The Anatomy of Melancholy

In Burton. The account distinguishes fleeting acts of apprehension from lasting intellectual dispositions, or habits. After enumerating acquired forms of understanding, it adds the three innate terms and gives a total of fourteen. The three are related without being collapsed into a single label.

The places. Synteresis and the dictate of reason occur in the classification of understanding. (p. 28; DJR-026-30.)

In this edition. “Synteresis” → “synderesis” (DJR-026-30); “Dictamen rationis” → “the dictate of reason” (DJR-026-30). The modern spelling synderesis replaces synteresis; the Latin phrase is translated directly. Habit in the surrounding passage means an enduring disposition rather than a repeated routine.

See also. Reason; Conscience.

Tables

Source forms: tables

The word. Tables can name a backgammon-type board game or physical tablets bearing records. The plural does not always refer to furniture.

In Burton. The gambling passage describes anger after losing at tables. The treatment synopsis recommends the same game among moderate mental recreations. In the shrine description, tables instead names commemorative or votive tablets displayed with inscriptions and gifts.

The places. Tables is the game whose losses provoke the gambler’s anger. (p. 119; DJR-044-35.) Tables appears among recreations in the regimen synopsis. (scan p. 323; DJR-067-09.) Tables are tablets displayed in the healing shrine. (p. 225; DJR-068-38.)

In this edition. “games at Tables” → “games of backgammon” (DJR-044-35); “cards, tables” → “cards, backgammon” (DJR-067-09); “tables, inscriptions” → “tablets, inscriptions” (DJR-068-38). Backgammon gives the reader the game family, while tablets preserves the material sense in the shrine. The contrast between uncontrolled gambling and moderate recreation belongs to the different passages.

See also. Recreate; Confection; Religion and superstition.

Tax

Source forms: taxeth; taxe; tax

The word. To tax can mean reproach, censure or attack someone in speech or writing. These uses do not concern imposing a financial levy.

In Burton. Erasmus is said to tax scholars for mishandling patrons. Princes are reported to pay Aretino to avoid being attacked in satire. Burton finally claims that his own discussion of lust aims to censure and deter it rather than teach it.

The places. Taxeth means reproaches scholars for neglecting patrons. (p. 139–140; DJR-049-01.) Taxe names an attack in Aretino’s satire. (p. 148; DJR-051-27.) Tax declares Burton’s censuring purpose in discussing love. (p. 410; DJR-108-16.)

In this edition. “as Erasmus well taxeth” → “as Erasmus justly reproaches them” (DJR-049-01); “taxe them in his Satyres” → “attack them in his satires” (DJR-051-27); “to tax and deter others from it” → “to censure it and deter others from it” (DJR-108-16). The renderings follow the different objects and force of criticism. The payment in the Aretino story is part of the reported means of avoiding censure, not the meaning of tax itself.

See also. Fact; Explode.

Temporize

Source forms: temporize; temporising

The word. To temporize is to adapt one’s conduct to circumstances, particularly for advantage. Burton’s uses concern opportunistic accommodation, rather than merely postponing a decision.

In Burton. The conscientious person refuses the practices that society rewards as worldly wisdom. In the discussion of false friends, a temporising age enables flatterers to gain access to powerful patrons and rise to office. Both passages expose the social rewards of compromised judgement.

The places. Honest people are despised for refusing opportunistic conduct. (p. 19; DJR-007-14.) The age’s opportunism makes flattering companions difficult to expose. (p. 421–422; DJR-110-23.)