From the book
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Robert Burton · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The word“Ligation” is binding, and in the account of sleep it means the suspension of sensory activity.
- In the Anatomy of MelancholyIn the faculty account, sleep is first defined as rest or binding of the outward senses and common sense.
- In this edition“This ligation of senses” becomes “This suspension of the senses.”
- A place to readcontroversy’s chain binds even the heirs before Burton turns to medicine
Meaning
“Ligation” is binding, and in the account of sleep it means the suspension of sensory activity. A “ligature” is a binding or something tied. Burton uses the plural for magical bindings and tied-on charms, but also for physical bands applied to the body. The Latin “in ligaturâ” means in a binding or tied packet; in a medicinal recipe it specifies how material is contained during infusion. The shared idea of tying does not make all these practices magical or all of them surgical.
Related binding vocabulary widens the comparison. “Ligaments” are the bodily structures that tie parts together; the Latin verbs represented by ligo and its binding compounds describe fastening, restraint and figurative attachment. “Obligation” can name a written bond or a binding pledge. These are related senses and constructions, not interchangeable attestations of the noun ligature.
The sleep passage describes what is bound as the senses, while the treatment passages concern material arrangements. The object of the binding, its purpose and its surrounding catalogue establish the particular sense. A physical ligature in Burton’s regimen should not automatically be understood as a modern surgical ligature closing a blood vessel.
Use in the book
In the faculty account, sleep is first defined as rest or binding of the outward senses and common sense. Imagination remains active in dreams, with reason also mentioned in a phrasing whose tension the supplied edition preserves. Burton then explains “This ligation of senses” through the inhibition of bodily spirits: vapours rise from the stomach, fill the nerves and obstruct the passages through which the spirits should travel. When the vapours are spent, the passage reopens and the spirits resume their duties, causing waking sensation. The senses’ suspension is the effect, obstruction of the spirits the proposed mechanism, and vapours the immediate obstructing material. Calling the process binding does not introduce a supernatural binder.
The proposed cures raise a different question. Ligatures occur among spells, inscribed signs, images, amulets and love potions when Burton asks first whether such remedies can work and then, if so, whether they are lawful. The second question is not answered by the first. He collects rival opinions on efficacy, then affirmatively says that many famous cures of this kind occur daily and that “Such cures may be done.” These are bounded assertions in the unfolding argument; Paracelsus’s stronger claim that only spiritual means can cure the diseases remains attributed. Burton next assumes the efficacy premise for the question of lawfulness and gives Paracelsus’s argument that relief matters regardless of its source. Burton then rejects the moral inference: the supposed benefit cannot justify the prohibited means. The next section turns to accepted remedies administered through physicians, joining ordinary medicine with prayer. The original question must therefore be read through both the dispute and its conclusion.
Physical binding reappears among ordinary medical procedures. A recipe attributed to Montaltus specifies a substance infused overnight “in ligaturâ”; this is a tied packet in the preparation, not a charm attached to the patient. Piso’s recommended ligatures accompany rubbing, suppositories and cupping; the marginal Latin also lists ligatures, but its other items differ from the body. In treatment of hypochondriacal melancholy, binding, rubbing and cupping recur, with the cupping distinguished as without scarification. Burton reports these historical practices without supplying a detailed independent technique for the bands. These particular catalogue entries do not specify the bands’ material, tightness or duration. A nearby, more specific recommendation from Piso does prescribe binding the stomach hard against wind and imperfect digestion; its margin says “arctius alligari,” to be bound more tightly. That local comparative must not be transferred to every ligature.
Literal binding has different objects and purposes. A swallow stone is supposedly effective when tied to the right arm; camphor is tied to the genitals in a reported desire-suppressing remedy. A wife’s scarf, by contrast, is tied around her husband’s breast as an emblem of excessive devotion. Restraint of a person is another use: Villanovanus’s wine-cure story says in the margin that a furious matron had to be bound, whereas Burton’s following body says she was about to be bound. The attack on cosmetics invokes binding hands in iron and intensifies it into punitive confinement in Bedlam. These reported cases, alleged remedies and hostile rhetorical wishes have distinct agencies and evidentiary force.
