Bacon, Francis, Sylva sylvarum : or, a natural history in ten centuries

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        <div xml:id="echoid-div1290" type="section" level="1" n="56">
          <pb o="26" file="0304" n="304" rhead="The Hiſtory of Life and Death."/>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10460" xml:space="preserve">I ſuppoſe alſo, that ſome Emaciating Diſeaſes well cured, do profit to long life, for
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            they yield new Juice, the old being conſumed; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10461" xml:space="preserve">and, as (as he ſaith) To recover a
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            ſickneſs is to renew youth: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10462" xml:space="preserve">Therefore it were good to make ſome Artiſicial Diſeaſes,
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            which is done by ſtrict and Emaciating Diets, of which I ſhall ſpeak hereafter.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10463" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
        </div>
        <div xml:id="echoid-div1297" type="section" level="1" n="57">
          <head xml:id="echoid-head83" style="it" xml:space="preserve">The Intentions.</head>
          <p style="it">
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10464" xml:space="preserve">HAving finiſhed the Inquiſition according to the Subjects, as namely, of Inanimate
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              <note position="left" xlink:label="note-0304-01" xlink:href="note-0304-01a" xml:space="preserve">To the 12,
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              13, and 14
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              Articles.</note>
            Bodies, Vegetables, Living Creatures, Man; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10465" xml:space="preserve">I will now come nearer to the
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            matter, and order mine Inquiſitions by certain Intentions, ſuch as are true and proper,
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            (as I am wholly perſwaded) and which are the very paths to Mortal Life. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10466" xml:space="preserve">For in
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            this part, nothing that is of worth hath hitherto been inquired, but the contemplations
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            of men have been but ſimple, and non-proficients. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10467" xml:space="preserve">For when I hear men on the one
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            ſide ſpeak of comforting Natural heat, and the Radical moiſture, and of Meats which
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            breed good Blood, ſuch as may neitber be burnt nor phlegmatick; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10468" xml:space="preserve">and of the cheering
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            and recreating the Spirits; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10469" xml:space="preserve">I ſuppoſe them to be no bad men which ſpeak theſe things:
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            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10470" xml:space="preserve">but none of theſe worketh effectually towards the end. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10471" xml:space="preserve">But when on the other ſide I hear
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            ſeveral diſcourſes touching Medicines made of Gold, becauſe Gold is not ſubject to cor-
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            ruption; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10472" xml:space="preserve">and touching Precious ſtones to refrefh the ſpirits by their hidden properties
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            and luſtre, and that if they could be taken and retained in Veſſels, the Balſoms, and
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            Quinteſſences of living Creatures, would make men conceive a proud hope of Immorta-
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            lity: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10473" xml:space="preserve">And that the Fleſh of Serpents and Harts, by a certain conſent, are powerful to
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            the Renovation of Life, becauſe the one caſteth his Skin, the other his Horns: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10474" xml:space="preserve">(they
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            ſhould alſo have added the Fleſh of Eagles, becauſe the Eagle changes bis Bill) And
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            that a certain Man, when he had found an Oyntment hidden under the ground, and
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            had anointed himſelf therewith from head to foot, (excepting onely the ſoles of his feet)
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            did, by his anointing, live three hundred years, without any diſeaſe, ſave onely ſome
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            Tumors in the ſoles of his feet: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10475" xml:space="preserve">and of Arteſius, who when he ſound his Spirit ready to
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            depart, drew into his body the ſpirit of a certain young man, and thereby made him
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            breathleſs, but himſelf lived many years by another mans Spirit: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10476" xml:space="preserve">And of Fortunate
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            Hours according to the Figures of Heaven, in which Medicines are to be gathered and
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            compounded for the prolongation of Life: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10477" xml:space="preserve">And of the Seales of Planets, by which ver-
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            tuesmay be drawn and fetched down from Heaven to prolong Life: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10478" xml:space="preserve">and ſuch like fabulous
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            and ſuperſtitious vanities: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10479" xml:space="preserve">I wonder exceedingly that men ſhould ſo much doat, as to
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            ſuffer themſelves to be deluded with theſe things. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10480" xml:space="preserve">And again, I do pity Mankind that they
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            ſhould have the hard fortune to be beſieged with ſuch frivolous and ſenceleſs apprehenſions. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10481" xml:space="preserve">
              <lb/>
            But mine Intentions do both come home to the Matter, and are far from vain and cre-
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            dulous Imaginatious; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10482" xml:space="preserve">being alſo ſuch, as I conceive, poſterity may adde much to the
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            matters which ſatisfie theſe Intentions; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10483" xml:space="preserve">but to the Intentions themſelves, but a little. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10484" xml:space="preserve">
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            Notwith ſtanding there are a few things, and thoſe of very great moment, of which I
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            would have men to be forewarned.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10485" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p style="it">
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10486" xml:space="preserve">Firſt, we are of that opinion, that we eſteem the Offices of Life to be more worthy
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            than Ltfe it ſelf. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10487" xml:space="preserve">Therefore if there be any thing of that kind that may indeed exactly
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            anſwer our Intentions, yet fo, that the Offices and Duties of Life be thereby hin-
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            dred; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10488" xml:space="preserve">whatſoever it be of this kind, we reject it. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10489" xml:space="preserve">Perhaps wemay make ſome light men-
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            tion of ſome things, but we inſiſt not upon them. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10490" xml:space="preserve">For we make no ſerious nor diligent diſ
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            courſe, either of leading the life in Caves, where the sunbeams and ſeveral changes of the
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            Air pierce not, like Epimenides his Cave; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10491" xml:space="preserve">or of perpetual baths, made of Liquors pre-
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            pared; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10492" xml:space="preserve">or of shirts, and Sear cloths ſo applied, that the Body ſhould be always as it were
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            in a Box; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10493" xml:space="preserve">or of thick paintings of the body, after the manner of ſome Barbarous Na-
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            tions; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10494" xml:space="preserve">or of an exact ordering of our Life and Diet, which aimeth onely at this, and
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            mindeth nothing elſe but that a man live, (as was that of Herodicus amongſt the An-
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            tients, and of Cornarus the Venetian in our days, but with greater moderation;) </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10495" xml:space="preserve">or
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            of any ſuch Prodigy, Tediouſneſs, or Inconvenience: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10496" xml:space="preserve">but we propound ſuch Remedies and
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            Precepts, by which the Offices of Life may neither be deſerted, nor receive any great
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            interr uptions or moleſtations.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10497" xml:space="preserve"/>
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