DISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of pol-
icy, or wisdom; for it asketh a strong wit,
and a strong heart, to know when to tell truth, and
to do it. Therefore it is the weaker sort of politics,
that are the great dissemblers.
Tacitus saith, Livia sorted well with the arts of
her husband, and dissimulation of her son; attri-
buting arts or policy to Augustus, and dissimula-
tion to Tiberius. And again, when Mucianus
encourageth Vespasian, to take arms against Vitel-
lius, he saith, We rise not against the piercing
judgment of Augustus, nor the extreme caution or
closeness of Tiberius. These properties, of arts or
policy, and dissimulation or closeness, are indeed
habits and faculties several, and to be distin-
guished. For if a man have that penetration of
judgment, as he can discern what things are to
be laid open, and what to be secreted, and what to
be showed at half lights, and to whom and when
(which indeed are arts of state, and arts of life, as
Tacitus well calleth them), to him, a habit of dis-
simulation is a hinderance and a poorness. But if
a man cannot obtain to that judgment, then it is
left to bim generally, to be close, and a dissembler.
For where a man cannot choose, or vary in parti-
culars, there it is good to take the safest, and wari-
est way, in general; like the going softly, by one
that cannot well see. Certainly the ablest men
that ever were, have had all an openness, and
frankness, of dealing; and a name of certainty and
veracity; but then they were like horses well
managed; for they could tell passing well, when to
stop or turn; and at such times, when they thought
the case indeed required dissimulation, if then
they used it, it came to pass that the former opin-
ion, spread abroad, of their good faith and clear-
ness of dealing, made them almost invisible.
There be three degrees of this hiding and veil-
ing of a man's self. The first, closeness, reservation,
and secrecy; when a man leaveth himself without
observation, or without hold to be taken, what he
is. The second, dissimulation, in the negative;
when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he
is not, that he is. And the third, simulation, in the
affirmative; when a man industriously and ex-
pressly feigns and pretends to be, that he is not.
For the first of these, secrecy; it is indeed the
virtue of a confessor. And assuredly, the secret
man heareth many confessions. For who will open
himself, to a blab or a babbler? But if a man be
thought secret, it inviteth discovery; as the more
close air sucketh in the more open; and as in con-
fession, the revealing is not for worldly use, but for
the ease of a man's heart, so secret men come to
the knowledge of many things in that kind; while
men rather discharge their minds, than impart
their minds. In few words, mysteries are due to
secrecy. Besides (to say truth) nakedness is un-
comely, as well in mind as body; and it addeth no
small reverence, to men's manners and actions, if
they be not altogether open. As for talkers and
futile persons, they are commonly vain and credu-
lous withal. For he that talketh what he knoweth,
will also talk what he knoweth not. Therefore set it
down, that an habit of secrecy, is both politic and
moral. And in this part, it is good that a man's face
give his tongue leave to speak. For the discovery of
a man' s self, by the tracts of his countenance, is a
great weakness and betraying; by how much it is
many times more marked, and believed, than a
man's words.
For the second, which is dissimulation; it fol-
loweth many times upon secrecy, by a necessity;
so that he that will be secret, must be a dissembler
in some degree. For men are too cunning, to suffer
a man to keep an indifferent carriage between
both, and to be secret, without swaying the bal-
ance on either side. They will so beset a man with
questions, and draw him on, and pick it out of him,
that, without an absurd silence, he must show an
inclination one way; or if he do not, they will
gather as much by his silence, as by his speech. As
for equivocations, or oraculous speeches, they can-
not hold out long. So that no man can be secret,
except he give himself a little scope of dissimula-
tion; which is, as it were, but the skirts or train of
secrecy.
But for the third degree, which is simulation,
and false profession; that I hold more culpable,
and less politic; except it be in great and rare mat-
ters. And therefore a general custom of simulation
(which is this last degree) is a vice, using either of
a natural falseness or fearfulness, or of a mind that
hath some main faults, which because a man must
needs disguise, it maketh him practise simulation
in other things, lest his hand should be out of use.
The great advantages of simulation and dissi-
mulation are three. First, to lay asleep opposition,
and to surprise. For where a man's intentions are
published, it is an alarum, to call up all that are
against them. The second is, to reserve to a man's
self a fair retreat. For if a man engage himself by
a manifest declaration, he must go through or take
a fall. The third is, the better to discover the mind
of another. For to him that opens himself, men
will hardly show themselves adverse; but will fair
let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech, to
freedom of thought. And therefore it is a good
shrewd proverb of the Spaniard, Tell a lie and find
a troth. As if there were no way of discovery, but
by simulation. There be also three disadvantages,
to set it even. The first, that simulation and dissi-
mulation commonly carry with them a show of
fearfulness, which in any business, doth spoil the
feathers, of round flying up to the mark. The sec-
ond, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the conceits
of many, that perhaps would otherwise co-operate
with him; and makes a man walk almost alone, to
his own ends. The third and greatest is, that it
depriveth a man of one of the most principal in-
struments for action; which is trust and belief.
The best composition and temperature, is to have
openness in fame and opinion; secrecy in habit;
dissimulation in seasonable use; and a power to
feign, if there be no remedy.
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