4 BACON'S ESSAYS 



said, Pomp a mortis magis terret quam mors ipsa. Groans 

 and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weep- 

 ing, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, shew death 

 terrible. 



It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion 

 in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters 

 the fear of death ; and therefore death is no such terrible 

 enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him 

 that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs 

 over death ; Love slights it ; Honour aspireth to it ; Grief 

 flieth to it ; Fear pre-occupateth it ; nay we read, after 

 Otho !:he emperor had slain himself, Pity (which is the 

 tenderest of affections) provoked many to die, out of mere 

 compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of 

 followers. Nay Seneca adds niceness and satiety : Cogita 

 quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut 

 miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest. A man would die, though 

 he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weari- 

 ness to do the same thing so oft over and over. 



It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration in 

 good spirits the approaches of death make ; for they appear 

 to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Caesar 

 died in a compliment; Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive 

 et vale. Tiberius in dissimulation ; as Tacitus saith of him, 

 Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant. 

 Vespasian in a jest ; sitting upon the stool, Ut puto Deus fio. 

 Galba with a sentence ; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani ; 

 holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus in despatch; 

 Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum. And the like. Cer- 

 tainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon death, and 

 by their great preparations made it appear more fearful. 

 Better saith he, qui finem vitae extremum inter munera ponat 

 naturae. ' It is as natural to die as to be born ; and to a 

 little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other./ 

 He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is 

 wounded in hot blood ; who, for the time, scarce feels the 

 hurt ; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat 

 that is good doth avert the dolours of death. But above 

 all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, Nunc dimittis ; when 



