UNIT – I PROSE BACON’S OF FRIENDSHIP
UNIT – I PROSE
BACON’S OF FRIENDSHIP
OF
FRIENDSHIP
It
had been hard for him that spake it to have put more truth and untruth
together
in few words, than in that speech. Whatsoever is delighted in
solitude,
is either a wild beast or a god. For it is most true, that a natural
and
secret hatred, and aversation towards society, in any man, hath
somewhat
of the savage beast; but it is most untrue, that it should have
any
character at all, of the divine nature; except it proceed, not out of a
pleasure
in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a man’s
self,
for a higher conversation: such as is found to have been falsely and
feignedly
in some of the heathen; as Epimenides the Candian, Numa the
Roman,
Empedocles the Sicilian, and Apollonius of Tyana; and truly and
really,
in divers of the ancient hermits and holy fathers of the church. But
little
do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a
crowd
is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk
but
a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. The Latin adage meeteth
with
it a little: Magna civitas, magna solitudo; because in a great town
friends
are scattered; so that there is not that fellowship, for the most
part,
which is in less neighborhoods. But we may go further, and affirm
most
truly, that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends;
without
which the world is but a wilderness; and even in this sense also
of
solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections, is unfit
for
friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity.
A
principal fruit of friendship, is the ease and discharge of the fulness
and
swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and
induce.
We know diseases of stoppings, and suffocations, are the most
dangerous
in the body; and it is not much otherwise in the mind; you
may
take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flowers of
sulphur
for the lungs, castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the
heart,
but a true friend; to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears,
hopes,
suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to
oppress
it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.
It
is a strange thing to observe, how high a rate great kings and
monarchs
do set upon this fruit of friendship, whereof we speak: so
great,
as they purchase it, many times, at the hazard of their own safety
and
greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune from
that
of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to
make
themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be, as it
were,
companions and almost equals to themselves, which many times
sorteth
to inconvenience. The modern languages give unto such persons
the
name of favorites, or privadoes; as if it were matter of grace, or
conversation.
But the Roman name attaineth the true use and cause
thereof,
naming them participes curarum; for it is that which tieth the
knot.
And we see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and
passionate
princes only, but by the wisest and most politic that ever
reigned;
who have oftentimes joined to themselves some of their
servants;
whom both themselves have called friends, and allowed other
likewise
to call them in the same manner; using the word which is
received
between private men.
L.
Sylla, when he commanded Rome, raised Pompey (after surnamed the
Great)
to that height, that Pompey vaunted himself for Sylla’s overmatch.
For
when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his, against the
pursuit
of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat, and began to
speak
great, Pompey turned upon him again, and in effect bade him be
quiet;
for that more men adored the sun rising, than the sun setting. With
Julius
Caesar, Decimus Brutus had obtained that interest, as he set him
down,
in his testament, for heir in remainder, after his nephew. And this
was
the man that had power with him, to draw him forth to his death. For
when
Caesar would have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill
presages,
and specially a dream of Calpurnia; this man lifted him gently
by
the arm out of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not dismiss
the
senate, till his wife had dreamt a better dream. And it seemeth his
favor
was so great, as Antonius, in a letter which is recited verbatim in
one
of Cicero’s Philippics, calleth him venefica, witch; as if he had
enchanted
Caesar. Augustus raised Agrippa (though of mean birth) to
that
height, as when he consulted with Maecenas, about the marriage of
his
daughter Julia, Maecenas took the liberty to tell him, that he must
either
marry his daughter to Agrippa, or take away his life; there was no
third
war, he had made him so great. With Tiberius Caesar, Sejanus had
ascended
to that height, as they two were termed, and reckoned, as a
pair
of friends. Tiberius in a letter to him saith, Haec pro amicitia nostra
non
occultavi; and the whole senate dedicated an altar to Friendship, as
to
a goddess, in respect of the great dearness of friendship, between
them
two. The like, or more, was between Septimius Severus and
Plautianus.
For he forced his eldest son to marry the daughter of
Plautianus;
and would often maintain Plautianus, in doing affronts to his
son;
and did write also in a letter to the senate, by these words: I love the
man
so well, as I wish he may over–live me. Now if these princes had
been
as a Trajan, or a Marcus Aurelius, a man might have thought that
this
had proceeded of an abundant goodness of nature; but being men so
wise,
of such strength and severity of mind, and so extreme lovers of
themselves,
as all these were, it proveth most plainly that they found
their
own felicity (though as great as ever happened to mortal men) but
as
an half piece, except they mought have a friend, to make it entire; and
yet,
which is more, they were princes that had wives, sons, nephews; and
yet
all these could not supply the comfort of friendship.
