View source for In Praise of Folly

{{Short description|1509 essay by Desiderius Erasmus}}
{{redirect|In Praise of More|the album by Engineers|In Praise of More (album)}}

{{Infobox book
| italic title      = <!--(see above)-->
| name              = In Praise of Folly
| image             =L'Eloge de la Folie - composé en forme déclamation (1728) (14782268725).jpg
| image_size        = 
| border            = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Cover of a 1728 French edition, ''L'Éloge de la Folie''
| author            = [[Desiderius Erasmus]]
| audio_read_by     = 
| title_orig        = Moriae encomium
| orig_lang_code    = la
| title_working     = 
| publisher = [[Gilles de Gourmont]]
| illustrator       = 
| cover_artist      = 
| country           = [[Kingdom of France|France]]
| language          = [[Latin]]
| series            = 
| release_number    = 
| subject           = 
| genre             = [[essay]], [[theology]]
| set_in            = 
| translator        = [[Thomas Chaloner (statesman)|Thomas Chaloner]]<br>[[White Kennett]]<br>James Copner<br>[[John Wilson (playwright)|John Wilson]]<br>[[Harry Carter (typographer)|Harry Carter]]<br>[[Betty Radice]]
| publisher2        = 
| pub_date          = 1511, revised many times up to 1532
| english_pub_date  = 1549 
| published         = 
| media_type        = Print: hardback
| pages             = 
| awards            = 
| isbn              = 
| isbn_note         = 
| oclc              = 
| dewey             = 	873.04
| congress          = PA8514 .E5
| preceded_by       = [[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]
| followed_by       = [[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style]]
| native_wikisource = Moriae encomium
| wikisource        = The Praise of Folly/The Praise of Folly
| notes             = 
| exclude_cover     = 
| website           = 
}}
'''''In Praise of Folly''''', also translated as '''''The Praise of Folly''''' ({{langx|la|Stultitiae Laus}} or {{lang|la|Moriae Encomium}}), is an oration written in Latin in 1509 by [[Desiderius Erasmus]] of [[Rotterdam]] and first printed in June 1511. Inspired by previous works of the Italian [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] [[Faustino Perisauli]]'s ''De Triumpho Stultitiae'', it is a spiralling [[satire|satirical]] attack on all aspects of human life, not ignoring [[superstition]]s and religious corruption, but with a pivot into an orthodox religious purpose.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zweig |first1=Stefan |title=Erasmus And The Right To Heresy |date=1934 |pages=51–52 |url=https://archive.org/details/ZweigStefanErasmusAndTheRightToHeresy/page/n59/mode/2up |access-date=November 22, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Erasmus revised and extended his work, which, he claims, was originally written in the span of a week while sojourning with Sir [[Thomas More]] at More's house in Bucklersbury in the [[City of London]].<ref>Bucklersbury was "A short street leading from the junction of [[Cheapside]] and [[Poultry, London|Poultry]] to [[Walbrook]]. It barely exists today." [https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/6375/ source with map].</ref> The title ''Moriae Encomium'' had a punning second meaning as ''In Praise of More'' (in Greek ''moría'' translates into "''folly''").<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Müller |first=Christian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU5tQgAACAAJ |title=Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515-1532 |publisher=[[Prestel]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-3-7913-3580-3 |pages=146 |language=en}}</ref>  ''In Praise of Folly'' is considered one of the most notable works of [[the Renaissance]] and played an important role in the beginnings of the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref name=university>{{cite book | title=The University in Medieval Life, 1179–1499 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC&q=In%20Praise%20of%20Folly%20Protestant%20Reformation&pg=PA160 | page=160 | author=Janin, Hunt | publisher=McFarland | year=2008|isbn = 9780786452019}} "Although Erasmus himself would have denied it vehemently, later reformers found that ''In Praise of Folly'' had helped prepare the way for the Protestant Reformation."</ref>

==Content==
[[File:HolbeinErasmusFollymarginalia.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]]'s witty marginal drawing of Folly (1515), in a copy owned by Erasmus himself]]
''The Praise of Folly'' begins with a satirical learned [[encomium]], in which Folly praises herself, in the manner of the Greek satirist [[Lucian]] (2nd century AD), whose work Erasmus and Sir [[Thomas 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 to [[hermit]]s.

It then takes a darker tone in a series of [[oration]]s, as Folly praises self-deception and madness and moves to a satirical examination of supposedly pious but superstitious abuses of [[Catholic]] [[doctrine]] and corrupt practices by the people and priests of the contemporary [[Roman Catholic Church|church]]—to which Erasmus was ever faithful—and the folly of [[pedant]]s.{{refn|Erasmus had recently returned disappointed from Rome, where he had turned down offers of advancement in the [[Roman Curia|curia]],<ref name=Levy>{{cite book
|chapter=Introduction
|first=A. H. T.
|last=Levy
|publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]]
|year=1993
|isbn=0140446087
|title=Praise of Folly}}</ref>{{rp|xi}} }} 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 required|date=August 2024}}

Erasmus was a good friend of More, with whom he shared a taste for dry humour and other [[intellectual]] pursuits. The title ''Moriae 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 classical [[allusion]]s delivered in a style typical of the learned [[humanist]]s of the [[Renaissance]]. Folly parades as a goddess, offspring of [[Plutus]], the god of wealth and a [[nymph]], Youth. She was nursed by two other nymphs, [[Inebriation]] and [[Ignorance]]. Her faithful companions include [[Philautia]] (self-love), [[Kolakia]] (flattery), [[Lethe]] (forgetfulness), [[Misoponia]] (laziness), [[Hedone]] (pleasure), [[insanity|Anoia]] (dementia), [[Tryphé|Tryphe]] (wantonness), and two gods, [[Komos]] (intemperance) and Nigretos [[Hypnos]] (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."

