Pathetical

Use in the book

The inherited example is Scaliger’s “pathetical protestation”: so delighted by poetry, he declares that he would rather have written twelve lines of Lucan or a particular Horatian ode than be emperor of Germany. Protestation is an emphatic declaration, not a complaint. Burton places the outburst beside the pleasures of study and the metaphorical riches of recovered Greek learning. His note identifies Horace’s Ode 3.9, but neither the twelve Lucan lines nor the precise Scaliger passage is established by the supplied citation.

Theseus’s “patheticall prayers” similarly express strong desire: at the first sight of Helen, he imagines himself supremely happy if he can possess her and prays to that end. The theatrical example turns from a speaker’s passion to its effect on spectators. In Burton’s account of Euripides’ Andromeda at Abdera, Perseus’s “pathetical love speeches” seize the audience; almost everyone continues repeating the invocation of Cupid in iambics, like people who cannot stop singing a new street tune. The singular “pathetical love speech” resumes the recurrent words. The edition identifies a consequential omission: Lucian’s account includes fever after summer heat and the course of its aftermath, whereas Burton foregrounds the love speeches. His further suggestion that this prompted Aristotle’s restriction is marked by “belike”. Emotional performance is Burton’s emphasis, not an independently established sole medical cause.

A lover’s “patheticall adjuncts” are passionate descriptions added to the beloved: the catalogue joins them to inflated epithets, diminutives and pet names. Here emotional intensity can encourage excess rather than sober appraisal. When Burton calls Lucian’s Europa scene a “Pathetical Love passage”, however, he praises an affecting literary representation full of divine attendants, music and movement. The festive presentation does not remove the abduction: the modern text names it, and the note distinguishes Lucian’s plural Loves from Burton’s redistributed roles and single Cupid.

The adverb in the marriage argument is a further test of the distinction between moving expression and conclusive truth. Burton praises twelve considerations attributed to Jacobus de Voragine as delivered “pathetically”, alongside force, clarity and elegance. Their ensuing Latin and English versions remain separate. He then answers them with a point-by-point counter-parody and acknowledges that authorities argue both ways. A moving presentation can therefore deserve rhetorical praise while still receiving an answer; the word does not settle the marriage controversy.

Related entries

Action: Action can concern performance and its force.

Cupid: Cupid’s invocation in the theatrical anecdote.

Fustian and bombast: Inflated epithets beside passionate descriptions.

Marriage: The marriage arguments praised for their moving expression.

Places to read

1. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraphs 10–12pleasures of study, Scaliger’s preference for authorship over empire, and Gerbelius’s metaphorical riches; the notes identify the Horatian ode while leaving other locators unresolved.
2. Member 2. Subsection 2. Other Causes of Love Melancholy: Sight; Beauty of the Face, Eyes and Other Parts; and How It Pierces Us · paragraphs 53–55fascination at beauty’s appearance, Theseus’s impassioned prayers and the following passionate response to Venus’s image.
3. Persistence and Opportunity of Time and Place; Meetings, Conversation, Singing, Dancing, Music, Amorous Tales and Sights, Kissing, Familiarity, Tokens, Gifts, Bribes, Promises, Declarations, Tears, and So On · paragraphs 23–27the effect of amorous reading and performance, the Abdera anecdote and its omitted fever context, and Burton’s conjectural Aristotle connection. The adjacent Martial Latin and Burton’s English differ in permission versus prohibition.
4. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 74–77exaggerated praise of beauty, passionate descriptions, diminutives and fond names.
5. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 28–30festive mythological scenes, the emotionally affecting Europa passage and the association of Cupid with dancing; the notes distinguish representation from the abduction depicted.
6. Subsection 5 The Last and Best Cure for Love Melancholy Is to Let Lovers Have Their Desire · paragraphs 19–34the moving twelve-part case for marriage, distinct Latin and English lists, the counter-parody and the admission of arguments on both sides.

In this edition

“Pathetical protestation” → “passionate declaration” preserves the intensity of Scaliger’s preference without introducing pitiable failure. “Patheticall prayers” becomes “impassioned prayers”. The phrase “pathetical love speeches of Perseus” is reordered as “Perseus’s impassioned speeches of love”, while its later singular becomes “that impassioned love speech”.

“Patheticall adjuncts” becomes “passionate description”: the English collective singular gathers the original plural descriptive additions. “Pathetical Love passage” becomes “moving love passage”, and “pathetically” becomes “movingly”. The renderings distinguish passionate utterance and an affecting literary effect without forcing every example into either sorrow or praise.

pathetical · local use 1

Printed “pathetical” (English; lemma).

Impassioned or emotionally forceful.

Here: Protestation means an emphatic declaration; the adjective marks Scaliger’s intense preference for poetic authorship over imperial rank.

Context: Burton reports Scaliger’s enthusiasm within the pleasures of study, not an objection or a declaration of pitiable failure.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a pathetical protestation

Modern rendering: a passionate declaration

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

pathetical · patheticall

Printed “patheticall” (English; lemma).

Full of strong feeling.

Here: Theseus’s prayers express desire to possess Helen, conditional on which he imagines supreme happiness.

Context: A reported mythic example of infatuation at first sight.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: patheticall prayers

Modern rendering: impassioned prayers

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

pathetical · local use 2

Printed “pathetical” (English; lemma).

Impassioned and capable of moving an audience.

Here: The speeches act upon spectators in Burton’s Abdera story; almost everyone repeatedly declaims the part. His Lucianic source also includes fever and summer heat, which his retelling suppresses.

Context: Burton’s attributed theatrical anecdote and analogy with a repeated popular song, followed by a conjectural explanation of Aristotle’s restriction.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: pathetical love speeches of Perseus

Modern rendering: Perseus’s impassioned speeches of love

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

Further local use

Printed “pathetical love speech” (English; lemma).

Citation key: pathetical.

Here: Pathetical means impassioned; love speech is the speech repeatedly recalled by the audience. The later singular resumes the earlier plural, concentrating on the repeated Cupid invocation.

Context: Burton describes the persistence of the theatrical impression, not a separate speech or a fresh clinical diagnosis.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that pathetical love speech

Modern rendering: that impassioned love speech

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

pathetical · patheticall adjuncts

Printed “patheticall adjuncts” (English; lemma).

Emotionally charged descriptive additions.

Here: Adjuncts are qualifying descriptions or epithets; the modern singular description collects their plurality. Burton places them beside inflated epithets and fond diminutives.

Context: Burton depicts a lover’s exaggerated praise rather than certifying each epithet as true.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: patheticall adjuncts

Modern rendering: passionate description

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

pathetical · Pathetical

Printed “Pathetical” (English; lemma).

Emotionally affecting or moving.

Here: The adjective evaluates the effect of Lucian’s festive account of Europa’s abduction; pleasant and moving describe the representation, not consent to the act depicted.

Context: Burton’s admiring literary description redistributes details from Lucian’s sea procession.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Pathetical Love passage

Modern rendering: moving love passage

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

pathetically

Printed “pathetically” (English; lemma).

In an emotionally affecting manner.

Here: The adverb praises the presentation of twelve considerations for marriage alongside concision, force, clarity and elegance. It does not imply they cannot be answered.

Context: Burton attributes the summary to Jacobus de Voragine, then constructs a contrary parody before recognizing arguments on both sides.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: pathetically

Modern rendering: movingly

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.