysope . . . ist bitter | und idoch ges_nt dem herzen und der | I_ngen und der br_st die da siech ist | (14 JH.) ALTDT.PRED. | | SCHÖNBACH SO WEME dat hoven sweret . . | de scal nemen eyn bunt ysopen unde | seden de (Bremen 1352) »MND. ARZNEIB. | des A. DONELDEY 14 Windler vgl. 3, 10, | 19, 26, 49; und alz ist gefügett daz | pinlin z.B. dem honge, der ysop z.B. dem | balsam, dú nahtegal z.B. der harpfen (so | wie DIE seele ZU CHRISTUS) (HS. von | 1357 NACH VORLAGE VON 1303) , ST. | GEORGENER PRED. 287 RIEDER, VGL. 294; | | saluay, rawtten vnd polay, | der krautt stünd pogen vnd | gezindelt; | dryment, yspen, die nit felt, | grunten da in reicher wunn | LIEDERBUCH DER HÄTZLERIN | 234 HALTAUS: | | dem rind den husten zu vertreiben, | pflegt man jnen...ysop.. .einzugeben | SEBIZ feldbau (1579) 128; | mit lavendel, isop, majoran, poley und | anderen geringeres wehrtes, gewächsen | und blurnenwerke ausgeziehret NEUMARK | newspross. teut. palmb. (1668) 171; | unter wild wachsenden pflanzen sah ich | die dunkelrote scabiose unter gärten | und ein ganzes feld mit ysop bewachsen | STOLBERG | GES.W. (1820) 8, 360. | | 3) ZU BEIDEN ANWENDUNGSGRUPPEN | STELLEN SICH ZUSAMMENSETZUNGEN: | ysopbitter: | | dieweil der königliche zecher | umsonst nach ihren zügen gafft. | leert sie den ysopbittren becher | zurückgewiesener leidenschaft | FONTANE GED. 7176 (VGL.. | JOAN. 19, 29 u. ysop 1); | | --busch: | | nimm einen ysoppusch, | entsündige mein Leben | FLEMING, dt. ged. 1,8 | lit.ver.; | | VGL. ysopbüschel (NURN. 19, 18) | ZÜRCHER BIBEL (BERLIN 1956) 1, 165; - | kraut: nimm rosinlin ein | handvoll...salbeyblätter, hissopkraut, | jedes 1 hand voll GÄBELKOVER ARTZNCYB. | (1595) 1, 182; -saft: ysop safft | getruncken mit oximel, waychet den | verstopften bauch DAS KREÜTERBUCH OD. | HERBARIOS (AUGSB. 1534) 144b ; -sirup: | \STAUB-TOBLER 7, 1270; -stengel: sie | steckten nun einen mit essig gefüllten | schwamm auf einen ysopstengel (JOAN | 19,29). ZÜRCHER BIBEL (BERLIN 1956) | 2,148; hysopstengel (J. 19,29) | TILLMANN NEUES TESTAM. (LPZ. 6-1959) | 325; -strauch, | s. isopstrauch TEIL 4,2, SP. 2182; - | wasser: hysopwasser soll man allwegen | in heysser aeschen disti1liren: | welches (U. A.) trefflich gut für den | grausamen schmertzen der zän ist SEBIZ | feldbau (1580) 413; zerschmeltz den | zucker in brandlattich oder | issopwasser GÄBELKOVER artzneybuch | (1595) 1, 193, GEBUCHT bei RÄDLEIN T.- | IT.-FRZ.(1711) 1080;b; -wein, . VGL. | isopwein TEIL 4. 2. sp. 2182 SOWIE: | von ysopwein. ysopwein ist warm, | reiniget die brust, machet gute däwung | vnd weicht den bauch M. HERR FELDBAU | (1551) 112a; eysop wein ZEHNER | NOMENCL. (1645) 365; KIRSCH CORNU | COPIAE 2 (1775), 908. | | Why then did Bacon translate "hyssop" | as "moss"? The hyssop was known and | used in England (compare OED; e.g. | Skakespeare OTHELLO I,3 etc.). What | appears from all the dictionaries | consulted is, however, that it is not | so very clear which plant was meant by | the name. What led Bacon to use the | word "moss" for "hyssop" is probably | the sense of 1 K 4,33: Salomon knows | every plant from the noblest (=cedar | tree) to the meanest (=hyssop), "moss" | obviously signifying a mean plant | "which is but a rudiment between | putrefaction and an herb". This does | obviously leave out of consideration | the holiness of the hyssop tested in | various other contexts of the Old and | the New Testament (see above). philosophy{29}. Nay, the same Salomon the | 29. cf. A.L. Sp. III, 298, I.5 (D.A. king affirmeth directly that the glory of | Sp.I,467, I.1) ; Cf. also N.O. I, 65 God IS TO CONCEAL A THING, BUT THE GLORY | OF THE KING IS TO FIND IT OUT{30}, as if | 30. Proverbs 25,2 according to the innocent play of children | Geneva Bible: The glorie of God is to the divine Majesty took delight to hide | conceile a thing secret: but the Kings his works, to the end to have them found | honour is to searche out a thing. out; for in naming