Thoughts, philosophical and medical / selected from the works of Francis Bacon ; with an essay on his health and medical writings by John Dowson.

  • Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.
Date:
[1867]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thoughts, philosophical and medical / selected from the works of Francis Bacon ; with an essay on his health and medical writings by John Dowson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    should therefore be so ordered as to leave new comforts for old age^ whereof the principal is moderate rest. And therefore old men in honom’able places who do not retire to a life of leisure, offer violence to themselves. A remarkable instance of this is found in the case of Cassio- dorus, who had so much authority with the Gothic kings of Italy that he appeared to be the soul and life of their affairs; yet afterwards, when nearly eighty years of age, he retired into a monastery where he lived to be a hun- dred. Herein, however, two cautions are required; one, that they do not .wait till the body is entirely worn out and diseased, for in such bodies all change, even for the better, accelerates death; the other, that they do not give themselves up to mere inertness, but have something to entertain the minds and thoughts in a quiet way; for which the best kind of amusement is reading, and next building and planting. Lastly, the same action, endeavour, and labour, which if undertaken cheerfully and with good will refreshes the spirits, if it be attended with aversion and dislike preys upon and prostrates them. It will therefore promote lon- gevity if a man either so arrange his hfe that it shall be free, and pass as he likes, or else obtain such command over his mind that, whatever necessity fortune may im- pose, it may rather lead than drag him. H. V. et M. W. V, 279, 263, 282, tr.