Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/434

 306 THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. fabric and constitution of man only was by the which infinite ways affords aid and assistance tj ancients picked out and chosen, and attributed unto Providence as a peculiar work. The reason of it seems to be, not only in that the nature of man is capable of a mind and understanding, which is the seat of providence, and therefore it would seem strange and incredible, that the reason and mind should so proceed and flow from dumb and deaf principals as that it should necessarily be con cluded, the soul of man to be endued with provi dence, not without the example, intention, and stamp of a greater providence. But this also is chiefly propounded, that man is as it were the centre of the world in respect of final causes; so that if man were not in nature, all things would seem to stray and wander without purpose, and like scattered branches, as they say, without inclination to their end ; for all things attend on man ; and ho makes use of, and gathers fruit from all creatures ; for the revolutions and periods of stars make both for the distinctions of times and the distribution of the world s light. Meteors also are referred to presages of tempests ; and winds are ordained as well for navigation as for turning of mills and other engines ; and plants, and animals of what kind soever, are useful either for men s houses and places of shelter, or for raiment, or for food, or medicine, or for ease of labour, or in a word for delight and solace; so that all things seem to work, not for themselves but for man. Neither is it added without consideration that certain particles were taken from divers living crea tures, and mixed and tempered with that clayic mass, because it is most true, that of all things comprehended within the compass of the universe, man is a thing most mixed and compounded, insomuch, that he was well termed by the ancients a little world ; for although the chymists do, with too much curiosity, take and wrest the elegancy of this word Microcosm to the letter, contending to find in man all minerals, all vegetables, and the rest, or any thing that holds proportion with them ; yet this proposition remains sound and whole, that the body of man, of all material beings, is found to be most compounded and most organical, whereby it is endued and furnished with most admirable vir tues and faculties : and as for simple bodies, their powers are not many, though certain and violent, as existing without being weakened, diminished, or stinted, by mixture; for the multiplicity and excellency of operation have their residence in mixture and composition, and yet, nevertheless, man in his originals seems to be a thing unarmed and naked, and unable to help itself, as needing the aid of many things; therefore Prometheus made haste to find out fire, which suppeditates and yields comfort and help in a manner to all human wants and necessities ; so that if the soul be the form of forms, and if the hand be the in strument of instruments, fire deserves well to be called the succour of succours, or the help of helps, all labours and mechanical arts, and to the sci ences themselves. The manner of stealing this fire is aptly described even from the nature of things : it was, they say, by a bundle of twigs held to touch the chariot of the sun; for twigs are used in giving blows or stripes, to signify clearly that fire is engendered by the violent percussion and mutual collision of bodies, by which their material substances are attenuated and set in motion, and prepared to re ceive the heat of influence of the heavenly bodies ; and so in a clandestine manner, and as it were by stealth, may be said to take and snatch fire from the chariot of the sun. There follows next a remarkable part of the pa rable, that men, instead of gratulation and thanks giving, were angry, and expostulated the matter with Prometheus, insomuch that they accused both him and his invention unto Jupiter, which was so acceptable unto him, that he augmented their for mer commodities with a new bounty. Seems it not strange that ingratitude towards the author of a benefit, a vice that in a manner contains all other vices, should find such approbation and re ward 1 No, it seems to be otherwise; for the meaning of the allegory is this, that men s outcries upon the defects of nature and art, proceed from an excellent disposition of the mind, and turn to their good ; whereas the silencing of them is hate ful to the gods, and redounds not so much to their profit; for they that infinitely extol human nature, or the knowledge they possess, breaking out into a prodigal admiration of that they have and enjoy, adoring also those sciences they profess, would have them be accounted perfect ; they do first of all show little reverence to the divine nature, by equalizing, in a manner, their own defects with God s perfection. Again ; they are wonderful injurious to men, by imagining they have attained the highest step of knowledge, resting themselves contented, seek no further. On the contrary, such as bring nature and art to the bar with ac cusations and bills of complaint against them, are indeed of more true and moderate judgments; for they are ever in action, seeking always to find out new inventions. Which makes me much to won der at the foolish and inconsiderate dispositions of some men, who, making themselves bond slaves to the arrogancy of a few, have the phi losophy of the Peripatetics, containing only a portion of Grecian wisdom, and that but a small one neither, in so great esteem, that they hold it not only an unprofitable, but a suspicious arid almost heinous thing, to lay any imputation of imperfection upon it. I approve rather of Em- pedocles s opinion, who, like a madman, and of Democritus s judgment, who with great mode ration, complained how that all things were in volved in a mist, that we knew nothing, that we discerned nothing, that truth was drowned in tho