To conclude therefore: as certain critics are used to say hyperbolically, "That if all sciences were lost, they might be found in Virgil;" so certainly this may be said truly, there are the prints and footsteps of all learning in those few speeches which are reported of this prince: the admiration of whom, when I consider him not as Alexander the Great, but as Aristotle's scholar, hath carried me too far.

As for Julius Cæsar, the excellency of his learning needeth not to be argued from his education, or his company, or his speeches; but in a farther degree doth declare itself in his writings and works; whereof some are extant and permanent, and some unfortunately perished. For, first, we see, there is left unto us that excellent history of his own wars, which he entitled only a commentary, wherein all succeeding times have admired the solid weight of matter, and the real passages, and lively images of actions and persons, expressed in the greatest propriety of words and perspicuity of narration that ever was; which that it was not the effect of a natural gift, but of learning and precept, is well witnessed by that work of his, entitled "De Analogiâ," being a grammatical philosophy, wherein he did labour to make this same vox ad placitum to become vox ad licitum, and to reduce custom of speech to congruity of speech; and took, as it were, the picture of words from the life of reason.

So we receive from him, as a monument both of his power and learning, the then reformed computation of the year; well expressing that he took it to be as great a glory to himself to observe and know the law of the heavens, as to give law to men upon the earth.

So likewise in that book of his, "Anti-Cato," it may easily appear that he did aspire as well to victory of wit as victory of war; undertaking therein a conflict against the greatest champion with the pen that then lived, Cicero the orator.

which did admit them already cashiered; wherewith they were so surprised, crossed, and confused, as they would not suffer him to go on in his speech, but relinquished their demands, and made it their suit, to be again called by the name of "Milites."

The second speech was thus: Cæsar did extremely affect the name of king; and some were set on, as he passed by, in popular acclamation to salute him king; whereupon, finding the cry weak and poor, he put it off thus, in a kind of jest, as if they had mistaken his surname ; "Non rex sum, sed Cæsar;" a speech, that if it be searched, the life and fulness of it can scarce be expressed: for, first, it was a refusal of the name, but yet not serious : again, it did signify an infinite confidence and magnanimity, as if he presumed Cæsar was the greater title, as by his worthiness it is come to pass till this day but chiefly, it was a speech of great allurement toward his own purpose; as if the state did strive with him but for a name, whereof mean families were vested; for Rex was a surname with the Romans, as well as King is with us.

The last speech which I will mention, was used to Metellus; when Cæsar, after war declared, did possess himself of the city of Rome, at which time entering into the inner treasury to take the money there accumulated, Metellus, being tribune, forbad him: whereto Cæsar said, “That if he did not desist, he would lay him dead in the place." And presently taking himself up, he added, “ Adolescens, durius est mihi hoc dicere, quàm facere, Young man, it is harder for me to speak it, than to do it." A speech compounded of the greatest terror and greatest clemency that could proceed out of the mouth of man.

knew not how to dictate."

But to return, and conclude with him: it is evident, himself knew well his own perfection in learning, and took it upon him; as appeared, when, upon occasion that some spake, what a strange resolution it was in Lucius Sylla to resign his dictature; he So again in his book of " Apophthegms," which scoffing at him, to his own advantage, answered, he collected, we see that he esteemed it more honour"That Sylla could not skill of letters, and therefore to make himself but a pair of tables, to take the wise and pithy words of others, than to have every word of his own to be made an apophthegm, or an oracle; as vain princes, by custom of flattery, pretend to do. And yet if I should enumerate divers of his speeches, as I did those of Alexander, they are truly such as Solomon noteth, when he saith, "Verba sapientum tanquam aculei, et tanquam clavi in altum defixi:" whereof I will only recite three, not so delectable for elegancy, but admirable for vigour and efficacy.

As, first, it is reason he be thought a master of words, that could with one word appease a mutiny in his army, which was thus: The Romans, when their generals did speak to their army, did use the word Milites, but when the magistrates spake to the people, they did use the word Quirites. The soldiers were in tumult, and seditiously prayed to be cashiered; not that they so meant, but by expostulation thereof to draw Cæsar to other conditions; wherein he being resolute not to give away, after some silence, he began his speech, "Ego, Quirites :"

