In preparing the present volume for the press, use has been freely made of several publications which have recently appeared in England.
The Biographical Notice of the author is taken from an edition of the Essays, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. To this has been added the Preface to Pickering’s edition of the Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients, by Basil Montagu, Esq. Parker’s edition, by Thomas Markby, M. A., has furnished the arrangement of the Table prefixed to the Essays, and also “the references to the most important quotations.” The Notes, including the translations of the Latin, are chiefly copied from Bohn’s edition, prepared by Joseph Devey, M. A. We have given the modern translation of the Wisdom of the Ancients contained in Bohn’s edition, in preference to that “done by Sir Arthur Gorges,” although the last mentioned has a claim upon regard, as having been made by a contemporary of Lord Bacon, and published in his lifetime. Its language is in the style of English current in the author’s age, and for this reason may resemble more nearly what the philosopher himself would have used, had he composed the work in his own tongue instead of Latin.
CONTENTS.
PAGE Preface by B. Montagu, Esq. xi Introductory Notice of the Life and Writings of Bacon, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. 1 ESSAYS; OR, COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL.
NO.
3. Of Unity in Religion; Of Religion 1612; rewritten 1625 65 6. Of Simulation and Dissimulation 1625; 78 7. Of Parents and Children 1612; enlarged 1625 82 8. Of Marriage and Single Life 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 84 9. Of Envy 1625; 87 11. Of Great Place 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 98 13. Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature 1612; enlarged 1625 105 15. Of Seditions and Troubles 1625 113 16. Of Atheism 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 124 19. Of Empire 1612; much enlarged 1625 135 26. Of Seeming Wise 1612; 166 28. Of Expense 1597; enlarged 1612; and again 1625 179 29. Of the true Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates 1612; enlarged 1625 181 30. Of Regimen of Health 1597; enlarged 1612; again 1625 195 32. Of Discourse 1597; slightly enlarged 1612; again 1625 199 34. Of Riches 1612; much enlarged 1625 207 37. Of Masques and Triumphs 1625; 218 38. Of Nature in Men 1612; enlarged 1625 223 40. Of Fortune 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 228 42. Of Youth and Age 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 237 44. Of Deformity 1612; somewhat altered 1625 241 47. Of Negotiating 1597; enlarged 1612; very slightly altered 1625 259 48. Of Followers and Friends 1597; slightly enlarged 1625 261 51. Of Faction 1597; much enlarged 1625 269 52. Of Ceremonies and Respects 1597; enlarged 1625 271 55. Of Honor and Reputation 1597; omitted 1612; 58. Of the Vicissitude of Things 1625; 292 APPENDIX TO ESSAYS.
1. Fragment of an Essay of Fame 301 2. Of a King 303 3. An Essay on Death 307 THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS; A SERIES OF MYTHOLOGICAL FABLES.
