It will not be out of place here to join love to the affections of the
brain, since it consists of certain cares. For care is a passion of the
soul occasioned by the reason’s being in a state of laborious emotion.
The following symptoms attend lovers: Their eyes are hollow, and do not
shed tears, but appear as if overflowing with gladness, their eyelids
move rapidly; and even, when none of the other parts of the body are
affected, these parts are always so affected in lovers. There is no
pulse peculiar to lovers, as some have supposed, but it is the same as
that of persons labouring under care. When they call to recollection
the beloved object, either from seeing or hearing, and more especially
if this occur suddenly, then the pulse undergoes a change from the
disorder of the soul, and, therefore, it does not preserve its natural
equability or order. Such persons, therefore, being desponding and
sleepless, some physicians, mistaking their affection, have wasted them
by prohibiting baths, and enjoining quietude, and a spare diet; but
wiser ones, recognizing the lover, direct his attention to baths, the
drinking of wine, gestation, spectacles, and amusing stories. Some must
also be attacked with fear; for, while they think of nothing but love,
the affection is difficult to remove. Wherefore, they ought also to be
roused to emulation with regard to the objects of their peculiar interest
in life; and, upon the whole, their understanding should be diverted to
other concerns.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Oribasius (Synops. viii, 9); Haly Abbas (Theor. ix, 7,
Pract. v, 25); Avicenna (iii, i, 5, 23); Alsaharavius (Pract. i, 2, 17);
Rhases (Divis. 11.)
Although Theocritus had declared that neither ointment nor powder is of
any efficacy for the cure of love, several of the ancient writers on
medicine have given directions for the treatment of desponding lovers.
Rhases, with unusual brevity, merely recommends, in general terms,
repeated enjoyment, fasting, walking, and frequent intoxication.
Avicenna, Haly Abbas, and Alsaharavius direct nearly the same treatment;
and also mention hunting and sports.