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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

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Democritus Junior to the Reader

Nevisanus hath as hard an opinion of rich men, wealth and wisdom cannot dwell together, stultitiam patiuntur opes, and they do commonly infatuare cor hominis, besot men; and as we see it, fools have fortune: Sapientia non invenitur in terra suaviter viventium.

For beside a natural contempt of learning, which accompanies such kinde of men, innate idlenesse, (for they will take no pains) and which Aristotle observes, ubi mens plurima, ibi minima fortuna, ubi plurima fortuna, ibi mens perexigua, great wealth and little wit go commonly together: they have as much brains some of them in their heads as in their heels; besides this inbred neglect of liberal sciences, and all Arts, which should excolere mentem, polish the minde, they have most part some gullish humor or other, by which they are led;

one is an Epicure, an Atheist, a second a gamester, a third a whoremaster, (fit subjects all for a Satyrist to work upon,) —— Hic nuptarum insanit amoribus, hic puerorum, one is mad of hawking, hunting, cocking; another of carousing, horse-riding, spending; a fourth of building, fighting, &c.

Insanit veteres statuas Damasippus emendo, Damasippus hath an humor of his own, to be talkt of: Heliodorus the Carthaginian another. In a word, as Scaliger concludes of them all, they are Statuæ erectæ stultitiæ, the very statues or pillars of folly.

Chuse out of all stories him that hath been most admired, you shall still find, multa ad laudem, multa ad vituperationem magnifica, as Berosus of Semiramis; omnes mortales militia, triumphis, divitiis, &c. tum & luxu, cæde, cæterisque vitiis antecessit, as she had some good, so had she many bad parts.

Alexander, a worthy man, but furious in his anger, overtaken in drink: Cæsar and Scipio valiant and wise, but vain-glorious, ambitious: Vespasian a worthy Prince, but covetous: Hannibal, as he had mighty vertues, so had he many vices; unam virtutem mille vitia comitantur, as Machiavel of Cosmus Medices, he had two distinct persons in him.

I will determine of them all, they are like these double or turning pictures, stand before you see a fair maid, on the one side an ape, on the other an owl: look upon them at the first sight all is wel, but farther examine, you shall finde them wise on the one side, and fools on the other; in some few things praise worthy, in the rest incomparably faulty. I will say nothing of their diseases, emulations, discontents, wants, and such miseries; let poverty plead the rest in Aristophanes Plutus.

Covetous men amongst others, are most mad, they have all the Symptoms of melancholy, fear, sadnesse, suspition, &c. as shall be proved in his proper place, Danda est Hellebori multo pars maxima avaris.

And yet me thinks prodigals are much madder then they, be of what condition they will, that bear a publick, or private purse; as a Dutch writer censured Richard the rich Duke of Cornwal, suing to be Emperor, for his profuse spending, qui effudit pecuniam ante pedes principum Electorum sicut aquam, that scattered mony like water;

I do censure them, Stulta Anglia (saith he) quæ tot denariis sponte est privata, stulti principes Alemaniæ, qui nobile jus suum pro pecuniâ vendiderunt: spend-thrifts, bribers, and bribe takers are fools, and so are all they that cannot keep, disburse, or spend their moneys well.

I might say the like of angry, peevish, envious, ambitious; Anticyras melior sorbere meracas; Epicures, Atheists, Schismaticks, Hereticks; omnes habent imaginationem læsam (saith Nymannus) and their madnesse shall be evident, 2 Tim. 3.9.

Sabatus an Italian, holds sea-faring men all mad; the ship is mad, for it never stands still: the mariners are mad, to expose themselves to such imminent dangers: the waters are raging mad, in perpetual motion: the winds are as mad as the rest, they know not whence they come, whither they would go: and those men are maddest of all that go to sea; for one fool at home, they finde forty abroad. He was a mad man that said it, and thou peradventure as mad to reade it.

Felix Platerus is of opinion all Alchemists are mad, out of their wits; Atheneus saith as much of Fidlers, & musarum luscinias, Musicians, omnes tibicines insaniunt, ubi semel efflant, avolat illico mens, in comes musick at one ear, out goes wit at another.

Proud and vain glorious persons are certainly mad; and so are lascivious; I can feel their pulses beat hither, horn mad some of them, to let others lie with their wives, and wink at it.

To insist in all particulars, were an Herculean task, to reckon up insanas substructiones, insanos labores, insanum luxum, mad labors, mad books, endeavors, cariages, grosse ignorance, ridiculous actions, absurd gestures; insanam gulam, insaniam villarum, insana jurgia, as Tully terms them, madnesse of villages,

1202.Burtonp. 72, k: “Lib. 1. num. 11 sapientia & divitiæ vix simul possideri possunt.” Editor: “Book 1, number 11: wisdom and riches can scarcely be possessed together.” The reference continues the citation of Nevizanus; not independently collated.

1203.Burtonp. 72, l: “They get their wisdom by eating Piecrust some.” Editor: A sarcastic suggestion that some acquire their supposed wisdom simply through eating well; the particular proverbial source remains unlocated.

1204.Burtonp. 72, m: “Χρήματα τοῖς θνητοῖς γίνεται ἀφροσύνη. Opes quidem mortalibus sunt amentia. Theognis.” Editor: “Wealth becomes folly for mortals”; the Latin restates, “Riches indeed are madness for mortals.” Greek accents and letterforms are regularized; the tiny printed article before θνητοῖς is read provisionally as τοῖς. The quotation requires collation with Theognis.

1205.Burtonp. 72, n: “Fortuna nimium quem fovet, stultum facit.” Editor: “Fortune makes a fool of the person she favours too much.” No source is named. With no clear matching body letter, this is provisionally attached to “fools have fortune.”

