The Fable of the Bees

"The Fable of The Bees", by Bernard de Mandeville, 1714.

The poem

"The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits" consisted of a poem, "The Grumbling Hive, or Knaves Turn'd Honest", along with an extensive prose commentary. The poem had appeared in 1705 and was intended as a commentary on England as Mandeville saw it

:A Spacious Hive well stock'd with Bees, :That lived in Luxury and Ease; :And yet as fam'd for Laws and Arms, :As yielding large and early Swarms; :Was counted the great Nursery :Of Sciences and Industry. :No Bees had better Government, :More Fickleness, or less Content. :They were not Slaves to Tyranny, :Nor ruled by wild Democracy; :But Kings, that could not wrong, because :Their Power was circumscrib'd by Laws.

The 'hive' is corrupt but prosperous, yet it grumbles about lack of virtue. A higher power decides to give them what they ask for:

:But Jove, with Indignation moved, :At last in Anger swore, he'd rid :The bawling Hive of Fraud, and did. :The very Moment it departs, :And Honesty fills all their Hearts;

This results in a rapid loss of prosperity, though the newly-virtuous hive does not mind:

:For many Thousand Bees were lost. :Hard'ned with Toils, and Exercise :They counted Ease it self a Vice; :Which so improved their Temperance; :That, to avoid Extravagance, :They flew into a hollow Tree, :Blest with Content and Honesty.

Prose expansions

The poem attracted little attention. The 1714 work soon became famous/notorious, being understood as an attack on Christian virtues. What it actually means remains controversial down to the present day. He did say:

:What Country soever in the Universe is to be understood by the Bee-Hive represented here, it is evident from what is said of the Laws and Constitution of it, the Glory, Wealth, Power and Industry of its Inhabitants, that it must be a large, rich and warlike Nation, that is happily govern’d by a limited Monarchy. The Satyr therefore to be met with in the following Lines upon the several Professions and Callings, and almost every Degree and Station of People, was not made to injure and point to a particular Persons, but only to shew the Vileness of the Ingredients that all together compose the wholesome Mixture of a well-order’d Society; in order to extol the wonderful Power of Political Wisdom, by the help of which so beautiful a Machine is rais’d from the most contemptible Branches. For the main Design of the Fable, (as it is briefly explain’d in the Moral) is to shew the Impossibility of enjoying all the most elegant Comforts of Life that are to be met with in an industrious, wealthy and powerful Nation, and at the same time be bless’d with all the Virtue and Innocence that can be wish’d for in a Golden Age; from thence to expose the Unreasonableness and Folly of those, that desirous of being an opulent and flourishing People, and wonderfully greedy after all the Benefits they can receive as such, are yet always murmuring at and exclaiming against those Vices and Inconveniences, that from the Beginning of the World to this present Day, have been inseparable from all Kingdoms and States that ever were fam’d for Strength, Riches, and Politeness, at the same time.

Economic views

Mandeville is widely regarded as a serious economist and philosopher. He produced a second volume of "The Fable of the Bees" in 1732, with an extensive set of dialogues which set out his economic views. His ideas about the Division of labour draw on those of William Petty and are similar to those which were to appear in the work of Adam Smith. ["The Wealth Of Nations", Glasgow Edition, footnote to page 27, section I.ii.3] Mandeville says:

:When once Men come to be govern’d by written Laws, all the rest comes on a-pace. Now Property, and Safety of Life and Limb, may be secured: This naturally will forward the Love of Peace, and make it spread. No number of Men, when once they enjoy Quiet, and no Man needs to fear his Neighbour, will be long without learning to divide and subdivide their Labour...:Man, as I have hinted before, naturally loves to imitate what he sees others do, which is the reason that savage People all do the same thing: This hinders them from meliorating their Condition, though they are always wishing for it: But if one will wholly apply himself to the making of Bows and Arrows, whilst another provides Food, a third builds Huts, a fourth makes Garments, and a fifth Utensils, they not only become useful to one another, but the Callings and Employments themselves will in the same Number of Years receive much greater Improvements, than if all had been promiscuously follow’d by every one of the Five...:The truth of what you say is in nothing so conspicuous, as it is in Watch-making, which is come to a higher degree of Perfection, than it would have been arrived at yet, if the whole had always remain’d the Employment of one Person; and I am persuaded, that even the Plenty we have of Clocks and Watches, as well as the Exactness and Beauty they may be made of, are chiefly owing to the Division that has been made of that Art into many Branches. ("The Fable of the Bees, Volume two").

ee also

*Fable

Notes

External links

* [http://pedagogie.ac-toulouse.fr/philosophie/textes/mandevillethefableofthebees.htm Text of the original poem]
* [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Intros/Mandeville.php Downloads of several editions of "The Fable of the Bees"]
* [http://www.arts.usask.ca/economics/faculty/papers/Dooley_dp_2003_3.pdf Hutcheson, Smith and the Division of Labour]