my profession a divine, and by mine inclination a physician. I had
Jupiter in my sixth house; I say with [170]Beroaldus, non sum medicus,
nec medicinae prorsus expers, in the theory of physic I have taken some
pains, not with an intent to practice, but to satisfy myself, which was
a cause likewise of the first undertaking of this subject.
If these reasons do not satisfy thee, good reader, as Alexander
Munificus that bountiful prelate, sometimes bishop of Lincoln, when he
had built six castles, ad invidiam operis eluendam, saith [171]Mr.
Camden, to take away the envy of his work (which very words Nubrigensis
hath of Roger the rich bishop of Salisbury, who in king Stephen's time
built Shirburn castle, and that of Devises), to divert the scandal or
imputation, which might be thence inferred, built so many religious
houses. If this my discourse be over-medicinal, or savour too much of
humanity, I promise thee that I will hereafter make thee amends in some
treatise of divinity. But this I hope shall suffice, when you have more
fully considered of the matter of this my subject, rem substratam,
melancholy, madness, and of the reasons following, which were my chief
motives: the generality of the disease, the necessity of the cure, and
the commodity or common good that will arise to all men by the
knowledge of it, as shall at large appear in the ensuing preface. And I
doubt not but that in the end you will say with me, that to anatomise
this humour aright, through all the members of this our Microcosmus, is
as great a task, as to reconcile those chronological errors in the
Assyrian monarchy, find out the quadrature of a circle, the creeks and
sounds of the north-east, or north-west passages, and all out as good a
discovery as that hungry [172]Spaniard's of Terra Australis Incognita,
as great trouble as to perfect the motion of Mars and Mercury, which so
crucifies our astronomers, or to rectify the Gregorian Calendar. I am
so affected for my part, and hope as [173]Theophrastus did by his
characters, That our posterity, O friend Policles, shall be the better
for this which we have written, by correcting and rectifying what is
amiss in themselves by our examples, and applying our precepts and
cautions to their own use. And as that great captain Zisca would have a
drum made of his skin when he was dead, because he thought the very
noise of it would put his enemies to flight, I doubt not but that these
following lines, when they shall be recited, or hereafter read, will
drive away melancholy (though I be gone) as much as Zisca's drum could
terrify his foes. Yet one caution let me give by the way to my present,
or my future reader, who is actually melancholy, that he read not the
[174]symptoms or prognostics in this following tract, lest by applying
that which he reads to himself, aggravating, appropriating things
generally spoken, to his own person (as melancholy men for the most
part do) he trouble or hurt himself, and get in conclusion more harm
than good. I advise them therefore warily to peruse that tract, Lapides
loquitur (so said [175]Agrippa de occ. Phil.) et caveant lectores ne
cerebrum iis excutiat. The rest I doubt not they may securely read, and
to their benefit. But I am over-tedious, I proceed.
Of the necessity and generality of this which I have said, if any man
doubt, I shall desire him to make a brief survey of the world, as [176]
Cyprian adviseth Donat, supposing himself to be transported to the top
of some high mountain, and thence to behold the tumults and chances of
this wavering world, he cannot choose but either laugh at, or pity it.
S. Hierom out of a strong imagination, being in the wilderness,
conceived with himself, that he then saw them dancing in Rome; and if
thou shalt either conceive, or climb to see, thou shalt soon perceive
that all the world is mad, that it is melancholy, dotes; that it is
(which Epichthonius Cosmopolites expressed not many years since in a
map) made like a fool's head (with that motto, Caput helleboro dignum)
a crazed head, cavea stultorum, a fool's paradise, or as Apollonius, a
common prison of gulls, cheaters, flatterers, &c. and needs to be
reformed. Strabo in the ninth book of his geography, compares Greece to
the picture of a man, which comparison of his, Nic. Gerbelius in his
exposition of Sophianus' map, approves; the breast lies open from those
Acroceraunian hills in Epirus, to the Sunian promontory in Attica;
Pagae and Magaera are the two shoulders; that Isthmus of Corinth the
neck; and Peloponnesus the head. If this allusion hold, 'tis sure a mad
head; Morea may be Moria; and to speak what I think, the inhabitants of
modern Greece swerve as much from reason and true religion at this day,
as that Morea doth from the picture of a man. Examine the rest in like
sort, and you shall find that kingdoms and provinces are melancholy,
cities and families, all creatures, vegetal, sensible, and rational,
that all sorts, sects, ages, conditions, are out of tune, as in Cebes'
table, omnes errorem bibunt, before they come into the world, they are
intoxicated by error's cup, from the highest to the lowest have need of
physic, and those particular actions in [177]Seneca, where father and
son prove one another mad, may be general; Porcius Latro shall plead
against us all. For indeed who is not a fool, melancholy, mad?—[178]
Qui nil molitur inepte, who is not brain-sick? Folly, melancholy,
madness, are but one disease, Delirium is a common name to all.