the king he intendeth | man, taking such a condition of man as | Authorized Version: It is the glory of hath most excellency and greatest | God to conceal a thing: but the honour commandment of wits and means, alluding | of kings is to search out a matter. also to his own person, being truly one of | those clearest burning lamps, whereof | Vulgata: Gloria Dei celare verbum et himself speaketh in another place, when he | gloria regum investigare sermonem saith THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS AS THE LAMP OF | GOD, WHEREWITH HE SEARCHETH ALL | INWARDNESS{31}; which nature of the soul | 31. Proverbs 20,27 the same Salomon holding precious and | Geneva Bible: The light of the Lord is inestimable, and therein conspiring with | the breth of man, and sercheth all the the affection of Socrates who scorned the | bowels of the bellie. pretended learned men of his time for | Authorized Version: The spirit of man raising great benefit of their learning | is the candle of the Lord,searching (whereas Anaxagoras contrariwise and | all the inward parts of the belly. divers others being born to ample | Vulgata: lucerna Dominis spiraculum patrimonies decayed them in | homninis quae investigat omnia secreta | ventris | Luther: Eine Leuchte des Herrn ist des | Menschen Geist; die geht durch alle | Kammern des Leibes. contemplation){32}, delivereth it in | 32. see Platon, Hippias Major. 282 b - precept yet remaining, BUY THE TRUTH, AND | 283 b SELL IT NOT; | AND SO OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE{33}. | 33. Proverbs 23, 23 | Geneva Bible: Bye the trueth, but sel And lest any man should retain a scruple | it not: likewise wisdome, and as if this thirst of | instruction, and understanding. knowledge were rather an humour of the | mind than an emptiness or want in nature | Authorized Version: Buy the truth and and an instinct from God, the same author | sell it not; also wisdom, and defineth of it fully, saying, GOD HATH | instruction, and understanding. MADE EVERY THING IN BEAUTY ACCORDING TO | SEASON; ALSO HE HATH SET THE WORLD IN | Vulgata: veritatem eme et noli vendere MAN'S HEART, YET CAN HE NOT FIND OUT THE | sapientiam et doctrinam et WORK WHICH GOD WORKETH FROM THE | intelligentiam | | Luther: Kaufe Wahrheit und verkaufe | sie nicht, Weisheit, Zucht und | Verstand. | | on the mercantilist spirit in Bacon | see: Julie Robin Salomon, Objectivity | in the Making. The John Hopkins | University Press, 1998. BEGINNING TO THE END{34}: declaring not | 34. Ecclesiastes 3,11 obscurely that God hath framed the mind of | Authorized Version: He hath made every man as a glass capable of the image of the | thing beautiful in his time: also he universal world, joying to receive the | hath set the world in their heart, so signature thereof as the eye is of light | that no man can find out the work that yea not only satisfied in beholding the | God maketh from the beginning to the variety of things and vicissitude of | end. times, but raised also to find out and | discern those ordinances and decrees which | Vulgata: cuncta fecit bona in tempore throughout all these changes are | suo et mundum tradidit disputioni infallibly observed. And although the | eorum / ut non inveniat homo opus quod highest generality of motion or summary | operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad law of nature God should still reserve | finem. within his own curtain, yet many and noble | are the inferior and secondary operations | Luther Bible: Prediger Salomo 3,11: which are within man's sounding. This is a | Er aber tut alles fein zu seiner Zeit thing which I cannot tell whether I may so | und läßt ihr Herz sich ängstigen, wie plainly speak as truly conceive, that as | es gehen solle in der Welt; denn der all knowledge appeareth to be a plant of | Mensch kann doch nicht treffen das God's own planting, so it may seem the | Werk, das Gott tut, weder Anfang noch spreading and