# The Essays of Francis Bacon/XXVI Of Seeming Wise

XXVI. Of Seeming Wise.
It hath been an opinion, that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are. But howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is so between man and man. For as the Apostle saith of godliness, Having a shew of godliness, but denying the power thereof; so certainly there are in point of wisdom and sufficiency, that do nothing or little very solemnly: magno conatu nugas. It is a ridiculous thing and fit for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what prospectives to make superficies to seem body that hath depth and bulk. Some are so close and reserved, as they will not shew their wares but ​by a dark light; and seem always to keep back somewhat; and when they know within themselves they speak of that they do not well know, would nevertheless seem to others to know of that which they may not well speak. Some help themselves with countenance and gesture, and are wise by signs; as Cicero saith of Piso, that when he answered him, he fetched one of his brows up to his forehead, and bent the other down to his chin; Respondes, altero ad frontem sublato, altero ad mentum depresso supercilio, crudelitatem tibi non placere. Some think to bear it by speaking a great word, and being peremptory; and go on, and take by admittance that which they cannot make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond their reach, will seem to despise or make light of it as impertinent or curious; and so would have their ignorance seem judgment. Some are never without a difference, and commonly by amusing men with a subtilty, blanch the matter; of whom A. Gellius ​saith, Hominem delirum, qui verborum minutiis rerum frangit pondera. Of which kind also, Plato in his Protagoras bringeth in Prodicus in scorn, and maketh him make a speech that consisteth of distinctions from the beginning to the end. Generally, such men in all deliberations find ease to be of the negative side, and affect a credit to object and foretell difficulties; for when propositions are denied, there is an end of them; but if they be allowed, it requireth a new work; which false point of wisdom is the bane of business. To conclude, there is no decaying merchant, or inward beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth, as these empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming wise men may make shift to get opinion; but let no man choose them for employment; for certainly you were better take for business a man somewhat absurd than over-formal.
* ↑ "In the essay on Seeming Wise we can trace from the impatient notes put down in his Commentarius Solutus, the picture of the man who stood in his way, the Attorney-General Hobart." R. W. Church. Bacon, in English Men of Letters. Sir Henry Hobart, d. 1625, chief justice of the common pleas. He became attorney-general July 4, 1606, and barred Bacon's path to promotion for seven years. The Dictionary of National Biography says of Hobart: "He was a very modest and learned lawyer, and as a judge escaped the charge of subserviency to the crown."
* ↑ II. Timothy iii. 5.
* ↑ Play the fool with great effort. "Nae, ista hercle magno jam conatu magnas nugas dixerit." Terence. Heauton-timorumenos. IV. 1. A marginal note in the Commentarius Solutus, on "Hubbard's disadvantages" reads, "Solemn goose."
* ↑ Prospective. A perspective glass, a telescope. "What means my sister's eye so oft to passe Through the long entry of that Optic glasse? · · · · · And is this all? doth thy Prospective please Th' abusèd fancy with no shapes but these?" Francis Quarles. Emblemes. III. xiv. 1, 2, 13, 14.
* ↑ Superficies. The surface.
* ↑ "Gravity is a mysterious carriage of the body, invented to cover the defects of the mind." Maximes et Réflexions Morales du duc de La Rochefoucauld. 257. (Paris. 1828.)
* ↑ Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Consul with Gabinius, 58 B.C., the year of Cicero's exile, father-in-law of Julius Caesar. Cicero's bitterest invective speech was delivered in the senate, against Piso, 55 B.C.
* ↑ With one brow elevated to your forehead, and the other depressed to your chin, you respond that cruelty is not pleasing to you. M. Tullii Ciceronis in L. Calpurnium Pisonem Oratio. vi. 14.
* ↑ Bear. Carry on, deal with. "Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Bear 't that th' opposèd may beware of thee." Shakspere. Hamlet. i. 3.
* ↑ Impertinent, Latin sense, not pertaining to, irrelevant.
* ↑ Curious. Over-nice, exacting.
* ↑ Difference. A subtile distinction.
* ↑ Blanch. Evade, pass over.
* ↑ Aulus Gellius, born about 130 A.D., Roman grammarian; he wrote Nodes Atticae, in twenty books, first printed in 1469.
* ↑ A foolish man who fritters away weighty matters with niceties of words. Bacon is not quoting Aulus Gellius here, but Quintilian, who says of Seneca: si rerum pondera minutissimis sententiis non fregisset, consensu potius eruditorum quam puerorum amore comprobaretur. If he had not broken the weight of things with the most minute sentences, he would have won the unanimous approval of the learned, rather than the admiration of boys. M. Fabii Quintiliani de Institutione Oratoria Liber X. i. 130.
* ↑ Plato, 429 or 427–347 B.C. His name was originally Aristocles, but he was surnamed Plato (Πλάτων) from his broad shoulders. A famous Greek philosopher, a disciple of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. Plato expounded his philosophy in a series of dialogues, of which the Protagoras is one. There is still no greater exposition of idealism than is contained in Plato's 'Dialogues.'
* ↑ Inward beggar. One who is really bankrupt, though keeping up the appearance of solvency.