who afterwards waxed stupid: a second sort is of those that have some natural dispositions which have better grace in youth than in age; such as is a fluent and luxuriant speech, which becomes youth well but not age: so Tully saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque idem decebat: the third is of such as take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold; as was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

P. 299. Youth and Age] In the Historia Vitae et Mortis (published 1623), Bacon sums up somewhat more favourably to youth, bringing out more fully the better moral qualities of young men, and giving less prominence to the improved judgment and intellectual capacity of the old. Works, ii. 212.

1. 10. Septimius Severus] The words are-Juventam plenam furorum, nonnunquam et criminum habuit.' Spartianus, Life of Severus, cap. ii. But the general testimony of Spartianus as to the conduct of Severus in youth is to the contrary effect. It was in the later career of Severus rather than in his youth that he gave proof of a disordered mind. Cap. xii.

1. 14. Cosmus] or Cosimo, of the younger branch of the Medici, was appointed Duke of Florence in 1537, at the age of seventeen, on the failure of the elder branch of the family after the murder of the previous Duke Alessandro. During a long tenure of office, he administered the affairs of Florence with marked ability and success.

1. 15. Gaston de Foix] Bacon probably refers to Gaston III, Count de Foix, and Viscount de Béarn. He was born in 1331, and at the age of fourteen served with distinction in military and then in civil business. Froissart, who knew him in his later life, describes him as a pattern of chivalry. Chron. vol. ii. caps. 26 and 80 (Berner's trans.).

tract of years] i. e. length of years. The Latin gives, more clearly, aetas provectior. Conf. 'The wisdom which is learned by tract of time findeth the laws, that have been in former ages established, needful in later to be abrogated.' Hooker, Eccl. Pol. Bk.

iv. chap. 14. sec. I. 'Then Fabius did straight set forth unto Hannibal, not as minded to fight with him, but fully resolved to wear out his strength and power by delays and tract of time.' Plutarch, Lives, p. 181.

Another Gaston de Foix, Duke de Nemours, a nephew of Lewis XII of France, may equally be described as having 'done well in youth,' though hardly as of 'a reposed nature.' He commanded the French troops in Italy, and was killed at the battle of Ravenna in 1512. 'En peu de temps il fut faict capitaine general devant que d'avoir quasi faict l'apprentissage de soldat. ... Bref sembloit estre une chose non jamais veue ny ouye que en si grande jeunesse, qui n'estoit que de vingtquatre ans ou environ, il eut executé de si haults faicts d'armes.' Thevet, Vie des hommes illustres, vol. ii. p. 322 B (Paris, 1584).

Bayle speaks of him as-'Ce foudre de guerre, qui auroit aparemment surpassé les deux Scipions s'il avoit vêcu autant qu'eux.' Dict. Hist. et Crit. p. 1777 (3rd edition). Vide also Guicciardini, Storia d'Italia, vol. v. 306, 307.

1. 18. fitter for execution &c.] Conf. 'To speak truly, youth is made (as it were) to follow and obey, but age to guide and command: and that City or State is preserved, wherein the sage counsels of the Elders, and the martial prowesse of the younger, beare sway together.' Plutarch, Morals, p. 322.

Gaisford, in the Paroemiographi Graeci (e Cod. Bodleiano, 690), gives the proverb Νέοις μὲν ἔργα, βουλὰς δὲ γεραιτέροις, and adds in a note (inter alia) the well-known line ascribed to Hesiod: "Epya véwv, βουλαὶ δὲ μέσων, εὐχαὶ δὲ γερόντων.

P. 300, 1. 9. Certainly it is good &c.] This is Plutarch's advice. Vide Morals, p. 323. Bacon presses it in his letter of advice to Sir George Villiers; Letters and Life, vi. p. 40.

