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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

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Subsection 14 Self-Love, Vainglory, Praise, Honour, Excessive Applause, Pride…

How did this work with Alexander, that would needs be Jupiters son, and go like Hercules in a Lions skin? Domitian a God, (Dominus Deus noster sic fieri jubet) like the Persian Kings, whose Image was adored by all that came into the City of Babylon. Commodus the Emperor was so gulled by his flattering parasites, that he must be called Hercules. Antonius the Roman would be crowned with Ivy, carried in a Chariot, and adored for Bacchus. Cotys King of Thrace, was married to Minerva, and sent three severall messengers one after another, to see if she were come to his bed-chamber.

Such a one was Iupiter Menecrates, Maximinus Iovianus, Dioclesianus Herculeus, Sapor the Persian King, brother of the Sun and Moon, and our modern Turks, that will be Gods on earth, Kings of Kings, Gods shadow, Commanders of all that may be commanded, our Kings of China and Tartaria in this present age. Such a one was Xerxes, that would whip the sea, fetter Neptune, stultâ jactantiâ, and send a challenge to Mount Athos: and such are many sottish Princes, brought into a fools Paradise by their parasites,

’tis a common humor, incident to all men, when they are in great places, or come to the solstice of honor, have done, or deserv’d well, to applaud and flatter themselves. Stultitiam suam produnt, &c. (saith Platerus) your very tradesmen if they be excellent, will crak and brag, and shew their folly in excess. They have good parts, and they know it, you need not tell them of it; out of a conceit of their worth, they go smiling to themselves, a perpetual meditation of their Trophies and plaudites, they run at the last quite mad, and lose their wits. Petrarch, lib. 1. de contemptu mundi, confessed as much of himself,

and Cardan in his 5 book of wisdom, gives an instance in a Smith of Millan, a fellow Citizen of his, one Galeus de Rubeis, that being commended for refinding of an instrument of Archimedes, for joy ran mad. Plutarch in the life of Artaxerxes, hath such a like story of one Chamus a souldier, that wounded King Cyrus in battle, and grew thereupon so arrogant, that in a short space after he lost his wits.

So many men, if any new honor, office, preferment, booty, treasure, possession, or patrimony, ex insperato fall unto them, for immoderate joy, and continual meditation of it, cannot sleep or tell what they say or do, they are so ravished on a sudden; and with vain conceits transported, there is no rule with them. Epaminondas therefore, the next day after his Leuctrian victory, came abroad all squalid and submisse, and give no other reason to his friends of so doing, than that he perceived himself the day before, by reason of his good fortune, to be too insolent, overmuch joyed.

That wise and vertuous Lady, Queen Katherin, Dowager of England, in private talke, upon like occasion, said, that she would not willingly endure the extremity of either fortune; but if it were so, that of necessity she must undergo the one, she would be in adversity, because comfort was never wanting in it, but still counsel and government were defective in the other: They could not moderate themselves.

3343.BurtonFirst star margin, page 126: “Sueton. c. 12. in Domitiano.” Suetonius, Domitian, chapter 12 as printed; the wording is in chapter 13.2. Suetonius has “Dominus et deus noster hoc fieri iubet,” “Our Lord and God commands this to be done.” Burton omits “et” and gives “sic” for “hoc.”

3344.BurtonSecond star margin, page 126: “Brisonius.” Barnabé Brisson, on Persian kingship; exact passage unlocated.

3345.BurtonMargin q, page 126: “Antonius ab assentatoribus evectus Librum se patrem appellari jussit, & pro deo se venditavit redimitus hedera & corona velatus aurea, & thyrsum tenens, cothurnisque succinctus curru velut Liber pater vectus est Alexandriæ. Pater. vol. post.” “Antony, exalted by flatterers, ordered himself called Father Liber and advertised himself as a god. Wreathed in ivy and crowned with gold, holding a thyrsus and wearing buskins, he rode in a chariot at Alexandria like Father Liber.” Velleius Paterculus, latter volume. “Librum” is printed; the divine name intended is Liber, another name for Bacchus. The passage is Roman History 2.82.4. The consulted Latin reads Liberum and crocotaque velatus aurea, clothed in a golden saffron robe, where Burton has Librum and corona velatus aurea, a golden crown. McGill p. 126 confirms Burton’s readings. They and their translation are retained; his source edition remains unidentified.

3346.BurtonMargin r, page 126: “Minervæ nuptias ambit, tanto furore percitus, ut satellites mitteret ad videndum num dea in thalamis venisset, &c.” “He seeks marriage with Minerva, driven by such frenzy that he sends attendants to see whether the goddess has entered the bedchamber, and so on.” No separate source is specified.

3348.BurtonMargin s, page 126: “Ælian. li. 12.” Aelian, Various History 12.51: the physician Menecrates calls himself Jupiter, and Philip exposes his pretension by serving him incense while other guests eat. This establishes the cited anecdote’s location; Burton’s Latin intermediary is not identified.

3350.BurtonThird star margin, page 126: “De mentis alienat. cap. 3.” Plater, On Mental Derangement, chapter 3, as cited.

3351.BurtonMargin t, page 126: “Sequiturque superbia formam. Livius li. 11. Oraculum est, vivida sæpe ingenia luxuriari hac & evanescere multosque sensum penitus amisisse. Homines intuentur, ac si ipsi non essent homines.” “Pride follows beauty. Livy, book 11. It is an oracular saying that lively minds often grow luxuriant and dissipate through this, and that many have entirely lost their reason. They look at human beings as though they themselves were not human.” The note has no clear matching t in the body; attached to the preceding account of self-admiration. The first phrase is Ovid, Fasti 1.419; the Livy locator and remaining wording require collation.

3353.BurtonMargin u, page 126: “Galeus de rubeis, civis noster faber ferrarius, ob inventionem instrumenti Cocleæ olim Archimedis dicti, præ lætitia insanivit.” “Galeus de Rubeis, our fellow citizen, an ironworker, went mad with joy at discovering the device called the screw, formerly named for Archimedes.” Cardano’s example, as cited in the body.

3354.BurtonMargin x, page 126: “Insania postmodum correptus, ob nimiam inde arrogantiam.” “Afterwards seized by madness through the excessive arrogance that followed.” Burton’s condensation; see the editorial note on the Plutarch comparison.

3356.BurtonMargin y, page 126: “Bene ferre magnam disce fortunam. Hor. Fortunam reverenter habe, quicunque repentè Dives ab exili progrediere loco. Ausonius.” “Learn to bear great fortune well.” Horace, Odes 3.27.74–75. “Treat fortune reverently, whoever you are who will suddenly advance from a humble station to wealth.” Ausonius; exact epigram numbering uncollated.

3357.BurtonMargin z, page 126: “Processit squalidus & submissus, ut hesterni Diei gaudium intemperans hodie castigaret.” “He went out shabby and subdued, to chastise today the unrestrained joy of yesterday.” No separate source is named.

3359.BurtonMargin a, page 126: “Uxor Hen. 8.” “Wife of Henry VIII.” This identifies Katherine as Catherine of Aragon.

3360.BurtonMargin b, page 126: “Neutrius se fortunæ extremum libenter experturam dixit: sed si necessitas alterius subinde imponeretur, optare se difficilem & adversam: quod in hac nulli unquam defuit solatium, in altera multis consilium, &c. Lod. Vives.” “She said she would not willingly experience the extreme of either fortune; but if necessity imposed one or the other, she would choose the difficult and adverse, because in this no one ever lacked consolation, whereas in the other many lacked counsel, and so on.” Juan Luis Vives; exact passage unlocated.