Mediocrity

Use in the book

The inherited question occurs in a catalogue of the trials of human life. In adversity the speaker wants prosperity; in prosperity he fears adversity. The middle state is sought, not securely found. Burton follows with paired burdens: wisdom brings labour, glory envy, riches care, children anxiety, pleasure disease and rest poverty. The supplied edition relates the question to Augustine and distinguishes the following Cardanian parallels and unresolved Latin reading. Nothing here evaluates a person’s talent as mediocre.

The regimen use makes moderation practical within its historical account. Both body and mind must work, but neither should exhaust the other. The ox-and-camel fable explains the consequence: the unhelpful camel eventually carries the dead ox’s burden and hide. Burton applies this to the scholar whose neglected body makes continued study impossible. The term names measured activity, not low standards.

Moderate means are commended in the saying attributed to Euripides, and a mean estate is made the setting of contentment. Yet the ensuing protest attacks philosophers who praise poverty while securely supported, asking its admirers to relieve actual want. The middle condition must therefore be read within the debate, not as an assurance that deprivation is harmless. In the salvation controversy, mediocrity instead names the cautious position of authorities who will not give an absolute decision.

The Latin family makes two further distinctions. Burton’s adaptation of Martial places some writing between bad and good while claiming that more is good; his following English restatement says some is indifferent without preserving that numerical balance. The marginal mediocres in the discussion of mirth modifies the severity of mental troubles and qualifies the claimed benefit of gentle, non-insulting wit. Neither construction should be replaced by a blanket pejorative definition.

Related entries

Complexion and temperament

Content and contented

Happiness and fortune: Related vocabulary beyond this volume.

Indifferent: Related vocabulary beyond this volume.

Places to read

1. Subsection 10. Discontents, Cares, Miseries and the Like as Causes · paragraphs 14–16The speaker asks whether a position between prosperity and adversity could escape trial.
2. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraphs 20–22Both body and mind must be exercised without overburdening either.
3. Subsection 4 Cheerfulness, Merry Company, and Pleasing Sights as Remedies · paragraphs 29–30The marginal praise of gentle joking concerns moderate troubles of the mind.
4. Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities · paragraphs 21–22Moderate means are praised against excessive wealth.
5. Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities · paragraphs 29–31The moderate-estate and contentment argument, followed later by the protest against praising real deprivation.
6. Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities · paragraphs 4–6The objection to secure observers praising fasting and poverty.
7. Section 1. Member 1. Subsection 1 the Preface · paragraphs 19–21The adjective sorts parts of the book by quality.
8. Treatment of Despair Through Medicine, Good Counsel, Consolation, and So On · paragraphs 13–15Some authorities allow that certain Gentiles may not be unworthy of salvation, without deciding absolutely.

In this edition

“What mediocrity may be found?” → “What middle state can be found?” preserves the question’s position between prosperity and adversity. “and that in a mediocrity” → “and in moderation” and “hold a mediocrity” → “take a middle position” show how the construction determines the English equivalent.

The spelling “Mediocritie” is retained as a source form. Latin “mediocria” is middling in the literary comparison; “mediocres” is moderate in the marginal medical claim. Their evidence comes from different containers, the original verse and the authorial Latin marginal quotation respectively; the note’s supplied English translation is not promoted to Burton’s own wording.

mediocris · mediocria

Printed “mediocria” (Latin; lemma).

Middling: neither good nor bad in the stated comparison.

Here: The adjective sorts parts of the book by quality.

Context: Burton explicitly inverts Martial’s balance so that more are good; his next English summary does not repeat the numerical claim.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Sunt mala, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt bona plura;

Modern rendering: Some things are bad, some middling, but more are good.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

mediocris · mediocres

Printed “mediocres” (Latin; lemma).

Moderate in degree or severity.

Here: The marginal praise of gentle joking concerns moderate troubles of the mind.

Context: The Latin qualification requires freedom from insult and a gently playful sting; it is narrower than an unrestricted cure claim.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: mediocres animi ægritudines sanari solent

Modern rendering: moderate troubles of the mind are commonly cured

Modern container: note

Alignment scope: Equal-scope clause in the marginal quotation and separately supplied translation

Word and construction: The adjective limits the severity of the troubles said commonly to be cured.

mediocrity · local use 1

Printed “mediocrity” (English; lemma).

A middle state or condition.

Here: The speaker asks whether a position between prosperity and adversity could escape trial.

Context: The question continues Augustine’s contrast; it does not assert that a trial-free middle condition exists.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: What mediocrity may be found?

Modern rendering: What middle state can be found?

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

mediocrity · local use 2

Printed “mediocrity” (English; lemma).

Moderation or a measured degree.

Here: Both body and mind must be exercised without overburdening either.

Context: Burton’s conclusion and the following Plutarchan fable require balanced exertion, not equal numerical exercise or mediocre performance.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: and that in a mediocrity

Modern rendering: and in moderation

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

mediocrity · Mediocritie

Printed “Mediocritie” (English; lemma).

A moderate amount or middle condition.

Here: Moderate means are praised against excessive wealth.

Context: The counsel is assigned to the speaker in the poet; the margin names Euripides’s Melanippe, whose exact fragment remains uncollated.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Mediocritie of meanes agrees best with men

Modern rendering: moderate means suit men best

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

mediocrity · local use 3

Printed “mediocrity” (English; lemma).

A middle position between opposed judgments.

Here: Some authorities allow that certain Gentiles may not be unworthy of salvation, without deciding absolutely.

Context: Burton distinguishes this cautious position from positive and negative positions held by other named groups; it is not a universal verdict on salvation.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: hold a mediocrity

Modern rendering: take a middle position

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.