From the book
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Robert Burton · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordLucida intervalla means “lucid intervals”: clear or relieving spaces between disturbances.
- In the Anatomy of MelancholyIn a reported case about stopped discharges, a head wound remains open while the sufferer has clear intervals of mind; when it closes, melancholy returns.
- In this edition“lucida intervalla” remains “lucid intervals.”
- A place to readThe fuller Latin phrase and Burton’s stronger English gloss
Meaning
Lucida intervalla means “lucid intervals”: clear or relieving spaces between disturbances. What becomes clearer or easier must be learned from the passage. Burton uses the phrase for intervals of mental relief, interruptions of fear and bodily pain, pleasant moments amid covetousness and a lover’s sudden elation. The fuller Latin Lucida habuit mentis intervalla means “he had lucid intervals of mind.” The marginal noun intervalla, “intervals,” also describes breaks in delirium during which customary affairs can be managed.
Use in the book
Relief is not necessarily a complete cure
In a reported case about stopped discharges, a head wound remains open while the sufferer has clear intervals of mind; when it closes, melancholy returns. Burton follows the Latin phrase with the more expansive English “was well.” Both formulations matter. The Latin indicates intervals, whereas the English sounds like a general condition of wellness. The account is offered as evidence for a historical theory about retained bodily matter, not as a treatment recommendation or an independently verified cure.
The general symptom survey makes variation central: illness may come and go in fits, recur at set periods, or be continuous. Its marginal quotation from Trallianus distinguishes people who can attend to their customary affairs between attacks from those in continual delirium. The following paragraph also allows an extreme episode that occurs once and never returns. Intervals therefore belong to a range of possible courses; they are not promised to every sufferer.
The local advantage of windy melancholy
Burton calls lucid intervals an advantage of the windy or flatulent kind over other kinds of melancholy. He immediately explains what he means: symptoms and pains, including fear and sorrow, are “not usually so continuate” but occur in fits. This wording is comparative and qualified. It concerns the intermittence of distress as well as the condition of reasoning. His ensuing assertion about sexual appetite concerns a different respect in which this type supposedly exceeds the others; it is not part of the definition of an interval.
In consolation, the phrase has a similar breadth. Even an inveterate or established condition can leave a person “sometimes well, and sometimes ill.” Burton then allows a more continuous course and changes to another consoling comparison, an enemy more persistent than dangerous. The argument seeks to lessen a sufferer’s sense of exceptional misery. Its reassuring generalizations should remain identifiable as Burton’s rhetoric rather than medical assurances to a present-day reader.
Pleasure can interrupt distress without correcting judgment
The covetousness discussion first voices an objection: why would merchants and miners undergo extraordinary danger if the pursuit of riches did not please them? Burton concedes pleasing moments, calling them lucid intervals with pleasant symptoms intermixed. He then distinguishes being rich from being covetous and describes the miser as possessed by his money. The intervals concede a pleasure within the troubled condition; they do not vindicate the condition as a whole.
A lover’s favourable message, kiss or smile produces another kind of interval. Burton calls these moments pleasant gales or sudden alterations after describing the lover’s anxiety, sorrow and solitude. The continuation makes the result excessive confidence and transport beyond oneself, followed by verses of unsurpassable happiness. In this use, relief is real within the portrait, but “lucid” cannot safely be reduced to calm, accurate judgment. Emotional brightness and exaltation carry the comparison.
Related entries
Madness; Melancholy; Disposition and habit; Dotage; Hypochondria; Covetousness; Love
Places to read
- The open wound and returning fitThe fuller Latin phrase and Burton’s stronger English gloss
- Pleasure in covetousnessAn objection about enjoyment, a concession and the reply
- Different courses of illnessIntervals permitting customary affairs contrasted with continuous delirium
- Intermittent pain and fearThe principal explanation for windy or flatulent melancholy
- Consolation for established illness“Sometimes well” with an express allowance for a more continuous course
- A lover’s bright intervalFavourable signs, elation and overconfidence
In this edition
“lucida intervalla” remains “lucid intervals.” Burton’s explanations are therefore essential: “their symptomes and pains are not usually so continuate” becomes “Their symptoms and pains—fear, sorrow and the rest—are usually less continuous.” The phrase is not supplied with an additional modern diagnostic or legal meaning.
The fuller “Lucida habuit mentis intervalla” becomes “had lucid intervals,” followed separately by the modernization of Burton’s “was well.” The edition does not collapse the qualified Latin and its broader English gloss. “lucida intervalla, sometimes well, and sometimes ill” becomes “lucid intervals,” followed by “sometimes well and sometimes ill”; the lover’s “pleasant gales” become “pleasant breezes.” These nearby words show why the same Latin expression can name practical relief, alternating illness or emotional uplift. The English translation accompanying the marginal Trallianus quotation is editorial, not original marginal English.
intervallum
Printed “intervalla” (Latin; lemma).
Intervals of relief permitting customary activities; the Latin noun is contrasted with continuous delirium.
