The anatomy of melancholy : what it is, with all the kinds, causes, symptons, prognostics, and several cures of it : in three partitions with their several sections, members, and subsections, philosophically, medically, historically opened and cut up / by Democritus Junior.

  • Burton, Robert, 1577-1640.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The anatomy of melancholy : what it is, with all the kinds, causes, symptons, prognostics, and several cures of it : in three partitions with their several sections, members, and subsections, philosophically, medically, historically opened and cut up / by Democritus Junior. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    i'as covetoiisness, Sec. From whence are wars and contentions amonofst you ? i| St. James asks : I will add usury, fraud, rapine, simony, oppression, lymg, swear- ino', bearing false witness, &.c. are they not from this fountain of covetousness, tliat liO-reediness in getting, tenacity in keeping, sordity in spending; that they are so wicked, [/-''unjust against God^ their neighbour, themselves; all comes hence. ''■The desire of money is the root of all evil, and they that lust after it, pierce themselves through with many sorrows, 1 Tim. vi. 10. Hippocrates therefore in his Epistle to Crateva, an herbalist, gives him this good counsel, that if it were possible, '^ amongst other therbs, he should cut up that weed of covetousness by the roots, that there be no re- imainder left, and then know this for a certainty, that together with their bodies, thou maycst quickly cure all the diseases of their minds. For it is indeed the pattern, ima<Te, epitome of all melancholy, the fountain of many miseries, much discontented care and woe; this inordinate, or immoderate desire of gain, to get or keep money, l ns Bonaventure defines it: or, as Austin describes it, a madness of the soul, Gregory la torture; Chrysostom, an insatiable drunkenness; Cyprian, blindness, speciosiim ' suppUcimn, a plague subverting kingdoms, families, an '^incurable disease ; Budsus, ,an ill habit, '^yielding to no remedies : neither ^sculapius nor Plutus can cur© ;them : a continual plague, saith Solomon, and vexation of spirit, another hell. I know there be some of opinion, that covetous men are happy, and worldly, wise, that there j is more pleasure in getting of wealth than in spending, and no delight in the world like unto it. 'Twas '''Bias' problem of old, With what art thou not weary ? with ; getting money. What is most delectable .'' to gain. What is it, trow you, that makes .a poor man labour all his lifetime, carry such great burdens, fare so hardly, maceralo himself, and endure so much misery, undergo such base offices with so great patience, [ to rise up early, and lie down late, if there were not an extraordinary delight in get- ' ting and keeping of money.'' What makes a merchant that hath no need, satis super- \ que do?ni^ to range all over the world, through all those intemperate '* Zones of heat f and cold; voluntarily *■ venture his life, and be content with such miserable famine, ; nasty usage, in a stinkmg ship; if there were not a pleasure and hope to get money, \ which doth season the rest, and mitigate his indefatigable pains } What makes them . go into the bowels of the earth, an hundred fathom deep, endangering their dearest 1 lives, enduring damps and filthy smells, when they have enough already, if they could ]< be content, and no such cause to labour, but an extraordinary delight they take in I riches. This may seem plausible at first show, a popular and strong argument; but S let him that so thinks, consider better of it, and he shall soon perceive, that it is far I otherwise than he supposeth; it may be haply pleasing at the first, as most part all i melancholy is. For such men likely have some lucida intervalla, pleasant symptoms ; intermixed; but you must note that of '® Chrysostom, 'Tis one thing to be rich, I another to be covetous : generally they are all fools, dizards,mad-men, ^miserable wretches, living besides themselves, sine arte friiendlj in perpetual slavery, fear, suspicion, sorrow, and discontent, plus aloes quam mellis hahent; and are indeed, :: rather possessed by their money, than possessors : as ^' Cyprian hath it, mancipati ' pecuniis; bound prentice to their goods, as ^ Pliny; or as Chrysostom, servi divili- i arum, slaves and drudges to their substance; and Ave may conclude of them all, as I ^^ Valerius doth of Ftolomseus king of Cyprus, He was in title a king of that island, I but in his mind, a miserable drudge of money: — poiiore metallis libertate carens wanting his liberty, which is better than gold. Uamasippus the Stoic, in Horace? proves that all mortal men dote by fits, some one way, some another, but that covetous men ^^are madder than the rest; and he that shall truly look into their Cap. 4. 1. isut sit iniqiins in denm, in proxi- ciirrit mercator ad Indos. Ilor. '^Qua re non es mum, in seipsum. i^ gj vero, Crateva, inter csete-i lassns'? lucrum faciendo : quid maxime delectabile > ras herbarum radices, avaritios radicem secare posses ^marani, ut niilke reiiquije e^sent, probe scito, fcc. '■* Cap. 6. Dieta; salutis : avarilia est amor ininioderatus pecuniae vel acquirenilo?, vel retinenda;. isperuin profecto dirunique ulcus aninii, remediis non cedens inedeiido exasperatur. it'Malus est morbus inale- que atTicit avarilia siquidem ceiiseo, &c. avaritia diffi- cilins curatur quani insania : qiinniam har innes ftere Biedici labnrniit. Hib ep. Abdurit. ^ c,\Ui'.moi 23 lucrari. '^Uom. 2. aliud avarus aliud dives. -oDivitia; ut spina; animum honiinis timoribus, solici- tudinibns, angoribus mirifice pungunt, ve.\ant, cru- ciani. Greg, in horn. -' Epist. ad Douat. cap. 2. 22 Lib. 9. ep. 30. ^Lib. 9. cap. 4. insulte re.\ titiiio, sed animopecunise miserabile niancipium. 24Uor. 10. lib. 1. s^Danda est hellebori niulto pars nijxi' ma avaris.