Chapter XVI: Introduction: The fable of the Sirens is, in a vulgar sense, justly (1)

enough explained of the pernicious incentives to pleasure; but the ancient mythology seems to us like a vintage ill-pressed and trod; for though something has been drawn from it, yet all the more excellent parts remain behind in the grapes that are untouched.

FABLE.—The Sirens are said to be the daughters of Achelous and Terpsichore, one of the Muses. In their early days they had wings, but lost them upon being conquered by the Muses, with whom they rashly contended; and with the feathers of these wings the Muses made themselves crowns, so that from this time the Muses wore wings on their heads, except only the mother to the Sirens.

These Sirens resided in certain pleasant islands, and when, from their watch-tower, they saw any ship approaching, they first detained the sailors by their music, then, enticing them to shore, destroyed them.

Their singing was not of one and the same kind, but they adapted their tunes exactly to the nature of each person, in order to captivate and secure him. And so destructive had they been, that these islands of the Sirens appeared, to a very great distance, white with the bones of their unburied captives.

Two different remedies were invented to protect persons against them, the one by Ulysses, the other by Orpheus. Ulysses commanded his associates to stop their ears close with wax; and he, determining to make the trial, and yet avoid the danger, ordered himself to be tied fast to a mast of the ship, giving strict charge not to be unbound, even though himself should entreat it; but Orpheus, without any binding at all, escaped the danger, by loudly chanting to his harp the praises of the gods, whereby he drowned the voices of the Sirens.

EXPLANATION.—This fable is of the moral kind, and appears no less elegant than easy to interpret. For pleasures proceed from plenty and affluence, attended with activity or exultation of the mind.[651] Anciently their first incentives were quick, and seized upon men as if they had been winged, but learning and philosophy afterwards prevailing, had at least the power to lay the mind under some restraint, and make it consider the issue of things, and thus deprived pleasures of their wings.

This conquest redounded greatly to the honor and ornament of the Muses; for after it appeared, by the example of a few, that philosophy could introduce a contempt of pleasures, it immediately seemed to be a sublime thing that could raise and elevate the soul, fixed in a manner down to the earth, and thus render men’s thoughts, which reside in the head, winged as it were, or sublime.

Only the mother of the Sirens was not thus plumed on the head, which doubtless denotes superficial learning, invented and used for delight and levity; an eminent example whereof we have in Petronius, who, after receiving sentence of death, still continued his gay frothy humor, and as Tacitus observes, used his learning to solace or divert himself, and instead of such discourses as give firmness and constancy of mind, read nothing but loose poems and verses.[652] Such learning as this seems to pluck the crowns again from the Muses’ heads, and restore them to the Sirens.

The Sirens are said to inhabit certain islands, because pleasures generally seek retirement, and often shun society. And for their songs, with the manifold artifice and destructiveness thereof, this is too obvious and common to need explanation. But that particular of the bones stretching like white cliffs along the shores, and appearing afar off, contains a more subtile allegory, and denotes that the examples of others’ calamity and misfortunes, though ever so manifest and apparent, have yet but little force to deter the corrupt nature of man from pleasures.

The allegory of the remedies against the Sirens is not difficult, but very wise and noble; it proposes, in effect, three remedies, as well against subtile as violent mischiefs, two drawn from philosophy and one from religion.

The first means of escaping is to resist the earliest temptation in the beginning, and diligently avoid and cut off all occasions that may solicit or sway the mind; and this is well represented by shutting up the ears, a kind of remedy to be necessarily used with mean and vulgar minds, such as the retinue of Ulysses.

But nobler spirits may converse, even in the midst of pleasures, if the mind be well guarded with constancy and resolution. And thus some delight to make a severe trial of their own virtue, and thoroughly acquaint themselves with the folly and madness of pleasures, without complying or being wholly given up to them; which is what Solomon professes of himself when he closes the account of all the numerous pleasures he gave a loose to, with this expression: “But wisdom still continued with me.” Such heroes in virtue may, therefore, remain unmoved by the greatest incentives to pleasure, and stop themselves on the very precipice of danger; if, according to the example of Ulysses, they turn a deaf ear to pernicious counsel, and the flatteries of their friends and companions, which have the greatest power to shake and unsettle the mind.

But the most excellent remedy, in every temptation, is that of Orpheus, who, by loudly chanting and resounding the praises of the gods, confounded the voices, and kept himself from hearing the music of the Sirens; for divine contemplations exceed the pleasures of sense, not only in power but also in sweetness.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] By B. Montagu. Appendix, note 3, 1.

[2] Baconiana, 201.

[3] Bacon’s Apophthegms.

[4] It is not surprising that ladies then received an education rare in our own times. It should be remembered that in the sixteenth century Latin was the language of courts and schools, of diplomacy, politics, and theology; it was the universal language, and there was then no literature in the modern tongues, except the Italian; indeed all knowledge, ancient and modern, was conveyed to the world in the language of the ancients. The great productions of Athens and Rome were the intellectual all of our ancestors down to the middle of the sixteenth century.

[5] _Prospetto delle Memorie aneddote dei Lincei da_ F. Cancellieri. Roma, 1823. This fact is quoted by Monsieur Cousin, in a note to his _Fragments de Philosophie Cartésienne_.

[6] Sir Robert Cecil.

[7] Gray’s Inn is one of the four Inns or companies for the study of law.

[8] King’s or Queen’s Counsel are barristers that plead for the government; they receive fees but no salary; the first were appointed in the reign of Charles II. Queen’s Counsel extraordinary was a title peculiar to Bacon, granted, as the patent specially states, _honoris causa_.

