Of Wisdom for a Man's Self - Francis Bacon

'Of Wisdom for a Man's Self' is a essay by the English philosopher and essayist Sir Francis Bacon. His uniquely convoluted style of writing is displayed throughout the essay.

-Sir Francis Bacon

Though this essay may seem incredibly long and complicated, don't worry, it's really not! We're going to go through this paragraph by paragraph. This'll take a while.

An ant is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd thing in an orchard or garden. And certainly men that are great lovers of themselves waste the public. Divide with reason between self-love and society; and be so true to thyself, as thou be not false to others; specially to thy king and country.

So what does this mean? The reference to 'the ant' is a reference to the extremely well-knitted and intelligent community that they are members of, hence their wisdom. This community and its subsequent benefits are made possible solely because of the hard-working and relentless nature of the ants. But despite all of these achievements, an ant's overall contribution to the orchard or garden is very little. Even though it has the power and capability to do so much, it is not, as it is too busy obsessing over itself. Humans too exhibit these traits. There are many people who will slave away at their jobs to better their own standing or to buy a better house but who put little effort into the society they live in. Francis Bacon appears to be criticizing such people, stating that one must also work for the good of others, especially the king and country.

It is a poor centre of a man’s actions, himself. It is right earth. For that only stands fast upon his own centre; whereas all things that have affinity with the heavens move upon the centre of another, which they benefit. The referring of all to a man’s self is more tolerable in a sovereign prince; because themselves are not only themselves but their good and evil is at the peril of the public fortune.

Bacon continues his criticism of overly self-indulgent people. It is not  a good thing to be so enthralled with yourself that you forget those around you. This self-obsession however, is okay in a prince or a ruler. Why? Because that ruler is not just himself. He is a representative of the people, of the kingdom. If he is unhappy, it will affect the masses.

But it is a desperate evil in a servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic. For whatsoever affairs pass such a man’s hands, he crooketh them to his own ends; which must needs be often eccentric to the ends of his master or state. Therefore let princes, or states, choose such servants as have not this mark; except they mean their service should be made but the accessory. 

It is a terrible crime for a public servant, or a government employee, to take a cut of the prince's money illegally. It's a terrible crime when a the government's money is siphoned off by fat corrupt politicians who do nothing benefiting the people. Sounds familiar? So what's Bacon's solution? Simple. He suggests that people who are corrupt should not be public servants. 

That which maketh the effect more pernicious is that all proportion is lost. It were disproportion enough for the servant’s good to be preferred before the master’s; but yet it is a greater extreme, when a little good of the servant shall carry things against a great good of the master’s.

When you, a public servant, steal government-given funds, you're throwing the whole system out of balance, out of proportion. You become a slave to your greed. You may think that you really need the money, that you need to buy a car or a house or something, but what you're really doing is thwarting a larger good. If the money that you've stolen had reached the people, it would have done much more good than it has done in your hands. This is what is worsening the entire situation, as the theft is not only hurting the benefactor, it's hurting the would-have-been receivers more.

And yet that is the case of bad officers, treasurers, ambassadors, generals, and other false and corrupt servants; which set a bias upon their bowl, of their own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow of their master’s great and important affairs. And for the most part, the good such servants receive is after the model of their own fortune; but the hurt they sell for that good is after the model of their master’s fortune. 

Corrupt public servants are like that. They steal money from the government for their own gain, increasing their power. The more power that they get, the more money they get, through both illegal and legal means. They benefit from crashing the system while the governments plans go to waste.

And certainly it is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs; and yet these men many times hold credit with their masters, because their study is but to please them and profit themselves; and for either respect they will abandon the good of their affairs.

Corrupt and self-obsessed politicians don't really care about the welfare of the country. Like the metaphor of a man burning down a house to roast his eggs implies, these corrupt public servants put their own interests far above the collective interests of the state. So why are these corrupt self-indulgent people still holding such powerful positions?? Well, Francis Bacon believes that it's because these corrupt people are very good at two things : pleasing those more powerful than them and profiting themselves. For either of these two, they will gladly forget the good of the people.

Wisdom for a man’s self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they could devour.

We're now in the last paragraph of the essay, and Bacon is coming to his conclusion. For the first time in the essay so far he mentions the phrase 'Wisdom for a Man's Self'. Thus the relevance of the title is that the wisdom of a human being is not necessarily a good thing. It can drive people to do horrible unforgivable things. Examples are given through animals using betrayal and deceit to further their own means.

But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes, sine rivali [lovers of themselves without a rival] are many times unfortunate. And whereas they have all their times sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they sought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned.

Francis Bacon winds up his emotional essay with this stirring conclusion. Despite the fact that corrupt embezzlers have spent their entire lives manipulating and scheming for wealth,power, and riches, it is no guarantee for the continuity of such. The majority of the people who've cheated their way into money and power are often seen squandering it and ending up penniless. Wealth never stays with it's possessor permanently and they, more often than not, suffer ignominy and deprivation.    

The author uses a brilliant implied metaphor in the closing sentence of the essay. The inconsistency of fortune (the manner in which money and power come and go) cannot be thoroughly predicted by anyone. It is metaphorized as a bird-type entity. The dark irony is made ever visible in the sentence. Though the corrupt have sacrificed for themselves all of their lives (owing to their self-indulgent nature), they ironically end up sacrificed to the inconsistency of fortune, who's wings they thought they had bound by their wisdom. 

Nobody can tell what's going to happen. 

Karma always comes around.