Erasmus's Example Of A Wise Man

His example is about a wise man and a fool. The wise man searches in books to find his knowledge. Erasmus says, “The wise man seeks refuge in his book of antiquity and learns from them the pure subtleties of what the ancients say”(pp 43). He looks for answers in good knowledgeable books but never uses that knowledge or gains any experience. When the fool tries everything even danger. Erasmus says that the fool acquires what he is sure to be genuine prudence. He also quotes Homer saying, “This is something Homer appears to see despite his blindness, when he says ‘even the fool is wise after the event’”(pp 43). Erasmus goes on to say that very few people actually understand that it is ok to obtain experience and not to be afraid of it. He also
He goes on to talk about a rich king who lacks spiritual values which makes him the poorest man not the richest. We all lack something, when we think we have it all. This king is nothing but a slave if he is consumed with other things. We cannot have one extreme and the other. It is like having hot water and cold water at the same time. They will not divid inside the cup to be half hot and half cold but will mix together to come room temperature.
Folly makes the argument that she leads to prudence just as she lead to courage and industry (pp 42). Folly is right again. Someone’s folly usually leads them to prudence or at least to a higher amount of prudence. When I was a child, I touched the iron on the ironing board to the top of my hand. To this day, I do not like irons and I can tell my left and right hand apart by the scare on the top of my hand. I now know that it is not safe to touch an iron when it is hot nor is it smart. Folly says that experience even if it is not a smart experience leads to prudence, because of the lessons we