Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients

270 Be questioned upon.

271 Kept on good terms.

272 Desire it.

273 “That he did not have various hopes in view, but solely the safety of the emperor.” Tigellinus was the profligate minister of Nero, and Africanus Burrhus was the chief of the Prætorian Guards.—Tac. Ann. xiv. 57.

274 As Nathan did, when he reproved David for his criminality with Bathsheba.—2 Samuel xii.

275 Use indirect stratagems.

276 He alludes to the old Cathedral of St. Paul, in London, which, in the sixteenth century, was a common lounge for idlers.

277 Movements, or springs.

278 Chances, or vicissitudes.

279 Enter deeply into.

280 Faults, or weak points.

281 “The wise man gives heed to his own footsteps; the fool turneth aside to the snare.” No doubt he here alludes to Ecclesiastes xiv. 2, which passage is thus rendered in our version: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.”

282 Mischievous.

283 It must be remembered that Bacon was not a favorer of the Copernican system.

284 “Lovers of themselves without a rival.”—Ad. Qu. Fr. iii. 8.

285 Remedy.

286 Adapted to each other.

287 Injures or impairs.

288 A thing suspected.

289 He probably alludes to Jeremiah vi. 16: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

290 That is, by means of good management.

291 It is supposed that he here alludes to Sir Amyas Paulet, a very able statesman, and the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth to the court of France.

292 Quotations.

293 Apologies.

294 Boasting.

295 Prejudice.

296 2 Tim. iii. 5.

297 “Trifles with great effort.”

298 “With one brow raised to your forehead, the other bent downward to your chin, you answer that cruelty delights you not.”—In Pis. 6.

299 “A foolish man, who fritters away the weight of matters by finespun trifling on words.”—Vide Quint. x. 1.

300 Plat. Protag. i. 337.

301 Find it easier to make difficulties and objections than to originate.

302 One really in insolvent circumstances, though to the world he does not appear so.

303 He here quotes from a passage in the Politica of Aristotle, book i. “He who is unable to mingle in society, or who requires nothing, by reason of sufficing for himself, is no part of the state, so that he is either a wild beast or a divinity.”

304 Epimenides, a poet of Crete (of which Candia is the modern name), is said by Pliny to have fallen into a sleep which lasted 57 years. He was also said to have lived 299 years. Numa pretended that he was instructed in the art of legislation by the divine nymph Egeria, who dwelt in the Arician grove. Empedocles, the Sicilian philosopher, declared himself to be immortal, and to be able to cure all evils. He is said by some to have retired from society that his death might not be known, and to have thrown himself into the crater of Mount Ætna. Apollonius of Tyana, the Pythagorean philosopher, pretended to miraculous powers, and after his death a temple was erected to him at that place. His life is recorded by Philostratus; and some persons, among whom are Hierocles, Dr. More, in his Mystery of Godliness, and recently Strauss, have not hesitated to compare his miracles with those of our Saviour.

305 “A great city, a great desert.”

306 Sarsaparilla.

307 A liquid matter of a pungent smell, extracted from a portion of the body of the beaver.

308 “Partakers of cares.”

309 Plutarch (Vit. Pomp. 19) relates that Pompey said this upon Sylla’s refusal to give him a triumph.