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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 3 Terrors and Frights as Causes of Melancholy

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Subsection 3 Terrors and Frights as Causes of Melancholy

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1651 English

146

SUBSECT. 3. Terrors and Affrights, Causes of Melancholy.

Tully in the 4. of his Tusculans, distinguisheth these terrors which arise from the apprehension of some terrible object heard or seen, from other fears, and so doth Patritius lib. 5. Tit. 4. de regis institut.

Of all fears they are most pernicious and violent, and so suddainly alter the whole temperature of the body, move the soul, and spirits, strik such a deep impression, that the parties can never be recovered, causing more grievous and fiercer Melancholy, as Felix Plater, c. 3. de mentis alienat. speakes out of his experience, then any inward cause whatsoever: and imprints it self so forcibly in the spirits, brain, humors, that if all the mass of bloud were let out of the body, it could hardly be extracted. This horrible kinde of Melancholy (for so he tearmes it) had been often brought before him, and troubles and affrights commonly men and women, young and old of all sorts.

Hercules de Saxonia, calls this kinde of Melancholy (ab agitatione spirituum) by a peculiar name; it comes from the agitation, motion, contraction, dilatation of spirits, not from any distemperature of humors, and produceth strong effects. This terror is most usually caused, as Plutarch will have, from some imminent danger, when a terrible object is at hand, heard, seen, or conceived, truely appearing, or in a dream: and many times the more sudden the accident, it is the more violent.

Stat terror animis, & cor attonitum salit, Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.Their soul’s affright, their heart amazed quakes, The trembling Liver pants ith’ veines, and akes.

Arthemedorus the Grammarian lost his wits by the unexpected sight of a Crocodile, Laurentius 7. de melan. The Massacre at Lions 1572. in the reign of Charles the 9. was so terrible and fearful, that many ran mad, some died, great-bellied women were brought to bed before their time, generally all affrighted and agast.

Many lose their wits by the sudden sight of some spectrum or divil, a thing very common in all ages, saith Lavater part. 1. cap. 9. as Orestes did at the sight of the Furies, which appeared to him in black (as Pausanias records) The Greeks call them μορμολύχεια, which so terrifie their souls, or if they be but affrighted by some counterfeit divels in jest,

—ut pueri trepidant, atque omnia cæcis In tenebris metuunt—

3702.BurtonPrinted page 146, l: “Terror & metus maxime ex improviso accedentes ita animum commovent, ut spiritus nunquam recuperent, gravioremque melancholiam terror facit, quam quæ ab interna causa fit. Impressio tam fortis in spiritibus humoribusque cerebri, ut extracta tota sanguinea massa ægre exprimatur, & hæc horrenda species melancholiæ frequenter oblata mihi, omnes exercens, viros, juvenes, senes.” Terror and fear, especially when they come unexpectedly, so disturb the mind that the spirits never recover; terror produces graver melancholy than that arising from an internal cause. The impression on the spirits and humours of the brain is so strong that, even if the whole mass of blood were removed, it would scarcely be expelled. This dreadful kind of melancholy has often come before me, afflicting everyone: men, youths and old people.

3704.BurtonPrinted page 146, star: “Tract. de melan. cap. 7. & 8. non ab intemperie, sed agitatione, dilatatione, contractione, motu spirituum.” Treatise on Melancholy, chapters 7 and 8: not from a disordered constitution, but from the agitation, expansion, contraction and movement of the spirits.

3705.BurtonPrinted page 146, m: “Lib. de fort. & virtut. Alex. præsertim incipiente periculo, ubi res prope adsunt terribiles.” On the Fortune and Virtue of Alexander: especially when danger begins, when dreadful things are close at hand.

3706.BurtonPrinted page 146, n: “Fit a visione horrenda, revera apparente, vel per insomnia, Platerus.” It arises from a dreadful vision, appearing in reality or in dreams. Plater.

3707.BurtonPrinted page 146, o, continued at the foot: “A painters wife in Basil, 1600. Somniavit filium bello mortuum, inde Melancholica consolari noluit.” The Latin says: she dreamed that her son had died in war; becoming melancholy as a result, she refused to be comforted.

3709.BurtonPrinted page 146, star, at the foot: “Senec. Herc. Oet.” Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus.

3711.BurtonPrinted page 146, p, at the foot: “Quarta pars comment. de Statu religionis in Gallia sub Carolo. 9. 1572.” Fourth part of the Commentaries on the State of Religion in France under Charles IX, 1572.

