Valerius Terminus · Francis Bacon

VALERIUS TERMINUS: OF THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE

1534) 144b ; -sirup: | \STAUB-TOBLER 7, 1270; -stengel: sie | steckten nun einen mit essig gefüllten | schwamm auf einen ysopstengel (JOAN | 19,29). ZÜRCHER BIBEL (BERLIN 1956) | 2,148; hysopstengel (J. 19,29) | TILLMANN NEUES TESTAM. (LPZ. 6-1959) | 325; -strauch, | s. isopstrauch TEIL 4,2, SP. 2182; - | wasser: hysopwasser soll man allwegen | in heysser aeschen disti1liren: | welches (U. A.) trefflich gut für den | grausamen schmertzen der zän ist SEBIZ | feldbau (1580) 413; zerschmeltz den | zucker in brandlattich oder | issopwasser GÄBELKOVER artzneybuch | (1595) 1, 193, GEBUCHT bei RÄDLEIN T.- | IT.-FRZ.(1711) 1080;b; -wein, . VGL. | isopwein TEIL 4. 2. sp. 2182 SOWIE: | von ysopwein. ysopwein ist warm, | reiniget die brust, machet gute däwung | vnd weicht den bauch M. HERR FELDBAU | (1551) 112a; eysop wein ZEHNER | NOMENCL. (1645) 365; KIRSCH CORNU | COPIAE 2 (1775), 908. | | Why then did Bacon translate "hyssop" | as "moss"? The hyssop was known and | used in England (compare OED; e.g. | Skakespeare OTHELLO I,3 etc.). What | appears from all the dictionaries | consulted is, however, that it is not | so very clear which plant was meant by | the name. What led Bacon to use the | word "moss" for "hyssop" is probably | the sense of 1 K 4,33: Salomon knows | every plant from the noblest (=cedar | tree) to the meanest (=hyssop), "moss" | obviously signifying a mean plant | "which is but a rudiment between | putrefaction and an herb". This does | obviously leave out of consideration | the holiness of the hyssop tested in | various other contexts of the Old and | the New Testament (see above). philosophy{29}. Nay, the same Salomon the | 29. cf. A.L. Sp. III, 298, I.5 (D.A. king affirmeth directly that the glory of | Sp.I,467, I.1) ; Cf. also N.O.

I, 65 God IS TO CONCEAL A THING, BUT THE GLORY | OF THE KING IS TO FIND IT OUT{30}, as if | 30. Proverbs 25,2 according to the innocent play of children | Geneva Bible: The glorie of God is to the divine Majesty took delight to hide | conceile a thing secret: but the Kings his works, to the end to have them found | honour is to searche out a thing. out; for in naming the king he intendeth | man, taking such a condition of man as | Authorized Version: It is the glory of hath most excellency and greatest | God to conceal a thing: but the honour commandment of wits and means, alluding | of kings is to search out a matter. also to his own person, being truly one of | those clearest burning lamps, whereof | Vulgata: Gloria Dei celare verbum et himself speaketh in another place, when he | gloria regum investigare sermonem saith THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS AS THE LAMP OF | GOD, WHEREWITH HE SEARCHETH ALL | INWARDNESS{31}; which nature of the soul | 31. Proverbs 20,27 the same Salomon holding precious and | Geneva Bible: The light of the Lord is inestimable, and therein conspiring with | the breth of man, and sercheth all the the affection of Socrates who scorned the | bowels of the bellie. pretended learned men of his time for | Authorized Version: The spirit of man raising great benefit of their learning | is the candle of the Lord,searching (whereas Anaxagoras contrariwise and | all the inward parts of the belly. divers others being born to ample | Vulgata: lucerna Dominis spiraculum patrimonies decayed them in | homninis quae investigat omnia secreta | ventris | Luther: Eine Leuchte des Herrn ist des | Menschen Geist; die geht durch alle | Kammern des Leibes. contemplation){32}, delivereth it in | 32. see Platon, Hippias Major.

282 b - precept yet remaining, BUY THE TRUTH, AND | 283 b SELL IT NOT; | AND SO OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE{33}. | 33. Proverbs 23, 23 | Geneva Bible: Bye the trueth, but sel And lest any man should retain a scruple | it not: likewise wisdome, and as if this thirst of | instruction, and understanding. knowledge were rather an humour of the | mind than an emptiness or want in nature | Authorized Version: Buy the truth and and an instinct from God, the same author | sell it not; also wisdom, and defineth of it fully, saying, GOD HATH | instruction, and understanding. MADE EVERY THING IN BEAUTY ACCORDING TO | SEASON; ALSO HE HATH SET THE WORLD IN | Vulgata: veritatem eme et noli vendere MAN'S HEART, YET CAN HE NOT FIND OUT THE | sapientiam et doctrinam et WORK WHICH GOD WORKETH FROM THE | intelligentiam | | Luther: Kaufe Wahrheit und verkaufe | sie nicht, Weisheit, Zucht und | Verstand. | | on the mercantilist spirit in Bacon | see: Julie Robin Salomon, Objectivity | in the Making.

