From the book
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Robert Burton · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordBurton’s “Extasie,” “Extasis,” and plural “Extasies” or “extasies” describe a trance or transport beyond ordinary awareness.
- In the Anatomy of MelancholyThe early classification places ecstasy among kinds of “fury.”
- In this edition“Extasie” becomes “ecstasy”, where the philosophical category and reported divination matter; “extasies” becomes “trance”; and “all Extasies” becomes “all trances”.
- A place to readEcstasy among settled conditions, contrasted with passing dispositions.
Meaning
Burton’s “Extasie,” “Extasis,” and plural “Extasies” or “extasies” describe a trance or transport beyond ordinary awareness. The adjective “extaticall” describes people in such states. Intense happiness is therefore an inadequate general definition, although joyful transport occurs elsewhere in the related language of being “rapt beyond” oneself. Burton can also give ecstasy a favourable spiritual sense, carefully distinguished from its abuse.
Latin “Extasi” in “Extasi omnia prædicere” is an ablative singular meaning in ecstasy; the following “Extasis” is a noun embedded in Burton’s English sentence. Similar printed forms need not have identical grammatical roles. “raptures” also has a literary sense, fanciful flights of expression, that does not itself establish a trance.
Use in the book
The early classification places ecstasy among kinds of “fury.” Cardan is reported to say that he could enter it whenever he wished; Indian priests and the Lapland witches described by Olaus Magnus are said to give oracular answers in this state. The claims to voluntary entry and divination belong to those reports. The surrounding discussion records rival ways of classifying madness and melancholy; later “extaticall” persons appear in another reported enlargement of the melancholy taxonomy. There is no single modern diagnostic category concealed behind every occurrence.
In the account attributed to Cornelius Gemma, Katherine Gualter’s “extasies” are one kind of episode alongside laughter, weeping and convulsions. The closing “this I saw with horror” remains Gemma’s reported testimony, not Burton’s eyewitness assertion. The next unit says that medicine had failed and she was left to the clergy. This narrative setting gives the word its symptom sense without establishing the extraordinary bodily events as verified observations.
Imagination supplies a different explanatory setting. After describing sleepwalking through vapours, imagination, appetite and animal spirits, Burton reports Fracastoro referring “all Extasies” to imagination’s force. A priest attributed to Celsus and Cardan illustrate claimed withdrawal from sensation at will. The priest is said to lie like a dead man; the comparison does not assert that he actually dies. The continuation connects visionary accounts and witches’ journeys with imagination and demonic illusion together, rather than replacing every supernatural explanation with an exclusively bodily one.
The word also occurs in the discussion of historical cordials: a preparation called “Bange” is reported, through Garcius ab Horto, to produce “a kinde of Extasis” for a time. The qualification “a kinde of” marks comparison, and “for a time” marks duration. The nearby twenty-four-hour statement belongs to the preceding claim about datura, not to this phrase about Bange. This is an account of an attributed drug effect, not devotional contemplation or a recommendation for current use.
The religious discussion gives the most explicit positive qualification. Although excessive fasting and solitude are blamed for harmful symptoms, Burton says that temperance and contemplation can be beneficial and unite the soul to God. Ecstasy is called a taste of future happiness, “a divine melancholy,” and a “spirituall wing,” the last image attributed to Bonaventure. Only then does he turn to ecstasy “as it is abused,” calling that abuse delusion and madness, a cause and symptom of religious melancholy. The qualification is part of the argument; removing it would make his valuation uniformly hostile. A marginal Latin quotation associated with Erasmus defines ecstasy as nothing other than a foretaste of blessedness, then adds that in it we are wholly absorbed into God.
Subsequent stories are treated much more suspiciously. The original English marginal “extasis” describes a visionary trance after contemplation and introduces Jerome’s reported punishment for reading Cicero. This loosely attached note is part of Burton’s account; no separate modern translation of it is supplied. Burton compares an inspired prisoner’s story to fantastic tales, then recounts a vision or “extasis” attributed to “Carolus Magnus” after fasting and meditation. The printed name, impossible year “An.185,” and difference between the body’s heaven-and-hell and margin’s purgatory are features of this supplied text, not facts to repair silently.
Related rapture-language carries readers into other registers. Mirrors “rapt in love” are a poetic personification which Burton qualifies with “if you will believe Poets”; Antony is “rapt beyond himself” at Cleopatra’s spectacle; lovers can be similarly transported with joy. The Abderite spectators possessed by a “rapture” keep repeating a theatrical love speech: the account moves from almost every man repeating it to all being possessed by this absorbing excitement. By contrast, Burton calls his own preceding verse “phantastical raptures” when returning to his subject. These are intelligible connections through being carried away, but they should not all be converted into the medical trance sense.
Related entries
Madness; Daemon and genius; Enthusiasm; Imagination; Religious melancholy; Religion and superstition; Passion; Love; Apparition; Fasting
Places to read
- Unnumbered First Partition synopsisEcstasy among settled conditions, contrasted with passing dispositions.