3713.BurtonPrinted page 146, q, at the foot: “Ex occursu dæmonum aliqui furore corripiuntur, & experientia notum est.” Some are seized by madness on encountering demons; this is known from experience.

3714.BurtonPrinted page 146, star, at the foot: “Lib. 8. in Arcad.” Book 8, on Arcadia.

3716.BurtonPrinted page 146, dagger, at the foot: “Lucret.” Lucretius.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Subsection 3 Terrors and Frights as Causes of Melancholy

p. 320

SUBSECTION 3 Terrors and frights as causes of melancholy

Cicero, in book 4 of his Tusculan Disputations, distinguishes these terrors, arising from the perception of some dreadful thing heard or seen, from other fears. So does Patrizi in book 5, title 4 of On the Education of a King.

Of all fears, these are the most harmful and violent. They change the body’s entire constitution so suddenly, stir the soul and spirits, and leave so deep an impression that those affected can never recover. They cause graver and more violent melancholy than any internal cause whatever, as Felix Plater says from experience in chapter 3 of On Mental Alienation: it imprints itself so forcibly on the spirits, brain and humours that, even if all the blood were drained from the body, it could hardly be removed. This horrible kind of melancholy, as he calls it, had often been brought before him, and commonly troubles and terrifies men and women, young and old, of every sort.

Hercules de Saxonia gives this kind of melancholy a special name: “from the agitation of the spirits.” It comes from the agitation, movement, contraction and expansion of the spirits, rather than any disorder of the humours, and has powerful effects. According to Plutarch, this terror most often arises from some imminent danger, when something dreadful is close at hand, heard, seen or imagined, whether it truly appears or comes in a dream. Often, the more sudden the event, the more violent the terror.

Terror holds the mind; the stunned heart leaps, And the frightened liver throbs with trembling veins.

Their soul is frightened; their astonished heart shakes; The trembling liver throbs within the veins and aches.

Arthemedorus the grammarian lost his reason at the unexpected sight of a crocodile, according to Du Laurens, chapter 7 of On Melancholy. The massacre at Lyon in 1572, during the reign of Charles IX, was so terrible and frightening that many went mad, some died, and heavily pregnant women gave birth before their time; everyone was generally terrified and aghast.

Many lose their reason at the sudden sight of some ghost or devil, something very common in every age, says Lavater in part 1, chapter 9. Orestes did so at the sight of the Furies, who appeared to him in black, as Pausanias records. The Greeks call such things “bogeys”: they terrify people’s souls. Even if people are merely frightened by imitation devils as a joke—

As children tremble and fear everything In blind darkness—

3701.Tully is Marcus Tullius Cicero. Tusculan Disputations 4.8.19 distinguishes several forms of fear and defines terror as fear that shakes a person, producing pallor, trembling and chattering teeth. Burton develops this distinction through his medical examples. The Patrizi reference remains for exact collation.

3703.Temperature means bodily constitution or the balance of qualities, not a thermometer reading. Spirits and humours belong to Burton’s inherited physiology. Plater’s claim about draining all the blood is an image of the impression’s persistence, not an instruction to bleed a patient. Burton attributes the observations and prognosis to Plater.

3708.Hercules de Saxonia is the physician Ercole Sassonia. His proposed distinction separates disturbed spirits from disordered humours. Burton then joins physical, imagined and dreamed threats in one account of fright. The marginal dream concerns a painter’s wife in Basel and adds an example absent from the body.

3710.Hercules Oetaeus 708–709, transmitted among Seneca’s tragedies: Deianira describes fear still lodged in her body. The fresh translation of the Latin is followed by Burton’s own English couplet, modernized separately. The liver belongs to the passage’s bodily imagery and has not been replaced by a modern organ or diagnosis.

3712.Great-bellied means heavily pregnant; brought to bed means delivered of a child. Lions is Lyon. Burton’s marginal source is a historical account of religion in France; the precise narrative and the grammarian’s name remain for collation. These reported effects are preserved as his evidence, not independently confirmed clinical findings.

3715.Spectrum means an apparition or ghost. Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.34.3, says that the Furies appeared black when they were about to drive Orestes mad, then white when he recovered after biting off a finger. Burton gives only the terrifying appearance. The Greek is printed μορμολύχεια, rendered bogeys; the more usual form is μορμολύκεια. The printed form is retained.

3717.Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 2.55–56; the comparison recurs elsewhere in the poem. Burton quotes the frightened children, then supplies his own English explanation. Both are retained rather than silently collapsing quotation and gloss.

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.

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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.

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