The John Hopkins | University Press, 1998. BEGINNING TO THE END{34}: declaring not | 34. Ecclesiastes 3,11 obscurely that God hath framed the mind of | Authorized Version: He hath made every man as a glass capable of the image of the | thing beautiful in his time: also he universal world, joying to receive the | hath set the world in their heart, so signature thereof as the eye is of light | that no man can find out the work that yea not only satisfied in beholding the | God maketh from the beginning to the variety of things and vicissitude of | end. times, but raised also to find out and | discern those ordinances and decrees which | Vulgata: cuncta fecit bona in tempore throughout all these changes are | suo et mundum tradidit disputioni infallibly observed. And although the | eorum / ut non inveniat homo opus quod highest generality of motion or summary | operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad law of nature God should still reserve | finem. within his own curtain, yet many and noble | are the inferior and secondary operations | Luther Bible: Prediger Salomo 3,11: which are within man's sounding.

This is a | Er aber tut alles fein zu seiner Zeit thing which I cannot tell whether I may so | und läßt ihr Herz sich ängstigen, wie plainly speak as truly conceive, that as | es gehen solle in der Welt; denn der all knowledge appeareth to be a plant of | Mensch kann doch nicht treffen das God's own planting, so it may seem the | Werk, das Gott tut, weder Anfang noch spreading and flourishing or at least the | Ende. bearing and fructifying of this plant, by | a providence of God, nay not only by a | general providence but by a special | prophecy, was appointed to this autumn | of the world{35}: for to my understanding | 35. Melek Hasgün comments: Bacon sees it is not violent to the letter, and safe | his time as "...autumn of the now after the event, so to interpret that | world...". As in Shakespeare’s King place in the prophecy of Daniel where | Lear (IV/6) ‘autumn’ implies the time speaking of the latter times it is said, | shortly before the end of the world, MANY SHALL PASS TO AND FRO, AND SCIENCE | this can also be applied to Bacon. The | Apocalypse is preceded by the increase | of knowledge (Daniel 12,4) and again | Bacon uses the Bible to legitimate | progress in science.

SHALL BE INCREASED{36}; as if the opening | 36. Daniel 12, 4; of the world by navigation and commerce | Geneva Bible: But thou, o Daniel, shut and the further discovery of knowledge | up the wordes, and seale the boke til should meet in one time or age. | the end of the time: many shal runne | to and fro, and knowledge shalbe But howsoever that be, there are besides | increased [explanation f ("til the end the authorities or Scriptures before | of the time"): Til the time that God recited, two reasons of exceeding great | hathe appointed for the ful revelation weight and force why religion should | of these things: and then many shal dearly protect all increase of natural | runne to and fro to search the knowledge: the one, because it leadeth to | knowledge of these mysteries, which the greater exaltation of the glory of | things they obteine now by the light God; for as the | of the Gospel] | | Authorized Version: But thou, O | Daniel, shut up the words, and seal | the book, EVEN to the time of the end: | many shall run to and fro, and | knowledge shall be increased. | | Vulgata: Tu autem Danihel clude | sermones et signa librum usque ad | tempus statutum / pertransibunt | plurimi et multiplex erit scientia | | This quotation is repeated on the | title page of NOVUM ORGANUM.

Psalms{37} and other Scriptures do often | 37. for example Psalms 19,1 invite us to consider and to magnify the | great and wonderful works of God, so if we | should rest only in the contemplation of | those shews which first offer themselves | to our senses, we should do a like injury | to the majesty of God, as if we should | judge of the store of some excellent | jeweller by that only which is set out to | the street in his shop. The other reason | is, because it is a singular help and a | preservative against unbelief and error; | for, saith our Saviour, YOU ERR, NOT | KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES NOR THE | POWER OF GOD;{38} laying before us two | 38. St. Matthew 22, 29: books or volumes to study if we will be | Authorized Version: Jesus answered and secured from error; first the Scriptures | said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing revealing the will of God, and then the | the Scriptures, not the power of God. creatures expressing his power; for that | see also St Mark 12, 24 latter book will certify us that nothing | which the first teacheth shall be thought | impossible.

