NOTE L. OF STUDIES 1 For delight: Lat. "either for pleasure in meditations or ornament in speaking or aid in business." 2 Proyning: cultivating; the same word as prune, but used with an older sense. Cf. Natural History, 432, 823. 3 Distilled waters: kept in the house for medicinal purposes. 4 Flashy: Lat. insipidi, “tasteless." Cf. Lycidas, 123. 5 Poets witty: is this an adequate description of what poetry does? 6 Moral grave: probably "serious, dignified;" Lat. "produces a certain seriousness of manners." 7 Abeunt studia in mores: Ovid, Heroides, xv, 83. Cf. Adv. iii, 4. 8 Stone: of the bladder or the kidneys. 9 Reins: the kidneys; Lat. renes. 10 Cymini sectores: literally "cutters of cumin;" cf. Matthew xxiii, 23. The phrase means rather "niggards, stingy persons;" so Theocritus, Idylls, x, 55. LI. OF FACTION 1 Not wise: Machiavelli (Discourses, iii, 27) likewise condemns the attempt to rule cities by keeping factions alive. 2 One by one: Lat. "in coaxing, conciliating, and managing individuals.' 3 Cæsar and Pompey: about 52 B. C. Cf. Essay xv, note 13. 4 Antonius and Octavianus: after the battle of Philippi in 42 B. C. 5 A new purchase: Lat. "prepare themselves to acquire new friends." 6 Goeth away with it: Lat. "generally gets an advantage." 7 Tanquam unus: Genesis iii, 22. Note that Adam was an inferior raised to be equal with those above him. 8 League of France: cf. Essay xv, note 7. LII. OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS 1 Without foil: a leaf (foil is from Lat. folium, "leaf") of metal placed under a gem to enhance its brilliance. Lat. "without any ornament." 2 Small matters: Lat. "the smaller virtues." 3 Queen Isabella said: Lat. Isabella regina Castiliana, “queen of Castile." The original saying (Tuningius, Apophthegms, 1609, p. 65) had not "good forms" but "good looks," and has been ascribed to Aristotle and to Diogenes. 4 Behavior: Lat. "countenance and gestures and other externals." 5 Compliments: Lat. "ceremonies and little forms." 6 Solomon saith: Ecclesiastes xi, 4. 7 Point device: excessively nice or precise. Lat. "too elegant." NOTE LIII. OF PRAISE 1 Species: Tacitus, Annals, xv, 48. 2 Like a river: the simile occurs several times elsewhere in B.; cf. Novum Org. i, 71, 77. 3 Concur: Lat. " agree with the people." 4 The Scripture saith: Ecclesiastes vii, 1, slightly changed. Cf. the Epistle Dedicatory, p. 3. 5 False points: Lat. "fallacious conditions." 6 Laudando: cf. "To teach a ruler what he ought to be is a fine thing indeed, though arduous and almost presumptuous; but to praise the best of rulers and by this means to hold out, as from a watch-tower, a light to posterity to show what they shall follow, is as useful, without arrogance." Pliny, Epistles, iii, 18. 7 Pessimum genus: Tacitus, Agricola, xli, slightly altered. 8 He that was praised: cf. "Praising thee, the beautiful one, I shall not raise pimples on my slender nose." Theocritus, Idylls, xii, 23, 24. B. distorts the saying. 9 That a blister: cf. "Lest by committing a fraud I raise a blister on my tongue." Theocritus, Idylls, ix, 30. 10 Solomon saith: Proverbs xxvii, 14. 11 Sbirrerie: the Lat. prefixes "by a Spanish word;" but it comes rather from Ital. sbirro, "constable." 12 Catchpoles: literally "catch-heads;" bailiff's assistants. 13 I speak: 2 Corinthians xi, 23. 14 Magnificabo: Romans xi, 13. LIV. OF VAIN-GLORY 1 The fly sat: cf. Bullokar's Esop, ed. Plessow, p. 90. 2 Livius noteth: xxxv, 12, 17, 18. 3 Qui de contemnenda: Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i, 15. 4 Socrates: cf. Essay xxxii, note 6. 5 Aristotle: cf. Introduction, p. viii. 6 Galen: a celebrated Greek physician (born in 131) who wrote many works on medicine and acquired a reputation which he did not deserve. 7 Plinius Secundus: the younger Pliny (62-113), an author and public official. 8 Tacitus: History, ii, 80. He seems to refer especially to Mucianus's rhetorical skill. 9 Saith Pliny: Epistles, vi, 17, loosely quoted. LV. OF HONOR AND REPUTATION 1 Winning: Lat. "true and rightful winning.' 5106 has "true winning." "" MS. Harl. 2 Husband: manager. For the etymology, cf. economist. 3 Broken: the use of the word is not clear. Lat. "honor which is comparative and depresses another." NOTE 4 Omnis fama: Cicero, On the Petition of the Consulate, v. A. compares the proverb "No man is a hero to his valet" and Hegel's explanation, "The reason is, not that the one is not a hero, but that the other is a valet." 5 Degrees of sovereign honor: B. has a different view in Novum Organum, i, 129: "The introduction of famous discoveries appears to hold by far the first place among human actions; and this was the judgment of the former ages. For to the authors of inventions they awarded divine honors; while to those who did good service in the state (such as founders of cities and empires, legislators, saviors of their country from long endured evils, quellers of tyrannies, and the like) they decreed no higher honors than heroic. And certainly if a man rightly compare the two, he will find that this judgment of antiquity was just. For the benefits of discoveries may extend to the whole race of man, civil benefits only to particular places; the latter last not beyond a few ages, the former through all time." Spedding's trans. 6 Cyrus: 559-529 B. C., founder of the Persian empire. 