Twenty of Bacon's Essays, Ed. by F. Storr (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: towards them, is another extreme. The ripeness or unripeness of the occasion (as we said)9 must ever be well weighed; and generally, it is good to commit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus10 with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus" with his hundred hands ?first to watch and then to speed. For the helmet of Pluto, '2 which maketh the politic'3 man go invisible, is secrecy in the counsel, and celerity in the execution. For when things are once come to the execution,14 there is no secrecy comparable to celerity?like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as15 it outruns the eye. (22) XI. OF CUNNING. WE take cunning1 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,2 and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are good in canvasses3 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 humours, that are not greatly capable of the real part of business, which is the constitution of one that hath studied men more than books.4 Such men are fitter for practice than for counsel, and they are good but in their own alley:5 turn them to new men, and they have lost their aim;6 so as7 the old rule, to know a fool from a wise man: "Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis" doth scarce hold for them;9 because these cunning men are like haberdashers10 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, '2 as the Jesuits give it in precept ?for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent cou...