Binding can also mean coercion that should be avoided or captivity voluntarily preferred. Crato’s advice says the patient must not be tied to things he does not care for; the surrounding prescription favours gentle, gradual treatment. King James’s library speech imagines choosing confinement among chained books if he had to become a prisoner. In the Chrysostom example, the tyrant wishes to bind captives, God permits it, and rescue eventually follows. The subject of binding, its object and the source of permission must remain separate.
The figurative bonds can be destructive or cherished. A marginal chain of controversy binds even the heirs; Cyprian represents envy as inward captivity. Erotic binding includes the lower Venus subduing minds, beauty drawing a spectator like magnetic iron, persuasive words binding as ropes bind bulls, and lovers unable to escape a compulsion stronger than iron chains. By contrast, the bonds of graces and true friendship are willingly tightened, while the happy knot of love unites families and cities. In the friendship passage the body says people love their binders, but the Latin margin says they love the bonds themselves.
Obligation gives the image a legal and moral extension. The scrivener’s obligation is a written bond; More’s Utopians object to binding people by laws too numerous to read or too obscure to understand. The prosperous person is also called a more obligated debtor as divine benefits increase. Marital debt and servitude appear in the deterrent catalogue attributed to Jerome, while Lemnius describes people who refuse marriage’s halter. These local comparisons make binding express indebtedness, duties or resistance to them, rather than always physical restraint.
Religious binding is likewise variable. A shared conviction about salvation binds people together, in an account that moves between fellowship and faction. The assertion that God is bound to secondary causes belongs to the Senecan and Stoic position Burton places in his polemical survey; it must not become his own doctrine of divine limitation. In the cure of despair, even a supposed obligation to the Devil can be overcome. A later pact appears within the sufferer’s fearful self-accusation, before Burton distinguishes unwanted thoughts and broadens reassurance. Repentance itself is praised as loosening all that is bound: the releasing force follows from the preceding context, and the Latin margin changes to direct address.
In the proposed cures of love, the magical sense returns. Ligatures stand among remedies called unlawful before their alleged use is described. The analogy of Achilles’ spear proposes that a wound caused in one way might be cured in the same way; the next authority makes incantation the supposed cause and remedy. Burton nevertheless repeats that the practice is not permitted and calls many ensuing remedies absurd. The verbal or material resemblance between causing and curing does not remove his moral judgement. The following strange remedies continue through allegedly powerful substances and astrological images, without cancelling the stated prohibition. This passage also keeps magical binding distinct from the bodily bands already encountered in the medical regimen.
