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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 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind…

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Facing Pages · Branch 792 of 1495

Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind…

Book Mode

1651 English

511–512

He is then too confident and rapt beyond himself, as if he had heard the Nightingale in the Spring before the Cuckow, or as Calisto was at Melebæas presence, Quis unquam hac mortali vita tam gloriosum corpus vidit? humanitatem transcendere videor, &c. who ever saw so glorious a sight, what man ever enjoyed such delight? More content cannot be given of the Gods, wished, had or hoped of any mortal man. There is no happiness in the world comparable to his, no content, no joy to this, no life to Love, he is in Paradise.

Quis me uno vivit fælicior? aut magis hac est Optandum vita dicere quis poterit?Who lives so happy as my self? what bliss In this our life may be compar’d to this?

He will not change fortune in that case with a Prince.

Donec gratus eram tibi, Persarum vigui rege beatior.

The Persian Kings are not so joviall as he is, O e festus dies hominis, O happy day; so Chærea exclaims when he came from Pamphila his Sweet-heart, well pleased,

Nunc est profecto interfici cum perpeti me possem, Ne hoc gaudium contaminet vita aliqua ægritudine.

He could find in his heart to be killed instantly, lest if he live longer, some sorrow or sickness should contaminate his joyes. A little after, he was so merrily set upon the same occasion, that he could not contain himself.

O populares, ecquis me vivit hodie fortunatior? Nemo hercule quisquam; nam in me dii plane potestatem Suam omnem ostendere;

Is’t possible (O my Countrymen) for any living to be so happy as my self? No sure it cannot be, for the Gods have shewed all their power, all their goodness in me. Yet by and by when this young Gallant was crossed in his wench, he laments, and cryes, and roars down-right.

Occidi —— I am undone;Neque virgo est usquam, neque ego, qui è conspectu illam amisi meo. Ubi quæram, ubi investigem, quem percuncter, quam insistam viam?

The Virgin’s gone, and I am gone, she’s gone, she’s gone, and what shall I do? where shall I seek her, where shall I find her, whom shall I ask? what way, what course shall I take? what will become of me?

—— vitales auras invitus agebat, he was weary of his life, sick, mad and desperate utinam mihi esset aliquid hic, quo nunc me præcipitem darem. ’Tis not Chæreas case this alone, but his, and his, and every Lover’s in the like state.

If he hear ill news, have bad success in his suit, she frown upon him, or that his Mistress in his presence respect another more (as Hædus observs) Prefer another suiter, speak more familiarly to him, or use more kindly then himself, if by nod, smile, message she disclose her self to another, he is instantly tormented, none so dejected as he is, utterly undone, a castaway In quem fortuna omnia odiorum suorum crudelissima tela exonerat, a dead man, the scorn of fortune, a monster of fortune, worse then naught, the losse of a Kingdom had been less.

9904.BurtonPrinted page 511, dagger: “Celestinæ, act. 1. Sancti majore lætitia non fruuntur. Si mihi Deus omnium votorum mortalium summam concedat, non magis, &c.” Celestina, act 1: “The saints enjoy no greater happiness. If God were to grant me the sum of all mortal wishes, not more,” etc.

9906.BurtonPrinted page 511, f: “Catullus de Lesbia.” Catullus, on Lesbia.

9908.BurtonPrinted page 511, g: “Hor. ode 9. lib. 3.” Horace, Odes 3.9.

9910.BurtonPrinted page 511, e: “Act. 3. scen. 5. Eunuch. Ter.” Terence, The Eunuch, act 3, scene 5.

9912.BurtonPrinted page 511, f: “Act. 5. scen. 9.” Act 5, scene 9. The corresponding speech is numbered act 5, scene 8 in the consulted Terence.

9915.BurtonPrinted page 511, dagger: “Mantuan.” Mantuan, the poet Baptista Mantuanus.

9916.BurtonPrinted page 511, asterisk: “Ter. Adelph. 3. 4.” Terence, The Brothers, 3.4. The matching line is in Andria 606, spoken by Davus.

9918.BurtonPrinted page 512, g: “Lib. 1. de contem. amoribus. Si quem alium respexerit amica suavius, & familiarius, si quem alloquuta fuerit, si nutu, nuncio, &c. statim cruciatur.” Book 1, On Contempt of Love: if his beloved looks more sweetly and familiarly upon another, speaks to someone else, or communicates by nod, message, etc., he is immediately tormented.

