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Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
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Title: Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
Author: Francis Bacon
Contributor: Basil Montagu
A. Spiers
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACON'S ESSAYS,
AND WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS ***
BACON’S ESSAYS
AND
WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS
WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE BY A. SPIERS
PREFACE BY B. MONTAGU, AND NOTES
BY DIFFERENT WRITERS
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
Copyright, 1884,
By Little, Brown, and Company.
The University Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
ADVERTISEMENT.
In preparing the present volume for the press, use has been freely
made of several publications which have recently appeared in
England. The Biographical Notice of the author is taken from an
edition of the Essays, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. To this has been added
the Preface to Pickering’s edition of the Essays and Wisdom of the
Ancients, by Basil Montagu, Esq. Parker’s edition, by Thomas
Markby, M. A., has furnished the arrangement of the Table prefixed
to the Essays, and also “the references to the most important
quotations.” The Notes, including the translations of the Latin, are
chiefly copied from Bohn’s edition, prepared by Joseph Devey, M. A.
We have given the modern translation of the Wisdom of the Ancients
contained in Bohn’s edition, in preference to that “done by Sir Arthur
Gorges,” although the last mentioned has a claim upon regard, as
having been made by a contemporary of Lord Bacon, and published
in his lifetime. Its language is in the style of English current in the
author’s age, and for this reason may resemble more nearly what
the philosopher himself would have used, had he composed the
work in his own tongue instead of Latin.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface by B. Montagu, Esq. xi
Introductory Notice of the Life and Writings of Bacon, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. 1
ESSAYS; OR, COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL.
NO.
1. Of Truth 1625; 57
2. Of Death 1612; enlarged 1625 62
3. Of Unity in Religion; Of Religion 1612; rewritten 1625 65
4. Of Revenge 1625; 73
5. Of Adversity 1625; 75
6. Of Simulation and Dissimulation 1625; 78
7. Of Parents and Children 1612; enlarged 1625 82
8. Of Marriage and Single Life 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 84
9. Of Envy 1625; 87
10. Of Love 1612; rewritten 1625 95
11. Of Great Place 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 98
12. Of Boldness 1625; 103
13. Of Goodness, and Goodness of
1612; enlarged 1625
Nature 105
14. Of Nobility 1612; rewritten 1625 110
15. Of Seditions and Troubles 1625 113
16. Of Atheism 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 124
17. Of Superstition 1612; ” ” 1625 130
18. Of Travel 1625; 132
19. Of Empire 1612; much enlarged 1625 135
20. Of Counsels 1612; enlarged 1625 143
21. Of Delays 1625; 151
22. Of Cunning 1612; rewritten 1625 153
23. Of Wisdom for a Man’s Self 1612; enlarged 1625 159
24. Of Innovations 1625; 161
25. Of Dispatch 1612; 163
26. Of Seeming Wise 1612; 166
27. Of Friendship 1612; rewritten 1625 168
28. Of Expense 1597; enlarged 1612; and again 1625 179
29. Of the true Greatness of
1612; enlarged 1625
Kingdoms and Estates 181
30. Of Regimen of Health 1597; enlarged 1612; again 1625 195
31. Of Suspicion 1625; 197
32. slightly enlarged 1612; again
Of Discourse 1597;
1625 199
33. Of Plantations 1625; 202
34. Of Riches 1612; much enlarged 1625 207
35. Of Prophecies 1625; 212
36. Of Ambition 1612; enlarged 1625 217
37. Of Masques and Triumphs 1625; 218
38. Of Nature in Men 1612; enlarged 1625 223
39. Of Custom and Education 1612; ” ” 225
40. Of Fortune 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 228
41. Of Usury 1625; 231
42. Of Youth and Age 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 237
43. Of Beauty 1612; ” ” 1625 240
44. Of Deformity 1612; somewhat altered 1625 241
45. Of Building 1625; 243
46. Of Gardens 1625; 249
47. enlarged 1612; very slightly
Of Negotiating 1597;
altered 1625 259
48. Of Followers and Friends 1597; slightly enlarged 1625 261
49. Of Suitors 1597; enlarged 1625 264
50. Of Studies 1597; ” 1625 266
51. Of Faction 1597; much enlarged 1625 269
52. Of Ceremonies and Respects 1597; enlarged 1625 271
53. Of Praise 1612; ” 1625 273
54. Of Vainglory 1612; 276
55. Of Honor and Reputation 1597; omitted 1612; republished 1625 279
56. Of Judicature 1612; 282
57. Of Anger 1625; 289
58. Of the Vicissitude of Things 1625; 292
APPENDIX TO ESSAYS.
