Essays of Francis Bacon | Page 5

Holy Ghost,
instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven; and
set, out of the bark of a Christian church, a flag of a bark of pirates, and
assassins. Therefore it is most necessary, that the church, by doctrine

and decree, princes by their sword, and all learnings, both Christian and
moral, as by their Mercury rod, do damn and send to hell for ever, those
facts and opinions tending to the support of the same; as hath been
already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion, that
counsel of the apostle would be prefixed, Ira hominis non implet
justitiam Dei. And it was a notable observation of a wise father, and no
less ingenuously confessed; that those which held and persuaded
pressure of consciences, were commonly interested therein., themselves,
for their own ends.

Of Revenge
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man' s nature runs
to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth
but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong, putteth the law out of
office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy;
but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.
And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man, to pass by an
offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have
enough to do, with things present and to come; therefore they do but
trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is no man doth a
wrong, for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or
pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a
man, for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do
wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar,
which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most
tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to
remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as there is no
law to punish; else a man's enemy is still before hand, and it is two for
one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party should
know, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight
seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the party
repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like the arrow that flieth in the
dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against
perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable;
You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our

enemies; but you never read, that we are commanded to forgive our
friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he)
take good at God's hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so
of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth
revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal,
and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for
the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry
the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not
so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they
are mischievous, so end they infortunate.

Of Adversity
IT WAS an high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that
the good things, which belong to prosperity, are to be wished; but the
good things, that belong to adversity, are to be admired. Bona rerum
secundarum optabilia; adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if miracles be
the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet a
higher speech of his, than the other (much too high for a heathen), It is
true greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a
God. Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. This
would have done better in poesy, where transcendences are more
allowed. And the poets indeed have been busy with it; for it is in effect
the thing, which figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets,
which seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some
approach to the state of a Christian; that Hercules, when he went to
unbind Prometheus (by whom human nature is represented), sailed the
length of the great ocean, in an earthen pot or pitcher; lively describing
Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh, through
the