The words I utter

Let none think flattery, for they'll find them truth.

(H. VIII. v. 4.)

243. Quod scripsi scripsi.-John xix. 22. (What I

have written I have written.)

You are deceived: for what I mean to do

See here in bloody lines I have set down,

And what is written shall be executed. (Tit. And. v. 2.)
By my soul I swear

There is no power in the tongue of man

To alter me. I stay here upon my bond

Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,

To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

Is it so nominated in the bond? . . . It is not in the bond.

Most meet

(Mer. Ven. iv. 1.)

That first we come to words; and therefore have we

Our written purposes before us sent. (Ant. Cl. ii. 6.)

(Cor. v. 5, 1-5.)

244. Nolj dicere rex Judæorum sed dicerit (sic) se regem Judæorum.2-John xix. 21. (Say not, King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.

245. Virj fratres liceat audenter di(s) cere ad vos. —Acts ii. 29. (Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you.)

Sat. Noble patricians, patrons of my right And countrymen, my loving followers,

Plead my successive title.

.

Bass. Romans, friends, followers, favourers of my right, &c.
(Tit. And. i. 1.)

Romans, countrymen and lovers! hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear. (Jul. Cæs. iii. 2.)

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. (Ib.)

1 An error occurs here in the numbering of the entries (No. 242 being omitted). This could not be rectified without altering the whole of the index.

2 Noli scribere, Rex Judæorum : sed quia ipse dixit Rex sum Judæorum -John xix. 21, Vulgate.

246. Quid vult seminator hic verborum dicere ?—Acts xvii. 18. (What will this babbler [sower of words] say?) Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours?

A long-tongued, babbling gossip! (Tit. And. iv. 3.)

Folio 886.

247. Multæ te literæ ad insaniam redigunt.-Acts xii. 24. (Much learning doth make thee mad.)

A folly bought with wit,

Or else a wit by folly vanquished. (Tw. G. Ver. i. 1.)
None are so surely caught, when they are catched,
As wit turned fool; folly in wisdom hatched,
Hath wisdom's warrant, and the help of school,
And wit's own grace to grace a learned fool.
Folly in fools bears not so strong a note
As foolery in the wise when wit doth dote. (L. L. L. v. 2.)

248. Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos.-1 Cor. ii. 6. (We speak wisdom among them that are perfect.)

Consider whom the King your father sends,
To whom he sends, and what's his embassy:
Yourself, held precious in the world's esteem,
To parley with the sole inheritor

Of all perfections that a man may owe. (L. L. L. ii. 1.)

(Also No. 345.)

249. Et justificata est sapientia a filijs suis.—Matt.

xi. 19. (Wisdom is justified of her children.)

The endeavour of this present breath may buy

That honour which shall bate [time's] scythe's keen edge,

And make us heirs of all eternity. (L. L.. L. i. 1.)

Earthly godfathers of heaven's lights. (1b.)

This child of fancy. (Ib.)

The first heir of my invention.

The children of an idle brain.

(Ded. to Ven. Ad.)

(Rom. Jul. i. 4.)

Wisdom is justified in all her children. (Advt. L.)

For wisdom's sake a word that all men love. (L. L. L. iv.

(See No. 346.)

3.)

250. Scientia inflat, charitas edificat.-1 Cor. viii. 1. (Knowledge puffeth up, charity edifieth.)

The quality of knowledge, . . . be it in quantity more or less, if it be taken without the true corrective thereof, hath in it some nature of venom or malignity, and some effects of that venom, which is ventosity or swelling. This corrective spice, the mixture whereof maketh knowledge so sovereign, is charity, which the apostle immediately addeth to the former clause; for so he saith, Knowledge bloweth up, but charity edifieth. (Advt. L. i.)

Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation
Figures pedantical: these summer-flies
Have blown me full of maggot ostentation.

(L. L. L. v. 2.)

[See at the end of the same scene how Biron is condemned to pass twelve months in visiting the groaning sick in an hospital, in order that he may weed this wormwood of a gibing spirit from his fruitful brain and learn charity or mercy in his wit.]

