alone was troubled. Sickness is an ordinary cause of such sights.
Cardan, subtil. 8. Mens aegra laboribus et jejuniis fracta, facit eos
videre, audire, &c. And, Osiander beheld strange visions, and Alexander
ab Alexandro both, in their sickness, which he relates de rerum
varietat. lib. 8. cap. 44. Albategnius that noble Arabian, on his
death-bed, saw a ship ascending and descending, which Fracastorius
records of his friend Baptista Tirrianus. Weak sight and a vain
persuasion withal, may effect as much, and second causes concurring, as
an oar in water makes a refraction, and seems bigger, bended double,
&c. The thickness of the air may cause such effects, or any object not
well-discerned in the dark, fear and phantasy will suspect to be a
ghost, a devil, &c. [2702]Quod nimis miseri timent, hoc facile credunt,
we are apt to believe, and mistake in such cases. Marcellus Donatus,
lib. 2. cap. 1. brings in a story out of Aristotle, of one Antepharon
which likely saw, wheresoever he was, his own image in the air, as in a
glass. Vitellio, lib. 10. perspect. hath such another instance of a
familiar acquaintance of his, that after the want of three or four
nights sleep, as he was riding by a river side, saw another riding with
him, and using all such gestures as he did, but when more light
appeared, it vanished. Eremites and anchorites have frequently such
absurd visions, revelations by reason of much fasting, and bad diet,
many are deceived by legerdemain, as Scot hath well showed in his book
of the discovery of witchcraft, and Cardan, subtil. 18. suffites,
perfumes, suffumigations, mixed candles, perspective glasses, and such
natural causes, make men look as if they were dead, or with
horse-heads, bull's-horns, and such like brutish shapes, the room full
of snakes, adders, dark, light, green, red, of all colours, as you may
perceive in Baptista Porta, Alexis, Albertus, and others, glow-worms,
fire-drakes, meteors, Ignis fatuus, which Plinius, lib. 2. cap. 37.
calls Castor and Pollux, with many such that appear in moorish grounds,
about churchyards, moist valleys, or where battles have been fought,
the causes of which read in Goclenius, Velouris, Fickius, &c. such
fears are often done, to frighten children with squibs, rotten wood,
&c. to make folks look as if they were dead, [2703]solito majores,
bigger, lesser, fairer, fouler, ut astantes sine capitibus videantur;
aut toti igniti, aut forma daemonum, accipe pilos canis nigri, &c.
saith Albertus; and so 'tis ordinary to see strange uncouth sights by
catoptrics: who knows not that if in a dark room, the light be admitted
at one only little hole, and a paper or glass put upon it, the sun
shining, will represent on the opposite wall all such objects as are
illuminated by his rays? with concave and cylinder glasses, we may
reflect any shape of men, devils, antics, (as magicians most part do,
to gull a silly spectator in a dark room), we will ourselves, and that
hanging in the air, when 'tis nothing but such an horrible image as
[2704]Agrippa demonstrates, placed in another room. Roger Bacon of old
is said to have represented his own image walking in the air by this
art, though no such thing appear in his perspectives. But most part it
is in the brain that deceives them, although I may not deny, but that
oftentimes the devil deludes them, takes his opportunity to suggest,
and represent vain objects to melancholy men, and such as are ill
affected. To these you may add the knavish impostures of jugglers,
exorcists, mass-priests, and mountebanks, of whom Roger Bacon speaks,
&c. de miraculis naturae et artis. cap. 1. [2705]they can counterfeit
the voices of all birds and brute beasts almost, all tones and tunes of
men, and speak within their throats, as if they spoke afar off, that
they make their auditors believe they hear spirits, and are thence much
astonished and affrighted with it. Besides, those artificial devices to
overhear their confessions, like that whispering place of Gloucester
[2706]with us, or like the duke's place at Mantua in Italy, where the
sound is reverberated by a concave wall; a reason of which Blancanus in
his Echometria gives, and mathematically demonstrates.
So that the hearing is as frequently deluded as the sight, from the
same causes almost, as he that hears bells, will make them sound what
he list. As the fool thinketh, so the bell clinketh. Theophilus in
Galen thought he heard music, from vapours which made his ears sound,
&c. Some are deceived by echoes, some by roaring of waters, or concaves
and reverberation of air in the ground, hollow places and walls.
[2707]At Cadurcum, in Aquitaine, words and sentences are repeated by a
strange echo to the full, or whatsoever you shall play upon a musical
instrument, more distinctly and louder, than they are spoken at first.