Related entries
Fascination; Characters; Amulet; Philter; Sleep and waking; Spirits; Nerves; Cupping and scarification; Sympathy and antipathy
Places to read
- · paragraph 12–16controversy’s chain binds even the heirs before Burton turns to medicine
- · paragraph 8–10a scrivener’s written obligation in the complaint about scholarly poverty
- · paragraph 28–30binding laws qualified by readability and intelligibility in More’s Utopians
- · paragraph 25–27greater blessings and a greater debt of gratitude
- · paragraph 38–42anatomical ligaments among seed-derived parts and their binding function
- · paragraph 20–24binding of the senses and the vapour-and-spirit account of sleeping and waking
- · paragraph 13–15envy as inner captivity in Cyprian’s body and marginal accounts
- · paragraph 34–53ligatures in the disputed-cure catalogue, separate questions of efficacy and lawfulness, and the final rejection
- · paragraph 1–5accepted medicine and prayer after the controversy
- · paragraph 14–16conditional, willingly chosen captivity among chained books
- · paragraph 10–12avoiding forced unwanted activities during gentle treatment
- · paragraph 26–28the tyrant binds, God permits and finally rescues
- · paragraph 28–30the swallow stone tied to the right arm in a reported remedy
- · paragraph 20–22restraint of the matron, with a body–margin difference in actuality
- · paragraph 42–44“in ligaturâ” as the tied packet in a preparation attributed to Montaltus
- · paragraph 8–10physical bands with other procedures; marginal note 7849 preserves a distinct Latin list
- · paragraph 40–47stomach binding with its comparative tightness, followed by binding, rubbing and cupping in the hypochondriacal regimen
- · paragraph 47–49the lower Venus binding minds and Burton’s separate English verse
- · paragraph 50–DJR-111-1tighter bonds willingly desired in friendship; beloved binders versus beloved bonds
- · paragraph 36–38the happy knot of love uniting families and cities
- · paragraph 3–5beautiful appearance leads the spectator bound like iron to a magnet
- · paragraph 8–10punitive iron binding in the satire of cosmetics
- · paragraph 15–17words bind a person as ropes bind bulls’ horns
- · paragraph 92–DJR-130-2erotic dependence stronger than imagined iron chains
- · paragraph 41–43the reported application of camphor tied to the genitals
- · paragraph 39–46marriage as debt and servitude in the deterrent catalogue
- · paragraph 47–53magical ligatures, express disallowance and the continuing catalogue of alleged remedies
- · paragraph 40–42refusal to be bound by marriage’s halter
- · paragraph 34–36a wife’s scarf literally tied around the devoted husband’s breast
- · paragraph 2–4religious fellowship and the accompanying contrast with faction
- · paragraph 30–34the attributed necessity doctrine binding God to secondary causes
- · paragraph 9–11recovery despite a supposed demonic bond; medicine and counsel together
- · paragraph 44–46repentance loosens what is bound in the hope of salvation
- an alleged pact in fearful self-accusation and the subsequent qualification about unwanted thoughts
In this edition
“This ligation of senses” becomes “This suspension of the senses.” The rendering makes the physiological state clear while the preceding “binding” explains the image. “Ligatures” becomes “magical bindings” in the first disputed-cure catalogue, remains “ligatures” in Piso’s physical regimen, and becomes “Binding” in the later regimen. The explanatory adjective magical is supplied from the context; it is not an inseparable component of the noun.
“Per noctem infusi in ligaturâ” becomes “infused overnight in a tied packet.” Overnight belongs to per noctem, infused to infusi, and in a tied packet to in ligaturâ. The marginal “ligaturæ” is rendered “ligatures,” but the margin’s baths must not be made to replace the body’s suppositories and cupping. These comparisons preserve the supplied original and modern layers without treating the rendering as independent medical authority or claiming fresh collation of the cited historical physicians.
alligo · alligatur
Printed “alligatur” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Is bound or tied; third-person singular passive as printed.
Here: A patient should not be compelled into unwanted activities; gentle, gradual treatment is preferred.
Context: The margin moves from subjunctive tractetur to printed indicative alligatur. The translation understands the coordinated advice as an injunction; retain the source form and that grammatical difference.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: nec ad ea alligatur quæ non curat
Modern rendering: nor is he to be tied to things he does not care for
Word and construction: The supplied is he to be gives directive force to the printed indicative in context. Ad ea supplies to things, and quæ non curat which he does not care for; neither is contained in alligatur alone.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
alligo · alligatus · local use 1
Printed “alligatus” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Tied or fastened; masculine singular passive participle.
Here: The swallow stone is attached to the right arm in an alleged cure and mood-altering remedy.
Context: The lapidary margin names Albertus, Encelius, Pliny and Jacobus de Dondis. The stone, not the patient, is the thing tied in the participial phrase.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: dextro brachio alligatus
Modern rendering: Tied to the right arm
Word and construction: Dextro brachio supplies to the right arm; alligatus supplies tied. The stone is understood from the body and preceding description, not an English noun inside the aligned phrase.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
alligo · alligari · local use 1
Printed “alligari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound or tied; present passive infinitive.