It
is not to be forgotten, what Comineus observeth of his first master,
Duke
Charles the Hardy, namely, that he would communicate his secrets
with
none; and least of all, those secrets which troubled him most.
Whereupon
he goeth on, and saith that towards his latter time, that
closeness
did impair, and a little perish his understanding. Surely
Comineus
mought have made the same judgment also, if it had pleased
him,
of his second master, Lewis the Eleventh, whose closeness was
indeed
his tormentor. The parable of Pythagoras is dark, but true; Cor ne
edito;
Eat not the heart. Certainly if a man would give it a hard phrase,
those
that want friends, to open themselves unto are cannibals of their
own
hearts. But one thing is most admirable (wherewith I will conclude
this
first fruit of friendship), which is, that this communicating of a man’s
self
to his friend, works two contrary effects; for it redoubleth joys, and
cutteth
griefs in halves. For there is no man, that imparteth his joys to his
friend,
but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his griefs to
his
friend, but he grieveth the less. So that it is in truth, of operation
upon
a man’s mind, of like virtue as the alchemists use to attribute to
their
stone, for man’s body; that it worketh all contrary effects, but still to
the
good and benefit of nature. But yet without praying in aid of
alchemists,
there is a manifest image of this, in the ordinary course of
nature.
For in bodies, union strengtheneth and cherisheth any natural
action;
and on the other side, weakeneth and dulleth any violent
impression:
and even so it is of minds.
The
second fruit of friendship, is healthful and sovereign for the
understanding,
as the first is for the affections. For friendship maketh
indeed
a fair day in the affections, from storm and tempests; but it
maketh
daylight in the understanding, out of darkness, and confusion of
thoughts.
Neither is this to be understood only of faithful counsel, which
a
man receiveth from his friend; but before you come to that, certain it is,
that
whosoever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and
understanding
do clarify and break up, in the communicating and
discoursing
with another; he tosseth his thoughts more easily; he
marshalleth
them more orderly, he seeth how they look when they are
turned
into words: finally, he waxeth wiser than himself; and that more
by
an hour’s discourse, than by a day’s meditation. It was well said by
Themistocles,
to the king of Persia, That speech was like cloth of Arras,
opened
and put abroad; whereby the imagery doth appear in figure;
whereas
in thoughts they lie but as in packs. Neither is this second fruit
of
friendship, in opening the understanding, restrained only to such
friends
as are able to give a man counsel; (they indeed are best;) but even
without
that, a man learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to
light,
and whetteth his wits as against a stone, which itself cuts not. In a
word,
a man were better relate himself to a statua, or picture, than to
suffer
his thoughts to pass in smother.
Add
now, to make this second fruit of friendship complete, that other
point,
which lieth more open, and falleth within vulgar observation; which
is
faithful counsel from a friend. Heraclitus saith well in one of his
enigmas,
Dry light is ever the best. And certain it is, that the light that a
man
receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer, than that
which
cometh from his own understanding and judgment; which is ever
infused,
and drenched, in his affections and customs. So as there is as
much
difference between the counsel, that a friend giveth, and that a
man
giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend, and of a
flatterer.
For there is no such flatterer as is a man’s self; and there is no
such
remedy against flattery of a man’s self, as the liberty of a friend.
Counsel
is of two sorts: the one concerning manners, the other
concerning
business. For the first, the best preservative to keep the mind
in
health, is the faithful admonition of a friend. The calling of a man’s self
to
a strict account, is a medicine, sometime too piercing and corrosive.
Reading
good books of morality, is a little flat and dead. Observing our
faults
in others, is sometimes improper for our case. But the best receipt
(best,
I say, to work, and best to take) is the admonition of a friend. It is a
strange
thing to behold, what gross errors and extreme absurdities many
(especially
of the greater sort) do commit, for want of a friend to tell
them
of them; to the great damage both of their fame and fortune: for, as
St.
