224 BACON 



not pursue it. And so Cicero gives it as a high commendation 

 to the younger Cato, that he embraced philosophy, not for the 

 sake of disputing, as most do, but of living philosophically. c 

 And though at present few have any great regard to the culti- 

 vation and discipline of the mind and a regular course of life, as 

 Seneca phrases it "De partibus vitae quisque deliberat, de sum- 

 ma nemo " d whence this part may appear superfluous, yet we 

 cannot be persuaded to leave it untouched, but rather conclude 

 with the aphorism of Hippocrates, that those who labor under 

 a violent disease, yet seem insensible of their pain, are dis- 

 ordered in their mind. And men in this case want not only a 

 method of cure, but a particular remedy, to bring them to their 

 senses. If any one shall object, that the cure of the mind is the 

 office of divinity, we allow it ; yet nothing excludes moral phi- 

 losophy from the train of theology, whereto it is as a prudent and 

 faithful handmaid, attending and administering to all its wants. 

 But though, as the Psalmist observes, " the eyes of the maid are 

 perpetually waiting on the hands of the mistress, "<? yet doubt- 

 less many things must be left to the care and judgment of the 

 servant. So ethics ought to be entirely subservient to theol- 

 ogy, and obedient to the precepts thereof, though it may still 

 contain many wholesome and useful instructions within its own 

 limits. And therefore, when we consider the excellence of this 

 part of morality, we cannot but greatly wonder it is not hitherto 

 reduced to a body of doctrine, which we are obliged to note as 

 deficient; and shall therefore give some sketch for supplying 

 it. 



And first, as in all cases of practice, we must here distinguish 

 the things in our power, and those that are not ; for the one 

 may be altered, whilst the other can only be applied. Thus the 

 farmer has no command over the nature of the soil, or the sea- 

 sons of the year ; nor the physician over the constitution of the 

 patient, or the variety of accidents. In the cultivation of the 

 mind, and the cure of its diseases, there are three things to be 

 considered ; viz., I. the different dispositions ; 2. the affections ; 

 and 3. the remedies: answering in physic to the constitution, 

 the distemper, and the medicines. And of these three, only the 

 last is in our power. Yet we ought as carefully to inquire into 

 the things that are not in our power, as into those that are ; 

 because a clear and exact knowledge thereof is to be made the 

 foundation of the doctrine of remedies, in order to their more 



