Praise Of Folly

“[Y]ou can find a good many people whose religious sense is so distorted that they find the most serious blasphemies against Christ more bearable than the slightest joke on pope or prince, especially if it touches their daily bread.” 

In the Prefatory Letter, Erasmus hints at his critique of churchmen as overly invested in the ecclesiastical power structure. This misplaced enthusiasm leads churchmen to forget their core purpose, namely, to serve Christ. Such clerics are in holy orders mainly for themselves and their own well-being.

“I am the one—and indeed the only one—whose divine powers can gladden the hearts of gods and men.” 

On the very first page of the Declamation, Folly declares her power to make human beings happy, which she will expand upon throughout the book. The “divine” nature of her powers will become more explicit in the final sections of the book.

“The idea is, I suppose, that those who can understand are better pleased with themselves, and those who can’t are all the more lost in admiration.” 

Folly makes sport of rhetoricians, writers, and speechmakers who try to sound impressive by using foreign words and expressions. This passage is one of a number where Erasmus pokes fun at himself, as his own writing is highly sophisticated and often makes use of Greek words and sayings.

“What would this life be, or would it seem worth calling life at all, if its pleasure was taken away?” 

Folly argues for the importance of pleasure in life and that most pleasure is due to her existence. She declares that folly is a “seasoning” that makes life better and easier, and she proceeds to offer examples of her ability to improve life, especially in the contexts of the innocence of youth and the blissful ignorance of old age.

“Folly is the one thing which can halt fleeting youth and ward off the relentless advance of old age.” 

In this passage, Folly offers an example of how she improves life. She gives youths the most desirable qualities like innocence, ignorance, and freedom from care, while she returns old people to a “second childhood” in which they enjoy similar qualities.

“So Jupiter, not wanting man’s life to be wholly gloomy and grim, has bestowed far more passion than reason—you could reckon the ratio as twenty-four to one.” 

Folly equates passion with folly and reason with wisdom in order to bolster her argument. People far more naturally and frequently act according to their passions than according to well-considered arguments, proving that folly rules over the greater part of humanity.

“In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me.” 

Folly believes that she is present in most human relationships by providing opportunities for flattery (either of one’s own self or of others) and delusions that shield people from harsh realities and allow relationships to continue without conflict.

“What is so foolish as self-satisfaction and self-admiration?” 

Folly argues that self-love fuels many human actions, including good deeds, which often result from high opinions of ones’ selves. Self-love or self-esteem is a “salt of life” (36) that allows many necessary accomplishments in the world, such as works of art and medicine.

“And of all the deeds which win praise, isn’t war the seed and source?”

War is one of the greatest of all follies, since it creates senseless death and destruction. As well, skill in warfare is highly esteemed yet it tends to come from the non-learned class. Erasmus is known for his peace-loving nature and tended to seek the middle ground in conflicts, including the religious strife leading to the Reformation.

“Now, what else is the whole life of man but a sort of play?” 

Folly presents life as a comedy in which all humans must all play a part. People play various roles in their occupations or stations in life and must maintain certain pretenses in order to survive. People can even play different roles at different times, like an actor changing masks.

“However, I am here, and with a mixture of ignorance and thoughtlessness, often with forgetfulness when things are bad, or sometimes hope of better things, with a sprinkling too of honeyed pleasures, I bring help in miseries like these.”

Folly presents herself as a goddess who helps human beings cope with distress throughout life. She softens troubles with blissful ignorance, senility, or heedless pleasure.

“What’s the harm in the whole audience hissing you if you clap yourself?” 

Folly’s doctrine asserts that a happy illusion is preferable to the knowledge of a painful truth; sometimes, it is better to live in blissful ignorance.

“Heavens above, doesn’t the happiest group of people comprise those popularly called idiots, fools, nitwits, simpletons—all splendid names according to my way of thinking?”

Folly argues that the members if this group are happier than others considered more learned or intelligent because they are carefree. These individuals live without guilt or fear of death, and they are not troubled by strong desires or ambitions. Such people often functioned as court fools and entertainers in Erasmus’ day, roles Folly names as essential.

“Finally, man’s mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.” 

Folly claims that human beings more readily listen to ideas and reports that are sensational or entertaining, disregarding words that are serious or learned. This idea seems to conflict with the medieval Catholic argument that man’s mind was naturally oriented toward truth; Folly speaks of the way man behaves in his fallen state.

“If anyone has a particularly ugly wife who has the power to rival Venus in her husband’s eyes, isn’t it just the same as if she were genuinely beautiful?” 

In this passage, the reader finds another example of Folly’s exaltation of personal illusion over facts and reality. To Erasmus, the beauty in the eye of the beholder is the truest beauty, and all that really matters for an individual’s happiness is that person’s attitude toward life and various life experiences.

“Not every region produces the mellow wine of good quality which can banish care and flow with rich hopes.”

Folly expresses poetically her nature as a goddess who improves the lives of humans, freeing the minds of individuals from suffering and care. This relief is more lasting than the relief conferred by Bacchus through the means of wine and other forms of pleasure, because Folly’s improvements do not wear off as easily.

“I fancy I can count as many statues set up to me as there are men who wear my living image in their faces, whether willingly or not.” 

With humorous irony, Folly portrays herself as the most worshipped of all gods. Human beings are themselves equivalent to statues erected in honor of her, because they all follow her teachings in their lives. Such “living images” are better than icons made of stone and wood, and the foolish actions of humans are a better tribute to Folly than symbolic sacrifices.

“Heavens, what a farce it is, what a motley crowd of fools!” 

Folly makes this exclamation as a preface to her catalog of human foolishness. She depicts herself as sitting among the gods looking down from heaven upon humanity and all its activities—a “show” which, she says, “they enjoy more than anything” (76).

“Some too are rich only in their prayers, and live on pleasant dreams, which they find enough for happiness.” 

Folly offers this example of individuals who imagine themselves wealthy as a contrast to people who actively pursue wealth. This is an example of a person who thrives on happy illusions and thoughts without seeking actual success.

“They know nothing at all, yet they claim to know everything.” 

This criticism refers to philosophers, each of whom believes himself to possess the truth while preaching confusing and contradictory doctrines. Although philosophers cloak themselves in pompous authority, they argue among themselves on every point, revealing their lack of certainty.

“They are happy too while they’re depicting everything in hell down to the last detail, as if they’d spent several years there…” 

According to this description, theologians preach about hellfire with great zeal. Folly ironically implies that they must have been to Hell themselves to be able to describe it so vividly. She goes on to talk of how the theologians likewise describe heaven in intricate detail that no mortal person could possibly know.

“But this equality applied to such a diversity of persons and temperaments will only result in inequality, as anyone can see.” 

In this passage, Folly criticizes the enforced uniformity found in the monastic life. She implies that the expectation that diverse human beings will conform to a single strict way of life is a mistake that will inevitably fail. This passage may well reflect Erasmus’ own experience as a monk in Gouda.

“I do not acknowledge men who acknowledge their own deeds so noisily.” 

Folly imagines Christ addressing monks at the Final Judgment, condemning them for their moral vanity and their preoccupation with external religious piety. By putting these words in the mouth of Jesus himself, Erasmus produces particularly cutting satire.