- · paragraph 17–DJR-22-24Competing classifications and reported oracular ecstasy.
- · paragraph 49–DJR-27-52Extaticall people within some authorities’ rival divisions.
- · paragraph 24–DJR-31-26Gemma’s reported case, fits of trance and the failed medical treatment.
- · paragraph 9–DJR-39-12Imagination, all trances, claimed voluntary loss of sensation and combined explanations of visions.
- · paragraph 2–DJR-105-4The temporary kinde of Extasis attributed to Bange, distinct from datura’s twenty-four hours.
- · paragraph 12–DJR-118-14Mirrors carried away by love in qualified poetic personification.
- · paragraph 57–DJR-120-59Raptures as fanciful literary flights.
- · paragraph 31–DJR-121-33Antony carried beyond himself by Cleopatra’s spectacle.
- · paragraph 23–DJR-123-25Theatrical rapture and persistent repetition, with almost and all in their respective clauses.
- · paragraph 35–DJR-127-37Occasional joyful transport contrasted with love’s more frequent distress.
- · paragraph 63–DJR-127-65Favourable looks or messages and the lover carried beyond himself.
- · paragraph 6–DJR-156-13Bodily precursors, beneficial contemplation and its abuse; the marginal definition and wholly absorbed into God.
- Suspected visions, original English marginal extasis, and the problematic Charlemagne name, date and destinations.
- Unnumbered TableExtasis ibid. and its unresolved inherited page reference.
In this edition
“Extasie” becomes “ecstasy”, where the philosophical category and reported divination matter; “extasies” becomes “trance”; and “all Extasies” becomes “all trances”. “Extasis is a taste of future happiness” remains “Ecstasy is a taste of future happiness”. The difference of rendering follows context, not a claim that one source spelling always marks one sense.
“Extasi omnia prædicere” becomes “foretell everything in ecstasy,” aligning the complete Latin construction. “extaticall” is expanded to “those in ecstatic trances”; the supplied noun names the people governed by Burton’s list. “phantastical raptures” becomes “fanciful flights,” while “rapt beyond themselves for joy” becomes “carried beyond themselves with joy.” The inherited Table’s “ibid.” is translated “same page,” but its intended locator remains unresolved. These comparisons concern the supplied paired edition; the historical witnesses cited in its notes have not been freshly collated here.
ecstasy · Extasie
Printed “Extasie” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Citation key, Modern rendering: ecstasy
Printed form, Source wording, Original wording: Extasie
Trance or withdrawal beyond ordinary awareness, classified here among kinds of fury.
Context: Burton reports Cardan’s claim of entering the state voluntarily and others’ reported divination.
Source: original body
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Ecstasy directly normalizes Extasie; voluntary entry and divination come from the reported examples, not from the noun alone.
ecstasy · extasies
Printed “extasies” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Trance-like episodes occurring among the young woman’s reported fits.
Context: Cornelius Gemma is the reported eyewitness; Burton transmits the case.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: paroxysmes of laughing, weeping and extasies
Modern rendering: fits of laughter, weeping and trance
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Trance renders extasies; fits renders paroxysmes, and laughter and weeping remain separate activities.
ecstasy · Extasies
Printed “Extasies” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
States of insensibility or trance attributed to imagination’s force.
Context: Burton reports Fracastoro’s universal attribution; the priest and Cardan supply reported examples.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: refers all Extasies to this force of Imagination
Modern rendering: attributes all trances to this power of imagination
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Trances renders Extasies; all remains explicit. Attributes and power of imagination render the separate governing construction.
ecstasy · Extasis · local use 1
Printed “Extasis” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
A temporary altered state attributed to the preparation Bange.
Context: Garcius ab Horto is the cited authority; “a kinde” limits identification, and the neighbouring twenty-four hours applies to datura.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: puts them for a time into a kinde of Extasis
Modern rendering: puts them for a time into a kind of trance
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Trance renders Extasis; for a time and a kind of preserve both qualifications. No duration of twenty-four hours is supplied for Bange.
ecstasy · Extasis · local use 2
Printed “Extasis” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
A beneficial spiritual transport described as a foretaste of heavenly happiness.
Context: Burton positively allows contemplation and then distinguishes its abuse; the statement is not a condemnation of all ecstasy.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Extasis is a taste of future happiness
Modern rendering: Ecstasy is a taste of future happiness
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Ecstasy normalizes Extasis; the taste of future happiness is separately explicit. Its beneficial and abused uses are distinguished by the continuation.
ecstasy · extasis · local use 1
Printed “extasis” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
A visionary state attributed to a ruler after fasting and meditation.
Context: Burton recounts a suspect narrative under an impossible printed date; body and margin name different otherworldly destinations.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: vision An.185. or extasis
Modern rendering: vision or ecstasy in the year 185
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Ecstasy renders extasis; in the year expands An. and keeps 185. The date is reordered, not corrected.
ecstasy · extasis · local use 2
Printed “extasis” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
A trance or visionary transport after contemplation, invoked in the marginal example of Jerome’s reported punishment.
