Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/282

 154 ANALYSIS OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. There is a disposition in coni er, sati on to soothe and please, and a disposition contrary to contradict and cross. There is a deposition to take pleasure in the good of another. . This subject has been negligently inquired by mo ralists, with some beauty by astrologers, and by words in relations. History, poesy, and daily experience are as goodly fields where these observations grow ; whereof we make a few posies to hold in our hands, but no man bringeth them to the con fectionary, that receipts rhight be made of them for the use of Ife. . Natural and accidental impressions should be noted. The Affections 225 . Inquiry should be made of the affections. As the ancient politicians in popular states were wont to compare the people to the sea, and the orators to the winds ; because, as the sea would of itself be calm and quiet, if the winds did not move and trouble it,- so the people would be peaceable and tractable, if the seditious orators did not set them in work ing and agitation. so it may be filly said, that the mind in the nature thereof would be temperate and stayed, if the affections, as winds, did not put it into tumult and pertur bation. , . This subject has been investigated by Aristotle, and by the Stoics, and in different scattered works ; but the poets and historians are the masters of the passions 225 . Of the opposition of passions to each other. The Origin of the Mind 226 . Inquiries should be made of custom, exercise, habit, education, friendship, &c. Of Custom and Habit. . Aristotle s error in stating too generally that those things which are natural cannot be changed. . Virtues and vices consist in habits. . Precepts for the formation of habits. 1 . Beware that at the first a task be taken neither too high nor too weak. 2 . Practise all things at two seasons ; when the mind is best disposed and when it is worst disposed. By the one you may gain a great step ; by the other you may work out the knots and stands of the mind, and make the middle times the more easy and pleasant. . Ever bear toward the contrary extreme of that to which you are inclined. Like unto the rowing against the stream, or making a wand straight by bending him contrary to his natural crookedness. . The mind is brought to anything with more sweetness ; if that whereunto we pretend be not first in the intention, but tanquam aliud agenda. See Baron s Essay &quot;Of Nature in Man,&quot; and &quot;Of Cus tom an! Education.&quot; Baton s Essay &quot;Of Nature in Man.&quot; He that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not get himself too great, nor too small tasks ; for the first will make him dejected by often failings ; and the second will make him a small vroceeder, though by often pre vailing,. . Of the powers ef hooks and studies upon the mind. Is not the opinion of Aristotle worthy to be regarded, wherein he saith, &quot; That young men are no fit auditors of moral philosophy, be cause they are not settled from the bulling heat of their affections, nor attempered with time and experience ?&quot; But is it not true also, that much less young men are fit auditors of matters of policy, till they have been thoroughly seasoned in religion and morality, lest their judgments be cor rupted, and made apt to think that there are no true differences of things but according to utility and fortune? 3 . There should be caution lest moral instruction make men too precise, arrogant, and incom patible 227 . The minds of all men are at some times in a more perfect, and at other times in a more depraved state. . The fixation of good times 227 . The obliteration of bad times 227 . The golden rule of life is to choose right ends of life, and agreeing to virtue, and such as may be, in a reasonable sort, within our compass to attain. As when a carver makes an image, he shapes only that part whereupon he worketh, (as if he be upon the face, that part which shall be the body is but a rude stone still, till such time as he comes to it ,) but, contrari wise, when nature makes a flower or living creature, sheformeth rudiments of all the parts at one time : so in obtaining virtue by habit, while a man practiseth temperance, he doth not profit much to fortitude, nor the like,- but when he dedicaleth and applieth himself to good ends, what virtue soever the pursuit and e towards those ends doth commend nto him, he is invested of a precedent dispo- &amp;gt;tion to conform himself thereunto. 20. There is a sympathy between the good cf the body and of the mind. As we divided the good of the body into health, beauty, strength, and pleasure ; so the good of the mind, inquired in rational and moral knowledges, tendeth to this, to make the mind sound, and without perturbation ; beau tiful, and graced with decency ,- and strong and agile for all duties of life. MAN IN SOCIETY. . Reasons why ethics are in some respects more dif ficult than politics 228 . Morality relates to man segregate: poli tics to man congregate. Cato the censor said, &quot;that the Romans were like sheep, for that a man might better drive a fiock of them than one of them, for in afiack, if you could get but some few to go right, the rent would follow.&quot; . The object of morals is internal good ; for policy external sufficeth. . States are not so suddenly subverted as individuals 228 States, as great engines, move slowly, and are not so soon put out of frame : for as in Egypt the seven good years sustained the seven What says the morality of our nion? niversities to this cj.i-