APOPHTHEGMS, CONTAINED IN THE ORIGINAL EDITION IN OCTAVO, BUT OMITTED IN LATER COPIES. 1. WHEN queen Elizabeth had advanced Raleigh, | words spoken against the king. He confessed them, she was one day playing on the virginals, and my lord of Oxford and another nobleman stood by. It fell out so, that the ledge before the jacks was taken away, so as the jacks were seen: my lord of Oxford and the other nobleman smiled, and a little whispered. The queen marked it, and would needs know what the matter was? My lord of Oxford answered; "That they smiled to see that when jacks went up, heads went down." 22. Sir Thomas More, who was a man, in all his life-time, that had an excellent vein in jesting, at the very instant of his death, having a pretty long beard, after his head was upon the block, lift it up again, and gently drew his beard aside, and said; "This hath not offended the king." 27. Demonax the philosopher, when he died, was asked touching his burial. He answered, | "Never take care for burying me, for stink will bury me." He that asked him, said again; "Why, would you have your body left to the dogs and ravens to feed upon ?" Demonax answered; "Why, what great hurt is it, if having sought to do good, when I lived, to men; my body do some good to beasts, when I am dead." 30. Phocion the Athenian, a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people, one day, when he spake to the people, in one part of his speech, was applauded: whereupon he turned to one of his friends, and asked, "What have I said amiss ?" 34. Bion was wont to say; "That Socrates, of all the lovers of Alcibiades, only held him by the ears." 37. There was a philosopher about Tiberius, that looking into the nature of Caius, said of him; "that he was mire mingled with blood." 42. There was a bishop that was somewhat a delicate person, and bathed twice a day. A friend of his said to him; "My lord, why do you bathe twice a day ?" The bishop answered; "Because I cannot conveniently bathe thrice." 89. When Sir Thomas More was lord chancellor, he did use, at mass, to sit in the chancel; and his lady in a pew. And because the pew stood out of sight, his gentleman-usher, ever after service, came to the lady's pew, and said, "Madam, my lord is gone." So when the chancellor's place was taken from him, the next time they went to church, Sir Thomas himself came to his lady's pew, and said; Madam, my lord is gone." 104. A Grecian captain advising the confederates that were united against the Lacedæmonians, touching their enterprise, gave opinion, that they should go directly upon Sparta, saying; "That the state of Sparta was like rivers; strong when they had run a great way, and weak towards their head." 108. One was examined upon certain scandalous and said; "It is true, I spake them, and if the wine had not failed, I had said much more." 110. Trajan would say, "That the king's exchequer was like the spleen; for when that did swell, the whole body did pine." 111. Charles the Bald allowed one, whose name was Scottus, to sit at the table with him, for his pleasure: Scottus sat on the other side of the table. One time the king being merry with him, said to him; "What is there between Scott and sot?" Scottus answered; "The table only." 113. There was a marriage between a widow of great wealth, and a gentleman of a great house, that had no estate or means. Jack Roberts said, "That marriage was like a black pudding; the one brought blood, and the other brought suet and oatmeal." 149. Croesus said to Cambyses, "That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in the wars the fathers did bury their sons." 154. Carvajal, when he was drawn to execution, being fourscore and five years old, and laid upon the hurdle, said, "What! young in cradle, old in cradle !" 161. Diogenes was asked in a kind of scorn, "What was the matter, that philosophers haunted rich men, and not rich men philosophers?" He answered, "Because the one knew what they wanted, the other did not." 162. Demetrius, king of Macedon, had a petition offered him divers times by an old woman, and still answered, "He had no leisure." Whereupon the woman said aloud, "Why then give over to be king." 175. There were two gentlemen, otherwise of equal degree, save that the one was of the ancienter house. The other in courtesy asked his hand to kiss: which he gave him; and he kissed it: but said withal, to right himself by way of friendship, Well, I and you, against any two of them :" putting himself first. 66 198. Themistocles would say of himself, "That he was like a plane tree, that in tempests men fled to him, and in fair weather men were ever cropping his leaves." 199. Themistocles said of speech, "That it was like arras, that spread abroad shows fair images, but contracted is but like packs." 