The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
honorable kind of following, is to be followed as one, that apprehendeth
to advance virtue, and desert, in all sorts of persons. And yet, where
there is no eminent odds in sufficiency, it is better to take with the
more passable, than with the more able. And besides, to speak truth, in
base times, active men are of more use than virtuous. It is true that
in government, it is good to use men of one rank equally: for to
countenance some extraordinarily, is to make them insolent, and the rest
discontent; because they may claim a due. But contrariwise, in favor,
to use men with much difference and election is good; for it maketh the
persons preferred more thankful, and the rest more officious: because
all is of favor. It is good discretion, not to make too much of any
man at the first; because one cannot hold out that proportion. To be
governed (as we call it) by one is not safe; for it shows softness, and
gives a freedom, to scandal and disreputation; for those, that would
not censure or speak ill of a man immediately, will talk more boldly of
those that are so great with them, and thereby wound their honor. Yet
to be distracted with many is worse; for it makes men to be of the last
impression, and full of change. To take advice of some few friends, is
ever honorable; for lookers-on many times see more than gamesters; and
the vale best discovereth the hill. There is little friendship in the
world, and least of all between equals, which was wont to be magnified.
That that is, is between superior and inferior, whose fortunes may
comprehend the one the other.
Of Suitors
MANY ill matters and projects are undertaken; and private suits do
putrefy the public good. Many good matters, are undertaken with bad
minds; I mean not only corrupt minds, but crafty minds, that intend not
performance. Some embrace suits, which never mean to deal effectually
in them; but if they see there may be life in the matter, by some other
mean, they will be content to win a thank, or take a second reward, or
at least to make use, in the meantime, of the suitor's hopes. Some take
hold of suits, only for an occasion to cross some other; or to make an
information, whereof they could not otherwise have apt pretext; without
care what become of the suit, when that turn is served; or, generally,
to make other men's business a kind of entertainment, to bring in their
own. Nay, some undertake suits, with a full purpose to let them fall; to
the end to gratify the adverse party, or competitor. Surely there is in
some sort a right in every suit; either a right of equity, if it be a
suit of controversy; or a right of desert, if it be a suit of petition.
If affection lead a man to favor the wrong side in justice, let him
rather use his countenance to compound the matter, than to carry it. If
affection lead a man to favor the less worthy in desert, let him do it,
without depraving or disabling the better deserver. In suits which a
man doth not well understand, it is good to refer them to some friend
of trust and judgment, that may report, whether he may deal in them with
honor: but let him choose well his referendaries, for else he may be led
by the nose. Suitors are so distasted with delays and abuses, that plain
dealing, in denying to deal in suits at first, and reporting the success
barely, and in challenging no more thanks than one hath deserved, is
grown not only honorable, but also gracious. In suits of favor, the
first coming ought to take little place: so far forth, consideration
may be had of his trust, that if intelligence of the matter could not
otherwise have been had, but by him, advantage be not taken of the note,
but the party left to his other means; and in some sort recompensed, for
his discovery. To be ignorant of the value of a suit, is simplicity;
as well as to be ignorant of the right thereof, is want of conscience.
Secrecy in suits, is a great mean of obtaining; for voicing them to be
in forwardness, may discourage some kind of suitors, but doth quicken
and awake others. But timing of the suit is the principal. Timing, I
say, not only in respect of the person that should grant it, but in
respect of those, which are like to cross it. Let a man, in the choice
of his mean, rather choose the fittest mean, than the greatest mean; and
rather them that deal in certain things, than those that are general.
The reparation of a denial, is sometimes equal to the first grant; if
a man show himself neither dejected nor discontented. Iniquum petas ut
aequum feras is a good rule, where a man hath strength of favor: but
otherwise, a man were better rise in his suit; for he, that would have
ventured at first to have lost the suitor, will not in the conclusion
lose both the suitor, and his own former favor. Nothing is thought so
easy a request to a great person, as his letter; and yet, if it be not
in a good cause, it is so much out of his reputation. There are no worse
instruments, than these general contrivers of suits; for they are but a
kind of poison, and infection, to public proceedings.
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 learned. To 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 scholar. They
perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities
are like natural plants, that need proyning, 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 consider. Some 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; 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, flashy things. Reading 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. Nay,
there is no stond 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 differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are cymini
sectores. 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.
Of Faction
MANY have an opinion not wise, that for a prince to govern his estate,
or for a great person to govern his proceedings, according to
the respect of factions, is a principal part of policy; whereas
contrariwise, the chiefest wisdom, is either in ordering those things
which are general, and wherein men of several factions do nevertheless
agree; or in dealing with correspondence to particular persons, one
by one. But I say not that the considerations of factions, is to be
neglected. Mean men, in their rising, must adhere; but great men,
that have strength in themselves, were better to maintain themselves
indifferent, and neutral. Yet even in beginners, to adhere so
moderately, as he be a man of the one faction, which is most passable
with the other, commonly giveth best way. The lower and weaker faction,
is the firmer in conjunction; and it is often seen, that a few that are
stiff, do tire out a greater number, that are more moderate. When one of
the factions is extinguished, the remaining subdivideth; as the faction
between Lucullus, and the rest of the nobles of the senate (which they
called Optimates) held out awhile, against the faction of Pompey and
Caesar; but when the senate's authority was pulled down, Caesar and
Pompey soon after brake. The faction or party of Antonius and Octavianus
Caesar, against Brutus and Cassius, held out likewise for a time; but
when Brutus and Cassius were overthrown, then soon after, Antonius and
Octavianus brake and subdivided. These examples are of wars, but the
same holdeth in private factions. And therefore, those that are
seconds in factions, do many times, when the faction subdivideth, prove
principals; but many times also, they prove ciphers and cashiered;
for many a man's strength is in opposition; and when that faileth, he
groweth out of use. It is commonly seen, that men, once placed, take in
with the contrary faction, to that by which they enter: thinking belike,
that they have the first sure, and now are ready for a new purchase. The
traitor in faction, lightly goeth away with it; for when matters have
stuck long in balancing, the winning of some one man casteth them,
and he getteth all the thanks. The even carriage between two factions,
proceedeth not always of moderation, but of a trueness to a man's self,
with end to make use of both. Certainly in Italy, they hold it a little
suspect in popes, when they have often in their mouth Padre commune: and
take it to be a sign of one, that meaneth to refer all to the greatness
of his own house. Kings had need beware, how they side themselves, and
make themselves as of a faction or party; for leagues within the
state, are ever pernicious to monarchies: for they raise an obligation,
paramount to obligation of sovereignty, and make the king tanquam unus
ex nobis; as was to be seen in the League of France. When factions are
carried too high and too violently, it is a sign of weakness in princes;
and much to the prejudice, both of their authority and business. The
motions of factions under kings ought to be, like the motions (as the
astronomers speak) of the inferior orbs, which may have their proper
motions, but yet still are quietly carried, by the higher motion of
primum mobile.
Of Ceremonies, And Respects
HE THAT is only real, had need have exceeding great parts of virtue; as
the stone had need to be rich, that is set without foil. But if a man
mark it well, it is, in praise and commendation of men, as it is in
gettings and gains: for the proverb is true, That light gains make heavy
purses; for light gains come thick, whereas great, come but now and
then. So it is true, that small matters win great commendation, because
they are continually in use and in note: whereas the occasion of any
great virtue, cometh but on festivals. Therefore it doth much add to a
man's reputation, and is (as Queen Isabella said) like perpetual letters