Alexander, Gordonius, Jason Pratensis, Savanarola, Guianerius,
Montaltus, confound them as differing secundum magis et minus; so doth
David, Psal. xxxvii. 5. I said unto the fools, deal not so madly, and
'twas an old Stoical paradox, omnes stultos insanire, [179]all fools
are mad, though some madder than others. And who is not a fool, who is
free from melancholy? Who is not touched more or less in habit or
disposition? If in disposition, ill dispositions beget habits, if they
persevere, saith [180]Plutarch, habits either are, or turn to diseases.
'Tis the same which Tully maintains in the second of his Tusculans,
omnium insipientum animi in morbo sunt, et perturbatorum, fools are
sick, and all that are troubled in mind: for what is sickness, but as
[181]Gregory Tholosanus defines it, A dissolution or perturbation of
the bodily league, which health combines: and who is not sick, or
ill-disposed? in whom doth not passion, anger, envy, discontent, fear
and sorrow reign? Who labours not of this disease? Give me but a little
leave, and you shall see by what testimonies, confessions, arguments, I
will evince it, that most men are mad, that they had as much need to go
a pilgrimage to the Anticyrae (as in [182]Strabo's time they did) as in
our days they run to Compostella, our Lady of Sichem, or Lauretta, to
seek for help; that it is like to be as prosperous a voyage as that of
Guiana, and that there is much more need of hellebore than of tobacco.
That men are so misaffected, melancholy, mad, giddy-headed, hear the
testimony of Solomon, Eccl. ii. 12. And I turned to behold wisdom,
madness and folly, &c. And ver. 23: All his days are sorrow, his travel
grief, and his heart taketh no rest in the night. So that take
melancholy in what sense you will, properly or improperly, in
disposition or habit, for pleasure or for pain, dotage, discontent,
fear, sorrow, madness, for part, or all, truly, or metaphorically, 'tis
all one. Laughter itself is madness according to Solomon, and as St.
Paul hath it, Worldly sorrow brings death. The hearts of the sons of
men are evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, Eccl. ix.
3. Wise men themselves are no better. Eccl. i. 18. In the multitude of
wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth wisdom, increaseth sorrow,
chap. ii. 17. He hated life itself, nothing pleased him: he hated his
labour, all, as [183]he concludes, is sorrow, grief, vanity, vexation
of spirit. And though he were the wisest man in the world, sanctuarium
sapientiae, and had wisdom in abundance, he will not vindicate himself,
or justify his own actions. Surely I am more foolish than any man, and
have not the understanding of a man in me, Prov. xxx. 2. Be they
Solomon's words, or the words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, they are
canonical. David, a man after God's own heart, confesseth as much of
himself, Psal. xxxvii. 21, 22. So foolish was I and ignorant, I was
even as a beast before thee. And condemns all for fools, Psal. xciii.;
xxxii. 9; xlix. 20. He compares them to beasts, horses, and mules, in
which there is no understanding. The apostle Paul accuseth himself in
like sort, 2 Cor. ix. 21. I would you would suffer a little my
foolishness, I speak foolishly. The whole head is sick, saith Esay, and
the heart is heavy, cap. i. 5. And makes lighter of them than of oxen
and asses, the ox knows his owner, &c.: read Deut. xxxii. 6; Jer. iv.;
Amos, iii. 1; Ephes. v. 6. Be not mad, be not deceived, foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you? How often are they branded with this
epithet of madness and folly? No word so frequent amongst the fathers
of the Church and divines; you may see what an opinion they had of the
world, and how they valued men's actions.