211. Lycurgus would say of divers of the heroes of the heathen, "That he wondered that men should mourn upon their days for them as mortal men, and yet sacrifice to them as gods." 213. There is an ecclesiastical writer of the papists, to prove antiquity of confession in the form that it now is, doth note, in very ancient times, even in the primitive times, amongst other foul slanders spread against the christians, one was, "That they did adore the genitories of their priests. Which, he saith, grew, from the posture of the confessant, and the priest in confession: which is, that the confessant kneels down, before the priest sitting in a raised chair above him." 216. Fabricius, in conference with Pyrrhus, was tempted to revolt to him; Pyrrhus telling him, that he should be partner of his fortunes, and second person to him. But Fabricius answered, in a scorn, to such a motion, "Sir, that would not be good for yourself: for if the Epirotes once knew me, they will rather desire to be governed by me than by you." 221. Thales said; "that life and death were all one." One that was present asked him; "Why do not you die then ?" Thales said again; "Because they are all one." 223. An Ægyptian priest, having conference with Solon, said to him; "You Grecians are ever children; you have no knowledge of antiquity, nor antiquity of knowledge." 227. Diogenes was one day in the market-place with a candle in his hand; and being asked, "What he sought?" he said, "He sought a man.” 228. Bias being asked; How a man should order his life? answered; "As if a man should live long, or die quickly." 229. Queen Elizabeth was entertained by my lord Burleigh at Theobalds: and at her going away, my lord obtained of the queen to make seven knights. They were gentlemen of the country, of my lord's friends and neighbours. They were placed in a rank, as the queen should pass by the hall, and to win antiquity of knighthood, in order, as my lord favoured; though indeed the more principal gentlemen were placed lowest. The queen was told of it, and said nothing; but when she went along, she passed them all by, as far as the skreen, as if she had forgot it and when she came to the skreen, she seemed to take herself with the manner, and said, “I had almost forgot what I promised." With that she turned back, and knighted the lowest first, and so upward. Whereupon Mr. Stanhope, of the privychamber, a while after told her; "Your majesty was too fine for my lord Burleigh." She answered; "I have but fulfilled the Scripture; 'the first shall be last, and the last first.'" | 235. Sir Fulke Grevill had much and private access to queen Elizabeth, which he used honourably, and did many men good; yet he would say merrily of himself, "That he was like Robin Goodfellow; for when the maids spilt the milkpans, or kept any racket, they would lay it upon Robin: so what tales the ladies about the queen told her, or other bad offices that they did, they would put it upon him." 240. There was a politic sermon, that had no divinity in it, preached before the king. The king, as he came forth, said to bishop Andrews; "Call you this a sermon ?" The bishop answered, “ And it please your majesty, by a charitable construction, it may be a sermon.' 244. Henry Noel would say, "That courtiers were like fasting-days; they were next the holy-days, but in themselves they were the most meagre days of the week." 247. Cato said, “The best way to keep good acts in memory, was to refresh them with new. 259. Aristippus said, "He took money of his friends, not so much to use it himself, as to teach them how to bestow their money." 260. A strumpet said to Aristippus, "That she was with child by him:" he answered, "You know that no more than if you went through a hedge of thorns, you could say, This thorn pricked me." 263. Democritus said, "That truth did lie in profound pits, and when it was got, it needed much refining." 266. Diogenes said of a young man that danced daintily, and was much commended: "The better, the worse." 271. There was a nobleman that was lean of visage, but immediately after his marriage he grew pretty plump and fat. One said to him, "Your lordship doth contrary to other married men; for they at the first wax lean, and you wax fat." Sir Walter Raleigh stood by, and said; "Why, there is no beast, that if you take him from the common, and put him into the several, but he will wax fat." 272. Diogenes seeing one, that was a bastard, casting stones among the people, bad him “take heed that he hit not his father." 275. It was said by many concerning the canons of the council of Trent, "That we are beholden to Aristotle for many articles of our faith." CERTAIN APOPHTHEGMS OF LORD BACON. 1. Plutarch said well, "It is otherwise in a commonwealth of men than of bees: the hive of a city or kingdom is in best condition when there is least of noise or buzz in it." 2. The same Plutarch said of men of weak abilities set in great place, "That they were like little statues set on great bases, made to appear the less by their advancement." 3. He said again, “ Good fame is like fire. When you have kindled it, you may easily preserve it; but if once you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again; at least, not make it burn as bright as it did." 4. Queen Elizabeth seeing Sir Edward- in her garden, looked out at her window, and asked him in Italian, "What does a man think of when he thinks of nothing ?” Sir Edward, who had not had the effect of some of the queen's grants so soon as he hoped and desired, paused a little; and then made answer, "Madam, he thinks of a woman's promise." The queen shrunk in her head; but was heard to say, "Well, Sir Edward, I must not confute you." Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor. 5. When any great officer, ecclesiastical or civil, was to be made, the queen would inquire after the piety, integrity, and learning of the man. And when she was satisfied in these qualifications, she would consider of his personage. And upon such an occasion she pleased once to say to me, "Bacon, how can the magistrate maintain his authority when the man is despised?" 