cl LIFE OF BACON. 



In this fable he explains the common but erroneous 

 supposition, that knowledge and the conformity of the will, 

 knowing and acting, are convertible terms. Of this error 

 he, in his essay of &quot; Custom and Education,&quot; admonishes 

 his readers, by saying, &quot;Men s thoughts are much according 

 to their inclination ; their discourse and speeches according 

 to their learning and infused opinions, but their deeds are 

 after as they have been accustomed ; ^Esop s damsel, trans 

 formed from a cat to a woman, sat very demurely at the 

 board-end till a mouse ran before her.&quot; In the fable of 

 the Syrens he exhibits the same truth, saying, &quot; The habi 

 tation of the Syrens was in certain pleasant islands, from 

 whence, as soon as out of their watch-tower they disco 

 vered any ships approaching, with their sweet tunes they 

 would first entice and stay them, and, having them in 

 their power, would destroy them ; and, so great were the 

 mischiefs they did, that these isles of the syrens, even as 

 far off as man can ken them, appeared all over white with 

 the bones of unburied carcasses: by which it is signified 

 that albeit the examples of afflictions be manifest and 

 eminent, yet they do not sufficiently deter us from the 

 wicked enticements of pleasure.&quot; (a) 



Tithonus, or Satiety. Dionysius, or Passions. 



Juno s Suitor, or Baseness. Atalanta, or Gain. 



Cupid, or an Atom. Prometheus, or the State of Man. 



Diomedes, or Zeal. Scylla and Icarus, or the Middle 



Daedalus, or Mechanic. Way. 



Ericthonius, or Imposture. Sphynx, or Science. 



Deucalion, or Restitution. Proserpina, or Spirit. 



Nemesis, or the Vicissitudes of Metis, or Counsel. 



Things. The Syrens, or Pleasures. 

 Achelous, or Battle. 



(a) See note CCC at the end, for the various editions of this work, and 



observations upon them. See vol. iii. p. l, for the English, and vol. xi. 

 p. 271, for the Latin. 



