718 DE AUGMENT1S SCIENTIARUM 



salus ad fratres suos non perveniret ; ecstasi quadam charitatis 

 et impotent! desiderio Boni Communionis incitati. 1 



Hoc positum, ita ut immotum maneat et inconcussum, non- 

 nullis ex gravissimis in Morali Philosophia controversiis finem 

 imponit. Primo enim quaestionem ill am determinat, de Vita 

 Contemplativa Actives pr&ferenda ; idque contra ' sententiam 

 Aristotelis. Omnes siquidem rationes, quae ab illo pro Con- 

 templativa afferuntur, Bonum Privatum respiciunt, atque In- 

 dividui tantum ipsius voluptatem aut dignitatem; quibus in 

 rebus Contemplativa palmam baud dubie reportat. Etenim 

 Contemplativa non absimilis est comparationi qua usus est Py- 

 thagoras, ut philosophise et contemplation! honorem ac decus 

 assereret. Qui ab Hierone, quisnam esset, interrogatus, re- 

 spondit; Hieronem non latere (si forte unquam Olympicis cer- 

 taminibus interfuissef) id ibi loci cont'mgere, ut veniant eo alii 

 fortunes sues in agonibus periculum facturi; alii vero ut merca- 

 toreSy ad merces distrahendas ; alii ut amicos undique confluentes 

 convenirent, et epulis ac hilaritati indulgerent ; alii denique ut 

 cGBterorum essent spectatores; se autem unum esse ex illis, qui 

 spectandi gratia venerit. 2 Verum homines nosse debent, in hoc 

 humanae vitae theatro, Deo et Angelis solum convenire ut 

 spectatores sint. 3 Neque sane fieri potuit, ut hac de re dubi- 

 tatio in ecclesia unquam suscitaretur (utcunque plurimis in ore 

 fuerit dictum illud, pretiosa in oculis Domini mors sanctorum 

 ejus^\ ex quo loco mortem illam civilem, et instituta vitae 

 monasticae et regularis attollere soleant) ; nisi illud etiam una 

 subesset, quod vita ilia monastica mere Contemplativa non sit, 

 verum plane in officiis ecclesiasticis versetur ; qualia sunt jugis 



1 In [the Cogitationes de Scientia Humana, an early fragment which will be printed 

 in Part III. of this edirion from a MS. in the British Museum], Moses and St. Paul are 

 expressly mentioned in a passage of which the purport is the same as that of the text. 

 See Exodus, xxxii. 32., and Romans, ix. 3. Bacon here touches on what theologians call 

 the conditional sacrifice of salvation a matter frequently referred to in the unhappy 

 controversy between Bossuet and Fenelon. The 33rd of the Articles of Issy, which 

 they both signed, sanctions the notion of this conditional sacrifice. It appears, how- 

 ever, that the article in question was one of the four added at Fenelon's suggestion 

 to Bossuet's original draft, and that the latter did not consent without reluctance to 

 its introduction. Fenelon's own views on the subject are developed in his Instruc- 

 tion Pastorale, &c., sec. 10., and elsewhere. St. Chrysostom, according to a passage 

 quoted by Fenelon, disapproved greatly of those who held that St. Paul speaks merely 

 of temporal death. 



2 " Hiero " is a mistake for Leo (tyrant of Phliuns). The story of the inter- 

 view between him and Pythagoras is told by Cicero, Tusc. Qucest. v. 3. Compare 

 lamblichus'd Life of Pythagoras, in which, though the same sentiment is ascribed to 

 him, it is not put in a dramatic form. 



9 Compare St. Augustin, speaking of St. Paul, De Civ. Dei, xiv. 9. 

 4 Psalm cxvi. 15. 



