_The disease of king Nebuchadnezzar._
Those things, which are related of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
appear so surprizing and contrary to nature, that some interpreters
have imagined that he was really transformed into a beast. For "being
driven from the company of men for seven years, his dwelling was with
the beasts of the field, he fed on grass as oxen; his body was wetted
with the dew of heaven; his hair and nails were grown like those of
birds. At length at the end of that space of time, his understanding
was restored to him, and he was established in his kingdom, and
excellent majesty was added unto him. Now his crime was pride and the
contempt of God[83]."
[83] _See Daniel, Chap. iv. and v._
All these circumstances agree so perfectly well with hypochondriacal
madness, that to me it appears evident, that Nebuchadnezzar was seized
with this distemper, and under its influence ran wild into the fields:
and that, fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on grass in
the manner of cattle. For every sort of madness is, as I shall specify
more particularly hereafter[84], a disease of a disturbed imagination;
which this unhappy man laboured under full seven years. And thro'
neglect of taking proper care of himself, his hair and nails grew to
an excessive length; whereby the latter growing thicker and crooked,
resembled the claws of birds. Now, the ancients called persons
affected with this species of madness [Greek: lykanthrôpoi] or [Greek:
kynanthrôpoi]; because they went abroad in the night, imitating wolves
or dogs; particularly intent upon opening the sepulchres of the dead,
and had their legs much ulcerated either by frequent falls, or the
bites of[85] dogs. In like manner are the daughters of Proetus related
to have been mad, who, as Virgil says,
--_Implerunt falsis mugitibus agros._[86]
--With mimick'd mooings fill'd the fields.
[84] _See Chap. ix. of Demoniacs._
[85] _See Aetius, Lib. medecin. Lib. vi. and Paul. Ægineta,
Lib. iii. Cap. xvi._
[86] _Eclog. vi. 48._
For, as Servius observes, Juno possessed their minds with such a
species of madness, that fancying themselves cows, they ran into the
fields, bellowed often, and dreaded the plough. But these, according
to Ovid, the physician Melampus,
--_per carmen & herbas
Eripuit furiis._[87]
Snatch'd from the furies by his charms
and herbs.
[87] _Metamorph. xv. 325._
Nor was this disorder unknown to the moderns; for Schenckius records a
remarkable instance of it in a husbandman of Padua, _who imagining
that he was a wolf, attack'd, and even killed several persons in the
fields; and when at length he was taken, he persevered in declaring
himself a real wolf, and that the only difference consisted in the
inversion of his skin and hair_[88].
[88] _Observat. med. rar. de Lycanthrop. Obs. 1._
But it may be objected to our opinion, that this misfortune was
foretold to the king, so that he might have prevented it by correcting
his morals; and therefore it is not probable that it befel him in the
course of nature. But we know, that those things, which God executes
either thro' clemency or vengeance, are frequently performed by the
assistance of natural causes. Thus having threatened Hezekiah with
death, and being afterwards moved by his prayers, he restored him to
life, and made use of figs laid on the tumor, as a medicine for
his[89] disease. He ordered king Herod, upon account of his pride, to
be devoured by worms[90]. And no body doubts but that the plague,
which is generally attributed to the divine wrath, most commonly owes
its origin to corrupted air.
[89] _See above Chap. v. p. 36._
[90] _See below, Chap. xv._