Here: Piso’s recommendation for tighter stomach binding to aid imperfect digestion.
Context: The body says bind the stomach hard to hinder wind and help concoction; the margin retains comparative arctius, more tightly. This is an attributed historical treatment, not present advice.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: ventriculum arctius alligari
Modern rendering: to bind the stomach more tightly
Word and construction: The Latin passive infinitive with accusative ventriculum becomes active English to bind the stomach. Arctius, not alligari, supplies more tightly. This specific tightness belongs here and must not be inserted into every ligature occurrence.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
alligo · alligat
Printed “alligat” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Binds; third-person singular active.
Here: The lower, worldly Venus binds gods’ and human minds in Beroaldus’s poem.
Context: The stanza begins conditionally with Plato’s teachings and contrasts this Venus with heavenly chaste love; Burton’s English version follows separately.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Quæ divûm mentes alligat, atq; hominum
Modern rendering: Binding the minds of gods and mortals
Word and construction: Quæ refers to the second Venus. The finite Latin alligat becomes participial Binding in the supplied English continuation; mentes is the object, divûm and hominum its possessors.
alligo · alligatum
Printed “alligatum” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bound; accusative masculine singular passive participle.
Here: Beautiful appearance captivates the spectator, compared to a magnet drawing iron.
Context: Lucian’s reported description makes the woman the leading agent and the addressed spectator the bound person; Burton says the attraction applies to both sexes.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: abducet te alligatum quocunque voluerit
Modern rendering: she will lead you bound wherever she wishes
Word and construction: Te is you, alligatum modifies that object, and abducet supplies will lead away. The feminine subject is supplied from the preceding description, not expressed in the participle.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
alligo · alligata
Printed “alligata” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Tied or fastened; feminine singular passive participle.
Here: Camphor is the attached substance in an alleged desire-suppressing remedy.
Context: The parenthetical quidam ait marks an unnamed report. The following noblewoman’s lead-sheet case is another item, not the agent or object of this binding.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Camphora pudendis alligata, & in brachâ gestata
Modern rendering: Camphor tied to the genitals and worn in the breeches
Word and construction: Camphora is the thing tied; pudendis supplies to the genitals. Gestata separately supplies worn, and in brachâ in the breeches. The source’s claimed sexual effect is outside the indexed participle.
alligo · alligatus · local use 2
Printed “alligatus” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bound or obligated; masculine singular passive participle.
Here: Marriage is represented as a husband’s binding debt and servitude.
Context: Burton quotes Jerome within a deterrent catalogue of marital burdens; this local argument is not a universal lexical definition of marriage.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: qui uxorem habet, debitor est, & uxoris servus alligatus
Modern rendering: He who has a wife is a debtor, bound as his wife’s slave
Word and construction: Alligatus modifies the husband as servant; uxoris gives of his wife and debitor debtor. The rendering bound as his wife’s slave makes the relation explicit without claiming a physically tied husband.
alligo · alligari · local use 2
Printed “alligari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound; present passive infinitive.
Here: The marriage bond is refused, figured as a halter, in Lemnius’s explanation of reluctance to marry.
Context: Non patiuntur negates allowing oneself to be bound; the following note lists feared difficult wives, while Burton’s body also mentions poverty and distrust of providence.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: Qui se capistro matrimonii alligari non patiuntur
Modern rendering: Those who do not allow themselves to be bound by the halter of marriage
Word and construction: Qui and se supply those who and themselves, non patiuntur do not allow, and capistro matrimonii by the halter of marriage. The refusal is not carried by alligari alone.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
alligo · alligabat
Printed “alligabat” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: He bound or used to bind; imperfect active.
Here: A literal scarf is tied around the breast as a sign of excessive attachment to a wife.
