out; and warily to provide, that, while we make forth to that which is better, we meet not with that which is worse. : The discommodities of usury are, first, that it makes fewer merchants for were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie still, but it would in great part be employed upon merchandising, which is the vena porta3 of wealth in a State: the second, that it makes poor merchants; for as a farmer cannot husband his ground so well if he sit at a great rent, so the merchant cannot drive his trade so well if he sit at great usury: the third is incident to the other two, and that is, the decay of customs of kings, or estates, which ebb or flow with merchandising the fourth, that it bringeth the treasure of a realm or State into a few hands; for the usurer being at certainties, and the other at uncertainties, at the end of the game most of the money will be in the box; and ever a State flourisheth when wealth is more equally spread: the fifth, that it beats down the price of land; for the employment of money is chiefly either merchandising, or purchasing; and usury waylays both: the sixth, that it doth dull and damp all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring, if it were not for this slug: the last, that it is the canker and ruin of many men's estates, which in process of time breeds a public poverty. 6 On the other side, the commodities of usury are, first, that howsoever usury in some respects hindereth merchandising, yet in some other it advanceth it; for it is certain that the greatest part of trade is driven by young merchants upon borrowing at interest; so as if the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will ensue presently a great stand of trade: the second is, that, were it not for this easy borrowing upon interest, men's necessities would draw upon them a most sudden undoing,7 in that they would be forced to sell their means (be it lands 8 1 Discommodities. Inconveniences. See page 379. 2 Merchandising. Trading. The Phenicians, of whose exceeding merchandising we read so much in ancient histories, were Canaanites, whose very name signifies merchants.'-Brerewood. The great vein. 5 Howsoever. Although. See page 2. 7 Undoing. See page 320. 8 In that. Inasmuch as. Estates. States. See page 147. • As. That. See page 26. Things are preached not in that they are taught, but in that they are published.'-Hooker. intellectual superiority was no more the cause of his moral failures, than Solomon's wisdom was of his. You may be as faulty a character as either of them was, without possessing a particle of their wisdom, and without seeking to gain instruction from it. The intellectual light which they enjoyed did not, indeed, keep them in the right path; but you will not be the more likely to walk in it, if you quench any light that is afforded you. The Canaanites of old, we should remember, dwelt in 'a good land, flowing with milk and honey,' though they worshipped not the true God, but served abominable demons, with sacrifices of the produce of their soil, and even with the blood of their children. But the Israelites were invited to go in, and take possession of 'well-stored houses that they builded not, and wells which they digged not;' and they took the labours of the people in possession;' only, they were warned to beware lest, in their prosperity and wealth, they should forget the Lord their God,' and to offer to Him the first fruits of their land. Neglect not, then, any of the advantages of intellectual cultivation which God's providence has placed within your reach; nor think scorn of that pleasant land,' and prefer wandering by choice in the barren wilderness of ignorance; but let the intellect which God has endowed you with be cultivated as a servant to Him; and then it will be, not a master, but a useful servant, to you. ESSAY XL. OF FORTUNE. 1 cannot be denied but outward accidents conduce much to fortune; favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue: but chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hand. Faber quisque fortunæ suæ,' saith the poet and the most frequent of external causes is, that the folly of one man is the fortune of another; for no man prospers so suddenly as by others' errors; 'serpens nisi serpentem comederit non fit draco.'2 Overt and apparent3 virtues bring forth praise; but there be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortune; certain deliveries of a man's self, which have no name. The Spanish name, 'disemboltura,' partly expresseth them, when there be not stonds and restiveness in a man's nature, but that the wheels of his mind keep way with the wheels of his fortune; for so Livy (after he had described Cato Major in these words, 'in illo viro, tantum robur corporis et animi fuit, ut quocunque lco natus esset, fortunam sibi facturus videretur')" falleth upon that he had, versatile ingenium.' Therefore, if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible. The way of fortune is like the milken ' way in the sky; which is a meeting, or knot, of a number of small 6 1 'Every man the artificer of his own fortune.'