Notes and Queries, Number 186, May 21, 1853 | Page 2

beginning of the fifth century; but to
Jerome Osorio, who was born at Lisbon in 1506, afterwards became
Bishop of Silves, and died in 1580. His works were published at Rome
in 1592, in 4 vols. folio. His principal work, De rebus Emanuelis
Virtute et Auspicio gestis, which first appeared in 1571, was several
times reprinted, and was translated into French and English. {494}
P. 31. "Time, which is the author of authors."
In Nov. Org., i. 84., Time is called "Auctor auctorum, atque adeo omnis
auctoritatis."

P. 34. "But of these conceits Aristotle speaketh seriously and wisely,
when he saith, 'Qui respiciunt ad pauca de facili pronunciant."
The editor does not attempt to trace this passage. Query, If it is not in
Aristotle, where is it to be found?
P. 60. "Ulysses, 'Qui vetulam prætulit immortalitati' is a figure of those
which prefer custom and habit before all excellency."
The editor refers to Cic. de Orat., i. 44., where it is said that such is the
love of country,
"Ut Ithacam illam, in asperrimis saxulis, tanquam nidulum, affixam,
sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret."
Another application of the saying is made by Bacon in his Essay VIII.,
"On Marriage and Single Life:"
"Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly
loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses, 'vetulam suam prætulit
immortalitati.'"
The passage in Cicero does not agree with the dictum quoted by Bacon,
which seems to be a reference to the Odyssey, v. 136. 208-10.
P. 62. "Claudus in vià antevertit cursorem extra viam."
The same proverb is quoted in Nov. Org., i. 61.
P. 85. "Omnia mutantur, nil interit"--
from Ovid, Met., xv. 165.
Several passages are cited by Bacon from Seneca, which the editor
does not trace. Thus, in p. 146., it is said,--
"Nocet illis eloquentia, quibus non rerum cupiditatem facit, sed sui."
Page 147.,--

"Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei."
The same passage is also quoted by Bacon in Essay V., "On
Adversity," and in the treatise De Sap. Vet., vol. x. p. 343., edit.
Montagu.
Again, p. 159.:
"De partibus vitæ quisque deliberat, de summâ nemo."
Page 152.,--
"Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris," &c.,
repeated in part in the "Essay on Death."
This last passage is taken, with considerable verbal variations, from
Epist. 77. § 6.
"Therefore Aristotle, when he thinks to tax Democritus, doth in truth
commend him, where he saith, If we shall indeed dispute, and not
follow after similitudes," &c.
The passage referred to is in Eth. Nic., vi. 3.; but it contains no allusion
to Democritus, who is not even named in the Ethics; and the word
which Bacon renders dispute ([Greek: akribologeisthai]) means to
speak with precision.
P. 163. "For as the ancient politiques in popular states were wont to
compare the people to the sea, and the orators to the winds."
The allusion is to a couplet of Solon:
"[Greek: ex anemôn de thalassa tarassetai? ên de tis autên] [Greek: mê
kinêi, pantôn esti dikaiotatê.]" Fragm. i. 8., ed. Gaisford.
And to a passage of Livy (xxviii. 27.):
"Multitudo omnis, sicut natura maris, per se immobilis est, venti et

auræ cient."
Compare Babrius, fab. 71.
P. 165. "Did not one of the Fathers, in great indignation, call poesy
vinum dæmonum?"
The same citation recurs in Essay I., "On Truth:"
"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,