And here it were fit to leave this point, touching the concurrence of military virtue and learning, for what example would come with any grace, after those two of Alexander and Cæsar? were it not in regard of the rareness of circumstance, that I find in one other particular, as that which did so suddenly pass from extreme scorn to extreme wonder; and it is of Xenophon the philosopher, who went from Socrates's school into Asia, in the expedition of Cyrus the younger, against king Artaxerxes. This Xenophon at that time was very young, and never had seen the wars before; neither had any command in the army, but only followed the war as a voluntary, for the love and conversation of Proxenus his friend. He was present when Falinus came in message from the great king to the Grecians, after that Cyrus was slain in the field, and they a handful of men left to themselves in the midst of the king's territories, cut off from their country by many navigable rivers, and many hundred miles. The message imported that they should deliver up

be deeply seasoned with the consideration of the mortality and corruptible nature of things, he will easily concur with Epictetus, who went forth one day, and saw a woman weeping for her pitcher of earth that was broken; and went forth the next day, and saw a woman weeping for her son that was dead; and thereupon said, "Heri vidi fragilem frangi, hodie vidi mortalem mori." And therefore did Virgil excellently and profoundly couple the knowledge of causes, and the conquest of all fears together, as concomitantia :

their arms, and submit themselves to the king's | and imperfections of manners. For if a man's mind mercy. To which message before answer was made, divers of the army conferred familiarly with Falinus and amongst the rest Xenophon happened to say, "Why, Falinus, we have now but these two things left, our arms and our virtue; and if we yield up our arms, how shall we make use of our virtue ?" Whereto Falinus, smiling on him, said, "If I be not deceived, young gentleman, you are an Athenian, and, I believe, you study philosophy, and it is pretty that you say; but you are much abused, if you think your virtue can withstand the king's power." Here was the scorn: the wonder followed; which was, that this young scholar, or philosopher, after all the captains were murdered in parley by treason, conducted those ten thousand foot, through the heart of all the king's high countries, from Babylon to Græcia in safety, in despite of all the king's forces, to the astonishment of the world, and the encouragement of the Grecians in time succeeding to make invasion upon the kings of Persia; as was after purposed by Jason the Thessalian, attempted by Agesilaus the Spartan, and achieved by Alexander the Macedonian, all upon the ground of the act of that young scholar.

To proceed now from imperial and military virtue to moral and private virtue: first, it is an assured truth, which is contained in the verses;

"Scilicet ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes,
Emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros."

It taketh away the wildness, and barbarism, and fierceness of men's minds: but indeed the accent had need be upon fideliter: for a little superficial learning doth rather work a contrary effect. It taketh away all levity, temerity, and insolency, by copious suggestion of all doubts and difficulties, and acquainting the mind to balance reasons on both sides, and to turn back the first offers and conceits of the mind, and to accept of nothing but examined and tried. It taketh away vain admiration of any thing, which is the root of all weakness: for all things are admired, either because they are new, or because they are great. For novelty, no man that wadeth in learning or contemplation throughly, but will find that printed in his heart, "Nil novi super terram." Neither can any man marvel at the play of puppets, that goeth behind the curtain, and adviseth well of the motion. And for magnitude, as Alexander the Great, after he was used to great armies, and the conquests of the spacious provinces in Asia, when he received letters out of Greece, of some fights and services there, which were commonly for a passage, or a fort, or some walled town at the most, he said, "It seemed to him, that he was advertised of the battle of the frogs, and the mice, that the old tales went of." So certainly, if a man meditate upon the universal frame of nature, the earth, with men upon it, the divineness of souls excepted, will not seem much other than an ant-hill, where some ants carry corn, and some carry their young, and some go empty, and all to and fro a little heap of dust. It taketh away or mitigateth fear of death, or adverse fortune; which is one of the greatest impediments of virtue,

"Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Quique metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum

Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari."

It were too long to go over the particular remedies which learning doth minister to all the diseases of the mind, sometimes purging the ill humours, sometimes opening the obstructions, sometimes helping digestion, sometimes increasing appetite, sometimes healing the wounds and exulcerations thereof, and the like; and therefore I will conclude with that which hath "rationem totius," which is, that it disposeth the constitution of the mind not to be fixed or settled in the defects thereof, but still to be capable and susceptible of growth and reformation. For the unlearned man knows not what it is to descend into himself, or to call himself to account; nor the pleasure of that "suavissima vita, indies sentire se fieri meliorem." The good parts he hath, he will learn to show to the full, and use them dexterously, but not much to increase them: the faults he hath, he will learn how to hide and colour them, but not much to amend them: like an ill mower, that mows on still, and never whets his scythe. Whereas, with the learned man it fares otherwise, that he doth ever intermix the correction and amendment of his mind, with the use and employment thereof. Nay, farther, in general and in sum, certain it is, that veritas and bonitas differ but as the seal and the print: for truth prints goodness; and they be the clouds of error, which descend in the storms of passions and perturbations.

