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The Metamorphoses of Moria: Structure and Meaning in The Praise of Folly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2020

Wayne A. Rebhorn
Wayne A. Rebhorn*
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
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Abstract

Following Moria's metamorphoses, Erasmus' Praise falls into three sections whose interrelationships generate the total meaning of the work. Moving from section to section, Folly leads her auditors through a dialectic of conversion. At first ironic, Folly is the goddess of metamorphosis, a variant of Circe, offering men her gift of pleasurable illusion. She wants them to accept life as a comic play and attacks the “Stoic” for attempting self-divinization while rejecting the play of life. She argues that her power can make men happy in Plato's cave. But in the satirical middle section, Folly betrays them by showing them the real tragedy of their lot. While revealing that one cannot separate lifepreserving, pleasurable folly from destructive madness, by her transformation into a “Stoic” truth-teller, Folly prevents men from placing their faith in her benevolence. Thus, in the final section, she turns with them to Christian folly, the faith that leads men out of Plato's cave to God's unchanging, benevolent reality. Folly's final, ecstatic vision gives her followers a transcendent perspective redefining and including the comitragic visions of the first two sections.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , May 1974 , pp. 463 - 476
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1974

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References

Note 1 in page 474 “The Folly of Erasmus,” introd. to The Praise of Folly, trans. Hoyt Hopewell Hudson (New York: Random, 1941), pp. xiv-xv (cited below simply as Praise, followed by the appropriate page number); and Walter Kaiser, Praisers of Folly (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard Univ. Press, 1963), pp. 46–50.

Note 2 in page 474 Leonard F. Dean, “The Praise of Folly and Its Background,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Praise of Folly, ed. Kathleen Williams (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969), p. 57; and Preserved Smith, “The Praise of Folly,” in the same vol., p. 16.

Note 3 in page 474 Enid Welsford, “The Praise of Folly and the Tradition of the Fool,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations, p. 104; Hudson, Praise, p. xxv; Kaiser, pp. 85–90; Rosalie L. Colie, Paradoxia Epidemica (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1966), pp. 15–19; and Johan Huizinga, Erasmus and the Age of Reformation (New York: Harper, 1957), p. 74.

Note 4 in page 474 Hudson says : “We have, in a word, a compendium of satires and comedies [in the Praise], with no one of them developed at full length. Not even the figure of Folly is consistently or clearly imagined. An author who was more of a poet than Erasmus would have given her at once more depth, definition, and integrity” (Praise, p. xxv). The shifting meanings and attitudes in Erasmus' work have so confused one critic that he finds no unity there at all and denies it the title of masterpiece. See A. E. Douglas, “Erasmus as a Satirist,” in Erasmus, ed. T. A. Dorey (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1970), pp. 47–49.

Note 5 in page 474 Kaiser, pp. 85–87. Elsewhere, Kaiser suggests that the lesser excellence of Erasmus' satire on monks and priests and princes may be attributed to the possibility that this section was an afterthought, added at the prompting of friends after the Praise was complete (p. 50). Hence, Kaiser would imply that the middle section was somehow basically irrelevant to Erasmus' original conception.

Note 6 in page 474 Praise, p. 7. Note that Hudson makes two sentences out of Folly's one: “Utcumque de me vulgo mortales loquuntur, neque enim sum nescia, quam male audiat Stultitia etiam apud stultissimos, tamen hanc esse, hanc, inquam, esse unam, quae meo numine Deos atque homines exhilaro, vel illud abunde magnum est argumentum, quod simulatque in hunc coetum frequentissimum dictura prodii, sic repente omnium vultus nova quadam atque insolita hilaritate enituerunt, sic subito frontem expor-rexistis, sic laeto quodam & amabili applausistis risu, ut mihi profecto quotquot undique praesentes intueor, pariter Deorum Homericorum nectare non sine nepenthe temulenti esse videamini, cum antehac tristes ac solliciti sederitis, perinde quasi nuper e Trophonii specu reversi.” From Desiderius Erasmus, Encomium Moriae, in Opera Omnia, ed. J. Clericus (Lugduni Batavorum, 1703–06), iv, 405A-405C. (Future citations to this edition will use the abbreviation EM, followed by the appropriate column number. When possible, such references will follow material cited in the text.)

Note 7 in page 474 Praise, pp. 19–20. EM, 415B: “Eant nunc stultissimi mortales, & Medeas, Circes, Veneres, Auroras, & fontem, nescio quern, requirant, quo sibi juventam restituant, cum id sola praestare & possem & soleam.”