Context: This is original English marginal wording. The loosely attached note gives Jerome being whipped for reading Cicero as an example within Burton’s sceptical discussion; it is not an independent editorial authentication.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: After contemplation in an extasis
Edition note: No supplied-modern comparison claimed
Supplied words note: No supplied-modern comparison is claimed. Ecstasy or visionary transport is an explanatory gloss of the original English extasis; after marks the stated temporal relation.
ecstatical
Printed “extaticall” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Characterized by ecstatic trance, within a reported class of persons.
Context: Some authorities, not a unanimously accepted taxonomy, include these people in the enlarged classification.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Enthusiasts, extaticall and dæmoniacall persons
Modern rendering: those who claim divine inspiration, those in ecstatic trances and those possessed by demons
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Those in ecstatic trances unpacks extaticall, using the shared persons; the divine-inspiration and demonic-possession descriptions correspond to the other coordinated items.
extasis · Extasi
Printed “Extasi” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
In ecstasy or trance: ablative singular marking the state in which the reported predictions are made.
Context: The claim is attributed to Olaus Magnus’s account of Lapland witches.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Extasi omnia prædicere
Modern rendering: foretell everything in ecstasy
Word and construction, Supplied words note: In ecstasy renders ablative singular Extasi; everything renders omnia and foretell renders the infinitive prædicere. The whole prediction is not the meaning of Extasi alone.
extasis · Extasis
Printed “Extasis” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Ecstasy or spiritual transport, here defined as nothing other than a foretaste of future blessedness.
Context: The original Latin margin associates the definition with Erasmus and adds in qua toti absorbemur in Deum, in which we are wholly absorbed into God. Extasis is nominative singular; the editorial English translation is a separate layer.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: Extasis nihil est aliud quam gustus futuræ beatitudinis.
Modern rendering: Ecstasy is nothing other than a taste of future blessedness.
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Ecstasy renders Extasis; nothing other than renders nihil est aliud quam, and future blessedness renders futuræ beatitudinis. Absorption into God is stated in the following original clause, not supplied by the noun itself.
Edition note: checked against supplied editorial translation within Burton-labelled note; translation is not original Burton wording
rapt beyond oneself · rapt beyond himself
Printed “rapt beyond himself” (English; phrase).
Printed form, Source wording, Original wording: rapt beyond himself
Transported by astonishment and attraction.
Context: Antony is the subject, confronted with Cleopatra’s spectacular arrival in Burton’s composite Plutarch narrative.
Source: original body
Modern rendering: carried beyond himself
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Carried renders rapt; beyond himself is explicit. Antony and Cleopatra are identified by the surrounding narrative.
rapt beyond oneself · rapt beyond themselves for joy
Printed “rapt beyond themselves for joy” (English; phrase).
Printed form, Source wording, Original wording: rapt beyond themselves for joy
Carried away by joy in love; the surrounding argument contrasts occasional elation with more frequent suffering.
Context: Burton allows occasional delight before describing love’s more frequent pain.
Source: original body
Modern rendering: carried beyond themselves with joy
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Carried beyond themselves renders rapt beyond themselves; with joy renders for joy. The surrounding sometimes and most part govern the opposed evaluations.
rapt in love
Printed “rapt in love” (English; phrase).
Carried away by love, attributed figuratively to mirrors.
Context: Burton explicitly qualifies the personification by “if you will believe Poets.”
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: rapt in love (if you will believe Poets)
Modern rendering: carried away by love, if you will believe the poets
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Carried away renders rapt; by love renders in love idiomatically. The if-you-believe-the-poets qualification is explicit in both versions.
rapture · phantastical raptures
Printed “phantastical raptures” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Printed form, Source wording, Original wording: phantastical raptures
Flights of expression or imaginative digressions; phantastical adds the judgement fanciful.
Context: Burton dismisses his own preceding verse before returning to the subject; not a reported medical fit.
Source: original body
Modern rendering: fanciful flights
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Flights renders raptures in this literary context; fanciful renders phantastical, not raptures alone.
rapture
Printed “rapture” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
An absorbing theatrical excitement that persists in repeated speech.
Context: The spectators are the subject of the reported theatrical absorption. Burton first says almost every man repeats the speeches, then says they were all possessed by that rapture; both formulations remain visible.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: they were so possessed all with that rapture
Modern rendering: They were all so possessed by this rapture
Word and construction, Supplied words note: Rapture remains unchanged; all translates all, and possessed renders possessed. The surrounding earlier almost everyone is a separate qualification.
trance
Printed “trance” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
A prolonged state outside ordinary awareness.
Context: Burton illustrates Fracastoro’s account with people said to remain in this state for days.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: such as lie whole days together in a trance
Modern rendering: people who lie entranced for whole days together
Word and construction, Supplied words note: People supplies the referent of such as; entranced recasts in a trance as a participle, retaining the explicit whole days.