flourishing or at least the | Ende. bearing and fructifying of this plant, by | a providence of God, nay not only by a | general providence but by a special | prophecy, was appointed to this autumn | of the world{35}: for to my understanding | 35. Melek Hasgün comments: Bacon sees it is not violent to the letter, and safe | his time as "...autumn of the now after the event, so to interpret that | world...". As in Shakespeare’s King place in the prophecy of Daniel where | Lear (IV/6) ‘autumn’ implies the time speaking of the latter times it is said, | shortly before the end of the world, MANY SHALL PASS TO AND FRO, AND SCIENCE | this can also be applied to Bacon. The | Apocalypse is preceded by the increase | of knowledge (Daniel 12,4) and again | Bacon uses the Bible to legitimate | progress in science. SHALL BE INCREASED{36}; as if the opening | 36. Daniel 12, 4; of the world by navigation and commerce | Geneva Bible: But thou, o Daniel, shut and the further discovery of knowledge | up the wordes, and seale the boke til should meet in one time or age. | the end of the time: many shal runne | to and fro, and knowledge shalbe But howsoever that be, there are besides | increased [explanation f ("til the end the authorities or Scriptures before | of the time"): Til the time that God recited, two reasons of exceeding great | hathe appointed for the ful revelation weight and force why religion should | of these things: and then many shal dearly protect all increase of natural | runne to and fro to search the knowledge: the one, because it leadeth to | knowledge of these mysteries, which the greater exaltation of the glory of | things they obteine now by the light God; for as the | of the Gospel] | | Authorized Version: But thou, O | Daniel, shut up the words, and seal | the book, EVEN to the time of the end: | many shall run to and fro, and | knowledge shall be increased. | | Vulgata: Tu autem Danihel clude | sermones et signa librum usque ad | tempus statutum / pertransibunt | plurimi et multiplex erit scientia | | This quotation is repeated on the | title page of NOVUM ORGANUM. Together | with the allegorical content of the | pillars of Hercules, this passage | clearly is to be interpreted in an | apocalyptical sense: The time has come | and is ripe for a re-construction of | Adams's paradisical dominion over the | world.--The pillars of Hercules can | also be understood as a typological | allusion to the two pillars of | Salomo's temple (cf. Charles Whitney): | In 1 Kings 7, 21 the names of the | pillars are given as "Jachin" and | "Boas". The Jew's name in NOVA | ATLANTIS, Joabin, can be explained as | the result of playing around with | these names and contracting them into | one. In NOVA ATLANTIS Salomo's Temple | is resurrected and is the centre of | knowledge and power. Psalms{37} and other Scriptures do often | 37. for example Psalms 19,1 invite us to consider and to magnify the | great and wonderful works of God, so if we | should rest only in the contemplation of | those shews which first offer themselves | to our senses, we should do a like injury | to the majesty of God, as if we should | judge of the store of some excellent | jeweller by that only which is set out to | the street in his shop. The other reason | is, because it is a singular help and a | preservative against unbelief and error; | for, saith our Saviour, YOU ERR, NOT | KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES NOR THE | POWER OF GOD;{38} laying before us two | 38. St. Matthew 22, 29: books or volumes to study if we will be | Authorized Version: Jesus answered and secured from error; first the Scriptures | said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing revealing the will of God, and then the | the Scriptures, not the power of God. creatures expressing his power; for that | see also St Mark 12, 24 latter book will certify us that nothing | which the first teacheth shall be thought | impossible. And most sure it is, and a | true conclusion of experience, that a | little natural philosophy inclineth the | mind to atheism, but a further proceeding | bringeth the mind back to religion. | | To conclude then, let no man presume to | check the liberality of God's gifts, who, | as was said, | HATH SET THE WORLD IN MAN'S HEART. So | as whatsoever is not God but parcel of the | world, he hath fitted it to the | comprehension of man's mind, if man will | open and dilate the powers of | his understanding as he may.