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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 MelancholyMember 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind…

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Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind…

Book Mode

1651 English

507–508

Juno in Lucian deorum, Tom. 3. dial. 3. complains to Jupiter of Ixion, he looked so attentively on her, and sometimes would sigh and weep in her company, and when I drank by chance, and gave Ganymede the cup, he would desire to drink still in the very cup that I drank of, and in the same place where I drank, and would kiss the cup, and then look steddily on me, and sometimes sigh, and then again smile.

If it be so they cannot come neer to dally, have not that opportunity, familiarity, or acquaintance to confer and talk together; yet if they be in presence, their eye will bewray them: Ubi amor ibi oculus, as the common saying is, where I look I like, and where I like I love; but they will lose themselves in her looks.

Alter in alterius jactantes lumina vultus, Quærebant taciti noster ubi esset amor.

They cannot look off whom they love, they will impregnare eam ipsis oculis, deflowre her with their eyes, be still gazing, staring, stealing faces, smiling, glancing at her, as Apollo on Leucothoe, the Moon on her Endymion, when she stood still in Caria, and at Latmos caused her Chariot to be stayed. They must all stand and admire, or if she go by, look after her as long as they can see her, she is animæ auriga, as Anacreon calls her, they cannot go by her door or window, but as an Adamant, she draws their eyes to it, though she be not there present, they must needs glance that way, and look back to it.

Aristænetus of Exithemus, Lucian in his Imagin. of himself, and Tatius of Clitophon say as much, Ille oculos de Leucippe nunquam dejiciebat, and many Lovers confess when they came in their Mistress presence, they could not hold off their eyes, but looked wistly and steddily on her, inconnivo aspectu, with much eagerness and greediness, as if they would look thorow, or should never have enough sight of her.

—— Fixis ardens obtutibus hæret;

So she will do by him, drink to him with her eyes, nay drink him up, devoure him, swallow him, as Martials Mamurra is remembred to have done:

Inspexit molles pueros, oculisque comedit, &c.

There is a pleasant story to this purpose in Navigat. Vertom. lib. 3. cap. 5. The Sultan of Sanas wife in Arabia, because Vertomannus was fair and white could not look off him, from Sun-rising to Sun-setting, she could not desist, she made him one day come into her chamber, & geminæ horæ spatio intuebatur, non à me nunquam aciem oculorum avertebat, me observans veluti Cupidinem quendam, for two hours space she still gazed on him.

A young man in Lucian fell in love with Venus picture, he came every morning to her Temple, and there continued all day long from Sun-rising to Sun-set, unwilling to go home at night, sitting over against the Goddess Picture, he did continually look upon her, and mutter to himself I know not what.

If so be they cannot see them whom they love, they will still be walking and waiting about their Mistress doors, taking all opportunity to see them, as in Longus Sophista, Daphnis and Cloe, two Lovers, were still hovering at one anothers gates, he sought all occasions to be in her company, to hunt in Summer, and catch Birds in the Frost about her Fathers house in the winter, that she might see him, and he her.

9833.BurtonPrinted page 507, g: “Tom. 4. merit. dial.” Volume 4, Dialogues of the Courtesans. This marginal citation conflicts with the body’s Dialogues of the Gods.

9834.BurtonPrinted page 507, h: “Attentè admodum in me aspexit, & interdum ingemiscebat, & lachrymabatur. Et si quando bibens, &c.” “He looked at me very intently, and sometimes groaned and wept. And if at any time, drinking,” etc.

9837.BurtonPrinted page 507, dagger: “Quique omnia cernere debes Leucothoen spectas, & virgine figis in una quos mundo debes oculos, Ovid. Met. 4.” “You who ought to see everything gaze at Leucothoe, fixing on one girl the eyes you owe to the world.” Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 4.

9838.BurtonPrinted page 507, dagger: “Lucian Tom. 3. quoties ad Cariam venis currum sistis, & desuper aspectas.” Lucian, volume 3: “Whenever you come to Caria, you stop your chariot and gaze down from above.”

9840.BurtonPrinted page 507, asterisk: “Ex quo te primum vidi Pythia aliò oculos vertere non fuit.” “Since I first saw you, Pythia, it has not been possible to turn my eyes elsewhere.”

9841.BurtonPrinted page 507, dagger: “Lib. 4.” Book 4.

9846.BurtonPrinted page 507, dagger: “Dial. amorum.” Dialogues of Love.

9847.BurtonPrinted page 507, asterisk: “Ad occasum Solis ægrè domum rediens, atque; totum die ex adverso deæ sedens recto, in ipsam perpetuo oculorum ictus direxit, &c.” “Returning home reluctantly at sunset, and sitting directly opposite the goddess all day, he continually directed his gaze at her,” etc. The printed totum die is grammatically irregular; the sense is “all day.”

