The
post on the Ship of Fools at "Giornale Nuovo" reminds me of
this delightful essay on the twenty or so different kinds of fools that Aquinas discusses in his works, from the
insipiens to the
stolidus to the
stupidus to the
fatuus. Alas, I am something of a
vecors at times; fortunately, however, I am not
incrassatus. One of the terms,
inanis, empty-minded, is related to the word used in the Latin of Aquinas's citation from I Corinthians: "If Christ did not rise, our preaching is empty (inanis), and our faith is empty (inanis)". Helpfully, the essay ends with Aquinas's remedy for folly of every kind: mercy, and (in particular) prayer, instruction, and advice.