Francis Bacon - The Essays 1601
OF CUNNING
We take cunning for
a sinister or crooked wisdom.
And certainly there is a great difference,
between a cunning man,
and a wise man;
not only in point of honesty,
but in point of ability. There be,
that can pack the cards,
and yet cannot play well;
so there are some
that are good in canvasses and factions,
that are otherwise weak men. Again,
it is one thing to understand persons,
and another thing to understand matters;
for many are perfect in men's humors,
that are not greatly
capable of the real part of business;
which is the constitution
of one that hath studied men, more than books.
Such men are fitter for practice, than for counsel;
and they are good,
but in their own alley:
turn them to new men,
and they have lost their aim;
so as the old rule,
to know a fool
from a wise man,
Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis,
doth scarce hold for them.
And because these cunning men,
are like haberdashers of small wares,
it is not amiss
to set forth their shop.
It is a point of cunning,
to wait upon him
with whom you speak, with your eye;
as the Jesuits give it in precept:
for there be many wise men,
that have secret hearts, and transparent countenances.
Yet this would be
done with a demure
abasing of your eye, sometimes,
as the Jesuits also do use. Another is,
that when you have anything to obtain, of present despatch,
you entertain and amuse the party,
with whom you deal,
with some other discourse;
that he be not
too much awake to make objections.
I knew a counsellor and secretary,
that never came to
Queen Elizabeth of England,
with bills to sign,
but he would always
first put her into
some discourse of estate,
that she mought the
less mind the bills.
The like surprise may
be made by moving things,
when the party is in haste,
and cannot stay to
consider advisedly of that is moved.
If a man would cross a business,
that he doubts some
other would handsomely and effectually move,
let him pretend to wish it well,
and move it himself
in such sort as may foil it. The breaking off,
in the midst of
that one was about to say,
as if he took himself up,
breeds a greater appetite
in him with whom you confer, to know more.
And because it works better,
when anything seemeth to
be gotten from you by question,
than if you offer it of yourself,
you may lay a
bait for a question,
by showing another visage, and countenance,
than you are wont;
to the end to give occasion,
for the party to ask,
what the matter is of the change? As Nehemias did;
And I had not before that 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,
relating to Claudius the
marriage 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 the postscript,
as if it had been a by-matter.
I knew another that,
when he came to have speech,
he would pass over that,
that he intended most; and go forth,
and come back again,
and speak of it
as of 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 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 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:
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 can,
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.
Some have in readiness
so many tales and stories,
as there is nothing they would insinuate,
but they can wrap
it into a tale;
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;
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,
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 and fans of business,
that cannot sink into
the main of it;
like a house that
hath convenient stairs and entries,
but never a fair room.
Therefore you shall see
them find out pretty
looses in the conclusion,
but are no ways
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.
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