The Anatomy of Melancholy Part 70

[5583] ------"et mihi fortis Est ma.n.u.s, est et amor, dabit hic in vulnera vires."

"Whoever heard a story of more woe, Than that of Juliet and her Romeo?"

Read Parthenium in _Eroticis_, and Plutarch's _amatorias narrationes_, or love stories, all tending almost to this purpose. Valleriola, _lib. 2.

observ. 7_, hath a lamentable narration of a merchant, his patient, [5584]

"that raving through impatience of love, had he not been watched, would every while have offered violence to himself." Amatus Lusita.n.u.s, _cent. 3.

car. 56_, hath such [5585]another story, and Felix Plater, _med. observ.

lib. 1._ a third of a young [5586]gentleman that studied physic, and for the love of a doctor's daughter, having no hope to compa.s.s his desire, poisoned himself, [5587]anno 1615. A barber in Frankfort, because his wench was betrothed to another, cut his own throat. [5588]At Neoburg, the same year, a young man, because he could not get her parents' consent, killed his sweetheart, and afterward himself, desiring this of the magistrate, as he gave up the ghost, that they might be buried in one grave, _Quodque rogis superest una requiescat in urna_, which [5589] Gismunda besought of Tancredus, her father, that she might be in like sort buried with Guiscardus, her lover, that so their bodies might lie together in the grave, as their souls wander about [5590]_Campos lugentes_ in the Elysian fields,--_quos durus amor crudeli tabe peredit_, [5591]in a myrtle grove

[5592] ------"et myrtea circ.u.m Sylva tegit: curae non ipsa in morte relinquunt."

You have not yet heard the worst, they do not offer violence to themselves in this rage of l.u.s.t, but unto others, their nearest and dearest friends.

[5593]Catiline killed his only son, _misitque ad orci pallida, lethi obnubila, obsita tenebris loca_, for the love of Aurelia Oristella, _quod ejus nuptias vivo filio recusaret_. [5594]Laodice, the sister of Mithridates, poisoned her husband, to give content to a base fellow whom she loved. [5595]Alexander, to please Thais, a concubine of his, set Persepolis on fire. [5596]Nereus' wife, a widow, and lady of Athens, for the love of a Venetian gentleman, betrayed the city; and he for her sake murdered his wife, the daughter of a n.o.bleman in Venice. [5597]Constantine Despota made away Catherine, his wife, turned his son Michael and his other children out of doors, for the love of a base scrivener's daughter in Thessalonica, with whose beauty he was enamoured. [5598]Leucophria betrayed the city where she dwelt, for her sweetheart's sake, that was in the enemies' camp. [5599]Pithidice, the governor's daughter of Methinia, for the love of Achilles, betrayed the whole island to him, her father's enemy.

[5600]Diognetus did as much in the city where he dwelt, for the love of Policrita, Medea for the love of Jason, she taught him how to tame the fire-breathing bra.s.s-feeted bulls, and kill the mighty dragon that kept the golden fleece, and tore her little brother Absyrtus in pieces, that her father. Aethes might have something to detain him, while she ran away with her beloved Jason, &c. Such acts and scenes hath this tragicomedy of love.

MEMB. V.

SUBSECT. 1.--_Cure of Love-Melancholy, by Labour, Diet, Physic, Fasting, &c._

Although it be controverted by some, whether love-melancholy may be cured, because it is so irresistible and violent a pa.s.sion; for as you know,

[5601] ------"facilis descensus Averni; Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras; Hic labor, hoc opus est."------

"It is an easy pa.s.sage down to h.e.l.l, But to come back, once there, you cannot well."

Yet without question, if it be taken in time, it may be helped, and by many good remedies amended. Avicenna, _lib. 3. Fen. cap. 23. et 24._ sets down seven compendious ways how this malady may be eased, altered, and expelled.