1206.Burtonp. 72, o: “Job. 28.” Editor: Compare Job 28:13. Burton’s wording takes wisdom to be absent from the land of those living comfortably; the modern rendering follows his Latin. Biblical editions differ here, and the consulted Nova Vulgata has simply “the land of the living.”

1207.Burtonp. 72, p: “Mag. moral. lib. 2. & lib. 1. sat. 4.” Editor: Magna Moralia, book 2, attributed to Aristotle; the appended “book 1, satire 4” belongs to a different kind of work and anticipates the Horace reference repeated on p. 73. The composite entry is retained; the Aristotle passage remains uncollated.

1208.Burtonp. 73, q: “Hor. ser. 1. sat. 4.” Editor: Horace, Satires 1.4.27, the line contrasting desire for married women and for boys.

1209.Burtonp. 73, r: “Insana gula, insanæ obstructiones, insanum venandi studium discordia demens. Virg. Æn.” Editor: “Mad gluttony, mad obstructions, a mad passion for hunting, demented discord. Virgil, Aeneid.” The printed obstructiones is retained. No book or line is given; the entry gathers several phrases whose individual sources remain uncollated.

1211.Burtonp. 73, s: “Heliodorus Carthaginensis ad extremum orbis sarcophago testamento me hic jussi condier, & ut viderem an quis insanior ad me visendii usq. ad hæc loca penetraret. Ortelius in Gad.” Editor: “I, Heliodorus the Carthaginian, ordered in my will that I be buried here in a sarcophagus at the world’s end, to see whether anyone madder would make his way to these places to visit me.” Ortelius’s Gades map text, on Cadiz, contains the purported inscription; the consulted transcription has visendum. Burton’s doubtful visendii is retained. Locating the literary source does not authenticate the inscription.

1213.Burtonp. 73, t: “If it be his work, which Gasper Veretus suspects.” Editor: Burton himself questions the attribution to Berosus. The identity and passage of “Gasper Veretus” remain unresolved; no authentic work by Berosus is asserted here.

1214.Burtonp. 73, u: “Livy. Ingentes virtutes ingentia vitia.” Editor: “Great virtues, great vices.” Burton cites Livy for the contrast in Hannibal’s character; the precise wording has not been collated.

1216.Burtonp. 73, x: “Hor. Quisquis ambitione mala aut argenti pallet amore, Quisquis luxuria, tristitia, superstitione. Per.” Editor: “Whoever grows pale with wicked ambition or love of money; whoever [suffers] from luxury, sadness, superstition.” Compare Horace, Satires 2.3.77–80. Burton’s tristitia turns the source’s adjective tristi, “gloomy,” into a separate noun. The appended “Per.” is retained without assigning the whole entry to Persius.

1218.Burtonp. 73, y: “Cronica Slavonica ad annum 1257. de cujus pecunia jam incredibilia dixerunt.” Editor: “Slavonic Chronicle, under the year 1257: of whose money they have already told incredible things.” The chronicle’s exact identity and passage have not been established.

1220.Burtonp. 73, z: “A fool and his money are soon parted.”

1221.Burtonp. 73, a: “O ut de imag. mbitiosus & audax naviget Anticyras.” Editor: The opening “O ut de imag.” is an uncertain, abbreviated reading; de imag. may point to the nearby discussion of imagination. The next word appears to lack its initial a; taking it as ambitiosus gives “let the ambitious and bold sail to Anticyra.” Compare Horace, Satires 2.3.165–166, which has ambitiosus and singular Anticyram. The doubtful printed text is preserved.

1223.Burtonp. 73, b: “Navis stulta, quæ continuo movetur, nautæ stulti qui se periculis exponunt, aqua insana quæ sic fremit, &c. aër jactatur, &c. qui mari se committit stolidum unum terra fugiens, 40. mari invenit. Gaspar Ens Moros.” Editor: “The ship is foolish, constantly moving; the sailors foolish, exposing themselves to danger; the water mad, roaring so, etc.; the air is tossed about, etc. Whoever entrusts himself to the sea, fleeing one fool on land, finds forty at sea.” Moros. probably abbreviates Caspar Ens’s Morosophia (Cologne, 1620). The work is bibliographically identified; the quoted passage remains uncollated.

1224.Burtonp. 74, d: “Cap. de alien. mentis.” Editor: “Chapter on mental derangement.” The reference accompanies Felix Platter; the exact edition and passage remain uncollated.

1225.Burtonp. 74, e: “Dipnosophist. lib. 8.” Editor: Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, book 8. The name means “the learned diners”; the precise passage remains uncollated.

1226.Burtonp. 74, f: “Tibicines mente capti. Erasm. Chil. 4. cen. 7.” Editor: “Pipers out of their minds. Erasmus, fourth thousand, seventh hundred.” Burton gives this division of the Adages without an individual adage number; exact text uncollated.

1227.Burtonp. 74, g: “Prov 30. Insana libido, Hic rogo non furor est, non est hæc mentula demens. Mart. ep. 74. l. 3.” Editor: “Proverbs 30. Mad lust. Is this not madness, I ask? Is this not an insane prick? Martial, epigram 74, book 3.” The crude anatomical joke is retained in translation. Burton’s biblical and epigram references have not been reconciled with exact passages.

1229.Burtonp. 74, h: “Mille puellarum & puerorum mille furores.” Editor: “A thousand frenzies of girls and a thousand of boys.” No source is specified.

1230.Burtonp. 74, i: “Uter est insanior horum. Hor. Ovid. Virg. Plin.” Editor: “Which of these is the madder? Horace. Ovid. Virgil. Pliny.” The entry combines a question and a list of authors; no exact locations are supplied.