Note 8 in page 474 EM, 411C-411D: “Nunc, ne cui sine causa videar mihi Deae nomen usurpare, quantis commoditatibus Deos simul & homines adficiam, quamque lateTneum pateat numen arrectis auribus accipite. Etenim si non inscite scripsit quidam, hoc demum esse Deum, juvare mortales, & si merito in Deorum senatum adsciti sunt, qui vinum, aut frumentum aut unam aliquam hujusmodi commodi-tatem mortalibus ostenderunt, cur non ego jure, Deorum omnium ä??a dicar, habearque, quae una omnibus largior omnia?”

Note 9 in page 474 Praise, p. 7. EM, 405C-406A: “Caeterum quemad-modum fieri consuevit, ut cum primum sol formosum illud & aureum os terris ostenderit, aut ubi post asperam hiemem, novum ver blandis adspirarit Favoniis, protinus nova rebus omnibus facies, novus color ac plane juventa quaedam redeat, ita vobis me conspecta, mox alius accessit vultus.”

Note 10 in page 474 EM, 452A-452B: “Proinde cum inter multas Bacchi laudes, illud habeatur, ut est primarium, quod animi curas eluat, idque ad exiguum modo tempus, nam simulatque villum edormieris, protinus albis, ut ajunt, quadrigis re-currunt animi molestiae: quanto meum beneficium cum plenius, turn praesentius, quae perpétua quadam ebrietate, mentem gaudiis, delitiis, tripudiis, expleo, idque nullo negotio ?”

Note 11 in page 474 EM, 418C: “Alioqui undenam horror ille formae, hispida cutis, & barbae sylva, plane senile quoddam in viro, nisi a prudentiae vitio, cum foeminarum semper laeves malae, vox semper exilis, cutis mollicula, quasi perpetuam quamdam adolescentiam imitentur?”

Note 12 in page 474 Praise, p. 19. EM, 414C: “ne esset quidem ullum senium, verum perpétua juventa fruerentur felices.” Folly repeats her claim a little later, EM, 415C: “Meae sunt herbae, si quae sunt, mea precamina, meus ille fons, qui non solum revocat elapsam adolescentiam, sed quod est optabilius, perpetuam servat.”

Note 13 in page 474 It should be evident that my analysis of the character of Folly's audience in no way disputes Hudson's suggestion that “Erasmus had in mind a gathering in a college hall, before which a ‘senior sophister,‘ or even a distinguished visiting scholar, might well appear with a learned declamation” (Praise, p. xv).

Note 14 in page 474 Praise, p. 28. EM, 421A-421C: “In summa, usque adeo nulla societas, nulla vitae conjunctio sine me vel jucunda, vel stabilis esse potest, ut nec populus Principem, nec servum herus, nec heram pedissequa, nec discipulum praeceptor, nec amicus amicum, nec maritum uxor, nec locator conductorem, nec contubernalis contubernalem, nec convictor convictorem diutius ferat, nisi vicissim inter sese nunc errent, nunc adulentur, nunc prudentes con-niveant, nunc aliquo stultitiae melle sese deliniant.”

Note 15 in page 474 Praise, p. 36. EM, 428A-428B: “Principio constat res omneis humanas, velut Alcibiadis Silenos, binas habere facies nimium inter sese dissimiles. Adeo ut quod prima, ut ajunt, fronte mors est, si interius inspicias, vita sit: contra quod vita, mors: quod formosum, deforme: quod doctum, indoctum: . . . breviter omnia repente versa reperies, si Silenum aperueris.”

Note 16 in page 474 Praise, p. 37. EM, 428C-428D: “Adumbrata quidem omnia, sed haec fabula non aliter agitur.”

Note 17 in page 475 Dean suggests the analogy of drama whose meaning is greater than the sum of its characters' separate points of view. See Dean, p. 58.

Note 18 in page 475 See Rabelais's Tiers livre, Chs. iii-v.

Note 19 in page 475 EM, 428D-429A: “Hic si mihi sapiens aliquis coelo delapsus subito exoriatur, clamitetque hunc quern omnes ut Deum ac dominum suspiciunt, nec hominem esse, quod pecudum ritu ducatur affectibus, servum esse infimum, quod tarn multis, tamque foedis dominis sponte serviat.”

Note 20 in page 475 EM, 438E-439A: “Finge quod huic [morioni] op-ponas exemplar sapientiae, hominem qui totam pueritiam atque adolescentiam in perdiscendis disciplinis contriverit, & suavissimam vitae partem, perpetuis vigiliis, curis, sudoribus perdiderit, ne in reliqua quidem omni vita vel tantillum voluptatis degustarit, semper parais, pauper, tristis, tetricus, sibi ipsi iniquus ac durus, alîis gravus & invisus, pallore, macte, valetudine, lippitudine, confectus senio, canitieque multo ante diem contracta, ante diem fugiens e vita. Quamquam quid refert quando moriatur istiusmodi, qui numquam vixerit?”

