Abstract

Gout, a joint pathology from which many humanists have suffered, constitutes a privileged subject of the epideictic rhetoric of paradoxical praise. We consider the corpus in its entirety, from the formation of recurring topics in this exercise to the numerous imitations of Pirckheimer's Podagræ laus (1522). We can praise this illness because it spares the mind and pushes it to detach itself from the body, because it encourages a moderate use of pleasures, or even because its ills are relative compared to others. The arguments can be serious and the tone preachy. However, it is indeed a matter of joking: the paradoxical humor entertains, if not healing, and the satire which insinuates itself into the eulogy allows us to have fun with the moral inclinations of the dedicatees, to denounce false goods, or yet to dispel the illusion of medical knowledge. Laughter constitutes a sharp instrument of lucidity, a salty and spicy condiment to the bread of daily pain. Paradoxical praise, gout (disease), Pirckheimer, satire, medical skepticism.