Praise of Folly, The

A prose satire written in Latin by Erasmus and published in 1511. In a fashion of which Lucian would have been proud, Erasmus damns by praising many forms of human folly, not even sparing contemporary theologians. This last point made his work controversial, with Martin Dorp the first to attack it in 1515, exciting responses from both Erasmus and his English friend, Thomas More. The work was an extraordinary best-seller: 42 Latin editions appeared in Erasmus's lifetime and it was soon translated into French (1520), German (1520), and English (1549).

It was written in its earliest form at the London home of Thomas More, and its Latin title – Encomium Moriae – is a pun on More's name, moros being ‘fool’ in Greek.