2''d s. No 115., Mab. 13. '58.] NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



205 



served in the archives. The first great work, in 

 six folio volumes, will embrace a diary kept by the 

 Council of Trent, with a mass of correspondence 

 of the apostolic nuncios, bishops, and sovereigns. 

 Dare we hope that a selection from the "seven 

 tons weight " of Stuart papers may follow it ? 



William John Fitz-Patrick. 

 Kilmacud Manor, 



Stillorgan, Dublin. 



[These papers were purchased by George IV., and the 

 first volume, consisting chiefly of the Aiterbury Corre- 

 spondence, was published under the editorship of Mr. 

 Glover, who in his preface says : " It is not intended to 

 enter into any detailed account of these papers here; the 

 consideration of the whole, as a collection, will more ap- 

 propriately precede James's own Correspondence." See 

 also three articles on the Stuart papers in our 1»' S. xi. 

 170. 253. 294.] 



BACON S ESSAYS ON THE WISDOM OF THE 

 ANCIENTS. 



(Continued from p. 182.) 



It certainly is very desirable, as Mr. Singee 

 justly remarks, to retain an old version of the 

 De Sap. Vet. (or of any of the Latin treatises of 

 Lord Bacon), for the sake of preserving " more 

 uniformity of style" with the author's English 

 writings, and " carrying the reader back to the 

 time of its production." But I greatly doubt that 

 there is any old version sufficiently trustworthy 

 t ) be retained without a careful revision and re- 

 quiring many alterations. Sir A. Gorges' trans- 

 lation of the Sapientia Veterum certainly is no 

 exception, for it has not a few inelegancies and 

 inaccuracies, with some gross blunders. I subjoin 

 a few additional instances, which, like the former, 

 occurred to me from casual reading, not from 

 searching examination. * 



The titles of some of the Myths are incorrectly 

 given : thus I. Cassandra^ sive Parresia is ren- 

 dered " Cassandra, or Divination," whereas what 

 Bacon intended by the word Parresia (lit. hold- 

 ness) is Untimely Admonition^ Unseasonable and 

 over-free Counsel. IX. Fama is rendered " Fame," 

 but what is intended is. Public Rumour, Defama' 

 tion, Detraction, &c. ; " Fame," at least in modern 

 English, having an exclusively good sense, and 

 being equivalent to Renown or Glory. XXII. 

 Nemesis, sive Vices Rerum, is rendered " Nemesis, 

 or the Vicissitude of Things " (giving it the same 

 title as that of the LVIth Essays which in the 

 Latin translation is De Vicissitudine Rerum) ; but 

 Vices Rerum connected thus with Nemesis, or 

 Retribution, means not so much the Revolutions 

 or Vicissitudes of Thinj^s, as Reverses of Fortune, 

 or the Vicissitudes of Adversity. XXVI. Prome- 

 theus, sive Status Hominis, is rendered " Prome- 

 theus, or the Statue of Man!" Did the translator 

 imagine that Status was the Latin for Statue ? 

 XXVII. Icarus Volans : item Scylla et CharybdiSy 



sive, Via media, is rendered, " Scylla and Icarus, 

 or the Middle Way." XXIV. Dionysus, sive Cu- 

 piditas, is rendered, and, I think, rightly, " Dio- 

 nysus, or Passions," but the Latin should be given 

 in this case, and perhaps with all. 



As a sample of the clumsy and obscure pas- 

 sages not uncommon, take the following : — 



" Moreover that of the Labyrinth is an excellent Al- 

 legory, whereby is shadowed the Nature of Mechanical 

 Sciences ; for all such handicraft Works as are more in- 

 genious and accurate, may be compared to a Labyrinth 

 in respect of Subtilty and divers intricate Passages, and 

 in other plain Kesemblances, which by the Eye of Judge- 

 ment can hardly be guided and discerned, but only by 

 the Line of Experience." — Daedalus. 



The original may be rendered thus : — 



" The addition of the Labyrinth contains a very beau- 

 tiful Allegory, in which the nature of Mechanic Arts in 

 general is shadowed out : for all the more ingenious and 

 accurate Mechanical Inventions may be conceive as a 

 Labyrinth, which, hj reason of their subtilty, intricacy, 

 and complex relations, as well as the apparent resem- 

 blances they have among themselves, scarce any amount 

 of judgment can unravel and distinguish ; so that they 

 are only to be understood and traced by the Clue of ex- 

 perience." 



Again, in the Fable of Cupid : — 



" Neque aliquid Naturaa notius ; ergo nee Genus, nee 

 Forma ; Quamobrem qusecunque ea tandem sit, positiva 

 est et surda." 



" Neither was there anything better known to Nature, 

 and therefore neither Genus nor Form. Wherefore what- 

 soever it is, positive it is, and but inexpressible I " 



See also the passage beginning with Eccl. iii. 

 11., where Et Mundum tradidit disputationibus 

 eorum is rendered, " Also, He hath set the World 

 in their Meditations ; " and ending with — 



" Verum ista raeditatio angusta fuit, et ad punciora 

 quara par erat, respiciens. Neque enim, aut Corporum 

 Coelestium in orbem Conversio (The Revolution of the 

 Heavenly Bodies) aut Rerum Contractiones et Expan- 

 siones ad hoc Principium [Principle] reduci, aut accomo- 

 dari posse videntur." 



" But this Meditation was very shallow, containing 

 less than was expedient ; for neither the turning of the 

 Coelestial Bodies in a round, nor shutting and opening of 

 things, may seem to be reduced or applied to this Be- 

 ginning ! " 



Again, in the Fable of Dionysus : 



" Etiam sacrorum et ceremoniarum Inventor et Insti- 

 tutor habebatur, ejus tamen generis, quae et fanaticse 

 erant, et plenae corruptelarum, atque insuper crudeles." 



" He was held the Inventor and Institutor of Sacrifices 

 and Ceremonies, and full of Corruption and Cruelty." 



As a specimen of the not merely inelegant, but 

 barbarous English occasionally to be met with in 

 this version, take the following passage, which 

 occurs in the Fable of Pan : 



" Ob quod Judicium, Mydas asininaa aures tulit, sell 

 clam, et secret 6." 



" But the wise Judge had a pair of Ass's Ears pri- 

 vately chopped to his Noddle for his sentence ! " 



Thus, too, the Wife of Orpheus, on his looking 



