ESSAYS.

[Link] TRUTH
What is truth? said jesting Pilate;42 and would not stay for an [Link],there be
that delight in giddiness; and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting freewill in
thinking as well as in acting. And though the secs of philosophers of that kind be gone,
yet there remain certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins, though there be
not so much blood in them as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty
and labor which men take in finding out of truth: nor again, that, when it is found, it
imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural though
corrupt love of the lie [Link] of the later schools43 of the Grecians examineth the
matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it that men should love lies; where
neither they make for pleasure, as with poets; nor for advantage, as with the merchant,
but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell; this same truth is a naked and open daylight, that
doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately
and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl,that
showeth best by day, but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle,that
showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add [Link] any man
doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions,flattering hopes, false
valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a
number of men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and
unpleasing to themselves? One of the fathers,44 in great severity, called poesy “vinum
dæmonum,”45 because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a
lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and
settleth in it, that doth the hurt, such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things
are thus in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge
itself,teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the
knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the
enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The fist creature of God, in the
works of the days, was the light of the sense;46 the last was the light of reason;47 and
his sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of his [Link], he breathed light upon
the face of the matter, or chaos; then he breathed
light into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his
chosen. The poet48 that beautified the sect,49 that was otherwise inferior to the rest,
saith yet excellently well: “It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships
tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle,and to see a battle,
and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon
the vantage-ground of truth" (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always
clear and serene), “and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in
the vale below;”50 so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or
pride. Certainly it is heaven upon earth,to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in
providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the truth of civil business; it will be
acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear and round dealing is the
honor of man's nature, and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and
silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding
and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly,
and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be
found false and perfidious;and therefore Montaigne51 saith prettily, when he inquired
the reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge:
saith he,“If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much as to say that he is
brave towards God and a coward towards men. For a lie faces God,and shrinks from
man;” surely, the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so
highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the
generations of men: it being foretold, that,when “Christ cometh,” he shall not “find faith
upon the earth.”52

2. OF REVENGE
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought
law to weed it out; for as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law, but the revenge
of that wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly,in taking revenge, a man is but
even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior;for it is a prince's part to
pardon; and Solomon, I am sure, saith, “It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence."
That which is past is gone and irrevocable, and wise men have enough to do with things
present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves that labor in past
matters. There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake, but thereby to purchase
himself profit, or pleasure,or honor, or the like; therefore, why should I be angry with a
man for loving
himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill-nature, why,
yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other.
The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy;
but then,let a man take heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish, else a
man's enemy is still beforehand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are
desirous the party should know whence it cometh. This is the more generous; for the
delight seemeth to be not so much in doing the hurt as in making the party repent; but
base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, Duke of
Florence,87had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those
wrongs were unpardonable. "You shall read,” saith he, "that we are commanded to
forgive our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our
friends."But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: “Shall we,”saith he,“take good at
God's hands, and not be content to take evil also?"88 and so of friends in a proportion.
This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which
otherwise would heal and do well. Public revenges89 are for the most part fortunate; as
that for the death of Cæsar,90 for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the Third
of France;91 and many more. But in private revenges it is not so; nay, rather,vindictive
persons live the life of witches, who,as they are mischievous, so end they unfortunate.

3. OF ADVERSITY
Ir was a high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that “the good things
which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to
adversity are to be admired.”(“Bona rerum secundarum optabilia,adversarum
mirabilia.")92 Certainly, if miracles be the command over nature,they appear most in
adversity. It is yet a higher speech of his than the other (much too high for a heathen), "It
is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God." (“Vere
magnum habere fragilitatem hominis securitatem Dei.”)93 This would have done better
in poesy, where
transcendencies are more allowed, and the poets,indeed,have been busy with it;for it is,
in effect, the thing which is figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets,94 which
seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some approach to the state of a
Christian, "that Hercules, when he went to unbind
Prometheus (by whom human nature is represented), sailed the length of the great
ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher,” lively describing Christian resolution,that saileth in
the frail bark of the flesh through the waves of the world. But to speak in a mean, the
virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude,which in morals is
the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the
blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of
God's favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as
many hearse-like airs95 as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in
describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without
many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see,in
needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and
solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground:
judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly, virtue
is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed; for prosperity
doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.96
4. OF STIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION
DISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of policy, or wisdom; for it asketh a strong wit and a
strong heart to know when to tell truth, and to do it; therefore it is the weaker sort of
politicians that are the great dissemblers.
