“Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury.”—_Deut._ xxiii. 19, 20.
Among the Greeks, the rate of interest was settled by agreement between the borrower and the lender, without any interference of the law. The customary rate varied from ten to thirty-three and one third per cent.
The Romans enacted laws against usurious interest; but their legal interest, admitted by the law of the Twelve Tables, was, according to some, twelve per cent., or, to others, one twelfth of the capital, i. e.
eight and one third per cent. Justinian reduced it to six per cent.
In England, the legal rate of interest was, in Henry the Eighth’s reign, ten per cent. It was reduced, in 1624, to eight per cent. It was further diminished, in 1672, to six per cent. And definitively, in 1713, fixed at five per cent., the ordinary rate of interest throughout Europe. In France, the rates of interest have been nearly similar at the same periods.
[445] “He passed his youth full of errors, of madness even.”—_Spartian.
Vit. Sev._ [446] He was nephew of Louis the Twelfth of France, and commanded the French armies in Italy against the Spaniards. After a brilliant career, he was killed at the battle of Ravenna, in 1512.
[447] Joel ii. 28, quoted Acts ii. 17.
[448] He lived in the second century after Christ, and is said to have lost his memory at the age of twenty-five.
[449] “He remained the same, but _with the advance of years_ was not so [450] “The close was unequal to the beginning.” This quotation is not correct; the words are: “Memorabilior prima pars vitæ quam postrema fuit,”—“The first part of his life was more distinguished than the latter.”—_Livy_ xxxviii. ch. 53.
[451] By the context, he would seem to consider “great spirit” and “virtue” as convertible terms. Edward IV., however, has no claim to be considered as a virtuous or magnanimous man, though he possessed great physical courage.
[452] Features.
[453] “The autumn of the beautiful is beautiful.”
[454] By making allowances.
[456] “Where she errs in the one, she ventures in the other.”
[457] Spies.
[458] Solyman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Turks.
[459] Site.
[460] Knoll.
[461] Have a liking for cheerful society. Momus being the god of mirth.
[462] Eats up.
[463] Plut. Vit. Lucull. 39.
[464] A vast edifice, about twenty miles from Madrid, founded by Philip II.
[465] Esth. i. 5; “The King made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.”
[466] The cylinder formed by the small end of the steps of winding stairs.
[467] The funnel of a chimney.
[468] Where to go.
[469] Bow, or bay, windows.
[470] Flush with the wall.
[471] Antechamber.
[473] Watercourses.
[474] Pine trees.
[475] Kept warm in a greenhouse.
[476] The damson, or plum of Damascus.
[477] Currants.
[478] An apple that is gathered very early.
[479] A kind of quince, so called from “cotoneum,” or “cydonium,” the Latin name of the quince.
[480] The fruit of the cornel-tree.
[481] The warden was a large pear, so called from its keeping well.
Warden-pie was formerly much esteemed in this country.
[482] Perpetual spring.
[483] Flowers that do not send forth their smell at any distance.
[484] A species of grass of the genus argostis.
[485] The blossoms of the bean.
[486] Bring or lead you.
[487] Impeding.
[488] Causing the water to fall in a perfect arch, without any spray escaping from the jet.
[489] Lilies of the valley.
[490] In rows.
[491] Insidiously subtract nourishment from.
[492] To consider or expect.
[493] Love, are pleased with.
[494] It is more advantageous to deal with men whose desires are not yet satisfied, than with those who have gained all they have wished for, and are likely to be proof against inducements.
[495] In the sense of the Latin “gloriosus,” “boastful,” “bragging.”
[496] Professions or classes.
[497] Weakness, or indecision of character.
[498] He probably alludes to the ancient stories of the friendship of Orestes and Pylades, Theseus and Pirithoüs, Damon and Pythias, and others, and the maxims of the ancient philosophers. Aristotle considers that equality in circumstances and station is one requisite 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.
[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.
[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 [519] Exact in the extreme. Point-de-vice was originally the name of a kind of lace of very fine pattern.
[521] “A good name is like sweet-smelling ointment.” The words in our version are, “A good name is better than precious [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 [527] In other words, to show what we call an _esprit de corps_.
[528] Theologians.
[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.
[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 [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.
[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.
[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.
[555] Proportion, dimensions.
[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 [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 [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.
[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.
[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 [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 [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 [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.
[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: Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella.”
