"One of the Fathers, in great severity, called poesy _vinum dæmonum_."
Query, Who is the Father alluded to?
Page 177., the sayings, "Faber quisque fortunæ propriæ" is cited; and
again, p. 178., "Faber quisque fortunæ suæ." In Essay XL., "On Fortune," it
is quoted, with the addition, "saith the poet." The words are to be found
in Sallust, _Ad Cæsar. de Rep. Ord._, ii. 1.:
"Sed res docuit, id verum esse, quad in carminibus Appius ait, fabrum
suæ esse quemque fortunæ."
The Appius alluded to is Appius Claudius the Censor.
Bacon proceeds to say:
"This conceit or position [viz. 'Faber quisque,' &c.], if it be too
much declared and professed, hath been thought a thing impolitic and
unlucky, as was observed in Timotheus the Athenian, who, having done
many great services to the estate in his government, and giving an
account thereof to the people, as the manner was, did conclude every
particular with this clause, 'And in this Fortune had no part.' And it
came so to pass, that he never prospered in anything he took in hand
afterwards."
The anecdote is as follows:--Timotheus had been ridiculed by the comic
poets, on account of the small share which his own management had had in
his successes. A satirical painting had likewise been made, in which he was
represented sleeping, while Fortune stood over him, and drew the cities
into his net. (See Plutarch, _Reg. et Imp. Apophth._, vol. ii. p. 42., ed.
Tauchnitz; Ælian, V. H. xiii. 42.) On one occasion, however, having
returned from a successful expedition, he remarked to the Athenians, in
allusion to the previous sarcasms, that in this campaign at least Fortune
had no share. Plutarch, who relates the latter {495} anecdote in his _Life
of Sylla_, c. 6., proceeds to say, that this boast gave so much offence to
the deity, that he never afterwards prospered in any of his enterprises.
His reverse of luck, in consequence of his vainglorious language against
Fortune, is also alluded to by Dio Chrysost. _Orat._, lxiv. § 19., edit.
Emper. It will be observed that Plutarch refers the saying of Timotheus to
a single expedition; whereas Bacon multiplies it, by extending it over a
series of acts.
P. 172. "Cicero reporteth that it was then in use for senators that had
name and opinion for general wise men, as Coruncanius, Curius, Lælius,
and many others, to walk at certain hours in the Place," &c.
The passage alluded to is _De Orat._, iii. 83. The persons there named are
Sex. Ælius, Manius Manilius, P. Crassus, Tib. Coruncanius, and Scipio.
P. 179. "We will begin, therefore, with this precept, according to the
ancient opinion, that the sinews of wisdom are slowness of belief, and
distrust."
The precept adverted to is the verse of Epicharmus:
"[Greek: naphe kai memnas' apistein? arthra tauta tôn phrenôn.]"
P. 180. "Fraus sibi in parvis fidem præstruit, ut majore emolumento
fallat."
Query, Where does this passage occur, as well as the expression "alimenta
socordiæ," which Demosthenes, according to Bacon, applies to small favours.