I know that we think far otherwise, and hold them most part wise men
that are in authority, princes, magistrates, [184]rich men, they are
wise men born, all politicians and statesmen must needs be so, for who
dare speak against them? And on the other, so corrupt is our judgment,
we esteem wise and honest men fools. Which Democritus well signified in
an epistle of his to Hippocrates: [185]the Abderites account virtue
madness, and so do most men living. Shall I tell you the reason of it?
[186]Fortune and Virtue, Wisdom and Folly, their seconds, upon a time
contended in the Olympics; every man thought that Fortune and Folly
would have the worst, and pitied their cases; but it fell out
otherwise. Fortune was blind and cared not where she stroke, nor whom,
without laws, Audabatarum instar, &c. Folly, rash and inconsiderate,
esteemed as little what she said or did. Virtue and Wisdom gave
[187]place, were hissed out, and exploded by the common people; Folly
and Fortune admired, and so are all their followers ever since: knaves
and fools commonly fare and deserve best in worldlings' eyes and
opinions. Many good men have no better fate in their ages: Achish, 1
Sam. xxi. 14, held David for a madman. [188]Elisha and the rest were no
otherwise esteemed. David was derided of the common people, Ps. ix. 7,
I am become a monster to many. And generally we are accounted fools for
Christ, 1 Cor. xiv. We fools thought his life madness, and his end
without honour, Wisd. v. 4. Christ and his Apostles were censured in
like sort, John x.; Mark iii.; Acts xxvi. And so were all Christians in
[189]Pliny's time, fuerunt et alii, similis dementiae, &c. And called
not long after, [190]Vesaniae sectatores, eversores hominum, polluti
novatores, fanatici, canes, malefici, venefici, Galilaei homunciones,
&c. 'Tis an ordinary thing with us, to account honest, devout,
orthodox, divine, religious, plain-dealing men, idiots, asses, that
cannot, or will not lie and dissemble, shift, flatter, accommodare se
ad eum locum ubi nati sunt, make good bargains, supplant, thrive,
patronis inservire; solennes ascendendi modos apprehendere, leges,
mores, consuetudines recte observare, candide laudare, fortiter
defendere, sententias amplecti, dubitare de nullus, credere omnia,
accipere omnia, nihil reprehendere, caeteraque quae promotionem ferunt
et securitatem, quae sine ambage felicem, reddunt hominem, et vere
sapientem apud nos; that cannot temporise as other men do, [191]hand
and take bribes, &c. but fear God, and make a conscience of their
doings. But the Holy Ghost that knows better how to judge, he calls
them fools. The fool hath said in his heart, Psal. liii. 1. And their
ways utter their folly, Psal. xlix. 14. [192]For what can be more mad,
than for a little worldly pleasure to procure unto themselves eternal
punishment? As Gregory and others inculcate unto us.
Yea even all those great philosophers the world hath ever had in
admiration, whose works we do so much esteem, that gave precepts of
wisdom to others, inventors of Arts and Sciences, Socrates the wisest
man of his time by the Oracle of Apollo, whom his two scholars,
[193]Plato and [194] Xenophon, so much extol and magnify with those
honourable titles, best and wisest of all mortal men, the happiest, and
most just; and as [195] Alcibiades incomparably commends him; Achilles
was a worthy man, but Bracides and others were as worthy as himself;
Antenor and Nestor were as good as Pericles, and so of the rest; but
none present, before, or after Socrates, nemo veterum neque eorum qui
nunc sunt, were ever such, will match, or come near him. Those seven
wise men of Greece, those Britain Druids, Indian Brachmanni, Ethiopian
Gymnosophist, Magi of the Persians, Apollonius, of whom Philostratus,
Non doctus, sed natus sapiens, wise from his cradle, Eoicuras so much
admired by his scholar Lucretius:
Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit, et omnes
Perstrinxit stellas exortus ut aetherius sol.
