Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

TACTICS TO COUNTER ENVY 197
Public envy manifested in the public interest is a form of which no one
need be ashamed, and by contrast with private or secret envy, as Bacon
quite rightly recognized, there is something to be said in its favour.
For public envy is as an ostracism [presumably the source of Bacon's
insight], that eclipseth men when they grow too great. And therefore it [the
fear of envy] is a bridle also to great ones, to keep them within bounds.
This envy, being in the Latin word invidia, goeth in the modern languages
by the name of discontentment; of which we shall speak in handling
sedition.
Bacon is probably wrong in believing that invidia, literally 'a hostile
look,' is concerned only with envy expressed in public opinion and not
with the private person's spiteful envy. At any rate the current words in
Spanish that derive from invidia all have the meaning of private envy.
And by equating public envy with discontentment, Bacon circumscribes
it. As is observable in a modern democracy, this form of envy, which
keeps a check on politicians who have grown over-powerful, is also
manifested in times of prosperity and by people who are far from having
any cause for complaint.
Bacon devotes most space, however, to private or personal envy,
which is a constituent of the 'public' form of envy and which probably
plays a greater role in all societies. First he presents us with a typology of
the envied and the envying man. The man devoid of virtue, who lacks all
hope of ever attaining virtue, enviously causes the downfall of his more
worthy fellows. 6
His next observation is more interesting sociologically: 'Men of noble
birth are noted to be envious towards new men when they rise. For the
distance is altered, and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come
on they think themselves go back. ,7
Here Bacon is describing what might be called the envy of kings,
which operates from the top downwards. One might call it the envy of
aloofness, and it is a form that will be encountered repeatedly. This,
perhaps, is absolute envy, because the man at the top truly has nothing to
lose should others, through their own attainments, begin emulating his
luxury and his wealth.
6 Op. cit., p. 56.
7 Op. cit., p. 57.