READINGS IN GRJ 



47 



much valuable rapport from him, though in the hour of anex'* 

 fall Baoon wax fun<l umong his onemiea. Hit advancement 

 became rapid after Elizabeth's death and the accession of 

 JamoH I II ' U 11 tirnMiinont part in the debate* of the House 

 ..I!!- lumsolf generally a willing and obedient 

 instrument <>f til-' <' ii t party. H became successively S> 

 General, Attorney-General, n i:mcllor, with the titles 



s Huron ViTiiliitn and Viscount St. Album*. The last-named 

 hij.'li office Bacon lilli-.l from 1617 to 1021. Hut in the latter 

 year, the contest between the Crown and the Common* running 

 high, Baoon, an well an others, fell moot justly a victim o 

 popular in.li"! .i::,.-i. Charged were made against him of cor 

 ruption and receiving bribes in his judicial capacity. He waa 

 impeached at tho bar of the House of Lords, and, after a feeblo 

 defence, unanimously convicted. He was sentenced to a fine ol 

 40,000, and to imprisonment during the king's pleasure 

 together with various disabilities, such as from holding public 

 office or sitting in Parliament. The substantial parts of this 

 punishment tho fine and imprisonment wore soon remittee 

 by tho king ; but Bacon's fall was irretrievable. He lived till 

 1626 in much embarrassment, and at last died of a fever, said 

 to have been brought on by a chill received in the course of a 

 supposed scientific experiment. 



Any attempt at an elaborate examination of the philosophic 

 value of Bacon's works, or to determine tho place which ho is 

 entitled to fill in tho ranks of science, would bo out of place 

 here. Such an attempt belongs moro properly to a history of 

 philosophy than to these introductory lessons in literature. 

 Without entering upon any controverted questions, it is enough 

 to say that whatever scientific achievements had been accom- 

 plished (and they were groat), however soundly and boldly men 

 had used induction as an instrument for the discovery of truth 

 (and there were already men who had done so as surely and as 

 boldly as any have done since), no one had ever examined and 

 expounded tho principles of philosophic inquiry as Bacon did. 

 And he who teaches the true principles of any art is not tho 

 less entitled to praiso because there have been those who prac- 

 tised the art not without success before its rules had ever been 

 systematically expounded. 



Tho groat philosophical work which Bacon conceived and 

 mapped out for himself was the "Instauratio Magna," which 

 was intended to contain his whole system of philosophy. It 

 was to consist of six books ; but of the six only two were ever 

 completed, nothing moro than scanty fragments or specimens 

 having been written of tho remainder. The first part of tho 

 " Instauratio Magna" was published in English in 1G05, under 

 the title " Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning." 

 It was afterwards, in 1623, republished in Latin in an enlarged 

 form, under the title " Do Augmentis Scientiarum." This work 

 consisted of an examination into the then state of scientific 

 knowledge, a natural introduction to tho exposition of a sounder 

 method in philosophy than that which was still too much in 

 use. The second part of tho " Instauratio Magna " was pub- 

 lished in Latin in 1620, under the title " Novum Organum." In 

 this book Bacon gives his exposition of the inductive method, 

 the new instrument (as he calls it)of investigation, together 

 with an exposure of those idola, false appearances or concep- 

 tions, which chiefly lead men astray in their pursuit of truth. 

 Of tho other contemplated books of the " Instauratio Magna," 

 nothing more than fragments in any case were written. 



In addition to tho great work of which we have spoken, 

 Bacon was the author of numerous smaller works, both English 

 and Latin. His " History of tho Reign of Henry VII.," and 

 his " Essays," are the most remarkable of those in English. 

 The "Essays" were the most popular of his works during his 

 life, as ho himself says, " for that, as it seems, they come homo 

 to men's business and bosoms ;" and they have remained so to 

 this day. This is tho volume which any student who has not 

 the time or the inclination for a thorough study of Bacon's 

 larger philosophical works, but who desires to obtain some 

 understanding of his wonderful powers, ought to read most 

 carefully. The "Essays" are not essays according to tho 

 modern usage of tho word ; they are not full and finished 

 treatises on isolated points or branches of a subject. Bacon 

 used the word " essay " in its original sense an attempt ; and 

 his essays are short studies on groat subjects, sketches, not 

 finished pictures. But, like a perfect sketch, each essay con- 

 tains tho whole outline of a finished picture. Their loading 



characteristics are clearness and comprehensiveness of thought, 

 unequalled conciseness of expression, and beauty and harmony 

 of language. There in no book in the whole range of English 

 literature which it in more incumbent on the student thoroughly 



to ui.-i-.t.-r. 