[9] Letter to Lord Burleigh.

[10] The Solicitor-General is a law-officer inferior in rank to the Attorney-General, with whom he is associated in the management of the law business of the crown. He pleads also for private individuals, but not against government. He has a small salary, but very considerable fees. The salary in Bacon’s time was but seventy pounds.

[11] Bacon was, like other courtiers, in the habit of presenting the Queen with a New Year’s gift. On one occasion, it was a white satin petticoat embroidered with snakes and fruitage, as emblems of wisdom and beauty. The donors varied in rank from the Lord Keeper down to the dust-man.

[12] Essays.

[13] The Attorney-General is the public prosecutor on behalf of the Crown, where the state is actually and not nominally the prosecutor. He pleads also as a barrister in private causes, provided they are not against the government. As he receives a fee for every case in which the government is concerned, his emoluments are considerable; but he has no salary. His official position secures to him the best practice at the bar. The salary was, in Bacon’s time, but 81_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ per annum; but the situation yielded him six thousand pounds yearly.

[14] Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.

[15] Essay xvi.

[16] Decisions being given against the parties is no proof of uncorruptness; it is always the party who loses his suit that complains; the gainer receives the price of his bribe, and is silent.

[17] The exactions of his servants appear to have been very great; their indulgence in every kind of extravagance, and the lavish profuseness of his own expenses, were the principal causes of his ruin. Mallet relates that one day, during the investigation into his conduct, the Chancellor passed through a room where several of his servants were sitting; as they arose from their seats to greet him, “Sit down, my masters,” exclaimed he, “your rise hath been my fall.”

[18] Essay xi.

[19] Macaulay’s Essays.

[20] He was not, as has been erroneously supposed, stripped of his titles of nobility; this was proposed; but it was negatived by the majority formed by means of the bishops.

[21] The Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles the First, was before he ascended the throne the patron of Bacon, who said of him in his will, “my most gracious sovereign, who _ever when he was prince_ was my patron.”

[22] The Seasons.

[23] Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England.

[24] Bracton is one of the earliest writers of English law. He flourished in the thirteenth century. The title of his work is _De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ_, first printed in 1569.

[25] The woods on his estate of Gorhambury.

[26] Of the Interpretation of Nature.

[27] Ibid.

[28] New Atlantis.

[29] Advancement of Learning.

[30] Edinburgh Review.

[31] Essays.

[32] Advancement of Learning.

[33] Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.

[34] Tattler, No. 267.

[35] Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

[36] Montaigne says, in his author’s address to the reader:—

“_Ie veulx qu’on m’y veoye en ma façon simple, naturelle et ordinaire, sans estude et artifice; car c’est moi que je peinds._” He says again elsewhere: “_Ie n’ay pas plus faict mon livre, que mon livre m’a faict; livre consubstantiel à son aucteur, d’une occupation propre, membre de ma vie, non d’une occupation et fin tierce et estrangiere, comme touts aultres livres_.” (Livre ii. ch. xviii.)

[37] Introduction to the Encyclopædia.

[38] Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

[39] Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

[40] No. 267.

[41] Essays.

[42] He refers to the following passage in the Gospel of St. John, xviii. 38: “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.”

[43] He probably refers to the “New Academy,” a sect of Greek philosophers, one of whose moot questions was, “What is truth?” Upon which they came to the unsatisfactory conclusion, that mankind has no criterion by which to form a judgment.

[44] Perhaps he was thinking of St. Augustine.—See _Aug. Confess._ i. 25, 26.

[45] “The wine of evil spirits.”

[46] Genesis i. 3: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”

[47] At the moment when “The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”—_Genesis_ ii. 7.

[48] Lucretius, the Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher, is alluded to.—_Lucret._ ii. _init._ Comp. _Adv. of Learning_, i. 8, 5.

[49] He refers to the sect which followed the doctrines of Epicurus. The life of Epicurus himself was pure and abstemious in the extreme. One of his leading tenets was, that the aim of all speculation should be to enable men to judge with certainty what course is to be chosen, in order to secure health of body and tranquillity of mind. The adoption, however, of the term “pleasure,” as denoting this object, has at all periods subjected the Epicurean system to great reproach; which, in fact, is due rather to the conduct of many who, for their own purposes, have taken shelter under the system in name only, than to the tenets themselves, which did not inculcate libertinism. Epicurus admitted the existence of the Gods, but he deprived them of the characteristics of Divinity, either as creators or preservers of the world.

[50] Lord Bacon has either translated this passage of Lucretius from memory or has purposely paraphrased it. The following is the literal translation of the original: “’Tis a pleasant thing, from the shore, to behold the dangers of another upon the mighty ocean, when the winds are lashing the main; not because it is a grateful pleasure for any one to be in misery, but because it is a pleasant thing to see those misfortunes from which you yourself are free: ’tis also a pleasant thing to behold the mighty contests of warfare, arrayed upon the plains, without a share in the danger; but nothing is there more delightful than to occupy the elevated temples of the wise, well fortified by tranquil learning, whence you may be able to look down upon others, and see them straying in every direction, and wandering in search of the path of life.”

[51] Michael de Montaigne, the celebrated French Essayist. His _Essays_ embrace a variety of topics, which are treated in a sprightly and entertaining manner, and are replete with remarks indicative of strong native good sense. He died in 1592. The following quotation is from the second book of the _Essays_, c. 18: “Lying is a disgraceful vice, and one that Plutarch, an ancient writer, paints in most disgraceful colors, when he says that it is ‘affording testimony that one _first_ despises God, and then fears men;’ it is not possible more happily to describe its horrible, disgusting, and abandoned nature; for, can we imagine anything more vile than to be cowards with regard to men, and brave with regard to God?”

