Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand) · 1 illegible passage, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~120,000 words · 558 passages
Cite this work
- APAFrancis Bacon. (n.d.). Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/francis-bacon/bacon-s-essays-and-wisdom-of-the-ancients
- MLAFrancis Bacon. Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/francis-bacon/bacon-s-essays-and-wisdom-of-the-ancients.
- ChicagoFrancis Bacon. Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/francis-bacon/bacon-s-essays-and-wisdom-of-the-ancients.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Francis Bacon's essays — 'Of Truth', 'Of Death', 'Of Friendship', 'Of Studies' — paired with 'The Wisdom of the Ancients', his allegorical reading of the Greek myths.
Context and history
The essays grew from ten pieces in 1597 to fifty-eight in 1625, and they are a different thing from Montaigne's, from whom he took the name: Bacon does not explore himself but gives counsel, in short and very dense sentences, on how the world works and how to move in it. He called them himself 'counsels for the successful and for life', and much of his prose has ended up in English proverb. 'The Wisdom of the Ancients', of 1609, is a separate work and much older in spirit: it reads thirty-one myths as though they concealed natural and political doctrines. It is worth knowing that these are two separate books with different purposes, joined only by the publisher.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
title-page and dedication are annexed: _Sermones Fideles sive Interiora Rerum. Per Franciscum Baconum Baronem de Vervlamio, Vice-Comitem Sancti Albani. Londini Excusum typis Edwardi Griffin. Prostant ad Insignia Regia in Cœmeterio D. Pauli, apud Richardum Whitakerum_, 1638. Illustri et Excellenti Domino _Georgio_ Duci _Buckinghamiæ_, Summo _Angliæ_ Admirallio. _Honoratissime Domine_, _Salomon_ inquit, _Nomen bonum est instar Vnguenti fragrantis et pretiosi_; Neque dubito, quin tale futurum sit _Nomen_ tuum apud Posteros. Etenim et Fortuna, et Merita tua, præcelluerunt. Et videris ea plantasse, quæ sint duratura. In lucem jam edere mihi visum est _Delibationes meas_, quæ ex omnibus meis Operibus fuerunt acceptissimæ: Quia forsitan videntur, præ cæteris, _Hominum_ Negotia stringere, et in sinus fluere. Eas autem auxi, et Numero, et Pondere; In tantum, ut planè Opus Novum sint. Consentaneum igitur duxi, Affectui, et Obligationi meæ, erga _Illustrissimam Dominationem_ tuam, ut _Nomen_ tuum illis præfigam, tam in _Editione Anglicâ_, quam _Latinâ_. Etenim, in bonâ spe sum, Volumen earum in _Latinam_ (_Linguam_ scilicet universalem), versum, posse durare, quamdiù _Libri_ et _Literæ_ durent. _Instaurationem_ meam _Regi_ dicavi: _Historiam Regni Henrici Septimi_ (quam etiam in _Latinum_ verti et Portiones meas _Naturalis Historiæ_, _Principi_): Has autem _Delibationes Illustrissimæ Dominationi_ tuæ dico, Cùm sint, ex Fructibus optimis, quos Gratia divinâ Calami mei laboribus indulgente, exhibere potui. _Deus illustrissimam Dominationem_ tuam manu ducat. _Illustrissimæ Dominationis_ tuæ Servus Devinctissimus et Fidelis. FR. S. ALBAN. In the year 1618, the Essays, together with the Wisdom of the Ancients, was translated into Italian, and dedicated to _Cosmo de Medici_, by Tobie Mathew; and in the following year the Essays were translated into French by Sir Arthur Gorges, and printed in London. WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS.…