Complement

Use in the book

In the symptom catalogue, a “small complement” omitted can be taken as evidence of neglect. Burton describes an interpretation of an absent greeting, invitation or other mark of respect; he does not establish that the omission was meant to insult. The nearby description of someone disinclined to “vulgar complement” concerns ordinary courtesies. Its continuation allows depth, judgment and intelligence in people who appear withdrawn or foolish to observers. Later “small or no complement” accompanies reticence and preference for writing over speech. Burton says solitude can arise from both pleasure and fear, then gives more weight to fear and sorrow.

Social polish is not automatically virtue. In the satire of aristocratic accomplishments, “mimical and apish complement” is theatrical, imitative courtesy, offered among showy substitutes for real ability. Beauty’s admirers can also “complement and bow” as if a beautiful woman were a queen or goddess. The verb covers ceremonious attentions within a whole bodily performance of deference.

Courtship makes the risk of misreading that performance explicit. A woman takes a man’s “complements” and good behaviour as proof that he is in love and will marry her, although Burton says this is only his customary manner in such company. The next paragraph charges both sexes with deceit by outward show. The “common complement” of another passage is a usual form of courtship including extravagant promises and threats, inconsistent with the speaker’s changing attachments. Its concluding warning comes from Ariadne’s speech in Catullus; Burton turns a particular abandoned lover’s words into a general reproach.

The word can also name an actual spoken courtesy. In the wedding anecdote of Stratocles, a word, “some other Complement” and an idle question alternate with kisses. This is a courteous expression within the lovers’ conversation, rather than the whole performance of social manners. The exact Prodromos passage behind Burton’s citation remains uncollated.

The Cymon story grants polish a more positive place. Love supposedly teaches courtesy, propriety, complement, music and dancing to someone formerly represented as a boor. The acquired plural “complements” are gentlemanly social graces. Yet the editorial qualification is essential: Burton ends with transformation and “valorous exploits”, while Boccaccio’s tale continues through abduction, imprisonment and killings. Accomplished manners do not establish the harmlessness of the whole narrative. The preceding Leda story likewise presents a non-consensual act as ingenuity; the sequence is Burton’s rhetoric of love’s powers, not a neutral moral certification of them.

The religious “complement” changes the argument. Clothing the naked, visiting the sick, forgiving others and preserving peace are the completion of love expressed in action. The Latin formulation attributed to Clement names fulfilment and extension of love and friendship; Burton follows it with his own shorter English expression. He insists on love of God as the motive, excluding fear and worldly advantage, then immediately admits that “we” fall short in loving both God and neighbour. Completion is thus the declared standard, not a boast that the speaker or his community has already achieved it.

Related entries

Conversation: Social intercourse and its formal observances.

Charity: The theological love completed through works of mercy.

Carriage: Outward conduct and the risk of inferring intention from it.

Places to read

1. Subsection 2. Symptoms or Signs in the Mind · paragraphs 14–16suspicion, omitted courtesy and an interpretation of neglect that need not reflect an intended slight.
2. Subsection 2. Symptoms or Signs in the Mind · paragraphs 23–25reluctance toward ordinary courtesies, followed by a defence of the intelligence hidden behind the outward appearance.
3. Subsection 2. Symptoms or Signs in the Mind · paragraphs 40–42reticence, little or no courtesy and the qualified explanation of solitude.
4. Member 2 Bodily Deformity, Sickness, Low Birth, and Particular Discontents · paragraphs 32–34sarcastic noble accomplishments and theatrical courtesy, within the attack on mere display.
5. Member 2. Subsection 2. Other Causes of Love Melancholy: Sight; Beauty of the Face, Eyes and Other Parts; and How It Pierces Us · paragraphs 30–32beauty’s supposed command and the verb for paying ceremonious attentions.
6. Artificial Attractions of Love and Incitements to Lust Gestures Clothes Dowry and So On · paragraphs 48–50polite manners mistaken for a marriage intention; the ensuing accusation concerns both sexes.
7. Persistence and Opportunity of Time and Place; Meetings, Conversation, Singing, Dancing, Music, Amorous Tales and Sights, Kissing, Familiarity, Tokens, Gifts, Bribes, Promises, Declarations, Tears, and So On · paragraphs 41–43inconsistent attachments, customary courtship performances and the Catullan warning.
8. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 1–3signs observed when lovers meet, and spoken courtesies alternating with kisses in the Stratocles example; both the Prodromos and Petronian source identifications retain editorial limits.
9. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 65–67; Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraph 1love’s purported ingenuity and civilizing power; Cymon’s social graces and the editor’s qualification concerning the violent sequel.
10. Its Object, God; What His Beauty Is; How It Attracts. The Parts and People Affected · paragraphs 11–13love of God and neighbour, the Latin fulfilment/extension phrase, the separate English completion phrase, and the admission of failure.

In this edition

The inherited pairs preserve the fork in meaning: “small complement” → “small courtesy”, “vulgar complement” → “ordinary courtesies”, and “complement of Love” → “completion of love”. The negative construction around ordinary courtesy becomes “disinclined to”; it is not part of the isolated noun phrase. In the courtship passage, “only” is rendered by “simply” earlier in the modern sentence, while the noun phrase itself gives “courtesies and good manners”.

“Complements” becomes “social graces” in Cymon’s transformation. The verb “complement and bow” becomes “pay compliments and bow”, retaining its relation to the visible act. The Latin “amoris & amicitiæ impletionem & extensionem” is separately rendered “the fulfilment and extension of love and friendship”: amoris and amicitiæ supply love and friendship, impletionem and extensionem fulfilment and extension. Burton’s following English retains love but does not repeat friendship. Both constructions therefore remain visible rather than being made artificially identical.

