CHAPTER VI.

BACON AND SENECA.

I^hcrma© |)otocU to IBacott.

To
Trve Nobility and Tryde Learning-
Beholden
Francis, Lord Verulam, and Viscount St Al1)anes.

0 giue me leaiie to pull the curtaine by,
That clouds thy Worth in such obscurity ;

Good Seneca, stay but a while thy bleeding,

T'accept what I receiiied at thy Reading :
Here I i)reseut it in a solemne strayne :
And thus I plucke this curtayne backe againe.

(From " The Attovrney's Academy," by Thomas Powell : 3rd
edition, 1630.)

It seems to us these lines were indited, by a hiower of Bacon's
real dramatic disgnise and concealment, behind the curtain of the
Shakespeare Theatre. The reference to Seneca is striking. Be-
cause Gervinus affirms the author of the plays was thoroughly
acquainted, and profoundly imbued, with the writings of both
Seneca and Plautus. Gervinus maintains Plautus and Seneca
Avere Shakespeare's ideals. " If Shakespeare had had occasion
at any time to name his ideal, and to denote the highest examples
of dramatic art which lay before him, he would have named noiie
hut Plautus and Senem."

The line —

Let me lodge Liohas on the horns o' the moon,

(" Antony and Cleopatra," act iv. sc. 10),

BACON AND SENECA. 133

was supposed by Warburton to be taken from Seneca's " Her-
cules." Certain it is, Seneca's works were an especial study
of Bacon's, and it is just in the Seventh Book of the " De
Augmentis," which treats of Eiliic, that he frequently cites from
him. For example : — " Vere magnum habere fragilitatem
hominis secm"itatem Dei." "Vita sine proposito languida et vaga
est" (" Senec. in Epistles"). " De Partibus vitse quisque de-
liberat, de summa nemo " (" De Brev. vitse ") (pages 336, 343,
351, "Advancement of Learning," 1640).

In the Sixth Book of the "Advancement of Learning" (1623
and 1640), we find Bacon giving us a collection of " Antitheta,"
which are forty-seven in number, with each a " pro " and
" contra." Bacon writes : " A collection of this nature we find
in Seneca, but in Suppositions only or Cases of this sort (in
regard we have many ready prepared), we thought good to
set doAvn some of them for example ; these we call AntitJieta
Eerum" (Book VL, p. 300, "Advancement of Learning," 1640).
In a collection of the third group of Essays, published 1612,
we find one "Of Love," which was altered in the 1625 (British
Museum copy) edition. The 1612 Essay opens, "Love is the
argument always of Comedies, and many times of Tragedies."
In the 1625 Edition this is changed into, "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."
In this Essay Ave read : "It is a poor saying of Epicurus, ' Satis
magtium alter alteri Theatrum siimus ' " (we are a sufficiently great
Theatre, the one to the other). Seneca quotes this in his
Epistle (i. 7), ascribing it to Epicurus. Seneca is repeatedly
quoted by Bacon in the " Essays," and thirteen times in the
1640 "Advancement of Learning" (see Index). Directly we
recall the Comedies of the Folio, we find them dealing mostly
with Love, but it is not so apparent in the Tragedies except
in " Othello," " Troilus and Cressida," and " Antony and
Cleopatra." It is the main theme of the " Two Gentlemen of
Verona," of the " Merry Wives," of " Measure for Measure,"

1 34 BA CON AND SENE CA.

of " Much Ado about Nothing," of " Love's Labour's Lost,"
of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," of "The Merchant of
Venice," of " As You Like It," of " The Taming of the Shrew,"
of " All's Well that Ends Well," of " Twelfth Night," and of
" The Winter's Tale," but in the chronicle plays it is only
incidentally introduced. In " Timon of Athens," " Julius
Caesar," "Macbeth," "Hamlet," "Lear," it plays hardly any
role at all, so that Bacon's distinction is pretty correct, and
where he studied the differences between Comedy and Tragedy
in this respect we should like to know %

In " Hamlet " Polonius makes the speech : — " The best actors
in the world, either for Tragedy, Comedy, History, Pastoral,
Pastoral-Comical, Historical-Pastoral, Tragical-Historical, Tragi-
cal-Comical-Historical-Pastoral, scene indivisible, or Poem un-
limited. Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light."
In the Seventh Book of the " De Augmentis " (translation by
Gilbert Wats, 1640), Avhich (mark it) treats of Ethic, and the
" diverse characters of men's imtures or dispositions " (p. 352), we
find a decided parallel to this passage : — " So among the
Poets, Heroical, Satyrical, Tragedians, Comedians, you shall find
everywhere the images of wits, although commonly xvith excess,
and heyond the bounds of truth " (p. 352). On the next page
(353), " For we see Plautus makes it a Avonder to see an old
man beneficent, Benignitas quidem hujus oppido ut adolescentuli
est" {''Mil Glo.").