{39} | 39. Compare to "mind of glass" above | But yet evermore it must be remembered | that the least part of knowledge passed to | man by this so large a charter from God | must be subject to that use for which God | hath granted it; which is the benefit and | relief of the state and society or man; | for otherwise all manner of knowledge | becometh malign and serpentine, and | therefore as carrying the quality of the | serpent's sting and malice it maketh the | mind of man to swell; as the Scripture | saith excellently, KNOWLEDGE BLOWETH UP, | BUT CHARITY BUILDETH UP{40}. And again the | 40. 1 Corinthians 8, 1 same author doth notably disavow both | Authorized Version: Now as touching power and knowledge such as is not | things offered unto idols, we know dedicated to goodness or love, for saith | that we all have knowledge. Knowledge he, IF I HAVE ALL FAITH SO AS I COULD | puffeth up, but charity edifieth. REMOVE MOUNTAINS, (there is power active,) | IF I RENDER MY BODY TO THE FIRE, (there is | power passive,) IF I SPEAK WITH THE | TONGUES OF MEN AND ANGELS, (there is | knowledge, for language is but the | conveyance of knowledge,) | ALL WERE NOTHING{41}. | 41. 1 Corinthians 13, 1-3: | Authorized Version: Though I speak And therefore it is not the pleasure of | with the tongues of men and of angels, | and have not charity, I am become as | sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. | And though I have the gift of | prophecy, and understand all | mysteries, and all knowledge; and | though I have all faith, so that I | could remove mountains, and have not | charity, I am nothing. And though I | bestow all my goods to feed the poor, | and though I give my body to be | burned, and have not charity, it | profiteth me nothing. curiosity{42}, nor the quiet of | 42. Bacon here contrasts "curiosity" resolution, nor the raising of the spirit, | with "thirst of knowledge" (p. 220). nor victory of wit, nor faculty of speech, | "Curiosity" is used in a traditional nor lucre of profession, nor ambition of | sense (see St. Augustine on curiositas honour or fame, nor inablement for | in Confessiones X,35). He speaks of business, that are the true ends of | curiositas also in "Actaeon et knowledge; some of these being more worthy | Pentheus, sive Curiositas" in: De than other, though all inferior and | sapentia veterum", VI: The Theban king degenerate: but it is a restitution and | Pentheus is punished with madness reinvesting (in great part) of man to the | because out of curiosity he has dared sovereignty and power (for whensoever he | to observe certain mysteries which are shall be able to call the creatures by | dedicated to Dionysos, that is: he their true names be shall again command | applied (scientific) observation to them) which he had | divine things, he did not respect the | division between LUMEN NATURALE and | LUMEN DIVINUM.