Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Parallel Edition

Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Name: The Anatomy of Melancholy
Author: Robert Burton

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

Explore the Lexicon

The Anatomy of MelancholySubsection 2 How Love Tyrannizes Over Human Beings. Love, or Heroical…

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Modern English Page · Branch 715 of 1495

Subsection 2 How Love Tyrannizes Over Human Beings. Love, or Heroical…

Book Mode

1651 English

444

’Tis an happy state this indeed, when the fountain is blessed (saith Solomon, Prov. 5. 17.) and he rejoyceth with the wife of his youth, and she is to him as the loving Hinde, and pleasant Roe, and he delights in her continually.

But this love of ours is immoderate, inordinate, and not to be comprehended in any bounds. It will not contain it self within the union of marriage, or apply to one object, but is a wandring, extravagant, a domineering, a boundless, an irrefragable, a destructive passion: sometimes this burning lust rageth after marriage, and then it is properly called Jealousie; sometimes before, and then it is called Heroicall melancholy; it extends sometimes to corrivals, &c. begets rapes, incests, murders:

Marcus Antonius compressit Faustinam sororem, Caracalla Juliam Novercam, Nero Matrem, Caligula sorores, Cyneras Mirrham filiam, &c. But it is confined within no terms of bloud, years, sex, or whatsoever else.

Some furiously rage before they come to discretion or age. Quartilla in Petronius, never remembred she was a maid: and the wife of Bath in Chaucer, cracks,

Since I was twelve years old, believe, Husbands at kirk door had I five.

Aratine Lucretia sold her maiden-head a thousand times before she was twenty four years old, plus millies vendideram virginitatem, &c. neq; te celabo, non deerant qui ut integram ambirent.

Rahab that harlot began to be a professed quean at ten years of age, and was but fifteen when she hid the spies, as Hugh Broughton proves, to whom Serrarius the Jesuite, quæst. 6. in cap. 2. Josue, subscribes.

Generally women begin pubescere as they call it, or catullire, as Julius Pollux cites, lib. 2. cap. 3. onomast. out of Aristophanes, at fourteen years old, then they doe offer themselves, and some plainly rage. Leo Afer saith, that in Africk a man shall scarce finde a maid at fourteen years of age, they are so forward, and many amongst us after they come into the teens do not live without husbands, but linger.

What pranks in this kinde the middle age have played, is not to be recorded.

Si mihi sint centum linguæ, sint oraq; centum,

8752.BurtonPrinted page 444, †: “Junonem habeam iratam, si unquam meminerim me virginem fuisse. Infans enim paribus inquinata sum, & subinde majoribus me applicui, donec ad ætatem perveni; ut Milo vitulum, &c.” “May Juno be angry with me if I ever remember having been a virgin. For as a child I was defiled with those of my own age, and later attached myself to older ones until I reached adulthood; as Milo the calf,” and so forth. Burton abbreviates Petronius, Satyricon 25, adding Milo’s name to its proverb about lifting a calf and then a bull.

8755.BurtonPrinted page 444, †: “Pornodidasc. dial. lat. interp. Casp. Barthio ex Ital.” Pornodidascalus, a dialogue translated from Italian into Latin by Caspar Barth.

8757.BurtonPrinted page 444, *: “Angelico scriptur. concentu.” In the Angelic Concord of Scripture, as Burton abbreviates the title.

8759.BurtonPrinted page 444, g: “Epictetus c. 42. mulieres statim ab anno 14. movere incipiunt, &c. attrectari se sinunt & exponunt. Levinus Lemnius.” Epictetus, chapter 42. “Women begin to be stirred as soon as their fourteenth year,” and so forth; “they allow themselves to be touched and expose themselves.” Levinus Lemnius. The division of these words between the two cited authorities is not fully specified; the exact texts remain to be collated.

8760.BurtonPrinted page 444, †: “L. 3. fol. 126.” Book 3, folio 126; the Leo Africanus reference.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Subsection 2 How Love Tyrannizes Over Human Beings. Love, or Heroical…

p. 715

This is indeed a happy condition, “when the fountain is blessed,” as Solomon says in Proverbs 5.17, “and he rejoices with the wife of his youth, and she is to him like the loving hind and graceful doe, and he delights in her continually.”

But the love we are concerned with is excessive, disordered and impossible to contain within any bounds. It will not confine itself to marriage or attach itself to one person, but is a wandering, straying, domineering, boundless, irresistible and destructive passion. Sometimes this burning lust rages after marriage, when it is properly called jealousy; sometimes before, when it is called heroic melancholy. Sometimes it extends to rivals in love, and so forth, producing rapes, incests and murders:

“Marcus Antonius had intercourse with his sister Faustina; Caracalla with his stepmother Julia; Nero with his mother; Caligula with his sisters; Cinyras with his daughter Myrrha,” and so forth. It respects no limits of kinship, age, sex or anything else.