From moral virtue let us pass on to matter of power and commandment, and consider whether in right reason there be any comparable with that, wherewith knowledge investeth and crowneth man's nature. We see the dignity of the commandment is according to the dignity of the commanded to have commandment over beasts, as herdmen have, is a thing contemptible; to have commandment over children, as schoolmasters have, is a matter of small honour; to have commandment over galley-slaves, is a disparagement, rather than an honour. Neither is the commandment of tyrants much better, over people which have put off the generosity of their minds: and therefore it was ever holden, that honours in free monarchies and commonwealths had a sweetness more than in tyrannies, because the commandment extendeth more over the wills of men, and not only over their deeds and services. And therefore when Virgil putteth himself forth to attribute to Augustus Cæsar the best of human honours, he doth it in these words:

be impossible for me, by any pleading of mine, to | ferred empire with any condition never so detestable : reverse the judgment, either of Æsop's cock, that or of Ulysses, "qui vetulam prætulit immortalitati,” preferred the barley-corn before the gem; or of Mi- being a figure of those which prefer custom and habit das, that being chosen judge between Apollo, presi- before all excellence; or of a number of the like dent of the Muses, and Pan, god of the flocks, popular judgments. For these things must continue judged for plenty; or of Paris, that judged for beau- as they have been; but so will that also continue, ty and love, against wisdom and power; or of Agrip- whereupon learning hath ever relied, and which pina, "Occidat matrem, modo imperet," that pre- faileth not: "Justificata est sapientia a filiis suis.”

THE SECOND BOOK

OF

FRANCIS BACON,

OF THE

PROFICIENCE AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING,

DIVINE AND HUMAN.

TO THE KING.

Let this ground therefore be laid, that all works are overcome by amplitude of reward, by soundness of direction, and by the conjunction of labours. The first multiplieth endeavour, the second preventeth error, and the third supplieth the frailty of man; but the principal of these is direction: for "claudas in via antevertit cursorem extra viam ;" and Solomon excellently setteth it down, "If the iron be not sharp, it requireth more strength; but wisdom is that which prevaileth" signifying, that the invention or election of the mean is more effectual than any enforcement or accumulation of endeavours. This I am induced to speak, for that, not derogating from the noble intention of any that have been deservers towards the state of learning, I do observe, nevertheless, that their works and acts are rather matters of magnificence and memory, than of progression and proficience, and tend rather to augment the mass of learning, in the multitude of learned men, than to rectify or raise the sciences themselves.

Ir might seem to have more convenience, though it | advancement of learning, wherein I purpose to speak come often otherwise to pass, excellent king, that | actively, without digressing or dilating. those, which are fruitful in their generations, and have in themselves the foresight of immortality in their descendants, should likewise be more careful of the good estate of future times, unto which, they know, they must transmit and commend over their dearest pledges. Queen Elizabeth was a sojourner in the world, in respect of her unmarried life, and was a blessing to her own times; and yet so as the impression of her good government, besides her happy memory, is not without some effect which doth survive her. But to your majesty, whom God hath already blessed with so much royal issue, worthy to continue and represent you for ever: and whose youthful and fruitful bed doth yet promise many the like renovations; it is proper and agreeable to be conversant, not only in the transitory parts of good government, but in those acts also which are in their nature permanent and perpetual: amongst the which, if affection do not transport me, there is not any more worthy, than the farther endowment of the world with sound and faithful knowledge. For why should a few received authors stand up like Hercules's columns; beyond which there should be no sailing or discovering, since we have so bright and benign a star as your majesty, to conduct and prosper us? To return therefore where we left, it remaineth to consider of what kind those acts are, which have been undertaken and performed by kings and others, for the increase and

The works or acts of merit towards learning are conversant about three objects: the places of learning, the books of learning, and the persons of the learned. For as water, whether it be the dew of heaven, or the springs of the earth, doin scatter and lose itself in the ground, except it be collected into some receptacle, where it may by union comfort and sustain itself; and for that cause the industry of

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man hath made and framed spring-heads, conduits, | a tree bear more fruit than it hath used to do, it is cisterns, and pools, which men have accustomed not any thing you can do to the boughs, but it is likewise to beautify and adorn with accomplishments the stirring of the earth, and putting new mould of magnificence and state, as well as of use and ne- about the roots, that must work it. Neither is it to cessity; so this excellent liquor of knowledge, be forgotten, that this dedicating of foundations and whether it descend from divine inspiration, or spring donations to professory learning, hath not only had from human sense, would soon perish and vanish to a malign aspect and influence upon the growth of oblivion, if it were not preserved in books, traditions, sciences, but hath also been prejudicial to states conferences, and places appointed; as universities, and governments. For hence it proceedeth that colleges, and schools, for the receipt and comforting princes find a solitude in regard of able men to serve of the same. them in causes of state, because there is no education collegiate which is free, where such as were so disposed might give themselves to histories, | modern languages, books of policy and civil discourse, and other the like enablements unto service of state.