Divine

Use in the book

Burton's “by my profession a Divine” places theological vocation beside the wandering appetite for many kinds of learning. His self-description is deliberately modest and paradoxical: he wants some knowledge of everything while professing inadequate mastery of anything. The noun establishes his scholarly and professional position, not an exclusive list of subjects he may discuss. The breadth of the Anatomy makes that distinction consequential.

He later stages the objection that a clergyman has meddled with medicine. His answer preserves theology's dignity: divinity remains the queen of professions, and other studies its handmaids. But he finds less need for another doctrinal exposition and little attraction in endless theological controversy. His medical subject is a useful occupation, not a declaration that he has ceased to be a divine. The discussion includes hostile religious polemic; its accusations should not be converted into neutral professional history.

The defence then brings the two professions together. Burton invokes learned clergymen who wrote on other subjects and draws upon the Jesuit Lessius, even after attacking Jesuits nearby. A good divine is, or ought to be, a spiritual physician at least. The qualification “at least” protects the distinction between spiritual care and medical expertise. Since melancholy concerns body and soul, he says that neither profession can accomplish the whole cure alone. He concludes that he is a divine by profession and a physician by inclination, explicitly studying medical theory without intending to practise. The title does not certify medical qualification.

The same defence ends with a conditional promise: if the work seems too medical or secular, Burton will make amends with a treatise of divinity. At the opening of love melancholy, he again anticipates that the subject is “too light for a Divine”; the marginal “Theologum” supplies the Latin noun theologian. This is an objection he answers by exposing affected solemnity, not his final exclusion of love from clerical study.

“our Divines” can foreground learned authority: in the account of conscience, Burton attributes to theologians the view that synderesis belongs to understanding rather than will. In the complaint about scholars' poverty, however, “our Divines” means the clergy as a professional body. Their calling is praised as noble and worthy of double honour, while their material condition is lamented. The subsequent passage introduced from Howson's sermon describes educational expense, poorly rewarded labour and the spiritual dangers of buying appointments. Burton then allows that clergy themselves share blame, although he places greater blame on grasping patrons. Preserving this turn avoids reducing the discussion to uncomplicated professional self-praise.

The adjective's honorific use recurs with “divine Seneca” in the consolation about tranquillity. There Seneca supports the argument that judgement matters more than place. The epithet signals admiration for his moral authority, not Christian identity. In the prefatory poem, “None so divine as Melancholy” is voiced in a stanza of intense delight. The next stanza reverses the emotional valuation and ends in despair. The praise belongs to the poem's alternating states, not to a universal claim that every melancholic experience is holy or beneficial.

Other adjectival uses carry a specifically religious claim. “his divine Nature” refers to God's nature in the account of divine love and creation. A “divine supernatural cause,” in the causes of melancholy, denotes a proposed source beyond the ordinary course of nature. Burton says “belike” when explaining Hippocrates' intention and refers the interpretation to other writers. The phrase is his historically situated reading of a medical authority, not independent proof that Hippocrates meant everything Burton's formulation suggests.

Divinity also names divine status, not theological learning. Burton condemns placing a “note of divinity” on destructive conquerors; the margin’s “divinitatis” is the genitive, of divinity. By contrast, the discussion of Christ’s beauty reports authorities who refer it to his person, to the beauty of his divinity and other qualities, or to both. Praise can be extravagant and reversible: “Tobacco, divine” opens an encomium that allows medicinal use only under stated conditions and then fiercely condemns common abuse. The adjective must not be detached from that reversal.

Divine transport also requires distinctions. Burton allows an approved “divine furie” or holy madness in good people while rejecting the attribution of passions to God himself. In the symptoms of melancholy, a “divine ravishment” appears within Laurentius's humoral interpretation of extraordinary intellectual gifts. Later “a divine melancholy” names ecstasy's possible spiritual value, immediately qualified by a condemnation of its abuse. Sacred approval, a reported physiological account of inspiration and pathological excess are related questions, not interchangeable definitions. The modifier divine must be read with the attribution and the following qualification.

