Essays by Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

“Of Death”
MEN fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in
children, is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of
death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious;
but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious
meditations, there is sometimes mixture of vanity, and of superstition. You shall
read, in some of the friars' books of mortification, that a man should think with
himself, what the pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed, or tortured, and
thereby imagine, what the pains of death are, when the whole body is corrupted,
and dissolved; when many times death passeth, with less pain than the torture of
a limb; for the most vital parts, are not the quickest of sense. And by him that
spake only as a philosopher, and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis
magis terret, quam mors ipsa. Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face,
and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show 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; honor
aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it; nay, we read, after Otho the
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
weariness 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 Cæsar 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. Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon
death, and by their great preparations, made it appear more fearful. Better saith
he, Qui finem vitæ extremum inter munera ponat naturæ. 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 dolors of death. But, above all, believe it,
the sweetest canticle is Nunc dimittis; when a man hath obtained worthy ends,
and expectations. Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to good fame,
and extinguisheth envy. --Extinctus amabitur idem.

“Of Regimen of Health”

There is a wisdom in this; beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation,
what he finds good of, and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve
health. But it is a safer conclusion to say, This agreeth not well with me,
therefore, I will not continue it; than this, I find no offence of this, therefore I
may use it. For strength of nature in youth, passeth over many excesses, which
are owing a man till his age. Discern of the coming on of years, and think not to
do the same things still; for age will not be defied. Beware of sudden change, in
any great point of diet, and, if necessity inforce it, fit the rest to it. For it is a
secret both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things, than one.
Examine thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise, apparel, and the like; and try, in
any thing thou shalt judge hurtful, to discontinue it, by little and little; but so, as
if thou dost find any inconvenience by the change, thou come back to it again:
for it is hard to distinguish that which is generally held good and wholesome,
from that which is good particularly, and fit for thine own body. To be free-
minded and cheerfully disposed, at hours of meat, and of sleep, and of exercise,
is one of the best precepts of long lasting. As for the passions, and studies of the
mind; avoid envy, anxious fears; anger fretting inwards; subtle and knotty
inquisitions; joys and exhilarations in excess; sadness not communicated.
Entertain hopes; mirth rather than joy; variety of delights, rather than surfeit of
them; wonder and admiration, and therefore novelties; studies that fill the mind
with splendid and illustrious objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations of
nature. If you fly physic in health altogether, it will be too strange for your
body, when you shall need it. If you make it too familiar, it will work no
extraordinary effect, when sickness cometh. I commend rather some diet for
certain seasons, than frequent use of physic, except it be grown into a custom.
For those diets alter the body more, and trouble it less. Despise no new accident
in your body, but ask opinion of it. In sickness, respect health principally; and in
health, action. For those that put their bodies to endure in health, may in most
sicknesses, which are not very sharp, be cured only with diet, and tendering.
Celsus could never have spoken it as a physician, had he not been a wise man
withal, when he giveth it for one of the great precepts of health and lasting, that
a man do vary, and interchange contraries, but with an inclination to the more
benign extreme: use fasting and full eating, but rather full eating; watching and
sleep, but rather sleep; sitting and exercise, but rather exercise; and the like. So
shall nature be cherished, and yet taught masteries. Physicians are, some of
them, so pleasing and conformable to the humor of the patient, as they press not
the true cure of the disease; and some other are so regular, in proceeding
according to art for the disease, as they respect not sufficiently the condition of
the patient. Take one of a middle temper; or if it may not be found in one man,
combine two of either sort; and forget not to call as well, the best acquainted
with your body, as the best reputed of for his faculty.

“Of Youth and Age”

A man that is young in years, may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that
happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the rst cogitations, not so wise as the
second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention of
young men, is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds
better, and, as it were, more divinely. Natures that have much heat, and great and
violent desires and perturbations, are not ripe for action, till they have passed the
meridian of their years; as it was with Julius Cæsar and Septimius Severus. Of the
latter, of whom it is said, Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus, plenam. And yet
he was the ablest emperor, almost, of all the list. But reposed natures may do well in
youth. As it is seen in Augustus Cæsar, Cosmus Duke of Florence, Gaston de Foix,
and others. On the other side, heat and vivacity in age, is an excellent composition for
business. Young men are tter to invent, than to judge; tter for execution, than for
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 counsel; and tter for new projects, than for settled business. For the experience of
age, in things that fall within the compass of it, directeth them; but in new things,
abuseth them.

The errors of young men, are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men,
amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the
conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they
can quiet; y to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue
some few principles, which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate,
which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at rst; and, that which
doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse, that
will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure
too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but
content themselves with a mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to compound
employments of both; for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of
either age, may correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men
may be learners, while men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern accidents,
because authority followeth old men, and favor and popularity, youth. But for the
moral part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A
certain rabbin, upon the text, Your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams, inferreth that young men, are admitted nearer to God than old,
because vision, is a clearer revelation, than a dream. And certainly, the more a man
drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth; and age doth pro t rather in the
powers of understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections. There be
some, have an over-early ripeness in their years, which fadeth betimes. These are,
rst, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned; such as was
Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding subtle; who afterwards
waxed stupid. A second sort, is of those that have some natural dispositions which
have better grace in youth, than in age; such as is a uent and luxuriant speech; which
becomes youth well, but not age: so Tully saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque
idem decebat. The third is of such, as take too high a strain at the rst, and are
magnanimous, more than tract of years can uphold. As was Scipio Africanus, of
whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant.
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