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Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Name: The Anatomy of Melancholy
Author: Robert Burton

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

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The Anatomy of MelancholyMember 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities

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Facing Pages · Branch 570 of 1495

Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities

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1651 English

334

Rejoyce not against me, O my enemy; for though I fall, I shall rise: when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall lighten me. Remember all those Martyrs what they have endured, the utmost that humane rage and fury could invent, with what patience they have born, with what willingness embraced it. Though he kill me, saith Job, I will trust in him. Justus inexpugnabilis, as Chrysostome holds, a just man is impregnable, and not to be overcome. The gout may hurt his hands, lameness his feet, convulsions may torture his joynts, but not rectam mentem, his soule is free.

—— nempe pecus, rem, Lectos, argentum tollas licet; in manicis & Compedibus sævo teneas custode ——

Take away his mony, his treasure is in heaven; banish him his country, he is an inhabitant of that heavenly Jerusalem; cast him into bands, his conscience is free; kill his body, it shall rise again; he fights with a shadow that contends with an upright man: He will not be moved.

—— si fractus illabatur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinæ,

Though heaven it self should fall on his head, he will not be offended. He is impenetrable, as an anvile hard, as constant as Job.

Ipse deus simulatque volet me solvet opinor.

Be thou such a one, let thy misery be what it will, what it can, with patience endure it; thou mayst be restored as he was. Terris proscriptus, ad cœlum propera; ab hominibus desertus, ad deum fuge. The poor shall not alwayes be forgotten, the patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever, Psal. 10.18. ver. 9. The Lord will be a refuge of the oppressed, & a defence in the time of trouble.

Servus Epictetus, mutilati corporis, Irus Pauper: at hæc inter charus erat superis,Lame was Epictetus, and poor Irus, Yet to them both God was propitious:

Lodovicus Vertomannus that famous traveller, indured much misery, yet surely saith Scaliger, he was vir deo charus, in that he did escape so many dangers, God especially protected him, he was dear unto him: Modo in egestate, tribulatione, convalle deplorationis &c. Thou art now in the vale of misery, in poverty, in agony, in temptation; rest, eternity, happiness, immortality shall be thy reward, as Chrysostome pleads, if thou trust in God, and keep thine innocency. Non si malè nunc, & olim sic erit semper; a good houre may come upon a sudden; expect a little.

Yea, but this expectation is it which tortures me in the mean time; futura expectans præsentibus angor, whilest the grass grows the horse starves; Despair not, but hope well,

Spera Batte, tibi melius lux Crastina ducet; Dum spiras spera ——

6867.BurtonPrinted page 334, g: “Micah. 8.7.” The chapter and verse are printed in this order; the quotation is Micah 7:8.

6868.BurtonPrinted page 334, h: “Preme, preme, ego cum Pindaro, [Greek, provisionally: ἀβάπτιστος εἰμὶ ὡς φελλὸς ὑπὲρ ἅλμας], immersibilis sum sicut suber super maris septum. Lipsius.” “Press me down, press me down; I say with Pindar, ‘I am unsinkable, like cork above the brine’—I am unsinkable like cork above a net in the sea.” Lipsius. The small Greek type is imperfectly printed; its reading is provisional. Pindar’s Pythian 2.79–80 has a fuller phrase, including ἕρκος, net or barrier; the Latin here retains that image.

6869.BurtonPrinted page 334, i: “Hic ure, hic seca, ut in æternum parcas, Austin. Diis fruitur iratis, superat & crescit malis. Mutium ignis, Fabricium paupertas, Regulum tormenta, Socratem venenum superare non potuit.” “Burn here, cut here, so that you may spare me for eternity.” Augustine. “He benefits from the gods even in their anger; he overcomes and grows through adversity. Fire could not overcome Mucius, poverty Fabricius, tortures Regulus, or poison Socrates.” These are examples of constancy; the complete note is one marginal container.

6871.BurtonPrinted page 334, dagger: “Hor. epist. 18. lib. 1.” Horace, Epistles 1.18, as printed. The lines are from 1.16.75–77.

6873.BurtonPrinted page 334, dagger: “Hom. 5. Auferet pecunias? at habet in cœlis: patria dejiciet? at in cœlestem civitatem mittet: vincula injiciet? at habet solutam conscientiam: corpus interficiet, at iterum resurget; cum umbra pugnat qui cum justo pugnat.” Homily 5: “Will he take his money? He has it in heaven. Will he cast him out of his homeland? He will send him to the heavenly city. Will he put him in chains? His conscience remains free. Will he kill his body? It will rise again. Whoever fights the righteous fights a shadow.” Chrysostom is the author understood from the surrounding passage.

6876.BurtonPrinted page 334, dagger: “Leonides.” Leonides. This entry follows the Homily 5 note. Its exact intended attachment is uncertain: the body’s next dagger marks Ipse deus, but a later epigram concerns Epictetus. The entry is retained at that next marked anchor rather than silently reassigned.

6880.BurtonPrinted page 334, asterisk: “Modo in pressura, in tentationibus, erit postea bonum tuum requies, æternitas, immortalitas.” “Now you are under pressure and in trials; afterwards your good will be rest, eternity and immortality.”

6881.BurtonPrinted page 334, k: “Dabit Deus his quoque finem.” “God will bring these things too to an end.” Virgil, Aeneid 1.199.

6883.BurtonPrinted page 334, l: “Seneca.” Seneca. The exact source of futura expectans præsentibus angor has not yet been located.