The variant “Divinitie” still means theology when Burton applies a surgical maxim to religious discipline. His claimed middle course begins with gentle admonition but proceeds to excommunication, restraints, fines, book burning and prohibitions of meetings. He then recommends medical and persuasive treatment for some disturbed people and proposes Bedlam for at least some subjected to burning. The passage therefore does not promise uniform toleration or treat every disputed belief as a medical disorder.

Finally, physicians who “divine wholly from the temperature and complexion” make predictions about susceptibility to love from bodily constitution. The preceding paragraphs discuss astrological aphorisms and palm reading, but the physicians' stated evidence is humoral temperament. The verb describes predictive judgement here; it does not turn those physicians into clergymen or by itself assert a supernatural revelation. Burton reports disagreements among authorities about which constitutions are most susceptible.

Latin requires a further distinction: “Non sum divinus” means I am no prophet, as a poetic speaker infers desire from outward display. In Petronius’s story, “divinam ego putabam” means I thought she was a diviner: the narrator supposes an old woman knows where he lives, only to be led to a brothel. Neither Latin noun names a clergyman, and the second concerns uncanny knowledge of a present fact rather than an explicit prediction. The fuller family treatment belongs under Divination.

The source Table retains both adjective and professional noun: “Divine sentences” points to religious maxims at, while “Divines miseries” points to the clergy’s hardships and their causes at. Sentences here are maxims, not grammatical units. The corresponding counsel distinguishes scriptural precepts from examples in secular authors.

Related entries

Casuists; Schoolmen; Professor; Humane learning; Divination; Enthusiasm; Ecstasy; Soul; Whole physician

Places to read

1. Unnumbered prefatory poem, scan labels 15–16divine delight within alternating joyful and despairing voices
2. · paragraph 6–DJR-2-3Democritus's qualified theological learning and Burton's own profession
3. · paragraph 3–6the honorific “divine Seneca” and writing as occupation
4. · paragraph 8–25the objection to clerical medicine, complementary care and the conditional promise of a theological treatise
5. · paragraph 7–11condemned attribution of divinity to destructive conquerors
6. · paragraph 30–33approved spiritual frenzy and its limits
7. · paragraph 31–33theologians as authorities on conscience
8. · paragraph 15–17the qualified attribution of supernatural causation
9. · paragraph 34–DJR-48-14learned professions, clerical poverty and shared blame
10. · paragraph 21–23inspired rapture within a humoral account
11. · paragraph 13–15Seneca's moral authority in consolation
12. · paragraph 9–12divine precepts and the Table’s religious-maxim destination
13. · paragraph 7–9extravagant divine praise of tobacco, conditional medicinal use and denunciation of abuse
14. · paragraph 31–34clerical decorum in writing about love, and God's divine nature
15. · paragraph 42–45Christ’s divinity and competing interpretations of his beauty
16. · paragraph 9–12medical prediction from constitution
17. · paragraph 11–17a poetic denial of prophetic power and inference from adornment
18. · paragraph 61–64mistaken attribution of uncanny knowledge to the old woman
19. · paragraph 9–11spiritual ecstasy distinguished from its abuse
20. the Divinitie spelling, religious discipline and differentiated medical treatment
21. Unnumbered Tablereligious maxims and the miseries of clergy as distinct reading routes

In this edition

“a Divine” becomes “a theologian” in Burton's early self-description, but clergyman suits the later defence of professional jurisdiction and “our clergy” the complaint about livings. These are contextual choices within the noun's range, not evidence that the original suddenly changed its spelling or acquired a new office. “as our Divines hold” becomes “As our theologians hold,” preserving the attribution.

“divine Seneca” is retained. The retention needs the honorific explanation given above. “Physitians divine wholly” becomes “Physicians make their predictions entirely,” preserving the professional subject and the scope of wholly. The supplied modern column clarifies these local uses; it does not independently attest them in Burton's historical sources.

divine · local use 1

Printed “divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Sublimely delightful in the joyful voice of an alternating poem.

