Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
time, been sad before the king.”
In things that are tender and unpleasing, it is good to break the ice
by some whose words are of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty
voice to come in as by chance, so that he may be asked the question
upon the other’s speech; as Narcissus did, in relating to Claudius the
marriage[268] of Messalina and Silius.
In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of
cunning to borrow the name of the world; as to say, “The world says,”
or “There is a speech abroad.”
I knew one, that when he wrote a letter, he would put that which was
most material in a postscript, as if it had been a by-matter.
I knew another, that when he came to have speech,[269] he would pass
over that that he intended most; and go forth and come back again, and
speak of it as a thing that he had almost forgot.
Some procure themselves to be surprised at such times as it is like
the party that they work upon will suddenly come upon them, and to be
found with a letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they are not
accustomed, to the end they may be apposed of[270] those things which
of themselves they are desirous to utter.
It is a point of cunning to let fall those words in a man’s own name,
which he would have another man learn and use, and thereupon take
advantage. I knew two that were competitors for the secretary’s place
in Queen Elizabeth’s time, and yet kept good quarter[271] between
themselves, and would confer one with another upon the business; and
the one of them said, that to be a secretary in the declination of a
monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it;[272]
the other straight caught up those words, and discoursed with divers
of his friends, that he had no reason to desire to be secretary in
the declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and
found means it was told the queen, who, hearing of a declination of a
monarchy, took it so ill, as she would never after hear of the other’s
suit.
There is a cunning, which we in England call “the turning of the cat in
the pan;” which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it
as if another had said it to him; and, to say truth, it is not easy,
when such a matter passed between two, to make it appear from which of
them it first moved and began.
It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by
justifying themselves by negatives; as to say, “This I do not;”
as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus: “Se non diversas spes, sed
incolumitatem imperatoris simpliciter spectare.”[273]
Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing
they would insinuate, but they can wrap it into a tale;[274] which
serveth both to keep themselves more in guard, and to make others carry
it with more pleasure.
It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would
have in his own words and propositions; for it makes the other party
stick the less.
It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat
they desire to say; and how far about they will fetch,[275] and how
many other matters they will beat over to come near it. It is a thing
of great patience, but yet of much use.
A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a
man, and lay him open. Like to him, that, having changed his name, and
walking in Paul’s,[276] another suddenly came behind him and called him
by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back.
But these small wares and petty points of cunning are infinite, and it
were a good deed to make a list of them; for that nothing doth more
hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
But certainly, some there are that know the resorts[277] and falls[278]
of business that cannot sink into the main of it;[279] like a house
that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair room.
Therefore you shall see them find out pretty looses[280] in the
conclusion, but are noways able to examine or debate matters; and yet
commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought
wits of direction. Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and
(as we now say) putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their
own proceedings; but Solomon saith: “Prudens advertit ad gressus suos;
stultus divertit ad dolos.”[281]
XXIII.—OF WISDOM FOR A MAN’S SELF.
An ant is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd[282] thing
in an orchard or garden; and certainly, men that are great lovers of
themselves waste the public. Divide with reason between self-love and
society; and be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others,
specially to thy king and country. It is a poor centre of a man’s
actions, himself. It is right earth; for that only stands fast upon
his own centre;[283] whereas all things that have affinity with the
heavens, move upon the centre of another, which they benefit. The
referring of all to a man’s self is more tolerable in a sovereign
prince, because themselves are not only themselves, but their good and
evil is at the peril of the public fortune; but it is a desperate evil
in a servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic; for whatsoever
affairs pass such a man’s hands, he crooketh them to his own ends,
which must needs be often eccentric to the ends of his master or state.
Therefore, let princes or states choose such servants as have not this
mark; except they mean their service should be made but the accessary.
