106 BACON 



not fed, supported, and kept right by their common parent. 

 Thus we find Cicero complaining of Socrates, that he first dis- 

 joined philosophy from rhetoric, which is thence become a 

 frothy, talkative art.d And it is likewise evident, that although 

 the opinion of Copernicus about the earth's rotation cannot be 

 confuted by astronomical principles, because it agrees with 

 phenomena, yet it may easily be exploded by natural philoso- 

 phy. In like manner the art of medicine, without the assist- 

 ance of natural philosophy, differs but little from empiricism. 



The doctrine of man divides itself into two parts, or into 

 human and civil philosophy, as it considers man separate, or 

 joined in society. Human philosophy consists in the sciences 

 that regard the body, and those that regard the soul of man. 

 But before we descend to a more particular distribution, it is 

 proper to make one general science of the nature and state 

 of man, which certainly deserves to be free from the rest, and 

 reduced to a science by itself. And this will consist of such 

 things as are common both to the body and the soul. It may, 

 likewise, be divided into two parts ; viz., according to the in- 

 dividual nature of man, and the connection of the soul and body. 

 The former we call the doctrine of the person of man, and the 

 other the doctrine of union. All which, being common and 

 mixed matters, cannot be separately referred to the sciences 

 that regard the body, nor to those that regard the soul. 



The doctrine of the human person principally consists in two 

 things : the consideration of the miseries of mankind, and its 

 prerogatives or excellencies. There are many writings, both 

 philosophical and theological, that elegantly and copiously be- 

 wail the human miseries, and it is an agreeable and wholesome 

 topic; but the prerogatives of mankind are not hitherto de- 

 scribed. Pindar, in his praise of Hiero, says, with his usual 

 elegance, that he cropped the tops of every virtue ; * and me- 

 thinks it would greatly contribute to the encouragement and 

 honor of mankind, to have these tops, or utmost extents of 

 human nature, collected from faithful history: I mean the 

 greatest length whereto human nature of itself has ever gone, 

 in the several endowments of body and mind. Thus it is said 

 of Caesar/ that he could dictate to five amanuenses at once. We 

 read, also, of the ancient rhetoricians, as Protagoras and Gor- 

 gias ; and of the ancient philosophers, as Callisthenes, Possi- 

 donius, and Carneades, who could with eloquence and copious- 



