Chapters 24-33 Summary and Analysis

The purpose of Chapters 24 through 33 is to establish a single thesis, that all people are followers of Folly. The argument proceeds in two brief arguments, and then one very long one. The first argument is that the purpose of humanity is to please the gods. Human history amuses the gods, and therefore the gods are followers of folly because of their toying with the human race. The second argument is that the merchant class is especially committed to folly because of their practices of theft, fraud, lying, greed, etc.

The major argument in support of the core thesis is that even the wise are devoted to folly. Folly argues that nine classes of people are her disciples: grammarians, poets, rhetoricians, authors, men of learned professions, theologians, monks, kings and courtiers, bishops, cardinals and popes (because they imitate kings and...