Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
that seem to despise riches, for they despise them that despair of
them; and none worse when they come to them. Be not penny-wise; riches
have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes they
must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches either to
their kindred, or to the public; and moderate portions prosper best in
both. A great state left to an heir, is as a lure to all the birds of
prey round about to seize on him, if he be not the better stablished
in years and judgment; likewise, glorious gifts and foundations are
like sacrifices without salt, and but the painted sepulchres of alms,
which soon will putrefy and corrupt inwardly. Therefore, measure not
thine advancements by quantity, but frame them by measure, and defer
not charities till death; for, certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he
that doth so is rather liberal of another man’s than of his own.
XXXV.—OF PROPHECIES.
I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor of heathen oracles,
nor of natural predictions; but only of prophecies that have been of
certain memory, and from hidden causes. Saith the Pythonissa[386] to
Saul, “To-morrow thou and thy sons shall be with me.” Virgil hath these
verses from Homer:—
“Hic domus Æneæ cunctis dominabitur oris,
Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis.”[387]
A prophecy, as it seems, of the Roman empire. Seneca the tragedian hath
these verses:—
“Venient annis
Sæcula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat Tellus, Tiphysque novos
Detegat orbes; nec sit terris
Ultima Thule.”[388]
A prophecy of the discovery of America. The daughter of
Polycrates[389] dreamed that Jupiter bathed her father, and Apollo
anointed him; and it came to pass that he was crucified in an open
place, where the sun made his body run with sweat, and the rain washed
it. Philip of Macedon dreamed he sealed up his wife’s belly, whereby
he did expound it, that his wife should be barren; but Aristander the
soothsayer told him his wife was with child, because men do not use
to seal vessels that are empty.[390] A phantasm that appeared to M.
Brutus in his tent, said to him, “Philippis iterum me videbis.”[391]
Tiberius said to Galba, “Tu quoque, Galba, degustabis imperium.”[392]
In Vespasian’s time, there went a prophecy in the East, that those
that should come forth of Judea, should reign over the world; which,
though it may be was meant of our Saviour, yet Tacitus expounds it of
Vespasian.[393] Domitian dreamed, the night before he was slain, that a
golden head was growing out of the nape of his neck;[394] and, indeed,
the succession that followed him, for many years, made golden times.
Henry the Sixth of England said of Henry the Seventh, when he was a
lad, and gave him water, “This is the lad that shall enjoy the crown
for which we strive.” When I was in France, I heard from one Dr. Pena,
that the queen mother,[395] who was given to curious arts, caused the
king her husband’s nativity to be calculated under a false name; and
the astrologer gave a judgment, that he should be killed in a duel; at
which the queen laughed, thinking her husband to be above challenges
and duels; but he was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the
staff of Montgomery going in at his beaver. The trivial prophecy which
I heard when I was a child, and Queen Elizabeth was in the flower of
her years, was,
“When hempe is spunne,
England’s done;”
whereby it was generally conceived, that after the princes had reigned
which had the principal letters of that word hempe (which were Henry,
Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth), England should come to utter
confusion; which, thanks be to God, is verified only in the change of
the name; for that the king’s style is now no more of England, but
of Britain.[396] There was also another prophecy before the year of
eighty-eight, which I do not well understand.
“There shall be seen upon a day,
Between the Baugh and the May,
The black fleet of Norway.
When that that is come and gone,
England build houses of lime and stone,
For after wars you shall have none.”
It was generally conceived to be meant of the Spanish fleet that came
in eighty-eight; for that the king of Spain’s surname, as they say, is
Norway. The prediction of Regiomontanus,
“Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus,”[397]
was thought likewise accomplished in the sending of that great fleet,
being the greatest in strength, though not in number, of all that
ever swam upon the sea. As for Cleon’s dream,[398] I think it was
a jest; it was, that he was devoured of a long dragon; and it was
expounded of a maker of sausages, that troubled him exceedingly. There
are numbers of the like kind, especially if you include dreams,
and predictions of astrology; but I have set down these few only of
certain credit, for example. My judgment is, that they ought all to
be despised, and ought to serve but for winter talk by the fireside;
though, when I say despised, I mean it as for belief; for otherwise,
the spreading or publishing of them is in no sort to be despised,
for they have done much mischief; and I see many severe laws made
to suppress them. That that hath given them grace, and some credit,
consisteth in three things. First, that men mark when they hit, and
never mark when they miss;[399] as they do, generally, also of dreams.
The second is, that probable conjectures, or obscure traditions, many
times turn themselves into prophecies; while the nature of man, which
coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to foretell that which indeed
they do but collect, as that of Seneca’s verse; for so much was then
subject to demonstration, that the globe of the earth had great parts
beyond the Atlantic, which might be probably conceived not to be all
sea; and adding thereto the tradition in Plato’s Timæus, and his
Atlanticus,[400] it might encourage one to turn it to a prediction.