Tacitus saith, “Livia sorted well with the arts of her husband, and dissimulation of her
son;97 attributing arts or policy to Augustus, and dissimulation to Tiberius:" and again,
when Mucianus encourageth Vespasian to take arms against Vitellius, he saith, “We rise
not against the piercing judgment of Augustus, nor the extreme caution or closeness of
Tiberius."98 These properties of arts or policy, and dissimulation or closeness, are indeed
habits and faculties several,and to be distinguished; for if a man have that penetration of
judgment as he can discern what things are to be laid open, and what to be secreted,
and what to be showed at half-lights, and to whom and when (which indeed are arts of
state, and arts of life, as Tacitus well calleth them), to him a habit of dissimulation is a
hinderance and a poorness. But if a man cannot obtain to that judgment, then it is left to
him generaly to be close, and a dissembler;for where
a man cannot choose or vary in particulars, there it is good to take the safest and wariest
way in general, like the going softly by one that cannot well [Link], the ablest men
that ever were, have had all an openness and frankness of dealing, and a name of
certainty and veracity: but then they were like horses well managed, for they could tell
passing well when to stop or turn; and at such times,when they thought the case indeed
required dissimulation, if then they used it, it came to pass that the former opinion
spread abroad, of their good faith and clearness of dealing, made them almost invisible.
There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man's self: the first,closeness,
reservation, and secrecy; when a man leaveth himself without observation, or without
hold to be taken, what he is: the second, dissimulation in the negative; when a man lets
fall signs and arguments, that he is not that he is:and the third, simulation in the
affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is
not.
For the first of these, secrecy, it is indeed the virtue of a confessor; and assuredly the
secret man heareth many confessions; for who will open himself to a blab or a babbler?
But if a man be thought secret, it inviteth discovery, as the more close air sucketh in the
more open; and, as in confession, the revealing is not for worldly use, but for the ease of
a man's heart, so secret men come to the knowledge of many things in that kind; while
men rather discharge their minds than impart their minds. In few words, mysteries are
due to secrecy. Besides (to say truth), nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body;
and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners and actions, if they be not altogether
open. As for talkers and futile persons, they are commonly vain and credulous withal; for
he that talketh what he knoweth, will also talk what he knoweth not; therefore set it
down, that a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral: and in this part it is good that a
man's face give his tongue leave to speak; for the discovery of a man's self by the
tracts99 of his countenance, is a great weakness and betraying,by how much it is many
times more marked and believed than a man's words.
For the second, which is dissimulation, it followeth many times upon secrecy by a
necessity; so that he that will be secret must be a dissembler in some degree;for men are
too cunning to suffer a man to keep an indifferent carriage between both, and to be
secret, without swaying the balance on either side. They will so beset a man with
questions, and draw him on, and pick it out of him, that without an absurd silence, he
must show an inclination one way; or if he do not, they will gather as much by his silence
as by his speech. As for equivocations,or oraculous speeches, they cannot hold out long:
so that no man can be secret, except he give himself a little scope of dissimulation, which
is, as it were, but the skirts or train of secrecy.
But for the third degree, which is simulation and false profession, that I hold more
culpable, and less politic, except it be in great and rare matters; and,therefore, a general
custom of simulation (which is this last degree) is a vice rising either of a natural
falseness,
or fearfulness, or of a mind that hath some main faults; which because a man must
needs disguise, it maketh him practise simulation in other things, lest his hand should be
out of use.
The advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three: first,to lay asleep opposition,
and to surprise; for, where a man's intentions are published, it is an alarum to call up all
that are against them: the second is, to reserve to a man's self a fair retreat; for if a man
engage himself by a manifest declaration, he must go through or take a fall: the third is,
the better to discover the mind of another;for to him that opens himself men will hardly
show themselves adverse; but will (fair) let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech
to freedom of thought; and therefore it is a good shrewd proverb of the Spaniard, "Tell a
lie, and find a troth;"100 as if there were no way of discovery but by simulation. There be
also three disadvantages to set it even; the first, that simulation and dissimulation
commonly carry with them a show of fearfulness, which, in any business,doth spoil the
feathers of round flying up to the mark; the second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the
conceits of many, that, perhaps, would otherwise coöperate with him, and makes a man
walk almost alone to his own ends: the third, and greatest,is, that it depriveth a man of
one of the most principal instruments for action,which is trust and belief. The best
composition and temperature is, to have openness in fame and opinion, secrecy in habit,
dissimulation in seasonable use,and a power to feign if there be no remedy.
XI.5. OF GREAT PLACE
MEN in great place are thrice servants-servants of the sovereign or state,servants of
fame, and servants of business; so as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor
in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty;
or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self. The rising unto place
is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base, and by
indignities men come to [Link] standing is slippery, and the regress is either a
downfall, or at least an eclipse,which is a melancholy thing: “Cum non sis qui fueris, non
esse cur velis vivere."130 Nay,retire men cannot when they would, neither will they
when it were reason; but are impatient of privateness even in age and sickness, which
require the shadow; like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their street
door,though thereby they offer age to scorn. Certainly, great persons had need to borrow
other men's opinions to think themselves happy; for if they judge by their own feeling,
they cannot find it; but if they think with themselves what other men think of them, and
that other men would fain be as they are, then they are happy as it were by report,
when, perhaps,they find the contrary within;for they are the first that find their own
griefs, though they be the last that find their own faults. Certainly, men in great fortunes
are strangers to themselves, and while they
are in the puzzle of business, they have no time to tend their health either of body or
mind.
“Illi mors gravis incubat,
Qui notus nimis omnibus,
Ignotus moritur."131
In place, there is license to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse; for in evil, the
best condition is not to will, the second not to can. But power to do good is the true and
lawful end of aspiring; for good thoughts, though God accept them, yet towards men are
little better than good dreams,except they be put in act; and that cannot be without
power and place, as the vantage and commanding ground. Merit and good works are the
end of man's motion, and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of man's rest;
for ifa man can be partaker of God's theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God's rest.
"Et conversus Deus, ut aspiceret opera, quæ fecerunt manus suæ, vidit quod omnia
essent bona nimis;"132 and then the Sabbath.
In the discharge of thy place, set before thee the best examples; for imitation is a globe
of precepts, and after a time set before thee thine own example; and examine thyself
strictly whether thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also the examples of those that
have carried themselves ill in the same place; not to set off thyself by taxing their
memory, but todirect thyself what to avoid. Reform,therefore,without bravery or scandal
of former times and persons; but yet set it down to thyself, as well to create good
precedents as to follow them. Reduce things to the first institution, and observe wherein
and how they have degenerated; but yet ask counsel of both times-of the ancient time
what is best,and of the latter time what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular, that
men may know beforehand what they may expect; but be not too positive and
peremptory, and express thyself well when thou digressest from thy [Link] the
right of thy place, but stir not questions of jurisdiction; and rather assume thy right in
silence, and de facto,133than voice it with claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the
rights of inferior places; and think it more honor to direct in chief than to be busy in all.
Embrace and invite helps and advices touching the execution of thy place; and do not
drive away such as bring thee information,as meddlers, but accept of them in good part.
