Page:Essays of Francis Bacon 1908 Scott.djvu/94

Rh the English language it is to have Latin for a second vernacular. One of the most remarkable examples is the summing up of Livy's comment on Scipio Africanus Major at the end of the essay Of Youth and Age,—"Livy saith, in effect, Ultima primis cedebant," 'the last fell short of the first.' Bacon's three Latin words, recollected from Ovid, condense fourteen of Livy's and Livy furnished not one of the three. An interesting variation between Bacon's Latin and that of his original occurs at the close of the essay Of Cunning. Quoting Proverbs xiv. 8,—"The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit," from his recollection of the Vulgate, he writes, "Salomon saith, Prudens advertit ad gressus suos: stultus divertit ad dolos." The Vulgate reads, Sapientia callidi est intelligere viam suam: et imprudentia stultorum errans. Here Bacon says in nine Latin words what the Vulgate says in ten, and all of his words are different but one, and that one appears in a different form. It is illuminating to observe the master of a great language wielding another great language and so moulding it to his will as to compel it to assume new and strange forms.

There is no surer test of command over a foreign language than appreciation of its wit. "Caesar did himself infinite hurt in that speech— 'Sylla nescivit literas, non potuit dictare,'" says Bacon, writing on so serious a subject as Of Seditions and Troubles. The pun here is of that subtle sort that cuts both ways when the edges meet, like the blades Rh