READINGS IN GREEK. VII. 



HEEODOTUS. 



THE authors to whom we have np to this point introduced our 

 readers used tbo language of Greece in the form into which, 

 after due lapse of time, it had grown as the common speech of 

 tho whole Greek world. In the days anterior to this the princi- 

 pal divisions of the Greek family used each their own dialect, 

 that of Attica being tbo one which bore the greatest resem- 

 blance to tho form which the language finally assumed. The 

 author whose name stands at the bead of this selection wrote 

 in the Ionic dialect, a form of speech which was used prin- 

 cipally by the inhabitants of the .gean archipelago and the 

 Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor. It was of thia 

 latter country that Herodotus was a native, the town of 

 Halicarnassns where another historian, Dionysiua, first Mir 

 the light being his birthplace. The peculiarities of the Ionic 

 dialect are too many to enumerate in detail here, but we will 

 notice the principal of them, and point out others as they 

 occur in our extracts. The chief characteristics of the dialect 

 are an aversion to contractions, and a use of .open vowels, 

 which may be observed chiefly in the verbs which the writers 

 with whom we have hitherto been dealing almost invariably 

 use in their contracted forms. Thus we find ISdxft for &&KH, 

 (\ftiv for i\t?v : so, also, in the case of substantives, tirta. tat 

 tirrj, wfVfleoj for irtvOous. This general tendency to make much 

 of the vowels is also exemplified in the use of <av for an in 

 such words as 6wufj.a for Bavfia, atuvrov for fftavrov, and of ov 

 for o, as in /toOi/os for fj.6vos, ot/vo/j.a for uvofui. Frequently, 

 also, a word is lengthened by the insertion of the vowel 

 before a long vowel, as avSptuv, rovrfou, for Hvtipav, TOVTOU, 

 and of a before the final TO in verbs, as 40ov\taTo for 18ou\tro. 

 Other special peculiarities in the forms of words are a use of a 

 for 77 and 17 for a, as in fj.fffaft.ppir] for ntcrri/j.f)pia., and of j* for 

 our in the dative plural of feminine substantives, as ftoixntt for 

 ftovfaa. It is these variations from the more usual forms of 

 spelling that chiefly perplex the student in commencing to 

 read Herodotus ; but with a very little attention the difficulty 

 will bo overcome, and in the construction of the sentences he 

 will find few if any obstacles. The work can hardly be called 

 a continuous or connected history ; it is rather a series of 

 episodes and anecdotes, all grouping round and tending to 

 one great centre the struggle between the Greeks and Per- 

 sians in the years 490 and 480 B.C. ; and in order to present 

 this contest in its true light, the author travels over the pre- 

 vious history both of these countries and of others which have 

 at different times had an influence upon them. Thus one book 

 is devoted to the states of Asia Minor, another to Egypt, and 

 another to Scy thia ; and in each, in addition to a mass of anec- 

 dote and tradition, detailed with wonderful simplicity and 

 picturesqueness, Wo get an immense amount of information 

 respecting tho geography and peculiarities of the different 

 countries, and the manners and customs of the inhabitants. A 

 great quantity of his materials was acquired by personal re- 

 search and inquiry, especially in the case of Egypt ; and, unlike 

 most raconteurs, Herodotus does not demand the belief of his 

 readers for the many singular stories he tells, but merely gives 

 his authorities, and leaves the reader to judge of their credi- 

 bility. Both from its construction and its general manner, his 

 history has been likened to an epic poem, and one writer speaks 

 of him as 'O/UT/PIKWTOTOJ, "the most like Homer " of all writers, 

 a resemblance which is still further carried out by the remark- 

 able poetic sentiment which is continually strongly apparent 

 in his writings. A story is extant that Thucydides waa moved 

 write his history by hearing Herodotus recite portions of his 

 work, and whether this be true or not, its very existence serves 

 /o show tho very high esteem in which he was held by his 

 countrymen. 



The following extract is an anecdote of Solon, the Athenian 

 philosopher, and Croesus, the King of Lydia, whose wealth has 

 jossod into a proverb : 