Whose wit excell'd the wits of men as far,
As the sun rising doth obscure a star,
Or that so much renowned Empedocles,
[196]Ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus.
All those of whom we read such [197]hyperbolical eulogiums, as of
Aristotle, that he was wisdom itself in the abstract, [198]a miracle of
nature, breathing libraries, as Eunapius of Longinus, lights of nature,
giants for wit, quintessence of wit, divine spirits, eagles in the
clouds, fallen from heaven, gods, spirits, lamps of the world,
dictators, Nulla ferant talem saecla futura virum: monarchs, miracles,
superintendents of wit and learning, oceanus, phoenix, atlas, monstrum,
portentum hominis, orbis universi musaeum, ultimus humana naturae
donatus, naturae maritus,
———merito cui doctior orbis
Submissis defert fascibus imperium.
As Aelian writ of Protagoras and Gorgias, we may say of them all,
tantum a sapientibus abfuerunt, quantum a viris pueri, they were
children in respect, infants, not eagles, but kites; novices,
illiterate, Eunuchi sapientiae. And although they were the wisest, and
most admired in their age, as he censured Alexander, I do them, there
were 10,000 in his army as worthy captains (had they been in place of
command) as valiant as himself; there were myriads of men wiser in
those days, and yet all short of what they ought to be.
[199]Lactantius, in his book of wisdom, proves them to be dizzards,
fools, asses, madmen, so full of absurd and ridiculous tenets, and
brain-sick positions, that to his thinking never any old woman or sick
person doted worse. [200]Democritus took all from Leucippus, and left,
saith he, the inheritance of his folly to Epicurus, [201]insanienti dum
sapientiae, &c. The like he holds of Plato, Aristippus, and the rest,
making no difference [202]betwixt them and beasts, saving that they
could speak. [203]Theodoret in his tract, De cur. grec. affect.
manifestly evinces as much of Socrates, whom though that Oracle of
Apollo confirmed to be the wisest man then living, and saved him from
plague, whom 2000 years have admired, of whom some will as soon speak
evil as of Christ, yet re vera, he was an illiterate idiot, as
[204]Aristophanes calls him, irriscor et ambitiosus, as his master
Aristotle terms him, scurra Atticus, as Zeno, an [205]enemy to all arts
and sciences, as Athaeneus, to philosophers and travellers, an
opiniative ass, a caviller, a kind of pedant; for his manners, as
Theod. Cyrensis describes him, a [206] sodomite, an atheist, (so
convict by Anytus) iracundus et ebrius, dicax, &c. a pot-companion, by
[207]Plato's own confession, a sturdy drinker; and that of all others
he was most sottish, a very madman in his actions and opinions.
Pythagoras was part philosopher, part magician, or part witch. If you
desire to hear more of Apollonius, a great wise man, sometime
paralleled by Julian the apostate to Christ, I refer you to that
learned tract of Eusebius against Hierocles, and for them all to
Lucian's Piscator, Icaromenippus, Necyomantia: their actions, opinions
in general were so prodigious, absurd, ridiculous, which they broached
and maintained, their books and elaborate treatises were full of
dotage, which Tully ad Atticum long since observed, delirant plerumque
scriptores in libris suis, their lives being opposite to their words,
they commended poverty to others, and were most covetous themselves,
extolled love and peace, and yet persecuted one another with virulent
hate and malice. They could give precepts for verse and prose, but not
a man of them (as [208]Seneca tells them home) could moderate his
affections. Their music did show us flebiles modos, &c. how to rise and
fall, but they could not so contain themselves as in adversity not to
make a lamentable tone. They will measure ground by geometry, set down
limits, divide and subdivide, but cannot yet prescribe quantum homini
satis, or keep within compass of reason and discretion. They can square
circles, but understand not the state of their own souls, describe
right lines and crooked, &c. but know not what is right in this life,
quid in vita rectum sit, ignorant; so that as he said, Nescio an
Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem. I think all the Anticyrae will
not restore them to their wits, [209]if these men now, that held [210]
Xenodotus' heart, Crates' liver, Epictetus' lantern, were so sottish,
and had no more brains than so many beetles, what shall we think of the
commonalty? what of the rest?