Context: The next stanza reverses the valuation; this is not unqualified sacred approval of all melancholy.

Source: original body

Locator qualification: Source record identifies these leaves as unnumbered; plain numerical passage labels are scan numbers.

Source wording, Original wording: None so divine as Melancholy

Modern rendering: None is as divine as melancholy

Word and construction: Divine is retained as the adjective of heightened delight. None so... as becomes None is as... as: is is supplied to complete the original elliptical comparison. Melancholy remains the object of comparison.

Alignment convention

divine · a great Divine

Printed “a great Divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: A highly learned theologian.

Here: A theologian according to the religious learning of Democritus’s time.

Context: Burton’s explicit historical qualification prevents automatic identification with Christian ministry.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: a great Divine, according to the divinity of those times

Modern rendering: a great theologian, according to the theology of those times

Word and construction: A great Divine gives a great theologian; divinity gives theology in the separate historical qualification. Great is the explicit degree of praise; of those times limits the relevant learning.

Alignment convention

divine · by my profession a Divine · local use 1

Printed “by my profession a Divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

A theologian by profession.

Context: Burton’s self-description introduces, rather than excludes, his wide intellectual interests.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: though by my profession a Divine

Modern rendering: though I am a theologian by profession

Word and construction: By my profession a Divine gives I am a theologian by profession; I am is supplied from Burton’s first-person sentence. Though is the concessive frame outside the indexed phrase.

Alignment convention

divine · divine Seneca · local use 1

Printed “divine Seneca” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: Seneca praised as exalted or godlike.

Here: Seneca praised as an exalted moral writer.

Context: Honorific adjective, not clerical noun or identification as a Christian theologian.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: hear that divine Seneca

Modern rendering: listen to the divine Seneca

Word and construction: Divine Seneca is retained as honorific adjective plus name; hear that becomes listen to the. No clerical office is supplied by the adjective.

Alignment convention

divine · a divine

Printed “a divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: A clergyman or theologian.

Here: A clergyman, within the objection to Burton’s medical writing.

Context: Burton stages a professional objection which he subsequently answers.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: I being a divine have medled with physick

Modern rendering: I, a clergyman, have meddled with medicine

Word and construction: A divine gives a clergyman; I being becomes I with an appositional description, while have medled with physick gives have meddled with medicine. The medical activity belongs to the predicate, not to the noun’s definition.

Alignment convention

divine · A good Divine

Printed “A good Divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: A good clergyman or theologian.

Here: A good clergyman, whose duties include spiritual healing.

Context: Is or ought and at least qualify the professional analogy.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: A good Divine either is or ought to be a good physician, a spiritual physician at least

Modern rendering: A good clergyman either is or ought to be a good physician—a spiritual physician, at least

Word and construction: A good Divine gives a good clergyman. Either is or ought to be preserves the alternative between fact and duty; a spiritual physician at least is the explicit qualification of the medical comparison.

Alignment convention

divine · A divine

Printed “A divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: A clergyman or theologian.

Here: A clergyman whose work needs medical partnership in this mixed illness.

Context: Alone is integral: Burton argues for complementary care.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: A divine in this compound mixt maladie, can do little alone

Modern rendering: In this complex, mixed illness, a clergyman alone can do little

Word and construction: A divine gives a clergyman. In this compound mixt maladie gives in this complex, mixed illness; alone qualifies the limited ability can do little. The modern reorders these components without making inability an inherent meaning of divine.

Alignment convention

divine · by my profession a Divine · local use 2

Printed “by my profession a Divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: A clergyman by profession.

Here: Clergyman by vocation, contrasted with medical inclination.

Context: Burton immediately disclaims intention to practise medicine.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: by my profession a Divine, and by mine inclination a physician

Modern rendering: a clergyman by profession, a physician by inclination

Word and construction: By my profession a Divine gives a clergyman by profession; by mine inclination a physician gives a physician by inclination. The modern omits repeated possessives and conjunction within its compressed parallel. Neither designation here implies intention to practise medicine.