Some echoes repeat a thing spoken seven times, as at Olympus, in
Macedonia, as Pliny relates, lib. 36. cap. 15. Some twelve times, as at
Charenton, a village near Paris, in France. At Delphos, in Greece,
heretofore was a miraculous echo, and so in many other places. Cardan,
subtil. l. 18, hath wonderful stories of such as have been deluded by
these echoes. Blancanus the Jesuit, in his Echometria, hath variety of
examples, and gives his reader full satisfaction of all such sounds by
way of demonstration. [2708]At Barrey, an isle in the Severn mouth,
they seem to hear a smith's forge; so at Lipari, and those sulphureous
isles, and many such like, which Olaus speaks of in the continent of
Scandia, and those northern countries. Cardan de rerum var. l. 15, c.
84, mentioneth a woman, that still supposed she heard the devil call
her, and speaking to her, she was a painter's wife in Milan: and many
such illusions and voices, which proceed most part from a corrupt
imagination.
Whence it comes to pass, that they prophesy, speak several languages,
talk of astronomy, and other unknown sciences to them (of which they
have been ever ignorant): [2709]I have in brief touched, only this I
will here add, that Arculanus, Bodin. lib. 3, cap. 6, daemon. and some
others, [2710] hold as a manifest token that such persons are possessed
with the devil; so doth [2711]Hercules de Saxonia, and Apponensis, and
fit only to be cured by a priest. But [2712]Guianerius,
[2713]Montaltus, Pomporiatius of Padua, and Lemnius lib. 2. cap. 2,
refer it wholly to the ill-disposition of the [2714]humour, and that
out of the authority of Aristotle prob. 30. 1, because such symptoms
are cured by purging; and as by the striking of a flint fire is
enforced, so by the vehement motion of spirits, they do elicere voces
inauditas, compel strange speeches to be spoken: another argument he
hath from Plato's reminiscentia, which all out as likely as that which
[2715]Marsilius Ficinus speaks of his friend Pierleonus; by a divine
kind of infusion he understood the secrets of nature, and tenets of
Grecian and barbarian philosophers, before ever he heard of, saw, or
read their works: but in this I should rather hold with Avicenna and
his associates, that such symptoms proceed from evil spirits, which
take all opportunities of humours decayed, or otherwise to pervert the
soul of man: and besides, the humour itself is balneum diaboli, the
devil's bath; and as Agrippa proves, doth entice him to seize upon
them.
SECT. IV. MEMB. I.
_Prognostics of Melancholy_.
Prognostics, or signs of things to come, are either good or bad. If
this malady be not hereditary, and taken at the beginning, there is
good hope of cure, recens curationem non habet difficilem, saith
Avicenna, l. 3, Fen. 1, Tract. 4, c. 18. That which is with laughter,
of all others is most secure, gentle, and remiss, Hercules de Saxonia.
[2716]If that evacuation of haemorrhoids, or varices, which they call
the water between the skin, shall happen to a melancholy man, his
misery is ended, Hippocrates Aphor. 6, 11. Galen l. 6, de morbis
vulgar. com. 8, confirms the same; and to this aphorism of Hippocrates,
all the Arabians, new and old Latins subscribe; Montaltus c. 25,
Hercules de Saxonia, Mercurialis, Vittorius Faventinus, &c. Skenkius,
l. 1, observat. med. c. de Mania, illustrates this aphorism, with an
example of one Daniel Federer a coppersmith that was long melancholy,
and in the end mad about the 27th year of his age, these varices or
water began to arise in his thighs, and he was freed from his madness.
Marius the Roman was so cured, some, say, though with great pain.
Skenkius hath some other instances of women that have been helped by
flowing of their mouths, which before were stopped. That the opening of
the haemorrhoids will do as much for men, all physicians jointly
signify, so they be voluntary, some say, and not by compulsion. All
melancholy are better after a quartan; [2717]Jobertus saith, scarce any
man hath that ague twice; but whether it free him from this malady,
'tis a question; for many physicians ascribe all long agues for
especial causes, and a quartan ague amongst the rest. [2718]Rhasis
cont. lib. 1, tract. 9. When melancholy gets out at the superficies of
the skin, or settles breaking out in scabs, leprosy, morphew, or is
purged by stools, or by the urine, or that the spleen is enlarged, and
those varices appear, the disease is dissolved. Guianerius, cap. 5,
tract. 15, adds dropsy, jaundice, dysentery, leprosy, as good signs, to
these scabs, morphews, and breaking out, and proves it out of the 6th
of Hippocrates' Aphorisms.
Evil prognostics on the other part. Inveterata melancholia incurabilis,
if it be inveterate, it is [2719]incurable, a common axiom, aut
difficulter curabilis as they say that make the best, hardly cured.
