THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY2 The Lives and Opinions

88 THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
and disdains to waste a word; he offers us infinite riches in a little phrase;
each of these essays gives in a page or two the distilled subtlety of a
master mind on a major issue of life. It is difficult to say whether the
matter or the manner more excels; for here is language as supreme in
Tacitus 5
prose as Shakespeare's is in verse. It is a style like sturdy , compact
and indeed some of its conciseness is due to the skillful
yet polished;
adaptation of Latin idiom and phrase. But its wealth of metaphor is
characteristically Elizabethan, and reflects the exuberance of the Renais*
sance; no man in English literature is so fertile in pregnant and pithy
comparisons. Their lavish array is the one defect of Bacon's style: the
endless metaphors and allegories and allusions fall like whips upon our
nerves and tire us out at last. The Essays are like rich and heavy food,
which cannot be digested in large quantities at once; but taken four or
five at a time they are the finest intellectual nourishment in English. 22
What shall we extract from this extracted wisdom? Perhaps the best
starting point, and the most arresting deviation, from the fashions of
medieval is philosophy, Bacon's frank acceptance of the Epicurean ethic.
"That philosophical progression, 'Use not that you may not wish, wish
not that you may not fear, 5
seems an indication of a weak, diffident and
timorous mind. And indeed most doctrines of the philosophers appear to
be too distrustful, and to take more care of mankind than the nature of
the thing requires. Thus they increase the fears of death by the remedies
they bring against it; for whilst they make the life of man little more than
a preparation and discipline for death, it is impossible but the enemy
must appear terrible when there is no end of the defense to be made
against him."23 Nothing could be so injurious to health as the Stoic re-
pression of desire; what is the use of prolonging a life which apathy has
turned into premature death? And besides, it is an impossible philosophy;
for instinct will out. "Nature is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom
extinguished. Force maketh nature more violent in the return; doctrine
and discourse maketh nature less importune; but custom only doth
alter or subdue nature. . * . But let not a man trust his victory over his
nature too far; for nature will lay buried a great time, and yet revive
upon the occasion or temptation. Like as it was with /Esop's damsel,
turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very demurely at the board's end,
till a mouse ran before her. Therefore let a man either avoid the occasion
altogether, or put himself often to it, that he may be little moved with
it." 2* Indeed Bacon thinks the body should be inured to excesses as well
as to restraint; else even a moment of unrestraint may ruin it. (So one
author's preference is for Essays 2, 7, 8,
42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54.
n, 12, 16, 18, 20, 27, 29, 38, 39,
**Adv. of L. f vii 2, Certain
j(
passages from this book are brought in here, to avoid
a repetition of topics under each work.
*"Of Nature in Men."