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be inward, and no other apparent Cause of Efteem, is commonly thought but a By-way to close Corruption. For Roughness; it is a needless cause of Difcontent: Severity breedeth Fear, but Roughnefs breedeth Hate. Even Reproofs from Authority ought to be Grave, and not Taunting. As for Facility, it is worse than Bribery. For Bribes come but now and then; but if Importunity or Idle Refpects lead a Man, he shall never be without. As Solomon faith; To respect Perfons is not good; for fuch a man will tranfgrefs for a piece of Bread. It is moft true, that was anciently spoken; A Place fheweth the Man :5 and it fheweth fome to the better, and fome to the worfe: Omnium confenfu capax Imperii, nifi imperaffet, faith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vefpafian he faith; Solus Imperantium Vefpafianus mutatus in melius.6 Though the one was meant of Sufficiency, the other of Manners and Affection. It is an affured Sign of a worthy and generous Spirit, whom Honour amends. For Honour is, or should be, the Place of Virtue; and as in Nature, Things move violently to their Place, and calmly in their Place; fo Virtue in Ambition is violent, in Authority fettled and calm. All Rifing to Great Place is by a winding Stair; and if there be Factions, it is good to fide a Man's felf whilft he is in the Rifing; and to balance Himfelf when he is placed. Use the Memory of thy

4 Proverbs xxviii. 21.

5 This refers to the celebrated Greek proverb ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσι, which Plutarch tells us Epaminondas thus elegantly enlarged, Οὐ μόνον ἡ ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν καὶ ἀρχὴν ἀνὴρ. See Erafmus Adag. L. Bat. 1560, p. 398, and his Apophthegmata, L. v. 33. Tacit. Hift. i. 49, 50. Cf. Adv. of Learn. II. xxii. 5.

Predeceffor fairly and tenderly; for if thou doft not, it is a Debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have Colleagues, refpect them, and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too fenfible or too remembering of thy Place in Conversation and private Answers to Suitors; But let it rather be faid, When he fits in Place he is another Man.

XII. Of Boldness.1

T is a trivial Grammar School Text, but yet worthy a wife Man's Confideration. Question was asked of Demofthenes, What was the chief Part of an Orator? He answered, Action: What next? Action: What next again? Action. that knew it best; and had by nature Advantage in that he commended. thing, that that Part of an Orator, which is but fuperficial, and rather the virtue of a Player, should be placed fo high above thofe other Noble Parts of Invention, Elocution, and the rest: nay, almost alone, as if it were All in All. But the Reason is

1 See Antitheta, No. 33.

He said it himself no A strange

2 Plut. Vita Demofthenis, 17, 18. Comp. Cicero de Oratore, iii. 56. Brut. 38.

It has been doubted whether Bacon has rightly conceived the fenfe of the word actio as used by Cicero in this anecdote; but do not the words of Cicero elsewhere lead to the fame conclufion? "Eft enim actio quafi fermo corporis”—“ quafi corporis eloquentiæ." Cf. Quintil. I. O. xi. 3. et i. cap. II.

plain. There is in Human Nature generally more of the Fool than of the Wife; and therefore thofe faculties, by which the Foolish part of Men's Minds is taken, are most potent. Wonderful like is the Cafe of Boldness in Civil Business; What firft? Boldness: What Second and Third ? Boldnefs. And yet Boldness is a Child of Ignorance and Baseness, far inferior to other Parts. But nevertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot those that are either fhallow in Judgement or weak in Courage, which are the greatest Part: Yea, and prevaileth with Wife Men at weak times; therefore we see it hath done wonders in Popular States, but with Senates and Princes lefs; and more, ever upon the first entrance of Bold Perfons into Action, than foon after; for Boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely, as there are Mountebanks for the Natural Body, so are there Mountebanks for the Politique Body: Men that undertake great Cures, and perhaps have been lucky in two or three Experiments, but want the Grounds of Science, and therefore cannot hold out: nay, you shall see a Bold Fellow many times do Mahomet's Miracle. Mahomet made the People believe that he would call a Hill to him, and from the Top of it offer up his Prayers for the Obfervers of his Law. The People affembled; Mahomet called the Hill to come to him again and again : and when the Hill stood ftill, he was never a whit abashed, but faid; If the Hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the Hill. So these Men, when they have promised great Matters and

failed most shamefully, yet (if they have the perfection of Boldness), they will but flight it over, and make a turn, and no more ado. Certainly, to Men of great Judgement, Bold Persons are a Sport to behold; nay, and to the Vulgar alfo, Boldness hath somewhat of the ridiculous: for if Abfurdity be the Subject of Laughter, doubt you not but great Boldness is feldom without fome Abfurdity. Especially it is a Sport to fee, when a Bold Fellow is out of Countenance; for that puts his Face into a moft fhrunken and wooden Pofture, as needs. it muft; for in Bafhfulness the Spirits do a little go and come; but with Bold Men, upon like occafion, they stand at a stay, like a Stale at Chefs, where it is no Mate, but yet the Game cannot

ftir but this laft were fitter for a Satire than for a ferious Obfervation. This is well to be weighed, that Boldness is ever blind; for it seeth not Dangers and Inconveniences: therefore it is ill in Counsel, good in Execution: so that the right Use of Bold Perfons is, that they never command in Chief, but be Seconds, and under the Direction of others. For in Counsel it is good to fee dangers; and in Execution not to see them, except they be very great.

XIII. Of Goodnefs, and Goodnefs of Nature.

TAKE Goodness in this Sense, the affecting of the Weal of Men, which is that the Grecians call Philanthropia ; and the word Humanity (as it is used) is a little too light to exprefs it. Goodness I call the Habit, and Goodness of Nature the Inclination. This, of all Virtues and Dignities of the Mind is the greatest, being the Character of the Deity; and without it Man is a Bufy, Mischievous, Wretched Thing, no better than a Kind of Vermin. Goodness answers to the Theological Virtue Charity, and admits no Excess but Error. The defire of Power in Excefs caufed the Angels to fall; the defire of Knowledge in Excefs caufed Man to fall but in Charity there is no Excefs; neither can Angel or Man come in danger by it. The Inclination to Goodness is imprinted deeply in the Nature of Man: infomuch, that if it iffue not towards Men, it will take unto Other Living Creatures; as it is feen in the Turks, a cruel People, who nevertheless are kind to Beasts, and give Alms to Dogs and Birds: infomuch, as Bufbechius1 reporteth; A Christian Boy in Conftantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging, in

Bacon

1 Legationes Turcicæ, Hanov. 1605, 12mo. p. 133. again quotes from memory; it was a Venetian goldfmith at Conftantinople fond of fowling, who was threatened with the bastinado

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