Bacon e\ndently was studying character in Plautus pretty
closely. How Bacon's observation upon excess finds its parallel
in Hamlet's speech to the Players : — " Be not too tame neither,
but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action
to the Avord, the Avord to the action, with this special observance :
that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature."

The spirit of Seneca's " morals " is to be refound in Bacon's
" Advancement of Learning," " De Augmentis " (Book VII.),
and in the Essays. Seneca gives a series of Essays upon
" Anger," consisting of twelve chai:>ters, and Bacon gives us an

BACON AND SENECA. 135

Essay also upon " Anger." How much Bacon was indebted
to Seneca's " Epistles " is evident from the identity of subjects
and even terms which he reproduces. For example, one of
Seneca's epistles is upon " Custom." Another is " Every Man
is the Artificer of his Own Fortune." Bacon's treatment of
" Custom," both in his Essay and in the Seventh Book " De
Augmentis," shoAvs he had deeply taken to heart Seneca's
writings. Another Essay (also introduced in the " De Aug-
mentis ") is upon " Fortune," and it seems Sir Nicholas Bacon
was fond of quoting the following line : —

" Faber quisque fortune propriiB "

("Advancement of Learning," Book II., p. 93, 1605). For in
" Fragmenta Regalia," by Naunton, we read (under Sir Nicholas
Bacon) he was fond of saying : —

" Unus quisque sufe fortun.^ faber."

Seneca's " Epistles " are wonderfully close to the spirit, if not
even the style, of much of Bacon's wisdom, and Seneca's entire
teaching is self-sacrifice and philanthropy, inculcated in just the
same religious and philosojihical way by Bacon. "It is often
objected to me, that I advise people to quit the world, to retire
and content themselves with a good conscience. But what
becomes of yoiu- precepts then (say they) that enjoin us to die in
action ? To whom I must answer. That I am never more in
action than when I am alone in my study ; where I have only
lock'd up myself in private, to attend the business of the public.
I do not lose so much as one day ; nay, and part of the night
too I borrow for my book. When my eyes will serve me no
longer, I fall asleep, and till then I work. I have retired myself,
not only from men, but from business also : And my own in the
first, to attend the service of Posterity, in hope that what I now write
may, in some measure, he profitable to future generations " (Epistle
VI., "The Blessings of a Virtuous Eetirement." "How Ave come
to the Knowledge of Virtue." Seneca's "Morals," 1678). Every-
one acquainted with Bacon's writings must recognise in these last

136 BA CON AND SENE CA.

words what Bacon is perpetually repeating for himself. " Born
for the service of mankind," Avi'ites Bacon. And it is always for
" After Ages," " Posterity," he writes. In his preface to the
" Instauration " : — " Some demonstration of his sincere and pre-
pense affection to promote the good of mankind" (p. 3, "Advance-
ment of Learning," 1640). " Truly he esteemed other ambition
whatsoever inferior to the business he had in hand : for either the
matter in consultation, and thus far prosecuted, is nothing, or so
much as the conscience of the merit itself, ought to give him con-
tentment, without seeking a recompense from abroad" (p. 3, "Advance-
ment of Learning," 1640). This is thoroughly in the style of
Seneca. Bacon writes : — " I take Goodness in this sense the affect-
ing of the weal of men, which is that the Graecians called
PJiilanthropia ; and the word Humanity (as it is used) is a little
too light to express it. Goodness I call the habit, and Goodness of
Nature the inclination. This, of all virtues and dignities of the mind,
is the greatest, being the character of the Deity.'*' And without it
Man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a
kind of vermin " ("Of Goodness and Goodness of Natiu'e ").
Again, " The inclination to Goodness is imprinted deeply in the
nature of man, insomuch that, if it issue not towards men, it will
take unto other living creatures : as it is seen in the Turks, a
cruel people, who, nevertheless, are kind to beasts, and give alms
to dogs and birds : insomuch as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian
boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned, for gagging in
a waggishness a long-billed fowl " (" Goodness and Goodness of
Nature "). See how all this is re-echoed in "Titus Andronicus": —

Wilt thou draw near the nature of the Gods ?
Draw near them in being merciful.
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.

