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Robert Burton

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 2. the Definition, Number and Classification of Diseases.

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Modern English Page · Branch 133 of 1495

Subsection 2. the Definition, Number and Classification of Diseases.

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1651 English

6–7

SUBSEC. 2. The Definition Number Division of Diseases.

What a Disease is, almost every Physician defines. Fernelius calleth it an Affection of the body, contrary to Nature. Fuschius and Crato an hinderance, hurt, or alteration of any action of the body, or part of it. Tholosanus, a dissolution of that league which is between body and soule, and a perturbation of it: as health the perfection, and makes to the preservation of it. Labeo in Agellius, an ill habit of the body, opposite to nature, hindering the use of it. Others otherwise, all to this effect.

How many diseases there are, is a question not yet determined; Pliny reckons up 300. from the crown of the head, to the sole of the foot: elsewhere he saith, morborum infinita multitudo, their number is infinite. Howsoever it was in those times, it boots not; in our daies I am sure the number is much augmented:

macies, & nova febrium Terris incubuit cohors.

For besides many Epidemicall diseases unheard of, and altogether unknown to Galen and Hippocrates, as Scorbutum, Small pox, Plica, Sweating sickness, Morbus Gallicus, &c. We have many proper and peculiar almost to every part. No man amongst us so sound, of so good a constitution, that hath not some impediment of Body or Minde. Quisque suos patimur manes, we have all our infirmities, first or last, more or lesse.

There will be peradventure in an age, or one of a thousand, like Zenophilus the Musician in Pliny, that may happely live 105. yeares without any manner of impediment; A Pollio Romulus, that can preserve himself with wine and oyle; A man as fortunate as Q. Metellus, of whom Valerius so much braggs; A man as healthful as Otto Herwardus, a Senator of Ausborrow in Germany, whom Leovitius the Astrologer brings in for an example and instance of certainty in his art; who because he had the significators in his geniture fortunate, and free from the hostile aspects of Saturne and Mars, being a very cold man, could not remember that ever he was sick.

Paracelsus may bragge, that he could make a man live 400 years or more, if he might bring him up from his infancy, and diet him as he list; and some Physicians hold, that there is no certaine period of mans life: but it may still by temperance and physick be prolonged. We finde in the meane time, by common experience, that no man can escape, but that of Hesiod is true:

Πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα, Νοῦσοι δ’ ἀνθρώποισιν ἐφ’ ἡμέρῃ, ἠδ’ ἐπὶ νυκτὶ Αὐτόματοι φοιτῶσι.——Th’ earth’s full of maladies, and full the sea, Which set upon us both by night and day.

1448.Burtone. “Fern. Path. l. 1. c. 1. Morbus est affectus contra naturam corpori insidēs.” Fernel, Pathology 1.1: disease is a condition contrary to nature residing in the body. The final word abbreviates insidens.

1449.Burtonf. “Fusch. Instit. l. 3. Sect. 1. c. 3. à quo primùm vitiatur actio.” Fuchs, Institutes 3.1.3: that by which a function is primarily impaired.

1450.Burtong. “Dissolutio fæderis in corpore, ut sanitas est consummatio.” A dissolution of the covenant in the body, as health is its fulfilment.

1451.Burtonh. “Lib. 4. cap. 2. Morbus est habitus contra naturam qui usu ejus, &c.” Book 4, chapter 2: disease is a condition contrary to nature which affects its use, etc. The printed Latin is abbreviated; the full definition is discussed in the editorial note.

1453.BurtonUnlettered heading: “Number of diseases.”

1454.Burtoni. “Cap. 11. lib. 7.” Chapter 11, book 7. The printed reference is retained. Pliny’s Natural History 26.6, section 9, says that there were more than three hundred kinds of disease. This locates the numerical claim, but not Burton’s description of a catalogue running from head to foot.

1455.BurtonAsterisked: “Horat.” Horace.

1457.BurtonUnlettered heading: “No man free from some disease or other.”

1460.Burtonk. “Cap. 50 lib. 7. Centū et quinq; vixit annos sine ullo incommodo.” Chapter 50, book 7. He lived one hundred and five years without any infirmity. The printed abbreviations stand for centum et quinque.

1461.Burtonm. “Intus mulso, foras oleo.” Honeyed wine within, oil without.

1462.Burtonn. “Exemplis genitur. præfixis Ephemer. cap. de infirmitat.” In the examples of birth charts prefixed to the Ephemerides, chapter on infirmities.

1463.Burtono. “Qui, quoad pueritiæ ultimam memoriam recordari potest, non meminit se ægrotum decubuisse.” As far back as his earliest childhood memories reach, he cannot remember having lain ill.