Preface 317 1. Cassandra, or Divination. Explained of too free and unseasonable Advice 323 2. Typhon, or a Rebel. Explained of Rebellion 324 3. The Cyclops, or the Ministers of Terror. Explained of base Court Officers 327 5. The River Styx, or Leagues. Explained of Necessity, in the Oaths or Solemn Leagues of Princes 331 6. Pan, or Nature. Explained of Natural Philosophy 333 7. Perseus, or War. Explained of the Preparation and Conduct necessary to War 343 8. Endymion, or a Favorite. Explained of Court Favorites 348 9. The Sister of the Giants, or Fame. Explained of Public Detraction 350 10. Acteon and Pentheus, or a Curious Man. Explained of Curiosity, or Prying into the Secrets of Princes and Divine Mysteries 351 11. Orpheus, or Philosophy. Explained of Natural and Moral Philosophy 353 12. Cœlum, or Beginnings. Explained of the Creation, or Origin of all Things 357 13. Proteus, or Matter. Explained of Matter and its Changes 360 14. Memnon, or a Youth too forward. Explained of the fatal Precipitancy of Youth 363 15. Tythonus, or Satiety. Explained of Predominant Passions 364 16. Juno’s Suitor, or Baseness. Explained of Submission and Abjection 365 17. Cupid, or an Atom. Explained of the Corpuscular Philosophy 366 18. Diomed, or Zeal. Explained of Persecution, or Zeal for Religion 371 19. Dædalus, or Mechanical Skill. Explained of Arts and Artists in Kingdoms and States 374 20. Ericthonius, or Imposture. Explained of the improper Use of Force in Natural Philosophy 378 21. Deucalion, or Restitution. Explained of a useful Hint in Natural Philosophy 379 22. Nemesis, or the Vicissitude of Things. Explained of the Reverses of Fortune 380 23. Achelous, or Battle. Explained of War by Invasion 383 24. Dionysus, or Bacchus. Explained of the Passions 384 25. Atalanta and Hippomenes, or Gain. Explained of the Contest betwixt Art and Nature 389 26. Prometheus, or the State of Man. Explained of an Overruling Providence, and of Human Nature 391 27. Icarus and Scylla and Charybdis, or the Middle Way.
Explained of Mediocrity in Natural and Moral Philosophy 407 28. Sphinx, or Science. Explained of the Sciences 409 29. Proserpine, or Spirit. Explained of the Spirit included in Natural Bodies 413 30. Metis, or Counsel. Explained of Princes and their Council 419 31. The Sirens, or Pleasures. Explained of Men’s Passion for Pleasures 420 PREFACE.
In the early part of the year 1597, Lord Bacon’s first publication appeared. It is a small 12mo. volume, entitled “Essayes, Religious Meditations, Places of Perswasion and Disswasion.” It is dedicated “_To M. Anthony Bacon, his deare Brother_.
“Louing and beloued Brother, I doe nowe like some that have an Orcharde ill Neighbored, that gather their Fruit before it is ripe, to preuent stealing. These Fragments of my Conceites were going to print, To labour the staie of them had bin troublesome, and subiect to interpretation; to let them passe had beene to aduenture the wrong they mought receiue by vntrue Coppies, or by some Garnishment, which it mought please any that should set them forth to bestow vpon them. Therefore I helde it best as they passed long agoe from my Pen, without any further disgrace, then the weaknesse of the Author. And as I did euer hold, there mought be as great a vanitie in retiring and withdrawing mens conceites (except they bee of some nature) from the World, as in obtruding them: So in these particulars I haue played myself the Inquisitor, and find nothing to my vnderstanding in them contrarie or infectious to the state of Religion, or Manners, but rather (as I suppose) medecinable. Only I disliked now to put them out, because they will be like the late new Halfepence, which, though the Siluer were good, yet the Peeces were small.
But since they would not stay with their Master, but would needes trauaile abroade, I haue preferred them to you that are next my selfe, Dedicating them, such as they are, to our Loue, in the depth whereof (I assure you) I sometimes wish your Infirmities translated vppon my selfe, that her Maiestie mought haue the Seruice of so actiue and able a Mind, and I mought be with excuse confined to these Contemplations and Studies for which I am fittest, so commend I you to the Preseruation of the Diuine Maiestie: From my Chamber at Graies Inne, this 30 of Januarie, 1597. Your entire Louing Brother, FRAN. BACON.”
The Essays, which are ten in number, abound with condensed thought and practical wisdom, neatly, pressly, and weightily stated, and, like all his early works, are simple, without imagery. They are written in his favorite style of aphorisms, although each essay is apparently a continued work, and without that love of antithesis and false glitter to which truth and justness of thought are frequently sacrificed by the writers of maxims.
A second edition, with a translation of the _Meditationes Sacræ_, was published in the next year; and another edition enlarged in 1612, when he was solicitor-general, containing thirty-eight essays; and one still more enlarged in 1625, containing fifty-eight essays, the year before his death.
