The Fable of the Bees – a satirical poem, prose discussion, three essays and six dialogues completed in 1729 – exposes human vices but defends them as a necessity within a wealthy society. Mandeville’s bees thrive until they start living by honesty and virtue… then they are impoverished. Mandeville did not play by the rules: he satirised the sins of society but also ridiculed the widespread hypocrisy of deploring these sins whilst reaping their benefi ts. He and his work were attacked for the rest of the century. The wicked bees’ comeuppance is not for their vices – society’s accepted moral code – but, instead, for the folly of denying them. There is no judgement on whether a rich society is superior to a poor one; Mandeville simply analyses, with incorrigible playfulness, the status quo as he sees it. The fascination of his arguments and the ensuing controversy have caught and infl uenced philosophers and thinkers ever since.

Includes Mandeville’s complete text (both Parts 1 and 2), in a multi-voice recording headed by the outstanding David Timson.