1. Fragment of an Essay of Fame 301
2. Of a King 303
3. An Essay on Death 307
THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS; A SERIES OF
MYTHOLOGICAL FABLES.
Preface 317
1. Cassandra, or Divination. Explained of too free and unseasonable Advice 323
2. Typhon, or a Rebel. Explained of Rebellion 324
3. The Cyclops, or the Ministers of Terror. Explained of base Court Officers 327
4. Narcissus, or Self-Love 329
5. The River Styx, or Leagues. Explained of Necessity, in the Oaths or
Solemn Leagues of Princes 331
6. Pan, or Nature. Explained of Natural Philosophy 333
7. Perseus, or War. Explained of the Preparation and Conduct necessary to
War 343
8. Endymion, or a Favorite. Explained of Court Favorites 348
9. The Sister of the Giants, or Fame. Explained of Public Detraction 350
10. Acteon and Pentheus, or a Curious Man. Explained of Curiosity, or Prying
into the Secrets of Princes and Divine Mysteries 351
11. Orpheus, or Philosophy. Explained of Natural and Moral Philosophy 353
12. Cœlum, or Beginnings. Explained of the Creation, or Origin of all Things 357
13. Proteus, or Matter. Explained of Matter and its Changes 360
14. Memnon, or a Youth too forward. Explained of the fatal Precipitancy of
Youth 363
15. Tythonus, or Satiety. Explained of Predominant Passions 364
16. Juno’s Suitor, or Baseness. Explained of Submission and Abjection 365
17. Cupid, or an Atom. Explained of the Corpuscular Philosophy 366
18. Diomed, or Zeal. Explained of Persecution, or Zeal for Religion 371
19. Dædalus, or Mechanical Skill. Explained of Arts and Artists in Kingdoms
and States 374
20. Ericthonius, or Imposture. Explained of the improper Use of Force in
Natural Philosophy 378
21. Deucalion, or Restitution. Explained of a useful Hint in Natural Philosophy 379
22. Nemesis, or the Vicissitude of Things. Explained of the Reverses of
Fortune 380
23. Achelous, or Battle. Explained of War by Invasion 383
24. Dionysus, or Bacchus. Explained of the Passions 384
25. Atalanta and Hippomenes, or Gain. Explained of the Contest betwixt Art
and Nature 389
26. Prometheus, or the State of Man. Explained of an Overruling Providence,
and of Human Nature 391
27. Icarus and Scylla and Charybdis, or the Middle Way. Explained of
Mediocrity in Natural and Moral Philosophy 407
28. Sphinx, or Science. Explained of the Sciences 409
29. Proserpine, or Spirit. Explained of the Spirit included in Natural Bodies 413
30. Metis, or Counsel. Explained of Princes and their Council 419
31. The Sirens, or Pleasures. Explained of Men’s Passion for Pleasures 420
PREFACE.
In the early part of the year 1597, Lord Bacon’s first publication
appeared. It is a small 12mo. volume, entitled “Essayes, Religious
Meditations, Places of Perswasion and Disswasion.” It is dedicated
“To M. Anthony Bacon, his deare Brother.
“Louing and beloued Brother, I doe nowe like some that have an Orcharde ill
Neighbored, that gather their Fruit before it is ripe, to preuent stealing. These
Fragments of my Conceites were going to print, To labour the staie of them had
bin troublesome, and subiect to interpretation; to let them passe had beene to
aduenture the wrong they mought receiue by vntrue Coppies, or by some
Garnishment, which it mought please any that should set them forth to bestow
vpon them. Therefore I helde it best as they passed long agoe from my Pen,
without any further disgrace, then the weaknesse of the Author. And as I did euer
hold, there mought be as great a vanitie in retiring and withdrawing mens
conceites (except they bee of some nature) from the World, as in obtruding them:
So in these particulars I haue played myself the Inquisitor, and find nothing to my
vnderstanding in them contrarie or infectious to the state of Religion, or Manners,
but rather (as I suppose) medecinable. Only I disliked now to put them out,
because they will be like the late new Halfepence, which, though the Siluer were
good, yet the Peeces were small. But since they would not stay with their Master,
but would needes trauaile abroade, I haue preferred them to you that are next my
selfe, Dedicating them, such as they are, to our Loue, in the depth whereof (I
assure you) I sometimes wish your Infirmities translated vppon my selfe, that her
Maiestie mought haue the Seruice of so actiue and able a Mind, and I mought be
with excuse confined to these Contemplations and Studies for which I am fittest,
so commend I you to the Preseruation of the Diuine Maiestie: From my Chamber
at Graies Inne, this 30 of Januarie, 1597. Your entire Louing Brother, Fran. Bacon.”