9919.BurtonPrinted page 512, dagger: “Calisto in Celestina.” Calisto in Celestina.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind…

p. 792

Then he is overconfident and carried beyond himself, as though in spring he had heard the nightingale before the cuckoo, or as Calisto was in Melibea’s presence: “Who has ever seen so glorious a body in this mortal life? I seem to transcend humanity.” Who ever saw so glorious a sight? What man ever enjoyed such delight? No greater satisfaction can be granted by the gods, desired, possessed or hoped for by any mortal. No happiness in the world compares with his, no contentment or joy with this; no life compares with love. He is in paradise.

Who lives happier than I alone? Or who can say That anything is more desirable than this life?

Who lives as happily as I? What bliss In this life of ours can compare with this?

In that state he would not exchange his fortune with a prince.

While I was dear to you, I flourished happier than the king of Persia.

The Persian kings are not as merry as he is. “Oh, a man’s holiday!” Oh, happy day! So Chaerea exclaims when he comes away, well pleased, from his sweetheart Pamphila:

Now, surely, I could bear to be killed, Lest life taint this joy with some distress.

He could bring himself to be killed at once, lest longer life should taint his joy with sorrow or sickness. A little later, on the same occasion, he was in such high spirits that he could not contain himself:

O fellow citizens, does anyone alive today have better fortune than I? No one, by Hercules, no one; for in me the gods have plainly displayed All their power.

Is it possible, my countrymen, for anyone alive to be as happy as I? Surely not: the gods have displayed all their power, all their goodness, in me. Yet presently, when this young gallant was thwarted in his pursuit of the girl, he lamented, cried and positively roared.

I am ruined! I am undone!

The girl is nowhere, and neither am I, who have lost sight of her. Where shall I search, where trace her, whom ask, which road take?

The girl is gone, and I am lost. She is gone, she is gone—and what shall I do? Where shall I seek her? Where shall I find her? Whom shall I ask? Which road, which course shall I take? What will become of me?

“Unwillingly he drew the breath of life”: he was weary of living, sick, mad and desperate. “If only there were something here from which I could throw myself headlong now.” This is not Chaerea’s case alone, but this lover’s, and that lover’s, and every lover’s in the same condition.

If he hears bad news, meets with failure in his courtship, sees her frown at him or show another man greater regard in his presence—as Haedus observes, “prefer another suitor, speak more familiarly to him or treat him more kindly; if by a nod, smile or message she reveals her feelings to another”—he is instantly tormented. No one is so dejected: he is utterly ruined, an outcast “upon whom Fortune discharges all the cruellest arrows of her hatred,” a dead man, Fortune’s laughingstock, a monstrous example of her power, worse than nothing. Losing a kingdom would have been less.

9905.Calisto and Melibea are the central lovers of Celestina. The Latin excerpt and its intermediary remain to be collated. The nightingale-before-cuckoo comparison alludes to an auspicious sign; Burton does not identify its source here.

9907.Catullus 107.7–8. Burton prints optandum, whereas the consulted text has optandus, qualifying the person whose life is enviable. The modern follows the impersonal sense of Burton’s wording.

9909.Horace, Odes 3.9.1 and 4. Burton leaves out the two intervening lines. The poem is a dialogue between former lovers contemplating reconciliation.

9911.Terence, Eunuchus 550–560. Chaerea’s delight follows his rape of Pamphila, which Burton’s “sweetheart” wording obscures. The passage is a character’s exultation, not evidence of a mutually welcomed encounter. Aegritudo can mean distress as well as sickness.

9913.Terence, Eunuchus 1031–1033, numbered 5.8 in the consulted text. This later joy concerns recognition of Pamphila’s citizen status and the prospect of marriage; Burton joins it to the earlier episode.

9914.Terence, Eunuchus 292–294. This speech actually precedes the two joyful scenes just quoted. Burton rearranges the play to illustrate emotional reversals; the order here follows Burton.

9917.Mantuan, Eclogue 1.38, has Faustus recalling Galla: invitus agebam, “unwillingly I lived,” against Burton’s agebat, “he lived.” The headlong-fall wish is Terence, Andria 606, spoken by Davus after his scheme goes wrong, not a lover in Adelphoe 3.4 as the margin suggests. Both sources are located; Burton’s altered person and printed attribution are preserved.

9920.Haedus is Pietro Edo. The sequence of imagined slights makes jealousy a torment; Fortune’s arrows continue Burton’s deliberate exaggeration. His Calisto quotation and Haedus’s precise wording await collation.

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.