[52] St. Luke xviii. 8: “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?”

[53] A portion of this _Essay_ is borrowed from the writings of Seneca. See his _Letters to Lucilius_, B. iv. Ep. 24 and 82.

[54] “The array of the death-bed has more terrors than death itself.” This quotation is from Seneca.

[55] He probably alludes to the custom of hanging the room in black where the body of the deceased lay, a practice much more usual in Bacon’s time than at the present day.

[56] Tacit. Hist. ii. 49.

[57] Ad Lucil. 77.

[58] “Reflect how often you do the same things; a man may wish to die, not only because either he is brave or wretched, but even because he is surfeited with life.”

[59] “Livia, mindful of our union, live on, and fare thee well.”—_Suet. Aug. Vit._ c. 100.

[60] “His bodily strength and vitality were now forsaking Tiberius, but not his duplicity.”—_Ann._ vi. 50.

[61] This was said as a reproof to his flatterers, and in spirit is not unlike the rebuke administered by Canute to his retinue.—_Suet. Vespas. Vit._ c. 23.

[62] “I am become a Divinity, I suppose.”

[63] “If it be for the advantage of the Roman people, strike.”—_Tac. Hist._ i. 41.

[64] “If aught remains to be done by me, dispatch.”—_Dio Cass._ 76, _ad fin._

[65] These were the followers of Zeno, a philosopher of Citium, in Cyprus, who founded the Stoic school, or “School of the Portico,” at Athens. The basis of his doctrines was the duty of making virtue the object of all our researches. According to him, the pleasures of the mind were preferable to those of the body, and his disciples were taught to view with indifference health or sickness, riches or poverty, pain or pleasure.

[66] “Who reckons the close of his life among the boons of nature.” Lord Bacon here quotes from memory; the passage is in the tenth Satire of Juvenal, and runs thus:—

“Fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem,
Qui spatium vitæ extremum inter munera ponat
Naturæ”—

“Pray for strong resolve, void of the fear of death, that reckons the closing period of life among the boons of nature.”

[67] He alludes to the song of Simeon, to whom the Holy Ghost had revealed, “that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” When he beheld the infant Jesus in the temple, he took the child in his arms and burst forth into a song of thanksgiving, commencing, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”—_St. Luke_ ii. 29.

[68] “When dead, the same person shall be beloved.”—_Hor. Ep._ ii. 1, 14.

[69] “Behold, he is in the desert.”—_St. Matthew_ xxiv. 26.

[70] “Behold, he is in the secret chambers.”—_Ib._

[71] He alludes to 1 Corinthians xiv. 23: “If, therefore, the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?”

[72] Psalm i. 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

[73] This dance, which was originally called the Morisco dance is supposed to have been derived from the Moors of Spain; the dancers in earlier times blackening their faces to resemble Moors. It was probably a corruption of the ancient Pyrrhic dance, which was performed by men in armor, and which is mentioned as still existing in Greece, in Byron’s “Song of the Greek Captive:”—

“You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet.”

Attitude and gesture formed one of the characteristics of the dance. It is still practised in some parts of England.—_Rabelais, Pantag._ ii. 7.

[74] 2 Kings ix. 18.

[75] He alludes to the words in Revelation, c. iii. v. 14, 15, 16: “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.—I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Laodicea was a city of Asia Minor. St. Paul established the church there which is here referred to.

[76] St. Matthew xii. 30.

[77] “In the garment there may be many colors, but let there be no rending of it.”

[78] “Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, falsely so called.”—1 _Tim._ vi. 20.

[79] He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, significant of the limited duration of his kingdom.—See _Daniel_ ii. 33, 41.

[80] Mahomet proselytized by giving to the nations which he conquered, the option of the Koran or the sword.

[81] “To deeds so dreadful could religion prompt.” The poet refers to the sacrifice by Agamemnon, the Grecian leader, of his daughter Iphigenia, with the view of appeasing the wrath of Diana.—_Lucret._ i. 95.

[82] He alludes to the massacre of the Huguenots, or Protestants, in France, which took place on St. Bartholomew’s day, August 24, 1572, by the order of Charles IX. and his mother, Catherine de Medici. On this occasion about 60,000 persons perished, including the Admiral De Coligny, one of the most virtuous men that France possessed, and the main stay of the Protestant cause.

[83] More generally known as “The Gunpowder Plot.”

[84] Isa. xiv. 14.

[85] Allusion is made to the “caduceus,” with which Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, summoned the souls of the departed to the infernal regions.

[86] “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”—_James_ i. 20.

[87] He alludes to Cosmo de Medici, or Cosmo I., chief of the Republic of Florence, the encourager of literature and the fine arts.

[88] Job ii. 10.—“Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

[89] By “public revenges,” he means punishment awarded by the state with the sanction of the laws.

[90] He alludes to the retribution dealt by Augustus and Anthony to the murderers of Julius Cæsar. It is related by ancient historians, as a singular fact, that not one of them died a natural death.

[91] Henry III. of France was assassinated in 1599, by Jacques Clement, a Jacobin monk, in the frenzy of fanaticism. Although Clement justly suffered punishment, the end of this bloodthirsty and bigoted tyrant may be justly deemed a retribution dealt by the hand of an offended Providence; so truly does the Poet say:—

“neque enim lex æquior ulla
Quam necis artifices arte perire suâ.”

[92] Sen. Ad Lucil. 66.

[93] Ibid. 53.

