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APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V
TEMPORIS PARTUS MAXIMUS
THE little work, written in Latin by Francis Bacon, from
which we have taken the motto for our fifth chapter, is a
unique work. Bacon himself had destined it
only for his
" intimates," for the " filii,"
and never had it
printed. Only
the later editions contain the work. It bears the title
"Temporis Partus Masculus" ("The Male Birth of Time")
or " "
Temporis Partus Maximus
(" The Greatest Birth of
Time"). But from the fact of the well-instructed editors of
the First Complete Latin Edition published in Germany, in
Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1665, placing Bacon's letter,
mentioning the work, right at the end of their publication
(column 1324), we know how highly the author valued that
Here, in the concluding
to an Italian scholar, Bacon himself says that the thought
"Temporis Partus Maximus" had occupied him ever since
his youth upwards of forty years.
But what is contained in Bacon's writing bearing the
little work.
sentences of that letter
sameititle? Nothing more nor less than a satirico-comic
description of all philosophers of ancient and modern times
representing them as actors, with the statement that all
their philosophical systems were nothing else but theatrical
performances, each one having enacted something different
to his audience. All we need do is to transfer the thought
" all
philosophers perform plays " to Bacon himself and his
philosophy, and we have another confession that he had
also laid down his philosophic thoughts in dramas. That
this was done under another name is clearly shown in the