Context: The anecdote is reported from Caelius Rhodiginus’s account of Seneca; do not mistake the husband’s breast for the wife or describe a medical bandage.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: Exiturus fascia uxoris pectus alligabat
Modern rendering: When going out he bound his breast with his wife’s scarf
Word and construction: Exiturus supplies when going out, pectus the breast, and fascia uxoris with his wife’s scarf; English his before breast is contextual. The imperfect describes a repeated habit.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
alligo · alligatus causis secundis
Printed “alligatus causis secundis” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Printed form, Source wording, Original wording: alligatus causis secundis
Meaning: Bound to secondary causes.
Here: Necessity is said to constrain God so that a decree cannot be changed.
Context: Burton assigns this position to Seneca and the Stoics, then places it in his polemical survey of denial and derogation of God. It is not Burton’s defended account of divine limitation.
Source: original body
Modern rendering: bound to secondary causes
Word and construction: Alligatus supplies bound, causis secundis to secondary causes; the preceding God was supplies the subject and finite construction. The phrase itself is Latin within a mixed-language English sentence.
binding
Printed “binding of the outward Senses” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Meaning: Binding or suspension of the outward senses.
Here: Suspension of external sensory activity in the definition of sleep.
Context: Scaliger supplies the stated definition; the next unit gives the supposed physiological cause.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: a rest or binding of the outward Senses, and of the common sense
Modern rendering: a rest or suspension of the external senses and common sense
Word and construction: The indexed form names the outward senses only. The wider comparison also includes rest and the common sense; those are separate words in the aligned source, not part of the indexed phrase’s definition.
colligo
Printed “colligare” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To bind together; present active infinitive.
Here: A shared belief about salvation joins people in close fellowship amid the account of religious concord and faction.
Context: The Latin is governed by the preceding solent, commonly do; the following body contrasts Christian mutual aid with religious discord.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: & arctissimo necessitudinis vinculo se invicem colligare
Modern rendering: and bind themselves to one another by the closest ties of fellowship
Word and construction: Se invicem gives themselves to one another and arctissimo necessitudinis vinculo the closest bond of fellowship. The supplied translation uses plural ties for singular vinculo; frequency comes from governing solent outside this phrase.
deligo
Printed “deligari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound fast; present passive infinitive of the binding verb.
Here: Graces create bonds that their recipients actively wish to tighten in true friendship.
Context: The Seneca-attributed margin says the bonds are loved; Burton’s body says their binders are loved. The distinct objects must remain separate.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: cupiunt arctius deligari & in unum redigi
Modern rendering: wish to be bound more closely and brought into one
Word and construction: Cupiunt supplies wish, arctius more closely, and in unum redigi brought into one. Nearby diligantur is the distinct verb be loved. This binding deligari is also distinct from selecting nurses in deligamus.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
illigo
Printed “illigari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound or fastened; present passive infinitive.
Here: King James’s hypothetical preferred captivity among the chained books in Bodley’s library.
Context: Burton reports a conditional wish during the 1605 Oxford visit, not an actual imprisonment or a general endorsement of captivity.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: his catenis illigari
Modern rendering: bound with these chains
Word and construction: His catenis gives with these chains; the wish and conditional captivity govern the infinitive from the preceding sentence. The supplied fragment omits to be while remaining under would wish.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligament
Printed “Ligaments” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bodily structures that tie bones together and other parts to bones, in Burton’s account.
Here: An anatomical binder, listed among parts supposedly generated directly from seed, distinct from a band applied during treatment.
Context: Burton’s historical anatomy includes assisting tendons; do not replace it with a narrower modern anatomical definition.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Ligaments, are they that tye the bones together, and other parts to the bones, with their subserving tendons
Modern rendering: Ligaments bind the bones together and other parts to the bones, with the tendons that assist them
Word and construction: The indexed form is distinguished from its wider construction; the paired units preserve local scope.
ligation
Printed “ligation of senses” (English; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Meaning: Binding or suspension of the senses.