The Essays, which are ten in number, abound with condensed
thought and practical wisdom, neatly, pressly, and weightily stated,
and, like all his early works, are simple, without imagery. They are
written in his favorite style of aphorisms, although each essay is
apparently a continued work, and without that love of antithesis and
false glitter to which truth and justness of thought are frequently
sacrificed by the writers of maxims.
A second edition, with a translation of the Meditationes Sacræ, was
published in the next year; and another edition enlarged in 1612,
when he was solicitor-general, containing thirty-eight essays; and
one still more enlarged in 1625, containing fifty-eight essays, the
year before his death.
The Essays in the subsequent editions are much augmented,
according to his own words: “I always alter when I add, so that
nothing is finished till all is finished,” and they are adorned by happy
and familiar illustration, as in the essay of Wisdom for a Man’s Self,
which concludes, in the edition of 1625, with the following extract,
not to be found in the previous edition: “Wisdom for a man’s self is,
in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats,
that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the
wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and
made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears
when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noted is,
that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are Sui Amantes sine
Rivali are many times unfortunate. And whereas they have all their
time sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves
sacrifices to the inconstancy of Fortune, whose wings they thought,
by their self wisdom, to have pinioned.”
So in the essay upon Adversity, on which he had deeply reflected
before the edition of 1625, when it first appeared, he says: “The
virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is
fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is
the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the
New, which carrieth the great benediction, and the clearer revelation
of God’s favor. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David’s
harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the
pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the
afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not
without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without
comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is
more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground
than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground;
judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the
eye. Certainly, virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they
are incensed, or crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but
adversity doth best discover virtue.”
The Essays were immediately translated into French and Italian, and
into Latin, by some of his friends, amongst whom were Hacket,
Bishop of Lichfield, and his constant, affectionate friend, Ben Jonson.
His own estimate of the value of this work is thus stated in his letter
to the Bishop of Winchester: “As for my Essays, and some other
particulars of that nature, I count them but as the recreations of my
other studies, and in that manner purpose to continue them; though
I am not ignorant that these kind of writings would, with less pains
and assiduity, perhaps yield more lustre and reputation to my name
than the others I have in hand.”
Although it was not likely that such lustre and reputation would
dazzle him, the admirer of Phocion, who, when applauded, turned to
one of his friends, and asked, “What have I said amiss?” although
popular judgment was not likely to mislead him who concludes his
observations upon the objections to learning and the advantages of
knowledge by saying: “Nevertheless, I do not pretend, and I know it
will be impossible for me, by any pleading of mine, to reverse the
judgment either of Æsop’s cock, that preferred the barleycorn before
the gem; or of Midas, that being chosen judge between Apollo,
president of the Muses, and Pan, god of the flocks, judged for
plenty; or of Paris, that judged for beauty and love against wisdom
and power. For these things continue as they have been; but so will
that also continue whereupon learning hath ever relied and which
faileth not, Justificata est sapientia a filiis suis:” yet he seems to
have undervalued this little work, which for two centuries has been
favorably received by every lover of knowledge and of beauty, and is
now so well appreciated that a celebrated professor of our own
times truly says: “The small volume to which he has given the title of
‘Essays,’ the best known and the most popular of all his works, is
one of those where the superiority of his genius appears to the
greatest advantage, the novelty and depth of his reflections often
receiving a strong relief from the triteness of the subject. It may be
read from beginning to end in a few hours; and yet after the
twentieth perusal one seldom fails to remark in it something
overlooked before. This, indeed, is a characteristic of all Bacon’s
writings, and is only to be accounted for by the inexhaustible aliment
they furnish to our own thoughts and the sympathetic activity they
impart to our torpid faculties.”