Savanarola 9. princ.i.p.al observations, Jason Pratensis prescribes eight rules besides physic, how this pa.s.sion may be tamed, Laurentius 2. main precepts, Arnoldus, Valleriola, Montaltus, Hildesheim, Langius, and others inform us otherwise, and yet all tending to, the same purpose. The sum of which I will briefly epitomise, (for I light my candle from their torches) and enlarge again upon occasion, as shall seem best to me, and that after mine own method. The first rule to be observed in this stubborn and unbridled pa.s.sion, is exercise and diet. It is an old and well-known, sentence, _Sine Cerere et Saccho friget Venus_ (love grows cool without bread and wine). As an [5602]idle sedentary life, liberal feeding, are great causes of it, so the opposite, labour, slender and sparing diet, with continual business, are the best and most ordinary means to prevent it.

"Otio si tollas, periere Cupidinis artes, Contemptaeque jacent, et sine luce faces."

"Take idleness away, and put to flight Are Cupid's arts, his torches give no light."

Minerva, Diana, Vesta, and the nine Muses were not enamoured at all, because they never were idle.

[5603] "Frustra blanditae appulistis ad has, Frustra nequitiae venistis ad has, Frustra delitiae obsidebitis has, Frustra has illecebrae, et procacitates, Et suspiria, et oscula, et susurri, Et quisquis male sana corda amantum Blandis ebria fascinat venenis."

"In vain are all your flatteries, In vain are all your knaveries, Delights, deceits, procacities, Sighs, kisses, and conspiracies, And whate'er is done by art, To bewitch a lover's heart."

'Tis in vain to set upon those that are busy. 'Tis Savanarola's third rule, _Occupari in multis et magnis negotiis_, and Avicenna's precept, _cap. 24._ [5604]_Cedit amor rebus; res, age tutus eris_. To be busy still, and as [5605]Guianerius enjoins, about matters of great moment, if it may be.

[5606]Magninus adds, "Never to be idle but at the hours of sleep."

[5607] ------"et si Poscas ante diem librum c.u.m lumine, si non Intendas animum studiis, et rebus honestis, Invidia vel amore miser torquebere."------

"For if thou dost not ply thy book, By candlelight to study bent, Employ'd about some honest thing, Envy or love shall thee torment."

No better physic than to be always occupied, seriously intent.

[5608] "Cur in penates rarius tenues subit, Haec delicatas eligens pestis domus, Mediumque sanos vulgus affectuss tenet?" &c.

"Why dost thou ask, poor folks are often free, And dainty places still molested be?"

Because poor people fare coa.r.s.ely, work hard, go woolward and bare. [5609]

_Non habet unde suum paupertas pascat amorem_. [5610]Guianerius therefore prescribes his patient "to go with hair-cloth next his skin, to go barefooted, and barelegged in cold weather, to whip himself now and then, as monks do, but above all to fast." Not with sweet wine, mutton and pottage, as many of those tender-bellies do, howsoever they put on Lenten faces, and whatsoever they pretend, but from all manner of meat. Fasting is an all-sufficient remedy of itself; for, as Jason Pratensis holds, the bodies of such persons that feed liberally, and live at ease, [5611]"are full of bad spirits and devils, devilish thoughts; no better physic for such parties, than to fast." Hildesheim, _spicel. 2._ to this of hunger, adds, [5612]"often baths, much exercise and sweat," but hunger and fasting he prescribes before the rest. And 'tis indeed our Saviour's oracle, "This kind of devil is not cast out but by fasting and prayer," which makes the fathers so immoderate in commendation of fasting. As "hunger," saith [5613]

Ambrose, "is a friend of virginity, so is it an enemy to lasciviousness, but fullness overthrows chast.i.ty, and fostereth all manner of provocations." If thine horse be too l.u.s.ty, Hierome adviseth thee to take away some of his provender; by this means those Pauls, Hilaries, Anthonies, and famous anchorites, subdued the l.u.s.ts of the flesh; by this means Hilarion "made his a.s.s, as he called his own body, leave kicking," (so [5614]Hierome relates of him in his life) "when the devil tempted him to any such foul offence." By this means those [5615]Indian Brahmins kept themselves continent: they lay upon the ground covered with skins, as the red-shanks do on heather, and dieted themselves sparingly on one dish, which Guianerius would have all young men put in practice, and if that will not serve, [5616]Gordonius "would have them soundly whipped, or, to cool their courage, kept in prison," and there fed with bread and water till they acknowledge their error, and become of another mind. If imprisonment and hunger will not take them down, according to the directions of that [5617] Theban Crates, "time must wear it out; if time will not, the last refuge is a halter." But this, you will say, is comically spoken.

