Question

What does this line mean: "The third is of such as take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold. As was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant. (His last actions were not equal to his first." Please help!

Answer 1

Bacon is listing off a series of 3 different reasons of how and why age is not always a benefit to man. His first two are 1) A man who loses his edge in age and whose wit becomes "brittle". 2) A man who has a natural eloquence in youth that doesn't fit well with an old man.

The passage you're asking your question about is the 3rd and final type. It is a reference to #1 (above). "The third is of such as take too high a strain at the first." An elder who is strained by a man who has lost his witty edge and in effect goes to great lengths to appear forgiving towards such a man. He thus loses his own edge by becoming soft towards those that have lost their own edge. "His last actions were not equal to his first."