[94] Stesichorus, Apollodorus, and others. Lord Bacon makes a similar reference to this myth in his treatise “On the Wisdom of the Ancients.” “It is added with great elegance, to console and strengthen the minds of men, that this mighty hero (Hercules) sailed in a cup or ‘urceus,’ in order that they may not too much fear and allege the narrowness of their nature and its frailty; as if it were not capable of such fortitude and constancy; of which very thing Seneca argued well, when he said, ‘It is a great thing to have at the same time the frailty of a man, and the security of a God.’”

[95] Funereal airs. It must be remembered that many of the Psalms of David were written by him when persecuted by Saul, as also in the tribulation caused by the wicked conduct of his son Absalom. Some of them, too, though called “The Psalms of David,” were really composed by the Jews in their captivity at Babylon; as, for instance, the 137th Psalm, which so beautifully commences, “By the waters of Babylon there we sat down.” One of them is supposed to be the composition of Moses.

[96] This fine passage, beginning at “Prosperity is the blessing,” which was not published till 1625, twenty-eight years after the first Essays, has been quoted by Macaulay, with considerable justice, as a proof that the writer’s fancy did not decay with the advance of old age, and that his style in his later years became richer and softer. The learned critic contrasts this passage with the terse style of the Essay of Studies (Essay 50), which was published in 1597.

[97] Tac. Ann. v. 1.

[98] Tac. Hist. ii. 76.

[99] A word now unused, signifying the “traits,” or “features.”

[100] A truth.—_A. L._ II. xxiii. 14.

[101] Proverbs x. 1: “A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”

[102] Petted—spoiled.

[103] This word seems here to mean “a plan,” or “method,” as proved by its results.

[104] Ends in.

[105] There is considerable justice in this remark. Children should be taught to do what is right for its own sake, and because it is their duty to do so, and not that they may have the selfish gratification of obtaining the reward which their companions have failed to secure, and of being led to think themselves superior to their companions. When launched upon the world, emulation will be quite sufficiently forced upon them by stern necessity.

[106] “Select _that course of life_ which is the most advantageous; habit will soon render it pleasant and easily endured.”

[107] His meaning is, that if clergymen have the expenses of a family to support, they will hardly find means for the exercise of benevolence toward their parishioners.

[108] “He preferred his aged wife Penelope to immortality.” This was when Ulysses was entreated by the goddess Calypso to give up all thoughts of returning to Ithaca, and to remain with her in the enjoyment of immortality.—_Plut. Gryll._ 1.

[109] “May have a pretext,” or “excuse.”

[110] Thales, _Vide_ Diog. Laert. i. 26.

[111] So prevalent in ancient times was the notion of the injurious effects of the eye of envy, that, in common parlance, the Romans generally used the word “_præfiscini_,”—“without risk of enchantment,” or “fascination,” when they spoke in high terms of themselves. They supposed that they thereby averted the effects of enchantment produced by the evil eye of any envious person who might at that moment possibly be looking upon them. Lord Bacon probably here alludes to St. Mark vii. 21, 22: “Out of the heart of men proceedeth—deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye.” Solomon also speaks of the evil eye, Prov. xxiii. 6, and xxviii. 22.

[112] To be even with him.

[113] “There is no person a busybody, but what he is ill-natured too.” This passage is from the Stichus of Plautus.

[114] Narses superseded Belisarius in the command of the armies of Italy, by the orders of the Emperor Justinian. He defeated Totila, the king of the Goths (who had taken Rome), in a decisive engagement, in which the latter was slain. He governed Italy with consummate ability for thirteen years, when he was ungratefully recalled by Justin the Second, the successor of Justinian.

[115] Tamerlane, or Timour, was a native of Samarcand, of which territory he was elected emperor. He overran Persia, Georgia, Hindostan, and captured Bajazet, the valiant Sultan of the Turks, at the battle of Angora, 1402, whom he is said to have inclosed in a cage of iron. His conquests extended from the Irtish and Volga to the Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges to the Grecian Archipelago. While preparing for the invasion of China, he died, in the 70th year of his age, A. D. 1405. He was tall and corpulent in person, but was maimed in one hand, and lame on the right side.

[116] Spartian Vit. Adrian, 15.

[117] Comes under the observation.

[118] “By a leap,” _i. e._ over the heads of others.

[119] “How vast _the evils_ we endure.”

[120] He probably alludes to the custom of the Athenians, who frequently ostracized or banished by vote their public men, lest they should become too powerful.

[121] From _in_ and _video_,—“to look upon;” with reference to the so-called “evil eye” of the envious.

[122] “Envy keeps no holidays.”

[123] See St. Matthew xiii. 25.

[124] Beholden.

[125] He iniquitously attempted to obtain possession of the person of Virginia, who was killed by her father Virginius, to prevent her from falling a victim to his lust. This circumstance caused the fall of the Decemviri at Rome, who had been employed in framing the code of laws afterwards known as “The Laws of the Twelve Tables.” They narrowly escaped being burned alive by the infuriated populace.

[126] “We are a sufficient theme for contemplation, the one for the other.”—_Sen. Epist. Mor._ 1. 7. (A. L. l. iii. 6.) Pope seems, notwithstanding this censure of Bacon, to have been of the same opinion with Epicurus:—

“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study for mankind is man.”

_Essay on Man_, Ep. ii. 1. 2.

Indeed, Lord Bacon seems to have misunderstood the saying of Epicurus, who did not mean to recommend man as the sole object of the bodily vision, but as the proper theme for mental contemplation.

[127] Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur.—_Pub. Syr. Sent._ 15. (A. L. ii. proœ. 10.)