Amoris & amicitiæ impletionem & extensionem

Printed “amoris & amicitiæ impletionem & extensionem” (Latin; phrase).

The fulfilment and extension of love and friendship: amoris means of love; amicitiæ of friendship; impletionem fulfilment; extensionem extension; each & means and.

Here: The Latin construction precedes Burton’s separate English extent and complement of Love. Its two genitives supply the objects of fulfilment and extension, and friendship is explicit only in the Latin-derived rendering.

Context: Burton attributes the formulation to Clement of Alexandria; the edition does not claim the exact Latin has been collated in Clement.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: amoris & amicitiæ impletionem & extensionem

Modern rendering: the fulfilment and extension of love and friendship

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · small complement

Printed “small complement” (English; lemma).

A small courtesy or formal social observance.

Here: Its omission is interpreted as neglect or contempt. The noun does not require spoken praise.

Context: Burton describes the sufferer’s interpretation, not necessarily an intended insult.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: small complement

Modern rendering: small courtesy

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · vulgar complement

Printed “vulgar complement” (English; lemma).

Ordinary social courtesy.

Here: Vulgar means common or ordinary, not indecent; complement means polite social observance. The surrounding not... apt to is rendered disinclined to.

Context: Part of a historical symptom catalogue; the continuation allows sound judgment and intelligence despite the outward presentation.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: vulgar complement

Modern rendering: ordinary courtesies

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

Further local use

Printed “complement” (English; lemma).

Citation key: complement.

Here: Complement names courtesy, whose small amount or absence is explicitly stated. The surrounding account concerns reticence and solitude, which Burton attributes to both pleasure and fear but more to fear and sorrow.

Context: Burton reports Platter and makes his own qualified judgment about solitude.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: of small or no complement

Modern rendering: showing little or no courtesy

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · local use 1

Printed “complement” (English; lemma).

Ceremonious courtesy, here disparaged as affected imitation.

Here: Mimical means theatrical or imitative and apish adds a mocking imitation; complement is the performed courtesy.

Context: Burton’s sarcastic catalogue of showy accomplishments substituting for substantial worth.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: mimical and apish complement

Modern rendering: theatrical, apish courtesy

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · local use 2

Printed “complement” (English; lemma).

To pay ceremonious attentions or compliments.

Here: The verb is paired with bowing and reverence toward beauty; the modern pay compliments does not narrow the whole scene to praise alone.

Context: Burton’s generalization about men’s submission to a beautiful woman, qualified by if she be fair.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: complement and bow

Modern rendering: pay compliments and bow

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · complements

Printed “complements” (English; lemma).

Courteous attentions or polite social performances.

Here: The original only emphasizes their sufficiency; modern simply, earlier in the sentence, renders it. Such behaviour is mistaken for a definite promise of marriage.

Context: Burton denies the suitor’s inferred intent and then charges both sexes with deceptive outward display.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: his complements only, and good behaviour

Modern rendering: his courtesies and good manners

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

Alignment qualification: Only is rendered by simply earlier in the modern sentence, outside this shorter noun-phrase span; the phrase pair records the courtesies and good-manners nouns, not all the force of only.

Further local use

Printed “Complement” (English; lemma).

Citation key: complement.

Here: A courteous expression in a sequence of words, kisses and questions: some supplies the indefinite quantity, other the next or further expression. The adjective does not belong to the isolated noun’s definition.

Context: Burton’s narrated wedding example of Stratocles gives way to a generalized lover’s repeated attempts to speak and kiss; the exact Prodromos source remains uncollated.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: some other Complement

Modern rendering: some further compliment

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: Complement supplies compliment or courteous expression; some other supplies some further in the complete phrase.

complement · local use 3

Printed “complement” (English; lemma).

A performance or form of courtship.

Here: The phrase includes changing protestations, promises and threats, presented as unreliable performances rather than settled commitment.

Context: Burton’s attack on manipulative lovers, leading to a Catullan warning taken from Ariadne’s speech.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: their common complement in that case

Modern rendering: their usual form of courtship in such cases

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · local use 4

Printed “complement” (English; lemma).

Social politeness or polish.

Here: Complement contributes politeness, amid related but separately translated qualities. Love is credited with teaching Cymon accomplishments.

Context: Burton’s civilizing-love example compresses Boccaccio’s tale, whose violent sequel the editorial note restores.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: civility, decency, complement and good behaviour

Modern rendering: courtesy, propriety, politeness and good behaviour

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

Further local use

Printed “complements” (English; lemma).

Citation key: complement.

Here: Complements contributes social graces; Gentlemen-like qualities contributes gentlemanly accomplishments. The acquired polish forms Burton’s chosen conclusion, not the whole of Boccaccio’s story.

Context: Burton reports Cymon’s transformation; the note records the omitted abduction and killings rather than accepting valorous exploits as an adequate account.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Gentlemen-like qualities and complements

Modern rendering: gentlemanly accomplishments and social graces

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

complement · complement of Love

Printed “complement of Love” (English; lemma).

Completion or fulfilment of love.

Here: Complement means completion, and extent reach. Works of mercy realize love of God and neighbour; their motivation is expressly not fear or worldly advantage.

Context: Burton’s theological argument, attributed in part to Clement, followed by the admission that we fall short.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: the extent and complement of Love

Modern rendering: the reach and completion of love

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.