Howsoever, fasting, by all means, must be still used; and as they must refrain from such meats formerly mentioned, which cause venery, or provoke l.u.s.t, so they must use an opposite diet. [5618]Wine must be altogether avoided of the younger sort. So [5619]Plato prescribes, and would have the magistrates themselves abstain from it, for example's sake, highly commending the Carthaginians for their temperance in this kind. And 'twas a good edict, a commendable thing, so that it were not done for some sinister respect, as those old Egyptians abstained from wine, because some fabulous poets had given out, wine sprang first from the blood of the giants, or out of superst.i.tion, as our modern Turks, but for temperance, it being _animae virus et vitiorum fomes_, a plague itself, if immoderately taken. Women of old for that cause, [5620]in hot countries, were forbid the use of it; as severely punished for drinking of wine as for adultery; and young folks, as Leonicus hath recorded, Var. _hist. l. 3. cap. 87, 88._ out of Athenaeus and others, and is still practised in Italy, and some other countries of Europe and Asia, as Claudius Minoes hath well ill.u.s.trated in his Comment on the 23. Emblem of Alciat. So choice is to be made of other diet.

"Nec minus erucas aptum est vitare salaces, Et quicquid veneri corpora nostra parat."

"Eringos are not good for to be taken, And all lascivious meats must be forsaken."

Those opposite meats which ought to be used are cuc.u.mbers, melons, purslane, water-lilies, rue, woodbine, ammi, lettuce, which Lemnius so much commends, _lib. 2, cap. 42._ and Mizaldus _hort. med._ to this purpose; vitex, or agnus castus before the rest, which, saith [5621]Magninus, hath a wonderful virtue in it. Those Athenian women, in their solemn feasts called Thesmopheries, were to abstain nine days from the company of men, during which time, saith Aelian, they laid a certain herb, named hanea, in their beds, which a.s.suaged those ardent flames of love, and freed them from the torments of that violent pa.s.sion. See more in Porta, Matthiolus, Crescentius _lib. 5._ &c., and what every herbalist almost and physician hath written, _cap. de Satyriasi et Priapismo_; Rhasis amongst the rest. In some cases again, if they be much dejected, and brought low in body, and now ready to despair through anguish, grief, and too sensible a feeling of their misery, a cup of wine and full diet is not amiss, and as Valescus adviseth, _c.u.m alia honesta venerem saepe exercendo_, which Langius _epist.

med. lib. 1. epist. 24._ approves out of Rhasis (_ad a.s.siduationem coitus invitat_] and Guianerius seconds it, _cap. 16. tract. 16._ as a [5622] very profitable remedy.

[5623] ------"tument tibi quum inguina, c.u.m si Ancilla, aut verna praesto est, tentigine rumpi Malis? non ego namque," &c.------

[5624]Jason Pratensis subscribes to this counsel of the poet, _Excretio enim aut tollet prorsus aut lenit aegritudinem._ As it did the raging l.u.s.t of Ahasuerus, [5625]_qui ad impatientiam amoris leniendam, per singulas fere noctes novas puellas devirginavit._ And to be drunk too by fits; but this is mad physic, if it be at all to be permitted. If not, yet some pleasure is to be allowed, as that which Vives speaks of, _lib. 3. de anima._, [5626]"A lover that hath as it were lost himself through impotency, impatience, must be called home as a traveller, by music, feasting, good wine, if need be to drunkenness itself, which many so much commend for the easing of the mind, all kinds of sports and merriments, to see fair pictures, hangings, buildings, pleasant fields, orchards, gardens, groves, ponds, pools, rivers, fishing, fowling, hawking, hunting, to hear merry tales, and pleasant discourse, reading, to use exercise till he sweat, that new spirits may succeed, or by some vehement affection or contrary pa.s.sion to be diverted till he be fully weaned from anger, suspicion, cares, fears, &c., and habituated into another course." _Semper tec.u.m sit_, (as [5627]Semp.r.o.nius adviseth Calisto his lovesick master) _qui sermones joculares moveat, conciones ridiculas, dicteria falsa, suaves historias, fabulas venustas recenseat, coram ludat_, &c., still have a pleasant companion to sing and tell merry tales, songs and facete histories, sweet discourse, &c. And as the melody of music, merriment, singing, dancing, doth augment the pa.s.sion of some lovers, as [5628]

