The Anatomy of Melancholy

Cardan therefore concludes from Galen: “Habit must, in any case, be tolerated unless it is very bad.” Habit should be maintained, unless extremely bad. He advises everyone to keep to their old habits, citing Hippocrates himself: “Some allowance must be made for season, age, country and habit.” They should therefore continue as they began, whether in diet, bathing, exercise or anything else.

Another exception is pleasure, or a liking for particular foods. Though they are hard to digest and produce melancholy, Fuchs makes this qualification in his Institutes, book 2, section 2, chapter 6: the stomach readily digests and willingly receives the foods we like best and find pleasant, while rejecting those we dislike. Hippocrates confirms this in Aphorisms 2.38. Some people cannot bear cheese because of a hidden antipathy, or even the sight of a roast duck, which others find delicious.

The last exception is necessity: poverty, want and hunger often drive people to do, and gratefully accept, what they would otherwise dislike or could not bear—as with the drink aboard ships, or eating dogs, cats, rats and even human beings during sieges of great cities. Three outlaws in Hector Boece, left to fend for themselves, ate raw flesh and the flesh of whatever birds they could catch, for a few months on one of the Hebrides.

These considerations qualify or overturn what has been said about foods that cause melancholy, and make such food more tolerable. But those who are wealthy, live in plenty and ease, and can choose what to eat or abstain if they wish, should avoid these foods if they are prone to melancholy or suspect it in themselves, as they value their health. Otherwise, if they eat immoderately or without order, let it be at their peril. “He who warns you loves you. Farewell, and beware.”