Alignment convention

divine · our Divines · local use 1

Printed “our Divines” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: The theologians of the speaker’s community.

Here: Theologians invoked as authorities on the seat of synderesis.

Context: Attribution to a learned group rather than unsupported universal consensus.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: as our Divines hold

Modern rendering: As our theologians hold

Word and construction: Our Divines gives our theologians; as... hold preserves reported doctrinal authority. The original our and plural are retained rather than replaced by all theologians.

Alignment convention

divine · a divine supernatural cause

Printed “a divine supernatural cause” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: A cause attributed to divine agency beyond the ordinary course of nature.

Here: A proposed supernatural cause of disease.

Context: Burton qualifies his explanation of Hippocrates with belike and refers readers to interpreters.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: whether the disease come not from a divine supernatural cause, or whether it follow the course of Nature

Modern rendering: whether a disease comes from a divine, supernatural cause or follows the course of nature

Word and construction: A divine supernatural cause gives a divine, supernatural cause. Whether... or preserves the alternatives; come not is rendered affirmatively within the indirect whether question, rather than as a denial of divine causation. Belike qualifies Burton’s explanation outside this aligned unit.

Alignment convention

divine · our Divines · local use 2

Printed “our Divines” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: The clergy of the speaker’s community.

Here: The clergy considered as a professional body.

Context: Authorial complaint introduces a sermon quotation and later admits clerical as well as patronal fault.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Last of all to come to our Divines

Modern rendering: Last of all, to come to our clergy

Word and construction: Our Divines gives our clergy; Last of all to come to is the author’s transition, not a definition. The collective clergy renders the plural professional group.

Alignment convention

divine · divine Seneca · local use 2

Printed “divine Seneca” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: Seneca praised as exalted or godlike.

Here: An honorific for Seneca as a consolatory authority.

Context: Repeated praise does not identify a Christian clerical profession.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: saith divine Seneca

Modern rendering: says the divine Seneca

Word and construction: Divine Seneca remains honorific praise; saith gives says. The modern supplies the article the before the epithet.

Alignment convention

divine · too light for a Divine

Printed “too light for a Divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Printed form, Source wording, Original wording: too light for a Divine

Citation convention

Meaning: Too frivolous for a clergyman.

Here: Too frivolous for a clergyman, in an anticipated objection to love writing.

Context: The anticipated critic speaks; Burton proceeds to question affected moral solemnity.

Source: original body

Modern rendering: too frivolous for a clergyman

Word and construction: Too light gives too frivolous; for a Divine gives for a clergyman. The indexed whole phrase expresses the anticipated propriety objection.

Alignment convention

divine · his divine Nature

Printed “his divine Nature” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: God’s divine nature.

Here: God’s nature, the source of the love being discussed.

Context: His refers to God in the preceding account of creation and redemption.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: out of his divine Nature

Modern rendering: from his divine nature

Word and construction: His divine Nature gives his divine nature, referring to God; out of gives from. The possessive antecedent comes from the preceding creation-and-love discussion.

Alignment convention

divine · divine wholly

Printed “divine wholly” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.

Citation convention

Meaning: Make predictions entirely.

Here: Make predictions entirely from the stated bodily evidence.

Context: Verb with physicians as subject; source of prediction is humoral constitution.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Physitians divine wholly from the temperature and complexion

Modern rendering: Physicians make their predictions entirely from bodily temperament and constitution

Word and construction: Divine gives make their predictions; wholly gives entirely. Physitians supplies the subject, while temperature and complexion become bodily temperament and constitution, the stated evidential basis. Bodily makes their physiological sense explicit.

Alignment convention

divine · local use 2

Printed “divine” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: Superlatively excellent or godlike, as extravagant praise.

Here: Tobacco’s opening encomium turns into condemnation of common abuse.

