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out special accusation, any obnoxious person or powerful party-leader whose presence was considered dangerous. If in any case the senate determined that ostracism was necessary, a day was fixed for the voting, and each citizen wrote on a piece of tile or an oyster-shell (8σтρакov) the name of the person whom he wished to banish; and if six thousand votes were recorded against any one man, he had to withdraw from the city within ten days, and to remain in exile ten (afterwards five) years. Ostracism was instituted by Clisthenes about B. C. 510.

39. This Envy'-i.e. public envy.

40. intermingling of plausible actions'-carefulness to mix up with those actions that are likely to cause envy, others which will be applauded.

4I.

which'-.e. the fear (hurteth, etc.).

42. 'estates'-noblemen; persons of high rank. 'Herod made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee' -Mark vi, 21.

43. 'importune '-importunate; never at rest.

44. 'Envy keeps no holidays.'

45. Matt. xiii, 25.

I. Envy is

.ANALYSIS OF ESSAY IX.

1. A bewitching affection, like love.
2. Most injurious in time of prosperity.

II. Persons apt to be envious:

I. Those without virtue.

2. Busy and inquisitive men.

3. Men of noble birth towards rising men.

4. Those under irreparable disadvantage (deformed persons,

eunuchs, bastards).

5. Men who rise after misfortune.

6. Those desiring to excel in many matters.
7. Kinsfolks and fellows in office.

III. Persons apt to be envied :

I. Those of eminent virtue when advanced.

2. Those of noble blood when they rise.

4. Those who have earned advancement.

3. Those advanced by degrees.

Less.

5. Those who are insolent and proud in success.
Remark-The cure of envy is 'to remove the lot.'

IV. Public envy

1. Has some good in it, like ostracism.

More.

2. It is foolish to try to avoid it by intermingling plausible

actions.

3. It fastens upon officers and ministers rather than upon kings and estates.

Remark-Envy is incessant, wasting, and subtle.

X.—OF LOVE. (1612, re-written 1625.)

THE stage is more beholding1 to Love than the life of man; for as to the stage, Love is ever matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief, sometimes like a Siren,2 sometimes like a Fury. You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent), there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of Love; which shows that great spirits and great business do keep out this weak passion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half partner of the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the Decemvir and lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the latter was an austere and wise man: and therefore it seems (though rarely) that Love can find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept.

4

It is a poor saying of Epicurus, 'Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus;'5 as if man, made for the contemplation of Heaven and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel before a little idol, and make himself subject, though not of the mouth (as beasts are), yet of the eye, which was given him for higher purposes.

It is a strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature and value of things by this, that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but in Love; neither is it merely in the phrase, for whereas it hath been well said, 'That the arch flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self;' certainly the lover is more; for there was never proud man thought so absurdly well

8

of himself as the lover doth of the person loved; and therefore it was well said, 'That it is impossible to love and to be wise.'9 Neither doth this weakness appear to others only, and not to the party loved, but to the loved most of all, except the Love be reciproque ; 10 for it is a true rule, that Love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque, or with an inward and secret contempt; by how much the more men ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things, but itself.

As for the other losses, the poet's relation11 doth well figure them: That he that preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas;'12 for whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous Affection, quitteth both Riches and Wisdom.

This passion hath his floods 13 in the very times of weakness, which are, great prosperity and great adversity, though this latter hath been less observed; both which times kindle Love, and make it more fervent, and therefore show it to be the child of Folly.

They do best who, if they cannot but admit Love, yet make it keep quarter, 14 and sever it wholly from their serious affairs and actions of life; for if it check 15 once with business, it troubleth men's fortunes, and maketh men that they can no ways 16 be true to their own ends.

I know not how, but martial men are given to Love: I think it is, but as they are given 17 to wine, for perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasures.

There is in man's nature a secret inclination and motion towards Love of others, which, if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable, as it is seen sometimes in friars.

Nuptial Love maketh mankind, friendly Love perfecteth it, but wanton Love corrupteth and embaseth it.

NOTES ON ESSAY X.

