Confession and absolution

Use in the book

The engineering example makes completion unmistakable. Burton reports that Sesostris, Darius and Egyptian pharaohs attempted a canal between Africa and Asia, abandoned because the Red Sea was said to stand above Egypt and threaten flooding. Ptolemy later renewed the work and absolved it in a more suitable place. The object is the undertaking; abandonment followed by resumption establishes the sense. Burton’s own margin questions the unequal-water-level claim through Archimedes. The supplied editor identifies the ancient Nile–Red Sea canal tradition and Ptolemy II’s water-control device, not the modern Suez Canal (Source page 57–58).

The same verb completes movements rather than works. In the astronomical alternatives Saturn absolves its assigned motion in thirty years; the account also retains a three-year period for Mars. Scheiner’s solar spots and bright patches are said to absolve a regular period of twenty-seven or twenty-eight days. These are reported models and measurements. Burton’s preference for a rotating earth still at the centre is distinct from the preceding threefold Copernican motion, and the edition does not silently turn the printed Mars period into a correct modern value.

Release has a different object in the dancing legend. The young people continue their churchyard song despite the priest’s request; his curse condemns them to dance for a year, after which the archbishop absolves them. Burton has already said “if you will believe it.” The act ends a narrated curse, not an engineering task, and the edition preserves “all three” although the opening named a company. A forensic contrast appears in the Juvenal margin: no guilty person is acquitted in his own judgement even if influence corrupts the external court. The negation belongs to the whole sentence, not to the verb absolvitur itself.

Admission and testimony need not be sacramental. Confessions join evidence and arguments in the satirical attempt to show widespread folly; Seneca’s own confession supplies testimony to sleepless study. Alleged confessions in the incubus controversy are a more hazardous use of testimony: Burton cites Lipsius, concedes opposing theologians and concludes only that the account is likely. The existence of stories or admissions does not establish the supernatural event. Lucian’s divine confession, by contrast, professes the divine source of religion. He is the Antiochene priest, not the satirist, and the supplied note distinguishes the Latin-tradition parallel from the Eusebius passage named by Burton.

To confess grief is to disclose distress, not necessarily acknowledge wrongdoing. The heading of the treatment subsection explicitly gives a friend as recipient; the later Porphyry story makes disclosure precede Plotinus’s consoling reply. The edition notes that Burton turns the source’s visit, advice to travel and subsequent recovery into a chance encounter and immediate exchange. Friendship, especially friend · local use 1 and V003, develops the already established unburdening sequence. The original Table independently labels it confession of grief and sends the reader to 293; that is a navigational heading, not a second case. Commines’s final counsel in the subsection first opens the sufferer to God, then to a specially trusted friend.

Confessing sins is explicit in the advice attributed to Commines that puts prayer and penitence before medicine. The cure of despair similarly presupposes people who have confessed and been examined, before immediately recognizing that distress may obstruct the required responses. Later David receives mercy upon confession, and an Augustinian declaration speaks in God’s person: pardon answers acknowledged offence. The confessor’s institutional office should not be confused with every such disclosure. In the polemical catalogues, auricular confession and confessors become alleged instruments of coercion or illicit access; Bawd, auricular confession, retains the latter construction. These accusations are Burton’s uses of the practice, not its definition.

Related entries

Absolute, for complete and perfected; Fact, for a deed or performed act. Repentance and penitence and Mercy and forgiveness distinguish contrition from pardon and divine help. Conscience develops inward judgement; Friendship develops entrusted disclosure; Bawd retains the polemical auricular-confession route.

