Bacon's Essays/Of Goodnesse, and Goodnesse of Nature

by Francis Bacon

XIII

OF GOODNESSE AND GOODNESSE OF NATURE

I Take Goodnesse in this Sense, the affecting of^[1] the Weale of Men, which is that the Grecians call Philanthropia; And the word Humanitie^[2] (as it is used) is a little too light to expresse it. Goodnesse I call the Habit, and Goodnesse of Nature the Inclination. This, of all Vertues and Dignities of the Minde, is the greatest, being the Character^[3] of the Deitie: And without it Man is a Busie^[4], Mischievous, Wretched Thing, No better then a Kinde of Vermine. Goodnesse answers^[5] to the Theologicall Vertue Charitie^[6], and admits no Excesse but Errour. The desire of Power in Excesse caused the Angels to fall; The desire of Knowledge in Excesse caused Man to fall; But in Charity there is no Excesse; Neither can Angell or Man come in danger by it. The Inclination to Goodnesse is imprinted deepely in the Nature of Man; In so much that, if it issue not towards Men, it will take unto Other Living Creatures; As it is seen in the Turks, a Cruell People who, neverthelesse, are kinde to Beasts and give Almes to Dogs and Birds; In so much as^[7] Busbechius reporteth, A Christian Boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned, for gagging, in a waggishnesse^[8], a long Billed Fowle. Errours, indeed, in this vertue of Goodnesse or Charity, may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious Proverb; Tanto buon che val niente: So good that he is good for nothing. And one of the Doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel, had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plaine Termes, That the Christian Faith had given up Good Men in prey to those that are Tyrannicall and uniust. Which he spake, because indeed there was never Law, or Sect, or Opinion, did so much magnifie Goodnesse as the Christian Religion doth. Therfore, to avoid the Scandall and the Danger both, it is good to take knowledge of^[9] the Errours of an Habit so excellent. Seeke the Good of other Men, but be not in bondage to their Faces or Fancies; For that is but Facilitie^[10] or Softnesse; which taketh an honest Minde Prisoner. Neither give thou Æsop's Cocke a Gemme, who would be better pleased and happier if he had had a Barly Corne. The Example of God teacheth the Lesson truly: He sendeth his Raine, and niaketh his Sunne to shine, upon the lust and Uniust; But hee doth not raine Wealth, nor shine Honour and Vertues^[11] upon Men equally. Common Benefits are to be communicate with all, But peculiar Benefits, with choice. And beware how, in making the Portraiture, thou breakest the Patterne; For Divinitie^[12] maketh the Love of our Selves the Patterne; The Love of our Neighbours but the Portraiture. Sell all thou hast, and give it to the poore, and follow mee: But sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow mee; That is, except thou have a Vocation, wherin thou maist doe as much good with little meanes as with great: For otherwise, in feeding the Streames thou driest the Fountaine. Neither is there only a Habit of Goodnesse, directed by right Reason; but there is, in some Men, even in Nature, a Disposition towards it: As, on the other side, there is a Naturall Malignitie. For there be that, in their Nature, doe not affect the Good of Others. The lighter Sort of Malignitie turneth but to a Crosnesse^[13], or Frowardnesse^[14], or Aptnesse to oppose, or Difficilnesse^[15], or the like; but the deeper Sort, to Envy and meere Mischiefe^[16]. Such Men, in other men's Calamities, are, as it were, in season^[17], and are ever on the loading Part^[18]; Not so good as the Dogs, that licked Lazarus' Sores, but like Flies that are still^[19] buzzing upon any Thing that is raw; Misanthropi^[20], that make it their Practise to bring Men to the Bough^[21], And yet have never a Tree for the purpose in their Gardens, as Timon had. Such Dispositions are the very Errours of Humane Nature; And yet they are the fittest Timber to make great Politiques^[22] of; Like to knee^[23] Timber, that is good for Ships that are ordained to be tossed, But not for Building houses that shall stand firme. The Parts and Signes of Goodnesse are many. If a Man be Gracious and Curteous to Strangers, it shewes he is a Citizen of the World, And that his Heart is no Island, cut off from other Lands, but a Continent that ioynes to them. If he be Compassionate towards the Afflictions of others, it shewes that his Heart is like the noble Tree, that is wounded it selfe when it gives the Balme. If he easily Pardons and Remits Offences, it shews that his Minde is planted above Iniuries^[24], So that he cannot be shot. If he be Thankfull for small Benefits, it shewes that he weighes Men's Mindes, and not their Trash^[25]. But above all, if he have St. Paul's Perfection, that he would wish to be an Anathema from Christ^[26], for the Salvation of his Brethren, it shewes much of a Divine Nature, and a kinde of Conformity with Christ himselfe.

 

1. aiming at
2. Kindliness
3. mark
4. restless
5. corresponds
6. love
7. that
8. for fun
9. notice
10. weakness
11. nor cause honour and virtues to shine
12. divine teaching
13. perversity
14. waywardness
15. intractability
16. sheer injury
17. in their element
18. always aggravate calamities
19. always
20. misanthropes
21. to induce people to hang themselves
22. politicians
23. crooked
24. above the reach of injuries
25. rubbish, used contemptuously for money
26. accursed from Christ