114 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. iBOOK It 



vanccd to ride, it triumphs over reason, and exerts its cruelty, 

 fierceness, and strength against all that oppose it. 



It is also hnnoronsly imagined, that ridiculous demons 

 should dance and frisk about this chariot; for every passion 

 produces indecent, disorderly, interchangeable, and deformed 

 motions in the eyes, countenance, and gesture, so that the 

 person under the impulse whether of anger, insult, love, &c., 

 though to himself he may seem grand, lofty, or obliging, 

 yet in the eyes of others appears mean, contemptible, or 

 ridiculous. 



The Muses also are found in the train of Bacchus; for 

 there is scarce any passion without its art, science, or doc 

 trine to court and Hatter it ; but in this respect the in 

 dulgence of men of genius has greatly detracted from the 

 majesty of the Muses, who ought to be the leaders and 

 conductors of human life, and not the handmaids of the 

 passions. 



The allegory of Bacchus falling in love with a cast mis 

 tress is extremely noble ; for it is certain that the affections 

 always court and covet what has been rejected upon expe 

 rience. And all those who, by serving and indulging their 

 passions immensely raise the value of enjoyment, should 

 know, that whatever they covet and pursue, whether riches, 

 pleasure, glory, learning, or anything else, they only pursue 

 those things that have been forsaken, and cast off with con 

 tempt by great numbers in all ages, after possession and 

 experience. 



Nor is it without a mystery that the ivy \vas sacred to 

 Bacchus ; and this for two reasons, First, because ivy is an 

 evergreen, or flourishes in the winter; and, secondly, be 

 cause it winds and creeps about so many things, as trees, 

 walls, and buildings, and raises itself above them. As to the 

 first, every passion grows fresh, strong, and vigorous by 

 opposition and prohibition, as it were by a kind of contrast 

 or antiperistasis, 1 like the ivy in the winter. And for the 



l&amp;gt; The word avTurtpiffratrtc, used by the Greeks to express the forces 

 of activity and resistance, which are continually producing all the varie 

 gated tissue of phenomena which mark the history of the moral and 

 physical world, and are necessary to their preservation. Without reac 

 tion, action could not take place, a.s lorce can be only displayed in 

 overcomiag resistance, and we can have no idea of its existence except 

 from ith effect -you tho antagonistic (;rce it attempts to subdue. In 



