The opening lines of Francis Bacon’s essay is a statement of Aristotle, which means that man is naturally gregarious and that it is unnatural to avoid the society unless he performs meditation or has a contemplation of the divine. Bacon says that living in a crowd as in a great city may also loneliness and the lack of true friendship. He makes three points in favour of friendship. It is important to release pent-up emotions, worries, cares and so on and to share these emotions make friendship an essential. Kings and great rulers are lonely people who definitely need such kind of support and emotional release. He gives examples of Sylla and Pompey, Caesar, Brutus, Augustus and Agrippa, and so on. Friends are considered important in spite of having wise children and close relatives and to confide in a true friendship is equally important as a family. It doubles the joys and lessens the burdens in sharing.
The second aspect is that it allows to clarify ideas and thoughts through discussion and argument. There can be sounder arguments that can allow one to come to a proper decision on the issue. It also allows Anderson to understand and find the weakness and strength of one’s arguments. A friend can also contribute to the judgement and further add his advice as a caution or encouragement. The advice from a friend is more reliable since he knows personally than any other outsiders.
A friend can be useful in several ways, he can help in advising on the marriage of our children or the completion of work. He can recommend his friend to others and enable him to act or speak without emotional involvement. No man can really afford to be without true friends. This essay is more warm and personal than the essay on love. Plato, Aristotle – to whom he owes much and many writers of the classic have gone deeper into the subject than anything else, yet this is one of his largest essays.