Nepenthe

Use in the book

Gentle speech is first compared to a remedy for a wounded soul, then to a charm and refreshment for an agitated mind. It becomes Homer’s true nepenthe through an interpretation attributed to Macrobius, Goropius, Gregory Nazianzen and others: the decisive thing is speech fitted to its occasion. Burton’s following comparison makes even letters capable of extraordinary relief. The wisdom and timing of the speech are integral to the claim.

Scripture can be the best nepenthe in the recommendation of reading. Pleasant discourse, jests and merry stories are likewise called the true Homeric remedy only if rightly understood or seasonably applied; the ensuing verses and prose widen the figure to mirth, company and other diversions of the senses. These examples extend the name’s consolatory role without supplying a literal drug formula.

The plant catalogue offers another interpretation. The borage-and-bugloss discussion reports that various writers supposed the herb to be Homer’s nepenthe and recounts its legendary power, if taken steeped in wine, to prevent tears even at the deaths of close family. The later wine discussion instead attributes to Oribasius and others an identification with good wine alone. The alternatives are not reconciled by the text, and Burton’s wine praise remains qualified by moderation, occasion and bodily condition.

The limit is clearest in counsel against love: even nepenthe and Helen’s bowl cannot make consolation effective at the first shock of passion. The comparison with freshly bereaved parents makes the failure one of timing, followed by the recommendation to wait before counselling. This revisits the condition already present in opportunity of speech.

Related entries

Mirth

Comfort and consolation

Conversation

Study and reading

Cordial

Wine

Sorrow: The distress the literary remedy is said to remove.

Places to read

1. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraph 26Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
2. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraph 27Scripture-reading is praised as diverting care and restoring the mind.
3. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraph 28Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
4. Subsection 2 Help From Friends Through Counsel and Comfort Gentle and Harsh… · paragraph 20Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
5. Subsection 2 Help From Friends Through Counsel and Comfort Gentle and Harsh… · paragraph 21The name culminates a sequence of speech as remedy, charm and refreshment for a troubled mind.
6. Subsection 2 Help From Friends Through Counsel and Comfort Gentle and Harsh… · paragraph 22Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
7. Subsection 2 Help From Friends Through Counsel and Comfort Gentle and Harsh… · paragraph 23Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
8. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraph 29Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
9. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraph 30Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
10. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraph 31Pleasant talk and stories receive the Homeric name with explicit conditions of correct understanding and timely application.
11. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraph 32Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
12. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraph 33Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
13. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraph 34Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
14. Subsection 3 Alteratives Herbs and Other Plant Remedies · paragraph 8Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
15. Subsection 3 Alteratives Herbs and Other Plant Remedies · paragraph 9The borage/bugloss account imagines an effect so powerful that family bereavement could produce no tears.
16. Subsection 3 Alteratives Herbs and Other Plant Remedies · paragraph 10Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
17. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 19Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
18. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 20Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
19. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 22Oribasius and some others are said to identify Helen’s bowl with a cup of good wine.
20. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 40Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
21. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 44Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
22. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 45Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
23. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraph 46Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
24. By Counsel and Persuasion, the Foulness of the Deed, the Faults of Men And… · paragraph 29Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
25. By Counsel and Persuasion, the Foulness of the Deed, the Faults of Men And… · paragraph 30Even nepenthe is said to be useless while passion is at its first height, as with parents at the instant of loss.
26. By Counsel and Persuasion, the Foulness of the Deed, the Faults of Men And… · paragraph 31Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.

In this edition

“Nepenthe” becomes “nepenthe”, while “opportunity of speech” becomes “speech suited to the occasion”. The name remains; the phrase explaining its allegorical application is made explicit.

The same passage prints Epidamna as the giver of the drug. The supplied editorial note contrasts Homer’s Polydamna, wife of Thon, and distinguishes Homer’s drug added to wine from Macrobius’s interpretation as a well-timed story. The plant passage itself prints Polydamna. These variants and attributed interpretations remain separate. The note’s consulted classical parallels are supplied editorial evidence, not newly collated sources for this article.

