Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
of friendship. Seneca and Quintus Curtius express the same opinion.
It seems hardly probable that Lord Bacon reflected deeply when
he penned this passage, for between equals, jealousy, the most
insidious of all the enemies of friendship, has the least chance of
originating. Dr. Johnson says: “Friendship is seldom lasting but
between equals, or where the superiority on one side is reduced by some
equivalent advantage on the other. Benefits which cannot be repaid,
and obligations which cannot be discharged, are not commonly found
to increase affection; they excite gratitude indeed, and heighten
veneration, but commonly take away that easy freedom and familiarity of
intercourse, without which, though there may be fidelity, and zeal, and
admiration, there cannot be friendship.”—_The Rambler_, No. 64.
[499] In such a case, gratitude and admiration exist on the one hand,
esteem and confidence on the other.
[500] Lowering, or humiliating.
[501] Referees.
[502] Disgusted.
[503] Giving no false color to the degree of success which has attended
the prosecution of the suit.
[504] To have little effect.
[505] To this extent.
[506] Of the information.
[507] “Ask what is exorbitant, that you may obtain what is moderate.”
[508] This formed the first essay in the earliest edition of the work.
[509] Attentively.
[510] Vapid: without taste or spirit.
[511] “Studies become habits.”
[512] “Splitters of cummin-seeds;” or, as we now say, “splitters of
straws,” or “hairs.” Butler says of Hudibras:—
“He could distinguish and divide
A hair ’twixt south and southwest side.”
[513] Causes one side to preponderate.
[514] “The common father.”
[515] “As one of us.” Henry the Third of France, favoring the league
formed by the Duke of Guise and Cardinal De Lorraine against the
Protestants, soon found that, through the adoption of that policy, he
had forfeited the respect of his subjects.
[516] See a note to Essay 15.
[517] Of Castile. She was the wife of Ferdinand of Arragon, and was the
patroness of Columbus.
[518] The words in our version are: “He that observeth the
wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not
reap.—_Ecclesiastes_ xi. 1.
[519] Exact in the extreme. Point-de-vice was originally the name of a
kind of lace of very fine pattern.
[520] “Appearances resembling virtues.”
[521] “A good name is like sweet-smelling ointment.” The words
in our version are, “A good name is better than precious
ointment.—_Ecclesiastes_ vii. 1.
[522] “Disregarding _his own_ conscience.”
[523] “To instruct under the form of praise.”
[524] “The worst kind of enemies are those who flatter.”
[525] A pimple filled with “pus,” or “purulent matter.” The word is
still used in the east of England.
[526] The words in our version are: “He that blesseth his friend with a
loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to
him.”—_Proverbs_ xxvii. 14.
[527] In other words, to show what we call an _esprit de corps_.
[528] Theologians.
[529] 2 Cor. xi. 23.
[530] “I will magnify my apostleship.” He alludes to the words in
Romans xi. 13: “Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify
mine office.”
[531] Vaunting, or boasting.
[532] Noise. We have a corresponding proverb: “Great cry and little
wool.”
[533] A high or good opinion.
[534] _Vide_ Liv. xxxvii. 48.
[535] By express command.
[536] “Those who write books on despising glory, set their names in
the title-page.” He quotes from Cicero’s “Tusculanæ Disputationes,”
b. i. c. 15, whose words are; “Quid nostri philosophi? Nonne in
his libris ipsis, quos scribunt de contemnendâ gloriâ, sua nomina
inscribunt.”—“What do our philosophers do? Do they not, in those very
books which they write on despising glory, set their names in the
title-page?”
[537] Pliny the Younger, the nephew of the elder Pliny, the naturalist.
[538] “One who set off every thing he said and did with a certain
skill.” Mucianus was an intriguing general in the times of Otho and
Vitellius.—_Hist._ xi. 80.
[539] Namely, the property of which he was speaking, and not that
mentioned by Tacitus.
[540] Apologies.
[541] Concessions.
[542] Plin. Epist. vi. 17.
[543] Boastful.
[544] “All fame emanates from servants.”—_Q. Cic. de Petit. Consul._ v.
17.
[545] “Founders of empires.”
[546] He alludes to Ottoman, or Othman I., the founder of the dynasty
now reigning at Constantinople. From him, the Turkish empire received
the appellation of “Othoman,” or “Ottoman” Porte.
[547] “Perpetual rulers.”
[548] Surnamed the Peaceful, who ascended the throne of England A. D.
959. He was eminent as a legislator, and a rigid assertor of justice.
Hume considers his reign “one of the most fortunate that we meet with
in the ancient English history.”
[549] These were a general collection of the Spanish laws, made by
Alphonso X. of Castile, arranged under their proper titles. The work
was commenced by Don Ferdinand his father, to put an end to the
contradictory decisions in the Castilian courts of justice. It was
divided into seven parts, whence its name “Siete Partidas.” It did not,
however, become the law of Castile till nearly eighty years after.
[550] “Deliverers,” or “preservers.”
[551] “Extenders,” or “defenders of the empire.”
[552] “Fathers of their country.”
[553] “Participators in cares.”
[554] “Leaders in war.”
[555] Proportion, dimensions.
[556] “Equal to their duties.”
[557] “To expound the law.”
[558] “To make the law.”
[559] The Mosaic law. He alludes to Deuteronomy xxvii. 17. “Cursed be
he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark.”