James saith, they are as men that look sometimes into a glass, and
presently
forget their own shape and favor. As for business, a man may
think,
if he will, that two eyes see no more than one; or that a gamester
seeth
always more than a looker–on; or that a man in anger, is as wise as
he
that hath said over the four and twenty letters; or that a musket may
be
shot off as well upon the arm, as upon a rest; and such other fond and
high
imaginations, to think himself all in all. But when all is done, the
help
of good counsel is that which setteth business straight. And if any
man
think that he will take counsel, but it shall be by pieces; asking
counsel
in one business, of one man, and in another business, of another
man;
it is well (that is to say, better, perhaps, than if he asked none at
all);
but he runneth two dangers: one, that he shall not be faithfully
counselled;
for it is a rare thing, except it be from a perfect and entire
friend,
to have counsel given, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to
some
ends, which he hath, that giveth it. The other, that he shall have
counsel
given, hurtful and unsafe (though with good meaning), and
mixed
partly of mischief and partly of remedy; even as if you would call a
physician,
that is thought good for the cure of the disease you complain
of,
but is unacquainted with your body; and therefore may put you in way
for
a present cure, but overthroweth your health in some other kind; and
so
cure the disease, and kill the patient. But a friend that is wholly
acquainted
with a man’s estate, will beware, by furthering any present
business,
how he dasheth upon other inconvenience. And therefore rest
not
upon scattered counsels; they will rather distract and mislead, than
settle
and direct.
After
these two noble fruits of friendship (peace in the affections, and
support
of the judgment), followeth the last fruit; which is like the
pomegranate,
full of many kernels; I mean aid, and bearing a part, in all
actions
and occasions. Here the best way to represent to life the manifold
use
of friendship, is to cast and see how many things there are, which a
man
cannot do himself; and then it will appear, that it was a sparing
speech
of the ancients, to say, that a friend is another himself; for that a
friend
is far more than himself. Men have their time, and die many times,
in
desire of some things which they principally take to heart; the
bestowing
of a child, the finishing of a work, or the like. If a man have a
true
friend, he may rest almost secure that the care of those things will
continue
after him. So that a man hath, as it were, two lives in his desires.
A
man hath a body, and that body is confined to a place; but where
friendship
is, all offices of life are as it were granted to him, and his
deputy.
For he may exercise them by his friend. How many things are
there
which a man cannot, with any face or comeliness, say or do
himself?
A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less
extol
them; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or beg; and a
number
of the like. But all these things are graceful, in a friend’s mouth,
which
are blushing in a man’s own. So again, a man’s person hath many
proper
relations, which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his son
but
as a father; to his wife but as a husband; to his enemy but upon
terms:
whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it
sorteth
with the person. But to enumerate these things were endless; I
have
given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have
not
a friend, he may quit the stage.
*********
Francis Bacon – "Of Friendship"
📝 Detailed Summary
🔹 Opening Reflection on Solitude
vs. Friendship
- Bacon
begins with a quote often attributed to Aristotle: “Whosoever is
delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.”
- He
argues that isolation, unless for a higher spiritual purpose (as seen in
Christian hermits), reflects a beastly nature rather than divinity.
- He
critiques both the desire for complete solitude and the loss of genuine
connection in crowded cities: “A crowd is not company; and faces are
but a gallery of pictures.”
- Bacon
concludes: true friendship is essential—without it, life is like a wilderness.
🔹 First Fruit of Friendship:
Emotional Relief
- Friendship
offers a release for emotional burdens—“the swellings of the heart.”
- Just as
medicines help clear physical blockages, only a true friend can “open
the heart.”
- Talking
to a friend becomes a form of confession, reducing both sorrow and
anxiety.
🔹 Historical Examples of
Friendship Among Rulers
- Kings
and monarchs value friendship so deeply that they often elevate others to
near-equal status (favorites or “privadoes”).
- Bacon
cites:
- Sylla
and Pompey
- Caesar
and Decimus Brutus
- Augustus
and Agrippa
- Tiberius
and Sejanus
- Septimius
Severus and Plautianus
- These
rulers, despite having families, found greater comfort in trusted
friendships.
🔹 Consequences of Withholding
Friendship
- Bacon
refers to Comines, who said Duke Charles the Hardy never shared his
secrets—and this eventually impaired his judgment.
- Lack of
friendship leads people to “eat their own hearts,” a metaphor for emotional
self-destruction.
- Confiding
in a friend “redoubleth joys and cutteth griefs in halves.”
🔹 Second Fruit: Clarity of Thought
- Speaking
with a friend helps organize and clarify one’s thoughts.