During his life six or more editions, which seem to have been
pirated, were published; and after his death, two spurious essays,
“Of Death,” and “Of a King,” the only authentic posthumous essay
being the Fragment of an Essay on Fame, which was published by
his friend and chaplain, Dr. Rawley.
This edition is a transcript of the edition of 1625, with the
posthumous essays. In the life of Bacon1 there is a minute account
of the different editions of the Essays and of their contents.
They may shortly be stated as follows:—
First edition, 1597, genuine.
There are two copies of this edition in the university library at
Cambridge; and there is Archbishop Sancroft’s copy in Emanuel
Library; there is a copy in the Bodleian, and I have a copy.
Second edition, 1598, genuine.
Third edition, 1606, pirated.
Fourth edition, entitled “The Essaies of Sir Francis Bacon, Knight, the
Kings Solliciter Generall. Imprinted at London by Iohn Beale, 1612,”
genuine. It was the intention of Sir Francis to have dedicated this
edition to Henry, Prince of Wales; but he was prevented by the
death of the prince on the 6th of November in that year. This
appears by the following letter:—
To the Most High and Excellent Prince, Henry, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall,
and Earl of Chester.
It may please your Highness: Having divided my life into the contemplative and
active part, I am desirous to give his Majesty and your Highness of the fruits of
both, simple though they be. To write just treatises, requireth leisure in the writer
and leisure in the reader, and therefore are not so fit, neither in regard of your
Highness’s princely affairs nor in regard of my continual service; which is the cause
that hath made me choose to write certain brief notes, set down rather
significantly than curiously, which I have called Essays. The word is late, but the
thing is ancient; for Seneca’s Epistles to Lucilius, if you mark them well, are but
Essays; that is, dispersed meditations though conveyed in the form of epistles.
These labors of mine, I know, cannot be worthy of your Highness, for what can be
worthy of you? But my hope is, they may be as grains of salt, that will rather give
you an appetite than offend you with satiety. And although they handle those
things wherein both men’s lives and their persons are most conversant; yet what I
have attained I know not; but I have endeavored to make them not vulgar, but of
a nature whereof a man shall find much in experience and little in books; so as
they are neither repetitions nor fancies. But, however, I shall most humbly desire
your Highness to accept them in gracious part, and to conceive, that if I cannot
rest but must show my dutiful and devoted affection to your Highness in these
things which proceed from myself, I shall be much more ready to do it in
performance of any of your princely commandments. And so wishing your
Highness all princely felicity, I rest your Highness’s most humble servant,
1612. Fr. Bacon.
It was dedicated as follows:—
To my loving Brother, Sir John Constable, Knt.
My last Essaies I dedicated to my deare brother Master Anthony Bacon, who is
with God. Looking amongst my Papers this vacation, I found others of the same
nature: which, if I myselfe shall not suffer to be lost, it seemeth the World will not;
by the often printing of the former. Missing my Brother, I found you next; in
respect of bond both of neare Alliance, and of straight Friendship and Societie,
and particularly of communication in Studies. Wherein I must acknowledge my
selfe beholding to you. For as my Businesse found rest in my Contemplations, so
my Contemplations ever found rest in your loving Conference and Judgment. So
wishing you all good, I remaine your louing Brother and Friend,
Fra. Bacon.
Fifth edition, 1612, pirated. Sixth edition, 1613, pirated. Seventh
edition, 1624, pirated. Eighth edition, 1624, pirated. Ninth edition,
entitled, “The Essayes or Covnsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis Lo.
Vervlam, Viscovnt St. Alban. Newly enlarged. London, Printed by
Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret and Richard Whitaker, and are to be
sold at the Signe of the King’s Head in Paul’s Churchyard.” 1625,
genuine.
This edition is a small quarto of 340 pages; it clearly was published
by Lord Bacon; and in the next year, 1626, Lord Bacon died. The
Dedication is as follows, to the Duke of Buckingham:—
To the Right Honorable my very good Lo. the Duke of Buckingham his Grace, Lo.
High Admirall of England.