This Galen witnesseth, l. 3, de loc. affect. cap. 6, [2720]be it in
whom it will, or from what cause soever, it is ever long, wayward,
tedious, and hard to be cured, if once it be habituated. As Lucian said
of the gout, she was [2721]the queen of diseases, and inexorable, may
we say of melancholy. Yet Paracelsus will have all diseases whatsoever
curable, and laughs at them which think otherwise, as T. Erastus par.
3, objects to him; although in another place, hereditary diseases he
accounts incurable, and by no art to be removed. [2722]Hildesheim
spicel. 2, de mel. holds it less dangerous if only [2723]imagination be
hurt, and not reason, [2724]the gentlest is from blood. Worse from
choler adust, but the worst of all from melancholy putrefied.
[2725]Bruel esteems hypochondriacal least dangerous, and the other two
species (opposite to Galen) hardest to be cured. [2726]The cure is hard
in man, but much more difficult in women. And both men and women must
take notice of that saying of Montanus consil. 230, pro Abate Italo,
[2727]This malady doth commonly accompany them to their grave;
physicians may ease, and it may lie hid for a time, but they cannot
quite cure it, but it will return again more violent and sharp than at
first, and that upon every small occasion or error: as in Mercury's
weather-beaten statue, that was once all over gilt, the open parts were
clean, yet there was in fimbriis aurum, in the chinks a remnant of
gold: there will be some relics of melancholy left in the purest bodies
(if once tainted) not so easily to be rooted out. [2728] Oftentimes it
degenerates into epilepsy, apoplexy, convulsions, and blindness: by the
authority of Hippocrates and Galen, [2729]all aver, if once it possess
the ventricles of the brain, Frambesarius, and Salust. Salvianus adds,
if it get into the optic nerves, blindness. Mercurialis, consil. 20,
had a woman to his patient, that from melancholy became epileptic and
blind. [2730]If it come from a cold cause, or so continue cold, or
increase, epilepsy; convulsions follow, and blindness, or else in the
end they are moped, sottish, and in all their actions, speeches, and
gestures, ridiculous. [2731]If it come from a hot cause, they are more
furious, and boisterous, and in conclusion mad. Calescentem
melancholiam saepius sequitur mania. [2732]If it heat and increase,
that is the common event, [2733]per circuitus, aut semper insanit, he
is mad by fits, or altogether. For as [2734]Sennertus contends out of
Crato, there is seminarius ignis in this humour, the very seeds of
fire. If it come from melancholy natural adust, and in excess, they are
often demoniacal, Montanus.
[2735]Seldom this malady procures death, except (which is the greatest,
most grievous calamity, and the misery of all miseries,) they make away
themselves, which is a frequent thing, and familiar amongst them. 'Tis
[2736]Hippocrates' observation, Galen's sentence, Etsi mortem timent,
tamen plerumque sibi ipsis mortem consciscunt, l. 3. de locis affec.
cap. 7. The doom of all physicians. 'Tis [2737]Rabbi Moses' Aphorism,
the prognosticon of Avicenna, Rhasis, Aetius, Gordonius, Valescus,
Altomarus, Salust. Salvianus, Capivaccius, Mercatus, Hercules de
Saxonia, Piso, Bruel, Fuchsius, all, &c.
[2738]Et saepe usque adeo mortis formidine vitae
Percipit infelix odium lucisque videndae,
Ut sibi consciscat maerenti pectore lethum.
And so far forth death's terror doth affright,
He makes away himself, and hates the light
To make an end of fear and grief of heart,
He voluntary dies to ease his smart.
In such sort doth the torture and extremity of his misery torment him,
that he can take no pleasure in his life, but is in a manner enforced
to offer violence unto himself, to be freed from his present
insufferable pains. So some (saith [2739]Fracastorius) in fury, but
most in despair, sorrow, fear, and out of the anguish and vexation of
their souls, offer violence to themselves: for their life is unhappy
and miserable. They can take no rest in the night, nor sleep, or if
they do slumber, fearful dreams astonish them. In the daytime they are
affrighted still by some terrible object, and torn in pieces with
suspicion, fear, sorrow, discontents, cares, shame, anguish, &c. as so
many wild horses, that they cannot be quiet an hour, a minute of time,
but even against their wills they are intent, and still thinking of it,
they cannot forget it, it grinds their souls day and night, they are
perpetually tormented, a burden to themselves, as Job was, they can
neither eat, drink or sleep. Psal. cvii. 18. Their soul abhorreth all
meat, and they are brought to death's door, [2740]being bound in misery
and iron: they [2741]curse their stars with Job, [2742]and day of their
birth, and wish for death: for as Pineda and most interpreters hold,
Job was even melancholy to despair, and almost [2743]madness itself;
they murmur many times against the world, friends, allies, all mankind,
even against God himself in the bitterness of their passion,
[2744]vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt, live they will not, die they
cannot. And in the midst of these squalid, ugly, and such irksome days,
they seek at last, finding no comfort, [2745]no remedy in this wretched
life, to be eased of all by death. Omnia appetunt bonum, all creatures
seek the best, and for their good as they hope, sub specie, in show at
least, vel quia mori pulchrum putant (saith [2746]Hippocrates) vel quia
putant inde se majoribus malis liberari, to be freed as they wish.