Here: Suspension of the senses caused by inhibited passage of bodily spirits.
Context: Burton’s historical physiology: vapours block the nerves, preventing spirits from carrying out sensation.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: This ligation of senses
Modern rendering: This suspension of the senses
Word and construction: This and of senses retain their scope. English the before senses is supplied; the physiological cause belongs to the following explanation, not the noun ligation.
ligatura · in ligaturâ
Printed “in ligaturâ” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Meaning: In a binding or tied packet.
Here: In a tied packet used to hold the substance during infusion.
Context: Recipe attributed to Montaltus; overnight comes from per noctem, not ligaturâ.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: per noctem infusi in ligaturâ
Modern rendering: infused overnight in a tied packet
Word and construction: In governs ablative ligaturâ and gives in a tied packet. Per noctem separately gives overnight; infusi gives infused. The English indefinite article and packet explicate the local container.
ligatura · ligaturæ
Printed “ligaturæ” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bindings or bands; nominative plural.
Here: Physical bindings in the distinct Latin marginal list.
Context: Quoted marginal wording accompanying Piso; the note translation is editorial, and its whole list is not identical to the body.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: ligaturæ, frictiones
Modern rendering: ligatures, rubbing
Word and construction: Ligaturæ supplies ligatures and frictiones rubbing; the two list items remain separate. The wider note begins with printed Baleni, interpreted as baths, unlike the body’s separate suppositories and cupping.
Edition note: checked against editorial translation within the Burton-labelled note; translation is not original evidence
ligature · Ligatures · local use 1
Printed “Ligatures” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bindings or things tied; plural.
Here: Magical bindings or tied-on charms among questioned treatments.
Context: Two successive questions ask about efficacy and then lawfulness; magical is supplied contextually.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Amulets, Ligatures, Philters
Modern rendering: amulets, magical bindings, love potions
Word and construction: Ligatures corresponds to magical bindings, with magical supplied from this questioned remedy catalogue. Amulets and Philters are separate adjacent items, the latter rendered love potions.
ligature · ligatures
Printed “ligatures” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Physical bindings or bands; plural.
Here: Physical bindings or constricting bands in the regimen.
Context: Piso prescribes the procedures; this is not the magical catalogue.
Source: original body
Source wording: ligatures, frictions, suppositories, and cupping-glasses
ligature · Ligatures · local use 2
Printed “Ligatures” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Physical bindings or bands; plural.
Here: Binding the body as part of the historical regimen.
Context: The permission may be used as before accompanies the historical recommendation; without scarification distinguishes the cupping procedure.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Ligatures, Frictions, and Cupping-glasses
Modern rendering: Binding, rubbing, and cupping glasses
Word and construction: Plural Ligatures becomes the activity noun Binding. Frictions and Cupping-glasses remain separate list items; without scarification later in the sentence qualifies the cupping.
ligature · Ligatures · local use 3
Printed “Ligatures” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bindings or tied charms; plural.
Here: Magical bindings listed among unlawful remedies for love.
Context: Burton labels the means unlawful before recounting the cure-by-same-cause analogy.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Magick spels, Ligatures, Characters, Charmes
Modern rendering: magical spells, bindings, signs and charms
Word and construction: Ligatures corresponds to bindings. Magical spells renders the preceding Magick spels, while Characters and Charmes give signs and charms. The catalogue’s lawfulness is judged in its surrounding sentence.
ligo · ligat
Printed “ligat” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Binds; third-person singular active.
Here: Religious controversy forms a continuing chain of disputes that reaches even the heirs.
Context: The marginal quotation names Cardan and Hensius without titles. Burton uses the chain while explaining his avoidance of endless polemical publication.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: quæ hæredes etiam ligat
Modern rendering: which binds even the heirs
Word and construction: Quæ is the chain as subject, hæredes the heirs as object, and etiam even. Ligat alone does not mean heirs or controversy.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligo · ligatus es
Printed “ligatus es” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Meaning: You are bound.