--Bacon draws the same | conclusions from the myth of | Prometheus ("Prometheus, sive Status | hominis"). | on curiosity see Hans Blumenberg, "Der | Prozeß der theoretischen Neugierde", | in: DIE LEGITIMITÄT DER NEUZEIT | (Frankfurt, 1966). in his first state of creation{43}. And | 43. compare with Milton's Paradise Lost to speak plainly and clearly, it is a | Book XII discovery of all operations and pos- | sibilities of operations from immortality | (if it were possible) to the meanest | mechanical practice. And therefore | knowledge that tendeth but to satisfaction | is but as a courtesan, which is for | pleasure and not for fruit or generation. | And knowledge that tendeth to profit or | profession or glory is but as the golden | ball thrown before Atalanta{44}, which | 44. The Atalanta myth is treated by while she goeth aside and stoopeth to take | Bacon in DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM (Works, up she hindereth the | vol. VI) | This is the German translation by | Marina Münkler in: Weisheit der Alten, | hrsg. von Philipp Rippel (Frankfurt | a.M: Fischer, 1991): | XXV. Atalanta oder die Gewinnsucht | Atalanta, die für ihre Schnelligkeit | berühmt war, forderte Hippomenes mit | dem Versprechen zum Wettlauf heraus, | daß er sie im Falle seines Sieges zur | Frau nehmen dürfe, im Falle seiner | Niederlage aber sein Leben verwirke. | An Atalantas Sieg schien es keinen | Zweifel geben zu können, da ihre | unübertreffliche Schnelligkeit bereits | durch den Tod zahlreicher Freier unter | Beweis gestellt worden war. Hippomenes | griff deshalb zu einer List. Er | beschaffte sich drei goldene Äpfel, | die er mit sich führte. Das Rennen | begann, Atalanta ging in Führung. Als | Hippomenes sah, daß er zurückfiel, | griff er auf seine List zurück und | warf einen seiner Äpfel so vor sie | hin, daß sie ihn sehen mußte. Er warf | ihn aber nicht direkt vor sie, sondern | ein wenig abseits, damit sie sich | nicht nur bücken, sondern auch ihre | Bahn verlassen mußte. Erfüllt von | weiblicher Gier und angezogen von der | Schönheit der Frucht, verließ sie ihre | Bahn, lief dem Apfel nach und hielt | an, um ihn aufzuheben. In der | Zwischenzeit lief Hippomenes weiter | und ging in Führung. Aufgrund ihrer | natürlichen Schnelligkeit machte | Atalanta den Rückstand jedoch bald | wieder wett und überholte ihn erneut. | Nachdem Hippomenes sie jedoch in | derselben Weise noch ein zweites und | ein drittes Mal vom Weg abbrachte, | gewann er schließlich den Wett!auf, | freilich nicht durch seine Fähigkeit, | sondern durch seine List. | | Diese Sage scheint eine hervorragende | Allegorie über den Wettstreit von | Kunst und Natur zu sein. Denn die | Kunst, die von Atalanta repräsentiert | wird, ist an sich, wenn ihr nichts im | Wege steht, sehr viel schneller als | die Natur, sie ist, wie man sagen | könnte, der bessere Läufer und | erreicht ihr Ziel schneller. Das zeigt | sich an nahezu allen Dingen: Man | sieht, daß sich Obstbäume nur langsam | aus dem Kern, aber sehr viel schneller | durch das Aufpfropfen von Zweigen | entwickeln, daß Lehm sehr langsam zu | Stein wird, während er sehr schnell zu | Stein gebrannt werden kann. Auch die | Sitten betreffend kann man beobachten, | daß es sehr lange dauert, bis durch | die Wohltaten der Natur ein Schmerz | vergessen und Trost gefunden werden | kann, während die Philosophie (die | gleichsam die Kunst zu leben ist), den | Tag nicht abwartet, sondern ihn | vorhersieht und vor Augen führt. Dann | aber wird dieser Vorsprung und die | Fähigkeit der Kunst zum unendlichen | Nachteil der Menschheit, durch jene | goldenen Äpfel behindert. Denn es gibt | keine Wissenschaft oder Kunst, die | ihren wahren und richtigen Weg bis zum | Ziel unbeirrt beibehält. Vielmehr | geschieht es fortwährend, daß die | Künste ihre Unternehmungen auf halbem | Wege unterbrechen, vom Pfad abweichen | und sich wie Atalanta Gewinn und | Nutzen zuwenden: | | "Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile | tollit" (Ovid, Metamorphosen X, 667). | | Und deshalb ist es nicht | verwunderlich, daß es der Kunst nicht | gegeben ist, den Sieg über die Natur | zu erringen und sie nach den | Bedingungen und Regeln des Wettkampfs | zu töten und zu zerstören, sondern sie | im Gegenteil der Natur unterworfen | bleibt, wie das Weib dem Ehemann. | | Charles W. Lemmi (THE CLASSICAL | DEITIES IN BACON. A STUDY IN | MYTHOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM, Baltimore | 1933, repr. New York 