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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is unknown in the place of Folly's birth?
(a) Youth, immaturity, and pain.
(b) Toil, old age, and sickness.
(c) Harsh words or war.
(d) Gardens.

2. How did Folly begin life?
(a) Running and jumping.
(b) Smiling sweetly.
(c) Deviously.
(d) Crying.

3. Erasmus states that jokes can be handled in such a way that a reader finds more reward in them than in a what?
(a) A riddle.
(b) A play.
(c) A treatise.
(d) An argument.

4. Folly states that a man must love whom in order to love anyone?
(a) God.
(b) Himself.
(c) Honor.
(d) His wife.

5. Who are the two gods in Folly's household?
(a) Revelry and Sound Sleep.
(b) Mirth and Longevity.
(c) Zeus and Theseus.
(d) Zeus and Mars.

6. According to the Prefatory Letter, Erasmus wrote The Praise of Folly on what?
(a) A carriage.
(b) A stagecoach.
(c) Horseback.
(d) A boat.

7. Why are women willing to repeat childbirth, in Folly's opinion?
(a) Forgetfulness.
(b) Desire to please her husband.
(c) Love.
(d) Maternal instinct.

8. What does Folly accuse of causing the bloom of youthful beauty to fade?
(a) Moral maturity.
(b) Mature sense.
(c) Folly.
(d) Old age.

9. Erasmus marvels that present-day ears can bear to hear only what?
(a) Serious prose.
(b) Music.
(c) Honorific titles.
(d) Pedantic poetry.

10. Which nymph among Folly's aids claps her hands, with laughter in her eyes?
(a) Mirth.
(b) Flattery.
(c) Drunkenness.
(d) Delight.

11. Where was Folly born?
(a) A hollow cave.
(b) The Islands of the Blest.
(c) Wandering Delos.
(d) The Island of Troy.

12. According to Folly, what kind of man is unlucky in regards to children?
(a) Foolish.
(b) Impulsive.
(c) Wise.
(d) Indulgent.

13. What does Folly say that babies have that rewards those who look after them?
(a) The charm of folly.
(b) The wisdom of folly.
(c) The beauty of Helen.
(d) Innocence.

14. Erasmus follows the well-known popular proverb that states that a man should do what?
(a) Speak with false humility.
(b) Praise himself, if no one else will.
(c) Defame himself.
(d) Praise others before himself.

15. According to Folly, if wisdom became more widespread among men, what would result?
(a) More suicide.
(b) More compassion.
(c) Less compassion.
(d) Less suicide.

Short Answer Questions

1. Erasmus believes he is not writing sarcasm, but what instead?

2. How does Folly describe a wise man without emotions?

3. Whom did the ancient sophists praise?

4. Erasmus says there is merit in being attacked by whom?

5. Whom does Folly praise?

(see the answer keys)

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