6884.BurtonPrinted page 334, m: “Nemo desperet meliora lapsus.” “Let no one who has fallen despair of better things.” Compare Seneca, Thyestes 616, where the consulted text has lapsis, “when fortunes have fallen,” rather than Burton’s lapsus, “one who has fallen.”

6886.BurtonPrinted page 334, dagger: “Theocritus.” Theocritus; the address to Battus corresponds to Idyll 4.41. Burton quotes a Latin rendering of the Greek.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities

p. 570

“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. Though I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will give me light.” Remember all that the martyrs endured, the worst that human rage and fury could invent: how patiently they bore it, how willingly they embraced it. “Though he kill me,” says Job, “I will trust in him.” “The righteous man is impregnable,” as Chrysostom maintains: he cannot be overcome. Gout may hurt his hands, lameness his feet; convulsions may torture his joints, but not “an upright mind.” His soul is free.

Cattle, property, Beds and silver—you may take them away; You may hold me in handcuffs and fetters under a cruel guard.

Take away his money: his treasure is in heaven. Banish him from his country: he is a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. Put him in chains: his conscience is free. Kill his body: it will rise again. Whoever fights an upright man fights a shadow. He will not be shaken.

If the shattered world should fall, Its ruins will strike him unafraid.

Though heaven itself should fall on his head, he will not be shaken. He is impenetrable, hard as an anvil, as steadfast as Job.

God himself, as soon as he wishes, will release me, I believe.

Be such a person yourself. Whatever your misery is, however great it may be, endure it patiently; you may be restored as Job was. “Banished from earth, hasten to heaven; deserted by men, flee to God.” “The poor will not always be forgotten; the patient waiting of the meek will not perish for ever,” Psalm 10:18. Verse 9: “The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a defence in times of trouble.”

Epictetus was a slave, his body maimed, Poor as Irus; yet amid these hardships the gods loved him.

Epictetus was lame, and Irus poor, Yet God was kind to them both.

Ludovico di Varthema, the famous traveller, endured much misery. Yet surely, says Scaliger, he was “a man dear to God,” since he escaped so many dangers. God protected him especially; he was dear to him. “Now in want, affliction, the valley of lamentation, and so on.” You are now in the valley of misery, in poverty, agony and temptation; rest, eternity, happiness and immortality will be your reward, as Chrysostom argues, if you trust in God and preserve your innocence. “If things are bad now, they will not always be so in future.” A favourable hour may come suddenly; wait a little.

“Yes, but this waiting is what tortures me meanwhile. While I await the future, the present torments me. While the grass grows, the horse starves.” Do not despair; keep hoping for better.

Hope, Battus: tomorrow’s light will bring you something better. While you breathe, hope.

6870.Micah 7:8 is printed as 8.7; “Though he kill me” is Job 13:15. Gloss-e calls the Hic ure prayer pseudo-Augustinian, comparing Augustine’s medical metaphor in Psalm 6.3, not the exact prayer. The compound margin illustrates endurance, not bodily invulnerability. Its immediate sources, Lipsius’s passage and the marked provisional Greek remain unresolved.

6872.Horace, Epistles 1.16.75–77, not 1.18 as the margin states. The original is an exchange between a virtuous man and a ruler threatening confiscation and imprisonment. Burton condenses the threat into teneas, “you may hold,” and omits te sub before custode. The modern text follows Burton’s wording.

6874.Chrysostom, On the Statues 5.3, closely supplies this sequence of confiscation, exile, chains, death and the opponent who fights a shadow. Burton makes the heavenly city explicitly Jerusalem. Bands means bonds or fetters.

6875.Horace, Odes 3.3.7–8, on the steadfast just man. Burton’s following English gloss replaces the falling world with heaven falling on his head; both layers remain.

6877.Horace, Epistles 1.16.78, but altered. The consulted text has “as soon as I wish,” whereas Burton prints volet, “he wishes,” and moves opinor, “I think,” into the verse. Horace’s next line explains release as death; Burton applies the line to providential deliverance. The nearby marginal “Leonides” is not a secure attribution of this Horatian line.

6878.Both quotations correspond to Psalm 9 in common modern English numbering: verses 18 and 9 respectively. Burton prints “Psal. 10.18. ver. 9.” The Latin transition urges turning from earthly exile to heaven; it is not part of those psalm verses.

6879.The Latin describes one man: Epictetus, enslaved, physically impaired and as poor as Irus, the proverbial beggar. Burton’s English makes Epictetus and Irus two recipients of divine favour. Compare Greek Anthology 7.676, the epigram quoted in Oldfather’s introduction to Epictetus. Its precise relationship to the nearby marginal attribution “Leonides” requires further collation.

6882.Vertomannus is the traveller Ludovico di Varthema. Burton’s Scaliger quotation and the precise Chrysostom excerpt remain unlocated. The line Non si malè nunc adapts Horace, Odes 2.10.17–18, adding semper, “always”; the margin Dabit Deus is from Virgil, Aeneid 1.199. These different sources support the appeal to wait.

6885.The proverb makes the objection concrete: promised future relief does not meet present hunger. Burton attributes the Latin complaint to Seneca without a work reference. The marginal reply resembles Thyestes 616; the different reading is recorded in the Burton note.

6887.The address to Battus and the counsel to hope while alive correspond to Theocritus, Idyll 4.41–43. Burton condenses the latter into the Latin proverb Dum spiras spera, “While you breathe, hope.” His particular Latin wording and its translator remain untraced.

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.