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraph 7confessions as admissions in an argument.
2. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraph 12the abandoned and completed canal undertaking, with original margins and editorial qualifications.
3. Subsection 15 Love of Learning or Excessive Study With a Digression on the Misery of Scholars and Why the Muses Are Melancholy · paragraph 30Seneca’s own admission.
4. Member 2. Lawful Cures, First From God · paragraph 13prayer, penitence, confession and medicine.
5. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraph 12; Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraph 3absolve meaning complete a motion.
6. Member 6 Subsection 1 Disturbances of the Mind Corrected Through the Sufferer’s Own Efforts in Resisting as Strongly as Possible and Confiding His Grief to a Friend and So Forth · paragraph 1; Member 6 Subsection 1 Disturbances of the Mind Corrected Through the Sufferer’s Own Efforts in Resisting as Strongly as Possible and Confiding His Grief to a Friend and So Forth · paragraphs 32–43confession of grief and trusted disclosure.
7. Subsection 2 Help From Friends Through Counsel and Comfort Gentle and Harsh Methods Ingenious Devices Reassurance Changes in the Way of Life and Removal of Troubling Objects and So Forth · paragraph 27Porphyry and Plotinus, with the source/retelling distinction.
8. Section 2 Member 1, Subsection 1 Love Melancholy: Its Ancestry, Power and Reach · paragraph 12contested supernatural testimony.
9. Subsection 5 Procurers and Love Potions as Causes · paragraphs 68–72confessors and alleged abuse of private access.
10. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 44–48the qualified dancing legend and absolution.
11. Its Object, God; What His Beauty Is; How It Attracts. The Parts and People Affected · paragraph 29Lucian’s profession of faith.
12. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraph 38private confession in anti-Catholic polemic.
13. Causes of Despair: The Devil, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Harsh Ministers, Misunderstanding Scripture, Guilty Consciences, and So On · paragraphs 52–55guilty conscience and marginal absolvitur.
14. Treatment of Despair Through Medicine, Good Counsel, Consolation, and So On · paragraphs 17–21; Treatment of Despair Through Medicine, Good Counsel, Consolation, and So On · paragraphs 36–39preparation and inability, followed by confession and mercy.
15. C · paragraph 118confession-of-grief entry, printed destination 293.

In this edition

“Absolved it” becomes “completed it” in the canal account; absolves and absolve become completes and complete in the astronomical uses. Those choices prevent the familiar sense of pardon from intruding. In the legend, absolved remains absolved because an archbishop’s release is intended. Latin absolvitur is rendered is acquitted in the editorial translation of the original Juvenal margin; no guilty person is the larger sentence’s subject and negation.

Confessions becomes admissions in the introductory argument, while confessing grief becomes confiding or disclosing it. Confessed is expanded to have confessed, distinct from the examination expressed by tryed. Auricular confession becomes private confession; the contextual explanation supplies the priest as hearer. David’s confession becomes confessing, with the printed Psalm 31 retained and the editor distinguishing Psalm 32:5. These renderings keep object, recipient and consequence visible rather than translating every confession as a sacrament.

absolve: complete

Finish or bring an undertaking or periodic movement to completion.

Grammar: Verb absolve, printed as past tense absolved, third-person singular absolves and infinitive absolve.

Component access (opportune): The adjective qualifies the place of completion, not the verb absolved.

Component access (suitable): The adjective qualifies the place of completion, not the verb absolved.

Original text: “absolved it in a more opportune place”. In the modern column: “completed it at a more suitable place”. Ptolemy resumes and completes the canal work abandoned by earlier rulers. Burton reports Diodorus and Pliny; the accompanying note questions unequal water levels, the accompanying note identifies the ancient Nile–Red Sea tradition, not the modern Suez Canal. Absolved supplies completed; it refers to the work, and opportune supplies suitable.

Original text: “Saturne in 30. yeeres absolves his sole and proper motion”. In the modern column: “Saturn completes its sole and proper motion in thirty years”. A planet completes the motion assigned to it in the reported models. Reported astronomical alternatives; Burton calls the rotating but central earth more probable. The printed Mars period remains three years. Absolves supplies completes; the period and object remain separate.

Original text: “to absolve their periodicall and regular motion in 27. or 28. dayes”. In the modern column: “complete their regular periodic motion in twenty-seven or twenty-eight days”. Solar spots and bright patches complete a cycle in the cited account. Attributed to Shemer/Scheiner; the accompanying note retains printed name/title and explains the later solar-surface view without claiming fresh collation. Absolve means complete; their periodic motion is its object, not a religious release.

absolved: ecclesiastical release

Released through an ecclesiastical act of absolution; here the act ends a narrated curse.