I. 'beholding'- -more properly 'beholden,' i.e. under obligation, indebted, held bound by gratitude. So also in Essay LIV:

'Virtue was never so beholding to human nature.' And Fuller says: 'Oxford hath been much beholding to her nephew or sister's children.'

'Beholden' is the passive participle (like sunken, wroughten) of the verb to behold, used in the primitive sense of hold. 'Little are we beholden to your love,

And little looked for at your helping hand'-SHAKESPEARE. 'I think myself mightily beholden to you for the reprehension you then gave us'-ADDISON.

Bacon's simple meaning is that Love has contributed more to the success of stage-plays than to the real benefits of life, having formed excellent plots for comedies and tragedies, but having had mischievous effects upon the life of man. 2. 'Siren' .. 'Fury.' The Sirens were supposed to be seanymphs who had the power of charming by their songs all who heard them, and so luring them to their death.

The Furies (called by euphemism Eumenides) were avenging deities, with terrible powers of punishment both in this world and after death.

Bacon means that Love has sometimes lured and sometimes goaded men to ruin; sometimes drawing them with the bait of pleasure, sometimes goading them with the madness of disappointment and jealousy.

3. 'great spirits'-noble and lofty purposes in life, which (Bacon thinks) would be spoiled by Love.

4. Marcus Antonius' (Mark Antony) was in early life a profligate. After the murder of Julius Cæsar, Antony, Octavius (Augustus), and Lepidus constituted the first triumvirate, and he afterwards married Octavia, the sister of Augustus. 'Appius Claudius'-the decemvir whose wicked attempt upon the maiden Virginia is popularly known through Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome." In what sense he can be called a 'wise man' it is not easy to ascertain.

5. 'We are each a sufficiently great theatre to one another.' Bacon means to complain of this, calling it a 'poor saying,' and one which would restrict to the grovelling (!) contemplation of men themselves, thoughts which are capable of scanning 'heaven and all noble objects.'

The saying attributed to Epicurus, which Bacon seems to misunderstand, reminds one of Pope's line, in his Essay on Man: The proper study for mankind is man.' 6. 'little idol'-i.e. a petty, grovelling fellow-creature.

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Love, says Bacon, makes a man a slave not to his appetite (like a beast), in which the object of his worship is himself, but to his eye, which sets up for his adoration one of his fellow-creatures; when, at the same time, that eye was given him for the purpose of showing him objects far more worthy of his devotion.

7. braves the nature and value of things'-insults, by its gross exaggerations; disregards and treats with contempt things as they really are.

'He upbraids Iago that he made him

Brave me upon my watch'-Othello.

'My nobles leave me, and my state is braved,

Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers'-King John. The exaggerations common in the intercourse of lovers constitute the 'perpetual hyperbole' mentioned immediately after; hyperbole being a figure of speech consisting in exaggerated language.

8. 'in the phrase '-in the language used; it is not that the lover flatters and exaggerates in speech alone; he does the same in thought also.

9. Publii Syri. Sent., 15: ‘Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur.' 10. 'reciproque '-reciprocal.

II. 'relation'-narration, account.

12. He is referring to the famous judgment of Paris.' When about to award the golden apple to the fairest,' Pallas offered him knowledge, and Juno offered him power, but he refused them and chose Venus's gift of love.' After having deserted his own wife Enone, and met with many adventures, he carried off and married Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus, and hence arose the Trojan war.

For the English reader this is beautifully narrated by Tennyson in his poem Enone.

13. hath his floods'-rushes forth over its usual bounds with overwhelming power.

14. 'keep quarter'-remain within proper limits. The word quarter, which really means a fourth part, is here used locally and for any assigned part. In its military usage quarter (more commonly in the plural, quarters) is the name for the lodging-place of soldiers, or officers; to keep quarter is to remain in that place; to give quarter is to afford shelter in that place.

15. 'check'-clash, interfere.

The use of the word is no doubt

derived from the game of chess.

16. 'no ways'-in no way, in no manner. The word ways, though used adverbially, is really possessive case (singular); the phrase now-a-days is of the same kind.

17. 'given'-addicted.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY X.

I. The folly of love :

I. 'Great and worthy men' have kept free from it.
2. It is a contemptible idolatry.

E

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