[128] He refers here to the judgment of Paris, mentioned by Ovid in his Epistles, of the Heroines.

[129] Montaigne has treated this subject before Bacon, under the title of _De l’incommodité de la Grandeur_. (B. iii. ch. vii.)

[130] “Since you are not what you were, there is no reason why you should wish to live.”

[131] “Death presses heavily upon him, who, well known to all others, dies unknown to himself.”—_Sen. Thyest._ ii. 401.

[132] “And God turned to behold the works which his hands had made, and he saw that everything was very good.”—See _Gen._ i. 31.

[133] “As a matter of course.”

[134] Too great easiness of access.

[135] Predilections that are undeserved.

[136] Proverbs xxviii. 21. The whole passage stands thus in our version: “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. To have respect of persons is not good; for, for a piece of bread, that man will transgress.”

[137] “By the consent of all he was fit to govern, if he had not governed.”

[138] “Of the emperors, Vespasian alone changed for the better _after his accession_.”—_Tac. Hist._ i. 49, 50 (A. L. ii. xxii. 5).

[139] Plut. vit. Demosth. 17, 18.

[140] It is not improbable that this passage suggested Pope’s beautiful lines in the _Essay on Man_, Ep. i. 125-28.

“Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes,
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.”

[141] Auger Gislen Busbec, or Busbequius, a learned traveller, born at Comines, in Flanders, in 1522. He was employed by the Emperor Ferdinand as ambassador to the Sultan Solyman II. He was afterwards ambassador to France, where he died, in 1592. His “Letters” relative to his travels in the East, which are written in Latin, contain much interesting information. They were the pocket companion of Gibbon, and are highly praised by him.

[142] In this instance the stork or crane was probably protected, not on the abstract grounds mentioned in the text, but for reasons of state policy and gratitude combined. In Eastern climates the cranes and dogs are far more efficacious than human agency in removing filth and offal, and thereby diminishing the chances of pestilence. Superstition, also, may have formed another motive, as we learn from a letter written from Adrianople, by Lady Montagu, in 1718, that storks were “held there in a sort of religious reverence, because they are supposed to make every winter the pilgrimage to Mecca. To say truth, they are the happiest subjects under the Turkish government, and are so sensible of their privileges, that they walk the streets without fear, and generally build their nests in the lower parts of the houses. Happy are those whose houses are so distinguished, as the vulgar Turks are perfectly persuaded that they will not be that year attacked either by fire or pestilence.” Storks are still protected, by municipal law, in Holland, and roam unmolested about the market-places.

[143] Nicolo Machiavelli, a Florentine statesman. He wrote “Discourses on the first Decade of Livy,” which were conspicuous for their liberality of sentiment, and just and profound reflections. This work was succeeded by his famous treatise, “Il Principe,” “The Prince;” his patron, Cæsar Borgia, being the model of the perfect prince there described by him. The whole scope of this work is directed to one object—the maintenance of power, however acquired. Though its precepts are no doubt based upon the actual practice of the Italian politicians of that day, it has been suggested by some writers that the work was a covert exposure of the deformity of the shocking maxims that it professes to inculcate. The question of his motives has been much discussed, and is still considered open. The word “Machiavellism” has, however, been adopted to denote all that is deformed, insincere, and perfidious in politics. He died in great poverty, in the year 1527.

[144] _Vide_ Disc. Sop. Liv. ii. 2.

[145] St. Matthew v. 45. “For he maketh his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

[146] This is a portion of our Saviour’s reply to the rich man who asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life: “Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”—_St. Mark_ x. 21.

[147] See St. Luke xvi. 21.

[148] Timon of Athens, as he is generally called (being so styled by Shakspeare in the play which he has founded on his story), was surnamed the “Misanthrope,” from the hatred which he bore to his fellow-men. He was attached to Apemantus, another Athenian of similar character to himself, and he professed to esteem Alcibiades, because he foresaw that he would one day bring ruin on his country. Going to the public assembly on one occasion, he mounted the rostrum, and stated that he had a fig-tree, on which many worthy citizens had ended their days by the halter; that he was going to cut it down for the purpose of building on the spot, and therefore recommended all such as were inclined, to avail themselves of it before it was too late.

[149] A piece of timber that has grown crooked, and has been so cut that the trunk and branch form an angle.

[150] He probably here refers to the myrrh-tree. Incision is the method usually adopted for extracting the resinous juices of trees; as in the India-rubber and gutta-percha trees.

[151] “A votive,” and, in the present instance, a “vicarious offering.” He alludes to the words of St. Paul in his Second Epistle to Timothy ii. 10: “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

[152] Consideration of, or predilection for, particular persons.

[153] The Low Countries had then recently emancipated themselves from the galling yoke of Spain. They were called the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands.

[154] This passage may at first sight appear somewhat contradictory; but he means to say, that those who are first ennobled will commonly be found more conspicuous for the prominence of their qualities, both good and bad.

[155] Consistent with reason and justice.

[156] The periods of the Equinoxes.

[157] “He often warns, too, that secret revolt is impending, that treachery and open warfare are ready to burst forth.”—_Virg. Georg._ i. 465.

[158] “Mother Earth, exasperated at the wrath of the Deities, produced her, as they tell, a last birth, a sister to the giants Cœus, and Enceladus.”—_Virg. Æn._ iv. 179.

[159] “Great public odium once excited, his deeds, whether good or whether bad, cause his downfall.” Bacon has here quoted incorrectly, probably from memory. The words of Tacitus are (_Hist._ B. i. C. 7): “Inviso semel principe, seu bene, seu male, facta premunt,”—“The ruler once detested, his actions, whether good or whether bad, cause his downfall.”

