Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
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.