The Anatomy of Melancholy

SUBSECTION 5 Alteratives and cordials that strengthen the body, disperse the remaining matter and improve the temperament

Because this humour is so malignant in itself, and so difficult to remove, the remaining matter must be cleared away by alteratives, cordials and similar means. The temperament must be changed and improved with things that fortify and strengthen the heart and brain, which are usually both affected in this disease and mutually affect one another. These remedies are to be given regularly every other day, or with a few days’ interval after a purge or similar treatment, as circumstances require. They are so powerful that they often help on their own and, as Arnoldus maintains in his Aphorisms, should be preferred to every other kind of medicine.

Among these cordials and alteratives, I find no more immediate remedy than a cup of wine or strong drink, if used soberly and at the right time. It makes a person bold, hardy and courageous, and sharpens the intelligence if taken moderately. As Plutarch says, Table Talk 7, question 12, it makes people who are otherwise dull open up and give off their spirit like frankincense; or it kindles them, Xenophon adds, as oil kindles fire.

Mattioli, in his commentary on Dioscorides, calls it a celebrated cordial, an excellent nourishment to refresh the body. It gives a healthy complexion and a flourishing life, aids digestion, strengthens the stomach, removes obstructions, stimulates urination, expels waste, brings sleep, clears the blood, drives out wind and cold poisons, and thins, digests and disperses all thick vapours and sooty humours. And what matters above all for my purpose is that it takes away fear and sorrow.

Bacchus scatters gnawing cares.

“It gladdens the human heart,” Psalm 104:15: “a sweet seedbed of cheerfulness.” Helen’s bowl, the sole nectar of the gods, or that true nepenthe in Homer that banishes care and grief, was, according to Oribasius, Collections 5, chapter 7, and some others, nothing but a cup of good wine.

“It makes the mind of the king and of the orphan alike, of the slave and the free, the poor and the rich. It turns all his thoughts to joy and merriment, makes him forget sorrow and debt, enriches his heart and makes him talk in talents,” Esdras 3:19–21. It gives life itself, spirits, intelligence and so on.

For this reason the ancients called Bacchus “Father Liber,” from his setting people free, and regularly sacrificed to Bacchus and Pallas on one altar. “Wine drunk in moderation and at the right time brings gladness and cheerfulness of mind”; it cheers God and humanity, Judges 9:12. “Bacchus, giver of joy”: it makes an old woman dance, and those in misery forget their troubles and be merry.

Bacchus also brings rest to suffering mortals, Though their legs should be bound in a hard fetter.