1971) says that | Bacon draws on Natalis Comes (Conti) | MYTHOLOGIAE SIVE EXPLICATIONUM | FABULARUM LIBRI X (1551) and on | Boccaccios DE GENEALOGIA DEORUM | (1472). | | Simone Wirthmann comments: | Treatises on classical mythology had a | wide circulation during the | Renaissance because it has been | thought that one might discover in the | stories of the gods and goddesses the | wisdom of the ancients. | It was in Italy, in the sixteenth | century that the Renaissance produced | the most widely known works on the | classic deities. | | One of the most popular books was | Natalis Conti's "MYTHOLOGY", which was | fully as learned as any of its | competitors, pleasanter to read and | incomparably easier to use as a | referencebook. Furthermore, it | systematically interprets every myth | it relates according to a multitude of | authorities. It provides a list of | authorities, an excellent index and | synopses of the interpretations | divided into ethical and physical. | Despite all these new books, which | largely superseded Boccaccio's famous | "DE GENEALOGIIS DEORUM", they were far | from causing it to be forgotten. | | For that reason it is to presume that | Bacon draws on Natalis Comes (Conti) | "MYTHOLOGIAE SIVE EXPLICATIONEM | FABULARUM LIBRI X" (1551) and on | "Boccaccio's De Genealogia | Deorum"(1472) (see Charles W. Lemmi | THE CLASSICAL DEITIES IN BACON. A | STUDY IN MYTHOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM | (Baltimore 1933, repr. New York 1971). race{45}. And knowledge referred to some | 45. Ovid, Metamorphosen, Buch X, 665- particular point of use is but | 680 as Harmodius{46} which putteth down one | 46. see Herodot, Histories, V, 55 and tyrant, and not like | VI, 109 and 123 | The Oxford Classical Dictionary says: | Aristogiton (6th c. B.C.), Athenian | tyrannicide. He and Harmodius, both of | noble family, planned to kill the | tyrant Hippias and his younger brother | Hipparchus, in consequence of a | private quarrel (514 B.C.). The plot | miscarried: only Hipparchus was | killed. Harmodius was at one cut down | by Hippias' guards, Aristogiton | arrested and executed (after torture, | it is said). As the tyranny was | overthrown three years later, the two | were popularly supposed to have made | this possible, and were ever after | called the Liberators. Simonides wrote | a poem in their honour, statues of | them were set up in the agora (and new | ones erected when these were carried | off by Xerxes in 480), and their | descendants for all time honoured with | the right to meals in the Prytaneum. Hercules{47} who did perambulate the world | 47. Hercules is not a Baconian hero. to suppress tyrants and giants and | The real hero is Orpheus as he is monsters in every | interpreted in "Orpheus, sive | Philosophia" in DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM. | Orpheus is the Baconian philosopher, | and the myth of Orpheus is about the | opera scientiae. The works of Orpheus | are superior to the works of Hercules | as the "works of wisdom" (opera | sapientiae) are superior to the "works | of strength" (opera fortitudinis) (VI, | 720). | | Simone Wirthmann comments: | Hercules (gr. Heracles), (lit. "having | or showing the glory of Hera"; Hera, | wife of Zeus) Hercules, the son of | Zeus and of the mortal Alkmene was a | celebrated hero of Greek and Roman | mythology, who after death was ranked | among the gods and received divine | honours. He is represented as | possessed of prodigious strength, | whereby he was enabled to perform | twelve extraordinary tasks or | "labours" imposed upon him by Hera. | One of these tasks was to capture the | cattles of the three-headed giant | Geryoneus. It is said, that on this | journey Hercules set up the rocks | Calpé (now Gibraltar) and Abyla | (Ceuta) / THE PILLARS OF HERCULES on | either side of the Strait of | Gibraltar, as a sign for his longest | journey. THE PILLARS where seen by the | ancients