The Essays in the subsequent editions are much augmented, according to his own words: “I always alter when I add, so that nothing is finished till all is finished,” and they are adorned by happy and familiar illustration, as in the essay of Wisdom for a Man’s Self, which concludes, in the edition of 1625, with the following extract, not to be found in the previous edition: “Wisdom for a man’s self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are _Sui Amantes sine Rivali_ are many times unfortunate. And whereas they have all their time sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of Fortune, whose wings they thought, by their self wisdom, to have pinioned.”
So in the essay upon Adversity, on which he had deeply reflected before the edition of 1625, when it first appeared, he says: “The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the great benediction, and the clearer revelation of God’s favor. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David’s harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground; judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly, virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.”
The Essays were immediately translated into French and Italian, and into Latin, by some of his friends, amongst whom were Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield, and his constant, affectionate friend, Ben Jonson.
His own estimate of the value of this work is thus stated in his letter to the Bishop of Winchester: “As for my Essays, and some other particulars of that nature, I count them but as the recreations of my other studies, and in that manner purpose to continue them; though I am not ignorant that these kind of writings would, with less pains and assiduity, perhaps yield more lustre and reputation to my name than the others I have in hand.”
Although it was not likely that such lustre and reputation would dazzle him, the admirer of Phocion, who, when applauded, turned to one of his friends, and asked, “What have I said amiss?” although popular judgment was not likely to mislead him who concludes his observations upon the objections to learning and the advantages of knowledge by saying: “Nevertheless, I do not pretend, and I know it will be impossible for me, by any pleading of mine, to reverse the judgment either of Æsop’s cock, that preferred the barleycorn before the gem; or of Midas, that being chosen judge between Apollo, president of the Muses, and Pan, god of the flocks, judged for plenty; or of Paris, that judged for beauty and love against wisdom and power. For these things continue as they have been; but so will that also continue whereupon learning hath ever relied and which faileth not, _Justificata est sapientia a filiis suis_:” yet he seems to have undervalued this little work, which for two centuries has been favorably received by every lover of knowledge and of beauty, and is now so well appreciated that a celebrated professor of our own times truly says: “The small volume to which he has given the title of ‘Essays,’ the best known and the most popular of all his works, is one of those where the superiority of his genius appears to the greatest advantage, the novelty and depth of his reflections often receiving a strong relief from the triteness of the subject. It may be read from beginning to end in a few hours; and yet after the twentieth perusal one seldom fails to remark in it something overlooked before. This, indeed, is a characteristic of all Bacon’s writings, and is only to be accounted for by the inexhaustible aliment they furnish to our own thoughts and the sympathetic activity they impart to our torpid faculties.”
During his life six or more editions, which seem to have been pirated, were published; and after his death, two spurious essays, “Of Death,” and “Of a King,” the only authentic posthumous essay being the Fragment of an Essay on Fame, which was published by his friend and chaplain, Dr. Rawley.
This edition is a transcript of the edition of 1625, with the posthumous essays. In the life of Bacon[1] there is a minute account of the different editions of the Essays and of their contents.
They may shortly be stated as follows:— First edition, 1597, genuine.
There are two copies of this edition in the university library at Cambridge; and there is Archbishop Sancroft’s copy in Emanuel Library; there is a copy in the Bodleian, and I have a copy.
Second edition, 1598, genuine.
Third edition, 1606, pirated.
Fourth edition, entitled “The Essaies of Sir Francis Bacon, Knight, the Kings Solliciter Generall. Imprinted at London by Iohn Beale, 1612,” genuine. It was the intention of Sir Francis to have dedicated this edition to Henry, Prince of Wales; but he was prevented by the death of the prince on the 6th of November in that year. This appears by the following letter:— _To the Most High and Excellent Prince, Henry, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester._ It may please your Highness: Having divided my life into the contemplative and active part, I am desirous to give his Majesty and your Highness of the fruits of both, simple though they be.
