THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY2 The Lives and Opinions

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THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
ances whereon they principally rely, and whence they received their power;
their defects and weaknesses, whereat they chiefly lie open and are accessible;
their friends., factions, patrons, dependants, enemies, enviers, rivals; their
the minds
times and manners of access. , . . But the surest key for unlocking
of others turns upon searching and sifting either their tempers and natures,
or their ends and designs; and the more weak and simple are best judged
by their temper, but the more prudent and close by their designs.
. . . But
the shortest way to this whole inquiry rests upon three particulars; viz.
i. In procuring numerous friendships. ... 2. In observing a prudent mean
and moderation between freedom of discourse and silence. . . . But above
all, nothing conduces more to the well-representing of a man's self, and
securing his own right, than not to disarm one's self by too much sweetness
and good-nature, which exposes a man to injuries and reproaches; but
rather ... at times to dart out some sparks of a free and generous mind,
that have no less of the sting than the honey. 62
Friends are for Bacon chiefly a means to power; he shares with
Machiavelli a point of view which one is at first inclined to attribute to
the Renaissance, till one thinks of the fine and uncalculating friendships
of Michaelangelo and Cavalieri, Montaigne and La Boetie, Sir Philip Sidney
63
and Hubert Languet. Perhaps this very practical assessment of
friendship helps to explain Bacon's fall from power, as similar views
help to explain Napoleon's; for a man's friends will seldom practice a
higher philosophy in their relations with him than that which he
professes in his treatment of them. Bacon goes on to quote Bias,, one of
the Seven Wise Men of ancient Greece : "Love your friend as if he were
to become your enemy, and your enemy as if he were to become your
friend." 64 Do not betray even to your friend too much of your real
purposes and thoughts; in conversation^ ask questions oftener than you
express opinions; and when you speak, offer data and information rather
65
than beliefs and judgments. Manifest is pride a help to advancement;
66
and "ostentation is a fault in ethics rather than in
politics." Here again
one is reminded of Napoleon; Bacon> like the little Gorsican, was a simple
man enough within his walls, but outside them he affected a ceremony
and display which he thought indispensable to public repute.
So Bacon runs from field to field, pouring the seed of his thought
into every science. At the end of his survey he comes to the conclusion
that science by itself is not enough: there must be a force and discipline
outside the sciences to coordinate them and point them to a goal. "There
is another great and powerful cause why the sciences have made but
little progress, which is this. It is not possible to run a course aright when
the goal itself has not been rightly placed." 67 What science needs is philos-
**Ibid. y viii, 2.
w Cf. Edward Carpenter's delightful lolaus: an Anthology of Friendship.
"Adv. of L. 3 viii, 2, Assays "Of Dissimulation" and "Of Discourse."
*Adv. of ., viii, 2. "Adv. of L., 8f.