1466.Burtonp. “Lib. de vita longa.” Book on long life.

1467.Burtonr. “Oper. & dies.” Works and Days.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Subsection 2. the Definition, Number and Classification of Diseases.

p. 133

Subsection 2. The definition, number and classification of diseases.

Almost every physician offers a definition of disease. Fernel calls it a condition of the body contrary to nature. Fuchs and Crato call it an obstruction, impairment or alteration of any function of the body or one of its parts. Tholosanus calls it a dissolution and disturbance of the bond between body and soul, just as health perfects and helps preserve that bond. Labeo, quoted in Aulus Gellius, calls it an unhealthy condition of the body, contrary to nature and hindering its use. Others put it differently, but all mean much the same.

How many diseases there are remains an unsettled question. Pliny counts 300, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot; elsewhere he speaks of “an infinite multitude of diseases.” Whatever the case in those days, it makes no difference: in our own, I am sure, their number has greatly increased.

Wasting sickness and a new troop of fevers Have descended upon the earth.

For besides many epidemic diseases unheard of and entirely unknown to Galen and Hippocrates—scurvy, smallpox, plica, sweating sickness, the French disease and so on—we have many peculiar to almost every part of the body. None of us is so sound, or has so good a constitution, as to have no impairment of body or mind. “Each of us suffers his own lot”: we all have our infirmities, sooner or later, in greater or lesser measure.

Perhaps once in an age, or one in a thousand, someone like Zenophilus the musician in Pliny may happen to live for 105 years without any infirmity; or a Pollio Romulus may preserve himself with wine and oil; or someone may be as fortunate as Quintus Metellus, whom Valerius praises so extravagantly. Or he may be as healthy as Otto Herwardus, a senator of Augsburg in Germany, whom the astrologer Leovitius offers as proof of his art’s certainty: because the significators in his birth chart were fortunate and free from the hostile aspects of Saturn and Mars, this man of a very cold constitution could not remember ever having been ill.

Paracelsus may boast that he could make a man live for 400 years or more, if he could rear him from infancy and regulate his diet as he pleased. Some physicians hold that human life has no fixed limit, but may continually be prolonged by moderation and medicine. Meanwhile, ordinary experience shows us that no one can escape, and that Hesiod’s words are true:

For the earth is full of evils, and the sea is full; Diseases visit humankind by day and by night, Coming of their own accord.

The earth is full of maladies, and so the sea, Which fall upon us both by night and day.

1452.“Contrary to nature” means contrary to the body’s normal constitution or functioning. “Affection” means a condition, and “habit” a state or disposition, not a repeated custom. The Labeo definition is reported through Caelius Sabinus in Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 4.2.3; the full Latin ends qui usum eius facit deteriorem, “which makes its use worse.”

1456.Horace, Odes 1.3.30–31. The lines follow the theft of fire from heaven by Prometheus; Burton applies them to the multiplication of diseases. Both the Latin here and the later Greek are newly translated; Burton’s own following English couplet is also retained in modernized form.

1458.Scorbutum is scurvy; plica denotes a condition involving severely matted hair; Morbus Gallicus, “the French disease,” usually denotes syphilis in this period. Burton’s claim that these diseases were unknown to Galen and Hippocrates is his historical judgement, not a statement that their first occurrence has been established.

1459.Virgil, Aeneid 6.743, in Anchises’s explanation of the purification of souls after death. Burton’s following gloss applies the line to everyone’s individual infirmities; “his own lot” follows that use without substituting a modern psychiatric sense of “demons.”

1464.Pliny’s Natural History 7.50 in Holland’s 1601 chapter scheme reports Xenophilus’s 105 years without infirmity; Burton prints Zenophilus. At 22.53, section 114, Pliny names Pollio Romilius, over a hundred, and gives his answer to Augustus: intus mulso, foris oleo, honeyed wine within, oil without. Burton’s Romulus and foras remain. These locate literary reports, not independent verification of longevity or medical benefit.

1465.“Geniture” is a nativity or birth chart; “significators” are the celestial factors taken to signify a person or condition. “Cold” describes the man’s bodily temperament within historical medicine. The causal link asserted here is astrological. Ausborrow is Augsburg.

1468.Hesiod, Works and Days 101–103, cut off after “come of their own accord.” Greek ligatures and accents are regularized. The 1651 text has ἠδ’, “and,” where the consulted Greek edition has αἳ δ’, “and others.” Burton’s English couplet compresses the three quoted lines. The cramped setting of ἀνθρώποισιν merits further collation.

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.