And most sure it is, and a | true conclusion of experience, that a | little natural philosophy inclineth the | mind to atheism, but a further proceeding | bringeth the mind back to religion. | | To conclude then, let no man presume to | check the liberality of God's gifts, who, | as was said, | HATH SET THE WORLD IN MAN'S HEART. So | as whatsoever is not God but parcel of the | world, he hath fitted it to the | comprehension of man's mind, if man will | open and dilate the powers of | his understanding as he may.{39} | 39. Compare to "mind of glass" above | But yet evermore it must be remembered | that the least part of knowledge passed to | man by this so large a charter from God | must be subject to that use for which God | hath granted it; which is the benefit and | relief of the state and society or man; | for otherwise all manner of knowledge | becometh malign and serpentine, and | therefore as carrying the quality of the | serpent's sting and malice it maketh the | mind of man to swell; as the Scripture | saith excellently, KNOWLEDGE BLOWETH UP, | BUT CHARITY BUILDETH UP{40}.

And again the | 40. 1 Corinthians 8, 1 same author doth notably disavow both | Authorized Version: Now as touching power and knowledge such as is not | things offered unto idols, we know dedicated to goodness or love, for saith | that we all have knowledge. Knowledge he, IF I HAVE ALL FAITH SO AS I COULD | puffeth up, but charity edifieth. REMOVE MOUNTAINS, (there is power active,) | IF I RENDER MY BODY TO THE FIRE, (there is | power passive,) IF I SPEAK WITH THE | TONGUES OF MEN AND ANGELS, (there is | knowledge, for language is but the | conveyance of knowledge,) | ALL WERE NOTHING{41}. | 41. 1 Corinthians 13, 1-3: | Authorized Version: Though I speak And therefore it is not the pleasure of | with the tongues of men and of angels, | and have not charity, I am become as | sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. | And though I have the gift of | prophecy, and understand all | mysteries, and all knowledge; and | though I have all faith, so that I | could remove mountains, and have not | charity, I am nothing. And though I | bestow all my goods to feed the poor, | and though I give my body to be | burned, and have not charity, it | profiteth me nothing. curiosity{42}, nor the quiet of | 42. Bacon here contrasts "curiosity" resolution, nor the raising of the spirit, | with "thirst of knowledge" (p. 220). nor victory of wit, nor faculty of speech, | "Curiosity" is used in a traditional nor lucre of profession, nor ambition of | sense (see St. Augustine on curiositas honour or fame, nor inablement for | in Confessiones X,35).

He speaks of business, that are the true ends of | curiositas also in "Actaeon et knowledge; some of these being more worthy | Pentheus, sive Curiositas" in: De than other, though all inferior and | sapentia veterum", VI: The Theban king degenerate: but it is a restitution and | Pentheus is punished with madness reinvesting (in great part) of man to the | because out of curiosity he has dared sovereignty and power (for whensoever he | to observe certain mysteries which are shall be able to call the creatures by | dedicated to Dionysos, that is: he their true names be shall again command | applied (scientific) observation to them) which he had | divine things, he did not respect the | division between LUMEN NATURALE and | LUMEN DIVINUM.--Bacon draws the same | conclusions from the myth of | Prometheus ("Prometheus, sive Status | hominis"). | on curiosity see Hans Blumenberg, "Der | Prozeß der theoretischen Neugierde", | in: DIE LEGITIMITÄT DER NEUZEIT | (Frankfurt, 1966). in his first state of creation{43}. And | 43. compare with Milton's Paradise Lost to speak plainly and clearly, it is a | Book XII discovery of all operations and pos- | sibilities of operations from immortality | (if it were possible) to the meanest | mechanical practice.

And therefore | knowledge that tendeth but to satisfaction | is but as a courtesan, which is for | pleasure and not for fruit or generation. | And knowledge that tendeth to profit or | profession or glory is but as the golden | ball thrown before Atalanta{44}, which | 44. The Atalanta myth is treated by while she goeth aside and stoopeth to take | Bacon in DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM (Works, up she hindereth the | vol. VI) | This is the German translation by | Marina Münkler in: Weisheit der Alten, | hrsg. von Philipp Rippel (Frankfurt | a.M: Fischer, 1991): | XXV. Atalanta oder die Gewinnsucht | Atalanta, die für ihre Schnelligkeit | berühmt war, forderte Hippomenes mit | dem Versprechen zum Wettlauf heraus, | daß er sie im Falle seines Sieges zur | Frau nehmen dürfe, im Falle seiner | Niederlage aber sein Leben verwirke. | An Atalantas Sieg schien es keinen | Zweifel geben zu können, da ihre | unübertreffliche Schnelligkeit bereits | durch den Tod zahlreicher Freier unter | Beweis gestellt worden war. Hippomenes | griff deshalb zu einer List. Er | beschaffte sich drei goldene Äpfel, | die er mit sich führte. Das Rennen | begann, Atalanta ging in Führung.

Ideas discussed in this chapter

Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.

Open in the reader →