The Anatomy of Melancholy

Name: The Anatomy of Melancholy
Author: Robert Burton

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

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The Anatomy of MelancholySubsection 5 the Last and Best Cure for Love Melancholy Is to Let Lovers Have…

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Modern English Page · Branch 891 of 1495

Subsection 5 the Last and Best Cure for Love Melancholy Is to Let Lovers Have…

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1651 English

590

Because they have so sweetly liv’d together, Let not one dye a day before the other, He bury her, she him, with even fate, One houre their soules let jointly separate.Fortunati ambo si quid mea carmina possunt, Nulla dies unquam memori vos eximet ævo.

Atq; hæc de amore dixisse sufficiat, sub correctione, quod ait ille, cujusque melius sentientis. Plura qui volet de remediis amoris, legat Iasonem Pratensem, Arnoldum, Montaltum, Savanarolum, Langium, Valescum, Crimisonum, Alexandrum Benedictum, Laurentium, Valleriolam, è Poëtis Nasonem, è nostratibus Chaucerum, &c. with whom I conclude,

For my words here and every part, I speak them all under correction, Of you that feeling have in loves art, And put it all in your discretion, To intreat & make diminution Of my language, that I you beseech: But now to purpose of my rather speech.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Subsection 5 the Last and Best Cure for Love Melancholy Is to Let Lovers Have…

p. 891

Because they have lived so sweetly together, Let neither die a day before the other, Nor he bury her, nor she him; with equal fate, May one hour release their souls together.

Fortunate both! If my verses have any power, No day will ever erase you from the memory of time.

And let this be enough said about love, “subject to correction,” as that writer says, “by anyone who judges better.” Whoever wants more on the remedies for love should read Jason Pratensis, Arnaldus, Montalto, Savonarola, Lange, Valescus, Crimisonus, Alessandro Benedetti, Du Laurens and Valleriola; among the poets, Ovid; and among our own writers, Chaucer, and others—with whom I conclude:

As for my words here, and in every part, I submit them all to correction By you who have experience in love’s art, And leave it entirely to your judgement To handle and diminish My language: this I ask of you. But now, back to the subject of my earlier speech.

11335.The negative wish in the first two lines governs the otherwise compressed He bury her, she him. The modern version makes that scope explicit: neither should have to bury the other. Separate means release the souls from their bodies.

11336.Virgil, Aeneid 9.446–447, addressed to the dead Nisus and Euryalus. Burton uses the promise of poetic remembrance to complete his conjugal blessing. The couplet is translated separately from both the Latin prayer and its English paraphrase.

11338.Burton returns to Latin to close the discussion and list further authorities. Naso is Ovid; nostratibus means writers of our own country. The abbreviated medical names follow his list; precise editions and the identities behind Arnaldus and Crimisonus remain for the final bibliography. Kornmann’s title and qualifying phrase also require exact collation.

11340.Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde 3.1331–1337, not the end of book 3 as the margin claims. The comparative text has To encresse or maken dymynucioun; Burton prints To intreat & make diminution. The original retains intreat and the modern version renders it handle, rather than silently restoring increase. Rather speech means earlier discourse. This stanza closes Burton’s Section 2; Section 3 opens the treatment of jealousy.

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.