Fact

Use in the book

David’s fact brings knowledge and conduct into conflict. He knows the deed’s vileness, yet follows appetite into adultery and murder. Burton’s continuation distinguishes powers that cannot obey the will from those that can but do not: the example concerns failed self-government, not a claim that every action is involuntary. The earlier satire gives the same noun a public application. An act punished as private murder is honoured as manhood when done in war. Burton attacks the change in judgment, while expressly declining to condemn all wars.

Disgrace is not identical with the deed that occasions it. A “foul fact committed or disclosed” separates doing wrong from its exposure. Either may enter the catalogue of experiences that drive a person from public life. Yet the discussion of cruel jokes refuses to make guilt a licence for humiliation: though someone has committed a shameful act, it is neither good manners nor humanity to throw it in his face. Burton then distinguishes satire against vice in general from attacks upon named people.

The noun can occur inside an explicitly false or disputed attribution. Some sufferers fear punishment for a fact “they never did.” Blushing, in turn, is not caused only by consciousness of a foul deed: fear and awareness of defects also enter the explanation. The merchant who thinks he is damned for keeping wheat too long supplies another difference between conduct and judgment. Burton reports the man’s unshakeable belief while calling him sensible in other matters; he does not pronounce the damnation himself.

“The same fact” in the catalogue of self-inflicted deaths refers to the deed under discussion, not a single judgment accepted by all religious authorities. Eusebius is the named admirer of the Roman matron. The supplied note warns that Burton compresses Augustine’s distinction between violated chastity and consent, and that Jonah does not kill himself in the biblical narrative. Later Burton rejects the general philosophical defence, then argues for mitigation in cases of lost reason. Foreest’s reported brothers have their dishonourable burial sentence revoked; the closing appeal leaves their souls to God and urges charity. Censure explains that punitive setting more fully. The later account of survivors’ repentance similarly supports a qualified, charitable judgment, not certainty about another person’s soul.

Facts also occurs where the alleged acts themselves are denied. Weyer and others deny sexual intercourse between spirits and women and say the devil takes no pleasure in such facts; Burton follows with contrary authorities. The subsequent Philostratus story uses singular fact for the disappearance of an apparition and her possessions. Its “many thousands” belongs to Burton’s English narration: the original Latin margin says only many. Event is therefore the local meaning, not a guarantee of eyewitness verification.

Taken in the fact concerns detection in the course of doing something. In the jealousy discussion, alleged notoriety does not establish proof, and the lovers are said to be unlikely to be caught. The accompanying Sulpitia illustration has its own difficulty: the supplied note identifies Sulpicia and Calenus as spouses in Martial. Adultery, taken in the fact, already explains this exact phrase and the surrounding distinction between allegation and evidence.

Related entries

Action: deeds, activities and other senses of act.

Censure, Censure; sentence: judgment and the revoked burial sentence.

Tax: accusation and reproach.

Bewray: disclosure and revelation.

Confession and absolution, including Absolve: acquittal and release from blame.

Adultery, taken in the fact: the exact phrase taken in the fact.

Shame; Charity: blushing without guilt and charitable judgment.

War and peace, manhood: manhood in the private/public comparison.

Incubus: the reported dispute about incubi and succubi.

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 1–12the private/public comparison and the limit upon condemnation of war.
2. Subsection 11. The Will · paragraphs 47–50David, appetite and the powers that can be governed.
3. Subsection 6. Shame and Disgrace as Causes · paragraphs 29–31disgrace after a deed or its exposure.
4. Subsection 4 How Mockery, Slander and Bitter Jokes Cause Melancholy · paragraphs 48–50the refusal to excuse cruel reproach.
5. Subsection 2. Symptoms or Signs in the Mind · paragraphs 33–35fear of punishment for an uncommitted deed.
6. Member 3 Immediate Cause of the Preceding Symptoms · paragraphs 11–15blushing without wrongdoing.
7. Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 7–10; note 4896reported ancient and religious judgments, especially the accompanying note.
8. Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 19–22rejection, mitigation and the revoked burial sentence.
9. Section 2 Member 1, Subsection 1 Love Melancholy: Its Ancestry, Power and Reach · paragraphs 51–58disputed acts and the reported disappearance.
10. The Cure of Jealousy: Avoiding Occasions for It, Keeping Occupied; Good Counsel; Disregarding It, Not Watching Women or Locking Them Up; Concealing It, and So On · paragraphs 34–42detection, proof and the qualified Sulpitia illustration.
11. Causes of Despair: The Devil, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Harsh Ministers, Misunderstanding Scripture, Guilty Consciences, and So On · paragraphs 15–17the merchant’s fixed belief.
12. Prognosis of Despair: Atheism, Blasphemy, Violent Death, and So On · paragraphs 5–7; Subsection 6 · paragraph 8; Treatment of Despair Through Medicine, Good Counsel, Consolation, and So On · paragraphs 9–11reported repentance and conditional charitable judgment.