7 Ottoman: Osman or Othman, founder of the Turkish empire; became chief of his tribe in 1288, emir in 1299; d. 1326. 8 Ismael: cf. Essay xliii, note 6. 9 Lycurgus: traditional author of the laws of Sparta; lived in the 9th century B. C. 10. Solon: cf. Essay xxix, note 8. 11 Justinian: emperor of the Byzantine empire 527-565, by whose command the body of Roman law was codified and annotated. 12 Eadgar: king of England 959-975; his quiet reign caused him to be called "the Peaceful." 13 Alphonsus: Alphonso X, king of Leon and Castile, 12521282. The code called The Seven Parts forms the basis of Spanish jurisprudence. 14 Vespasianus: cf. Essay ii, note 8. He freed the empire from the civil wars subsequent to Nero's death. 15 Aurelianus: emperor of Rome 270-275; called by the senate the Restorer of the Roman Empire. 16 Theodoricus: 454-526, a celebrated king of the East Goths, famed among the later Germans as Dietrich von Bern, of whom many fabulous stories are told, e. g. that under his rule men were so honest that gold pieces could be left in the highway for a year and a day without being stolen. 17 Henry the Fourth: king 1589-1610. Ended the CatholicProtestant wars; in 1598 signed the edict of Nantes. 18 Scantling: measure. 19 Regulus: died about 250 B. C. A Roman general. Taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, he was sent by them to Rome to ask for peace or an exchange of prisoners, but NOTE persuaded the Romans to refuse this and voluntarily returned to prison. 20 Decii: the Romans Publius Decius Mus and his son of the same name sacrificed themselves to win a doubtful battle, in 340 B. C. and 295 B. C. Virgil mentions them in his Æneid, vi, 824. LVI. OF JUDICATURE 1 Exposition of Scripture: the Catholic Church claims authority based on Matthew xvi, 18, 19. 2 Cursed is he: Deuteronomy xxvii, 17. 3 Mere-stone: a boundary-stone. Has no connection with mere, "pool." 4 Saith Solomon: Proverbs xxv, 26. 5 There be: Amos v, 7. 6 By raising valleys: cf. Isaiah xl, 4. 7 Qui fortiter: Proverbs xxx, 33. 8 Pluet super eos: Psalms xi, 6. 9 A shower of snares: a favorite metaphor with B. 10 Judicis officium: Ovid, Sorrows, i, 1, 37. 11 Well-tuned cymbal: cf. Psalms cl, 5. 12 Length: Lat. "the prolixity of lawyers and witnesses." 13 That: Lat. quantum, "how much." 14 Represseth the presumptuous: another translation of Proverbs iii, 34. 15 Of by-ways: Lat. "of corruption, and of irregular access to the judges." 16 Chop with: Lat. obstrepat, "clamor against." 17 Scripture saith: Matthew vii, 16. 18 Quarrels of jurisdiction: then common by reason of the unsettled condition of the law. 19 In weather: in storm. 20 Twelve Tables: promulgated in 451-450 в. c.; formed the chief basis of later Roman jurisprudence. 21 The spirits: the brain and nervous system. 22 Solomon's throne: cf. 1 Kings x, 18-20. 23 Do not check or oppose: note how far modern democracy has progressed from this idea; cf. the Declaration of Independence. 24 Ños scimus: 1 Timothy i, 8. LVII. OF ANGER 1 Bravery: Lat. ostentatio, "an ostentatious attempt." 2 Be angry: Ephesians iv, 26. 3 Seneca saith well: On Anger, i, 1. NOTE 6 A kind of baseness: Lat. "a low thing, beneath the dignity of man." 7 Consalvo: Gonsalvo Hernandez de Cordova, a celebrated Spanish general (1443-1515), called "The Great Captain." 8 Aculeate: stinging. 9 Passion: Lat. "sudden excitement of the mind." LVIII. OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS 1 Solomon saith: Ecclesiastes i, 9. 2 Plato: Phædo, 72 E. 3 His sentence: Ecclesiastes i, 10, 11. 4 Lethe: forgetfulness. oblivion. From this river the ghosts drank 5 An abstruse astrologer: R. thinks this may be Telesius, whose On the Nature of Things, i, 10, bears some resemblance to this passage. 6 Phaeton's car: the Lat. amplifies: "The fable of Phaeton represented the shortness of a conflagration, lasting for only a day." Phaeton asked his father Helios (the sun) to be allowed to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens for one day. As he was too weak to guide the horses, they rushed out of the track and nearly set the earth on fire. Zeus then killed Phaeton with a thunderbolt. Bacon got the idea from Plato's Timæus. 7 Three years' drought: 1 Kings xvii, xviii. 8 The West Indies: the New World in general. 9 Atlantis: Plato, Timæus 25 d. 10 Machiavel: Discourses, ii, 5, which probably suggested this Essay. 11 Gregory the Great: pope 590-604. 12 Sabinian: succeeded Gregory the Great as pope in 604; under him there was a revival of the earlier attachment to the ancient gods. 13 The former antiquities: the Lat. adds, "Then indeed things forbidden, even if covered with darkness, creep out and have their times." 14 Superior globe: the upper sphere, the heavens. 15 Plato's great year: the time at the end of which all the heavenly bodies, having completed all their revolutions, return to the places they had at the beginning of the world. Cf. "As for the great year, some say it compriseth eight years; others nineteen; and others again sixty wanting one. Heraclitus saith it consisteth of 80,000 solar years; Diogenes, of 365 years such as Heraclitus speaketh of; and others, of 7777." Plutarch, Morals, p. 676. 16 Influences: cf. Essay ix, note 2. 17 Heaven: the Lat. adds, "the season of the year; the path or course." 18 The rock: Arber's text has "a rock." Cf. Matthew xvi, 18. |