-Appius Claudius; but attributed by Bacon elsewhere (Advancement of Learning) to Plautus. 2. Unless the serpent devours the serpent, it does not become a dragon.' 3 Apparent. Evident; known; visible. As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent, In my mind ought to be prevented.'-Shakespere. 'The outward and apparent sanctity should flow from purity of heart.'-Atterbury. 4 Desenvoltura. Graceful ease. 5 Stonds. Stops. The removal of the stonds and impediments of the mind, that often clears the passage and current to a man's fortune.'-Bacon's Letter to Sir Henry Temple. over. Way. Time. The time in which a certain space can be passed through or 'A mile-way.'-Chaucer. 7 In that man there was so much strength of body and of mind, that it seems that in whatever place he had been, he would have made fortune his own.' BA versatile mind.' 9 Milken. Milky. The remedies are to be proposed from a constant course of the milken diet.'-Temple. 2 4 stars not seen asunder, but giving light together: so are there a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate: the Italians note some of them, such as a man would little think. When they speak of one that cannot do amiss, they will throw in into his other conditions, that he hath 'Poco di matto;" and, certainly, there be not two more fortunate properties than to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest: therefore extreme lovers of their country, or masters, were never fortunate; neither can they be; for when a man placeth his thoughts without himself, he goeth not his own way. A hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover 3 (the French hath it better, 'entreprenant,' or 'remuant '), but the exercised fortune maketh the able man. Fortune is to be honoured and respected, and it be but for her daughters, Conscience and Reputation; for those two felicity breedeth; the first within a man's self, the latter in others towards him. All wise men, to decline the envy of their own virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and Fortune; for so they may the better assume them: and besides, it is greatness in a man to be the care of the higher powers. So Cæsar said to the pilot in the tempest, Cæsarem portas, et fortunam ejus.' So Sylla chose the name of 'felix,' and not of magnus:' and it hath been noted, that those who ascribe openly too much to their own wisdom and policy, end unfortunate. It is written, that Timotheus the Athenian, after he had, in the account he gave to the State of his government, often interlaced this speech, And in this fortune had no part,' never 6 8 6 A little of the fool.' * Enterpriser. An adventurer; a bold projector. 'Wit makes an enterpriser, sense a man.'-Young. Remover. Agitator. Exercised. Made familiar by use. A heart exercised with covetous practices.' -2 Pet. ii. 14. 5 And. If. 'Nay, and I suffer this, I may go craze.'-Beaumont and Fletcher. Decline. To avoid. 'Since the Muses do invoke my power, I shall no more decline the sacred bower Where Gloriana, the great mistress, lies.'-Sir P. Sidney. You carry Cæsar and his fortunes.'-Plut. Vit. Cæsar. 38. 8 Fortunate,' (and not of) 'great.'-Plut. Syll. 34. prospered in anything he undertook afterward. Certainly there be whose fortunes are like Homer's verses, that have a slide' and an easiness more than the verses of other poets; as Plutarch saith of Timoleon's fortune, in respect of that of Agesilaus, or Epaminondas; and that this should be, no doubt it is much in a man's self. PRO. 2 ANTITHETA ON FORTUNE. CONTRA. Stultitia unius, fortuna alterius. of another.' ANNOTATIONS. 'So are there a number of little and scarce discerned faculties or customs, that make men fortunate.' It is common to hear the lower orders speak of luck, either as their mode of expressing what Bacon here calls 'small faculties and customs,' or, as attributing to fortune what is a kind of indescribable and imperceptible skill. You may hear them speak of a woman who has good luck in her butter-making or in bread-making; of a gardener who is lucky or who is unlucky in grafting, or in raising melons, &c. When they (the Italians) speak of one that cannot do amiss, they will throw into his other conditions, that he hath 'Poco di matto' [a little of the fool]."' This is in accordance with the proverb, Fortune favours fools;' and it would have been well if Bacon had said something 1 Slide. Fluency. Often he had used to be an actor in tragedies, where he had learned, besides a slidingness of language, acquaintance with my passions.'— Sidney. 2 Vit. Timol. 36. |