232 BACON 



perfection than by all the doctrine of ethics, which is but a soph- 

 ist compared to charity. And as Xenophon well observed,^ 

 whilst the other passions, though they raise the mind, yet dis- 

 tort and discompose it by their ecstasies and excesses ; whilst 

 love alone, at the same time composes and dilates it; so all 

 other human endowments which we admire, whilst they exalt 

 and enlarge our nature, are yet liable to extravagance ; but of 

 charity alone there is no excess. The angels aspiring to be 

 like God in power, transgressed and fell : " I will ascend, and 

 be like the Most High : " w and man aspiring to be like God in 

 knowledge, transgressed and fell : " Ye shall be as gods, know- 

 ing good and evil ; " but in aspiring to be like God in goodness 

 or charity, neither man nor angel can or shall transgress. Nay, 

 we are invited to an imitation of it : " Love your enemies ; do 

 good to those that hate you ; pray for those that despitefully 

 use and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your 

 Father, which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise 

 upon the good and upon the evil, and sends his rain upon the 

 just and upon the unjust." x And thus we conclude this part 

 of moral doctrine, relating to the georgics of the mind. 



So in the archetype of the Divine nature the heathen relig- 

 ion the words, " Optimus maximus," and the Scripture pro- 

 nounces the mercy of God to be above all his works.y 



We have now concluded that portion of morals which apper- 

 tains to the georgics of the mind ; and should any one imagine, 

 in reading the different parts of this science which we have al- 

 ready handled, that all our labor consists in uniting into one di- 

 gest of the sciences all that has been neglected by other writers, 

 and that such a work is at best only supplying what is clear and 

 evident, and easily arrived at by reflection, let him freely enjoy 

 his judgment ; but at the same time we beg him to keep in mind 

 our first assertion, that we sought in these researches, not the 

 flourish and ornament of things, but their use and verity. He 

 may also recall the ancient parable of the Two Gates of Sleep : 



" Stint geminse Somni Portse, quarum altera fertur 

 Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris: 

 Altera, candenti perfecta nitens elephanto; 

 Sed falsa ad coelum mittunt insomnia manes." Virgil. z 



A gate of ivory is indeed very stately, but true dreams pass 

 through the gate of horn. 