[160] “They attended to their duties; but still, as preferring rather to discuss the commands of their rulers, than to obey them.”—_Tac. Hist._ ii. 39.

[161] He alludes to the bad policy of Henry the Third of France, who espoused the part of “The League,” which was formed by the Duke of Guise and other Catholics for the extirpation of the Protestant faith. When too late he discovered his error, and finding his own authority entirely superseded, he caused the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal De Lorraine, his brother, to be assassinated.

[162] “The primary motive power.” He alludes to an imaginary centre of gravitation, or central body, which was supposed to set all the other heavenly bodies in motion.

[163] “Too freely to remember their own rulers.”

[164] “I will unloose the girdles of kings.” He probably alludes here to the first verse of the 45th chapter of Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates.”

[165] “Hence devouring usury, and interest accumulating in lapse of time; hence shaken credit, and warfare, profitable to the many.”—_Lucan. Phars._ i. 181.

[166] “Warfare profitable to the many.”

[167] “To grief there is a limit, not so to fear.”

[168] “Check,” or “daunt.”

[169] This is similar to the proverb now in common use: “’Tis the last feather that breaks the back of the camel.”

[170] The state.

[171] Though sumptuary laws are probably just in theory, they have been found impracticable in any other than infant states. Their principle, however, is certainly recognized in such countries as by statutory enactment discountenance gaming. Those who are opposed to such laws upon principle, would do well to look into Bernard Mandeville’s “Fable of the Bees,” or “Private Vices Public Benefits.” The Romans had numerous sumptuary laws, and in the Middle Ages there were many enactments in this country against excess of expenditure upon wearing apparel and the pleasures of the table.

[172] He means that they do not add to the capital of the country.

[173] At the expense of foreign countries.

[174] “The workmanship will surpass the material.”—_Ovid, Met._ B. ii. l. 5.

[175] He alludes to the manufactures of the Low Countries.

[176] Like manure.

[177] Sometimes printed _engrossing, great pasturages_. By _engrossing_, is meant the trade of _engrossers_—men who buy up all that can be got of a particular commodity, then raise the price. By _great pasturages_ is meant turning corn land into pasture. Of this practice great complaints had been made for near a century before Bacon’s time, and a law passed to prevent it.—See _Lord Herbert of Cherbury’s History of Henry VIII._

[178] The myth of Pandora’s box, which is here referred to, is related in the _Works and Days_ of Hesiod. Epimetheus was the personification of “Afterthought,” while his brother Prometheus represented “Forethought,” or prudence. It was not Epimetheus that opened the box, but Pandora—“All-gift,” whom, contrary to the advice of his brother, he had received at the hands of Mercury, and had made his wife. In their house stood a closed jar, which they were forbidden to open. Till her arrival, this had been kept untouched; but her curiosity prompting her to open the lid, all the evils hitherto unknown to man flew out and spread over the earth, and she only shut it down in time to prevent the escape of Hope.

[179] “Sylla did not know his letters, _and so_ he could not dictate.” This saying is attributed by Suetonius to Julius Cæsar. It is a play on the Latin verb _dictare_, which means either “to dictate,” or “to act the part of Dictator,” according to the context. As this saying was presumed to be a reflection on Sylla’s ignorance, and to imply that by reason thereof he was unable to maintain his power, it was concluded by the Roman people that Cæsar, who was an elegant scholar, feeling himself subject to no such inability, did not intend speedily to yield the reins of power.—_Suet. Vit. C. Jul. Cæs._ 77, i. and _Cf._ _A. L._ i. vii. 12.

[180] “That soldiers were levied by him, not bought.”—_Tac. Hist._ i. 5.

[181] “If I live, there shall no longer be need of soldiers in the Roman empire.”—_Flav. Vop. Vit. Prob._ 20.

[182] “And such was the state of feeling, that a few dared to perpetrate the worst of crimes; more wished to do so; all submitted to it.”—_Hist._ i. 28.

[183] He probably alludes to the legends or miraculous stories of the saints; such as walking with their heads off, preaching to the fishes, sailing over the sea on a cloak, &c. &c.

[184] This is a book that contains the Jewish traditions, and the rabbinical explanations of the law. It is replete with wonderful narratives.

[185] This passage not improbably contains the germ of Pope’s famous lines:—

“A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”

[186] A philosopher of Abdera; the first who taught the system of atoms, which was afterwards more fully developed by Democritus and Epicurus.

[187] He was a disciple of the last-named philosopher, and held the same principles; he also denied the existence of the soul after death. He is considered to have been the parent of experimental philosophy, and was the first to teach, what is now confirmed by science, that the Milky Way is an accumulation of stars.

[188] Spirit.

[189] Psalm xiv. 1, and liii. 1.

[190] To whose (seeming) advantage it is; the wish being father to the thought.

[191] “It is not profane to deny _the existence of_ the deities of the vulgar; but, to apply to the divinities the received notions of the vulgar, is profane.”—_Diog. Laert._ x. 123.

[192] He alludes to the native tribes of the continent of America and the West Indies.

[193] He was an Athenian philosopher, who, from the greatest superstition, became an avowed atheist. He was proscribed by the Areiopagus for speaking against the gods with ridicule and contempt, and is supposed to have died at Corinth.

[194] A Greek philosopher, a disciple of Theodorus the atheist, to whose opinions he adhered. His life was said to have been profligate, and his death superstitious.

[195] Lucian ridiculed the follies and pretensions of some of the ancient philosophers; but though the freedom of his style was such as to cause him to be censured for impiety, he hardly deserves the stigma of atheism here cast upon him by the learned author.

