"The Praise of Folly" (Encomium Moriae)^518 was written on a journey from Italy to England,
and finished in the house of his congenial friend, Sir Thomas More (whose name in Greek means
"Fool"), as a jeu d’esprit, in the manner of his favorite Lucian. It introduces Folly personified as a
goddess, in ironical praise of the merits, and indirect ridicule of the perversities, of different classes
of society. It abounds in irony, wit, and humor, in keen observations of men and things, and contains
his philosophy of life. The wise man is the most miserable of men, as is proved by the case of
Socrates, who only succeeded in making himself ridiculous; while the fool is the happiest man, has
no fear of death or hell, no tortures of conscience, tells always the truth, and is indispensable to the
greatest of monarchs, who cannot even dine without him. In conclusion Erasmus, rather irreverently,
quotes Scripture proofs in praise of folly. Pope Leo X. read and enjoyed the, book from beginning
to end. Holbein illustrated it with humorous pictures, which are still preserved in Basel.
In his equally popular "Colloquies" (Colloquia Familiaria), begun in 1519, and enlarged in
numerous editions, Erasmus aims to make better scholars and better men, as he says in his dedication
to John Erasmius Froben (the son of his friend and publisher).^519 He gives instruction for Latin
conversation, describes the good and bad manners of the times, and ventilates his views on a variety
of interesting topics, such as courtesy in saluting, rash vows a soldier’s life, scholastic studies, the
profane feast, a lover and maiden, the virgin opposed to matrimony, the penitent virgin, the uneasy
wife, the shipwreck, rich beggars, the alchemist, etc. The "Colloquies" are, next to the "Praise of
Folly," his most characteristic work, and, like it, abound in delicate humor, keen irony, biting satire.
He pays a glowing tribute to Cicero, and calls him "sanctum illud pectus afflatum coelesti numine;"
and in the same conversation occurs the famous passage already referred to, "Sancte Socrates, ora
pro nobis." He shows his sympathy with the cause of Reuchlin in the dialogue Apotheosis Reuchlini
Capnionis, by describing a vision in which the persecuted Hebrew scholar (who died June 22, 1522)
was welcomed in heaven by St. Jerome, and, without leave of the Pope, enrolled in the number of
saints. But during Reuchlin’s life he had kept neutral in the Dominican quarrel about Reuchlin’s
orthodoxy. He is very severe on "the coarse, over-fed monks," and indulges too freely in insinuations
which offend modern taste.^520 He attacks war, which he hated even more than monkery; and in his
description of a reckless, extravagant, debauched, sick, poor and wretched soldier, he took unchristian
revenge of Ulrich von Hutten after his miserable death. In the dialogue, "Unequal Marriage," he
paints him in the darkest colors as an abandoned roué. He gives an amusing description of a German
inn, which makes one thankful for the progress of modern civilization. The bedrooms, he says, are
rightly so called; for they contain nothing but a bed; and the cleanliness is on a par with the rest of
(^518) Μωρίασ ̓Εγκώμιον, id est Stultitiae Laus, first printed 1510 or 1511. Op. IV. 405-507. There is a neat edition of the Encomium and
the Colloquia by Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1829. Drummond (I. 184 sqq.) gives a good summary of the contents.
(^519) The work which appeared in 1518 under this title, with a preface of Rhenanus, was disclaimed by Erasmus, except some portions
which he had dictated more than twenty years previously to a pupil in Paris by way of amusement. He compared it to an ass in a lion’s
skin. The Colloquia are printed in Opera, I. 624-908. I have an edition cum notis selectis variorum accurante Corn. Schrevelio. Lugd.,
Bat. Bailey’s translation, London, 1724, republished 1878, reproduces in racy colloquial English the idiomatic and proverbial Latinisms
of the original.
(^520) In the dialogue Virgoμισόγαμος, the maiden Catharine, who had resolved to become a nun, is advised by her lover Eubulus that
she may keep her chastity more safely at home; for the monks were by no means all " eunuchs,"but often do all they can to deserve their
name " fathers."("Patres vocantur, ac frequenter efficiunt, ut hoc nomen vere competat in ipsos.") She is also told that " all are not virgins
who wear the veil, unless there be many in our days who share the pecular privilege of the Virgin Mary, of being a virgin after childbirth."The
maiden admits the force of her lover’s arguments, but refuses to be convinced. In the colloquy that follows, entitled Virgo poenitens, she
acknowledges the wisdom of the advice when it was too late. She had scarcely been twelve days in the nunnery before she entreated her
mother, and then her father, to take her home if they wished to save her life.