9849.BurtonPrinted page 508, x: “Lib. 3.” Book 3.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind…

p. 788

In Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods, volume 3, dialogue 3, Juno complains to Jupiter about Ixion: he gazed at her intently and sometimes sighed and wept in her company. “When I happened to drink and handed the cup to Ganymede, he would always ask to drink from the very cup I had used, at the same place where I had drunk. He would kiss the cup, then gaze steadily at me, sometimes sighing, then smiling again.”

If they cannot get close enough to caress one another, lacking the opportunity, intimacy or acquaintance to converse, their eyes will still reveal them when they are together. “Where love is, there the eye is,” as the common saying goes: where I look, I like; where I like, I love. They will lose themselves in her gaze.

Casting their eyes upon one another’s faces, They silently asked where our love might be.

They cannot take their eyes off the person they love: they would “make her pregnant with their very eyes,” deflower her with their gaze. They are always gazing, staring, stealing looks, smiling and glancing at her, as Apollo at Leucothoe, or the Moon at her Endymion, when she stood still in Caria and had her chariot halted at Latmos. They must stand and admire; if she passes, they watch her for as long as she remains in sight. She is “the charioteer of the soul,” as Anacreon calls her. They cannot pass her door or window without her drawing their eyes to it like a magnet. Even when she is absent, they must glance that way and look back.

Aristaenetus says as much of Exithemus, Lucian of himself in his Portraits, and Achilles Tatius of Clitophon: “He never took his eyes off Leucippe.” Many lovers confess that in their mistress’s presence they could not turn their eyes away, but looked at her intently and steadily, “with an unblinking gaze,” so eagerly and greedily that they seemed to want to see right through her, or as though they could never have enough of seeing her.

Burning with passion, she remains fixed in her gaze.

She will do the same to him: drink to him with her eyes—indeed, drink him up, devour him, swallow him, as Martial’s Mamurra is said to have done:

He inspected the delicate boys and ate them with his eyes.

There is an amusing story of this in Varthema’s Travels, book 3, chapter 5. Because Varthema was handsome and fair-skinned, the wife of the sultan of Sana in Arabia could not take her eyes off him, from sunrise to sunset. She could not stop. One day she had him come into her room: “For two hours she gazed at me, never turning her eyes away, regarding me as a kind of Cupid.” For two hours she kept gazing at him.

A young man in Lucian fell in love with an image of Venus. Every morning he came to her temple and stayed there all day, from sunrise to sunset, reluctant to go home at night. Sitting opposite the goddess’s image, he continually gazed at her, muttering I know not what to himself.

If they cannot see the people they love, they will keep walking and waiting about their mistresses’ doors, taking every opportunity to see them. In Longus the sophist, the two lovers Daphnis and Chloe were always hovering at each other’s gates. He sought every chance to be with her: hunting in summer and catching birds in the frost around her father’s house in winter, so that she could see him and he her.

9835.The scene is Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods, Hera and Zeus on Ixion. It appears as dialogue 6 in the consulted Fowler translation; numbering varies. Burton’s marginal Dialogues of the Courtesans is a conflicting locator. Juno and Jupiter are the Roman names for Hera and Zeus.

9836.The source of this couplet has not been securely identified. Its shift from “they” to noster, “our,” is present in Burton and retained in the translation.

9839.Adamant here means a lodestone or magnet. Animae auriga is literally “charioteer of the soul.” The Ovid parallel is Metamorphoses 4.195–197, on the Sun’s gaze at Leucothoe. The exact Anacreontic phrase and Lucian intermediary remain to be collated.

9842.Tatius is Achilles Tatius, author of Leucippe and Clitophon. Wistly means intently. The marginal Pythia belongs to Burton’s Aristaenetus example; Exithemus and the early translation’s wording are retained pending collation.

9843.The line conveys a fixed, ardent gaze. Its exact source remains unconfirmed; the modern feminine subject follows Burton’s “So she will do” in the next sentence.

9844.Martial, Epigrams 9.59.3. Mamurra is looking at enslaved boys offered for sale. Burton transfers the image of visual consumption to a woman gazing at her beloved.

9845.Vertomannus is Ludovico di Varthema, the traveller; Sana is Sana’a. Fair and white combines attractiveness with complexion. Burton is retelling a traveller’s claim; the precise Latin edition and chapter remain to be collated.

9848.Picture here means a statue: Aphrodite at Cnidus. Amores 15–16, transmitted under Lucian’s name, describes the young man’s daily visits, lingering gaze and muttering; section 15 supplies Burton’s scene. This locates the narrative without settling authorship or Burton’s Latin version. The marginal citation and following excerpt retain their separate anchors.

9850.Longus, Daphnis and Chloe, book 3. The winter hunting provides a pretext for approaching Chloe’s house. Burton’s wider seasonal summary is retained; the exact early translation remains to be collated.

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.