6. In eighty-eight, when the queen went from Temple-bar along Fleet-street, the lawyers were ranked on one side, and the companies of the city on the other said Mr. Bacon to a lawyer who stood next to him, "Do but observe the courtiers; if they bow first to the citizens, they are in debt; if first to us, they are in law." 7. King James was wont to be very earnest with the country gentlemen to go from London to their country houses. And sometimes he would say thus to them, "Gentlemen, at London you are like ships at sea, which show like nothing; but in your country villages you are like ships in a river, which look like great things." 8. Soon after the death of a great officer, who was judged no advancer of the king's matters, the king said to his solicitor Bacon, who was his kinsman, “Now tell me truly, what say you of your cousin | that is gone?" Mr. Bacon answered, “Sir, since your majesty doth charge me, I'll e'en deal plainly with you, and give you such a character of him, as if I were to write his story. I do think he was no fit counsellor to make your affairs better; but yet he was fit to have kept them from growing worse." The king said, "On my so'l, man, in the first thou speakest like a true man, and in the latter, like a kinsman." 9. King James, as he was a prince of great judgment, so he was a prince of a marvellous pleasant humour; and there now come into my mind two instances of it. As he was going through Lusen, by Greenwich, he asked what town it was? They said, Lusen. He asked a good while after, "What town is this we are now in ?" They said still, 'twas Lusen. "On my so'l," said the king, "I will be king of Lusen." 10. In some other of his progresses, he asked how far it was to a town whose name I have forgotten. They said, Six miles. Half an hour after, he asked again. One said, Six miles and a half. The king alighted out of his coach, and crept under the shoulder of his led horse. And when some asked his majesty what he meant? "I must stalk," said he, "for yonder town is shy, and flies me." 11. Count Gondomar sent a compliment to my lord St. Alban, wishing him a good Easter. My lord thanked the messenger, and said, "He could not at present requite the count better than in returning him the like; that he wished his lordship a good Passover." 12. My lord chancellor Elsemere, when he had read a petition which he disliked, would say, "What, you would have my hand to this now ?" And the party answering, "Yes;" he would say farther, Well, so you shall: nay, you shall have both my hands to it." And so would, with both his hands, | tear it in pieces. 13. Sir Francis Bacon was wont to say of an angry man who suppressed his passion, "That he thought worse than he spake ;" and of an angry man that would chide, "That he spoke worse than he thought." 14. He wont also to say, "That power in an ill man was like the power of a black witch; he could do hurt, but no good with it." And he would add, "That the magicians could turn water into blood, but could not turn the blood again to water." 15. When Mr. Attorney Coke, in the exchequer, gave high words to Sir Francis Bacon, and stood much upon his higher place; Sir Francis said to him, "Mr. Attorney, the less you speak of your own greatness, the more I shall think of it: and the more, the less." 16. Sir Francis Bacon coming into the earl of Arundel's garden, where there were a great number of ancient statues of naked men and women, made a stand, and, as astonished, cried out, "The resurrection !" 17. Sir Francis Bacon, who was always for moderate counsels, when one was speaking of such a reformation of the church of England, as would in effect make it no church; said thus to him, "Sir, the subject we talk of is the eye of England; and if there be a speck or two in the eye, we endeavour to take them off; but he were a strange oculist who would pull out the eye." 18. The same Sir Francis Bacon was wont to say, "That those who left useful studies for useless scholastic speculations, were like the Olympic gamesters, who abstained from necessary labours, that they might be fit for such as were not so." 19. He likewise often used this comparison : "The empirical philosophers are like to pismires; they only lay up and use their store. The rationalists are like the spiders; they spin all out of their own bowels. But give me a philosopher, who like the bee hath a middle faculty, gathering from abroad, but digesting that which is gathered by his own virtue." 