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2i2
FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
wrote that passage, he would never have added the
"
word "jesting." In another of his writings, Confes
sion of Faith," he, in fact, calls him Pontius Pilatus,
deputy of the Romans." So that it could not be that
" Pontius " Pilatus whom Bacon had in his mind at
the time ;
he was thinking of " the jesting, the acting
Pilate."
But who could that be ?
All we need do is to remember the derivation and
meaning of the word " Pilate," " Pilatus " and the
question is answered. " " Pile in English, " Pilum " in
Latin, is a " spear " "
; Pilatus" is one armed with a
" Pilum," a " spear," i.e., a " spear-hurler," a " Lancer,"
" Shakespeare."
Should, however, the English translation of the
word raise the least doubt in the reader's mind, we
need only refer him to the French edition of the
Essays, where the adjective "jesting "has been changed
into a noun, viz., into " le railleur Pilate," Should this
still be insufficient proof, the Latin Essays (that Book,
which Rawley,
in accordance with his vows, was not
allowed to publish till
twelve years after Bacon's death)
will settle the question
;
for there we find :
Quid est Veritas, inquit Pilatus Derisor ?
*
(What is Truth, said the Actor Spear-Caster ?)
(What is Truth, said the Actor Shakespeare ?)
* One of the first Epigrams of Martial runs thus :
Qua Thymelen spectas derisoretnque Latinum,
Ilia fronte precor carmina nostra legas.
(Like as thou gazest at the Theatre, and at the Roman Actor,
with thy forehead free from furrows, so also read my songs, I pray
thee.)
Thus :
" Derisor " was the Comedian, the Jester, on the Roman
stage, the person who made the audience in the theatre laugh.