Some are seized by this fury before they reach years of discretion or maturity. Quartilla in Petronius could never remember having been a virgin; and Chaucer’s Wife of Bath boasts,

Since I was twelve years old, believe me, I have had five husbands at the church door.

Aretino’s Lucretia sold her virginity a thousand times before she was twenty-four: “I had sold my virginity more than a thousand times,” and so forth, “and I will not conceal from you that there was no shortage of men who courted me as though I were untouched.”

Rahab the harlot began working openly as a prostitute at ten years old and was only fifteen when she hid the spies, as Hugh Broughton demonstrates; Serarius the Jesuit agrees with him in question 6 on Joshua, chapter 2.

Generally women begin “to reach puberty,” as they call it, or “to be in heat,” as Julius Pollux quotes from Aristophanes in his Onomasticon, book 2, chapter 3, at fourteen years old. Then they offer themselves, and some are openly frantic. Leo Africanus says that in Africa one will scarcely find a virgin at fourteen, so precocious are they; and many among us, once in their teens, do not live without husbands but merely languish.

The exploits of this kind committed by those in middle life are beyond recording.

If I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths,

8749.The quoted material paraphrases Proverbs 5.18–19 rather than beginning at the printed verse 17. Burton’s locator remains in the modern text. Hind and roe are female deer in this imagery; the fountain belongs to the chapter’s praise of fidelity within marriage.

8750.This love of ours means the disordered love under examination. Extravagant means straying beyond bounds; irrefragable here means impossible to resist or restrain; corrivals are competing lovers. Burton’s division between premarital love melancholy and marital jealousy organizes his subsequent discussion.

8751.The catalogue mixes allegations about Roman rulers with the myth of Cinyras and Myrrha. Its names, relationships and accusations are reproduced as Burton prints them, including Marcus Antonius and Faustina as his sister and Julia as Caracalla’s stepmother. These details require independent historical collation and are not certified by translation.

8753.Maid here means virgin; cracks means boasts. Quartilla is a fictional speaker in Petronius, Satyricon 25. Burton uses a literary account of childhood sexual experience as evidence of precocious lust; the narrative is not evidence of a child’s informed consent. The translation preserves the report without adding detail.

8754.The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, lines 4–6. Burton compresses Chaucer into a rhyming couplet. She describes five successive marriages over the years since the age of twelve, not five marriages all contracted at twelve. Kirk means church; the church-door phrase refers to the marriage ceremony.

8756.Aratine means Pietro Aretino; the margin cites Caspar Barth’s Latin Pornodidascalus. Lucretia’s repeated sale of virginity is a claim within that literary dialogue. The Latin wording and its precise relation to the Italian remain uncollated.

8758.Quean means prostitute. Joshua 2 tells of Rahab hiding the spies but supplies neither of these ages. Burton attributes the chronology to Hugh Broughton and Nicolas Serarius; their exact passages remain uncollated. His proves is retained as his assessment of their authority.

8761.Epictetus, Enchiridion 40 in the consulted translation, describes men flattering girls from fourteen and their consequent concern with adornment; he urges valuing modest conduct instead. Burton’s compressed margin cites 42 and joins this with Lemnius. Its Latin intermediary remains uncollated. His African claim is attributed to Leo Africanus, not established as a general fact. Linger means languish; the Pollux, Lemnius and Leo passages remain unchecked.

8762.A conventional poetic image of the impossibility of telling everything. Burton’s wording is preserved; a precise direct or intermediary source for this form has not been assigned.

About This Reading Edition

Robert Burton’s Anatomy ranges across medicine, philosophy, poetry, religion, and everyday life in its inquiry into melancholy. This complete parallel edition pairs the 1651 English text with a close modern English rendering, preserving the three Partitions, Democritus Junior’s address to the reader, verse, and the historical index.

Historical Text and Translation

The historical text follows the sixth edition, printed at Oxford for Henry Cripps in 1651, using the McGill University Library copy. The supplied edition documents missing printed pages 98–99 supplied from another 1651 copy at the Bavarian State Library. Historical folio labels and their irregularities remain visible; web reader numbers identify reflowed passages and do not claim to reproduce PDF pagination.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the close modern English rendering and editorial matter. All 8,755 original and modern passage pairs remain aligned, with verse breaks, italics, continuations, and linked annotations preserved. Burton’s 6,781 historical notes retain their attribution; 6,895 editorial notes remain distinct. The introduction, Note on the Text, contextual lexicon, indexes, source documentation, and bibliography are included. The engraved frontispiece remains available in the original downloads.

Rights

Burton’s historical text is in the public domain. The modern English rendering, introduction, notes, and editorial matter are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and appear with the site owner’s permission. The complete supplied PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown files remain available unchanged. The PDF and Word edition preserve the original parallel page layout.