20. The lord St. Alban, who was not over-hasty to raise theories, but proceeded slowly by experiments, was wont to say to some philosophers, who would not go his pace, Gentlemen, nature is a labyrinth, in which the very haste you move with, will make you lose your way." 66 21. The same lord, when he spoke of the Dutchmen, used to say, "That he could not abandon them for our safety, nor keep them for our profit." And sometimes he would express the same sense in this manner; "We hold the Belgic lion by the ears." 22. The same lord, when a gentleman seemed not much to approve of his liberality to his retinue, said to him, “Sir, I am all of a piece; if the head be lifted up, the inferior parts of the body must too." 23. The lord Bacon was wont to commend *See the substance of this in Novum Organum; and Cogitata et Visa. the advice of the plain old man at Buxton, that sold besoms a proud lazy young fellow came to him for a besom upon trust; to whom the old man said, "Friend, hast thou no money? borrow of thy back, and borrow of thy belly, they'll ne'er ask thee again, I shall be dunning thee every day." 24. Jack Weeks said of a great man, just then dead, who pretended to some religion, but was none of the best livers, "Well, I hope he is in heaven. Every man thinks as he wishes; but if he be in heaven, 'twere pity it were known." ORNAMENTA RATIONALIA: OR, ELEGANT SENTENCES, SOME MADE, OTHERS COLLECTED BY THE LORD BACON; AND BY HIM PUT UNDER THE ABOVESAID TITLE. COLLECTED OUT OF THE MIMI OF PUBLIUS, AND PUBLISHED IN THE REMAINS. 4. He conquers twice, who upon victory over- "Cum vitia prosint, peccat, qui recte facit." 5. "Benedormit, qui non sentit quod male dormiat." He sleeps well, who feels not that he sleeps ill. 6. "Deliberare utilia, mora est tutissima." To deliberate about useful things, is the safest delay. 7. "Dolor decrescit, ubi quo crescat non habet." The flood of grief decreaseth, when it can swell no higher. 8. "Etiam innocentes cogit mentiri dolor." Pain makes even the innocent man a liar. 9. "Etiam celeritas in desiderio, mora est." In desire, swiftness itself is delay. 10. "Etiam capillus unus habet umbram suam." The smallest hair casts a shadow. 11. "Fidem qui perdit, quo se servat in reliquum ?" He that has lost his faith, what has he left to live on? 12. "Formosa facies muta commendatio est." A beautiful face is a silent commendation. 13. "Fortuna nimium quem fovet, stultum facit." Fortune makes him a fool, whom she makes her darling. 14. "Fortuna obesse nulli contenta est semel." Fortune is not content to do a man but one ill turn. 15 "Facit gratum fortuna, quem nemo videt." 24. When men are in calamity, if we do but laugh we offend. "Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit." He accuseth Neptune unjustly, who makes shipwreck a second time. 25. "Multis minatur, qui uni facit injuriam." He that injures one, threatens a hundred. 26.Mora omnis ingrata est, sed facit sapientiam." All delay is ungrateful, but we are not wise without it. 27. "Mori est felicis antequam mortem invocet." Happy he who dies ere he calls for death to take him away. 2. Children increase the cares of life; but they like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their mitigate the remembrance of death. 3. Round dealing is the honour of man's nature; and a mixture of falsehood is like alloy in gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. 4. Death openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. 5. Schism in the spiritual body of the church is a greater scandal than a corruption of manners: as, in the natural body, a wound or solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt humour. 6. Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. 7. He that studieth revenge, keepeth his own wounds green. 8. Revengeful persons live and die like witches: their life is mischievous, and their end is unfortunate. 9. It was a high speech of Seneca, after the manner of the Stoics, that the good things which belong | to prosperity, are to be wished; but the good things which belong to adversity, are to be admired. 10. He that cannot see well, let him go softly. 11. If a man be thought secret, it inviteth discovery; as the more close air sucketh in the more open. 12. Keep your authority wholly from your children, not so your purse. 13. Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards new men when they rise; for the distance is altered; and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on, they think themselves go back. 14. That envy is most malignant which is like Cain's, who envied his brother, because his sacrifice was better accepted, when there was nobody but God to look on. | street door, though there they offer age to scorn. 16. In evil, the best condition is, not to will: the next, not to can. 17. In great place, ask counsel of both times: of the ancient time, what is best; and of the latter time, what is fittest. 18. As in nature things move more violently to their place, and calmly in their place so virtue in ambition is violent; in authority, settled and calm. 19. Boldness in civil business is like pronunciation in the orator of Demosthenes; the first, second, and third thing. 20. Boldness is blind: wherefore it is ill in counsel, but good in execution. For in counsel it is good to see dangers; in execution, not to see them, except they be very great. 21. Without good-nature, man is but a better kind of vermin. 22. God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. 23. The great atheists indeed are hypocrites, who are always handling holy things, but without feeling; so as they must needs be cauterized in the end. 24. The master of superstition is the people. And in all superstition, wise men follow fools. 25. In removing superstitions, care would be had that, as it fareth in ill purgings, the good be not taken away with the bad: which commonly is done when the people is the physician. 26. He that goeth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. 27. It is a miserable state of mind, and yet it is commonly the case of kings, to have few things to desire and many things to fear. |