LIBER SECUNDUS. 511 



scere videmur illud quod Cicero (mutuatus id ipsum a De- 

 mosthene) protulit, Bonam famam propriam esse possessionem 

 defunctorum. 1 Quam quidem possessionem non possum non 

 notare nostro aevo incultam ut plurimum et neglectam jacere. 



Quantum ad Relationes, optandum esset prorsus ut multo 

 major circa eas adhiberetur diligentia. Quippe vix incidit 

 aliqua actio paulo iUustrior, cui non intersit calamus aliquis 

 ex melioribus, qui earn excipere et describere possit. Quoniam 

 autem is perpaucorum hominum esse debet, qui historian! 

 justam pro dignitate conscribat (ut ex paucitate historicorum 

 vel mediocrium satis liquet), idcirco si actiones particulares sub 

 tempus ipsum quo geruntur tolerabili aliquo scripto memo- 

 riae mandarentur, sperandum esset exorituros quandoque, qui 

 historian! justam ope et auxilio illarum Relationum coriscri- 

 bere possent. Illae enim instar seminarii esse possint, unde, cum 

 usus foret, hortus amplus et magnificus consereretur. 



CAPUT VIII. 2 



Partitio Historic Temporum in Historiam Universalem, et Par- 

 ticularem ; et utriusque commoda, et incommoda. 



HISTOEIA Temporum aut TJniversalis est, aut Particularis. 

 Hasc alicujus Regni, vel Reipublicce, vel Nationis res gestas 

 complectitur ; ilia Universi Orbis. Neque enim defuerunt, qui 

 Historiam Mundi etiam ab origine scripsisse videri volunt; 

 farraginem rerum et compendia narrationum pro historia exhi- 

 bentes ; alii sui temporis res per orbem terrarum memorabiles 



1 The passage of Cicero to which Bacon alludes is, I apprehend, to be found in the 

 ninth Philippic : " Vita enim mortuorum in memoria vivorum est posita." I have 

 not met with the corresponding passage, if there is one, in Demosthenes, and am 

 inclined to believe that Bacon was thinking of the following sentence in Wolf's trans- 

 lation of the Ad Demonicum of Isocrates : ' Mortem .... honeste oppetitam natura 

 peculiare praestantium virorum munus esse voluit" [I should rather suppose that he 

 alluded to the opening of the A6yos 'Eirirdcpios (1389. 10) : et8u?a "yhp [17 ir6Xis] irapa 

 TOIS xP 7 i ffT0 ^ s avSpaffi ras p.tv TUV XPU u ^ Tft " / Krfiffels Kal raw Karh rbv fiiov rjSovSJv 

 airo\avcreis vTrepewpa/J.ei'as, Tys 8 s operas /cal T&V firatvcav itaaav T^V eiriBvfJiiav ovffav, e{ 

 <uv TO.VT av avrois fj.d\icrra yevoiro X6y<av, TOVTOIS t^Bijtraif 5e?v avroiis rifj.av, iv* f)V 

 ^S>vTS fKT'fiffavTo evSo^'iav aurrj Kal T ereAeurrj^ 6 aiv avTots airoSo- 

 Qeit], There are other points of resemblance between the ninth Philippic and the 

 A.6yos 'EiriT<i(f>ios which make it probable that Cicero had it in his eye, and the third 

 form which these two corresponding passages assume in Bacon seems to be the result 

 of an imperfect recollection of both. It represents the exact sentiment of the Greek 

 orator in the shape adopted by the Roman. J. ] 



2 There is nothing corresponding to this chapter in the Advancement of Learning. 

 J. S. 