Nepenthe · local use 1

Printed “Nepenthe” (English; lemma).

The legendary grief-dispelling drug or remedy named in Homer’s story of Helen.

Here: The name culminates a sequence of speech as remedy, charm and refreshment for a troubled mind. Here it is interpreted as wise, timely consoling speech.

Context: Burton invokes an allegorical interpretation supported in the supplied apparatus by Macrobius; Homer’s narrated drug is not thereby replaced with a historical botanical identification.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Nepenthe

Modern rendering: nepenthe

Word and construction: Nepenthe or Nepenthes supplies the name of the legendary grief-dispelling remedy; its local identification or use in the argument is explained separately.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Nepenthe · local use 2

Printed “Nepenthe” (English; lemma).

A figurative grief-dispelling remedy.

Here: Scripture-reading is praised as diverting care and restoring the mind.

Context: Burton’s religious comparison in the discussion of fitting study, not an identification of an ingredient.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: the best Nepenthe

Modern rendering: the best nepenthe

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a figurative grief-dispelling remedy in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Nepenthes” (English; lemma).

Citation key: Nepenthe.

Here: Pleasant talk and stories receive the Homeric name with explicit conditions of correct understanding and timely application.

Context: Burton reports a literary interpretation; the continuation widens its objects to mirth and sensory diversion.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that sole Nepenthes of Homer

Modern rendering: Homer’s one true nepenthe

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a figurative grief-dispelling remedy in this expression.

Sense relation: A further significant local use of this same defined sense; its attribution and argumentative force remain specified separately.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Nepenthe · Nepenthes · local use 1

Printed “Nepenthes” (English; lemma).

The legendary grief-dispelling drug or remedy named in Homer’s story of Helen.

Here: The borage/bugloss account imagines the purported herb or drug, if taken steeped in wine, preventing tears even at family bereavement.

Context: The identification is expressly supposed by cited writers; the supplied apparatus says the consulted Homer and Diodorus do not identify borage or make Thon a king.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that famous Nepenthes of Homer

Modern rendering: Homer’s famous nepenthe

Word and construction: Nepenthe or Nepenthes supplies the name of the legendary grief-dispelling remedy; its local identification or use in the argument is explained separately.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Nepenthe · Nepenthes · local use 2

Printed “Nepenthes” (English; lemma).

The legendary grief-dispelling drug or remedy named in Homer’s story of Helen.

Here: Oribasius and some others are said to identify Helen’s bowl with a cup of good wine.

Context: Burton reports this interpretation; Homer’s drug mixed into wine is distinct, and the subsequent wine discussion restricts praise by timing, moderation and constitution.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that true Nepenthes in Homer

Modern rendering: that true nepenthe in Homer

Word and construction: Nepenthe or Nepenthes supplies the name of the legendary grief-dispelling remedy; its local identification or use in the argument is explained separately.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Nepenthe · Nepenthes · local use 3

Printed “Nepenthes” (English; lemma).

The legendary grief-dispelling drug or remedy named in Homer’s story of Helen.

Here: Even nepenthe is said to be useless while passion is at its first height, as with parents at the instant of loss.

Context: Burton’s exposition of Gordonius’s timing argument, followed by advice to let passion run before counsel.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Homers Nepenthes

Modern rendering: Homer’s nepenthe

Word and construction: Nepenthe or Nepenthes supplies the name of the legendary grief-dispelling remedy; its local identification or use in the argument is explained separately.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

opportunity of speech

Printed “opportunity of speech” (English; phrase).

The fitness or timeliness of speech for its occasion.

Here: The phrase identifies how consoling words work: they must be wisely applied at the proper time.

Context: Burton’s interpretation, following named authorities; opportunity here concerns appropriateness, not merely a chance to speak.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: opportunity of speech

Modern rendering: speech suited to the occasion

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies the fitness or timeliness of speech for its occasion in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.