The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, roughness, and facility. For
delays,give easy access, keep times appointed, go through with that which is in hand,and
interlace not business but of necessity. For corruption, do not only bind thine own hands
or thy servant's hands from taking, but bind the hands of suitors also from offering; for
integrity used doth the one, but integrity professed, and with a manifest detestation of
bribery, doth the other; and avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is
found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth suspicion of
corruption; therefore, always when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it
plainly, and declare it, together with the
reasons that move thee to change, and do not think to steal it. A servant or a favorite, if
he be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is commonly thought but a by-
way to close corruption. For roughness, it is a needless cause of discontent: severity
breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from authority ought to be
grave, and not taunting. As for facility,134 it is worse than bribery, for bribes come but
now and then; but if importunity or idle respects135 lead a man, he shall never be
without; as Solomon saith, “To respect persons is not good; for such a man will
transgress for a piece of bread.”136
It is most true that was anciently spoken: “A place showeth the man; and it showeth
some to the better, and some to the worse:" “Omnium consensu capax imperii, nisi
imperasset,"137 saith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vespasian he saith,“Solus imperantium,
Vespasianus mutatus in melius;"138 though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other
of manners and affection. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom
honor amends; for honor is, or should be,the place of virtue; and as in nature things
move violently to their place, and calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in
authority settled and calm. All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be
factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself
when he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou
dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues,
respect them; and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when
they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy
place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, “When he
sits in place, he is another man."

6. OF FRIENDSHIP
Ir had been hard for him that spake it, to have put more truth and untruth together in
few words than in that speech: “Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast
or a god:”303 for it is most true, that a natural and secret hatred and aversion towards
society in any man hath somewhat of the savage beast; but it is most untrue, that it
should have any character at all of the divine nature, except it proceed, not out of a
pleasure in solitude, but out of a loveand desire to
sequester a man's self for a higher conversation; such as is found to have been falsely
and feignedly in some of the heathen; as Epimenides,304 the Candian; Numa, the
Roman; Empedocles, the Sicilian; and Apollonius, of Tyana; and truly and really in divers
of the ancient hermits and holy fathers of the church. But little do men perceive what
solitude is, and how far it extendeth;for a crowd is not company, and faces are but a
gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. The Latin adage
meeteth with it a little:“Magna civitas, magna solitudo:"305 because in a great town
friends are scattered, so that there is not that fellowship, for the most part, which is in
less neighborhoods: but we may go further, and affirm most truly, that it is a mere and
miserable solitud to want true friends, without which the world is but a wilderness; and
even in this sense also of solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is
unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beasts, and not from humanity.
A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fulness and swellings of the
heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and [Link] know diseases of stoppings
and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body,and it is not much otherwise in the
mind. You may take sarza306 to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of
sulphur for the lungs, castoreum307 for
the brain, but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart
griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to
oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.
It is a strange thing to observe how high a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon this
fruit of friendship whereof we speak; so great, as they purchase it many times at the
hazard of their own safety and greatness; for princes, in regard of the distance of their
fortune from that of their subjects and servants,cannot gather this fruit, except (to make
themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be as it were companions, and
almost equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The modern
languages give unto such persons the name of favorites, or privadoes, as if it were matter
of grace or conversation; but the Roman name attaineth the true use and cause
thereof,naming them “participes curarum;”308 for it is that which tieth the [Link] we
see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the
wisest and most politic that ever reigned, who have oftentimes joined to themselves
some of their servants, whom both themselves have called friends,and allowed others
likewise to call them in the same manner, using the word which is received between
private men.
