Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/437

 Till: WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. slavery of hell. But I have interdicted my pen all lilxTty in this kind lest I should use strange ft re at the altar of the Lord. SCVLLA AND ICARUS, OR THK MID- DLK WAY. MEDIOCRITY, or the middle-way, is most com mended in moral actions; in contemplative sci ences not so celebrated, though no less profitable and commodious; but in political employments to be used with great heed and judgment. The ancients by the way prescribed to Icarus, noted the mediocrity of manners ; and by the way be tween ScyUa and Charybdis, so famous for dif ficulty and danger, the mediocrity of intellectual operations. Icarus being to cross the sea by flight, was com manded by his. father that he should fly neither too high nor too low, for his wings being joined with wax, if he should mount too high, it was to be feared lest the wax would melt by the heat of the sun, and if too low, lest misty vapours of the sea would make it less tenacious : but he in a youthful jollity soaring too high, fell down head long and perished in the water. The parable is easy and vulgar : for the way of virtue lies in a direct path between excess and defect. Neither is it a wonder that Icarus perished by excess, seeing that excess for the most part, is the peculiar fault of youth, as defect is of age ; and yet of two evil and hurtful ways, youth commonly make choice of the better, de fect being always accounted worst: for whereas excess contains some sparks of magnanimity, and, like a bird, claims kindred of the heavens, defect only like a base worm crawls upon the earth. Excellently therefore said Heraclitus, &quot;Lumen siccum, optima anima;&quot; a dry light is the best soul ; for if the soul contract moisture from the earth it becomes degenerate altogether. Again, on the other side, there must be modera tion used, that this light be subtilized by this laudable siccity, and not destroyed by too much fervency : and thus much every man for the most part knows. Now they that would sail between Scylla and Charybdis must be furnished as well with the skill as prosperous success in navigation : for if their ships fall into Scylla they are split on the rocks; if into Charybdis they are swallowed up of a gulf. The moral of this parable, which we will but briefly touch, although it contain matter of infinite contemplation, seems to be this, that in every art and science, and so in their rules and axioms, there be a mean observed between the rocks of dis tinctions and the gulfs of universalities, which two are famous for the wrecks both of wits and arts. SIM IV. NX, OR SCIENCE. THEY say that Sphynx was a monster of divers forms, as having the face and voice of a virgin, the wings of a bird, and the talons of a irrilliii. . His abode was in a mountain near the citv &quot;1 j Thebes; he kept also the highways, and used to lie in ambush for travellers, and so to surprise them : to whom, being in his power, he pro pounded certain dark and intricate riddles, which were thought to have been given and received of ! the Muses. Now if these miserable captives were not able instantly to resolve and interpret them, in the midst of their difficulties and doubts, she would rend and tear them in pieces. The country groaning a long time under this calamity, the Thebans at last propounded the kingdom as a reward unto him that could interpret the riddles of Sphynx, there being no other way to destroy her. Whereupon QCdipus, a man of piercing and deep judgment, but maimed and lame by reason of holes bored in his feet, moved with the hope of so great a reward, accepted the condition, and determined to put it to the hazard, and so with an undaunted and bold spirit, presented himself before the monster, who asked him what creature that was, which after his birth went first upon four feet, next upon two, then upon three, and lastly upon four feet again; answered forth with that it was man, which in his infancy, im mediately after birth, crawls upon all four, scarce venturing to creep, and not long after stands up right upon two feet, then growing old he leans upon a staff, wherewith he supports himself; so that he may seem to have three feet, and at last, in decrepid years, his strength failing him, he falls grovelling again upon four, and lies bedrid. Having therefore by this true answer gotten the victory, he instantly slew this Sphynx, and, lay ing her body upon an ass, leads it as it were in triumph ; and so, according to the condition, was created king of the Thebans. . This fable contains in it no less wisdom than elegancy, and it seems to point at science, espe cially that which is joined with practice, for sci ence may not absurdly be termed a monster, as being by the ignorant and rude multitude always held in admiration. It is diverse in shape and figure, by reason of the infinite variety of sub jects, wherein it is conversant. A maiden face and voice is attributed unto it for its gracious countenance and volubility of tongue. Vingsi are added, because sciences and their inventions do pass and fly from one to another, as it were, in a moment, seeing that the communication of science is as the kindling of one light at another Elegantly also it is feigned to have sharp and hooked talons, because the axioms and argu ments of science do so fasten upon the mind, and so strongly apprehend and hold it, as that it