[196] “It is not for us now to say, ‘Like priest like people,’ for the people are not even so _bad_ as the priest.” St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, preached the second Crusade against the Saracens, and was unsparing in his censures of the sins then prevalent among the Christian priesthood. His writings are voluminous, and by some he has been considered as the latest of the fathers of the Church.

[197] “A superior nature.”

[198] “We may admire ourselves, conscript fathers, as much as we please; still, neither by numbers _did we vanquish_ the Spaniards, nor by bodily strength the Gauls, nor by cunning the Carthaginians, nor through the arts the Greeks, nor, in fine, by the inborn and native good sense of this _our_ nation, and this _our_ race and soil, the Italians and Latins themselves; but through our devotion and our religious feeling, and this, the sole _true_ wisdom, the having perceived that all things are regulated and governed by the providence of the immortal Gods, have we subdued all races and nations.”—_Cic. de. Harus. Respon._ 9.

[199] The justice of this position is, perhaps, somewhat doubtful. The superstitious man _must_ have _some_ scruples, while he who believes not in a God (if there is such a person), _needs_ have _none_.

[200] Time was personified in Saturn, and by this story was meant its tendency to destroy whatever it has brought into existence.—_Plut. de Superstit._ x.

[201] The primary motive power.

[202] This Council commenced in 1545, and lasted eighteen years. It was convened for the purpose of opposing the rising spirit of Protestantism, and of discussing and settling the disputed points of the Catholic faith.

[203] Irregular or anomalous movements.

[204] An epicycle is a smaller circle, whose centre is in the circumference of a greater one.

[205] To account for.

[206] Synods, or councils.

[207] At the present day called _attachés_.

[208] He probably means the refusing to join on the occasion of drinking healths when taking wine.

[209] Something to create excitement.

[210] “The heart of kings is unsearchable.”—_Prov._ v. 3.

[211] Commodus fought naked in public as a gladiator, and prided himself on his skill as a swordsman.

[212] Making a stop at, or dwelling too long upon.

[213] After a prosperous reign of twenty-one years, Diocletian abdicated the throne, and retired to a private station.

[214] After having reigned thirty-five years, he abdicated the thrones of Spain and Germany, and passed the last two years of his life in retirement at St. Just, a convent in Estremadura.

[215] Philost. vit. Apoll. Tyan. v. 28.

[216] “The desires of monarchs are generally impetuous and conflicting among themselves.”—Quoted rightly, _A. L._ ii. xxii. 5, from _Sallust_ (B. J. 113).

[217] He was especially the rival of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and was one of the most distinguished sovereigns that ever ruled over France.

[218] An eminent historian of Florence. His great work, which is here alluded to, is, “The History of Italy during his own Time,” which is considered one of the most valuable productions of that age.

[219] Spoken badly of. Livia was said to have hastened the death of Augustus, to prepare the accession of her son Tiberius to the throne.

[220] Solyman the Magnificent was one of the most celebrated of the Ottoman monarchs. He took the Isle of Rhodes from the Knights of St. John. He also subdued Moldavia, Wallachia, and the greatest part of Hungary, and took from the Persians Georgia and Bagdad. He died A. D. 1566. His wife Roxolana (who was originally a slave called Rosa or Hazathya), with the Pasha Rustan, conspired against the life of his son Mustapha, and by their instigation this distinguished prince was strangled in his father’s presence.

[221] The infamous Isabella of Anjou.

[222] Adulteresses.

[223] He, however, distinguished himself by taking Cyprus from the Venetians in the year 1571.

[224] He was falsely accused by his brother Perseus of attempting to dethrone his father, on which he was put to death by the order of Philip, B. C. 180.

[225] Anselm was Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of William Rufus and Henry the First. Though his private life was pious and exemplary, through his rigid assertion of the rights of the clergy he was continually embroiled with his sovereign. Thomas à Becket pursued a similar course, but with still greater violence.

[226] The great vessel that conveys the blood to the liver, after it has been enriched by the absorption of nutriment from the intestines.

[227] This is an expression similar to our proverb, “Penny-wise and pound-foolish.”

[228] A subdivision of the shire.

[229] The Janizaries were the body-guards of the Turkish sultans, and enacted the same disgraceful part in making and unmaking monarchs, as the mercenary Prætorian guards of the Roman Empire.

[230] “Remember that thou art a man.”

[231] “Remember that thou art a God.”

[232] “The representative of God.”

[233] Isaiah ix. 6: “His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

[234] Prov. xx. 18: “Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.”

[235] The wicked Rehoboam, from whom the ten tribes of Israel revolted, and elected Jeroboam their king.—See 1 _Kings_ xii.

[236] Hesiod, Theog. 886.

[237] The political world has not been convinced of the truth of this doctrine of Lord Bacon; as cabinet councils are now held probably by every sovereign in Europe.

[238] “I am full of outlets.”—_Ter. Eun._ I. ii. 25.

[239] That is, without a complicated machinery of government.

[240] Master of the Rolls and Privy Councillor under Henry VI., to whose cause he faithfully adhered. Edward IV. promoted him to the See of Ely, and made him Lord Chancellor. He was elevated to the See of Canterbury by Henry VII., and in 1493 received the Cardinal’s hat.

[241] Privy Councillor and Keeper of the Privy Seal to Henry VII., and, after enjoying several bishoprics in succession, translated to the See of Winchester. He was an able statesman, and highly valued by Henry VII. On the accession of Henry VIII. his political influence was counteracted by Wolsey; on which he retired to his diocese, and devoted the rest of his life to acts of piety and munificence.