1. 17. A certain rabbin] This is Abravanel. His words are: 'Then because prophecy consists of two degrees, a prophetic dream and a prophetic vision (as it is said in the Law, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream), in accordance with this it is here said, the old men shall be deemed worthy to dream dreams and the young men to see visions; because the strength of the old men is diminished, their sight is dim, therefore they shall dream; and the young men, because they are full of vigour and their powers of sight stronger, therefore they shall see visions.' Vide Abravanel, on the later prophets (1520); Joel ii. 28 in the Authorized version; iii. 1 in Abravanel's Hebrew Text.

I am indebted to Dr. Ginsburg for this note.

...

1. 27. Hermogenes] Ερμογένης δέ, ὃν Ταρσοὶ ἤνεγκαν, πεντεκαίδεκα ἔτη γεγονώς, ἐφ ̓ οὕτω μέγα προὔβη τῆς τῶν σοφιστῶν δόξης ὡς καὶ Μάρκῳ βασιλεῖ παρασχεῖν ἔρωτα ἀκροάσεως. . . . Ες δὲ ἄνδρας ἥκων, ἀφῃρέθη τὴν ἕξιν ὑπ ̓ οὐδεμιᾶς φανερᾶς νόσου. ὅθεν ἀστεϊσμοῦ λόγον παρέδωκε τοῖς βασκάνοις. ἔφασαν γὰρ τοὺς λόγους ἀτεχνῶς καθ' Ομηρον πτερόεντας εἶναι. ἀποβεβληκέναι γὰρ αὐτοὺς τὸν Ἑρμογένην, καθάπερ πτερά. . . . Ετελεύτα μὲν οὖν ἐν βαθεῖ γήρα,

εἰς δὲ τῶν πολλῶν νομιζόμενος. κατεφρονήθη γάρ, ἀπολιπούσης αὐτὸν τῆς Téxins. Philostratus de Vitis Sophist. sub tit. Hermogenes.

Suidas, who follows Philostratus word for word in some parts, tells the story more fully, and, as regards the age at which he gained distinction, more credibly: Ερμογένης, Ταρσεύς, ὁ ἐπίκλην ξυστήρ, · γέγονε δὲ ἐπὶ Μάρκου τοῦ βασιλέως, εὐφυέστατος, καὶ τῆς ἡλικίας αὐτοῦ ἐνδεεστέρας ὑπαρχούσης, μᾶλλον ἡ φρόνησις ὑπερεῖχεν. ἀλλ ̓ οὐκ ἐς μακρὸν ταύτης ἀπήλαυσε γενόμενος γὰρ περὶ τὰ εἴκοσι καὶ τέσσαρα ἔτη ἐξέστη τῶν φρενῶν, καὶ ἦν ἀλλοῖος αὐτοῦ, μηδεμιᾶς ἀφορμῆς γενομένης ἡ ἀρρωστίας τοῦ σώματος . . . περὶ τὸν ιή (18) ἢ κ' (20) χρόνον γενόμενος γράφει ταῦτα τὰ βιβλία τὰ γέμοντα θαυμάτων. The list follows. Suidas, Lexicon, sub voce.

P. 301, 1. 3. a fluent and luxurious speech] Conf. 'Sed si quaerimus cur adolescens magis floruerit dicendo quam senior Hortensius, causas reperiemus verissimas duas. Primùm quod genus erat orationis Asiaticum, adolescentiae magis concessum quam senectuti. . . . Itaque Hortensius . . . clamores faciebat adolescens . . . Etsi enim genus illud dicendi auctoritatis habebat parum, tamen aptum esse aetati videbatur. ... Sed quum jam honores et illa senior auctoritas gravius quiddam requireret, remanebat idem nec decebat idem.' Cic. Brutus, c. 95. Ipsum etiam eloquentiae genus alios aliud decet: nam neque tam plenum et erectum et audax et praecultum senibus convenerit, quam pressum et mite et limatum, et quale intelligi vult Cicero, quum dicit orationem suam coepisse canescere: sic vestibus quoque non purpura coccoque fulgentibus illa aetas satis apta sit. In juvenibus etiam uberiora paulo, et paene periclitantia feruntur; at in iisdem siccum et sollicitum et contractum dicendi propositum, plerumque affectatione ipsa severitatis invisum est.' Quintilian, Instit. Orat. xi. I. 31.