Excellent Lo.:—Salomon saies, A good Name is as a precious Oyntment; and I
assure myselfe, such wil your Grace’s Name bee, with Posteritie. For your Fortune
and Merit both, haue beene eminent. And you haue planted things that are like to
last. I doe now publish my Essayes; which, of all my other Workes, have beene
most currant: for that, as it seemes, they come home to Mens Businesse and
Bosomes. I haue enlarged them both in number and weight, so that they are
indeed a new Work. I thought it therefore agreeable to my Affection, and
Obligation to your Grace, to prefix your Name before them, both in English and in
Latine. For I doe conceiue, that the Latine Volume of them (being in the vniuersal
language) may last as long as Bookes last. My Instauration I dedicated to the
King: my Historie of Henry the Seventh (which I haue now also translated into
Latine), and my Portions of Naturall History, to the Prince: and these I dedicate to
your Grace: being of the best Fruits, that by the good encrease which God gives to
my pen and labours, I could yeeld. God leade your Grace by the Hand. Your
Graces most obliged and faithfull Seruant.
Fr. St. Alban.
Of this edition, Lord Bacon sent a copy to the Marquis Fiat, with the
following letter:2—
“Monsieur l’Ambassadeur mon Filz: Voyant que vostre Excellence faict et traite
Mariages, non seulement entre les Princes d’Angleterre et de France, mais aussi
entre les langues (puis que faictes traduire mon Liure de l’Advancement des
Sciences en Francois) i’ai bien voulu vous envoyer mon Liure dernierement
imprimé que i’avois pourveu pour vous, mais i’estois en doubte, de le vous
envoyer, pour ce qu’il estoit escrit en Anglois. Mais a’ cest’heure pour la raison
susdicte ie le vous envoye. C’est un Recompilement de mes Essays Morales et
Civiles; mais tellement enlargiés et enrichiés, tant de nombre que de poix, que
c’est de fait un ouvre nouveau. Ie vous baise les mains, et reste vostre tres
affectionée Ami, et tres humble Serviteur.
THE SAME IN ENGLISH.
My Lord Ambassador, my Son: Seeing that your Excellency makes and treats of
Marriages, not only betwixt the Princes of France and England, but also betwixt
their languages (for you have caused my book of the Advancement of Learning to
be translated into French), I was much inclined to make you a present of the last
book which I published, and which I had in readiness for you. I was sometimes in
doubt whether I ought to have sent it to you, because it was written in the English
tongue. But now, for that very reason, I send it to you. It is a recompilement of
my Essays Moral and Civil; but in such manner enlarged and enriched both in
number and weight, that it is in effect a new work. I kiss your hands, and remain
your most affectionate friend and most humble servant, &c.
Of the translation of the Essays into Latin, Bacon speaks in the
following letter:—
“To Mr. Tobie Mathew: It is true my labors are now most set to have those works
which I had formerly published, as that of Advancement of Learning, that of Henry
VII., that of the Essays, being retractate and made more perfect, well translated
into Latin by the help of some good pens which forsake me not. For these modern
languages will, at one time or other, play the bankrupt with books; and since I
have lost much time with this age, I would be glad, as God shall give me leave, to
recover it with posterity. For the Essay of Friendship, while I took your speech of it
for a cursory request, I took my promise for a compliment. But since you call for it,
I shall perform it.”
In his letter to Father Fulgentio, giving some account of his writings,
he says:—
“The Novum Organum should immediately follow; but my moral and political
writings step in between as being more finished. These are, the History of King
Henry VII., and the small book, which, in your language, you have called Saggi
Morali, but I give it a graver title, that of Sermones Fideles, or Interiora Rerum,
and these Essays will not only be enlarged in number, but still more in substance.”
The nature of the Latin edition, and of the Essays in general, is thus
stated by Archbishop Tenison:—
“The Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral, though a by-work also, do yet make up a
book of greater weight by far than the Apothegms; and coming home to men’s
business and bosoms, his lordship entertained this persuasion concerning them,
that the Latin volume might last as long as books should last. His lordship wrote
them in the English tongue, and enlarged them as occasion served, and at last
added to them the Colors of Good and Evil, which are likewise found in his book
De Augmentis. The Latin translation of them was a work performed by divers
hands: by those of Dr. Hacket (late Bishop of Lichfield), Mr. Benjamin Jonson (the
learned and judicious poet,) and some others, whose names I once heard from Dr.