[242] Before mentioned, relative to Jupiter and Metis.

[243] Remedied.

[244] “He shall not find faith upon the earth.” Lord Bacon probably alludes to the words of our Saviour, St. Luke xviii. 8: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?”

[245] He means to say, that this remark was only applicable to a particular time, namely, the coming of Christ. The period of the destruction of Jerusalem was probably referred to.

[246] “’Tis the especial virtue of a prince to know his own men.”

[247] In his disposition, or inclination.

[248] Liable to opposition from.

[249] “According to classes,” or, as we vulgarly say, “in the lump.” Lord Bacon means that princes are not, as a matter of course, to take counsellors merely on the presumption of talent, from their rank and station; but that, on the contrary, they are to select such as are tried men, and with regard to whom there can be no mistake.

[250] “The best counsellors are the dead.”

[251] “Are afraid” to open their mouths.

[252] “Night-time for counsel.”—ἐν νυκτὶ βουλή. _Gaisf. Par. Gr._ B. 359.

[253] On the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603.

[254] A phrase much in use with the Romans, signifying, “to attend to the business in hand.”

[255] A tribunitial or declamatory manner.

[256] “I’ll follow the bent of your humor.”

[257] The Sibyl alluded to here is the Cumæan, the most celebrated, who offered the Sibylline Books for sale to Tarquin the Proud.

“At this time, an unknown woman appeared at court, loaded with nine volumes, which she offered to sell, but at a very considerable price. Tarquin refusing to give it, she withdrew and burnt three of the nine. Some time after she returned to court, and demanded the same price for the remaining six. This made her looked upon as a mad woman, and she was driven away with scorn. Nevertheless, having burnt the half of what were left, she came a third time, and demanded for the remaining three the same price which she had asked for the whole nine. The novelty of such a proceeding, made Tarquin curious to have the books examined. They were put, therefore, into the hands of the augurs, who, finding them to be the oracles of the Sybil of Cumæ, declared them to be an invaluable treasure. Upon this the woman was paid the sum she demanded, and she soon after disappeared, having first exhorted the Romans to preserve her books with care.”—_Hooke’s Roman History._

[258] Bald head. He alludes to the common saying: “Take time by the forelock.”

[259] Phæd. viii.

[260] Hom. Il. v. 845.

[261] Packing the cards is an admirable illustration of the author’s meaning. It is a cheating exploit, by which knaves, who, perhaps, are inferior players, insure to themselves the certainty of good hands.

[262] “Send them both naked among strangers, and _then_ you will see.”

[263] This word is used here in its primitive sense of “retail dealers.” It is said to have been derived from a custom of the Flemings, who first settled in this country in the fourteenth century, stopping the passengers as they passed their shops, and saying to them, “Haber das, herr?”—“Will you take this, sir?” The word is now generally used as synonymous with linen-draper.

[264] To watch.

[265] State.

[266] Discussing matters.

[267] He refers to the occasion when Nehemiah, on presenting the wine, as cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes, appeared sorrowful, and, on being asked the reason of it, entreated the king to allow Jerusalem to be rebuilt.—_Nehemiah_ ii. 1.

[268] This can hardly be called a marriage, as, at the time of the intrigue, Messalina was the wife of Claudius; but she forced Caius Silius, of whom she was deeply enamored, to divorce his own wife, that she herself might enjoy his society. The intrigue was disclosed to Claudius by Narcissus, who was his freedman, and the pander to his infamous vices; on which Silius was put to death. Vide _Tac. Ann._ xi. 29, _seq._

[269] To speak in his turn.

[270] Be questioned upon.

[271] Kept on good terms.

[272] Desire it.

[273] “That he did not have various hopes in view, but solely the safety of the emperor.” Tigellinus was the profligate minister of Nero, and Africanus Burrhus was the chief of the Prætorian Guards.—_Tac. Ann._ xiv. 57.

[274] As Nathan did, when he reproved David for his criminality with Bathsheba.—2 _Samuel_ xii.

[275] Use indirect stratagems.

[276] He alludes to the old Cathedral of St. Paul, in London, which, in the sixteenth century, was a common lounge for idlers.

[277] Movements, or springs.

[278] Chances, or vicissitudes.

[279] Enter deeply into.

[280] Faults, or weak points.

[281] “The wise man gives heed to his own footsteps; the fool turneth aside to the snare.” No doubt he here alludes to Ecclesiastes xiv. 2, which passage is thus rendered in our version: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.”

[282] Mischievous.

[283] It must be remembered that Bacon was not a favorer of the Copernican system.

[284] “Lovers of themselves without a rival.”—_Ad. Qu. Fr._ iii. 8.

[285] Remedy.

[286] Adapted to each other.

[287] Injures or impairs.

[288] A thing suspected.

[289] He probably alludes to Jeremiah vi. 16: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

[290] That is, by means of good management.

[291] It is supposed that he here alludes to Sir Amyas Paulet, a very able statesman, and the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth to the court of France.

[292] Quotations.

[293] Apologies.

[294] Boasting.

[295] Prejudice.

[296] 2 Tim. iii. 5.

[297] “Trifles with great effort.”

[298] “With one brow raised to your forehead, the other bent downward to your chin, you answer that cruelty delights you not.”—_In Pis._ 6.

[299] “A foolish man, who fritters away the weight of matters by finespun trifling on words.”—Vide _Quint._ x. 1.

[300] Plat. Protag. i. 337.

[301] Find it easier to make difficulties and objections than to originate.

[302] One really in insolvent circumstances, though to the world he does not appear so.