The self-same metal whereof arrogant man is puffed.
(Tim. Ath. iv. 3.)
The worth that learned charity aye wears. (Per. v. Gower.)
Charity fulfils the law. (L. L. L. iv. 3, rep.)

251. Eadem vobis scribere mihi non pigrum vobis autem necessarium.-Phil. iii. 1. (To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is 'safe'—lit. necessary).

252. Hoc autem dico ut nemo vos decipiat in sublimitate sermonis. (Let no man deceive you (with vain words), Eph. v. 6; with excellency of speech, 1 Cor. ii. 1, Vulgate. This is an instance of Bacon's manner of making incorrect or mixed quotations. The mixture of ideas reappears in the following.)

Prin. He speaks not like a man of God's own making.

Arm. I protest the schoolmaster is exceeding fantastical; too, too vain; too, too vain, &c. (L. L. L. v. 5.)

Kath. Your Majesté have fausse French enough to deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France. (Hen. V. v. 2.)

He will lie, sir, with such volubility, you would think truth were a fool. (All's W. iv. 5.)

Thus, with the formal vice Iniquity,

I moralise two meanings in one word. (R. III. iii. 1.)

Bring forth this counterfeit model: he hath deceived me like a double-meaning prophesier. (All's W. iv. 3.)

(See this scene, where Parolles, whose name is descriptive of his characteristic utterance of 'vain words' and of 'excellency of speech,' is examined by the French lords.)

253. Omnia probate, quod bonum est tenete.—Rom. xii. 9. (Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.)

Approved warriors. (Tit, And. v. 1.)
Approved friend. (Tam. Sh. i. 2.)

Approved good masters. (Oth. i. 3.)

The friends thou hast and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel. (Ham. i. 3.)

254. Fidelis sermo.-1 Tim. iv. 9.

Thy love's faithful vow. (Rom. Jul. ii. 2.)

If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. (Ib.)

As I am a faithful Christian man, I would not. (R. III. i. 4.)
I am bound by oath. (Ib. iv. 1.)

I take the like unfeigned oath. (Tam. Sh. iv. 2.)
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?
Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. (John, ii. 1.)
By this hand I swear. (Ib. ii. 2.)

By my fidelity, this is not well! (Mer. Wiv. iv. 2.)

I here take mine oath. (Lear, iii. 6.)

Faith, we hear faithful news. (Cor. iv. 6.)

Circumstances whose strength I will confirm by oath.

Swear it. . . . Swear [rep.] (Ham. i. 5.)

(Cymb. ii. 5.)

(Upwards of 500 passages on taking oaths, vowing, and

swearing.)

255. Semper discentes et nunquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes.-2 Tim. iii. 7. (Always learning and never coming to the knowledge of truth.)

Glad that you thus continue your resolve
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue and this moral discipline,
Let's be no Stoics, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks,

As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured.

No profit grows where there's no pleasure ta'en.

(See fol. 86, 191.)

(Tam. Sh. i. 1.)

256. Proprius ipsorum propheta.-Titus i. 12. (4 prophet of their own.)

My other self, my counsel's consistory,

My oracle, my prophet. (R. III. ii. 2.)

O my prohetic soul! (Ham. i. 5.)

Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul

Of the wide world dreaming on things to come. (Son. cvii.)

257. Testimonium hoc verum est.-Tit. i. 13. (This witness is true.)

"Tis true. Witness my knife's sharp point. (Tit. And. v. 3.) My stars can witness. . . that my report is full of truth. (16.) He is alive to witness this is true. (Ib.)

Witnessing the truth on our side. (1 Hen. VI. ii. 5.) (Upwards of 120 passages on witnesses.)

258. Tantam nubem testium.-Hebrews xii. 1. (So great a cloud of witnesses.)

Doth not the crown of England prove the king?

If not that, I bring you witnesses

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of English breed. (John, ii. 1.) Dor. Is it true. think you?

Ant. Five justices' hands at it, and witnesses more than [my pack can well hold. (W. T. iv. 4.)