22 BACON'S ESSAYS 



some or other. And it is also noted that love and envy 

 do make a man pine, which other affections do not, because 

 they are not so continual. It is also the vilest affection, 

 and the most depraved ; for which cause it is the proper 

 attribute of the devil, who is called ' The envious man, 

 that soweth tares amongst the wheat by night'; as it 

 always cometh to pass, that envy worketh subtilly, and in 

 the dark ; and to the prejudice of good things, such as is 

 the wheat. 



X 



OF LOVE 



THE stage is more beholding to Love, than the life of 

 man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, 

 and now and then of tragedies ; but in life it doth much 

 mischief; sometimes like a syren, sometimes like a fury. 

 You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy 

 persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or 

 recent,) there is not one that hath been transported to the 

 mad degree of love : which shews that great spirits and 

 great business do keep out this weak passion. You must 

 except nevertheless Marcus Antonius, the half partner of 

 the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir 

 and lawgiver ; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous 

 man, and inordinate ; but the latter was an austere and 

 wise man : and therefore it seems (though rarely) that 

 love can find entrance not only into an open heart, but 

 also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. 



It is a poor saying of Epicurus, Satis magnum alter alteri 

 theatrum sumus ; as if man, made for the contemplation of 

 heaven and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel 

 before a little idol, and make himself a subject, though not 

 of the mouth (as beasts are), yet of the eye ; which was 

 given him for higher purposes. It is a strange thing to 

 note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the 

 nature and value of things, by this ; that the speaking 



