do not see how they may be well justified: as when the Romans made a war for the liberty of Græcia ; 1 or when the Lacedæmonians and Athenians made wars to set up or pull down democracies and oligarchies; or when wars were made by foreigners, under the pretence of justice or protection, to deliver the subjects of others from tyranny and oppression; and the like. Let it suffice, that no estate expect to be great, that is not awake upon any just occasion of arming.

No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic; and certainly to a kingdom or estate, a just and honourable war is the true exercise. A civil war indeed is like the heat of a fever; but a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health; for in a slothful peace, both courages will effeminate and man- ¡ ners corrupt. But howsoever it be for happiness, without all question, for greatness it maketh, to be still for the most part in arms; and the strength of a veteran army (though it be a chargeable business) always on foot, is that which commonly giveth the law, or at least the reputation, amongst all neighbour states; as may well be seen in Spain, which hath had, in one part or other, a veteran army almost continually, now by2 the space of six score years.

To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a monarchy. Cicero, writing to Atticus of Pompey

1 Graecia. Greece.

2 By. During. "Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." Acts xx. 31.

3 Titus Pomponius Atticus, 109-32 B.C., a Roman scholar and bookseller who was the friend and correspondent of Cicero.

his preparation against Cæsar, saith Consilium Pompeii plane Themistocleum est; putat enim, qui mari potitur, eum rerum potiri.1 And, without doubt, Pompey had tired out Cæsar, if upon vain confidence he had not left that way. We see the great effects of battles by sea. The battle of Actium 2 decided the empire of the world. The battle of Lepanto3 arrested the greatness of the Turk. There may be examples where sea-fights have been final to the war; but this is when princes or states have set up their rest upon the battles. But thus much is certain, that he that commands the sea, is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he will. Whereas those that be strongest by land are many times nevertheless in great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of Europe, the vantage of strength at sea (which is one of the principal dowries of this kingdom of Great Britain) is great; both because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass; and because the wealth of both Indies seems in great part but an accessary to the command of the seas.

1 Pompey's policy is plainly that of Themistocles; for he thinks that he who commands the sea, commands all. Bacon quotes Cicero freely as he was wont. Cicero wrote: "nisi forte, iis amissis, arma Pompeium abiecturum putas, cuius omne consilium Themistocleum est: existimat enim, qui mare teneat, eum necesse esse rerum potiri." M. Tullii Ciceronis Epistolae ad Atticum Liber X. viii. 4.

2 The battle of Actium was fought September 2, 31 B.C., off the promontory of Actium, Greece, between Octavius on the one side and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. Octavius won and Egypt became the first province of the Roman empire.

3 The battle of Lepanto was a great naval victory, October 7, 1571, won by the Italian and Spanish fleets under Don John of Austria, over the Turks. It took place in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Lepanto, in Aetolia, Greece.

Vantage. Advantage.

The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, in respect of the glory and honour which reflected upon men from the wars in ancient time. There be now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry; which nevertheless are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers; and some remembrance perhaps upon the scutcheon; and some hospitals for maimed soldiers; and such like things. But in ancient times, the trophies erected upon the place of the victory; the funeral laudatives1 and monuments for those that died in the wars; the crowns and garlands personal; the style of Emperor, which the great kings of the world after borrowed; the triumphs of the generals upon their return; the great donatives and largesses upon the disbanding of the armies; were things able to inflame all men's courages. But above all, that of the Triumph, amongst the Romans, was not pageants or gaudery,2 but one of the wisest and noblest institutions that ever was. For it contained three things: honour to the general; riches to the treasury out of the spoils; and donatives to the army. But that honour perhaps were not fit for monarchies; except it be in the person of the monarch himself, or his sons; as it came to pass in the times of the Roman emperors, who did impropriate3 the actual triumphs to themselves and their sons, for such wars as they did achieve in person; and left only, for wars achieved by sub

jects, some triumphal garments and ensigns to the general.

To conclude: no man can by care taking (as the Scripture saith) add a cubit to his stature,1 in this little model of a man's body; but in the great frame of kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power of princes or estates to add amplitude and greatness to their kingdoms; for by introducing such ordinances, constitutions, and customs, as we have now touched,2 they may sow greatness to their posterity and succession. But these things are commonly not observed, but left to take their chance.

XXX. OF REGIMENT 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 con

1 "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" Matthew vi. 27.

2 Touch. To treat lightly.

"Whereat we glanced from theme to theme,

Discuss'd the books to love or hate,

Or touch'd the changes of the state,

Or threaded some Socratic dream."

Tennyson. In Memoriam. lxxxix.

3 Regiment or regimen. Rule of diet or mode of living, common in this phrase 'regimen of health.'

4 Of. After an adjective, in respect of, in the matter of, in point of, in. Now literary, and somewhat archaic, except in particular phrases, as 'blind of one eye.'

tinue it; than this, I find no offence1 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 the 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 meat2 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

:

1 Offence. Harm, injury, damage.

2 Meat.

"T is better that the enemy seek us:

So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,
Doing him offence."

Shakspere. Julius Caesar. iv. 3.

Food, meals. "She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens."

verbs xxxi. 15.

Pro