The Ship of Fools | Page 2

FOOLS

Volume II.
THE SHIP OF FOOLS (CONCLUDED)
GLOSSARY
CHAPTER I. OF THE ORIGINAL (GERMAN), AND OF THE
LATIN, AND FRENCH VERSIONS OF THE SHIP OF FOOLS

INTRODUCTION.
If popularity be taken as the measure of success in literary effort,
Sebastian Brandt's "Ship of Fools" must be considered one of the most
successful books recorded in the whole history of literature. Published
in edition after edition (the first dated 1494), at a time, but shortly after

the invention of printing, when books were expensive, and their
circulation limited; translated into the leading languages of Europe at a
time when translations of new works were only the result of the most
signal merits, its success was then quite unparalleled. It may be said, in
modern phrase, to have been the rage of the reading world at the end of
the fifteenth and throughout the sixteenth centuries. It was translated
into Latin by one Professor (Locher, 1497), and imitated in the same
language and under the same title, by another (Badius Ascensius, 1507);
it appeared in Dutch and Low German, and was twice translated into
English, and three times into French; imitations competed with the
original in French and German, as well as Latin, and greatest and most
unprecedented distinction of all, it was preached, but, we should opine,
only certain parts of it, from the pulpit by the best preachers of the time
as a new gospel. The Germans proudly award it the epithet,
"epoch-making," and its long-continued popularity affords good, if not
quite sufficient, ground for the extravagant eulogies they lavish upon it.
Trithemius calls it "Divina Satira," and doubts whether anything could
have been written more suited to the spirit of the age; Locher compares
Brandt with Dante, and Hutten styles him the new law-giver of German
poetry.
A more recent and impartial critic (Müller, "Chips from a German
Workshop," Vol. III.), thus suggestively sets forth the varied grounds of
Brandt's wonderful popularity:--"His satires, it is true, are not very
powerful, nor pungent, nor original. But his style is free and easy. Brant
is not a ponderous poet. He writes in short chapters, and mixes his fools
in such a manner that we always meet with a variety of new faces. It is
true that all this would hardly be sufficient to secure a decided success
for a work like his at the present day. But then we must remember the
time in which he wrote.... There was room at that time for a work like
the 'Ship of Fools.' It was the first printed book that treated of
contemporaneous events and living persons, instead of old German
battles and French knights. People are always fond of reading the
history of their own times. If the good qualities of their age are brought
out, they think of themselves or their friends; if the dark features of
their contemporaries are exhibited, they think of their neighbours and
enemies. Now the 'Ship of Fools' is just such a satire which ordinary

people would read, and read with pleasure. They might feel a slight
twinge now and then, but they would put down the book at the end, and
thank God that they were not like other men. There is a chapter on
Misers--and who would not gladly give a penny to a beggar? There is a
chapter on Gluttony--and who was ever more than a little exhilarated
after dinner?
There is a chapter on Church-goers--and who ever went to church for
respectability's sake, or to show off a gaudy dress, or a fine dog, or a
new hawk? There is a chapter on Dancing--and who ever danced except
for the sake of exercise? There is a chapter on Adultery--and who ever
did more than flirt with his neighbour's wife? We sometimes wish that
Brant's satire had been a little more searching, and that, instead of his
many allusions to classical fools (for his book is full of scholarship), he
had given us a little more of the _chronique scandaleuse_ of his own
time. But he was too good a man to do this, and his contemporaries
were no doubt grateful to him for his forbearance."
Brandt's satire is a satire for all time. Embodied in the language of the
fifteenth century, coloured with the habits and fashions of the times,
executed after the manner of working of the period, and motived by the
eager questioning spirit and the discontent with "abusions" and "folyes"
which resulted in the Reformation, this satire in its morals or lessons is
almost as applicable to the year of grace 1873 as to the year of
gracelessness 1497. It never can grow old; in the mirror in which the
men of his time saw themselves reflected, the men of all times can
recognise themselves; a crew of