Grammar: Passive past participle absolved, with by naming the officiant.

Original text: “were absolved by Herebertus Archbishop of Colen”. In the modern column: “were absolved by Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne”. The archbishop’s act ends the legendary dancers’ punishment. A miracle-legend introduced with if you will believe it at 132-44; all three remains despite the earlier company. No verified medical explanation. Absolved is retained; the personal and place names are modernized separately.

absolvitur

Is acquitted or absolved from guilt in a judgement; the cited line denies such inward acquittal to a guilty person.

Grammar: Third-person singular present passive indicative of absolvo.

Component access (absolvitur): Passive verb only; negation comes from nemo and guilt from nocens.

Component access (is acquitted): Passive verb only; negation comes from nemo and guilt from nocens.

Component access (nemo): Negative indefinite pronoun; no person is an explanatory component gloss, while guilty comes separately from nocens.

Component access (no person): Negative indefinite pronoun; no person is an explanatory component gloss, while guilty comes separately from nocens.

Component access (nocens): The guilty description does not itself contain negation or acquittal.

Component access (guilty): The guilty description does not itself contain negation or acquittal.

Component access (se Judice): The complete ablative construction supplies the inward judging standpoint, not the verb of acquittal.

Component access (in his own judgement): The complete ablative construction supplies the inward judging standpoint, not the verb of acquittal.

Original margin: “se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “no guilty person is acquitted in his own judgement”. The inner judgement remains adverse despite bribery of an external court. Juvenal original margin, not Burton’s unquoted autobiography. An accompanying note identifies Satire 13.2–4 and altered wording. Absolvitur supplies is acquitted; nemo supplies no person; nocens guilty; se Judice in his own judgement.

confession: admission or acknowledgement

An admission or avowal offered as testimony, not necessarily an admission of sin to a priest.

Grammar: Noun confession, plural confessions; related verb confess.

Component access (testimonies): A separate coordinated item from confessions/admissions, not another meaning of confession.

Component access (evidence): A separate coordinated item from confessions/admissions, not another meaning of confession.

Component access (confessions): The supplied modern text retains the plural admissions as reported testimony, without endorsing their alleged supernatural objects.

Component access (unhappy): The adjective qualifies the women in the report; it is distinct from the evidential noun confessions.

Component access (unfortunate): The adjective qualifies the women in the report; it is distinct from the evidential noun confessions.

Original text: “testimonies, confessions, arguments”. In the modern column: “evidence, admissions, and arguments”. Admissions join other materials offered to establish general folly. Burton’s satirical proof that most are mad; no individual diagnosis or sacramental setting. Confessions supplies admissions, distinct from testimonies/evidence and arguments.

Original text: “by his own confession”. In the modern column: “by his own admission”. Seneca is made a witness to his own strenuous study. Burton quotes Letter 8; the accompanying note records shortening and altered wording, not exact modernized quotation of Seneca. Equal-scope construction with confession rendered admission.

Original text: “confessions of those unhappy women”. In the modern column: “confessions of those unfortunate women”. Alleged admissions are offered as evidence in a supernatural controversy. Burton follows Lipsius with likely rather than certain, after conceding opposition; the accompanying note says such testimony does not establish supernatural events. Confessions remains confessions; unhappy becomes unfortunate.

confession: profession of faith

An avowed declaration of religious belief, not here acknowledgement of a particular offence.

Grammar: Noun confession modified by divine.

Component access (divine): The adjective qualifies the religious declaration; it is not a divine speaker identity assigned to Lucian.

Component access (sacred): The adjective qualifies the religious declaration; it is not a divine speaker identity assigned to Lucian.

Component access (confession): Local profession-of-faith sense, distinct from an admission of guilt; the fuller phrase is divine/sacred confession.

Component access (confession): Local profession-of-faith sense, distinct from an admission of guilt; the fuller phrase is divine/sacred confession.

Original text: “made his divine confession in Eusebius”. In the modern column: “declared in his sacred confession in Eusebius”. Lucian’s declaration concerns divine authority for religion. Lucian of Antioch, not the satirist. An accompanying note finds the Latin declaration in a later Latin-tradition parallel, not in the checked Greek-derived Eusebius translation. Divine becomes sacred; confession is a profession, not a request for pardon.

confess one’s grief

Disclose or confide distress to someone able to listen and help; not necessarily confess a fault.

