Even a lover of the Baconian spirit must concede, too, that the great Chancellor, while laying down the law for science, failed to keep abreast of the science of his time.
即便是极度推崇培根思想的人，也不能否认这位大法官为科学立法时，落后于同时代科学的发展步伐。
培根对科学有自己的想法，但是对同时代的科学并没有很关注。理论理解的很好，实践上还是不够。
He rejected Copernicus and ignored Kepler and Tycho Brahe; he depreciated Gilbert and seemed unaware of Harvey.
他不认同哥白尼，忽视开普勒和第谷；他瞧不起吉尔伯特，好像也没把哈维放在眼里。
开普勒--发现了行星运动的三大定律，分别是轨道定律、面积定律和周期定律。
第谷--曾提出一种介于地心说和日心说之间的宇宙结构体系
吉尔伯特--医术高明，1601年担任英国女王伊丽莎白一世的御医，写成名著《论磁》。
哈维--血管循环论
In truth, he loved discourse better than research; or perhaps he had no time for toilsome investigations.
事实上，比起研究，他更爱倾谈；又或许，他没有闲暇时间进行辛苦的实验。
Such work as he did in philosophy and science was left in fragments and chaos at his death; full of repetitions, contradictions, aspirations, and introductions.
直至去世，他在哲学与科学领域所做到工作仍是零碎、混乱的，并且重复、矛盾、理想与导论充斥其中。
Ars longa, vita brevis—art is long and time is fleeting: this is the tragedy of every great soul.
艺术永存而时光飞逝，这是每一个伟人的悲哀。
生有涯而学无尽
To assign to so overworked a man, whose reconstruction of philosophy had to be crowded into the crevices of a harassed and a burdened political career, the vast and complicated creations of Shakespeare, is to waste the time of students with the parlor controversies of idle theorists.
我们把这么多的事情都分配给如此繁忙操劳的人，所以他对于哲学的再次构建、兴复哲学的工作职能在纷繁复杂的政治生涯间隙完成。而让培根写出如莎士比亚一般丰富曲折的作品，那简直是浪费时间的空间。
Shakespeare lacks just that which distinguishes the lordly Chancellor—erudition and philosophy.
莎士比亚缺少的东西，恰好是这位高贵的政治家的两大特色：博学和哲学。
Shakespeare has an impressive smattering of many sciences, and a mastery of none; in all of them he speaks with the eloquence of an amateur.
莎士比亚涉猎所有科学，浅薄了解，却无一门精通；在提及这些科学时，他总是以一种业余爱好者的口吻大谈特谈。
He accepts astrology: "This huge state... whereon the stars in secret influence comment."
他认可占星术：“这个伟大的国家......被星星秘密地影响着。”
He is forever making mistakes which the learned Bacon could not possibly have made: his Hector quotes Aristotle and his Coriolanus alludes to Cato; he supposes the Lupercalia to be a hill; and he understands Caesar about as profoundly as Caesar is understood by H.G.Wells.
他经常犯错，而那些错在博学的培根身上是基本上不会发生的：在他笔下，亚里士多德的话居然被赫克托尔引用了；克里奥兰斯甚至用了加图的典故；他把“牧神节”设想为一座小山丘；他对凯撒的了解与威尔斯对凯撒的了解不相上下。
赫克托尔--希腊神话中的特洛伊王子
莎士比亚让先时代的人来引用后时代人所说的话。
牧神节：每年2.15，本来是庆祝一个罗马畜牧神卢波库斯的古老节日，后来演变人情人节。牧神节于2月15日在柏伦町山上的卢波库斯洞里庆祝，柏伦町山是传说中罗马的奠基人罗莫路和勒莫小时候被一只狼收养的地方。罗马传说说一个牧羊人在狼窝里找到了这一对双胞胎并将他们带回家让他的妻子来抚养他们。
语言点
concede: vi. 让步
keep abreast of: 与......保持并行
depreciate: vt. 看不起
toilsome: adj. 耗时耗力的
crevice: n. 缺口
harassed: adj. 被干扰的
smattering: n. 浅知
allude: vi. 暗指
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