In this edition

“Filthiness of his fact” becomes “vileness of his deed”; “some foul fact” becomes “some foul deed”; “committed a foule fact” becomes “committed a shameful act”; “the same fact” becomes “the same deed”. Deed and act render fact; vileness, foul and shameful carry its separate evaluation. In the war comparison, the modern sentence puts act before the later clause about being honoured, so the clause’s wording is not a self-contained word-for-word equivalent.

“Such facts” becomes “such acts” in the reported denial about spirits, while “this fact” becomes “this event” in the apparition story. “Taken in the fact” becomes “caught in the act”. The modern choices distinguish actions, an occurrence and a detection phrase without removing the surrounding denials, doubts or adverse judgments.

fact: deed or act

Something done, a deed or action; often an offence in these contexts, but its blame, actuality or alleged status comes from the sentence rather than from the noun alone.

Grammar: Count noun, singular fact and plural facts; foul, foule and fowle are accompanying evaluative adjectives.

Access scope (filthiness): Filthiness supplies vileness, evaluating David’s conduct; fact supplies deed. This surrounding evaluative noun is not another meaning of fact.

Access scope (vileness): Filthiness supplies vileness, evaluating David’s conduct; fact supplies deed. This surrounding evaluative noun is not another meaning of fact.

Access scope (foule): Foule supplies shameful, the adjective evaluating the act; fact supplies act. The concession about wrongdoing does not license cruel ridicule.

Access scope (shameful): Foule supplies shameful, the adjective evaluating the act; fact supplies act. The concession about wrongdoing does not license cruel ridicule.

Access scope (fowle): Fowle supplies foul, the adjective modifying fact; fact supplies deed. The passage does not treat every blush as evidence of such wrongdoing.

Access scope (foul): Original foul remains foul; fowle is modernized to foul. In each, the adjective evaluates fact, deed, rather than naming the deed. The latter passage does not treat every blush as evidence of wrongdoing.

Access scope (so foul): So foul supplies so terrible, the intensified evaluation of the deed; fact supplies deed. This component does not itself state the reported sentence or its later revocation.

Access scope (so terrible): So foul supplies so terrible, the intensified evaluation of the deed; fact supplies deed. This component does not itself state the reported sentence or its later revocation.

Access scope (foul): Original foul remains foul in the modern column, the adjective evaluating fact, deed. Committing the deed and disclosing it remain alternatives; foul does not mean deed.

Original text: “if the same fact be done in publike in wars, it is called manhood”. In the modern column: “becomes courage when done publicly in war”. The same act receives opposite public judgments when done privately and in war. If marks the comparison. Burton attacks unequal praise and punishment, while the passage expressly excludes a blanket condemnation of every war. Fact names the act whose modern noun stands earlier in the complete sentence; this selected modern clause has an understood act, not a freestanding translation of fact.

Original text: “the filthiness of his fact”. In the modern column: “the vileness of his deed”. David knows the wrongness of his conduct but follows appetite. The next paragraph says some powers can be governed but are not; the example is not a general denial of moral agency. Fact gives deed; filthiness supplies vileness and his refers to David. Complementary earlier route: Religion and superstition. The Religion record covers Reason, Religion in the same David example; shared contextual evidence, not a new occurrence.

Original text: “some foul fact committed or disclosed”. In the modern column: “some foul deed committed or exposed”. A deed or its disclosure can occasion public disgrace and withdrawal. Some and many times limit the catalogue. The alleged action is one example among insults, defeats and embarrassment, not a universal cause of melancholy. Fact gives deed, foul remains an evaluation; committed and disclosed are separate alternatives. Complementary earlier route: Indifferent. Indifference already treats bearing grief in the same contrast with vulnerability to disgrace.

Original text: “committed a foule fact”. In the modern column: “committed a shameful act”. Even a person who has done wrong should not be cruelly mocked. Though introduces a concession, not permission to humiliate; the continuation distinguishes general satire of vice from named personal attacks. Fact gives act; foule gives shameful; committed preserves completed conduct. Complementary earlier route: Humane learning. The earlier Humanity record explains this same protection against humiliating an offender.