Note 21 in page 475 See Kaiser, pp. 42–45.

Note 22 in page 475 EM, 409A. See Kaiser's comments on this passage, p. 45.

Note 23 in page 475 See Thomas M. Greene's analysis of the humanists' faith in man's ability to transform himself beyond his natural limits: “The Flexibility of the Self in Renaissance Literature,” in The Disciplines of Criticism, ed. Peter Demetz, Thomas M. Greene, and Lowry Nelson, Jr. (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1968), pp. 249–56.

Note 24 in page 475 Giovanni Pico délia Mirandola, De Hominis Dignitate, Heptaplus, de Ente et Uno, ed. Eugenio Garin (Firenze: Vallecchi Editore, 1942), p. 106: “Poteris in inferiora quae sunt bruta degenerare; poteris in superiora quae sunt divina ex tui animi sententia regenerari.”

Note 25 in page 475 Desiderius Erasmus, Declamatio de Pueris Statim ac Liberaliter Instituendis, ed. Jean-Claude Margolin (Genève: Librairie Droz, 1966), p. 391: “Natura quum tibi dat filium, nihil aliud tradit quam rudem massam. … Si cesses, feram habes; si advigiles, numen, ut ita loquar, habes.”

Note 26 in page 475 Praise, p. 47. EM, 436C: “Ut igitur inter mortales, ii longissime absunt a felicitate, qui sapientiae student, nimirum hoc ipso bis stulti, quod homines nati cum sint, tamen obliti conditionis suae Deorum immortalium vitam affectant, & Gigantum exemplo, disciplinarum machinis, naturae bellum inferunt, ita quam minime miseri videntur ii, qui ad brutorum ingenium stultitiamque quam proxime accedunt, neque quidquam ultra hominem moliuntur.”

Note 27 in page 475 See A. Bartlett Giamatti, The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1966), pp. 3–4, 67–83, et passim.

Note 28 in page 475 Praise, p. 44. EM, 433D: “…simplex ilia aurei seculi gens, nullis armata disciplinis, solo naturae ductu, nstinctuque vivebat.” Cf. Folly's description of conditions n her birthplace, the Fortunate Isles (EM, 410B): “In luibus neque labor, neque senium, neque morbus est alius, nec usquam hi agris asphodelus, malva, squilla, upinumve, aut faba, aut aliud hoc genus nugarum con-ipicitur. Sed passim oculis, simulque naribus adblandiuntur noly, panace, nepenthes, amaracus, ambrosia, lotus, rosa, iola, Hyacinthus, Adonidis hortuli.”

Note 29 in page 475 Folly declares her fools “numquam profecto senectutis incommodum ullum sensuri, nisi nonnihil, ut fit, sapien-tum contagio inficerentur” (EM, 415A).

Note 30 in page 475 I italicize and use my own translation here to stress the important imagery obscured in Hudson's less literal rendering. Yet no English translation can really duplicate Erasmus' subtle use of “malum” and “serpat” in this clause, “ne malum hoc sapientiae inter mortaleà latius serpat” (EM, 423D).

Note 31 in page 475 Praise, p. 41. EM, 431C: “Verum ego partim per ignorantiam, partim per incogitantiam, nonnumquam per oblivionem malorum, aliquando spem bonorum, aliquoties nonnihil mellis voluptatibus adspergens, ita tantis in malis succurro, ut ne turn quidem libeat vitam relinquere, cum exacto Parcarum staminé ipsa jam dudum eos re-linquit vita.”

Note 32 in page 475 EM, 450C: “Nam rerum humanarum tanta est obscuritas, varietasque, ut nihil dilucide sciri possit, quemadmodum recte dictum est ab Academicis meis, inter Philosophos quam minimum insolentibus. Aut si quid sciri potest, id non raro officit etiam vitae jucunditati.”

Note 33 in page 475 EM, 451D: “Num quid interesse censetis inter eos, qui in specu illo Platonico variarum rerum umbras ac simulacra demirantur, modo nihil desiderent, neque minus sibi placeant? & sapientem ilium qui specum egressus, veras res adspicit?”

Note 34 in page 475 Praise, p. 64. EM, 451D-452A: “Quod si Micyllo Lucianico divis illud & aureum somnium perpetuo som-niare licuisset, nihil erat cur aliam optaret felicitatem.”

