_(14782268725).jpg) Cover of a 1728 French edition,L'Éloge de la Folie | |
| Author | Desiderius Erasmus |
|---|---|
| Original title | Moriae encomium |
| Translator | Thomas Chaloner White Kennett James Copner John Wilson Harry Carter Betty Radice |
| Language | Latin |
| Genre | essay,theology |
| Publisher | Gilles de Gourmont |
Publication date | 1511, revised many times up to 1532 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1549 |
| Media type | Print: hardback |
| 873.04 | |
| LC Class | PA8514 .E5 |
| Preceded by | Handbook of a Christian Knight |
| Followed by | Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style |
Original text | Moriae encomium at LatinWikisource |
| Translation | In Praise of Folly at Wikisource |
In Praise of Folly, also translated asThe Praise of Folly (Latin:Stultitiae Laus orMoriae Encomium), is an oration written in Latin in 1509 byDesiderius Erasmus ofRotterdam and first printed in June 1511. Inspired by previous works of the ItalianhumanistFaustino Perisauli'sDe Triumpho Stultitiae, it is a spirallingsatirical attack on all aspects of human life, not ignoringsuperstitions and religious corruption, but with a pivot into an orthodox religious purpose.[1]
Erasmus revised and extended his work, which, he claims, was originally written in the span of a week while sojourning with SirThomas More at More's house in Bucklersbury in theCity of London.[2] The titleMoriae Encomium had a punning second meaning asIn Praise of More (in Greekmoría translates into "folly").[3]In Praise of Folly is considered one of the most notable works ofthe Renaissance and played an important role in the beginnings of theProtestant Reformation.[4]
The Praise of Folly begins with a satirical learnedencomium, in which Folly praises herself, in the manner of the Greek satiristLucian (2nd century AD), whose work Erasmus and SirThomas More had recently translated into Latin; Folly swipes at every part of society, from lovers to princes to inventors to writers to dice-players to professional liars tohermits.
It then takes a darker tone in a series oforations, as Folly praises self-deception and madness and moves to a satirical examination of supposedly pious but superstitious abuses ofCatholicdoctrine and corrupt practices by the people and priests of the contemporarychurch—to which Erasmus was ever faithful—and the folly ofpedants.[6] Folly increasingly takes on Erasmus' own chastising voice. According to some source, the essay ends with a straightforward statement of Christian ideal: "No Man is wise at all Times, or is without his blind Side."[citation needed]
Erasmus was a good friend of More, with whom he shared a taste for dry humour and otherintellectual pursuits. The titleMoriae Encomium could also be read as meaning "In praise of More". The double or triple meanings go on throughout the text.
The piece is filled with classicalallusions delivered in a style typical of the learnedhumanists of theRenaissance. Folly parades as a goddess, offspring ofPlutus, the god of wealth and anymph, Youth. She was nursed by two other nymphs,Inebriation andIgnorance. Her faithful companions includePhilautia (self-love),Kolakia (flattery),Lethe (forgetfulness),Misoponia (laziness),Hedone (pleasure),Anoia (dementia),Tryphe (wantonness), and two gods,Komos (intemperance) and NigretosHypnos (heavy sleep). Folly praises herself endlessly, arguing that life would be dull and distasteful without her. Of earthly existence, Folly pompously states, "you'll find nothing frolic or fortunate that it owes not to me."
Dante, Ockham, Eckhart cannot develop theme of folly—Erasmus’Encomium Moriae raises folly again tometaphysical levels, apolemic against gloomy scholastic wisdom, humanist learning, and love ofapatheia, while (the) hallmark ofreality is folly, which includes everything beneath the mind and in which it is rooted, the whole splendor and vitality of life, love, and youth, and everything above the mind, all that is gratuitous, playful, graceful, the world of the gods—The Christian meaning of supra-rational folly is (Christ's) interpretation of evil on the Cross as not knowing what they do.
— Hans Urs von Balthasar (summarized), II.B.3.d. The Analogy of Folly,The Glory of the Lord Volume 5:The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age[7]
In one of the notable pivots in the Praise of Folly, the book turns out to be almost an elaboratesermon on1 Corinthians 1:21-23, thefolly on the cross.
Many subsequent commentators characterize the book only as a satire against the Roman Catholic church itself, or its doctrines, rather than about the moral decisions of humans regardless of lifestyle or state: the contrast between human wisdom which is actually folly and the divine folly which is wisdom.[citation needed]
From 1541, Latin editions frequently includedCommentary of Girardus Listrius Listrius was helped by Erasmus to complete the commentary for Froben in 1515, and may have been a pseudonym for Erasmus.[8] Erasmus made many small changes toFolly between editions.
As with several of Erasmus' works, translations often had interpolations and choices of a sectarian nature that did not reflect the original. It may be from these that the summary of the book as an "attack on the Western church"[9] comes.
The Latin has "Moriae" (Folly) which is a pun and allusion to "Mariae", that Mary Magdalene had the best part (Mark 10:42).[16] Most English translations go directly to Mary here.
Moriae Encomium was hugely popular, to Erasmus' astonishment and sometimes his dismay. PopeLeo X and CardinalCisneros are said to have found it amusing. Erasmus' close friends had been initially skeptical and warned him of possible dangers to himself of being seen as attacking the establishment.[17]
Before Erasmus' death it had already passed into numerous editions and had been translated into Czech, French, and German. An English edition soon followed. It influenced the teaching ofrhetoric during the later sixteenth century, and the art ofadoxography or praise of worthless subjects became a popular exercise in Elizabethan grammar schools.[18] A copy of theBasel edition of 1515/16 was illustrated with pen and inkdrawings byHans Holbein the Younger.[19] These are the most famous illustrations ofIn Praise of Folly.
Its role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation[4] stems from its supposed criticism of the practices of the Church and its political allies.[20]
Erasmus subsequently wrote that he almost regretted writing it, such had been the trouble it had caused him. But this trouble did not come from the satirized princes, popes, bishops, abbots, cardinals, famous scholars, courtiers, magistrates or wives, but from certain theologians.[21]
It has been called "a notoriously difficult text" to analyse.[22]
| Original works |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Translations |
| |
| Related topics | ||
