Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/427

 THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. tihus suis p ilchra, ct muiidum tradidit dis|&amp;gt;uta- lionibus eoruin, ita tamen ut non invcuiat homo opus, quod operatus est Deus, principle ad finem.&quot; That is, he hath made every thing beautiful in their seasons, also he hath set the world in their meditations, yet man cannot find the work that God hath wrought, from the beginning even to the end. For the principal law of nature, or power of this desire, created by God, in these parcels of things, for concurring and meeting to gether, from whose repetitions and multiplications all variety of creatures proceeded and were com posed, may dazzle the eyes of men s understand ings, and comprehended it can hardly be. The Greek philosophers are observed to be very acute and diligent in searching out the material princi ples of things : but in the beginnings of motion, wherein consists all the efficacy of operation, they are negligent and weak, and in this that we handle, they seem to be altogether blind and stam mering : for the opinion of the Peripatetics con cerning the appetite of matter caused by privation, is in a manner nothing else but words, which ra ther sound than signify any reality. And those that refer it unto God do very well, but then they leap up, they ascend not by degrees : for doubtless there is one chief law subordinate to God, in which all natural things concur and meet, the same that in the forecited scripture is demonstrated in these words, &quot;Opus, quod operatus est Deus a principio usque ad finem,&quot; the work that God hath wrought from the beginning even to the end. But Democritus, which entered more deeply into the consideration of this point after he had con ceived an atom with some small dimension and form, he attributed unto it one only desire, or first motion simply or absolutely, and another com paratively or in respect : for he thought that all things did properly tend to the centre of the world, whereof those bodies which were more material descend with swifter motion, and those that had less matter did on the contrary tend upward. But this meditation was very shallow, containing less than was expedient : for neither the turning of the celestial bodies in a round, nor shutting and opening of things may seem to be reduced or ap plied to this beginning. And as for that opinion of Epicurus concerning the casual declination and agitation of the atom, it is but a mere toy, and a plain evidence that he was ignorant of that point. It is therefore more apparent than we could wish, that this Cupid, or Love, remains as yet clouded under the shades of night. Now as concerning his attributes: he is elegantly described with perpetual infancy or childhood, because com pound bodies they seem greater and more stricken in years; whereas the first seeds of things or atoms, they are little and diminute, and always in their infancy. He is also well feigned to be naked, because all compound bodies to a man rightly judging, seem to be apparelled and clothed, and nothing properly naked but the first particles of things. Concerning his blindness, the allegory is full of wisdom : for this love, or desire, whatsoever it be, seems to have but little providence, as directing his pace and motion by that which it perceives nearest, not unlike blind men, that go by feeling: more admirable then must that chief divine providence be, which, from things empty and destitute of providence, and as it were blind, by a constant and fatal law produceth so excellent an order and beauty of things. The last thing which is attributed unto Love is archery, by which is meant, that his virtue is such, as that it works upon a distant object: be cause that whatsoever operates afar off, seems to shoot, as it were, an arrow. Wherefore who soever holds the being both of atoms and vacuity, must needs infer, that the virtue of the atom reacheth to a distant object; for if it were not so, there could be no motion at all, by reason of the interposition of vacuity, but all things would stand stone still, and remain immovable. Now as touching that other Cupid, or Love, he may well be termed the youngest of the gods, because he could have no being, before the con stitution of species. And in his description the allegory may be applied and traduced to man ners : nevertheless he holds some kind of con formity with the elder; for Venus doth generally stir up a desire of conjunction and procreation, and Cupid, her son, doth apply this desire to some individual nature ; so that the general dis position comes from Venus, the more exact sym pathy from Cupid : the one derived from causes more near, the other from beginnings more re mote and fatal, and as it were from the elder Cupid, of whom every exquisite sympathy doth depend. DIOMEDES, OR ZEAL. DIOMEDES flourishing with great fame aiid glory in the Trojan wars, and in high favour with Pallas, was by her instigated, being indeed forwarder than he should have been, not to for bear Venus a jot, if he encountered with her in fight, vhich very boldly he performed, wounding her in the right arm. This presumptuous fact he carried clear for a while, and being honoured and renowned for his many heroic deeds, at last re turned into his own country, where finding him self hard bestead with domestic troubles, fled into Italy, betaking himself to the protection of foreigners, where in the beginning he was fortu nate, and royally entertained by King Daunua with sumptuous gifts, raising many statues in honour of him throughout his dominions. Bui upon the very first calamity that happened unto this nation, whereunto he was fled for succoui. King Daunus enters into a conceit with himself