The Essays of Francis Bacon/II Of Death

by Francis Bacon

II. 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^[1] 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,^[2] 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:^[3] Groans and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks,^[4] 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^[5] 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^[6] it; nay we read, after Otho^[7] the emperor had slain himself, Pity (which is the tenderestof affections) provoked^[8] 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.^[9] 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^[10] died in a compliment; Livia,^[11] conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale:^[12] Tiberius^[13] in dissimulation; as Tacitus^[14] saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant:^[15] Vespasian^[16] in a jest; sitting upon the stool, Ut puto Deus fio:^[17] Galba^[18] with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani:^[19] holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus^[20] in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum:^[21] 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.^[22] 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^[23] of death. But above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, Nunc dimittis;^[24] 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.^[25]

1. "For the wages of sin is death." Romans vi. 23.
2. Mortification. Humiliation, penance.
3. The surroundings of death strike more terror than death itself. L. Annaei Senecae ad Lucilium Epistularum Moralium Liber III. Epistula III. Seneca lived 4–65 A.D.
4. Blacks. Black clothing for mourning; hangings of black cloth used in churches, etc., at funerals. In Shakspere's time the upper part of the stage, technically called 'the heavens,' was hung with black when tragedies were performed.
   "I would not hear of blacks, I was so light,
   But chose a color orient like my mind:
   For blacks are often such dissembling mourners,
   There is no credit given to 't; it has lost
   All reputation by false sons and widows."

   Middleton. The Old Law. ii. 1.
5. Mate. To daunt ; to stupefy.
   "My mind she has mated and amazed my sight."
   

   Shakspere. Macbeth. v. 1.
6. Pre-occupate. To occupy before; to anticipate.
7. Marcus Salvius Otho, Roman emperor, 32–69 A.D.
8. Provoke. To stimulate to action; to move; to excite. "And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works." Hebrews x. 24.
9. Think how often you do the same things. A man may wish to die, not so much because he is brave or miserable, as that he is tired of living. L. Annaei Senecae ad Lucilium Epistularum Moralium Liber X. Epistula I.
   
   "It is a brave act of valour to contemn death; but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live." Sir Thomas Browne. Religio Medici. Part I. Section 44.
10. Caius Octavius, called later, Caius Julius Caesar Octavlanus Augustus, great-nephew of Julius Caesar, and first Roman emperor, lived 63 B.C. to 14 A.D.
11. Livia Drusilla was the mother of Tiberius and the third wife of Augustus. 'Caesar Augustus died in a compliment.—I hope 't was a sincere one!—quoth my Uncle Toby.—'T was to his wife, said my father.' Sterne. Tristram Shandy. V. 3.
12. Livia, mindful of our union, live on, and farewell. C. Suetoni Tranquilli De XII Caesaribus Liber II. D. Octavius Caesar Augustus. 100.
13. Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, stepson of Augustus and Roman emperor, lived 42 B.C. to 37 A.D.
14. Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian, lived from about 55 to about 117 A.D. He wrote De vita et moribus Julii Agricolae; Germania; Historiae, accounts of the reigns of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian; and Annales, a history of the Julian dynasty from the death of Augustus.
15. His strength and vitality were now deserting Tiberius, but not his dissimulation. P. Cornelii Taciti Annalium Liber VI. Caput 50.
16. Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, Roman emperor, 9–79 A.D.
17. I suppose I am becoming a god. C. Suetoni Tranquilli De XII Caesaribus Liber VIII. T. Flavius Vespasianus Augustus. 23.
18. Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman emperor, lived 3 B.C. to 69 A.D.
19. Strike, if it be for the good of the Roman people. Cornelii Taciti Historiarum Liber I. Caput 41.
20. Lucius Septimius Severus, Roman emperor, 146– 211 A.D.
21. Make haste, if anything remains for me to do. Dion Cassius. Liber LXXVI. 17.
22. Who considers the end of life as one of nature's blessings. The thought is Juvenal's, D. Junii Juvenalis Aquinatis Satirarum Liber IV. Satira X. 358–-359. Bacon quotes the verse again in the Advancement of Learning. II. xxi. 5.
23. Dolours. Griefs, sorrows. "About this time I did light on a dreadful story of that miserable mortal, Francis Spira; a book that was to my troubled spirit, as salt when rubbed into a fresh wound: every sentence in that book, every groan of that man, with all the rest of his actions in his dolours, as his tears, his prayers, his gnashing of teeth, his wringing of hands, his twisting, and languishing, and pining away under that mighty hand of God that was upon him, were as knives and daggers to my soul." Bunyan. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. The Works of that eminent servant of Christ, John Bunyan, Minister of the Gospel; and formerly Pastor of a Congregation at Bedford. Vol. I. p. 49. (New Haven. 1831.)
24. Nunc dimittis, or the Song of Simeon. Luke ii. 29–32. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." It is one of the canticles for Evening Prayer in the Church of England.
25. The same man, dead, will be loved; i.e., he who is envied and suffers from detraction in life, may become a hero after death. Q. Horatii Flacci Epistolarum Liber II. Epistola I. Ad Augustum. 14.