The Anatomy of Melancholy

The word. Impotent here means ungovernable or lacking self-command. Applied to desire, it concerns the inability to restrain a passion, rather than an absence of sexual capacity.

In Burton. Burton’s preliminary catalogue calls love madness, a hell and an incurable force. The Latin phrase attributed to Seneca and its following English explanation emphasize raging desire that has escaped control, anticipating the later treatment of love melancholy.

The places. Love is described as impotent and raging lust. (p. 72; DJR-018-16.)

In this edition. “impotentem & insanam libidinem” → “ungovernable and insane desire” (DJR-018-16); “an impotent and raging lust” → “an uncontrolled and raging lust” (DJR-018-16). Ungovernable and uncontrolled make the older sense explicit. The Latin formulation and Burton’s English restatement remain separate.

See also. Concupiscence; Will and nill.

Incubus

Source forms: incubus; witch-ridden

The word. Incubus names an oppressive nightmare experience, described here as being ridden or crushed in sleep. Witch-ridden expresses the sufferer’s supposed explanation of that pressure.

In Burton. The disease list includes incubus among disorders associated with parts of the brain. In the discussion of imagination, the sleeper imagines an old woman sitting heavily on the body. Burton explains the experience through humours and vapours troubling imagination, replacing the supposed assailant with an internal cause.

The places. Incubus occurs in the catalogue of disorders. (p. 7–8; DJR-022-14.) The witch-ridden sleeper imagines an old woman’s weight. (p. 93; DJR-039-10.)

In this edition. “Incubus” → “nightmare oppression” (DJR-022-14); “Incubus, or Witch-ridden” → “incubus, or “witch-ridden,”” (DJR-039-10). Nightmare oppression explains the catalogue term. The later technical name and familiar expression remain together because the passage itself describes their experience.

See also. Daemon and genius.

Indifferent

Source forms: indifferent

The word. Indifferent means middling in this passage: occupying a middle rank between the supposedly wise and those dismissed as fools. It does not describe a lack of interest or concern.

In Burton. Burton mocks competing claims to superiority. After the saying that some peoples have two eyes, others one and others none, he depicts the reader’s own party as claiming wisdom, granting a middle place to some outsiders and contemptuously dismissing the rest.

The places. Indifferent marks the middle rank in a satirical classification. (p. 40; DJR-011-24.)

In this edition. “others indifferent” → “others are middling” (DJR-011-24). Middling makes the hierarchy legible. The translation preserves the insults and the turn against the person who laughs at others.

See also. Judgment; Mediocrity; Honest.

Inseparable and individual

Source forms: individuall; numericall

The word. Individual can mean indivisible or inseparable. Numerical identity, by contrast, means being the very same particular thing. The two examples turn on closeness and sameness in different senses.

In Burton. Sorrow is described as melancholy’s inseparable companion through paired saints and the faithful Achates. Later, the image of a river distinguishes the same place from the same water, helping Burton describe a disease that shows likeness amid varied symptoms.

The places. Individual describes the inseparability of companions. (p. 183; DJR-059-01.) Numerical identity is distinguished from sameness of place. (p. 190; DJR-059-53.)

In this edition. “as individuall as Saint Cosmus and Damian” → “as inseparable as Saints Cosmas and Damian” (DJR-059-01); “the same numericall water” → “the very same water” (DJR-059-53). Inseparable avoids the modern implication of separateness. Very same states numerical identity in ordinary language while leaving the river comparison intact.

See also. Actuality.

Intellect

Source forms: intellectus agens; discoursing; agent