Context: Burton admits a useful medicinal role only if suitably prepared, timely taken and medicinally used; divine does not certify universal benefit.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent Tobacco

Modern rendering: Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco

Word and construction: Divine is retained as an extravagant adjective; rare and superexcellent supply separate intensifying praise. The repetition of Tobacco frames the encomium before the explicit restrictions and reversal.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divine fury

Printed “a divine furie” (English; phrase).

Citation convention

Meaning: A sacred or inspired frenzy.

Here: An approved sacred frenzy in good people.

Context: Burton admits this kind but rejects passions ascribed to God himself.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: a divine furie, a holy madnesse

Modern rendering: a divine frenzy, a holy madness

Word and construction: Divine is retained; furie gives frenzy. A holy madnesse gives a holy madness as a separate explanatory phrase; the whole pair is not assigned to the adjective divine alone.

Alignment convention

divine melancholy

Printed “a divine melancholy” (English; phrase).

Citation convention

Meaning: Melancholy understood as sacred or spiritually elevating.

Here: Ecstasy in its positively valued spiritual sense.

Context: The sentence then distinguishes abuse as delusion and religious melancholy.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: a divine melancholy, a spirituall wing

Modern rendering: a divine melancholy, a spiritual wing

Word and construction: A divine melancholy is retained; a spirituall wing gives a spiritual wing as a separate metaphor attributed to Bonaventure. The subsequent abuse qualification is essential to the passage’s use but is not part of the adjective’s lexical meaning.

Alignment convention

divine ravishment

Printed “a divine ravishment” (English; phrase).

Citation convention

Meaning: A sacred or inspired rapture.

Here: Inspired rapture in Laurentius’s humoral account of intellectual gifts.

Context: Laurentius’s interpretation governs this physiological account; the pair is not a clinical finding.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: a divine ravishment, & a kinde of Enthusiasmus

Modern rendering: a divine rapture and a kind of inspired possession

Word and construction: A divine ravishment gives a divine rapture; & a kinde of Enthusiasmus gives and a kind of inspired possession. Inspired possession translates Enthusiasmus, not ravishment alone.

Alignment convention

divine sentences

Printed “Divine sentences” (English; phrase).

Citation convention

Meaning: Religious maxims or precepts.

Here: Table route to counsel for steadying the heart.

Context: The Table’s359 points to the printed discussion; it is not its own physical page label.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Divine sentences 359

Modern rendering: Religious maxims. 359

Word and construction: Divine gives religious, sentences gives maxims, and359 is the destination page. Sentence here means a maxim, not a grammatical sentence or judicial punishment.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divines’ miseries

Printed “Divines miseries” (English; phrase).

Citation convention

Meaning: The miseries of theologians or clergy.

Here: Table route to the professional hardships already discussed in the article.

Context: The unmarked original possessive is made explicit by the modern of construction; the three printed numbers remain destinations.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Divines miseries, 135. with the causes of their miseries 136,137

Modern rendering: The miseries of theologians and clergy, 135; the causes of those miseries, 136,137

Word and construction: Divines gives theologians and clergy as alternative contextual descriptions of one professional category, not two separately asserted groups. The possessive construction becomes miseries of; The is supplied, and the page numbers are preserved.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divinitas

Printed “divinitatis” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: Of divinity or divine status.

Here: Genitive form in the original marginal formulation of condemned deification.

Context: The margin repeats the charge; the English translation belongs to the edition, and the margin supplies no separate author.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording: divinitatis notâ insigniunt

Original wording: Cruentam humani generis pestem, & perniciem divinitatis notâ insigniunt

Modern rendering: They mark the bloody plague and destruction of humankind with the badge of divinity

Word and construction: Divinitatis gives of divinity; notâ with the badge or mark, and insigniunt they mark. The modern unit also includes the preceding original object, Cruentam humani generis pestem, & perniciem; that object is not a meaning of divinitatis.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divinity · Divinity

Printed “Divinity” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: Theology or theological learning.

Here: Theology as the dignified principal profession.