To write just treatises, requireth leisure in the writer and leisure in the reader, and therefore are not so fit, neither in regard of your Highness’s princely affairs nor in regard of my continual service; which is the cause that hath made me choose to write certain brief notes, set down rather significantly than curiously, which I have called Essays. The word is late, but the thing is ancient; for Seneca’s Epistles to Lucilius, if you mark them well, are but Essays; that is, dispersed meditations though conveyed in the form of epistles. These labors of mine, I know, cannot be worthy of your Highness, for what can be worthy of you?
But my hope is, they may be as grains of salt, that will rather give you an appetite than offend you with satiety. And although they handle those things wherein both men’s lives and their persons are most conversant; yet what I have attained I know not; but I have endeavored to make them not vulgar, but of a nature whereof a man shall find much in experience and little in books; so as they are neither repetitions nor fancies. But, however, I shall most humbly desire your Highness to accept them in gracious part, and to conceive, that if I cannot rest but must show my dutiful and devoted affection to your Highness in these things which proceed from myself, I shall be much more ready to do it in performance of any of your princely commandments. And so wishing your Highness all princely felicity, I rest your Highness’s most humble servant, 1612. FR. BACON.
It was dedicated as follows:— _To my loving Brother, Sir John Constable, Knt._ My last Essaies I dedicated to my deare brother Master Anthony Bacon, who is with God. Looking amongst my Papers this vacation, I found others of the same nature: which, if I myselfe shall not suffer to be lost, it seemeth the World will not; by the often printing of the former. Missing my Brother, I found you next; in respect of bond both of neare Alliance, and of straight Friendship and Societie, and particularly of communication in Studies. Wherein I must acknowledge my selfe beholding to you.
For as my Businesse found rest in my Contemplations, so my Contemplations ever found rest in your loving Conference and Judgment. So wishing you all good, I remaine your louing Brother and Friend, FRA. BACON.
Fifth edition, 1612, pirated. Sixth edition, 1613, pirated. Seventh edition, 1624, pirated. Eighth edition, 1624, pirated. Ninth edition, entitled, “The Essayes or Covnsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis Lo.
Vervlam, Viscovnt St. Alban. Newly enlarged. London, Printed by Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret and Richard Whitaker, and are to be sold at the Signe of the King’s Head in Paul’s Churchyard.” 1625, genuine.
This edition is a small quarto of 340 pages; it clearly was published by Lord Bacon; and in the next year, 1626, Lord Bacon died. The Dedication is as follows, to the Duke of Buckingham:— _To the Right Honorable my very good Lo. the Duke of Buckingham his Grace, Lo. High Admirall of England._ EXCELLENT LO.:—Salomon saies, A good Name is as a precious Oyntment; and I assure myselfe, such wil your Grace’s Name bee, with Posteritie. For your Fortune and Merit both, haue beene eminent. And you haue planted things that are like to last. I doe now publish my Essayes; which, of all my other Workes, have beene most currant: for that, as it seemes, they come home to Mens Businesse and Bosomes. I haue enlarged them both in number and weight, so that they are indeed a new Work. I thought it therefore agreeable to my Affection, and Obligation to your Grace, to prefix your Name before them, both in English and in Latine. For I doe conceiue, that the Latine Volume of them (being in the vniuersal language) may last as long as Bookes last. My Instauration I dedicated to the King: my Historie of Henry the Seventh (which I haue now also translated into Latine), and my Portions of Naturall History, to the Prince: and these I dedicate to your Grace: being of the best Fruits, that by the good encrease which God gives to my pen and labours, I could yeeld.
God leade your Grace by the Hand. Your Graces most obliged and faithfull Seruant.
FR. ST. ALBAN.