to be the supports of the | western boundary of the world. | | Bacon uses the myth of Hercules and | Harmodius in a methaphorical way, to | elucidate the real contents of | knowledge by comparing the two | "heroes". Hercules impersonates | strength and justice, throughout his | life he tried to free people from | tyranny, fought against giants and | monsters without thinking of his own | benefit. Harmodius in comparison tried | to kill the tyrants Hippias and | Hipparchus in consequence of a private | quarrel and not primarily to free | people. | | This shows, that for Bacon knowledge | must be of general existence and not | only refer to some particular point. | | Nevertheless, in one of his later | works, DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM (1609), | Hercules is not the Baconian hero | anymore. The real hero is Orpheus, the | philosopher. His works are superior to | the works of Hercules as the "works of | wisdom" (opera sapientiae) are | superior to the "works of strength" | (opera fortitudinis) (VI, 729). | | Orpheus was a legendary poet, a famous | musician and singer of ancient Greece, | who had the power of charming all | animate and inanimate objects (he | could move rocks and trees) by the | sweet strains of his lyre. He | descended living into Hades, to bring | back to life his wife Eurydice, and | perished, torn to pieces by infuriated | Thracian maenads (see THE OXFORD | CLASSICAL DICTIONARY; THE CENTURY | DICTIONARY, VOL. 4) part.{48} It is true, that in two points | 48. Spedding's note: The words "that the curse is peremptory and not to be | is, man's miseries and necessities," removed; the one that vanity must be the | which followed in the transcript, have end in all human effects, eternity being | a line drawn through them. resumed, though the revolutions and | periods may he delayed{49}. The other that | 49. Melek Hasgün comments: the consent of the creature being now | "...eternity being resumed...".: In turned into reluctation, this power cannot | Henry VIII (..) and King Lear (I/4) otherwise be exercised and administered | ‘resume’ means: to take back but with labour, as well in inventing as | something previously given or in executing; yet nevertheless chiefly | granted. The fact that it is written that labour and travel which is described | in the passive form without an object by the sweat of the brows more than of the | implies that eternity has been taken body; that is such travel as is joined | back by God, referring to the Fall of with the working and discursion of the | Man and Paradise Lost. spirits in the brain: for as Salomon saith | excellently, THE FOOL PUTTETH TO MORE | ‘Revolution’ is the action or fact, STRENGTH, BUT THE WISE MAN CONSIDERETH | on the part of celestial bodies, of WHICH | moving round in an orbit or circular | course. The time in which a planet or | other heavenly body completes a full | circuit or course. (OED) A look at the | complete works and consequences of his | work, namely the foundation of | scientific or academic institutions | after his death that were the | precursors of the Royal Society | (1660), ‘revolution’ can also be | understood in the modern sense. In | fact, NEW ATLANTIS and NOVUM ORGANUM | set the foundation for the | "intellectual revolution" (Harvey | Wheeler's essay on Nova Atlantis; to | be obtained from the author: | | [email protected]), which implies | the complete overthrow of established | state of affairs. (OED) WAY{50}, signifying the election of the | 50. Ecclesiastes 10, 12: mean to be more material than the | Authorized Version: The words of a multiplication of endeavour. It is true | wise man's mouth are gracious; but the also that there is a limitation rather | lips of a fool will swallow up potential than actual, which is when the | himself. effect is possible, but the time or place | yieldeth not the matter or basis whereupon | for a commentary see A.L. Sp.III,322, man