Rawley, but I cannot now recall them. To this Latin edition he gave the title of
Sermones Fideles, after the manner of the Jews, who called the words Adagies, or
Observations of the Wise, Faithful Sayings; that is, credible propositions worthy of
firm assent and ready acceptance. And (as I think), he alluded more particularly, in
this title, to a passage in Ecclesiastes, where the preacher saith, that he sought to
find out Verba Delectabilia (as Tremellius rendereth the Hebrew), pleasant words;
(that is, perhaps, his Book of Canticles;) and Verba Fidelia (as the same
Tremellius), Faithful Sayings; meaning, it may be, his collection of Proverbs. In the
next verse, he calls them Words of the Wise, and so many goads and nails given
ab eodem pastore, from the same shepherd [of the flock of Israel”].
In the year 1638, Rawley published, in folio, a volume containing,
amongst other works, Sermones Fideles, ab ipso Honoratissimo
Auctore, præterquam in paucis, Latinitate donati. In his address to
the reader, he says:—
Accedunt, quas priùs Delibationes Civiles et Morales inscripserat; Quas etiam in
Linguas plurimas Modernas translatas esse novit; sed eas posteà, et Numero, et
Pondere, auxit; In tantum, ut veluti Opus Novum videri possint; Quas mutato
Titulo, Sermones Fideles, sive Interiora Rerum, inscribi placuit. The title-page and
dedication are annexed: Sermones Fideles sive Interiora Rerum. Per Franciscum
Baconum Baronem de Vervlamio, Vice-Comitem Sancti Albani. Londini Excusum
typis Edwardi Griffin. Prostant ad Insignia Regia in Cœmeterio D. Pauli, apud
Richardum Whitakerum, 1638.
Illustri et Excellenti Domino Georgio Duci Buckinghamiæ, Summo Angliæ
Admirallio.
Honoratissime Domine, Salomon inquit, Nomen bonum est instar Vnguenti
fragrantis et pretiosi; Neque dubito, quin tale futurum sit Nomen tuum apud
Posteros. Etenim et Fortuna, et Merita tua, præcelluerunt. Et videris ea plantasse,
quæ sint duratura. In lucem jam edere mihi visum est Delibationes meas, quæ ex
omnibus meis Operibus fuerunt acceptissimæ: Quia forsitan videntur, præ cæteris,
Hominum Negotia stringere, et in sinus fluere. Eas autem auxi, et Numero, et
Pondere; In tantum, ut planè Opus Novum sint. Consentaneum igitur duxi,
Affectui, et Obligationi meæ, erga Illustrissimam Dominationem tuam, ut Nomen
tuum illis præfigam, tam in Editione Anglicâ, quam Latinâ. Etenim, in bonâ spe
sum, Volumen earum in Latinam (Linguam scilicet universalem), versum, posse
durare, quamdiù Libri et Literæ durent. Instaurationem meam Regi dicavi:
Historiam Regni Henrici Septimi (quam etiam in Latinum verti et Portiones meas
Naturalis Historiæ, Principi): Has autem Delibationes Illustrissimæ Dominationi
tuæ dico, Cùm sint, ex Fructibus optimis, quos Gratia divinâ Calami mei laboribus
indulgente, exhibere potui. Deus illustrissimam Dominationem tuam manu ducat.
Illustrissimæ Dominationis tuæ Servus Devinctissimus et Fidelis.
Fr. S. Alban.
In the year 1618, the Essays, together with the Wisdom of the
Ancients, was translated into Italian, and dedicated to Cosmo de
Medici, by Tobie Mathew; and in the following year the Essays were
translated into French by Sir Arthur Gorges, and printed in London.
WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS.
In the year 1609, as a relaxation from abstruse speculations, he
published in Latin his interesting little work, De Sapientia Veterum.
This tract seems, in former times, to have been much valued. The
fables, abounding with a union of deep thought and poetic beauty,
are thirty-one in number, of which a part of The Sirens, or Pleasures,
may be selected as a specimen.
In this fable he explains the common but erroneous supposition that
knowledge and the conformity of the will, knowing and acting, are
convertible terms. Of this error, he, in his essay of Custom and
Education, admonishes his readers, by saying: “Men’s thoughts are
much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches
according to their learning and infused opinions, but their deeds are
after as they have been accustomed; Æsop’s Damsel, transformed
from a cat to a woman, sat very demurely at the board-end till a
mouse ran before her.” In the fable of the Sirens he exhibits the
same truth, saying: “The habitation of the Sirens was in certain
pleasant islands, from whence, as soon as out of their watchtower
they discovered any ships approaching, with their sweet tunes they
would first entice and stay them, and, having them in their power,
would destroy them; and, so great were the mischiefs they did, that
these isles of the Sirens, even as far off as man can ken them,
appeared all over white with the bones of unburied carcasses; by
which it is signified that albeit the examples of afflictions be manifest
and eminent, yet they do not sufficiently deter us from the wicked
enticements of pleasure.”