Grammar: Transitive verb confess/confessing with grief as object and friend or adviser as recipient.

Component access (confessing): Disclosure of grief to a friend; the verb does not itself specify fault or sin.

Component access (confiding): Disclosure of grief to a friend; the verb does not itself specify fault or sin.

Component access (confess): Plotinus seeks disclosure of Porphyry’s grief; this is not culpability admission.

Component access (disclose): Plotinus seeks disclosure of Porphyry’s grief; this is not culpability admission.

Component access (Confession): The Table noun is rendered as a gerund in its heading; not a second narrative occurrence.

Component access (Confiding): The Table noun is rendered as a gerund in its heading; not a second narrative occurrence.

Original text: “confessing his grief to a friend”. In the modern column: “confiding his grief to a friend”. The subsection heading presents disclosure as part of correcting mental disturbance. Original heading, not a separate clinical case; its argument unfolds at 083-32–43. Confessing becomes confiding; grief is the disclosed object and friend the recipient.

Original text: “urged him to confess his grief”. In the modern column: “urged him to disclose his grief”. Plotinus elicits Porphyry’s distress before consoling him. Burton’s retelling differs from Life of Plotinus 11: the accompanying note notes the visit, advice to travel and subsequent recovery omitted from Burton’s immediate-exchange story. Confess supplies disclose, not admit culpability.

Original Table: “Confession of his grief to a friend”. In the modern column: “Confiding one’s grief to a friend”. The original Table directs readers to disclosure and friendship at 293. Original unnumbered Table, with printed destination 293; the route does not count as another clinical example. Noun confession is recast as the gerund confiding; this is a Table heading, not a body occurrence.

confess sins; confession

Acknowledge wrongdoing in a religious setting, connected with humility, repentance and seeking mercy.

Grammar: Transitive verb confess; participle confessed; noun confession.

Component access (tryed): The participle names assessment before consolation, not moral temptation.

Component access (examined): The participle names assessment before consolation, not moral temptation.

Original text: “to confess their sins”. In the modern column: “confess their sins”. The Commines advice joins prayer, penitence and confession before medicine. Reported counsel after Charles of Burgundy’s defeat; the sequence includes, not excludes, use of medicine. Confess and its object are retained; the object distinguishes this from disclosing grief.

Original text: “confessed, tryed”. In the modern column: “they must have confessed and been examined”. Confession and assessment precede this specific consolatory discourse. Burton presupposes requirements attributed to Beza, Greenham, Perkins and Bolton; 166-21 then recognizes inability and requires tailored help. The modern supplies subject and auxiliary; tryed means examined, not morally tempted.

Original text: “upon his confession received mercy”. In the modern column: “received mercy on confessing”. David’s confession is joined to reception of mercy after affliction. Burton prints Psalm 31; the accompanying note points out the particular connection to Psalm 32:5 without replacing the printed reference. Noun confession becomes gerund confessing; received and mercy preserve the result.

auricular confession; confessors

Auricular confession is private spoken confession to a priest; confessors are the religious advisers who hear confession.

Grammar: Qualified noun phrase auricular confession; plural agent noun Confessors.

Component access (auricular): The adjective specifies confession spoken to the priest, not the whole practice or the accusation of coercion.

Component access (private spoken): The adjective specifies confession spoken to the priest, not the whole practice or the accusation of coercion.

Original text: “Monks, Confessors, and Friers”. In the modern column: “monks, confessors and friars”. The agent noun identifies a religious office in the polemic about professional access. The sequence alleges misuse and must be read as Burton’s generalized attack. Confessors remains confessors; no sexual misconduct is inherent in the lexical definition.

Original text: “auricular confession”. In the modern column: “private confession”. Private confession is listed among forms of authority Burton alleges are coercively used. Anti-Catholic polemic, with an extreme slavery comparison; allegations of abuse do not define the practice. Auricular qualifies the spoken, private mode; confession supplies the act.