should work. But notwithstanding these | I.14 seq. (D.A. Sp. I, 486, I, 11 precincts and bounds, let it be believed, | seq.) and appeal thereof made to TIME, (with | renunciation nevertheless to all the vain | and abusing promises of Alchemists and | Magicians, and such like light, idle, | ignorant, credulous, and fantastical wits | and sects,) that the new-found world of | land was not greater addition to the | ancient continent than there remaineth at | this day a world of inventions and | sciences unknown, having respect to those | that are known, with this difference, that | the ancient regions of knowledge will seem | as barbarous compared with the new, as the | new regions of people seem barbarous | compared to many of the old. | | The dignity of this end (of endowment of | man's life with new commodities) | appeareth by the estimation that | antiquity made of such as guided | thereunto. For whereas founders of states, | lawgivers, extirpers of tyrants, fathers | of the people, were honoured but with the | titles of Worthies or Demigods, inventors | were ever consecrated amongst the Gods | themselves. And if the ordinary ambitions | of men lead them to seek the amplification | of their own power in their countries, and | a better ambition than that hath moved men | to seek the amplification of the power of | their own countries amongst other nations, | better again and more worthy must that | aspiring be which seeketh the | amplification of the power and kingdom of | mankind over the world; the rather because | the other two prosecutions are ever | culpable of much perturbation and | injustice; but this is a work, truly | divine which cometh IN AURA LENI {51} | 51. 1 Kings 19,12 (Vulgata) without noise or observation{52}. | 52. St Luke 17,20: | Authorized Version: And when he was The access also to this work hath been by | demanded of the Pharisees, when the that port or passage, which the divine | kingdom of God should come, he Majesty (who is unchangeable in his ways) | answered them and said, The kingdom doth infallibly continue and observe; that | of God cometh not with observation. is the felicity wherewith he hath blessed | an humility of mind, such as rather | see Novum Organum. I, 93; A.L. Sp. laboureth to spell and so by degrees to | III, 301,I, 29-302; also N.O. I, 129 read in the volumes of his creatures, than | (Sp. I,222,I.16 seq.) to solicit and urge and as it were to | invocate a man's own spirit to divine and | give oracles unto him. For as in the | inquiry of divine truth, the pride of man | hath ever inclined to leave the oracles of | God's word and to vanish in the mixture of | their own inventions; so in the self-same | manner, in inquisition of nature they have | ever left the oracles of God's works, and | adored the deceiving and deformed imagery | which the unequal mirrors of their own | minds have represented unto them{53}. Nay | 53. compare this with the later idea of it is a point fit and necessary in the | Idols front and beginning of this work without | hesitation or reservation to be professed, | that it is no less true in this human | kingdom of knowledge than in God's kingdom | of heaven, that no man shall enter into it | EXCEPT HE BECOME FIRST AS A LITTLE CHILD. | | 54. Spedding's note: This chapter ends | at the top of a new page. The rest is | left blank. | | 55. In NO Bacon says that entrance into | the new sciences depends upon their | followers' imitating the little | children favoured by Christ, children | whose lack of vanity gives them | privileged access to the kingdom of | heaven (IV, 69). cf. John Channing | Briggs, "Bacon's science and | religion", in: THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION | TO BACON, ed. by Markku Peltonen | (Cambridge, 1966), 172-199. | St Mark, 10,15: | | Authorized Version: Verily I say unto | you, Whosoever shall not receive the | kingdom of God as a little child, he | shall not enter therein.