Of this edition, Lord Bacon sent a copy to the Marquis Fiat, with the following letter:[2]— “MONSIEUR L’AMBASSADEUR MON FILZ: Voyant que vostre Excellence faict et traite Mariages, non seulement entre les Princes d’Angleterre et de France, mais aussi entre les langues (puis que faictes traduire mon Liure de l’Advancement des Sciences en Francois) i’ai bien voulu vous envoyer mon Liure dernierement imprimé que i’avois pourveu pour vous, mais i’estois en doubte, de le vous envoyer, pour ce qu’il estoit escrit en Anglois. Mais a’ cest’heure pour la raison susdicte ie le vous envoye. C’est un Recompilement de mes Essays Morales et Civiles; mais tellement enlargiés et enrichiés, tant de nombre que de poix, que c’est de fait un ouvre nouveau. Ie vous baise les mains, et reste vostre tres affectionée Ami, et tres humble Serviteur.
THE SAME IN ENGLISH.
MY LORD AMBASSADOR, MY SON: Seeing that your Excellency makes and treats of Marriages, not only betwixt the Princes of France and England, but also betwixt their languages (for you have caused my book of the Advancement of Learning to be translated into French), I was much inclined to make you a present of the last book which I published, and which I had in readiness for you. I was sometimes in doubt whether I ought to have sent it to you, because it was written in the English tongue. But now, for that very reason, I send it to you. It is a recompilement of my Essays Moral and Civil; but in such manner enlarged and enriched both in number and weight, that it is in effect a new work. I kiss your hands, and remain your most affectionate friend and most humble servant, &c.
Of the translation of the Essays into Latin, Bacon speaks in the following letter:— “TO MR. TOBIE MATHEW: It is true my labors are now most set to have those works which I had formerly published, as that of Advancement of Learning, that of Henry VII., that of the Essays, being retractate and made more perfect, well translated into Latin by the help of some good pens which forsake me not. For these modern languages will, at one time or other, play the bankrupt with books; and since I have lost much time with this age, I would be glad, as God shall give me leave, to recover it with posterity. For the Essay of Friendship, while I took your speech of it for a cursory request, I took my promise for a compliment. But since you call for it, I shall perform it.”
In his letter to Father Fulgentio, giving some account of his writings, he says:— “The _Novum Organum_ should immediately follow; but my moral and political writings step in between as being more finished. These are, the History of King Henry VII., and the small book, which, in your language, you have called _Saggi Morali_, but I give it a graver title, that of _Sermones Fideles_, or _Interiora Rerum_, and these Essays will not only be enlarged in number, but still more in substance.”
The nature of the Latin edition, and of the Essays in general, is thus stated by Archbishop Tenison:— “The Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral, though a by-work also, do yet make up a book of greater weight by far than the Apothegms; and coming home to men’s business and bosoms, his lordship entertained this persuasion concerning them, that the Latin volume might last as long as books should last. His lordship wrote them in the English tongue, and enlarged them as occasion served, and at last added to them the Colors of Good and Evil, which are likewise found in his book _De Augmentis_. The Latin translation of them was a work performed by divers hands: by those of Dr. Hacket (late Bishop of Lichfield), Mr. Benjamin Jonson (the learned and judicious poet,) and some others, whose names I once heard from Dr. Rawley, but I cannot now recall them.
To this Latin edition he gave the title of _Sermones Fideles_, after the manner of the Jews, who called the words Adagies, or Observations of the Wise, Faithful Sayings; that is, credible propositions worthy of firm assent and ready acceptance. And (as I think), he alluded more particularly, in this title, to a passage in _Ecclesiastes_, where the preacher saith, that he sought to find out _Verba Delectabilia_ (as Tremellius rendereth the Hebrew), pleasant words; (that is, perhaps, his Book of Canticles;) and _Verba Fidelia_ (as the same Tremellius), Faithful Sayings; meaning, it may be, his collection of Proverbs.
In the next verse, he calls them Words of the Wise, and so many goads and nails given _ab eodem pastore_, from the same shepherd [of the flock of Israel”].