1. 8. Scipio Africanus] Livy's statement does not bear out the use which Bacon makes of it. He records how Scipio, towards the close of his life, when worried by envious and captious accusations, refused to put himself on his defence. Major animus et natura erat ac majori fortunae assuetus quam ut reus esse sciret, et submittere se in humilitatem causam dicentium.' This defiant attitude he maintained, and his accusers could get no hearing; but 'silentium deinde de Africano fuit. Vitam Literni egit sine desiderio urbis ... Vir memorabilis: bellicis tamen quam pacis artibus memorabilior prima pars vitae quam posterior fuit; quia in juventa bella assidue gesta; cum senecta res quoque defloruere nec praebita est materia ingenio.' Bk. xxxviii. 52 and 53.

1. 9. Ultima primis &c.] From Ovid. Her. ix. 23.

XLIII.

OF BEAUTY.

VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect; neither is it almost seen that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy not to err than in labour to produce excellency; and therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behaviour than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus 10 Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits, and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favour is more than that of colour; and that of decent and gracious motion more than that of favour. That is the best part of beauty which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles or 20 Albert Durer were the more trifler; whereof the one

a Virtue] i. e. excellence of any kind. The examples given below of the union of beauty and virtue show clearly that it cannot be of moral virtue that Bacon is speaking. So, in Essay 14: Those that are first raised to nobility are commonly more virtuous, but less innocent than their descendants.'

d neither is it almost seen] Lat. neque fere reperies.

favour] i. e. the features or expression of the countenance. Conf. 'He (Alcibiades) disdained to learn to play on the flute or recorder: saying that it was no gentlemanly quality. For, said he, to play on the

violl with a stick doth not alter man's favour nor disgraceth any gentleman: but otherwise to play on the flute, his countenance altereth and changeth so oft that his familiar friends can scant know him.' Plutarch, Lives, p. 198. And, 'Painters or drawers of pictures, which make no account of other parts of the body, do take the resemblances of the face and favour of the countenance, in the which consisteth the judgment of their manners and disposition.' p. 673. Conf. also Blundevill, Of Counsells (1570), under the heading Qualities of body-countenance, which some call favour or feawter of the face.' The book is not paged.

d

would make a personage by geometrical proportions: the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody but the painter that made them: not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces that, if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, 10 certainly it is no marvel though persons in years seem many times more amiable; Pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt and cannot last; and, for the most part, it makes a dissolute youth and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well it maketh virtues shine, and vices blushf.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

The word 'Beauty' is used in this Essay in several different senses. It stands first as exquisiteness of face or form; it is presently said rather to consist in decent and gracious motion than in anything else. So understood, it is set down as a special attribute of the old rather than of the young, as proper to the autumn of life, and as

d not but I think] i. e. not but that. Lat. non quin existimem.

⚫ out of countenance] i. e. dissatisfied with itself. Conf. Wherein a man is conscious to himself that he is most defective, and is most out of countenance in himself.' Essay 53. The Latin sero poenitentem is stronger than the text warrants.

f if it light well &c.) How, if it light well, it makes virtues shine, is clear enough; how it makes vices blush is not so clear. The passage has been explained as meaning that where

X

beauty and virtues are combined, they make vices in others appear so much the more shameful and deformed by contrast with the two-fold excellence of the opposite pattern. I prefer to take it that the words 'if it light well' apply only to the clause which immediately follows; and that the assertion that beauty makes vices blush stands independently, and means that beauty is in the nature of a disgrace to the vicious. This is borne out by the antitheta-'Quod vestis lauta deformi, hoc forma improbo.' Works, i. 689.