Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/399

 EDITOR S PREFACE I. THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. II. CIVIL HISTORY. III. BIOGRAPHY. . History of Henry VII. 1. Queen Elizabeth. . History of Henry VIII. 2. Julius Caesar. . History of Great Britain. 3. Augustus Caesar. . The State of Europe. 4. Henry, Prince of Wale*. THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. The first edition of this work was published in Latin in the year 1609. It is entitled FRANCISCI BACONI EQVITIS AVRATI, PROCVRATORIS SE- CVNDI, JACOBI REGIS MAGN^E BRITANNIA DE SAPIENTIA VETERVM LIBER, AD INCLYTAM ACADEMIAM CANTABRIGIENSEM. LONDINI ExcuDEBATROBERTUS BAR- KERUS SERENISSIMJE REGIJE MAIESTATIS TYPOGRAPHUS ANNO 1609. In February 27, 1610, Lord Bacon wrote &quot; To MR. MATTHEW, upon sending his book De S- pientia Veterum. &quot; Mr. Matthew, &quot; I do very heartily thank you for your etter of the 24th of August from Salamanca; and in recom- pence thereof I send you a little work of mine that hath begun to pass the world. They tell me my Latin is turned into silver, and become current : had you been here, you should have been my inqui sitor before it came forth : but, I think, the greatest inquisitor in Spain will allow it. But one thing you must pardon me, if I make no haste to believe, that the world should be grown to such an ecstasy as to reject truth in philosophy, because the author dissenteth in religion ; no more than they do by Aristotle or Averroes. My great work goeth forward ; and after my manner, I alter ever when I add. So that nothing is finished till all be finished. This I have written in the midst of a term and parliament; thinking no time so possessed, but that I should talk of these matters with so good and dear a friend. And so with my wonted wishes I leave you to God s goodness.&quot; From Gray s Inn, Feb. 27, 1G10.&quot; And in his letter to Father Fulgentio, giving some account of his writings, he says, &quot; My Essays will not only be enlarged in number, but still more in substance. Along with them goes the little piece De Sapientia Veterum. &quot; Bacon s sentiments with respect to these fables may be found in the &quot;Advancement of Learning,&quot; and in the &quot; De Augmentis,&quot; under the head of Poetry. In the &quot; Advancement of Learning,&quot; he says, &quot; There remaineth yet another use of poesy paraboli cal, opposite to that which we last mentioned: for that tendeth to demonstrate and illustrate that which is taught or delivered, and this other to retire and obscure it: that is, when the secrets and mysteries of religion, policy, or philosophy, are involved in fables or parables. Of this in divin