Erasmi Roterodami Encomium Moriae

Erasmi Roterodami Encomium Moriae

In Praise of Folly by Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536) was first published under a double title: the Latinized Greek Moriae encomium and the Latin Laus stultitiae. It is a satire inspired by De triumpho stultitiae or The Triumph of Stupidity, which was written between 1480 and 1490 by Italian humanist Faustino Perisauli (1450–1523). Both works are highly critical of the more ridiculous religious, superstitious, and societal conventions of the period. As such, it was an important and influential work during the early days of the Protestant Reformation. Erasmus himself was astonished and even sometimes dismayed by the success of his work and feared reprisals, but even Pope Leo X (1475–1521) is reported to have been amused by it. Translated into numerous languages, it became a popular text for teaching rhetoric, which enjoyed a revival during the 16th century, and influenced the art of adoxography, an elegant and refined style of writing addressing trivial or base subjects, which was a common exercise in Elizabethan grammar schools.

A Renaissance Satire

The opening encomium of is modeled on the 2nd century Greek satirist Lucian, whose work had recently been translated by Erasmus and his friend Sir Thomas More (1478–1535). It is followed by a series of orations that are darker in tone as Folly examines the superstition, corruption, and doctrinal abuses of the Catholic Church and the idiocy of pedants – those who make an ostentatious and arrogant show of learning. Despite his piety and faithfulness to the Church, Erasmus had a profound feeling of disappointment after returning from Rome, where he had turned down offers of advancement in the corrupt and bloated curia. The work is filled with allusions to classical antiquity, e.g. Folly is presented as the divine offspring of Plutus, the goddess of wealth, and Youth, a nymph. Folly is nursed by his fellow nymphs Inebriation and Ignorance. Her companions are Pleasure, Dementia, Wantonness, Intemperance, and Heavy Sleep. Unsurprisingly, Folly never stops praising herself and states that in the world "you'll find nothing frolic or fortunate that it owes not to me." In Praise of Folly ends with a Christian lesson in humility: "No Man is wise at all Times, or is without his blind Side."