Here: Envy imprisons the envious person internally, wherever he goes.
Context: Cyprian’s quoted moral account underlies Burton’s restatement; the English body adds bound hand and foot, absent from this marginal phrase.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: ligatus es, victus, zelo dominante captivus
Modern rendering: You are bound, conquered, a captive under envy’s rule
Word and construction: Es explicitly supplies are; you is carried by its second-person inflection. Hand and foot occurs in Burton’s body restatement, not in the indexed Latin.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligo · ligare
Printed “ligare” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To bind; present active infinitive.
Here: A tyrant’s intended binding of captives, permitted by God before their eventual rescue.
Context: The Chrysostom report makes the tyrant the would-be binder and God the permitting agent; Burton applies the rescue to consolation.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: voluit ligare, concessit
Modern rendering: he wished to bind them, and God consented
Word and construction: Voluit supplies wished. The Latin leaves the successive subjects and object implicit here; the supplied translation restores he/them and God from the surrounding account. Concessit supplies consented, not ligare.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligo · ligari
Printed “ligari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound; present passive infinitive.
Here: Physical restraint of the matron in the marginal wine-cure story.
Context: The first-person witness is Villanovanus as quoted, not Burton. The margin says she had to be bound; the next body unit says she was about to be bound, a meaningful distinction.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: adeo furens ut ligari cogeretur
Modern rendering: raging so violently that she had to be bound
Word and construction: Ligari means to be bound; necessity comes from cogeretur and the result construction from adeo...ut. The translation supplies she from the named matron. Do not assign had to to the infinitive alone.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligo · ligantur
Printed “ligantur” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Are bound; third-person plural passive.
Here: Love unites families and cities in the positive account of divine and neighbourly love.
Context: The margin attributes the happy-knot formula to Piccolomini; the body extends the account to heaven, souls and the whole world.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: hoc felici amoris nodo ligantur familiæ civitates
Modern rendering: By this happy knot of love families and cities are bound
Word and construction: Families and cities are the grammatical subjects; hoc felici amoris nodo supplies the instrumental happy knot of love. The body’s further cosmic objects are not contained in this selected marginal clause.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligo · ligant
Printed “ligant” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bind; third-person plural active.
Here: Persuasive amorous speech is compared to ropes binding an animal.
Context: The maxim follows Cleopatra’s conversation captivating Antony; Burton’s next restatement changes the human object to men’s hearts.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: Verba ligant hominem, ut Taurorum cornua funes
Modern rendering: Words bind a man as ropes bind bulls’ horns
Word and construction: Verba supplies Words and hominem a man. The second English bind supplies the omitted verb in the Latin comparison; Taurorum cornua and funes give bulls’ horns and ropes. Burton’s next English restatement is a distinct source unit.
ligo · ligati sunt
Printed “ligati sunt” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: phrase.
Meaning: Are bound; plural passive construction.
Here: Erotic dependence is stronger than imagined physical fetters, even when lovers wish to be free.
Context: The margin reports Cyrus in Xenophon. The impossibility of release belongs to the preceding neque liberari tamen possunt, retained in the larger note.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: neque liberari tamen possunt, sed validiori necessitate ligati sunt quam si in ferrea vincula conjecti forent
Modern rendering: but cannot, being bound by a stronger compulsion than if they had been thrown into iron chains
Word and construction: Neque liberari tamen possunt supplies but cannot after the preceding wish to be freed; ligati sunt becomes being bound, while validiori necessitate supplies stronger compulsion. The iron-chain clause is a comparison, not a report of literal imprisonment.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
ligo · ligata
Printed “ligata” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: Bound things; neuter plural passive participle.
Here: Repentance is praised through release of what is bound in a sequence about hope of salvation.
