Francis Bacon's Essays is a collection of concise, aphoristic reflections on moral and practical life, touching on subjects such as truth, friendship, ambition, and studies. Wisdom of the Ancients retells and interprets classical myths as allegories of nature, politics, and human conduct. Both works reward listening for their compressed insight and enduring observations on how people think and act.
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Cover of the original edition (Project Gutenberg, public domain).
Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
BACON’S ESSAYS AND WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE BY A. SPIERS PREFACE BY B. MONTAGU, AND NOTES BY DIFFERENT WRITERS Bacon BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY Copyright, 1884, By Little, Brown, and Company. The University Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. ADVERTISEMENT. In preparing the present volume for the press, use has been freely made of several publications which have recently appeared in England. The Biographical Notice of the author is taken from an edition of the Essays, by A. Spiers, Ph. D. To this has been added the Preface to Pickering’s edition of the Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients, by Basil Montagu, Esq. Parker’s edition, by Thomas Markby, M. A., has furnished the arrangement of the Table prefixed to the Essays, and also “the references to the most important quotations.” The Notes, including the translations of the Latin, are chiefly copied from Bohn’s edition, prepared by Joseph Devey, M. A. We have given the modern translation of the Wisdom of the Ancients contained in Bohn’s edition, in preference to that “done by Sir Arthur Gorges,” although the last mentioned has a claim upon regard, as having been made by a contemporary of Lord Bacon, and published in his lifetime. Its language is in
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