Seeing Things Through “Images Sensible”: Emblematic Similitudes and Sensuous Words in Francis Bacon’s Natural Philosophy

Francis Bacon’s views on language are often cited to evidence his break with the past. His ambition, however, to “collect” a “Rerum Copiam” for “constructing true axioms” signals his effort to appropriate specific traditional rhetorical devises discussed, for example, in Erasmus’s De copia. For instance, his use of fables, which he distilled into emblematic images, demonstrates an attempt to cultivate a hieroglyphic vocabulary capable of conveying “conceits intellectual” through “Images sensible.” Moreover, in suggesting parallels that unite disparate disciplines, similitudes offered Bacon an instrument to discover the “Rerum Copiam” that constitute his Philosophia Prima and thereby advance his scientific project.