Context: Authorial defence of medical writing retains theology’s declared primacy.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Divinity, which I do acknowledge to be the Queen of professions

Modern rendering: theology, which I acknowledge as the queen of professions

Word and construction: Divinity gives theology; I do acknowledge becomes I acknowledge, while Queen of professions gives queen of professions. The primacy claim is made by the relative clause, not by the noun alone.

Alignment convention

divinity · local use 1

Printed “divinity” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: Divine status or godhood.

Here: The status bestowed on destructive conquerors in Burton’s denunciation.

Context: Burton condemns this attribution of divine status; the preceding suppression proposal is introduced as some hold.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: they put a note of divinity upon the most cruel, and pernicious plague of humane kinde

Modern rendering: they place the mark of divinity on the cruellest and most destructive plague of humanity

Word and construction: Divinity is retained in the sense of divine status; note gives mark and put... upon becomes place... on. The agents confer the mark; the passage does not affirm that the conquerors truly are divine.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divinity · local use 2

Printed “divinity” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: Divine nature or godhood.

Here: Christ’s divine nature in one set of interpretations of his beauty.

Context: Burton contrasts authorities who explain bodily beauty, spiritual/divine beauty or both; the specific patristic attributions remain uncollated.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: of the beauty of his divinity, justice, grace, eloquence

Modern rendering: the beauty of his divinity, justice, grace, eloquence

Word and construction: Divinity is retained as Christ’s divine nature; justice, grace and eloquence are additional coordinated qualities. His refers to Christ from the preceding sentence, not a theologian’s professional learning.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divinity · Divinitie

Printed “Divinitie” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: Theology.

Here: The -ie spelling in Burton’s application of a medical maxim to religious discipline.

Context: Burton’s own I may well say transfers the surgical analogy to theology. The proposed middle course includes gentle admonition, excommunication and explicit coercive suppression, followed by medical treatment for some disturbed people.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: As Hippocrates said in Physick, I may well say in Divinitie

Modern rendering: What Hippocrates said in medicine I may well say in theology

Word and construction: Divinitie gives theology; Physick gives medicine. I may well say is Burton’s asserted application; it is not an attribution of theological coercion to Hippocrates.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divinus

Printed “divinus” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: A prophet or soothsayer.

Here: The poetic speaker denies needing prophetic power to infer desire from adornment.

Context: A quoted speaker’s inference, not Burton claiming a gift of prophecy; the Latin substantive does not mean a clergyman here.

Source: original body

Source wording, Original wording: Non sum divinus, sed scio quid cupias

Modern rendering: I am no prophet, but I know what you desire

Word and construction: Non sum gives I am not or I am no; divinus gives prophet. Sed scio gives but I know, and quid cupias is the indirect question what you desire. The subject I is encoded in the verbs, and you in cupias.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

divinus · divinam

Printed “divinam” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: A female diviner or woman credited with uncanny knowledge; accusative feminine.

Here: The narrator mistakenly supposes the vegetable seller knows where he lives.

Context: Petronian first-person misapprehension; the object is present knowledge of his lodging, not explicitly foreknowledge of an event. The later brothel discovery exposes the mistake.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording, Original wording: divinam ego putabam

Modern rendering: I thought she was a diviner

Word and construction: Divinam supplies the female diviner or uncannily knowledgeable woman; ego gives I and putabam I thought. She was is supplied to unfold the compressed predicate from the old woman already named.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked in supplied source; modern rendering is not independent primary authority; no fresh historical-witness collation

theologus

Printed “Theologum” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.

Citation convention

Meaning: A theologian.

Here: A theologian, in the marginal formulation of the objection.

Context: Quoted Latin in Burton’s margin; following English is supplied editorial translation.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording, Original wording: leviores esse nugas quam ut Theologum deceant

Modern rendering: Trifles too frivolous to befit a theologian

Word and construction: Theologum gives a theologian, accusative object of deceant, befit. Leviores... nugas gives trifles too frivolous, with quam ut... deceant expressing the excessive degree. The following English is an editorial translation of the marginal Latin, not original marginal wording.

Alignment convention

Edition note: checked against editorial translation within the Burton-labelled note; translation is not original evidence