Quick Take
- Narration: Robert Frederick reads the text cleanly, but the underlying translation issues that multiple reviewers flag cannot be corrected by a narrator, however capable.
- Themes: Ancient mythology reinterpreted, knowledge versus action, Renaissance humanism
- Mood: Dense and philosophical, occasionally obscure
- Verdict: A complicated listen due to translation concerns raised by multiple reviewers; those seeking Francis Bacon’s De Sapientia Veterum should verify which edition this relies on before committing.
Francis Bacon’s De Sapientia Veterum, published in Latin in 1609, is one of those texts that sits in an uncomfortable middle zone between classical scholarship and Renaissance philosophical invention. Bacon takes thirty-one myths from Greek and Roman antiquity and reads them as allegories for principles of knowledge, nature, and human conduct. It is a remarkable project in the history of ideas, and it deserves a good edition. Whether this audiobook provides one is, unfortunately, a question worth taking seriously before you press play.
I came to this one late on a winter evening, expecting the kind of quiet, methodical listen that older philosophical texts reward when approached without pressure. The text itself, where it is coherent, does deliver that. Bacon’s interpretive moves are often genuinely surprising. He is not simply extracting moral lessons from myths the way an Elizabethan schoolmaster might. He is doing something more interesting: trying to show that ancient wisdom was encoded in narrative form precisely because it was too powerful or too easily abused to be stated plainly.
The Translation Problem That Cannot Be Ignored
The most significant issue with this production, raised forcefully by more than one reviewer, concerns the translation. Bacon wrote De Sapientia Veterum in Latin and apparently never produced an authorized English version himself. Any English-language edition is therefore a translation, and the quality of translations of this text varies considerably. Reviewer G.H. Smith notes that what is presented here is a translation that is not attributed as such, and reviewer Northern Ariadne describes it as an ornate, faulty, out-of-print version that renders the text ambiguous and difficult to follow. The Spedding and Ellis edition, they note, is widely regarded as the standard scholarly English text and is available through open-source channels at no cost.
This matters for audiobook listeners in a particular way. When you are reading a physical text, you can pause and reread a confusing sentence. On audio, an ambiguous or faulty translation compounds as you go. If the English rendering of Bacon’s Latin is unclear, the narration cannot correct for it, and over the course of thirty-one fables, the cumulative effect can be frustrating.
What Bacon Is Actually Arguing
For listeners who persist, or who come to this with prior familiarity with the text, Bacon’s argument is worth understanding on its own terms. He is pushing against what he sees as a common error: the belief that knowing something and acting on it are the same thing, or that knowledge automatically produces good conduct. Fable by fable, he uses the myths to illustrate the distance between intellectual understanding and genuine wisdom. This is a very Renaissance preoccupation, and it sits at the heart of Bacon’s larger project in the philosophy of science and knowledge.
The reviewer Michel, who gave the book five stars, captures the appeal accurately: if you come to this interested in mythology and in what a seventeenth-century philosophical mind makes of it, there is genuine pleasure here. Some of the readings are obvious; others are strikingly original. Bacon on the myth of Prometheus or on the figure of Pan can be genuinely illuminating, connecting ancient narrative to questions about scientific discovery and the limits of human ambition that still resonate.
Robert Frederick and the Limits of Narration
Robert Frederick’s narration is clean and measured, appropriate for the register of philosophical prose. He does not attempt to dramatize or editorialize, which is the right approach for Bacon. The problem, again, is that Frederick can only read what he is given, and if the source text is a compromised translation, no amount of good delivery will resolve the underlying difficulty. The audiobook runs just over three hours, which is about right for material of this density, though the listening experience will depend heavily on your tolerance for archaic or stylistically ornate English prose.
Who Will Get the Most From This
Listeners with a prior interest in Bacon’s philosophical writings, or in Renaissance humanism more broadly, will find things to appreciate here despite the translation concerns. If you are approaching the text cold and want the clearest available English version of De Sapientia Veterum, you may be better served by seeking out the Spedding and Ellis edition in text form before deciding whether this production suits your needs. For a casual introduction to the idea that ancient myths encode philosophical wisdom, this works as a starting point, but with the caveat that you are getting one translator’s interpretation of Bacon’s Latin, and that translator may not have been the most reliable guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this production actually Francis Bacon’s De Sapientia Veterum, or a different work by a different author?
The metadata lists Neil Oliver as the author, but the synopsis clearly describes Francis Bacon’s 1609 philosophical fable collection. The listing appears to conflate the broadcaster Neil Oliver with the philosopher Francis Bacon. The text itself is Bacon’s, and De Sapientia Veterum is a distinct and well-known work in the history of philosophy.
Which translation does this audiobook use, and does it matter?
Multiple reviewers have raised serious concerns that the translation used is an ornate, outdated version that makes the text harder to follow than it needs to be. The Spedding and Ellis edition is generally considered the scholarly standard for Bacon in English and is available freely online. For a careful reading of this text, translation choice matters significantly.
Do you need to know the original myths before listening to benefit from Bacon’s interpretations?
Familiarity with the major Greek and Roman myths Bacon discusses (Prometheus, Pan, Orpheus, Daedalus, among others) helps considerably, as he does not retell them in full. He assumes you know the stories and proceeds directly to his philosophical readings. A basic grounding in classical mythology will make the fables much more accessible.
Is this a good introduction to Francis Bacon’s philosophy for someone new to his work?
It is not the most accessible entry point. Bacon’s Novum Organum or his Essays, both better served by modern translations, are usually recommended as first reads. De Sapientia Veterum is a more specialized and stylistically demanding work, better appreciated with some prior context for what Bacon was trying to accomplish in the history of ideas.