L. Sylla, when he commanded Rome, raised Pompey (after surnamed the Great)to that
height, that Pompey vaunted himself for Sylla's overmatch; for when he had carried the
consulship for a friend of his, against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent
thereat, and began to speak great, Pompey turned upon him again, and, in effect, bade
him be quiet; for that more men adored the sun rising than the sun setting.309With
Julius
Cæsar, Decimus Brutus had obtained that interest, as he set him down in his testament
for heir in remainder after his nephew; and this was the man that had power with him to
draw him forth to his death; for when Cæsar would have discharged the senate, in regard
of some ill presages, and specially a dream of Calphurnia, this man lifted him gently by
the arm out of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not dismiss the senate till his wife
had dreamt a better dream;310and it seemeth his favor was so great, as Antonius, in a
letter which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics, calleth him venefica, “witch,”
as if he had enchanted Cæsar.311Augustus raised Agrippa (though of mean birth) to that
height, as, when he consulted with Mæcenas about the marriage of his daughter Julia,
Mæcenas took the liberty to tell him, that he must either marry his daughter to Agrippa,
or take away his life; there was no third way, he had made him so great. With Tiberius
Cæsar, Sejanus had ascended to that height, as they two were termed and reckoned as a
pair of friends. Tiberius, in a letter to him, saith, “Hæc pro amicitiânostrâ non
occultavi;”312 and the whole senate dedicated an altar to Friendship,as to a goddess, in
respect of the great dearness of friendship between them [Link] like, or more, was
between Septimius Severus and Plautianus; for he forced his eldest son to marry the
daughter of Plautianus, and would often maintain Plautianus in doing affronts to his son;
and did write, also, in a letter to the senate,by these words: “I love the man so well, as I
wish he may over-live me."313 Now, if these princes had been as a Trajan, or a Marcus
Aurelius, a man might have thought that this had proceeded of an abundant goodness of
nature;but being men so wise,314 of such strength and severity of mind, and so extreme
lovers of themselves, as all these were, it proveth most plainly that they found their own
felicity (though as great as ever happened to mortal men) but as an half-piece, except
they might have a friend to make it entire; and yet, which is more, they were princes that
had wives, sons, nephews; and yet all these could not supply the comfort of friendship.
It is not to be forgotten what Comineus315 observeth of his first master, Duke Charles
the Hardy,316 namely, that he would communicate his secrets with none,and, least of all,
those secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon he goeth on,and saith, that towards
his latter time, that closeness did impair and a little perish his understanding. Surely,
Comineus might have made the same judgment,also,if it had pleased him, of his second
master, Louis the Eleventh, whose closeness was indeed his tormentor. The parable of
Pythagoras is dark, but true: “Cor ne edito,” “eat not the heart."317 Certainly, if a man
would give it a hard phrase,those that want friends to open themselves unto are
cannibals of their own hearts; but one thing is most admirable (wherewith I will conclude
this first fruit of friendship), which is, that this communicating of a man's self to his
friend works two contrary effects, for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in halves;for
there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more;and no man
that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less. So that it is, in truth, of
operation upon a man's mind of like virtue as the alchemists used to attribute to their
stone for man's body, that it worketh all contrary effects,but still to the good and benefit
of nature. But yet, without praying in aid of alchemists, there is a manifest image of this
in the
ordinary course of nature;for,in bodies, union strengtheneth and cherisheth any natural
action; and, on the other side, weakeneth and dulleth any violent impression; and even
so it is of minds. The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sovereign for the
understanding, as the first is for the affections; for friendship maketh indeed a fair day in
the affections from storm and tempests, but it maketh daylight in the understanding,out
of darkness and confusion of thoughts. Neither is this to be understood only of faithful
counsel, which a man receiveth from his friend; but before you come to that, certain it is,
that whosoever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts,his wits and understanding do
clarify and break up in the communicating and discoursing with another; he tosseth his
thoughts more easily; he marshalleth them more orderly; he seeth how they look when
they are turned into words;finally, he waxeth wiser than himself; and that more by an
hour's discourse than by a day's meditation. It was well said by Themistocles to the king
of Persia:"That speech was like cloth of Arras,318 opened and put abroad, whereby the
imagery doth appear in figure; whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs.”319Neither
is this second fruit of friendship, in opening the understanding,restrained only to such
friends as are able to give a man counsel (they indeed are best),but even without that a
man learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his wits as
against a stone, which itself cuts [Link] a word, a man were better relate himself to a
statue or picture,than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother.
Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship complete, that other point which lieth
more open, and falleth within vulgar observation; which is faithful counsel from a friend.