- Even
without advice, articulating thoughts aloud to a friend makes one
“wiser than himself.”
- This is
compared to opening a tapestry (Arras cloth): thought patterns become
clearer when expressed.
- Friends
also offer faithful and corrective counsel, better than books or
self-reflection.
🔹 Third Fruit: Practical Help and
Representation
- Friends
offer practical assistance: doing tasks one cannot do alone, even
after death.
- A true
friend is like a second self—they can help, defend, represent, and
continue one's desires.
- Friends
speak and act freely on one’s behalf, where self-praise or requests
would be awkward.
- Bacon
concludes: if a man lacks a friend to support him when needed, he might as
well “quit the stage.”
*****
1. According to Bacon, who delights in solitude is either:
A) A fool or a philosopher
B) A king or a beggar
C) A wild beast or a god ✅
D) A poet or a priest
➡️ Opening quote reflecting extremes of isolation.
2. What does Bacon say about hatred towards society?
A) It shows wisdom
B) It is divine
C) It is somewhat beast-like ✅
D) It is fashionable
➡️ He links misanthropy with savageness.
3. True solitude, according to Bacon, is:
A) Being in prison
B) Being among people but without love ✅
C) Living in the forest
D) Being forgotten
➡️ “Faces are but a gallery of pictures…”
4. The phrase “A crowd is not company” implies:
A) Cities are better than villages
B) Physical presence doesn’t equal emotional connection ✅
C) Silence is better than noise
D) Crowds are always dangerous
➡️ True companionship requires love, not mere
presence.
5. The Latin adage “Magna civitas, magna solitudo” means:
A) Great city, great noise
B) Large population, greater joy
C) A large city is a great solitude ✅
D) The city belongs to many
➡️ Implying urban life lacks closeness.
6. Without friendship, the world becomes a:
A) Battlefield
B) School
C) Wilderness ✅
D) Courtroom
➡️ Bacon equates life without friends to barren
wilderness.
7. The “first fruit of friendship” is:
A) Shared wealth
B) Joy in conversation
C) Ease of the heart’s burdens ✅
D) Traveling together
➡️ Friends help release emotional stress.
8. What analogy does Bacon use for emotional suppression?
A) A locked door
B) A dammed river
C) Suffocation and disease ✅
D) Rusting metal
➡️ He compares it to the most dangerous diseases.
9. What “receipt” opens the heart, according to Bacon?
A) Meditation
B) Books
C) A true friend ✅
D) Prayer
➡️ Only a friend can unlock deep feelings.
10. Bacon calls confession to a friend a:
A) Civil shrift ✅
B) Common mistake
C) Waste of time
D) Secret sin
➡️ Confiding in a friend is a therapeutic act.
11. Kings value friendship so much that they:
A) Deny it to others
B) Choose enemies over friends
C) Risk safety and greatness for it ✅
D) Marry their favorites
➡️ Monarchs elevate favorites to enjoy this fruit
of friendship.
12. What term does Bacon prefer over “favorites” or “privadoes”?
A) Allies
B) Shadow kings
C) Participes curarum ✅
D) Gentle companions
➡️ Latin for “sharers of care”—true essence of
friendship.
13. Pompey was raised to great power by:
A) Julius Caesar
B) Augustus
C) Sylla ✅
D) Tiberius
➡️ Pompey became so strong he rivaled Sylla
himself.
14. Who pulled Caesar from his seat before his death?
A) Cassius
B) Marcus Brutus
C) Decimus Brutus ✅
D) Cicero
➡️ Bacon narrates this as a betrayal cloaked in
intimacy.
15. Calpurnia’s dream was ignored because of:
A) A general’s command
B) Caesar’s bravery
C) Decimus Brutus’s persuasion ✅
D) The Senate’s urgency
➡️ Decimus dismissed it and encouraged Caesar to
go.
16. Who was referred to as “venefica” by Antony?
A) Cleopatra
B) Sejanus
C) Decimus Brutus ✅
D) Pompey
➡️ Antony called him a witch who enchanted Caesar.
17. Augustus raised which man, though of low birth?
A) Tiberius
B) Pompey
C) Agrippa ✅
D) Cicero
➡️ So high that Maecenas saw him as nearly
untouchable.
