542 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



terrae, facit ad conservandam tan turn rcgionem dentorom. 

 Itaque prior motus posteriorem domat. Eadem tenet in Poli- 

 ticis ; nam quae faciunt ad conservandam ipsam politiam in sua 

 natura validiora sunt quam quae ad bene esse particularium 

 in republica membrorum conducunt. Similiter eadem locum 

 habet in Theologia ; etenim in theologicis virtutibus, Charitas, 

 quae est virtus maxime communicativa, prae reliquis omnibus 

 eminet. Augetur vis agentis per antiperistasin contrarii 1 , re- 

 gula est in Physicis. Eadem mira praestat in Politicis ; cum 

 omnis factio ex contraria ingruente venementer irritetur. To- 

 nus discors in concordem actutum desinens concentum commendat, 

 regula est Musicae. Eadem in Ethicis et Affectibus obtinet. 

 Tropus ille Musicus, a clausula aut cadentia (quam vocant), cum 

 jamjam adesse videatur, placide elabendi, convenit cum tropo 

 Rhetorico expectationem eludendi. Fidium sonus tremulus, ean- 

 dem afFert auribus voluptatem, quam lumen, aquas aut gemmae 

 insiliens, oculis ; 



splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus. 8 



Organa sensuum cum organis reflexionum conveniunt ; hoc in 

 Perspectiva locum habet ; oculus enim similis speculo 3 , sive 

 aquis ; et in Acoustica ; instrumentum enim auditus obici intra 

 cavernam simile. Haec pauca enumerasse sufficiet ad exempla. 

 Quinimo Magia Persarum (quae in tantum est celebrata) in eo 

 potissimum versabatur, ut architecturas et fabricas rerum natu- 

 ralium et civilium symbolizantes notaret. 4 Neque haec omnia 



1 The doctrine of Antiperistasis, that is of the increase of intensity of one of two 

 contraries by the juxtaposition of the other, is applied by Aristotle, Meteor, i. c. 13., 

 in the case of heat and cold, to explain the formation of hail. It is formally and 

 generally stated in Averroes's commentary on this passage. See also Arist. Probl. ii. 

 16., and Plutarch's Quasi. Naturales. 



2 Virg. JEn. vii. 9. 



3 That the word speculum is here used for " a glass " appears from the corresponding 

 passage in the Advancement of Learning. This use of the word, though certainly un- 

 common, is sanctioned by the authority of C. Agrippa, who, distinguishing lenses from 

 mirrors, calls the former "specula perspicua." See his celebrated work, De incertitu- 

 dine et vanitate scientiarum" with which Bacon seems, though he has spoken with 

 undeserved contempt of its author, to have been familiar. The phrase used by S. Paul, 

 " we see through a glass," is in the Vulgate " videmus per speculum," but it is at least 

 doubtful whether in both versions it was not intended to suggest the idea of vision by 

 reflected light ; so that the authority of the English translators cannot be cited in 

 support of Bacon's use of the word " speculum ;" though on the other hand there are 

 commentators who affirm that the word used in the original (fa6irrpov~) means what 

 in Latin is denoted by "speculare," in which case the vision 61* fffdirrpov is of 

 course by transmitted light. 



4 The system of Zoroaster, with which we are but imperfectly acquainted, was at 

 one time the subject of almost as many idle fancies as the philosophy of Hermes 

 Trismegistus. The first idea of the connexion between the Persian magic and the art 

 of government was suggested by the circumstance mentioned in the Alcibiade* of 



