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am but a trumpeter, not a combatant; one perhaps of those of whom Homer speaks,

Χαίρετε κήρυκες, Διὸς ἄγγελοι, ἠδὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν : 1 and such men might go to and fro everywhere unhurt, between the fiercest and bitterest enemies. Nor is mine a trumpet which summons and excites men to cut each other to pieces with mutual contradictions, or to quarrel and fight with one another; but rather to make peace between themselves, and turning with united forces against the Nature of Things, to storm and occupy her castles and strongholds, and extend the bounds of human empire, as far as God Almighty in his goodness may permit.

Let us now come to that knowledge whereunto the ancient oracle directs us, which is the knowledge of ourselves; which deserves the more accurate handling in proportion as it touches us more nearly. This knowledge is for man the end and term of knowledges; but of nature herself it is but a portion. And generally let this be a rule; that all divisions of knowledges be accepted and used rather for lines to mark or distinguish, than sections to divide and separate them ; in order that solution of continuity in sciences may always be avoided. For the contrary hereof has made particular sciences to become barren, shallow, and erroneous; not being nourished and maintained and kept right by the common fountain and aliment. So we see Cicero the orator complaining of Socrates and his school, that he was the first who separated philosophy and rhetoric; whereupon rhetoric became an empty and verbal art.2 So we may see that the opinion of

1 Hom. Il. i. 334.: — Hail, heralds, messengers of Jove and men!
2 Cicero De Orat. iii. c. 19.

Copernicus touching the rotation of the earth (which has now become prevalent) cannot be refuted by astronomical principles, because it is not repugnant to any of the phenomena; yet the principles of natural philosophy rightly laid down may correct it. Lastly we see that the science of medicine, if it be forsaken by natural philosophy, is not much better than an empirical practice. With this reservation therefore let us proceed to the doctrine concerning Man. It has two parts. For it considers man either segregate, or congregate and in society. The one I call the Philosophy of Humanity, the other Civil Philosophy. Philosophy of Humanity consists of parts similar to those of which man consists; that is, of knowledges which respect the body, and of knowledges which respect the mind. But before we pursue the particular distributions let us constitute one general science concerning the Nature and State of Man; a subject which certainly deserves to be emancipated and made a knowledge of itself. It is composed of those things which are common as well to the body as the soul; and may be divided into two parts; the one regarding the nature of man undivided, and the other regarding the bond and connexion between the mind and body; the first whereof I will term the doctrine concerning the Person of Man, the second the doctrine concerning the League. But it is plain that these things, being common and mixed, could not all have been assigned to that first division, of sciences which regard the body and sciences which regard the mind.

The doctrine concerning the Person of Man takes into consideration two subjects principally; the Miseries of the human race, and the Prerogatives or Ex

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cellencies of the same. And for the miseries of humanity, the lamentation of them has been elegantly and copiously set forth by many, both in philosophical and theological writings. And it is an argument at once sweet and wholesome.

But that other subject of the Prerogatives of Man seems to me to deserve a place among the desiderata. Pindar in praising Hiero says most elegantly (as is his wont) that he "culled the tops of all virtues." 1 And certainly I think it would contribute much to magnanimity and the honour of humanity, if a collection were made of what the schoolmen call the ultimities, and Pindar the tops or summits, of human nature, especially from true history; showing what is the ultimate and highest point which human nature has of itself attained in the several gifts of body and mind. What a wonderful thing, for example, is that which is told of Cæsar, that he could dictate to five secretaries at once. And again those exercitations of the ancient rhetoricians, Protagoras and Gorgias, and of the phiosophers, Callisthenes, Posidonius, Carneades, who could speak elegantly and copiously, extempore, on either side of any subject, is no small honour to the powers of the human wit. A thing inferior in use, but as a matter of display and ability perhaps still greater, is that which Cicero 2 relates of his master Archias

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that he could speak extempore a great number of excellent verses about anything that happened to be going on at the time. That Cyrus or Scipio could call so many thousands of men by name was a great feat of memory. Nor are the triumphs of the moral

2 Cicero, pro Archiâ, c. 8.

1 Pind. Olymp. i. 20.

3 Cf. Laert. ix. 59.

virtues less famous than those of the intellectual. What a proof of patience is displayed in the story told of Anaxarchus, who, when questioned under torture, bit out his own tongue (the only hope of information), and spat it into the face of the tyrant. Nor was it a less thing in point of endurance (however inferior in worthiness) which occurred in our own times in the case of the Burgundian who murdered the Prince of Orange: being beaten with rods of iron and torn with red-hot pincers, he uttered not a single groan; nay, when something aloft broke and fell on the head of a bystander, the half-burnt wretch laughed in the midst of his torments, though but a little before he had wept at the cutting off of his curling locks. A wonderful composure and serenity of mind at the point of death has also been displayed by many; as in the case of the centurion related by Tacitus: when bidden by the soldier appointed to execute him to stretch out his neck boldly, "I wish," he replied, "that you may strike as boldly." John Duke of Saxony, when the warrant was brought to him for his execution next day, was playing at chess. Calling a bystander to him, he said with a smile, "See whether I have not the best of the game; for when I am dead he (pointing to his adversary) will boast that he was winning." Our own More, too, Chancellor of England, when the day before he was to die a barber came to him (sent because his hair was long, which it was feared might make him more commiserated with the people) and asked him "whether he would be pleased to be trimmed," refused; and turning to the barber, "The King and I (said he) have a suit for my head, and till 1 Diogen. Laertius, ix. 59.

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the title be cleared I will do no cost upon it." The same More, at the very instant of death, when he had already laid his head on the fatal block, lifted it up a little, and gently drew aside his beard, which was somewhat long, saying, "this at least hath not offended the King." But not to stay too long on the point, my meaning is sufficiently clear; namely, that the miracles of human nature, and its highest powers and virtues both in mind and body, should be collected into a volume, which should serve for a register of the Triumphs of Man. In which work I approve the design of Valerius Maximus and C. Pliny, and wish for their diligence and judgment.

With regard to the doctrine concerning the League or Common Bond between the soul and body, it is distributed into two parts. For as in all leagues and amities there is both mutual intelligence and mutual offices, so the description of this league of soul and body consists in like manner of two parts: namely, how these two (that is the Soul and the Body) disclose the one the other, and how they work the one upon the other; by knowledge or indication, and by impression. The former of these (that is, the description of what knowledge of the mind may be obtained from the habit of the body, or of the body from the accidents of the mind) has begotten two arts; both of prediction; whereof the one is honoured with the inquiry of Aristotle, and the other of Hippocrates. And although they have of later times been polluted with superstitious and fantastical arts, yet being purged and restored to their true state, they have both a solid ground in nature and a profitable use in life. The first is Physiognomy, which discovers the dispositions

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