LEARNING ASSOCIATES DISTANT AGES. 73 consociateth the most remote regions in participation of their fruits, how much more are letters to be magnified, which as ships pass through the vast seas of time, and make ages so distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations, and inventions, the one of the other? Nay s further, we see some of the philosophers which were least divine and most immersed in the senses, and denied generally the immortality of the soul, yet came to this point, that whatsoever motions the spirit of man could act and perform without the organs of the body, they thought 10 might remain after death, — which were only those of the understanding, and not of the affection; so immortal and incorruptible a thing did knowledge seem unto them to be. But we, that know by divine revelation that not only the understanding, but the affections purified, not only 15 the spirit, but the body changed, shall be advanced to immortality, do disclaim in these rudiments of the senses. But it must be remembered both in this last point, and so it may likewise be needful in other places, that in probation of the dignity of knowledge or learning I did in 20 the beginning separate divine testimony from human; which method I have pursued, and so handled them both apart. Nevertheless I do not pretend, and I know it will be impossible for me by any pleading of mine, to reverse 25 the judgment, either of Æsop's cock, that preferred the barley-corn 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 30 and power; or of Agrippina, Let him kill his mother so he be emperor, that preferred empire with any condition never so detestable; or of Ulysses, who preferred an old 1 Occidat matrem, modo imperet. 14 74 SOME INCAPABLE OF WISDOM. woman to immortality, being a figure of those which prefer custom and habit before all excellency; or of a number of the like popular judgments. For these things must continue as they have been; but so will that also 5 continue whereupon learning hath ever relied, and which faileth not: Wisdom is justified of her children? 1 Justificata est Sapientia a filiis suis. NOTES. To the King James I of England and VI of Scotland (15661625), son of Lord Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots, who succeeded Queen Elizabeth in 1603. The reign of James in England was distinguished by many memorable events: it witnessed the literary and political careers of Bacon and Raleigh, the disgrace of both, and execution of the latter; the dramatic activity of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson; the translation of the English Bible; the colonization of Virginia and New England; the formation of two well-defined schools of English Protestantism; and the genesis of the struggle between King and Commons which brought the head of his successor to the block. James was despicable in his personal qualities: was weak, cowardly, passionate, vindictive, cruel, superstitious, fanatical, and prone to fall under the influence of worthless favorites. Though absurdly lacking in kingly qualities, he thoroughly believed in his divine right to rule, setting forth his views on that subject in Basilikon Doron (1599). His learning was varied, though not scholarly; he published several other books, which were much praised by his flatterers, but have now only a historical interest' (Johnson's Cyclopædia). His flatterers called him the British Solomon. An instructive parallel to Bacon's dedication is that of the translators of the English Bible, which is usually prefixed to the Authorized Version. The current conceptions of James I are largely derived from Scott's Fortunes of Nigel. Cf. Green, Short History of the English People, Chap. 8, sect. 2. We must remember that the Advancement of Learning was published two years after James' accession to the English throne. Macaulay says, in his essay on Bacon: 'James mounted the throne; and Bacon employed all his address to obtain for himself a share of the favor of his new master. This was no difficult task. The faults of James, both as a man and as a prince, were numerous; but insensibility to the claims of genius and learning was not among them. He was indeed made up of two men—a witty, well-read scholar, who wrote, disputed, and harangued, and a nervous, driveling idiot, who acted. . . . Under the reign of James, Bacon grew rapidly in fortune and favor. In 1604 he was appointed King's Counsel, with a fee of forty pounds a year; and a pension of sixty pounds a year was settled upon him. In 1607 he became Solicitor-General, in 1612 Attorney-General.' 11. Law. Mosaic Law. 12. Freewill offerings. Cf. Lev. 23. 37, 38. Proceeding upon. Resulting from. 13. Ordinary observance. fulness. Eagerness, alacrity. Prescribed form of worship. CheerCf. 'Not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver' (2 Cor. 9. 7). 14. There belongeth to kings. In his letter to King James, written in the year of his accession, Bacon says: 'I think there is no subject of Your Majesty's who loveth this island, and is not hollow and unworthy, whose heart is not set on fire, not only to bring you peace-offerings to make you propitious, but to sacrifice himself a burnt offering to Your Majesty's service; amongst which number no man's fire shall be more pure and fervent than mine.' 15. Cf. note on 62 7. 18. Presents. Pledges, tokens. Your Majesty's employments. A gentle hint. 19. Respective. Appropriate. 1 10. Propriety. Peculiarity. Cf. Lat. proprius. 1 15. Scripture. Prov. 25. 3. Selby quotes Bacon's essay of Empire: It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear. And yet that commonly is the case of kings: who, being at the highest, want matter of desire, which makes their minds more languishing, and have many representations of perils and shadows, which makes their minds the less clear. And this is one reason also of that effect which the Scripture speaketh of: that the king's heart is inscrutable. For multitude of jealousies, and lack of some predominant desire that should marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound.' 1 18. Virtue and fortune. Cf. 4 2. 1 19 ff. Abbott says (Francis Bacon, p. 103): ‘It is this excess of hopefulness - this determination not only to make the best, but to see the best, of everything—which explains, more adequately than any hypothesis of deliberate flattery, the language of adulation in which he addressed the King in the earlier years of his reign. Perhaps Bacon never, to the last, thoroughly realized the inherent weakness of James' character; perhaps he found it impracticable to discontinue the habit once formed, and perceived that flattery was necessary in approaching a sovran who mistook deference for devotion. Be the cause what it may, he never tendered counsel to the King without disguising it in obsequiousness.' 24. Plato's opinion. Cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1. 24. 57: If desires and aversions were all that belonged to the soul, it would have them only in common with the beasts; but it has, in the first place, memory, and that, too, so infinite as to recollect an absolutely countless number of circumstances, which Plato will have to be a recollection of a former life; for in that book which is inscribed Meno, Socrates asks a child some questions in geometry, with reference to measuring a square; his answers are such as a child would make, and yet the questions are so easy that while answering them one by one he comes to the same point as if he had learned geometry. From whence Socrates would infer that learning is nothing more than recollection; and this topic he explains more accurately in the discourse which he held the very day he died; for he there asserts that any one, who, seeming to be entirely illiterate, is yet able to answer a question well that is proposed to him, does in so doing manifestly show that he is not learning it then, but recollecting it by his memory. Nor is it to be accounted for in any other way, how children come to have notions of so many and such important things as are implanted, and, as it were, sealed up in their minds, unless the soul, before it entered the body, had been well stored with knowledge.' See also Plato, Meno 81: 'The soul, then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that there are, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all; and it is no wonder that she should be able to call to remembrance all that she ever knew about virtue, and about everything; for as all nature is akin, and the soul has learned all things, there is no difficulty in her eliciting, or as men say learning, all out of a single recollection, if a man is strenuous and does not faint; for all inquiry and all learning is but recollection.' And cf. Plato, Phado 72 ff., and Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality. 2 7. Ed. 1605 has 'motions.' |