{{Quote|Dante, Ockham, Eckhart cannot develop theme of folly—Erasmus’ ''Encomium Moriae'' raises folly again to [[metaphysical]] levels, a [[polemic]] against gloomy scholastic wisdom, humanist learning, and love of ''[[apatheia]]'', while (the) hallmark of [[reality]] 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.|source=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''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Spencer |first1=Mark K. |title=Analytic Table of Contents for Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Trilogy |url=https://www.academia.edu/11815080}}</ref>}}

In one of the notable pivots in the Praise of Folly, the book turns out to be almost an elaborate [[sermon]] on [[1 Corinthians]] 1:21-23, the ''folly 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|date=August 2024}}

==Translations and editions==
From 1541, Latin editions frequently included ''Commentary of Girardus Listrius'' Listrius was helped by Erasmus to complete the commentary for Froben in 1515, and may have been a pseudonym for Erasmus.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gavin |first1=J. Austin |last2=Walsh |first2=Thomas M. |title=The Praise of Folly in Context: The Commentary of Girardus Listrius |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1971 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=193–209 |doi=10.2307/2859196 |jstor=2859196 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2859196 |issn=0034-4338|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Erasmus made many small changes to ''Folly'' 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"<ref>{{cite web |title=In Praise of Folly Erasmus 1709 Edition |url=https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/moriae-encomium-or-a-panegyrick-upon-folly-written-in-latin-by-desiderius-erasmus-done-into-english-and-illustrated-with-above-fifty-curious-cuts-designd-and-drawn-by-hans-holbeine-in/ |website=Raptis Rare Books {{!}} Fine Rare and Antiquarian First Edition Books for Sale}}</ref> comes.

* Sir Thomas Chaloner (1548) ''The praise of folie. Moriæ encomium a booke made in latine by that great clerke Erasmus Roterodame. Englisshed by sir Thomas Chaloner knight.''
* Charles Patin (1676)
* John Adams (1686)<ref>{{cite web |title=The Praise of Folly, by Desiderius Erasmus |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9371/9371-h/9371-h.htm |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>
* J. Wilford, publ. (< 1722)
* W. Kennet (1735) ''Moriae Encomium, or, the Praise of Folly. Made English from the Latin of Erasmus.'' (May be same as Wilford.)
* Unknown polemicist (1876)<ref>{{cite web |title=IN PRAISE OF FOLLY, by Erasmus |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30201/30201-h/30201-h.htm |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> with start and end poems not by Erasmus. (May be a version of Kennet or Wilford.)
* Hoyt Hopewell Hudson (1941)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Henry |title=The Praise of Folly. By Desiderius Erasmus. Translated from the Latin, with an Essay & Commentary, by Hoyt Hopewell Hudson. (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1941. Pp. xl, 165. $2.50.) |journal=The American Historical Review |date=July 1942 |doi=10.1086/ahr/47.4.837 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/47/4/837/85134 |access-date=19 August 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* Hendrik Willem Van Loon (1942)
* Harry Carter (1952)<ref>{{cite web |title=Moriae encomium; or, The praise of folly |url=https://primo.getty.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay/GETTY_ALMA21117047380001551/GRI |website=primo.getty.edu |language=en}}</ref>
* R.A. Adams (1989)
* Clarence Miller (2003)<ref>{{cite web |title=The Praise of Folly |url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300097344/the-praise-of-folly/ |website=Yale University Press}}</ref>
* Betty Radice (2004)
* Charles Packard (2016) ''Folly on Folly: The Praise of Folly, a 1509 Latin prose Work, in rhymed English verse''

=== Comparative texts===
The Latin has "Moriae" (Folly) which is a pun and allusion to "Mariae", that Mary Magdalene had the best part (Mark 10:42).{{refn|According to note 147 of Radice' translation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |title=Praise of Folly |date=30 September 2004 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-0-14-192021-4 |language=en}}</ref>}} Most English translations go directly to Mary here.  

