Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
[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.
[303] He here quotes from a passage in the _Politica_ of Aristotle,
book i. “He who is unable to mingle in society, or who requires
nothing, by reason of sufficing for himself, is no part of the state,
so that he is either a wild beast or a divinity.”
[304] Epimenides, a poet of Crete (of which Candia is the modern name),
is said by Pliny to have fallen into a sleep which lasted 57 years.
He was also said to have lived 299 years. Numa pretended that he was
instructed in the art of legislation by the divine nymph Egeria, who
dwelt in the Arician grove. Empedocles, the Sicilian philosopher,
declared himself to be immortal, and to be able to cure all evils.
He is said by some to have retired from society that his death might
not be known, and to have thrown himself into the crater of Mount
Ætna. Apollonius of Tyana, the Pythagorean philosopher, pretended to
miraculous powers, and after his death a temple was erected to him at
that place. His life is recorded by Philostratus; and some persons,
among whom are Hierocles, Dr. More, in his Mystery of Godliness, and
recently Strauss, have not hesitated to compare his miracles with those
of our Saviour.
[305] “A great city, a great desert.”
[306] Sarsaparilla.
[307] A liquid matter of a pungent smell, extracted from a portion of
the body of the beaver.
[308] “Partakers of cares.”
[309] Plutarch (_Vit. Pomp._ 19) relates that Pompey said this upon
Sylla’s refusal to give him a triumph.
[310] Plut. Vit. J. Cæs. 64.
[311] Cic. Philip. xiii. 11.
[312] “These things, by reason of our friendship, I have not concealed
_from you_.”—Vide _Tac. Ann._ iv. 40.
[313] Dio Cass. lxxv.
[314] Such infamous men as Tiberius and Sejanus hardly deserve this
commendation.
[315] Philip de Comines.
[316] Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the valiant antagonist of
Louis XI. of France. De Comines spent his early years at his court,
but afterwards passed into the service of Louis XI. This monarch was
notorious for his cruelty, treachery, and dissimulation, and had all
the bad qualities of his contemporary, Edward IV. of England, without
any of his redeeming virtues.
[317] Pythagoras went still further than this, as he forbade his
disciples to eat flesh of any kind whatever. See the interesting
speech which Ovid attributes to him in the fifteenth book of the
Metamorphoses. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Pseudoxia (_Browne’s Works_,
Bohn’s Antiq. ed. vol. i. p. 27, _et seq._), gives some curious
explanations of the doctrines of this philosopher.—_Plut. de Educat.
Puer._ 17.
[318] Tapestry. Speaking hypercritically, Lord Bacon commits an
anachronism here, as Arras did not manufacture tapestry till the middle
ages.
[319] Plut. Vit. Themist. 28.
[320] Ap. Stob. Serm. v. 120.
[321] James i. 23.
[322] He alludes to the recommendation which moralists have often
given, that a person in anger should go through the alphabet to
himself, before he allows himself to speak.
[323] In his day, the musket was fixed upon a stand, called the “rest,”
much as the gingals or matchlocks are used in the East at the present
day.
[324] From debts and incumbrances.
[325] Plut. Vit. Themist. ad init.
[326] “Equal to business.”
[327] He alludes to the following passage, St. Matthew xiii. 31:
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his
field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it
is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of
the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”
[328] Virg. Ecl. vii. 51.
[329] Vide. _A. L._ i. vii. 11.
[330] He was vanquished by Lucullus, and finally submitted to
Pompey.—_Plut. Vit. Lucull._ 27.
[331] He alludes to the prophetic words of Jacob on his death-bed,
Gen. xlix. 9, 14, 15: “Judah is a lion’s whelp; ... he stooped down,
he couched as a lion, and as an old lion.... Issachar is a strong ass
couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest was good, and
the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and
became a servant unto tribute.”
[332] Sums of money voluntarily contributed by the people for the use
of the sovereign.