Note 36 in page 475 Praise, p. 68. EM, 455A-455B: “Quin etiam incredibile sit dictu, quos ludos, quas delitias, homunculi quotidie praebeant Superis.. . . Nec est aliud spectaculum illis suavius. Deum immortalem ! quod theatrum est illud, quam varius stultorum tumultus ? . . . Hie deperit mulierculam, & quo minus adamatur, hoc amat impotentius. llle dotem ducit, non uxorem. Illie sponsam suam prostituit. Alius zelotypus velut Argus observat. Hic in luctu, papae, quam stulta dicit facitque? conductis etiam velut histrionibus, qui luctus fabulam peragant.”

Note 36 in page 475 Praise, p. 70. EM, 456B-457A: “In summa, si mor-talium innumerabiles tumultus, e Luna, quemadmodum Menippus olim, despicias, putes te muscarum, aut culicum videre turbam inter se rixantium, bellantium, insidiantium, rapientium, ludentium, lascivientium, nascentium, caden-tium, morientium. Neque satis credi potest, quos motus, quas tragoedias ciat tantulum animalculum, tamque mox periturum. Nam aliquoties vel levis belli, seu pestilentiae procella, multi simul millia rapit ac dissipat.”

Note 37 in page 475 EM, 480C: “Haec gestamina si Princeps cum sua vita conferret, equidem futurum arbitror, ut plane pudescat ornatus sui, vereaturque ne quis nasutus interpres, totum hunc tragicum cultum, in risum, jocumque vertat.”

Note 38 in page 475 Douglas, p. 47; Hudson, Praise, p. xxvi; Huizinga, p. 74.

Note 39 in page 475 For a thorough discussion of Erasmus' writings on war, see Robert P. Adams, The Better Part of Valor: More, Erasmus, Colet, and Vives on Humanism, War, and Peace, 1496–1535 (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 1962), pp. 44–52, et passim.

Note 40 in page 475 My translation for EM, 458B: “… quae protinus tragoediae, quae digladiationes, quae convitia, quae in-vectivae?”

Note 11 in page 476 Praise, p. 103. EM, 486A: “Verum non est hujus instituti, Pontificum ac Sacerdotum vitam excutere, ne cui videar satyram texere, non encomium recitare, neve quis existimet bonos Principes a me taxari, dum malos laudo.”

Note 42 in page 476 Praise, p. 114. EM, 496A: “stulti propter Christum.” See i Cor.iv.10.

Note 43 in page 476 Praise, p. 114. EM, 496B: “Qui videtur esse sapiens inter vos, stultus fiat, ut sit sapiens.”

Note 44 in page 476 EM, 493C: “Cum tota Christi doctrina, nihil aliud inculcet, quam mansuetudinem, tolerantiam, vitae con-temptum, cui non perspicuum sit, quid hoc loco sentiat?”

Note 46 in page 476 Praise, pp. 116–17. EM, 498B: “… rerum stupidarum ve sensu carentium, soloque naturae ductu, nulla arte, nulla sollicitudine, vitam agentium. Praeterea cum vetat esse sollicitos, qua essent apud Praesides oratione usuri, cumque interdicit, ne scrutentur tempora vel momenta temporum, videlicet, ne quid fiderent suae prudentiae, sed totis animis ex se penderent.”

Note 46 in page 476 See his letter to Martin Dorp, in Desiderius Erasmus, Opus Epistolarum, ed. P. S. Allen (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1906–58), ii, 93.

Note 47 in page 476 Desiderius Erasmus, Opera Omnia, v, 141E-141F: “Hoc Philosophiae genus in affectibus situm verius, quam in syllogismis, vita est magis quam disputatio, afflatus potius quam eruditio, transformatio magis quam ratio.”

Note 48 in page 476 Opera Omnia, v, 141E: “Quid autem aliud est Christi Philosophia, quam ipse renascentiam vocat, quam in-stauratio bene conditae naturae?”

Note 49 in page 476 Barbara Swain, Fools and Folly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1932), p. 142.

Note 50 in page 476 Praise, pp. 123–24. EM, 503C-504A: “Tamen quoniam piorum vita nihil aliud est, quam illius vitae meditatio, ac velut umbra quaedam, fit ut praemii quoque illius aliquando gustum aut ardorem aliquem sentiant.”

Note 51 in page 476 Erich Auerbach, “Figura,” in Scenes from the Drama of European Literature (New York : Meridian, 1959), p. 48.

Note 52 in page 476 François Rabelais, Œuvres complètes, ed. Jacques Boulenger and Lucien Scheler, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1955), p. 883.