Avicenna notes, so it expelleth it in others, and doth very much good.

These things must be warily applied, as the parties' symptoms vary, and as they shall stand variously affected.

If there be any need of physic, that the humours be altered, or any new matter aggregated, they must be cured as melancholy men. Carolus a Lorme, amongst other questions discussed for his degree at Montpelier in France, hath this, _An amantes et amantes iisdem remediis curentur_? Whether lovers and madmen be cured by the same remedies? he affirms it; for love extended is mere madness. Such physic then as is prescribed, is either inward or outward, as hath been formerly handled in the precedent part.i.tion in the cure of melancholy. Consult with Valleriola _observat. lib. 2. observ. 7._ Lod. Mercatus _lib. 2. cap. 4. de mulier. affect._ Daniel Sennertus _lib.

1. part. 2. cap. 10._ [5629]Jacobus Ferrandus the Frenchman, in his Tract _de amore Erotique_, Forestus _lib. 10. observ. 29 and 30_, Jason Pratensis and others for peculiar receipts. [5630]Amatus Lusita.n.u.s cured a young Jew, that was almost mad for love, with the syrup of h.e.l.lebore, and such other evacuations and purges which are usually prescribed to black choler: [5631]Avicenna confirms as much if need require, and [5632]"bloodletting above the rest," which makes _amantes ne sint amentes_, lovers to come to themselves, and keep in their right minds. 'Tis the same which Schola Salernitana, Jason Pratensis, Hildesheim, &c., prescribe bloodletting to be used as a princ.i.p.al remedy. Those old Scythians had a trick to cure all appet.i.te of burning l.u.s.t, by [5633] letting themselves blood under the ears, and to make both men and women barren, as Sabellicus in his _Aeneades_ relates of them. Which Salmuth. _t.i.t. 10. de Herol. comment. in Pancirol. de nov. report._ Mercurialis, _var. lec. lib. 3. cap. 7._ out of Hippocrates and Benzo say still is in use amongst the Indians, a reason of which Langius gives _lib. 1. epist. 10._

Huc faciunt medicamenta venerem sopientia, "ut camphora pudendis alligata, et in bracha gestata" (quidam ait) "membrum flaccidum reddit. Laboravit hoc morbo virgo n.o.bilis, cui inter caetera praescripsit medicus, ut laminam plumbeam multis foraminibus pertusam ad dies viginti portaret in dorso; ad exiccandum vero sperma jussit eam quam parcissime cibari, et manducare frequentur coriandrum praeparatum, et s.e.m.e.n lactucae, et acetosae, et sic eam a morbo liberavit". Porro impediunt et remittunt coitum folia salicis trita et epota, et si frequentius usurpentur ipsa in totum auferunt. Idem praestat Topatius annulo gestatus, dexterum lupi testiculum attritum, et oleo vel aqua rosata exhibitum veneris taedium inducere scribit Alexander Benedictus: lac butyri commestum et s.e.m.e.n canabis, et camphora exhibita idem praestant. Verbena herba gestata libidinem extinguit, pulvisquae ranae decollatae et exiccatae. Ad extinguendum coitum, ungantur membra genitalia, et renes et pecten aqua in qua opium Thebaic.u.m sit dissolutum; libidini maxime contraria camphora est, et coriandrum sicc.u.m frangit coitum, et erectionem virgae impedit; idem efficit synapium ebibitum. "Da verbenam in potu et non erigetur virga s.e.x diebus; utere mentha sicca c.u.m aceto, genitalia illinita succo hyoscyami aid cicutae, coitus appelitum sedant, &c. [Symbol: Rx]. seminis lactuc. portulac. coriandri an. [Symbol: Dram]j.

