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Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Parallel Edition

Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

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The Anatomy of MelancholySubsection 5. Old Age as a Cause

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Facing Pages · Branch 205 of 1495

Subsection 5. Old Age as a Cause

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1651 English

61

But this opinion Bodine, Erastus, Danæus, Scribanius, Sebastian Michaelis, Campanella de Sensu rerum lib. 4. cap. 9. Dandinus the Jesuit, lib. 2. de Animâ explode; Cicogna confutes at large. That Witches are melancholy, they deny not, but not out of corrupt phantasie alone, so to delude themselves and others, or to produce such effects.

61

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Subsection 5. Old Age as a Cause

p. 205

But Bodin, Erastus, Daneau, Scribanius, Sébastien Michaëlis, Campanella in On the Sense of Things, book 4, chapter 9, and the Jesuit Dandini in On the Soul, book 2, reject this opinion; Cicogna refutes it at length. They do not deny that witches are melancholy, but deny that an impaired imagination alone can so deceive themselves and others or produce such effects.

205

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.