[623] Ovid, Rem. Amoris, v. 343. Mart. Epist.
[624] Psalm xix. 1.
[625] Syrinx, signifying a reed, or the ancient pen.
[626] Ovid, Metam. b. iv.
[627] Thus it is the excellence of a general, early to discover what turn the battle is likely to take; and looking prudently behind, as well as before, to pursue a victory so as not to be unprovided for a retreat.
[628] It may be remembered that the Athenian peasant voted for the banishment of Aristides, because he was called the Just. Shakspeare forcibly expresses the same thought:— “Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o’ nights: Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.”
If Bacon had completed his intended work upon “Sympathy and Antipathy,” the constant hatred evinced by ignorance of intellectual superiority, originating sometimes in the painful feeling of inferiority, sometimes in the fear of worldly injury would not have escaped his notice.
[629] Thus we see that Orpheus denotes learning; Eurydice, things, or the subject of learning; Bacchus, and the Thracian women, men’s ungoverned passions and appetites, &c. And in the same manner all the ancient fables might be familiarly illustrated, and brought down to the capacities of children.
[630] “Quod procul a nobis flectat Fortuna gubernans; Et ratio potius quam res persuadeat ipsa.”
[631] Proteus properly signifies primary, oldest, or first.
[632] Bacon nowhere speaks with such freedom and perspicuity as under the pretext of explaining these ancient fables; for which reason they deserve to be the more read by such as desire to understand the rest of his works.
[633] As she also brought the author himself.
[634] “—————cadit Ripheus, justissimus unus, Qui fuit ex Teucris, et servantissimus æqui: Diis aliter visum.”—_Æneid_, lib. ii.
[635] Te autem mi Brute sicut debeo, amo, quod istud quicquid est nugarum me scire voluisti.
[636] “Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina sistro; Necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit angues.”
_Æneid_, viii. 696.
[637] Ovid’s Metamorphoses, b. iii., iv., and vi.; and Fasti, iii. 767.
[638] “Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit.”
[639] The author, in all his physical works, proceeds upon this foundation, that it is possible, and practicable, for art to obtain the victory over nature; that is, for human industry and power to procure, by the means of proper knowledge, such things as are necessary to render life as happy and commodious as its mortal state will allow. For instance, that it is possible to lengthen the present period of human life; bring the winds under command: and every way extend and enlarge the dominion or empire of man over the works of nature.
[640] “All-gift.”
[641] Viz: that by Pandora.
[642] “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.”
_Georg._ ii. 490.
[643] _De Augmentis Scientiarum_, sec. xxviii. and supplem. xv.
[644] An allusion which, in Plato’s writings, is applied to the rapid succession of generations, through which the continuity of human life is maintained from age to age; and which are perpetually transferring from hand to hand the concerns and duties of this fleeting scene. Γεννῶντες τε καὶ ἐκτρέφοντες παῖδας, κάθαπερ λαμπάδα τὸν βίον παραδιδόντες ἄλλοις ἐξ ἄλλων—Plato, Leg. b. vi. Lucretius also has the same metaphor:— “Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.”
[645] Eccles. xii. 11.
[646] This is what the author so frequently inculcates in the _Novum Organum_, viz: that knowledge and power are reciprocal; so that to improve in knowledge is to improve in the power of commanding nature, by introducing new arts, and producing works and effects.
[647] “Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento: Hæ tibi erunt artes.”
_Æneid_, vi. 851.
[648] “Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alta Æthere, cognati retinebat semina cœli.”—_Metam._ i. 80.
[649] Many philosophers have certain speculations to this purpose.
Sir Isaac Newton, in particular, suspects that the earth receives its vivifying spirit from the comets. And the philosophical chemists and astrologers have spun the thought into many fantastical distinctions [650] This policy strikingly characterized the conduct of Louis XIV., who placed his generals under a particular injunction, to advertise him of the success of any siege likely to be crowned with an immediate triumph, that he might attend in person and appear to take the town by a _coup de main_.
[651] The one denoted by the river Achelous, and the other by Terpsichore, the muse that invented the cithara and delighted in dancing.
[652] “Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus; Rumoresque senum severiorum Omnes unius estimemus assis.”—_Catull. Eleg._ v.
And again— “Jura senes norint, et quod sit fasque nefasque Inquirant tristes; legumque examina servent.”
_Metam._ ix. 550.