August 16, 2024
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
The Summer Quarterly Discussion on Erasmus covered a lot of territory. Participants brought a wealth of knowledge which we used to explore Erasmus’ language, satire, use of myth and religion, and social critique.
One of the questions that continues to interest me is why Erasmus uses a mythological figure to discuss religion. Folly goes through great pains to link herself to the Greek pantheon. Born in the Fortunate Islands, she is daughter to Plutus (riches). Folly proudly names her nurse-maids as two nymphs: Drunkenness (daughter of Bacchus) and Ignorance (daughter of Pan). She concludes with an explanation of all the joys of her homeland. All things grow effortlessly, children do not cry, but smile and laugh. Pleasure is everywhere. She claims that her life contains more joy than those gods on Mt. Olympus or the humans on earth.
Clearly, happiness is of the utmost importance for Folly. In fact, near the beginning of the book, she asks the audience: “Can that be called life where you take away pleasure?” Therefore, she argues that her birth and training are best suited to make human life better. Moreover, she already does enhance human life, even without their awareness (part of human’s folly, I suppose). She never demands recompense, recognition, or devotion. Yet, here she is on stage professing her gifts to humankind.
First, she describes the ridiculous nature of humans, such as the way we overlook trifles in marriage, or the way that we return to a form of innocence in old age, or the way that humans pursue victory, conquest, and fame. Truly, the list of human follies is long and yet, she maintains that these nonsensical traits keep us happy. Of course, if we believe her, then we owe all of our happiness (even in pursuit of the whimsical) to Folly. In the beginning, her playful tone underscores the humor of human folly.
Yet, as we move more solidly into Erasmus’ piece, Folly’s tone begins to shift. Is Folly always pleasing, light-hearted, and silly? We must return to the question of how her Greek origins enable her to make fun of human nature at all, and more specifically, the folly of religious figures. Erasmus seems to use Folly to develop an argument in favor of virtue, though we have trouble finding an example of a virtuous character.
The tone turns again in the final third of the book. It becomes much more pointed, poignant, and serious. Folly (though barely a shade now covers the true voice of Erasmus) finds fault with hypocrisy in the church and the way that translators have molded the Bible into whatever will suit their needs (be it greed, pleasure, power, etc.). Erasmus relies heavily on the teachings of Saint Paul, and condemns other religious figures who avoid the text in favor of their own interpretations.
Folly condemns those who refashion the Bible when she says:
“And how great a happiness is this, think you? while, as if Holy Writ were a nose of wax, they fashion and refashion it according to their pleasure; while they require that their own conclusions, subscribed by two or three Schoolmen, be accounted greater than Solon’s laws and preferred before the papal decretals; while, as censors of the world, they force everyone to a recantation that differs but a hair’s breadth from the least of their explicit or implicit determinations. And those too they pronounce like oracles. This proposition is scandalous; this irreverent; this has a smack of heresy; this no very good sound: so that neither baptism, nor the Gospel, nor Paul, nor Peter, nor St. Jerome, nor St. Augustine, no nor most Aristotelian Thomas himself can make a man a Christian, without these bachelors too be pleased to give him his grace. And the like in their subtlety in judging; for who would think he were no Christian that should say these two speeches ‘matula putes’ and ‘matula putet,’ or ‘ollae fervere’ and ‘ollam fervere’ were not both good Latin, unless their wisdoms had taught us the contrary? who had delivered the church from such mists of error, which yet no one ever met with, had they not come out with some university seal for it? And are they not most happy while they do these things?”
She finds fault with grammarians, translators, all layers of church officials, the educated, and elitists. All these figures argue over semantics but seem to forget what it means to be human. In other words, they have overlooked their own humble, poor, and uneducated audience. Erasmus clearly condemns this hypocrisy and his voice overtakes Folly’s thin veneer when the satire begins to bite.
Ironically, Erasmus abruptly concludes the piece by attributing all to Folly. She says:
“But I forget myself and run beyond my bounds. Though yet, if I shall seem to have spoken anything more boldly or impertinently than I ought, be pleased to consider that not only Folly but a woman said it; remembering in the meantime that Greek proverb, ‘Sometimes a fool may speak a word in season,’ unless perhaps you expect an epilogue, but give me leave to tell you you are mistaken if you think I remember anything of what I have said, having foolishly bolted out such a hodgepodge of words. ‘Tis an old proverb, ‘I hate one that remembers what’s done over the cup.’ This is a new one of my own making: I hate a man that remembers what he hears. Wherefore farewell, clap your hands, live and drink lustily, my most excellent disciples of Folly.”
As if to wash his hands of any potential repercussions (and I have to imagine there would have been some unfavorable comments from the clergy), he ascribes the whole forty pages to a ditsy Greek goddess. I can only conclude that, as with all criticism, it is usually best done from the outside. Perhaps Erasmus thought that an outsider (someone from the Greek pantheon) would best be able to spell out the problems of Christianity.
This post only explores a fraction of some of the questions that we raised during our Quarterly Discussion. Many thanks to the brave souls who read this entire book for this conversation. The October Quarterly Discussion is already open as well. Consider reading some of the Psalms and Proverbs with us. We have space available on either October 21, 24, or 26. Learn more at hmu.edu. For more information or to register, please email Alissa at as****@*mu.edu.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Naci Yavuz