18. What did Maecenas say about Julia’s marriage to Agrippa?
A) It would bring shame
B) It would save the empire
C) Marry him or kill him ✅
D) It should be delayed
➡️ Reflecting Agrippa’s extraordinary rise.
19. Tiberius and Sejanus were said to be:
A) Brothers-in-law
B) Co-rulers
C) A pair of friends ✅
D) Lifelong enemies
➡️ Senate even built an altar to their friendship.
20. Which Roman emperor forced his son to marry his friend’s daughter?
A) Trajan
B) Augustus
C) Severus ✅
D) Nero
➡️ Severus and Plautianus shared an intense
friendship.
21. Bacon claims even the greatest emperors felt their happiness was:
A) Too short
B) Empty without friends ✅
C) Dependent on riches
D) Worthless without children
➡️ They considered friendship necessary to
completeness.
22. Who refused to share secrets, leading to poor judgment?
A) Brutus
B) Caesar
C) Charles the Hardy ✅
D) Henry VII
➡️ Cited by Comines as becoming mentally
unbalanced.
23. What was Comines’s criticism of Louis XI?
A) Too proud
B) Too lenient
C) Suffered from his own closeness ✅
D) Ignored his people
➡️ Withholding friendship harmed his mental peace.
24. What does the Pythagorean parable “Cor ne edito” mean?
A) Love without limits
B) Eat not the heart ✅
C) Trust no friend
D) See the light within
➡️ Those without friends are like cannibals of
their own hearts.
25. According to Bacon, sharing joys and griefs with friends:
A) Makes one dependent
B) Multiplies pain
C) Doubles joy and halves sorrow ✅
D) Causes jealousy
➡️ This is the paradoxical benefit of friendship.
26. The metaphor Bacon uses for friendship’s healing effect on the heart
is:
A) A surgeon’s blade
B) A civil shrift or confession ✅
C) A sword and shield
D) A philosopher’s stone
➡️ Confiding in a friend is compared to a
confession that lightens the heart.
27. According to Bacon, kings raise friends to near-equal status in
order to:
A) Protect their secrets
B) Appear generous
C) Gain emotional companionship ✅
D) Build political alliances
➡️ This allows monarchs to experience the
emotional fruits of friendship.
28. The “modern languages” term for royal friends is:
A) Comrade
B) Privadoes ✅
C) Knights
D) Sycophants
➡️ Favorites or close companions were called
privadoes.
29. The Roman term “participes curarum” means:
A) Co-rulers
B) Shared fortunes
C) Sharers in care ✅
D) Divided labor
➡️ This emphasizes shared emotional and political
burdens.
30. Decimus Brutus persuaded Caesar to:
A) Attack the Senate
B) Ignore omens and attend the Senate ✅
C) Disband his army
D) Forgive Brutus
➡️ He gently lifted Caesar from his chair,
overriding Calpurnia’s warning.
31. Antony referred to Decimus Brutus as:
A) A loyal friend
B) A conspirator
C) A venefica (witch) ✅
D) A scholar
➡️ He was accused of enchanting Caesar’s judgment.
32. What advice did Maecenas give Augustus regarding Agrippa?
A) Disown him
B) Send him away
C) Marry Julia to him or execute him ✅
D) Replace him with Sejanus
➡️ This shows Agrippa’s extraordinary power in
Augustus’s court.
33. What did Tiberius say in a letter to Sejanus?
A) “You are my brother”
B) “This is not hidden from our friendship” ✅
C) “Rule with me”
D) “Protect Rome at all costs”
➡️ “Haec pro amicitia nostra non occultavi” —
expressing deep trust.
34. The Senate’s dedication of an altar to Friendship was due to:
A) A military victory
B) The love between Tiberius and Sejanus ✅
C) A treaty
D) A royal wedding
➡️ It honored their exceptional closeness.
35. According to Bacon, why did wise emperors value friends?
A) For entertainment
B) To keep spies
C) To complete their happiness ✅
D) For political maneuvering only
➡️ Even with great power, friendship made life
whole.
36. Bacon says men without friends “eat their own hearts,” which means:
A) They commit treason
B) They turn to evil
C) They consume their own griefs in isolation ✅
D) They grow physically weak
➡️ A vivid metaphor for inward suffering.
37. What does Bacon compare this effect of friendship to in nature?
A) The sun and the moon
B) The philosopher’s stone ✅
C) A blooming tree
D) A lion’s strength
➡️ Friendship works like the alchemists’
stone—opposites harmonized for good.
38. The comparison to the philosopher’s stone implies:
A) Friendship is magical
B) Friendship balances all emotional extremes ✅
C) Friendship is rare
D) Friendship is hard to find
➡️ It intensifies joy and diminishes sorrow.
39. The phrase “union strengtheneth and cherisheth any natural action”
refers to:
A) Political unity
B) Friendship supporting positive mental states ✅
C) Military alliances
D) Romantic marriage
➡️ Union of minds, like bodies, enhances good and
weakens bad.
40. The second fruit of friendship is:
A) Social gain
B) Improved finances
C) Clarity of thought and understanding ✅
D) Political elevation
➡️ Friendship clears and organizes thought through
discussion.
41. According to Bacon, conversation with a friend:
A) Makes one forget duties
B) Distorts judgment
C) Makes one wiser than himself ✅
D) Causes dependency
➡️ Thoughts become clearer when spoken to a
friend.
42. What metaphor does Bacon use to describe thinking vs. speaking?
A) Fire and ash
B) Dream and wakefulness
C) Arras cloth opened and folded ✅
D) Water and wine
➡️ Thoughts hidden in “packs” are clarified when
laid out in speech.
43. Bacon says expressing thoughts to a friend is better than:
A) Reading
B) Studying
C) Meditation ✅
D) Praying
➡️ “More by an hour’s discourse than a day’s
meditation.”
44. What does Bacon compare a self-dialogue to?
A) A preacher in the dark
B) Speaking to a statue or picture ✅
C) Dancing alone
D) Debating with oneself
➡️ Saying things aloud to no one is fruitless.
45. “Dry light is ever the best” means:
A) Emotions are useless
B) Truth is harsh
C) Pure counsel is better than biased judgment ✅
D) Rain clouds block wisdom
➡️ Counsel from a friend is “dry light” — pure and
clear.
46. The greatest flatterer, Bacon says, is:
A) A sycophant
B) A wife
C) A servant
D) Oneself ✅
➡️ We deceive ourselves more than anyone else.
47. Bacon says the best way to avoid self-flattery is:
A) Books
B) Silence
C) A friend’s liberty (freedom to advise honestly) ✅
D) Travel
➡️ A friend’s freedom to speak plainly corrects
bias.
48. The best cure for errors in behavior, according to Bacon, is:
A) Books of morality
B) Religious sermons
C) A friend’s admonition ✅
D) Harsh punishment
➡️ Corrective counsel from a friend is effective
and acceptable.
49. What does Bacon compare to a man forgetting his flaws?
A) Sleeping
B) Looking into a mirror and forgetting one’s face ✅
C) Dreaming
D) Eating bitter fruit
➡️ Quoting St. James on self-deception.
50. On business matters, Bacon warns against:
A) Too much planning
B) Trusting strangers
C) Taking counsel in scattered pieces ✅
D) Hasty decisions
➡️ Fragmented advice from different people can be
unsafe.
51. Bacon compares partial or piecemeal counsel to:
A) Chopped wood
B) Divided loyalties
C) Dangerous medicine by an unfamiliar physician ✅
D) A broken compass
➡️ Uncoordinated advice may help one thing and
harm another.
52. Bacon says that without a perfect friend, most advice is:
A) Honest but useless
B) Crooked toward the advisor’s interests ✅
C) Philosophical
D) Always correct
➡️ People often give advice that benefits
themselves.
53. The danger in mixed advice is that it can:
A) Cure too quickly
B) Lead to flattery
C) Be well-meaning but harmful ✅
D) Be ignored
➡️ Even good-intentioned counsel can be unsafe if
uninformed.
54. A friend who knows a man’s whole situation will avoid:
A) Giving flattery
B) Hurting his ego
C) Pushing one benefit that causes harm elsewhere ✅
D) Discussing politics
➡️ A true friend weighs the whole picture.
55. Bacon compares relying on many advisors to:
A) Building a wall of mirrors
B) Asking a beggar for a feast
C) Using scattered beams of light
D) Getting distracted and misled ✅
➡️ Scattered counsel confuses more than it helps.
56. The third fruit of friendship is:
A) Loyalty
B) Companionship
C) Practical help in actions and occasions ✅
D) Sympathy
➡️ Friends assist directly in the duties of life.
57. Bacon compares the third fruit to a:
A) Tree
B) Pomegranate ✅
C) Lantern
D) Tapestry
➡️ A fruit with many seeds—symbolizing many
benefits.
58. Bacon says, “A friend is far more than...”
A) A relative
B) A brother
C) Himself ✅
D) A philosopher
➡️ Because a friend can represent and extend the
self.
59. One benefit of friendship is that a friend may:
A) Stop you from dreaming
B) Speak and act on your behalf ✅
C) Write your will
D) Replace your children
➡️ They become an extension of one’s presence.
60. Bacon says a friend gives a man “two lives” in his:
A) Fame
B) Memory
C) Desires ✅
D) Spirit
➡️ Because the friend carries on his wishes after
death.
61. According to Bacon, a man cannot extol his own merits:
A) In public
B) Without appearing vain ✅
C) Without proper proof
D) To his enemies
➡️ A friend can say what would be immodest from
oneself.
62. Which of the following tasks is better done by a friend?
A) Singing
B) Praising one’s achievements ✅
C) Keeping secrets
D) Leading an army
➡️ A friend may gracefully express things that one
cannot.
63. Bacon says it is “blushing” for a man to:
A) Ask for advice
B) Make a mistake
C) Speak of his own worth ✅
D) Look in a mirror
➡️ Certain acts of self-praise or supplication
feel shameful.
64. A friend can speak to a man’s son:
A) As a father
B) Without formality ✅
C) With judgment
D) In riddles
➡️ Friends are not bound by social roles like
fathers or husbands.
65. Bacon says when a man cannot play his own part, he should:
A) Ask his family
B) Remain silent
C) Find a friend, or quit the stage ✅
D) Write a letter
➡️ Without a friend to assist, life’s duties
become too heavy.
66. According to Bacon, friendship gives a man:
A) Three lives
B) Divine guidance
C) Another self ✅
D) Political freedom
➡️ A friend extends and enriches the self.
67. Bacon says that friends may represent a man when:
A) He dies
B) He is embarrassed to speak ✅
C) He is at war
D) He is poor
➡️ Friends act in ways the man cannot without
shame.
68. A friend’s speech is:
A) Formal
B) Modest
C) Graceful where one’s own would be awkward ✅
D) Always poetic
➡️ What sounds vain from oneself sounds noble from
a friend.
69. Bacon lists practical occasions where a friend can help, such as:
A) Giving legal advice
B) Defeating enemies
C) Bestowing a child ✅
D) Gathering food
➡️ Helping raise children, finishing projects,
etc.
70. Friendship lets a man act beyond:
A) His reputation
B) His birth
C) His physical limitations ✅
D) His understanding
➡️ Through a friend, one can act in many places at
once.
71. One major effect of friendship on the mind is:
A) Doubt
B) Liberty
C) Enlightenment ✅
D) Memory
➡️ Friends clarify and challenge thought.
72. Bacon says it’s better to speak to a friend than to:
A) A preacher
B) One’s self ✅
C) A lover
D) A teacher
➡️ Talking aloud without a listener brings no
clarity.
73. Bacon compares mental reflection to:
A) Reading a book
B) A quiet river
C) Packed thoughts in bundles ✅
D) Flying birds
➡️ Thoughts unspoken lie jumbled—like cloth in a
pack.
74. Counsel received from a friend is:
A) Dampened
B) Biased
C) “Dry light”—purer than one's own judgment ✅
D) Unnecessary
➡️ Unclouded by emotion, unlike personal
reasoning.
75. According to Bacon, self-advice is:
A) Clear and logical
B) Often clouded by passion ✅
C) Wiser than external advice
D) Better than books
➡️ Personal judgment is soaked in emotion and
habit.
76. Bacon identifies self-counsel as:
A) Purest reasoning
B) Wisdom in solitude
C) The worst flattery ✅
D) Practical judgment
➡️ “There is no such flatterer as is a man’s
self.”
77. The best remedy for self-flattery is:
A) Solitude
B) Meditation
C) A friend’s liberty to advise ✅
D) Reading philosophy
➡️ Friends correct us more honestly than we
correct ourselves.
78. What type of counsel does Bacon distinguish?
A) Legal and political
B) Personal and poetic
C) Counsel in manners and in business ✅
D) Written and spoken
➡️ Two types: moral behavior and practical
decision-making.
79. For moral correction, Bacon favors:
A) Punishment
B) Reading scripture
C) A friend’s faithful admonition ✅
D) Court justice
➡️ Admonition from a friend is “best to work, and
best to take.”
80. Reading moral books is described as:
A) Inspiring
B) Powerful
C) Flat and dead ✅
D) Corrective
➡️ Books are useful but lack immediacy and energy.
81. Self-criticism, according to Bacon, is:
A) Easy and honest
B) The best method
C) Sometimes too sharp and corrosive ✅
D) An essential habit
➡️ It’s useful, but often harsh and ineffective
alone.
82. Observing others' faults is:
A) Enlightening
B) Sometimes improper to our case ✅
C) The best way to improve
D) The method of fools
➡️ It may not apply to one's own condition.
83. Without a friend, people in power commit:
A) Brutal crimes
B) Divine deeds
C) Gross errors and absurdities ✅
D) Unnoticed victories
➡️ Even great leaders fall into errors without
friendly correction.
84. St. James is cited to describe those who forget their faults as:
A) Children
B) Sleepwalkers
C) People who forget their own image in a mirror ✅
D) Thieves
➡️ They forget their shape and favor.
85. In business, a man may wrongly think:
A) He must consult friends
B) Advice is useless
C) Two eyes see no more than one ✅
D) Business is best ignored
➡️ Bacon critiques overconfidence.
86. Bacon says “a gamester seeth always more than a looker-on” is:
A) True
B) Common wisdom
C) A fond imagination ✅
D) A law of nature
➡️ It is one of the flawed ideas about
independence.
87. Taking advice from many, in pieces, creates the risk of:
A) Time-wasting
B) Manipulation and danger ✅
C) Simplicity
D) Clarity
➡️ Without a whole picture, advice may be harmful.
88. Asking different people for different counsel may lead to:
A) Humility
B) Better options
C) Distracted and misled decisions ✅
D) Wisdom
➡️ It lacks consistency and full knowledge of
context.
89. Bacon compares faulty partial advice to a:
A) Thief in the dark
B) Candle in the storm
C) Doctor who may cure one illness but cause another ✅
D) King without a crown
➡️ Good intentions can still harm without full
knowledge.
90. A true friend knows one’s state and will:
A) Avoid emotional support
B) Ignore future consequences
C) Consider all consequences before acting ✅
D) Push one-sided solutions
➡️ They balance short-term benefit with long-term
effects.
91. Bacon compares friends who understand us deeply to:
A) Maps of our soul
B) Faithful generals
C) Knowledgeable physicians ✅
D) Royal counselors
➡️ Just as doctors understand the body, friends
understand the whole man.
92. The final fruit of friendship includes:
A) Healing from sickness
B) Support in all life’s actions and occasions ✅
C) Eternal fame
D) Personal wealth
➡️ Practical help across all matters.
93. A friend can help fulfill desires:
A) Before one dies
B) Even after one’s death ✅
C) During sleep
D) By prophecy
➡️ A friend may continue one's goals after death.
94. A friend is called “another himself,” and even:
A) Better than himself
B) More divine
C) More than himself ✅
D) Greater than kings
➡️ Because he extends beyond personal limitations.
95. Some things are “blushing” for a man to say:
A) In court
B) In public
C) In business
D) But graceful in a friend’s mouth ✅
➡️ Friends can say what is awkward for the self.
96. A friend may speak to enemies:
A) As an ally
B) Without fear
C) Freely, regardless of personal role ✅
D) As a servant
➡️ They aren’t bound by roles like husband or
father.
97. A man’s relations bind him to roles, but a friend:
A) Is free to advise or act as needed ✅
B) Must follow protocol
C) Cannot interfere
D) Must imitate the same role
➡️ Friends are not constrained by fixed personal
roles.
98. Bacon’s advice: “Where a man cannot fitly play his own part…” he
should:
A) Pray
B) Quit the stage ✅
C) Reflect
D) Start again
➡️ Without help from a friend, he may as well
leave life’s stage.
99. The phrase “a man may relate himself to a statue or picture”
criticizes:
A) Emotional expression
B) Internal dialogue only ✅
C) Talking in public
D) Listening to music
➡️ Without a listener, speech is lifeless.
100. In the end, Bacon presents friendship as:
A) A spiritual gift
B) A romantic notion
C) An essential necessity for emotional, intellectual, and practical life ✅
D) A political tool
➡️ Friendship is vital for a full, wise, and
supported life.
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