That which maketh the effect more pernicious is, that all proportion
is lost. It were disproportion enough for the servant’s good to be
preferred before the master’s; but yet it is a greater extreme, when
a little good of the servant shall carry things against a great good
of the master. And yet that is the case of bad officers, treasurers,
ambassadors, generals, and other false and corrupt servants; which
set a bias upon their bowl, of their own petty ends and envies, to
the overthrow of their master’s great and important affairs; and, for
the most part, the good such servants receive is after the model of
their own fortune; but the hurt they sell for that good is after the
model of their master’s fortune. And certainly, it is the nature of
extreme self-lovers, as they will set a house on fire, an it were but
to roast their eggs; and yet these men many times hold credit with
their masters, because their study is but to please them, and profit
themselves; and for either respect they will abandon the good of their
affairs.
Wisdom for a man’s self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved
thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house
somewhat before it fall; it is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts
out the badger who digged and made room for him; it is the wisdom of
crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is
specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey)
are “sui amantes, sine rivali,”[284] are many times unfortunate; and
whereas they have all their times sacrificed to themselves, they become
in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose
wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned.
XXIV.—OF INNOVATIONS.
As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen, so are
all innovations, which are the births of time; yet, notwithstanding,
as those that first bring honor into their family are commonly more
worthy than most that succeed, so the first precedent (if it be good)
is seldom attained by imitation; for ill to man’s nature as it stands
perverted, hath a natural motion strongest in continuance, but good,
as a forced motion, strongest at first. Surely, every medicine[285]
is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies must expect
new evils, for time is the greatest innovator; and if time, of course,
alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter
them to the better, what shall be the end? It is true, that what is
settled by custom, though it be not good, yet, at least, it is fit;
and those things which have long gone together, are, as it were,
confederate within themselves;[286] whereas new things piece not so
well; but, though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their
inconformity; besides, they are like strangers, more admired and less
favored. All this is true, if time stood still, which, contrariwise,
moveth so round, that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent
a thing as an innovation; and they that reverence too much old times
are but a scorn to the new. It were good, therefore, that men in their
innovations would follow the example of time itself, which indeed
innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived;
for, otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlooked for, and ever it
mends some and pairs[287] other; and he that is holpen, takes it for
a fortune, and thanks the time; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and
imputeth it to the author. It is good, also, not to try experiments in
states, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident; and
well to beware that it be the reformation that draweth on the change,
and not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation; and
lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet be held for
a suspect,[288] and, as the Scripture saith, “That we make a stand
upon the ancient way, and then look about us, and discover what is the
straight and right way, and so to walk in it.”[289]
XXV.—OF DISPATCH.
Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business
that can be; it is like that which the physicians call predigestion,
or hasty digestion, which is sure to fill the body full of crudities,
and secret seeds of diseases. Therefore, measure not dispatch by the
times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business; and as in
races, it is not the large stride, or high lift, that makes the speed,
so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it
too much at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of some, only to
come off speedily for the time, or to contrive some false periods of
business, because they may seem men of dispatch; but it is one thing to
abbreviate by contracting,[290] another by cutting off; and business so
handled at several sittings, or meetings, goeth commonly backward and
forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man[291] that had it for
a byword, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, “Stay a little, that
we may make an end the sooner.”
On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing; for time is the
measure of business, as money is of wares; and business is bought at
a dear hand where there is small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards
have been noted to be of small dispatch: “Mi venga la muerte de
Spagna;” “Let my death come from Spain;” for then it will be sure to be
long in coming.
Give good hearing to those that give the first information in business,
and rather direct them in the beginning, than interrupt them in the
continuance of their speeches; for he that is put out of his own order
will go forward and backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon
his memory, than he could have been if he had gone on in his own
course; but sometimes it is seen that the moderator is more troublesome
than the actor.
Iterations are commonly loss of time; but there is no such gain of time
as to iterate often the state of the question; for it chaseth away many
a frivolous speech as it is coming forth. Long and curious speeches
are as fit for dispatch as a robe, or mantle, with a long train, is
for a race. Prefaces, and passages,[292] and excusations,[293] and
other speeches of reference to the person, are great wastes of time;
and though they seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery.[294]