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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 153
Bona Rerum Secundarum, Optabilia;
Bona Rerum Adversarunt, Captabilia. (!)
It is true greatnesse, to have in one,
the Frailty of a Man,
and the Security of a name. (!)
Vere magnum, h&bere
Frsigititatem Homtnt's,
Securitatem Nominis* (!)
Now, the idea conveyed by the words : " This
would have done better in Poesy " has been carried
out. We had to do nothing more than every English
man does when he hears the words in Hamlet " : You
might have rhymed." We have merely
filled in the
rhyme in four places that clamoured for rhyme, with
words that correspond in English and Latin, and
which convey the actual meaning and sense required
by the play on the word, and which, moreover, are
almost the only suitable rhymed words that fit into
the passage in question.
Every word, every syllable, in this Essay had been
weighed by the author.
But, the reader will ask, why does not Bacon in this
passage mention the name of the person he has
employed as his " "
literary Security He ? does so,
for the word " Numen " signifies "Will" (the pun on
" Will, William," suggests itself).
Otherwise he
leaves the explanation to Seneca. How so ? the
reader again asks. Well, you see in this case, Bacon
has chosen two passages from the Seneca Epistles,
which even in the same sentence reveal something
else to us.
If we read to the end of the 66th Epistle, we shall
find that sentence worded thus :