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.1 So we may see that the opinion of 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 1 Cicero De Orat. iii. c. 19. 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 Excellencies 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." 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 philosophers, 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 relates of his master Archiasthat he could speak extempore a great number of excellent verses about anything that happened to be going on at the time.3 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 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 en 'Pind. Olymp. i. 20. 2 Cicero, pro Archiâ, c. 8. durance (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 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 know ledge 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 of the mind by the lineaments of the body; the second is the Interpretation of Natural Dreams, which discovers the state and disposition of the body by the agitations of the mind. In the former of these I note a deficience. For Aristotle has very ingeniously and diligently handled the structure of the body when at rest, but the structure of the body when in motion (that is the gestures of the body) he has omitted; which nevertheless are equally within the observations of art, and of greater use and advantage. For the lineaments of the body disclose the dispositions and inclinations of the mind in general; but the motions and gestures of the countenance and parts do not only so, but disclose likewise the seasons of access, and the present humour and state of the mind and will. For as your Majesty says most aptly and elegantly, "As the tongue speaketh to the ear so the gesture speaketh to the eye." And well is this known to a number of cunning and astute persons; whose eyes dwell upon the faces and gestures of men, and make their own advantage of it, as being most part of their ability and wisdom. Neither indeed can it be denied, but that it is a wonderful index of simulation in another, and an excellent direction as to the choice of proper times and seasons to address persons; which is no small part of civil wisdom. Nor let any one imagine that a sagacity of this kind may be of use with respect to particular persons, but cannot fall under a general rule; for we all laugh and weep and frown and blush nearly in the same fashion; and so it is (for the most part) in the more subtle motions. But if any one be reminded here of chiromancy, let him know that it is a vain imposture, not worthy to be so much as mentioned in discourses of this nature. With regard to the Interpretation of Natural Dreams, it is a thing that has been laboriously handled by many writers, but it is full of follies. At present I will only observe 1 Basilicon Doron, book iii. that it is not grounded upon the most solid foundation of which it admits; which is, that when the same sensation is produced in the sleeper by an internal cause which is usually the effect of some external act, that external act passes into the dream. A like oppression is produced in the stomach by the vapour of indigestion and by an external weight superimposed; and therefore persons who suffer from the nightmare dream of a weight lying on them, with a great array of circumstances. A like pendulous condition of the bowels is produced by the agitation of the waves at sea, and by wind collected round the diaphragm ; therefore hypochondriacal persons often dream that they are sailing and tossing on the sea. There are likewise innumerable instances of this kind. The latter branch of the doctrine of the League (which I have termed Impression) has not yet been collected into an art, but only comes in sometimes dispersedly in the course of other treatises. It has the same relation or antistrophe that the former has. For the consideration is twofold; either how and how far the humours and temperament of the body alter and work upon the mind; or again, how and how far the passions or apprehensions of the mind alter and work upon the body. For the physicians prescribe drugs to heal mental diseases, as in the treatment of phrensy and melancholy; and pretend also to exhibit medicines to exhilarate the mind, to fortify the heart and thereby confirm the courage, to clarify the wits, to corroborate the memory, and the like. But the diets, and choice of meats and drinks, the ablutions, and other observances of the body, in the sect of the Pythagoreans, in the heresy of the Manicheans, and in the law of Mahomet, exceed all measure. So likewise the ordinances in the ceremonial law interdicting the eating of the blood and fat, and distinguishing between beasts clean and unclean for meat, are many and strict. Nay, the Christian faith itself (although clear and serene from all clouds of ceremony) yet retains the use of fastings, abstinences, and other macerations and humiliations of the body, as things not merely ritual, but also profitable. The root and life of all which prescripts (besides the ceremony and the exercise of obedience) consist in that of which we are speaking, namely the sympathy of the mind with the state and disposition of the body. But if any man of weak judgment conceive that these impressions of the body on the mind either question the immortality of the soul, or derogate from its sovereignty over the body, a |
