The Anatomy of Melancholy

Almost everyone has something to occupy him, some calling or trade, but these people do everything through agents and servants. “They think themselves born only for leisure—indeed, often for their own ruin and that of others,” as one writer freely rebukes such men. They are wholly devoted to pastimes; these occupy all their attention. All their ingenuity is directed solely to passing the time, as if some of them had been born for no other purpose.

To correct and prevent these errors and harmful consequences, our theologians, physicians, and writers on government therefore work so hard and exhort us so earnestly. For this disease in particular, Rhazes holds that there can be no better cure than continual occupation: some employment that sets the mind to work and diverts its thoughts. Wealth is not easily gained without labour and industry, nor learning without study; neither can our health be preserved without bodily exercise.

For bodily exercise, Guianerius approves gentle movement, always after the customary rubbing of the body, which must be done every morning. Montalto, chapter 26, and Jason Pratensis use almost the same words, highly praising exercise provided it is moderate. Crato calls it a wonderful help when used in this way, and a powerful means of preserving health: it strengthens the whole body and increases its natural heat, by which nourishment is properly digested in the stomach, liver, and veins, leaving little or no undigested matter, and is successfully distributed throughout the body.

Besides, exercise expels waste through sweat and other imperceptible vapours; so much so that Galen prefers it to all medicine, regulation of diet, or any other regimen whatsoever. It is nature’s physician. Fulgentius, drawing on Gordonius, On the Preservation of Human Life, book 1, chapter 7, calls exercise a spur to a dull and sleepy constitution, a comfort to the limbs, a cure for infirmity, the death of diseases, and the destruction of all evils and vices.

The most suitable time for exercise is shortly before dinner or supper, or at any time when the body is empty. Montanus, in consultation 31, prescribes it for his patient every morning; and, as Calenus adds, after he has relieved himself, rubbed his body, washed his hands and face, combed his hair, and gargled. Galen tells us what kind of exercise to take, in books 2 and 3 of On the Preservation of Health, and how much: until the body is stimulated and on the point of sweating. Some say “until flushed, not until sweating,” lest the body become too dry.

Others prescribe healthy occupations, such as digging in the garden for a set time, guiding the plough, and the like. Some prescribe frequent and strenuous labour and exercises, such as sawing for a certain time each day. Hippocrates, in Epidemics 6, confutes them; but such exercise applies only in certain cases, to particular people. Most authorities prohibit it, and will on no account allow exercise to go beyond the onset of sweating, since exceeding that point is dangerous.