Yea, but you will infer, that is true of heathens, if they be conferred
with Christians, 1 Cor. iii. 19. The wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God, earthly and devilish, as James calls it, iii. 15.
They were vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was full
of darkness, Rom. i. 21, 22. When they professed themselves wise,
became fools. Their witty works are admired here on earth, whilst their
souls are tormented in hell fire. In some sense, Christiani Crassiani,
Christians are Crassians, and if compared to that wisdom, no better
than fools. Quis est sapiens? Solus Deus, [211]Pythagoras replies, God
is only wise, Rom. xvi. Paul determines only good, as Austin well
contends, and no man living can be justified in his sight. God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if any did
understand, Psalm liii. 2, 3, but all are corrupt, err. Rom. iii. 12,
None doeth good, no, not one. Job aggravates this, iv. 18, Behold he
found no steadfastness in his servants, and laid folly upon his angels;
19. How much more on them that dwell in houses of clay? In this sense
we are all fools, and the [212]Scripture alone is arx Minervae, we and
our writings are shallow and imperfect. But I do not so mean; even in
our ordinary dealings we are no better than fools. All our actions, as
[213]Pliny told Trajan, upbraid us of folly, our whole course of life
is but matter of laughter: we are not soberly wise; and the world
itself, which ought at least to be wise by reason of his antiquity, as
[214]Hugo de Prato Florido will have it, semper stultizat, is every day
more foolish than other; the more it is whipped, the worse it is, and
as a child will still be crowned with roses and flowers. We are apish
in it, asini bipedes, and every place is full inversorum Apuleiorum of
metamorphosed and two-legged asses, inversorum Silenorum, childish,
pueri instar bimuli, tremula patris dormientis in ulna. Jovianus
Pontanus, Antonio Dial, brings in some laughing at an old man, that by
reason of his age was a little fond, but as he admonisheth there, Ne
mireris mi hospes de hoc sene, marvel not at him only, for tota haec
civitas delirium, all our town dotes in like sort, [215]we are a
company of fools. Ask not with him in the poet, [216]Larvae hunc
intemperiae insaniaeque agitant senem? What madness ghosts this old
man, but what madness ghosts us all? For we are ad unum omnes, all mad,
semel insanivimus omnes not once, but alway so, et semel, et simul, et
semper, ever and altogether as bad as he; and not senex bis puer,
delira anus, but say it of us all, semper pueri, young and old, all
dote, as Lactantius proves out of Seneca; and no difference betwixt us
and children, saving that, majora ludimus, et grandioribus pupis, they
play with babies of clouts and such toys, we sport with greater
baubles. We cannot accuse or condemn one another, being faulty
ourselves, deliramenta loqueris, you talk idly, or as [217]Mitio
upbraided Demea, insanis, auferte, for we are as mad our own selves,
and it is hard to say which is the worst. Nay, 'tis universally so,
[218]Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.
When [219]Socrates had taken great pains to find out a wise man, and to
that purpose had consulted with philosophers, poets, artificers, he
concludes all men were fools; and though it procured him both anger and
much envy, yet in all companies he would openly profess it. When [220]
Supputius in Pontanus had travelled all over Europe to confer with a
wise man, he returned at last without his errand, and could find none.
[221] Cardan concurs with him, Few there are (for aught I can perceive)
well in their wits. So doth [222]Tully, I see everything to be done
foolishly and unadvisedly.
Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum, unus utrique
Error, sed variis illudit partibus omnes.
One reels to this, another to that wall,
'Tis the same error that deludes them all.
[223]They dote all, but not alike, Μανία γαρ πᾶσιν ὁμοια, not in the
same kind, One is covetous, a second lascivious, a third ambitious, a
fourth envious, &c. as Damasippus the Stoic hath well illustrated in
the poet,
[224]Desipiunt omnes aeque ac tu.
And they who call you fool, with equal claim
May plead an ample title to the name.