Works - Softcover

Francis Bacon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0461358719 ISBN 13: 9780461358711

Publisher: HardPress, 2019

Synopsis

Works by Francis Bacon. DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM is a section of Bacon's Works that presents a collection of Ancient Fables with allegorical commentary. The text examines a series of mythic figures—Cassandra, Typhon, Cyclopes, Narcissus, Styx, Pan, Perseus, Endymion, and others—each followed by a prose interpretation that translates the myth into lessons about truth, knowledge, memory, and human conduct. Bacon uses these fables as vehicles to reflect on the origins of wisdom and the progress of civilization, arguing that ancient stories encode not only moral instruction but nascent forms of natural philosophy and social insight. The Preface explains the rationale: the myths arise from a period of earlier intellectual greatness that has since faded, and their allegories can illuminate contemporary questions about truth, power, and the human condition. Though the work is steeped in Renaissance philology, its method—reading classical tales as parables—remains a striking example of Bacon’s habit of turning antiquity into practical essays on wisdom and governance.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0461358719
• ISBN 13: 9780461358711
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 472