The following is the account of the different editions of this work:
The first was published in 1609. In February 27, 1610, Lord Bacon
wrote to Mr. Mathew, upon sending his book De Sapientia Veterum:
—
“Mr. Mathew: I do very heartily thank you for your letter of the 24th of August,
from Salamanca; and in recompense therefore I send you a little work of mine
that hath begun to pass the world. They tell me my Latin is turned into silver, and
become current: had you been here, you should have been my inquisitor before it
came forth; but, I think, the greatest inquisitor in Spain will allow it. But one thing
you must pardon me if I make no haste to believe, that the world should be grown
to such an ecstasy as to reject truth in philosophy, because the author dissenteth
in religion; no more than they do by Aristotle or Averroes. My great work goeth
forward; and after my manner, I alter even when I add; so that nothing is finished
till all be finished. This I have written in the midst of a term and parliament;
thinking no time so possessed, but that I should talk of these matters with so
good and dear a friend. And so with my wonted wishes I leave you to God’s
goodness.
“From Gray’s Inn, Feb. 27, 1610.”
And in his letter to Father Fulgentio, giving some account of his
writings, he says: “My Essays will not only be enlarged in number,
but still more in substance. Along with them goes the little piece De
Sapientia Veterum.”
In the Advancement of Learning he says:—
“There remaineth yet another use of poesy parabolical, opposite to that which we
last mentioned; for that tendeth to demonstrate and illustrate that which is taught
or delivered, and this other to retire and obscure it; that is, when the secrets and
mysteries of religion, policy, or philosophy are involved in fables or parables. Of
this in divine poesy we see the use is authorized. In heathen poesy we see the
exposition of fables doth fall out sometimes with great felicity; as in the fable that
the giants being overthrown in their war against the gods, the earth, their mother,
in revenge thereof brought forth Fame,—
Illam Terra parens, irâ irritata Deorum,
Extremam, ut perhibent, Cœo Enceladoque sororem
Progenuit,
expounded, that when princes and monarchs have suppressed actual and open
rebels, then the malignity of the people, which is the mother of rebellion, doth
bring forth libels and slanders, and taxations of the State, which is of the same
kind with rebellion, but more feminine. So in the fable, that the rest of the gods
having conspired to bind Jupiter, Pallas called Briareus, with his hundred hands, to
his aid; expounded, that monarchies need not fear any curbing of their
absoluteness by mighty subjects, as long as by wisdom they keep the hearts of
the people, who will be sure to come in on their side. So in the fable, that Achilles
was brought up under Chiron, the centaur, who was part a man and part a beast,
expounded ingeniously, but corruptly by Machiavel, that it belongeth to the
education and discipline of princes to know as well how to play the part of the lion
in violence, and the fox in guile, as of the man in virtue and justice. Nevertheless,
in many the like encounters, I do rather think that the fable was first, and the
exposition then devised, than that the moral was first, and thereupon the fable
framed. For I find it was an ancient vanity in Chrysippus, that troubled himself
with great contention to fasten the assertions of the stoics upon the fictions of the
ancient poets; but yet that all the fables and fictions of the poets were but
pleasure, and not figure, I interpose no opinion. Surely, of those poets which are
now extant, even Homer himself (notwithstanding he was made a kind of
Scripture by the latter schools of the Grecians), yet I should without any difficulty
pronounce that his fables had no such inwardness in his own meaning; but what
they might have upon a more original tradition, is not easy to affirm; for he was
not the inventor of many of them.”
In the treatise De Augmentis the same sentiments will be found,
with a slight alteration in the expressions. He says:—
“There is another use of parabolical poesy opposite to the former, which tendeth
to the folding up of those things, the dignity whereof deserves to be retired and
distinguished, as with a drawn curtain; that is, when the secrets and mysteries of
religion, policy, and philosophy are veiled and invested with fables and parables.
But whether there be any mystical sense couched under the ancient fables of the
poets, may admit some doubt; and, indeed, for our part, we incline to this opinion,
as to think that there was an infused mystery in many of the ancient fables of the
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