* Latin: "Primum igitur existimate, Platonem tale quiddam iam tum somniasse, cum, amantium furorem omnium felicissimum esse, scriberet. Etenim qui vehementer amat iam non in se vivit, sed in eo quod amat, quoque longius a se ipso digreditur, et in illud demigrat, hoc magis ac magis gaudet[...] Atque, haec est Moriae pars, quae non aufertur commutatione vitae, sed perficitur."  
* Chaloner: "Fyrst therfore ye must thinke, that Plato didde evin then dreame of suche a thyng, whan he wrote, that ''the passion and extreme rage of feruent lovers was to be desired and embrased, as a thing above all others most blisfull'': because that a vehement lover liveth not now in hym selfe, but rather in that that he loveth, so that the further & further a lovers hert is distraught from him selfe, to dwell with the beloved, the more and more he rejoyseth. [...] And this is ''Mary Magdalens'' porcion, whiche by chaunge of life shall not be plucked awaie, but rather be more perfitely confyrmed."
* unknown: "First, therefore, Plato dreamed somewhat of this nature when he tells us that the madness of lovers was of all other dispositions of the body most desirable; for he who is once thoroughly smitten with this passion, lives no longer within himself, but has removed his soul to the same place where he has settled his affections, and loses himself to find the object he so much dotes upon: this straying now, and wandering of a soul from its own mansion, what is it better than a plain transport of madness?  [...] This likewise is that better part which Mary chose, which shall not be taken from her, but perfected and completed by her mortal putting on immortality."
* John Wilson: "And therefore suppose that Plato dreamed of somewhat like it when he called the madness of lovers the most happy condition of all others. For he that's violently in love lives not in his own body but in the thing he loves; and by how much the farther he runs from himself into another, by so much the greater is his pleasure. [...] And this is that Mary's better part which is not taken away by change of life, but perfected."

==Reception==
''Moriae Encomium'' was hugely popular, to Erasmus' astonishment and sometimes his dismay.  Pope [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]] and Cardinal [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cisneros]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Relics of literature|last=Collett|first=Stephen|publisher=Thomas Boys.|year=1823|location=Ludgate Hill, London}}</ref>

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 of [[rhetoric]] during the later sixteenth century, and the art of [[adoxography]] or praise of worthless subjects became a popular exercise in Elizabethan grammar schools.<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles O. |last=McDonald |title=The Rhetoric of Tragedy: form in Stuart drama |location=Amherst |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=1966 }}</ref> A copy of the [[Basel]] edition of 1515/16 was illustrated with pen and ink [[drawing]]s by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wolf |first=Norbert |title=Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497/98–1543: the German Raphael |location=Cologne |publisher=Taschen |year=2004 |isbn=3822831670 |page=11 }}</ref> These are the most famous illustrations of ''In Praise of Folly''.

Its role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation<ref name=university/> stems from its supposed criticism of the practices of the Church and its political allies.<ref name=foundation>{{cite book |title=Philosophers and Religious Leaders; Volume 2 of Lives and legacies |editor1=Von Dehsen, Christian D. |editor2=Scott L. Harris | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1999 |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=25yC2ePhbXEC&q=In%20Praise%20of%20Folly%20Protestant%20Reformation&pg=PA62| isbn=9781573561525 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Erika Rummel |title=The Erasmus Reader |date=1990 |chapter=Letter to Dorp |pages=169–194 |jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-6806-4 }}</ref>

It has been called "a notoriously difficult text" to analyse.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bizzell |first1=Patricia |title="The Praise of Folly," the Women Rhetor, and Post-Modern Skepticism |journal=Rhetoric Society Quarterly |date=1992 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=7–17 |doi=10.1080/02773949209390937 |jstor=3885651 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3885651 |issn=0277-3945|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|In Praise of Folly|''In Praise of Folly''}}
{{wikisource-lang|la|Moriae encomium}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=jVREZYIG8P0C Praise of Folly, and Letter to Maarten Van Dorp, 1515]. Translated by Betty Radice. Introduction and notes by A.H.T. Levi. Penguin, 1994.
* ''The Praise of Folly''. Translated from the Latin, with an Essay & Commentary, by Hoyt Hopewell Hudson.With a new foreword by [[Anthony Grafton]]. Princeton Classics, 1969.
*[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9371 ''The Praise of Folly''], translated by John Wilson in 1668, at Project Gutenberg
*[https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3Apraise%20folly%20AND%20creator%3Aerasmus%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts ''Praise of Folly''] at Internet Archive (multiple translations)
*[https://archive.org/details/erasmusinpraiseo00erasiala ''In Praise of Folly''], with portrait, life of Erasmus, and his Epistle to Sir Thomas More. Translator not stated. 1922.
*[http://librivox.org/the-praise-of-folly-by-erasmus/ ''The Praise of Folly''], English audiobook recording at LibriVox. The Wilson translation.
*[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/erasmus/folly.html ''In Praise of Folly''] from Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The Wilson translation.


{{Desiderius Erasmus}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:In Praise of Folly}}
[[Category:1509 books]]
[[Category:1511 books]]
[[Category:Books by Desiderius Erasmus]]
[[Category:16th-century Christian texts]] 
[[Category:16th-century books in Latin]]
[[Category:Works by Dutch writers|Erasmus]]
[[Category:Philosophy essays]]
[[Category:Renaissance literature]]
[[Category:Medieval philosophical literature]] 
[[Category:Dutch satire]]
[[Category:Religious philosophical literature]]
[[Category:Thomas More]]