NOVUM ORGANUM 105 



magnificence of his works, in his court, his household, his 

 fleet, the splendor of his name, and the most unbounded 

 admiration of mankind, he still placed his glory in none of 

 these, but declared B9 that it is the glory of Grod to conceal 

 a thing, but the glory of a king to search it out. 



Again, let any one but consider the immense difference 

 between men s lives in the most polished countries of Eu 

 rope, and in any wild and barbarous region of the new 

 Indies, he will think it so great, that man may be said to 

 be a god unto man, not only on account of mutual aid and 

 benefits, but from their comparative states the result of 

 the arts, and not of the soil or climate. 



Again, we should notice the force, effect, and conse 

 quences of inventions, which are nowhere more conspicu 

 ous than in those three which were unknown to the ancients; 

 namely, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. For these 

 three have changed the appearance and state of the whole 

 world: first in literature, then in warfare, and lastly in 

 navigation; and innumerable changes have been thence 

 derived, so that no empire, sect, or star, appears to have 

 exercised a greater power and influence on human affairs 

 than these mechanical discoveries. 



It will, perhaps, be as well to distinguish three species 

 and degrees of ambition. First, that of men who are anx 

 ious to enlarge their own power in their country, which is 

 a vulgar and degenerate kind; next, that of men who strive 

 to enlarge the power and empire of their country over man 

 kind, which is more dignified but not less covetous; but if 

 one were to endeavor to renew and enlarge the power and 

 empire of mankind in general over the universe, such ambi- 



69 Prov. xxv. 2. 



