Erasmus chooses to use priests as victims of desire because he intends to show that even people that the "readers" (Radice, electronic version) may deem as perfect and righteous are also fallible and guilty of leading a sinful life. Desires lead even the "holy clergy men" (Radice, electronic version) into becoming hopelessly obsessed by things.
Erasmus expresses similar thought passions, through Folly. Erasmus says that "wisdom is nothing else than to be governed by reason, and on the contrary Folly, to be given up to the will of our passions" (Radice, electronic version). He thinks that we humans have been composed in such a way that "reason [is confined] to a narrow corner of the brain and all the rest of the body [is left] to our passions" (Radice, electronic version). Erasmus believed that only a little part of our body was reasonable, and the rest was controlled by our passions. Erasmus uses gamblers as an example of men all caught up in their passions; "and yet 'tis a foolish and ridiculous sight to see some addicted so to it that they can no sooner hear the rattling of the dice but their heart leaps and dances again" (Radice, electronic version). These men, according to Erasmus, live for the sound of rattling dice, and they are so caught up in their passions that they are oblivious to the rest of the world around them. Erasmus, in Praise Of Folly, cites many examples of men who are consumed in their passions: gamblers, drunks, hunters, all of whom are blinded from everything else in their lives. Erasmus believed that any man led on by his desires and passions could not possibly do any good to society because they were not reasonable or wise, and were only slaves of folly. After all, "our passions belong to Folly" (Radice, electronic version) and "A man, led by his passions [is] like a beast, he is but the worst of slaves, inasmuch as he gives himself up willingly to so many and such detestable masters" (Radice, electronic version).
