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Great Authors Have made Folly Famous
What shall I say? There is no measure or end of my praises, and yet
'tis fit my oration have an end. And therefore I'll even break off;
and yet, before I do it, 'twill not be amiss if I briefly show you
that there has not been wanting even great authors that have made me
famous, both by their writings and actions, lest perhaps otherwise I
may seem to have foolishly pleased myself only, or that the lawyers
charge me that I have proved nothing. After their example,
therefore, will I allege my proofs, that is to say, nothing to the
point.
And first, every man allows his proverb, "That where a man wants
matter, he may best frame some." And to this purpose is that verse
which we teach children, "'Tis the greatest wisdom to know when and
where to counterfeit the fool." And now judge yourselves what an
excellent thing this folly is, whose very counterfeit and semblance
only has got such praise from the learned. But more candidly does that
fat plump "Epicurean bacon-hog," Horace, for so he calls himself,
bid us "mingle our purposes with folly"; and whereas he adds the
word brevem, short, perhaps to help out the verse, he might as well
have let it alone; and again, "'Tis a pleasant thing to play the
fool in the right season"; and in another place, he had rather "be
accounted a dotterel and sot than to be wise and made mouths at."
And Telemachus in Homer, whom the poet praises so much, is now and
then called nepios, fool: and by the same name, as if there were
some good fortune in it, are the tragedians wont to call boys and
striplings. And what does that sacred book of Iliads contain but a
kind of counter-scuffle between foolish kings and foolish people?
Besides, how absolute is that praise that Cicero gives of it! "All
things are full of fools." For who does not know that every good,
the more diffusive it is, by so much the better it is?
But perhaps their authority may be of small credit among
Christians. We'll therefore, if you please, support our praises with
some testimonies of Holy Writ also, in the first place,
nevertheless, having forespoke our theologians that they'll give us
leave to do it without offense. And in the next, forasmuch as we
attempt a matter of some difficulty and it may be perhaps a little too
saucy to call back again the Muses from Helicon to so great a journey,
especially in a matter they are wholly strangers to, it will be more
suitable, perhaps, while I play the divine and make my way through
such prickly quiddities, that I entreat the soul of Scotus, a thing
more bristly than either porcupine or hedgehog, to leave his scorebone
awhile and come into my breast, and then let him go whither he
pleases, or to the dogs.
I could wish also that I might change my countenance, or that I had
on the square cap and the cassock, for fear some or other should
impeach me of theft as if I had privily rifled our masters' desks in
that I have got so much divinity. But it ought not to seem so
strange if after so long and intimate an acquaintance and converse
with them I have picked up somewhat; when as that fig-tree-god Priapus
hearing his owner read certain Greek words took so much notice of them
that he got them by heart, and that cock in Lucian by having lived
long among men became at last a master of their language.
But to the point under a fortunate direction. Ecclesiastes says
in his first chapter, "The number of fools is infinite"; and when he
calls it infinite, does he not seem to comprehend all men, unless it
be some few whom yet 'tis a question whether any man ever saw? But
more ingeniously does Jeremiah in his tenth chapter confess it,
saying, "Every man is made a fool through his own wisdom"; attributing
wisdom to God alone and leaving folly to all men else, and again, "Let
not man glory in his wisdom." And why, good Jeremiah, would you not
have a man glory in his wisdom? Because, he'll say, he has none at
all.
But to return to Ecclesiastes, who, when he cries out, "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity!" what other thoughts had he, do you
believe, than that, as I said before, the life of man is nothing
else but an interlude of folly? In which he has added one voice more
to that justly received praise of Cicero's which I quoted before,
viz., "All things are full of fools." Again, that wise preacher that
said, "A fool changes as the moon, but a wise man is permanent as
the sun," what else did he hint at in it but that all mankind are
fools and the name of wise only proper to God? For by the moon
interpreters understand human nature, and by the sun, God, the only
fountain of light; with which agrees that which Christ himself in
the Gospel denies, that anyone is to be called good but one, and
that is God. And then if he is a fool that is not wise, and every good
man according to the Stoics is a wise man, it is no wonder if all
mankind be concluded under folly.
Again Solomon, Chapter 15. "Foolishness," says he, "is joy to the
fool," thereby plainly confessing that without folly there is no
pleasure in life. To which is pertinent that other, "He that increases
knowledge, increases grief; and in much understanding there is much
indignation." And does he not plainly confess as much, Chapter 7, "The
heart of the wise is where sadness is, but the heart of fools
follows mirth"? by which you see, he thought it not enough to have
learned wisdom without he had added the knowledge of me also.
And if you will not believe me, take his own words, Chapter I, "I
gave my heart to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly." Where,
by the way, 'tis worth your remark that he intended me somewhat
extraordinary that he named me last. A preacher wrote it, and this you
know is the order among churchmen, that he that is first in dignity
comes last in place, as mindful, no doubt, whatever they do in other
things, herein at least to observe the evangelical precept.
Besides, that folly is more excellent than wisdom the son of
Sirach, whoever he was, clearly witnesses, Chapter 44, whose words, so
help me, Hercules! I shall not once utter before you meet my induction
with a suitable answer, according to the manner of those in Plato that
dispute with Socrates. What things are more proper to be laid up
with care, such as are rare and precious, or such as are common and of
no account? Why do you give me no answer? Well, though you should
dissemble, the Greek proverb will answer for you, "Foul water is
thrown out of doors"; which, if any man shall be so ungracious as to
condemn, let him know 'tis Aristotle's, the god of our masters. Is
there any of you so very a fool as to leave jewels and gold in the
street? In truth, I think not; in the most secret part of your
house; nor is that enough; if there be any drawer in your iron
chests more private than other, there you lay them; but dirt you throw
out of doors. And therefore, if you so carefully lay up such things as
you value and throw away what's vile and of no worth; is it not
plain that wisdom, which he forbids a man to hide, is of less
account than folly, which he commands him to cover? Take his own
words, "Better is the man that hideth his folly than he that hideth
his wisdom."
Or what is that, when he attributes an upright mind without craft
or malice to a fool, when a wise man the while thinks no man like
himself? For so I understand that in his tenth chapter, "A fool
walking by the way, being a fool himself, supposes all men to be fools
like him." And is it not a sign of great integrity to esteem every man
as good as himself, and when there is no one that leans not too much
to other way, to be so frank yet as to divide his praises with
another? Nor was this great king ashamed of the name when he says of
himself that he is more foolish than any man. Nor did Paul, that great
doctor of the Gentiles, writing to the Corinthians, unwillingly
acknowledge it; "I speak," says he, "like a fool. I am more." As if it
could be any dishonor to excel in folly.
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