Friends are for Bacon chiefly a means to power;
在培根眼中，朋友主要是获得权力的工具。
he shares with Machiavelli a point of view which one is at first inclined to attribute to he Renaissance, till one thinks of the fine and uncalculating friendships of Michaelangelo and Cavalieri, Montaigne and La Boetie, Sir Philip Sidney and Hubert Languet.
在这点上他与马基雅维利是一致的。人们往往认为那是文艺复兴时期的观点，实际上，假如想想米开朗基罗和卡瓦列里、蒙田与拉伯埃西、西德尼和朗格之间不计较利害得失的友谊，便知道那不是那个时期的风尚。
文艺复兴的开端在意大利。
佛罗伦萨美帝奇家族
Perhaps this very practical assessment of friendship helps to explain Bacon's fall from power, as similar views help to explain Napoleon's;
或许，这种对友谊十分实际的评价有助于我们理解培根失意的原因；同样这个观点也解释了拿破仑的友谊；
培根对友谊没有亚里士多德那么温情，而培根这友谊变成了获得权力的一种手段。
for a man's friends will seldom practice a higher philosophy in their relations with him than that which he professes in his treatment of them.
对于一个人的朋友来讲，很难在他们的友谊之中体现更高级的哲思思想，并不是培根他们声称的他如何对待他们一样。
因为你如何对待朋友，朋友就会如何对待你。
Bacon goes on to quote Bias, one of the Seven Wise Men of ancient Greece: “Love your friend as if he were to become your enemy, and your enemy as if he were to become your friend."
培根接着引用了古希腊七贤之一拜阿斯的话：“爱你的朋友如同他将要成为你的敌人，爱你的敌人如同他将要成为你的朋友。”
马及利亚主义有意识表现，没有永恒的朋友，只有永恒的利益。
Do not betray even to your friend too much of your real purposes and thoughts;
哪怕在朋友面前，也不要透露太多自己的真实目的与想法；
in conversation, ask questions oftener than you express opinions;
在交谈时多提问少表态；
and when you speak, offer data and information rather than beliefs and judgments.
当你自己说话时，只透露资料和消息，避免谈自己的信仰与判断。
不要给人贴标签
Manifest pride is a help to advancement;
你去展现这样的骄傲实际是有利于仕途升迁；
有质有量有温情
and" ostentation is a fault in ethics rather than in politics."
“自我炫耀只是伦理学上的过错，在政治上很正常,政治上还是要讲排场的。”
语言点
Renaissance: n. 文艺复兴
assessment: n. 评估
profess: vi. 声称
Seven Wise Men: （古希腊）七贤
betray: vi. 透露
manifest: vt. 展现
ostentation: n. 喧哗