Context: The preceding body establishes repentance; the margin shifts to second-person address and labels the material Isidor without a full locator. Do not substitute Satan as the releasing agent or treat bound as literal ropes only.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: omnia ligata tu solvis
Modern rendering: You loose all that is bound
Word and construction: Omnia supplies all, ligata what is bound, tu you, and solvis loose. The English relative construction expands the substantivized participle; bound by itself does not include the act of release.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
obligation · local use 1
Printed “obligation” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: A written bond or formal acknowledgement of debt.
Here: A scrivener’s remunerated legal document is contrasted with poorly rewarded scholarship.
Context: Burton’s prefatory social complaint concerns payment for work, not a magical attachment.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: a scrivener better paid for an obligation
Modern rendering: a clerk paid better for drawing up a bond
Word and construction: Drawing up is supplied to explain what the clerk is paid to do; obligation denotes the written bond, not the whole act of drafting it.
obligation · local use 2
Printed “obligation” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: A binding pledge or bond.
Here: A supposed bond to the Devil is not treated as an obstacle that makes recovery impossible.
Context: Burton says multitudes resist and find help even after such a pledge; the margin gives a written-bond case. His next paragraph generally joins medicine with counsel rather than making either alone sufficient.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: though they have by obligation given themselves to him
Modern rendering: even though they have bound themselves over to him
Word and construction: The modern bound themselves over renders the whole by obligation given themselves construction, not the noun alone. Him refers to the Devil, and though/even though retains the concessive force.
obligation · local use 3
Printed “obligation” (English; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: A binding undertaking or pledge.
Here: An alleged demonic pact appears within the sufferer’s fearful self-accusation.
Context: The objection begins thou replyest at 167-15. Burton subsequently distinguishes involuntary blasphemous thoughts and reassures the sufferer that even godly people have been tempted; this is not an accusation against the actual reader.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: by compact, band, and obligation
Modern rendering: by pact, bond and obligation
Word and construction: Compact, band and obligation correspond to pact, bond and obligation. Explicit and implicit occur separately in the preceding phrase; the three nouns do not individually encode both types.
obligatus
Printed “obligatiorem” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: More bound or obligated; comparative accusative singular.
Here: Greater blessings from God create a greater acknowledged debt of gratitude.
Context: Burton warns against pride amid prosperity and cites Agapetianus; the margin makes the corresponding degree of obligation explicit.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: tanto obligatiorem se debitorem fateatur
Modern rendering: the greater the debt he should acknowledge
Word and construction: The comparative modifies the acknowledged debtor in Latin; the supplied translation shifts it to greater debt. Se and debitorem supply the self-as-debtor construction, not the adjective alone.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
obligo
Printed “obligari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound or obligated; present passive infinitive.
Here: Binding people by laws, qualified here as laws too numerous to read or too obscure to understand.
Context: The margin condenses More’s Utopia in Burton’s proposed commonwealth. The injustice belongs to the restrictive following clauses, not to all legal obligation.
Source: original marginal quotation
Source wording, Original wording: Iniquissimum censent hominem ullis obligari legibus
Modern rendering: They consider it most unjust to bind anyone by laws
Word and construction: The Latin passive infinitive with hominem becomes active English to bind anyone. The quoted span is followed in both layers by too numerous or too obscure; it must not be read as opposition to every law.
Edition note: checked against original quotation and supplied translation within the accompanying note
religo
Printed “religari” (Latin; lemma). Attestation: word form.
Meaning: To be bound fast; present passive infinitive.
Here: Punitive binding in the attack on costly cosmetics and jewellery, followed by Burton’s intensified Bedlam image.
Context: The surrounding satire supplies deserving punishment; this is an abusive rhetorical judgement, not an observed treatment case.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording: dignam potius foret ferro manus istas religari
Modern rendering: Those hands would deserve better to be bound in iron
Word and construction: The full comparison includes dignam potius foret, rendered would deserve better. Manus istas supplies those hands, ferro in iron, and religari to be bound; punitive deserving is not in the infinitive alone.