Heraclitus saith well, in one of his enigmas, “Dry light is ever the best;"320 and certain it
is, that the light that a man receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer than
that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment, which is ever infused and
drenched in his affections and customs. So, as there is as much difference between the
counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the
counsel of a friend and of a flatterer; for there is no such flatterer as is a man's self, and
there is no such remedy against flattery of a man's self, as the liberty of a friend. Counsel
is of two sorts,-the one concerning manners, the other concerning business; for the first,
the best preservative to keep the mind in health, is the faithful admonition of a friend.
The calling of a man's self to a strict account is a medicine sometimes too piercing and
corrosive; reading good books of morality is a little flat and dead; observing our faults in
others is sometimes improper for our case; but the best receipt (best,I say, to work,and
best to take), isthe admonition of a friend. It is a strange thing to behold what gross
errors and extreme absurdities many (especially of the greater sort) do commit for want
of a friend to tell them of them, to the great damage both of their fame and fortune; for,
as St. James saith, they are as men “that look
sometimes into a glass, and presently forget their own shape and favor.”321 As for
business, a man may think, if he will, that two eyes see no more than one; or,that a
gamester seeth always more than a looker-on; or, that a man in anger is as wise as
he that has said over the four and twenty letters;322or, that a musket may be shot
off as well upon the arm as upon a rest;323and such other fond and high
imaginations, to think himself all in all; but when all is done, the help of good
counsel is that which setteth business straight. And if any man think that he will
take counsel, but it shall be by pieces, asking counsel in one business of one man,
and in another business of another man; it is well (that is to say, better,perhaps,
than if he asked none at all); but he runneth two dangers,-one,that he shall not be
faithfully counselled; for it is a rare thing, except it be from a perfect and entire
friend, to have counsel given, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to some
ends which he hath that giveth it; the other, that he shall have counsel
given,hurtful and unsafe (though with good meaning), and mixed partly of
mischief, and partly of remedy; even as if you would call a physician, that is
thought good for the cure of the disease you complain of, but is unacquainted
with your body; and, therefore, may put you in a way for a present cure, but
overthroweth your health in some other kind, and so cure the disease and kill the
patient. But a friend, that is wholly acquainted with a man's estate, will beware,by
furthering any present business, how he dasheth upon other inconvenience;and,
therefore, rest not upon scattered counsels; they will rather distract and
mislead,than settle and direct.
After these two noble fruits of friendship (peace in the affections, and support of
the judgment), followeth the last fruit, which is like the pomegranate, full of many
kernels; I mean aid, and bearing a part in all actions and [Link] the best
way to represent to life the manifold use of friendship, is to cast and see how
many things there are which a man cannot do himself; and then it will appear that
it was a sparing speech of the ancients to say, “that a friend is another himself,” for
that a friend is far more than himself. Men have their time, and die many times in
desire of some things which they principally take to heart; the bestowing of a
child, the finishing of a work, or the like. If a man have a true friend, he may rest
almost secure that the care of those things will continue after him; so that a man
hath, as it were, two lives in his desires. A man hath a body,and that body is
confined to a place; but where friendship is, all offices of life are, as it were,
granted to him and his deputy, for he may exercise them by his friend. How many
things are there, which a man cannot, with any face or comeliness,say or do
himself? A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol
them; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate, or
beg, and a number of the like; but all these things are graceful in a friend's
mouth,which are blushing in a man's own. So, again, a man's person hath many
proper relations which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his son but as a
father; to his wife but as a husband; to his enemy but upon terms; whereas, a
friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. But to
enumerate these things were endless; I have given the rule, where a man cannot
fitly play his own part. If he have not a friend, he may quit the stage.
[Link] AMBITION
AмвrTION is like choler, which is a humor that maketh men active,earnest,full of
alacrity, and stirring, if it be not stopped; but if it be stopped, and cannot have its
way, it becometh adust,401 and thereby malign and venomous. So ambitious men,
if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward,they are rather busy
than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly
discontent,and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased
when things go backward; which is the worst property in a servant of a prince or
state. Therefore, it is good for princes, if they use ambitious men, to
handle it so, as they be still progressive, and not retrograde; which, because it
cannot be without inconvenience, it is good not to use such natures at all; for if
they rise not with their service, they will take order to make their service fall with
them. But since we have said, it were good not to use men of ambitious natures,
except it be upon necessity, it is fit we speak in what cases they are of necessity.