Original text: “some fact they never did”. In the modern column: “some deed they never committed”. A sufferer fears royal punishment for an offence the narrative expressly says was not committed. Some restricts the affected people; feared execution is not an actual sentence, and the never clause denies the deed. Fact gives deed; never did becomes never committed.

Original text: “some fowle fact committed”. In the modern column: “some foul deed committed”. Consciousness of wrongdoing is only one possible cause of blushing. Not only followed by but prevents treating every blush as guilt; fear and awareness of defects are alternatives. Fact gives deed; fowle supplies foul. Complementary earlier route: Shame. Shame and bashfulness already explains the same physiological account and denial that blushing proves wrongdoing.

Original text: “the same fact”. In the modern column: “the same deed”. The noun refers back to self-killing in Burton’s catalogue of religious authorities and reported commendations. Eusebius is the reported admirer. An accompanying note qualifies Burton’s compression of Augustine and the assertion about Jonah; the later argument rejects the general defence and then mitigates particular judgments. Fact gives deed; same is anaphoric, not an assertion that the reports are all historically verified.

Original text: “for so foul a fact”. In the modern column: “for so terrible a deed”. The reported brothers receive a dishonourable burial sentence which is subsequently revoked. Reported Foreest story, uncollated; the reversal follows inquiry into suffering and mental disorder. Printed page 454 must not be silently normalized. Fact gives deed; so foul becomes so terrible.

Original text: “the Divel takes no pleasure in such facts”. In the modern column: “the devil takes no pleasure in such acts”. Weyer and others deny the alleged intercourse and pleasure attributed to spirits. The denial belongs to named authorities; Burton then presents contrary authorities, within a discussion introduced conditionally. Plural facts gives acts; no pleasure and such retain negation and reference to the preceding alleged conduct. Complementary earlier route: Incubus. Incubus and succubus already treats this denial and its contrary authorities; fact is the separate deed noun.

Original text: “for this fact he was damned”. In the modern column: “he was damned for this deed”. A merchant believes the loss of wheat he kept too long has damned him. This is the merchant’s fixed belief, explicitly contrasted with sound judgment elsewhere, not Burton’s judgment that the merchant is damned. Fact gives deed; the clause’s order changes. Complementary earlier route: Conscience. Conscience already records the marginal pangs of conscience in this merchant example.

Original text: “much abhorred their former fact”. In the modern column: “abhorred their former act”. Reported survivors condemn their former conduct in a pastoral argument for charitable judgment. The preceding if and may govern the favourable judgment; reported repentance is not verified knowledge of every person’s inward state. Fact gives act; former is retained. Complementary earlier route: Action. Action already records act in the adjoining rescue clause; Charity Charity · charity · local use 4 separately treats the conditional favourable judgment.

fact: event

An occurrence or event in a narrated account; the noun does not by itself certify the story’s truth.

Grammar: Singular count noun fact, object of take notice of, with this referring to the narrated disappearance.

Access scope (took notice of): Took notice of supplies knew of, the reported public awareness of the event; fact supplies event. This verbal phrase is not another meaning of fact or independent verification of the story.

Access scope (knew of): Took notice of supplies knew of, the reported public awareness of the event; fact supplies event. This verbal phrase is not another meaning of fact or independent verification of the story.

Original text: “many thousands took notice of this fact”. In the modern column: “Many thousands knew of this event”. Burton ends the Philostratus story with a claim that the disappearance was widely known. The narrative is received from Philostratus. An accompanying note says the original Latin margin has many, not the body’s many thousands, so the margin cannot independently verify that number. Fact becomes event; took notice of becomes knew of.

Earlier explanation: taken in the fact

Earlier explanation: taken in the fact

For taken in the fact, see Adultery.

Context passages: the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage. These are reading contexts, not additional occurrences of the cited form.

Reference scope: The following local explanation is retained as a reading aid to the earlier-owned occurrence, not a new supporting record.

Detected while performing the deed: caught in the act.

Grammar: Passive participial phrase; in the fact specifies detection during the alleged conduct.

Access scope (taken): Taken supplies caught, the detection component within taken in the fact; in the fact supplies in the act. The participle alone does not express the complete phrase.

Access scope (caught): Taken supplies caught, the detection component within taken in the fact; in the fact supplies in the act. The participle alone does not express the complete phrase.

• The passage (Source page 617). Original text: “taken in the fact”. In the modern column: “caught in the act”. The jealous husband’s problem is the difficulty of proof and direct detection. The complete clause says such detection is unlikely. The following Sulpitia illustration is qualified by the accompanying note, which identifies Sulpicia and Calenus as spouses in Martial. Equal-scope passive phrase; taken gives caught, in the fact gives in the act.