682 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



delicatis querentibus se male habere sed tamen a medicamentis 

 omnibus abhorrere, solebat dicere, non minus facete quam 

 morose, Vobis omnino opus est ut deterius valeatis, quo medica- 

 menta etiam qucelibet libenter toleretis. Quinetiam ipse gradus 

 Privationis sive indigentiae ultimae salutaris esse possit, non 

 tantum ad excitandam industriam, verum etiam ad imperandam 

 patientiam. 



Quod ad secundum membrum hujus Sophismatis, illud eodem 

 quo prius fundamento (de gradibus quidditatis et nullitatis) 

 nititur. Hinc tanta usurpantur de initiis negotiorum praeconia ; 



Dimidium facti, qui bene coepit, habet, &C. 1 



Hinc Astrologorum super stitio, qui judicium faciunt de dispo- 

 sitione aut fortuna hominis ex momento sive articulo nativitatis 

 aut conceptus. 



ELENCHUS. 



Fallit Sopbisma primo, quoniam in nonnullis primae rerum 

 incoeptiones nihil aliud sunt quam quae Epicurus in philosophia 

 sua appellat Tentamenta 2 ; id est, rudimenta quaedam, quas 

 nihili sunt nisi iterentur aut provehantur. Itaque in hoc casu 

 gradus secundus dignior videtur et potentior quam primus. 

 Quemadmodum in plaustris, equus qui penultimus est plus 



the phrase " alimenta socordiae " (the point of which belongs to the translator and not 

 to Demosthenes) without comparing it with the original. [I think, however, that the 

 idea of "alimenta " is really involved in the word fTrav^dvovra, when taken with the 

 context, and that no other word could have given the meaning so well. To exhibit 

 the full meaning in Demosthenes's words, it is necessary to quote the whole sentence. 

 'Eaz> ovv a\Xa vvv y* ert a.Tra\\ayevTS TOVTWV ruv eflcDv e#e A?jcn? T6 ffrpareveffdai re Kal 

 irpdrreiv a^ius VJJL&V avruv, Kal rais Treptovffiais TOIS oftcot ravrais atyopfj.a'is eirl rd e|a> 

 T<av ayaQwv xp^""'70'0e, Iffus kv Iffws & avSpes 'A07jva?ot fiKtwV TI Kal /j.eya KryGuicrBe 

 ayad6v, Kal ru>v Toiovrwv A.7j/ijiuTcoi> et7raAA.a7ei7)T6, a rots dffdet/ovffi Trap a T&V 

 iarpuv ff trio is St5o/ievots eoi/ce. Kal yap oftr' to"%uv eKcTi/a evridr]<Tiv OUT' O.TTO- 

 6vf](TKtf 6^' Kal raOra, vefAtffOe vvv v/J-eis, ovre rocravra effriv WITTS a)<p4\eiav ^x elv T " / ^ 

 Stap/fTj, ofrr' d-rroyv6vTas &\\o ri Trpdrreiv <, d\\' ecrrt raDra rfyv Indtrrov paQvfJiiav 

 v/j.(iov eiravdvovra. The \{]fjL/j.ara, or raura a ve/Aco-Se vvv vy-fts, to which Demosthenes 

 alluded, were apparently the theoric fund ; but it seems as if Bacon understood him 

 to allude to the small advantages recently gained over Philip, which gave occasion to 

 the speech ; an interpretation which, if otherwise justifiable, would, I think, rather 

 improve the sense. J. ] 



1 Horace. Ep. i. 2. 40. But bene is not in the original. Compare Ausonius, Epig. 

 81., and the proverbial phrase, apx^l rmiav iravrSs, in Hesiod. 



2 That is; inchoate productions, not having the conditions requisite in order to their 

 perfection and continuance. See Lucretius, v. 835. et sqq., on which passage Gassendi 

 remarks : " Supponit nempe fuisse varia quasi tentamenta naturae, adeo ut longe 

 plura animalium genera quam quae nunc habentur quasi affecta fuerint, sed ea tamen 

 sola superfuerint quae contigit perfici posse." See his Essay on Epicurus entitled In 

 Libr. X. Diog. Laert. de. Physiol. Epicuri Animadversiones, (1649) p. 650. Pliny 

 alludes to a similar notion in his description of the convolvulus, " veluti naturae 

 rudimentum, lilia facere condiscentis." Hist. Nat. xxi. 11. Rapin's lines are merely 

 a plagiarism of Pliny's phrase : 



" Dulce rudimentum meditantis lilia quondam 

 Naturae, cum sese opera ad majora parabat." 



