Chapters 34 - 37 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 34 argues that fortune prefers fools to the wise. Folly gives four arguments on behalf of this point. First, various well-known examples and aphorisms testify to the wisdom of fools. Second, being wise does not make one rich. Third, fools are almost always more appealing to women than the wise, and finally being rich usually brings good luck, but wise men do not like wealth.

Chapters 35 through 37 contain Folly's argument that many great authorities speak on her behalf. Folly gives seven arguments on behalf of this thesis and one digression. First, she argues that even the Proverbs themselves defend imitating folly. Further, the classic writers Cicero, Homer and Horace sometimes refer to it favorably through allusion. Next, many Biblical writers praise folly, such as Solomon, Jeremiah, Ecclesiasticus and Paul. Interpreters have to struggle to reinterpret the text in order...