Though many times, as Aesop's fishes, they leap from the frying-pan
into the fire itself, yet they hope to be eased by this means: and
therefore (saith Felix [2747]Platerus) after many tedious days at last,
either by drowning, hanging, or some such fearful end, they precipitate
or make away themselves: many lamentable examples are daily seen
amongst us: alius ante, fores se laqueo suspendit (as Seneca notes),
alius se praecipitavit a tecto, ne dominum stomachantem audiret, alius
ne reduceretur a fuga ferrum redegit in viscera, one hangs himself
before his own door,—another throws himself from the house-top, to
avoid his master's anger,—a third, to escape expulsion, plunges a
dagger into his heart,—so many causes there are—His amor exitio est,
furor his—love, grief, anger, madness, and shame, &c. 'Tis a common
calamity, [2748]a fatal end to this disease, they are condemned to a
violent death, by a jury of physicians, furiously disposed, carried
headlong by their tyrannising wills, enforced by miseries, and there
remains no more to such persons, if that heavenly Physician, by his
assisting grace and mercy alone do not prevent, (for no human
persuasion or art can help) but to be their own butchers, and execute
themselves. Socrates his cicuta, Lucretia's dagger, Timon's halter, are
yet to be had; Cato's knife, and Nero's sword are left behind them, as
so many fatal engines, bequeathed to posterity, and will be used to the
world's end, by such distressed souls: so intolerable, insufferable,
grievous, and violent is their pain, [2749]so unspeakable and
continuate. One day of grief is an hundred years, as Cardan observes:
'Tis carnificina hominum, angor animi, as well saith Areteus, a plague
of the soul, the cramp and convulsion of the soul, an epitome of hell;
and if there be a hell upon earth, it is to be found in a melancholy
man's heart.
For that deep torture may be call'd an hell,
When more is felt, than one hath power to tell.
Yea, that which scoffing Lucian said of the gout in jest, I may truly
affirm of melancholy in earnest.
[2750]O triste nomen! o diis odibile
Melancholia lacrymosa, Cocyti filia,
Tu Tartari specubus opacis edita
Erinnys, utero quam Megara suo tulit,
Et ab uberibus aluit, cuique parvidae
Amarulentum in os lac Alecto dedit,
Omnes abominabilem te daemones
Produxere in lucem, exitio mortalium. Et paulo post
Non Jupiter ferit tale telum fulminis,
Non ulla sic procella saevit aequoris,
Non impetuosi tanta vis est turbinis.
An asperos sustineo morsus Cerberi?
Num virus Echidnae membra mea depascitur?
Aut tunica sanie tincta Nessi sanguinis?
Illacrymabile et immedicabile malum hoc.
O sad and odious name! a name so fell,
Is this of melancholy, brat of hell.
There born in hellish darkness doth it dwell,
The Furies brought it up, Megara's teat,
Alecto gave it bitter milk to eat.
And all conspir'd a bane to mortal men,
To bring this devil out of that black den.
Jupiter's thunderbolt, not storm at sea,
Nor whirlwind doth our hearts so much dismay.
What? am I bit by that fierce Cerberus?
Or stung by [2751]serpent so pestiferous?
Or put on shirt that's dipt in Nessus' blood?
My pain's past cure; physic can do no good.
No torture of body like unto it, Siculi non invenere tyranni majus
tormentum, no strappadoes, hot irons, Phalaris' bulls,
[2752]Nec ira deum tantum, nec tela, nec hostis,
Quantum sola noces animis illapsa.
Jove's wrath, nor devils can
Do so much harm to th' soul of man.
All fears, griefs, suspicions, discontents, imbonites, insuavities are
swallowed up, and drowned in this Euripus, this Irish sea, this ocean
of misery, as so many small brooks; 'tis coagulum omnium aerumnarum:
which [2753]Ammianus applied to his distressed Palladins. I say of our
melancholy man, he is the cream of human adversity, the [2754]
quintessence, and upshot; all other diseases whatsoever, are but
flea-bitings to melancholy in extent: 'Tis the pith of them all, [2755]
Hospitium est calamitatis; quid verbis opus est?
Quamcunque malam rem quaeris, illic reperies:
What need more words? 'tis calamities inn,
Where seek for any mischief, 'tis within;