616 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARTJM 



sedula atit anxia cura esto. Ingenii enim hajc tela est ; atqne 

 utcunque modestiam quandam et reverentiam prae se ferat, inter 

 noxia tamen censenda est; utpote quae reddat corpus univer- 

 sum legum varium, et male consutum. Melius est prorsus ut 

 succumbant deteriora, et meliora stent sola. 



APHORISMUS 57. 



Obsoletae Leges et quae abierunt in desuetudinem, non minus 

 quam Anti-Nomiae, proponantur a delegatis ex officio tollen- 

 dae. Cum enim Statutum Expressum regulariter desuetudine 

 non abrogetur, fit ut ex contemptu legum obsoletarum fiat 

 nonriulla authoritatis jactura etiam in reliquis; et sequitur 

 tormenti illud genus Mezentii, ut leges viva in complexu mor- 

 tuarum perimantur. Atque omnino cavendum est a gangraena 

 in legibus. 



AFHORISMUS 58. 



Quin et in legibus et statutis obsoletis, nee noviter promul- 

 gatis, Curiis Praetoriis interim contra eas deeernendi jus esto. 

 Licet enim non male dictum sit, neminem oportere legibus esse 

 sapientiorem 1 , tamen intelligatur hoc de legibus cum evigilent, 

 non cum dormitent. Contra recentiora vero statuta (quos juri 

 publico nocere deprehenduntur) non utique Praatoribus, sed 

 Regibus, et Sanctioribus Consiliis, et Supremis Potestatibus, 

 auxilium praebendi jus esto ; earum execution em per edicta aut 

 acta suspendendo, donee redeant Comitia, aut hujusmodi coatus 

 qui potestatem habeant eas abrogandi ; ne salus populi interim 

 periclitetur. 2 



1 Bacon refers perhaps to D'Argentre's maxim, " Stulta videtur sapientia quae 

 lege vult sapientior videri." In the passage from which these words are taken, he is 

 condemning the presumption of judges who depart from the text on the pretence of 

 equity. D'Argentre died in 1590. 



Compare Aristotle, Rhet. i. 15. 12. : Kai '6ri rb ruv v6/j.wv ffofydrrepov ^ijrfiv cfvcu, 

 TOVT' eoriv t> fv roTs iraivov[j.evois vtipois airayopevtTai. See also Cleon's speech, 

 Thucyd. iii. 37. The " obliqua oratio," in the passage quoted from Aristotle arises 

 from the way in which the remark is introduced : namely, as what might be said by 

 a pleader to whom the letter of the law is favourable. 



2 Here, as in the description of the Curiae Censoriae and Praetoriae, reference is 

 made to what actually existed in England in Bacon's time. In the concluding part 

 of this aphorism he sanctions the doctrine that an act of Parliament may provisionally 

 at least be suspended or set aside by an Order in Council. This doctrine was un- 

 doubtedly commonly maintained in Bacon's time, but it was nevertheless even then 

 protested against. 



[When the rights of the people were not sufficiently secured against the powers of 

 the Crown, and therefore to weaken those powers was a patriotic object, such doctrines 

 were naturally protested against. For when the Crown could successfully and 

 safely abuse the powers it had, the evil could only be remedied or mitigated by taking 

 them away. And it was doubtless by restricting its authority in matters like this that 

 the people were in fact enabled to win the game, and exact sufficient securities for 