In the year 1638, Rawley published, in folio, a volume containing, amongst other works, _Sermones Fideles, ab ipso Honoratissimo Auctore, præterquam in paucis, Latinitate donati_. In his address to the reader, he says:— _Accedunt, quas priùs_ Delibationes Civiles _et_ Morales _inscripserat; Quas etiam in Linguas plurimas Modernas translatas esse novit; sed eas posteà, et Numero, et Pondere, auxit; In tantum, ut veluti Opus Novum videri possint; Quas mutato Titulo_, Sermones Fideles, _sive_ Interiora Rerum, _inscribi placuit_. The 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.
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.
In the year 1609, as a relaxation from abstruse speculations, he published in Latin his interesting little work, _De Sapientia Veterum_.
This tract seems, in former times, to have been much valued. The fables, abounding with a union of deep thought and poetic beauty, are thirty-one in number, of which a part of The Sirens, or Pleasures, may be selected as a specimen.
In this fable he explains the common but erroneous supposition that knowledge and the conformity of the will, knowing and acting, are convertible terms. Of this error, he, in his essay of Custom and Education, admonishes his readers, by saying: “Men’s thoughts are much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions, but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed; Æsop’s Damsel, transformed from a cat to a woman, sat very demurely at the board-end till a mouse ran before her.” In the fable of the Sirens he exhibits the same truth, saying: “The habitation of the Sirens was in certain pleasant islands, from whence, as soon as out of their watchtower they discovered any ships approaching, with their sweet tunes they would first entice and stay them, and, having them in their power, would destroy them; and, so great were the mischiefs they did, that these isles of the Sirens, even as far off as man can ken them, appeared all over white with the bones of unburied carcasses; by which it is signified that albeit the examples of afflictions be manifest and eminent, yet they do not sufficiently deter us from the wicked enticements of pleasure.”
The following is the account of the different editions of this work: The first was published in 1609. In February 27, 1610, Lord Bacon wrote to Mr. Mathew, upon sending his book _De Sapientia Veterum_:— “MR. MATHEW: I do very heartily thank you for your letter of the 24th of August, from Salamanca; and in recompense therefore I send you a little work of mine that hath begun to pass the world.
They tell me my Latin is turned into silver, and become current: had you been here, you should have been my inquisitor before it came forth; but, I think, the greatest inquisitor in Spain will allow it. But one thing you must pardon me if I make no haste to believe, that the world should be grown to such an ecstasy as to reject truth in philosophy, because the author dissenteth in religion; no more than they do by Aristotle or Averroes. My great work goeth forward; and after my manner, I alter even when I add; so that nothing is finished till all be finished. This I have written in the midst of a term and parliament; thinking no time so possessed, but that I should talk of these matters with so good and dear a friend. And so with my wonted wishes I leave you to God’s goodness.
And in his letter to Father Fulgentio, giving some account of his writings, he says: “My Essays will not only be enlarged in number, but still more in substance. Along with them goes the little piece _De Sapientia Veterum_.”
In the Advancement of Learning he says:— “There remaineth yet another use of poesy parabolical, opposite to that which we last mentioned; for that tendeth to demonstrate and illustrate that which is taught or delivered, and this other to retire and obscure it; that is, when the secrets and mysteries of religion, policy, or philosophy are involved in fables or parables. Of this in divine poesy we see the use is authorized.
In heathen poesy we see the exposition of fables doth fall out sometimes with great felicity; as in the fable that the giants being overthrown in their war against the gods, the earth, their mother, in revenge thereof brought forth Fame,— _Illam Terra parens, irâ irritata Deorum,_ _Extremam, ut perhibent, Cœo Enceladoque sororem_ _Progenuit,_ expounded, that when princes and monarchs have suppressed actual and open rebels, then the malignity of the people, which is the mother of rebellion, doth bring forth libels and slanders, and taxations of the State, which is of the same kind with rebellion, but more feminine. So in the fable, that the rest of the gods