Context: An original marginal quotation attributed to Trallianus, accompanying Burton’s account of varying temporal patterns.
Grammar: Intervalla is neuter plural, the object of habent; consueta is the object of administrent.
Source: original marginal wording in Burton-labelled note
Source wording, Original wording, Original construction: alii intervalla quædam habent, ut etiam consueta administrent, alii in continuo delirio sunt
Modern rendering, Modern wording, Modern construction: some have intervals in which they can even attend to their customary affairs; others are in continual delirium
Qualification: Intervalla means intervals; alii... alii contrasts some people with others. The modern does not separately express quædam, certain/some, after intervals. Consueta is substantivized customary things, expanded to their customary affairs; ut etiam... administrent expresses the resulting ability to manage them. The English is the editorial translation of the original marginal Latin.
Supplied words: their customary affairs (affairs unpacks the substantivized consueta; their makes the contextual possession explicit)
Notes: Authorities and anecdotes are reported as Burton presents them; no fresh historical-witness collation is claimed.
lucida intervalla · Lucida habuit mentis intervalla
Printed “Lucida habuit mentis intervalla” (Latin; phrase).
Printed form, Source wording, Original wording, Original construction: Lucida habuit mentis intervalla
Had clear intervals of mind; temporary relief reported while a head wound remained open, less sweeping than Burton’s following “was well.”
Context: Burton reports observations attributed to Hercules de Saxonia and Gordon; the cessation and recurrence are their medical anecdote.
Source: original body
Modern rendering, Modern wording, Modern construction: had lucid intervals
Qualification: The full Latin phrase is aligned with “had lucid intervals”; mentis (“of mind”) is not separately expressed in the modern quotation. Burton’s “was well” follows as a separate, stronger English gloss.
Notes: Authorities and anecdotes are reported as Burton presents them; no fresh historical-witness collation is claimed.
lucida intervalla · local use 1
Printed “lucida intervalla” (Latin; phrase).
Temporary pleasant or clear intervals amid the distress associated with covetousness.
Context: Burton concedes some pleasure while answering an argument that delight in riches justifies the pursuit; he immediately distinguishes wealth from covetousness.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording, Original construction: lucida intervalla, pleasant symptomes intermixt
Modern rendering, Modern wording, Modern construction: “lucid intervals,” with pleasant symptoms mixed in
Qualification: The indexed lucida intervalla is Latin and means lucid intervals. The wider alignment unit also contains Burton’s separate English explanation, which is modernized alongside it; that bilingual context does not make the indexed Latin phrase bilingual.
Notes: Authorities and anecdotes are reported as Burton presents them; no fresh historical-witness collation is claimed.
lucida intervalla · local use 2
Printed “lucida intervalla” (Latin; phrase).
Citation key, Printed form, Source wording, Original wording, Original construction: lucida intervalla
Intervals in which fear, sorrow, symptoms and pain remit; locally the less continuous course attributed to windy or flatulent melancholy.
Context: Burton claims one comparative advantage, qualified by “not usually so continuate,” and immediately turns to a different alleged excess.
Source: original body
Modern rendering, Modern wording, Modern construction: lucid intervals
Qualification: The quoted constructions are aligned at phrase level; individual component meanings are not equated with the entire phrase.
Notes: Authorities and anecdotes are reported as Burton presents them; no fresh historical-witness collation is claimed.
lucida intervalla · local use 3
Printed “lucida intervalla” (Latin; phrase).
Periods of being better between periods of illness, used as a consolation even for longstanding melancholy.
Context: Burton’s consolatory argument expressly allows the alternative of a more continuous illness in the same sentence.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording, Original construction: lucida intervalla, sometimes well, and sometimes ill
Modern rendering, Modern wording, Modern construction: “lucid intervals,” sometimes well and sometimes ill
Qualification: The indexed lucida intervalla is Latin and means lucid intervals. The wider alignment unit also contains Burton’s separate English explanation, which is modernized alongside it; that bilingual context does not make the indexed Latin phrase bilingual.
Notes: Authorities and anecdotes are reported as Burton presents them; no fresh historical-witness collation is claimed.
lucida intervalla · local use 4
Printed “lucida intervalla” (Latin; phrase).
Temporary relief or elation in a lover’s distress when affection appears reciprocated.
Context: Burton’s next paragraph calls the lover overconfident and carried beyond himself; this is not necessarily sober judgment restored.
Source: original body
Source wording, Original wording, Original construction: lucida intervalla, pleasant gales, or sudden alterations
Modern rendering, Modern wording, Modern construction: “lucid intervals,” pleasant breezes or sudden changes
Qualification: The indexed lucida intervalla is Latin and means lucid intervals. The wider alignment unit also contains Burton’s separate English explanation, which is modernized alongside it; that bilingual context does not make the indexed Latin phrase bilingual.
Notes: Authorities and anecdotes are reported as Burton presents them; no fresh historical-witness collation is claimed.