Like more than a few other essays of Bacon, this one opens with an eye-catching sweeping statement: “It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear; and yet that commonly is the case with kings “.
Bacon’s genius for condensing his suggestions in a small number of words is undoubtedly seen in this essay. We come across a number of adages having an aphoristic quality.
These for instance:
*The mind of man is more cheered and refreshed by profiting in small things, than by standing at a stay in great.
*And certain it is, that nothing destroyed authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of dower pressed too far and relaxed too much.
*For it is the solecism of power to think to command the end, and yet not to endure the mean.
*For there is no question but a just far of an imminent danger though there be no blow given, is a lawful cause of war.
These generalizations read almost like proverbs. The concluding stanza is yet another example of how Bacon can compress weighty ideas into a few words.
Kings in the main have not many objects of desire, but they have countless things to be afraid of.
Not having a lot of objects of desire, they feel downhearted. Having many things to be afraid of, their minds are often not very unambiguous
As a king occupies the highest position in his country, there are very few things that he can wish for. He therefore tries to think of something on which he can set his heart, even though this something may be trivial.
Nero was interested in playing on the harp. Domitian wanted to acquire skill in shooting arrows from his bow Commodus wanted to be an expert at sword-play. Caracalla wanted to be a good charioteer.
All these persons were Roman emperors who wanted to make a reputation for some kind of skill or the other. The fact is that the mind of man seeks activity of some kind, event though it be an activity in the search of something unimportant.
There have been cases of kings who made many conquests in war and who, having been unable to go on winning military victories, became gullible and depressed. Alexander the Great, Dioclesian, and Charles V belong to this class of kings.
A king, who is at home with winning battles, feels thwarted or aggravated on finding that he cannot prolong his career of conquests.
It is very hard for a king to achieve the state of mind in which he can govern his kingdom profitably. A king must learn competently to intermingle the qualities and methods obligatory for ruling fruitfully. A king must coalesce austerity with kindness. He will do a lot of damage to his authority if there are abrupt changes in his mood from harshness to mildness and vice-versa. Nero was an emperor who met his downfall because of this fault.
It is wrong on the part of a king not to take precautions to keep away a danger. Sometimes a king tries to avert a danger when it has already come too close to him. It is not proper for a king to keep changing his aims and objects. Kings often make the error of having self-contradictory aims.
Kings have to deal with neighbouring countries. They also have to deal with their wives, their children, their priests, their nobles, their second nobles (or gentlemen), their merchants, their common people, and their soldiers. Kings have to be careful in dealing with all these categories of persons.
So far as neighbouring countries are concerned, a king should be alert and watchful. A king should not allow any neighbouring country be become more powerful than before through territorial expansion or through the expansion of its trade.
King Henry VIII of England, Francis I of France, and Charles V of Spain maintained the balance of power among themselves in such a way that none of them could become a source of danger to the other. A comparable balance of power was maintained by Ferdinando, King of Naples, Lorenzius Medices ruler of Florence, and Ludovicus Sforza, ruler of Milan.
A king has the right to go to war with another king if the latter tries to become more authoritative than before.
Kings have to brave of their wives if their wives have a proclivity for conspiracy. Livia poisoned her husband emperor Augustus, to promote the ambition of her lover, Sejanus. Roxolana brought about the destruction of the household of her husband, Solyman the Magnificent. Edward II of England was murdered as a result of an intrigue in which his queen played a major role.
Such wives deceive their husbands either because they fall in love with other men or because they wish to make sure that their own children will succeed to the thrones (in case there are contender plaintiffs to the throne).
Sometimes a king suspects his son of unfaithfulness. Such a misgiving often leads to catastrophic outcomes. Constantine the Great destroyed his son, Crispus, with the result that his other Sons also met brutal deaths. King Philip of Macedonia destroyed his son Demetrius, but he himself afterward died of regret.
So far as priests are concerned, kings should be on their guard against them if they are arrogant or influential. Anselmus and Thomas Beckett, Archbishops of Canterbury, came into open disagreement with their kings. This danger to kings becomes greater when the priests get the support of some foreign power.
A king should keep the nobles at a distance though he should not try to take away all their power. So far as the second nobles are concerned, they may sometimes talk big but they are not very hazardous. Besides, they are helpful so far as they do not allow the high nobles to become too commanding.
A king will lose the goodwill of the merchants if he imposes too many taxes on them. Excessive taxation leads to the stagnation of trade, and a resultant loss of the public revenue.
The common people are generally not dangerous unless powerful leaders emerge to lead them or unless a king interferes with their religion or their customs.
Soldiers pose a danger to a king if they are united and if they are used to receiving monetary gifts like those received by the bodyguard of the Roman emperors. Soldiers should be placed under the command of several generals and they should not be spoilt by being given monetary rewards.
A king may be compared to a planet which gets no rest bec ause it keeps moving all the time but which influences human affairs for good or for evil. A king should remember that he is a man; and he should also remember that he is God or in place of God. A king’s power will remain in check if he remembers that he is a human being, and his will or desire will remain in cheek if he remembers that he is God or in place of God.
Although the ideas of this essay have become outmoded, yet it is possible for us to welcome the unassailability of the advice which Bacon offers to kings. Bacon, indeed, gives hearty and precious advice to kings as regards their dealings with their neighbours, their wives, their children, their clergymen, their nobles, their merchants,, their common people and their soldiers.
As this essay is concerned with kings and the policies they should follow, the essay has very little value for the common reader.
But it certainly throws some light on human nature and enables us to appreciate the motives which prompt the actions and policies of kings as also the actions of various categories of people.
This essay contains a wealth of illustrations to support the various arguments advanced by Bacon. We are given, for instance, a number of cases of kings who, having few things to desire, set their hearts upon trifles.
Nero wanted to acquire skill in playing on the harp; Doniltian wanted to become a good marksman Caracalla wished to become a skilled charioteer; and o on. Then there are examples of how certain kings’ formed alliances in order to maintain the balance of power.
Paradigms are also given of how certain queens betrayed their husbands, and how certain kings had their sons assassinated owing to their suspicions that the sons were unfaithful to them. Then there are examples of priests who came into conflict with their kings. All these historical examples show the wide range of Bacon’s knowledge and his ready command of it.
Speaking reasonably, this is one of the longer essays of Bacon. There is a commonsensical expansion of the ideas in it, and we do not here get the feeling that the ideas have slackly been arranged. In other words, this essay cannot be said to be a collection of “dispersed meditations”. The ideas here logically flow from one another.
This is one of the most excellent political essays of Bacon. The ideas of this essay have now become archaic. There are barely any kings left in the world and those who are left have scarcely any power or authority in their hands. This essay has, consequently, only a limited historical interest, but it does augment our comprehension of the past.