The third and last (which is the great one), is, that almost all of
them, being infinite in number, have been impostures, and, by idle and
crafty brains, merely contrived and feigned, after the event past.
XXXVI.—OF AMBITION.
Ambition is like choler, which is a humor that maketh men active,
earnest, full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not stopped; but if
it be stopped, and cannot have its way, it becometh adust,[401] and
thereby malign and venomous. So ambitious men, if they find the way
open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy
than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become
secretly discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye,
and are best pleased when things go backward; which is the worst
property in a servant of a prince or state. Therefore, it is good
for princes, if they use ambitious men, to handle it so, as they be
still progressive, and not retrograde; which, because it cannot be
without inconvenience, it is good not to use such natures at all;
for if they rise not with their service, they will take order to make
their service fall with them. But since we have said, it were good
not to use men of ambitious natures, except it be upon necessity, it
is fit we speak in what cases they are of necessity. Good commanders
in the wars must be taken, be they never so ambitious; for the use
of their service dispenseth with the rest; and to take a soldier
without ambition, is to pull off his spurs. There is also great use
of ambitious men in being screens to princes in matters of danger and
envy; for no man will take that part, except he be like a seeled[402]
dove, that mounts and mounts, because he cannot see about him. There
is use, also, of ambitious men, in pulling down the greatness of any
subject that overtops; as Tiberius used Macro[403] in the pulling
down of Sejanus. Since, therefore, they must be used in such cases,
there resteth to speak how they are to be bridled, that they may
be less dangerous. There is less danger of them if they be of mean
birth, than if they be noble; and if they be rather harsh of nature,
than gracious and popular; and if they be rather new raised, than
grown cunning and fortified in their greatness. It is counted by some
a weakness in princes to have favorites; but it is, of all others,
the best remedy against ambitious great ones; for when the way of
pleasuring and displeasuring lieth by the favorite, it is impossible
any other should be over-great. Another means to curb them, is, to
balance them by others as proud as they; but then there must be some
middle counsellors, to keep things steady, for without that ballast,
the ship will roll too much. At the least, a prince may animate and
inure some meaner persons to be, as it were, scourges to ambitious
men. As for the having of them obnoxious to[404] ruin, if they be of
fearful natures, it may do well; but if they be stout and daring, it
may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. As for the pulling
of them down, if the affairs require it, and that it may not be done
with safety suddenly, the only way is, the interchange continually of
favors and disgraces, whereby they may not know what to expect, and be,
as it were, in a wood. Of ambitions, it is less harmful the ambition to
prevail in great things, than that other to appear in every thing; for
that breeds confusion, and mars business; but yet, it is less danger to
have an ambitious man stirring in business, than great in dependencies.
He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men, hath a great task, but
that is ever good for the public; but he that plots to be the only
figure amongst ciphers, is the decay of a whole age. Honor hath three
things in it: the vantage-ground to do good; the approach to kings and
principal persons; and the raising of a man’s own fortunes. He that
hath the best of these intentions, when he aspireth, is an honest man;
and that prince that can discern of these intentions in another that
aspireth, is a wise prince. Generally, let princes and states choose
such ministers as are more sensible of duty than of rising, and such as
love business rather upon conscience than upon bravery; and let them
discern a busy nature from a willing mind.
XXXVII.—OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS.
These things are but toys to come amongst such serious observations;
but yet, since princes will have such things, it is better they should
be graced with elegancy, than daubed with cost. Dancing to song is a
thing of great state and pleasure. I understand it that the song be in
choir, placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken music, and the
ditty fitted to the device. Acting in song, especially in dialogues,
hath an extreme good grace; I say acting, not dancing (for that is
a mean and vulgar thing); and the voices of the dialogue would be
strong and manly (a base and a tenor, no treble), and the ditty high
and tragical, not nice or dainty. Several choirs, placed one over
against another, and taking the voices by catches anthem-wise, give
great pleasure. Turning dances into figure is a childish curiosity;
and, generally, let it be noted, that those things which I here set
down are such as do naturally take the sense, and not respect petty
wonderments. It is true, the alterations of scenes, so it be quietly
and without noise, are things of great beauty and pleasure: for they
feed and relieve the eye before it be full of the same object. Let the
scenes abound with light, specially colored and varied; and let the
masquers, or any other that are to come down from the scene, have some
motions upon the scene itself before their coming down; for it draws
the eye strangely, and makes it with great pleasure to desire to see
that it cannot perfectly discern. Let the songs be loud and cheerful,
and not chirpings or pulings;[405] let the music, likewise, be sharp