Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) BACON’S ESSAYS AND WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE BY A. SPIERS PREFACE BY B. MONTAGU, AND NOTES BY DIFFERENT WRITERS [Illustration] BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY _Copyright, 1884_, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A. ADVERTISEMENT. In preparing the present volume for the press, use has been freely made of several publications which have recently appeared in England. The Biographical Notice of the author is taken from an edition of the Essays, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. To this has been added the Preface to Pickering’s edition of the Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients, by Basil Montagu, Esq. Parker’s edition, by Thomas Markby, M. A., has furnished the arrangement of the Table prefixed to the Essays, and also “the references to the most important quotations.” The Notes, including the translations of the Latin, are chiefly copied from Bohn’s edition, prepared by Joseph Devey, M. A. We have given the modern translation of the Wisdom of the Ancients contained in Bohn’s edition, in preference to that “done by Sir Arthur Gorges,” although the last mentioned has a claim upon regard, as having been made by a contemporary of Lord Bacon, and published in his lifetime. Its language is in the style of English current in the author’s age, and for this reason may resemble more nearly what the philosopher himself would have used, had he composed the work in his own tongue instead of Latin. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface by B. Montagu, Esq. xi Introductory Notice of the Life and Writings of Bacon, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. 1 ESSAYS; OR, COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL. NO. 1. Of Truth 1625; 57 2. Of Death 1612; enlarged 1625 62 3. Of Unity in Religion; Of Religion 1612; rewritten 1625 65 4. Of Revenge 1625; 73 5. Of Adversity 1625; 75 6. Of Simulation and Dissimulation 1625; 78 7. Of Parents and Children 1612; enlarged 1625 82 8. Of Marriage and Single Life 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 84 9. Of Envy 1625; 87 10. Of Love 1612; rewritten 1625 95 11. Of Great Place 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 98 12. Of Boldness 1625; 103