[560] “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled
fountain and a corrupt spring.”—_Proverbs_ xxv. 26.
[561] “Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in
the earth.”—_Amos_ v. 7.
[562] “He who wrings the nose strongly brings blood.” _Proverbs_ xxx.
33: “Surely, the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the
wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath
bringeth forth strife.”
[563] “He will rain snares upon them.” Psalm xi. 6: “Upon the wicked he
shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest.”
[564] Strained.
[565] “It is the duty of a judge to consider not only the facts, but
the circumstances of the case.”—_Ovid. Trist._ I. i. 37.
[566] Pliny the Younger, Ep. B. 6, E. 2, has the observation:
“Patientiam ... quæ pars magna justitiæ est;” “Patience, which is a
great part of justice.”
[567] Is not successful.
[568] Makes him to feel less confident of the goodness of his cause.
[569] Altercate, or bandy words with the judge.
[570] “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles!”—_St.
Matthew_ vii. 16.
[571] Plundering.
[572] “Friends of the court.”
[573] “Parasites,” or “flatterers of the court.”
[574] Which were compiled by the decemvirs.
[575] “The safety of the people is the supreme law.”
[576] “Mine.”
[577] “Yours.”
[578] He alludes to 1 Kings x. 19, 30: “The throne had six steps, and
the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either
side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the
six steps.” The same verses are repeated in 1 Chronicles ix. 18, 19.
[579] “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.”—1
_Timothy_ i. 8.
[580] A boast.
[581] In our version it is thus rendered: “Be ye angry, and sin not;
let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”—_Ephesians_ iv. 26.
[582] Sen. De Ira i. 1.
[583] “In your patience possess ye your souls.”—_Luke_ xvi. 19.
[584] “And leave their lives in the wound.” The quotation is from
Virgil’s Georgics, iv. 238.
[585] Susceptibility upon.
[586] “A thicker covering for his honor.”
[587] Pointed and peculiarly appropriate to the party attacked.
[588] “Ordinary abuse.”
[589] “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and
that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no
new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said,
See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before
us.”—_Ecclesiastes_ i. 9, 10.
[590] In his Phædo.
[591] “There is no remembrance of former things: neither shall there be
any remembrance of things that are to come, with those that shall come
hereafter.”—_Ecclesiastes_ i. 11.
[592] “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead,
said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand,
there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my
word.”—1 _Kings_ xvii. 1. “And it came to pass after many days, that
the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show
thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”—1 _Kings_
xviii. 1.
[593] Confined to a limited space.
[594] The whole of the continent of America then discovered is included
under this name.
[595] Limited.
[596] _Vide_ Plat. Tim. iii. 24, seq.
[597] Mach. Disc. Sop. Liv. ii. 2.
[598] Sabinianus of Volaterra was elected Bishop of Rome on the death
of Gregory the Great, A. D. 604. He was of an avaricious disposition,
and thereby incurred the popular hatred. He died in eighteen months
after his election.
[599] This Cicero speaks of as “the great year of the mathematicians.”
“On the Nature of the Gods,” B. 4, ch. 20. By some it was supposed to
occur after a period of 12,954 years, while, according to others, it
was of 25,920 years’ duration.—_Plat. Tim._ iii. 38, seq.
[600] Conceit.
[601] Observed.
[602] A curious fancy or odd conceit.
[603] The followers of Arminius, or James Harmensen, a celebrated
divine of the 16th and 17th centuries. Though called a heresy by Bacon,
his opinions have been for two centuries, and still are, held by a
large portion of the Church of England.
[604] A belief in astrology, or at least the influence of the stars was
almost universal in the time of Bacon.
[605] Germany.
[606] Charlemagne.
[607] When led thither by Alexander the Great.
[608] Striking.
[609] Application of the “aries,” or battering-ram.
[610] This fragment was found among Lord Bacon’s papers, and published
by Dr. Rawley in his Resuscitatio.
[611] Tac. Hist. ii. 80.
[612] Cæs. de Bell. Civ. i. 6.
[613] Tac. Ann. i. 5.
[614] _Vide_ Herod. viii. 108, 109.
[615] Varro distributes the ages of the world into three periods; viz:
the unknown, the fabulous, and the historical. Of the former, we have
no accounts but in Scripture; for the second, we must consult the
ancient poets, such as Hesiod, Homer, or those who wrote still earlier,
and then again come back to Ovid, who, in his Metamorphoses, seems,
in imitation perhaps of some ancient Greek poet, to have intended a
complete collection, or a kind of continued and connected history of
the fabulous age, especially with regard to changes, revolutions, or
transformations.
[616] Most of these fables are contained in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and
Fasti, and are fully explained in Bohn’s Classical Library translation.
[617] Homer’s Hymn to Pan.
[618] Cicero, Epistle to Atticus, 5.
[619] Ovid, Metamorphoses, b. ii.
[620] This refers to the confused mixture of things, as sung by Virgil:—
“Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta
Semina terrarumque animæque marisque fuissent;
Et liquidi simul ignis; ut his exordia primis
Omnia, et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis.”—
_Ecl._ vi. 81.
[621] This is always supposed to be the case in vision, the
mathematical demonstrations in optics proceeding invariably upon the
assumption of this phenomenon.
[622]
“Torva leæna lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam: