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Essay XLVIII: Of Followers And Friends
Essay XLVIII: Of Followers And Friends
Costly followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train
longer, he make his wings shorter. I reckon to be costly, not them alone which
charge the purse, but which are wearisome and importune in suits. Ordinary
followers ought to challenge no higher conditions than countenance,
recommendation, and protection from wrongs. Factious followers are worse to be
liked, which follow not upon affection to him with whom they range themselves,
but upon discontentment conceived against some other; whereupon commonly
ensueth that ill intelligence ^1 that we many times see between great
personages. Likewise glorious ^2 followers, who make themselves as trumpets of
the commendation of those they follow, are full of inconvenience; for they
taint business through want of secrecy; and they export honor from a man, and
make him a return in envy. There is a kind of followers likewise which are
dangerous, being indeed espials; ^3 which inquire the secrets of the house,
and bear tales of them to others. Yet such men, many times, are in great
favor; for they are officious, and commonly exchange tales. The following by
certain estates of men, answerable to that which a great person himself
professeth (as of soldiers to him that hath been employed in the wars, and the
like), hath ever been a thing civil, ^4 and well taken even in monarchies; so
it be without too much pomp or popularity. But the most honorable kind of
following is to be followed as one that apprehendeth to advance virtue and
desert in all sorts of persons. And yet, where there is no eminent odds in
sufficiency, it is better to take with the more passable, ^5 than with the
more able. And besides, to speak truth, in base times active men are of more
use than virtuous. It is true that in government it is good to use men of one
rank equally: for to countenance some extraordinarily is to make them
insolent, and the rest discontent; because they may claim a due. But
contrariwise, in favor, to use men with much difference and election is good;
for it maketh the persons preferred more thankful, and the rest more
officious: because all is of favor. It is good discretion not to make too much
of any man at the first; because one cannot hold out that proportion. To be
governed (as we call it) by one is not safe; for it shows softness, and gives
a freedom to scandal and disreputation; for those that would not censure or
speak ill of a man immediately will talk more boldly of those that are so
great with them, and thereby wound their honor. Yet to be distracted with many
is worse; for it makes men to be of the last impression, and full of change.
To take advice of some few friends is ever honorable; for lookers-on many
times see more than gamesters; and the vale best discovereth the hill. There
is little friendship in the world, and least of all between equals, which was
wont to be magnified. That that is, is between superior and inferior, whose
fortunes may comprehend the one the other.
[Footnote 1: Understanding.]
[Footnote 2: Boastful.]
[Footnote 3: Spies.]
[Footnote 4: Proper.]
[Footnote 5: Mediocre.]
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