[333] Young trees.
[334] “A land strong in arms and in the richness of the soil.”—_Virg.
Æn._ i. 535.
[335] He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which is mentioned
Daniel iv. 10; “I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and
the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the
height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end
of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof
much, and in it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow
under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and
all flesh was fed of it.”
[336] “Right of citizenship.”
[337] “Right of trading.”
[338] “Right of intermarriage.”
[339] “Right of inheritance.”
[340] “Right of suffrage.”
[341] “Right of honors.”
[342] Long since the time of Lord Bacon, as soon as these colonies
had arrived at a certain state of maturity, they at different periods
revolted from the mother country.
[343] The laws and ordinances promulgated by the sovereigns of Spain
were so called. The term was derived from the Byzantine empire.
[344] Qualifications.
[345] Attend to.
[346] For a short or transitory period.
[347] Be in a hurry.
[348] It was its immense armaments that in a great measure consumed the
vitals of Spain.
[349] “Pompey’s plan is clearly that of Themistocles; for he believes
that whoever is master of the sea will obtain the supreme power.”—_Ad
Att._ x. 8.
[350] Encomiums.
[351] St. Matthew vi. 27; St. Luke xii. 25.
[352] The effects of which must be felt in old age.
[353] Of benefit in your individual case.
[354] Any striking change in the constitution.
[355] Take medical advice.
[356] Incline rather to fully satisfying your hunger.
[357] Celsus _de Med._ i. 1.
[358] To hope the best, but be fully prepared for the worst.
[359] “Suspicion is the passport to faith.”
[360] A censure of this nature has been applied by some to Dr. Johnson,
and possibly with some reason.
[361] To start the subject.
[362] Requires to be bridled.
[363] He quotes here from Ovid: “Boy, spare the whip, and tightly grasp
the reins.”—_Met._ ii. 127.
[364] One who tests or examines.
[365] The galliard was a light active dance, much in fashion in the
time of Queen Elizabeth.
[366] Hits at, or remarks intended to be applied to, particular
individuals.
[367] A slight or insult.
[368] A sarcastic remark.
[369] The old term for colonies.
[370] He perhaps alludes covertly to the conduct of the Spaniards in
extirpating the aboriginal inhabitants of the West India Islands,
against which the venerable Las Casas so eloquently but vainly
protested.
[371] Of course, this censure would not apply to what is primarily
and essentially a convict colony; the object of which is to drain the
mother country of its impure superfluities.
[372] Times have much changed since this was penned, tobacco is now the
staple commodity, and the source of “the main business” of Virginia.
[373] To labor hard.
[374] Marshy; from the French _marais_, a marsh.
[375] Gewgaws, or spangles.
[376] He alludes to Ecclesiastes v. 11, the words of which are somewhat
varied in our version: “When goods increase, they are increased that
eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the
beholding of them with their eyes?”
[377] “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city.”—_Proverbs_ x. 15;
xviii. 11.
[378] “In his anxiety to increase his fortune, it was evident that not
the gratification of avarice was sought, but the means of doing good.”
[379] “He who hastens to riches will not be without guilt.” In our
version the words are: “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be
innocent.”—_Proverbs_ xxviii. 22.
[380] Pluto being the king of the infernal regions, or place of
departed spirits.
[381] Rent-roll, or account taken of income.
[382] Wait till prices have risen.
[383] “In the sweat of another’s brow.” He alludes to the words of
Genesis iii. 19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.”
[384] Planter of sugar-canes.
[385] “Wills and childless persons were caught _by him_, as though with
a hunting-net.”—_Tacit. Ann._ xiii. 42.
[386] “Pythoness,” used in the sense of witch. He alludes to the witch
of Endor, and the words in Samuel xxviii. 19. He is, however, mistaken
in attributing these words to the witch: it was the spirit of Samuel
that said, “To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.”
[387] “But the house of Æneas shall reign over every shore, both his