(Act i. sc. 1.)

Seneca's letters upon " Cruelty " and upon " Clemency " (or
Mercy) are re-echoes of all this. Seneca writes : — " Though

* Earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.

(" Merchant of Venice," act iv. sc. 1.)

BA CON AND SENE CA. 137

Mercy and Gentleness of Nature keeps all in peace and tran-
quillity, even in a cottage, yet is it much more beneficial and
conspicuous in a palace. Clemency does well Avith all, hut best
with Princes." Compare with this the clemency of the Prince to
Shylock, and the lines : —

The (quality of mercy is not strained, &c.

In 1591, Avhen Bacon was thirty-one, he writes to Lord Bur-
leigh : " This, whether it be curiosity or vain glory, or nature,
or if one take it favourably, Philanthropia is so fixed in my mind
as it cannot he removed" ("Letters"). With this should be coupled
Bacon's deeply religious s2:)irit, as evinced in his writings and the
testimony of Doctor Rawlcy (" this lord was religious ") to the
same effect. Bacon's life had (we suggest) two distinct ends and
two distinct phases. One was the real Bacon himself (as Dr
Abbott puts it), alone like Seneca in his study, writing for
Posterity and the service of mankind. This was the contem-
plative looker on, the true man. The other phase was the man
of action, playing a part as means to his great ends.

Bacon in his dedicatory epistle to Andrews (Bishop of Win-
chester) accompanying his " Holy War," compares himself to
Demosthenes, Cicero, and Seneca. Bacon Avas the first Orator of
his age, as Ben Jonson testifies. " The fear of every man that
heard him was, lest he should make an end." And so the
comparison with Demosthenes is exact. Cicero was a great
Orator also, and a great lawyer like Bacon, also a ■\\Titer and
Philosopher ; but Seneca was a great Dramatist, and it is not
so easy to see the parallel except in the point of Fortune.
" Only one specimen of the talents of the Romans for Tragedy has
come down to us. These are the ten tragedies which pass under
the name of Seneca " (Donaldson's, ' Theatre of the Greeks," p.
357). It is Avell worthy study to ask ourselves if Bacon in this
comparison of himself Avith Seneca does not give us a profound
hint as to his dramatic side. Gervinus (as already quoted by us)
declares Seneca to have inspired Shakespeare. And here is the

138 BA CON AND SENE CA.

alter ego of Shakespeare confessing to self-comparison Avith this
Latin author. " Seneca, indeed, who Avas condemned for many
corruptions and crimes, and banished into a solitary island kept
a mean ; and though his pen did not freeze, yet he abstained
from intruding into matters of business ; but spent his time
in writing IxinJcs of excellent argumeid and use for all ages ; though
he might have made better choice (sometimes) of his dedications.
These examples confirmed me much in a resolution to spend my time
^vholly in wnting, and so to put forth that poor talent, or half talent,
or what it is, that God luith given me, not as heretofore to particular
exchanges, hut to banks or mounts of perpetuity which will not breaJc."

There is a vast deal in Seneca's morals that we refind in
Bacon's Avorks in more Avays than one. Seneca : " I could never
hear Attains upon the vices of the age, and the errors of life
tvWwiit a comparison for mankind " (ch. v. " Of a Happy Life ").
In the " NeAv Atlantis " Ave read of the Tirsan, " Avho had an
aspect as if he pitied men."

" For Ave ourselves are our own greatest flatterers " (ch. vi.
" Of a Happy Life," Seneca).

" It hath been Avell said, that the Arch-flatterer Avith Avhom all
the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self " (Essay,
" Love ").

" It is every man's duty to make himself profitable to man-
kind " (ch. vii. " Happy Life »).

" The passage to virtue is fair, but the way to greatness is
craggy, and it stands not only upon a precipice, but upon ice
too : and yet it is a hard matter to convince a great man that his
station is slippery " (ch. xii. " Happy Life ").

The art o' the court,
As liard to leave as keep ; whose top to climb
Is certain falliug, or so s/ijypenj that
The fear 's as bad as falling.

("Cymbeliiie," act iii. sc. 3.)