Good commanders in the wars must be taken, be they never so ambitious; for the
use of their service dispenseth with the rest; and to take a soldier without
ambition, is to pull off his spurs. There is also great use of ambitious men in being
screens to princes in matters of danger and envy; for no man will take that part,
except he be like a seeled402 dove, that mounts and mounts, because he cannot
see about him. There is use, also, of ambitious men,in pulling down the greatness
of any subject that overtops; as Tiberius used Macro403 in the pulling down of
Sejanus. Since, therefore, they must be used in such cases, there resteth to speak
how they are to be bridled, that they may be less [Link] is less danger
of them if they be of mean birth,than if they be noble; and if they be rather harsh
of nature, than gracious and popular; and if they be rather new raised, than grown
cunning and fortified in their greatness. It is counted by some a weakness in
princes to have favorites; but it is, of all others, the best remedy against ambitious
great ones; for when the way of pleasuring and displeasuring lieth by the
favorite,it is impossible any other should be over-great. Another means to curb
them, is, to balance them by others as proud as they; but then there must be
some middle counsellors, to keep things steady, for without that ballast, the ship
will roll too much. At the least, a prince may animate and inure some meaner
persons to be, as it were, scourges to ambitious men. As for the having of them
obnoxious to404 ruin, if they be of fearful natures, it may do well; but if they be
stout and daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. As for the
pulling of them down, if the affairs require it, and that it may not be done with
safety suddenly, the only way is, the interchange continually of favors and
disgraces, whereby they may not know what to expect, and be, as it were, in a
wood. Of ambitions, it is less harmful the ambition to prevail in great things, than
that other to appear in every thing; for that breeds confusion, and mars business;
but yet, it is less danger to have an ambitious man stirring in business, than great
in dependencies. He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able
men, hath a great task, but that is ever good for the public; but he that plots to be
the only figure amongst ciphers,is the decay of a whole age. Honor hath three
things in it: the vantage-ground to do good; the approach to kings and principal
persons; and the raising of a man's own fortunes. He that hath the best of these
intentions, when he aspireth, is an
honest man; and that prince that can discern of these intentions in another that
aspireth, is a wise prince. Generally, let princes and states choose such ministers
as are more sensible of duty than of rising, and such as love business rather upon
conscience than upon bravery; and let them discern a busy nature from a willing
mind.

8. OF STUDIES
STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight,
is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the
judgment and disposition of business; for expert men can execute, and perhaps
judge of particulars one by one; but the general counsels,and the plots and
marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are [Link] spend too much
time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament,is affectation; to
make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a [Link] perfect
nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural
plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions
too much at large, except they
be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire
them, and wise men use them;for they teach not their own use; but that is a
wisdom without them and above them, won by observation. Read not to
contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and
discourse, but to weigh and [Link] books are to be tasted, others to be
swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to
be read only in parts; others to be read, but
not curiously;509 and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and
attention. Some books also may be read by deputy,and extracts made of them by
others; but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner
sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled
waters,[Link] maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and
writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a
great memory; if he confer little,he had need have a present wit; and if he read
little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.
Histories make men wise;poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural
philosophy, deep; moral, grave;logic and rhetoric, able to contend: "“Abeunt studia
in mores;”511 nay,there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought
out by fit studies. Like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises,
bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle
walking for the stomach, riding for the head and the like; so, if a man's wit be
wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be
called away never so little, he must begin again; if his wit be not apt to distinguish
or find difference, let him study the schoolmen,for they are “Cymini sectores.”512
If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and
illustrate another,let him study the lawyers' cases; so every defect of the mind may
have a special receipt.