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The Praise of Folly

Posté par admin
mercredi 07 décembre 2005 [n° 899]

The Praise of Folly (Greek title: Moriae Encomium, Latin: Stultitiae Laus, sometimes translated as In Praise of Folly, Dutch title: Lof der Zotheid) is an essay written in 1509 by Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in 1511.

Moriae encomium, Parisiis,
Gilles de Gourmont, 1511

Folly Makes Society Delightful

(…) “ In summa usque adeo nulla societas, nulla vitae coniunctio sine me vel iucunda, 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 conniveant, nunc aliquo stultitiae melle sese deliniant. Iam haec scio videri maxima, sed audietis maiora.”

(…) In fine, I am so necessary to the making of all society and manner of life both delightful and lasting, that neither would the people long endure their governors, nor the servant his master, nor the master his footman, nor the scholar his tutor, nor one friend another, nor the wife her husband, nor the usurer the borrower, nor a soldier his commander, nor one companion another, unless all of them had their interchangeable failings, one while flattering, other while prudently conniving, and generally sweetening one another with some small relish of folly.

Desiderius Erasmus: The Praise of Folly (Moriae Encomium), 1509 translated by John Wilson

In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466-1536)

Erasmus : praise of folly This translation first published 1971 / Translation copyright © Betty Radice, 1971

The Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus Project Gutemberg (download)

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Praise of folly : the blog

“Erasme de Rotterdam, la gloire de son temps, n’est plus de nos jours qu’un nom, reconnaissons-le. Ses oeuvres innombrables, écrites dans une langue internationale aujourd’hui oubliée, le latin des humanistes, sommeillent paisiblement dans les bibliothèques; à peine est-il encore question parmi nous d’un seul de ses ouvrages qui, tous, furent célèbres dans l’Europe entière… Son action proprement dite échappe même à notre temps et demeure cachée, comme la première pierre d’un édifice.”

Stefan ZWEIG “Erasme: grandeur et décadence d’une idée.” 1935

Praise of folly Laus stultitiæ. Encomium Moriae. Lof der Zotheid

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