menthae siccae [Symbol: Dram]. sacchari albiss. [Symbol: Ounce]iiij.

pulveriscentur omnia subtiliter, et post ea simul misce aqua neunpharis, f.

confec. solida in morsulis. Ex his sumat mane unum quum surgat". Innumera fere his similia petas ab Hildishemo loco praedicto, Mizaldo, Porta, caeterisque.

SUBSECT. II.--_Withstand the beginnings, avoid occasions, change his place: fair and foul means, contrary pa.s.sions, with witty inventions: to bring in another, and discommend the former_.

Other good rules and precepts are enjoined by our physicians, which, if not alone, yet certainly conjoined, may do much; the first of which is _obstare principiis_, to withstand the beginning,[5634]_Quisquis in primo obst.i.tit, Pepulitque amorem tutus ac victor fuit_, he that will but resist at first, may easily be a conqueror at the last. Balthazar Castilio, _l. 4._ urgeth this prescript above the rest, [5635]"when he shall chance" (saith he) "to light upon a woman that hath good behaviour joined with her excellent person, and shall perceive his eyes with a kind of greediness to pull unto them this image of beauty, and carry it to the heart: shall observe himself to be somewhat incensed with this influence, which moveth within: when he shall discern those subtle spirits sparkling in her eyes, to administer more fuel to the fire, he must wisely withstand the beginnings, rouse up reason, stupefied almost, fortify his heart by all means, and shut up all those pa.s.sages, by which it may have entrance." 'Tis a precept which all concur upon,

[5636] "Opprime dum nova sunt subiti mala semina morbi, Dum licet, in primo lumine siste pedem."

"Thy quick disease, whilst it is fresh today, By all means crush, thy feet at first step stay."

Which cannot speedier be done, than if he confess his grief and pa.s.sion to some judicious friend [5637](_qui tacitus ardet magis uritur_, the more he conceals, the greater is his pain) that by his good advice may happily ease him on a sudden; and withal to avoid occasions, or any circ.u.mstance that may aggravate his disease, to remove the object by all means; for who can stand by a fire and not burn?

[5638] "Sussilite obsecro et mitt.i.te istanc foras, quae misero mihi amanti ebibit sanguinem."

'Tis good therefore to keep quite out of her company, which Hierom so much labours to Paula, to Nepotian; Chrysost. so much inculcates in _ser. in contubern._ Cyprian, and many other fathers of the church, Siracides in his ninth chapter, Jason Pratensis, Savanarola, Arnoldus, Valleriola, &c., and every physician that treats of this subject. Not only to avoid, as [5639]

Gregory Tholosa.n.u.s exhorts, "kissing, dalliance, all speeches, tokens, love-letters, and the like," or as Castilio, _lib. 4._ to converse with them, hear them speak, or sing, (_tolerabilius est audire basilisc.u.m sibilantem_, thou hadst better hear, saith [5640]Cyprian, a serpent hiss) [5641]"those amiable smiles, admirable graces, and sweet gestures," which their presence affords.

[5642] "Neu capita liment solitis morsiunculis, Et his papillarum oppressiunculis Abstineant:"------

but all talk, name, mention, or cogitation of them, and of any other women, persons, circ.u.mstance, amorous book or tale that may administer any occasion of remembrance. [5643]Prosper adviseth young men not to read the Canticles, and some parts of Genesis at other times; but for such as are enamoured they forbid, as before, the name mentioned, &c., especially all sight, they must not so much as come near, or look upon them.

[5644] "Et fugitare decet simulacra et pabula amoris, Abstinere sibi atque alio convertere mentem."