Generally to fair nice peeces, old age and foul linen are two most odious things, a torment of torments, they may not abide the thought of it. * o deorum Quisquis hæc audis, utinam inter errem Antequam turpis macies decentes To be foul, ugly, and deformed, much better be buried alive, Some are fair but barren, and that gaules them. "Hannah wept sore, did not eat, and was troubled in spirit, and all for her barrenness," 1. Sain. 1. and Gen. 30. Rachel said "in the anguish of her soul, give me a child, or I shall dye:" another hath too many: one was never married, and that's his hell, another is, and that's his plague. Some are troubled in that they are obscure; others by being traduced, slandered, abused, disgraced, vilified, or any way injured: minimè miror eos (as he said) qui insanire occipiunt ex injuria, I marvel not at all if offences make men mad. Seventeen particular causes of anger and offence Aristotle reckons them up, which for brevities sake I must omit. No tydings troubles one; ill reports, rumors, bad tydings or news, hard hap, ill success, cast in a sute, vain hopes, or hope deferred, another: expectation, adeo omnibus in rebus molesta semper est expectatio, as ↑ Polibius observes; one is too too eminent, another too base borne, and that alone tortures him as much as the rest: one is out of action, company, imployment; another overcome and tormented with worldly cares, and onerous business. But what 'tongue can suffice to speak of all? Many men catch this malady by eating certain meats, hearbs, roots, at unawares; as henbane, nightshade, cicuta, mandrakes, &c. A company of young men at Agrigentum in Sicily, came into a Taverne; where after they had freely taken their liquor, whether it were the wine it self, or something mixt with it 'tis not yet known, but upon a sudden they began to be so troubled in their brains, that their phantasie so crased, that they thought they were in a ship at sea, and now ready to be cast away by reason of a tempest. Wherefore to avoid ship * Hor. Car. Lib. 3. Ode. 27. † Hist. lib. 6. f Non mihi si centum linguæ sint, oraque centum. Omnia causarum percurrere nomina possem. + Celius 1. 17. cap. 2. § Ita mente exagitati sunt, ut in triremi se constitutos putarent, marique vadabundo tempestate jactatos, proinde naufragium veriti, egestis undique rebus vasa omnia in viam è fenestris, seu in mare præcipicarunt: postrid.e, *C. wrack wrack and present drowning, they flung all the goods in the house out at the windowes into the street, or into the sea, as they supposed; thus they continued mad a pretty season, and being brought before the Magistrate to give an account of this their fact, they told him (not yet recovered of their madness) that what was done they did for fear of death, and to avoid eminent danger: the spectators were all amazed at this their stupidity and gazed on them stil, whilst one of the ancientest of the company, in a grave tone excused himself to the Magistrate upon his knees, O viri Tritones, ego in imo jacui, I beseech your deities, &c. for I was in the bottom of the ship all the while another besought them as so many sea Gods, to be good unto them, and if ever he and his fellows came to land again; he would build an Altar to their service. The Magistrate could not sufficiently laugh at this their madness, bid them sleep it out, and so went his ways. Many such accidents frequently happen, upon these unknown occasions. Some are so caused by philters, wandring in the sun, biting of a mad dog, a blow on the head, stinging with that kind of Spider called Tarantula, an ordinary thing if we may believe Skenck. l. 6. de Venenis, in Calabria and Apulia in Italy, Cardan, subtil. 1.9. Scaliger exercitat. 185. Their Symptomes are merrily described by Jovianus Pontanus Ant. dial. how they dance altogether, and are cured by Musick. Cardan speaks of certain stones, if they be carried about one, which will cause melancholy and madness, he cals them unhappy, as an Adamant, Selenites, &c. " which dry up the body, increase cares, diminish sleep" Ctesias in Persicis, makes mention of a Well in those parts, of which if any man drink," he is mad for 24 houres." Some lose their wits by terrible objects (as elsewhere I have more + copiously dilated) and life it self many times, as Hippolitus affrighted by Neptune's sea-horses, Athemas by Juno's Furies: but these relations are common in all Writers, ❝k Hic alias poteram, & plures subnectere causas, Sed jumenta vocant, & Sol inclinat, Eundum est." Many such causes, much more could I say, But that for provender my cattle stay: The sun declines, and I must needs away. h These causes if they be considered, and come alone, I do easily yield, can do little of themselves, seldome, or apart (an old oke is not felled at a blow) though many times they are all sufficient Aram vobis servatoribus diis erigemus. nuunt. Lib. de gemmis. Quæ corpus siccant, somnum mi+ Part 1. Sect. 2. Subsect. 3. every one yet if they concurre, as often they do, vis unita fortior; Et que non obsunt singula, multa nocent, they may batter a strong constitution; as Austin said, "many grains and small sands sink a ship, many small drops make a floud," &c. often reiterated; many dispositions produce an habit. MEMB. V. SUBSECT. I. Continent, inward, antecedent, next causes, and how the body works on the Minde. A Sa Purly hunter, I have hitherto beaten about the circuit of the Forrest of this Microcosme, and followed only those outward adventitious causes. I will now break into the inner rooms, and rip up the antecedent immediate causes which are there to be found. For as the distraction of the minde, amongst other outward causes and perturbations, alters the temperature of the body, so the distraction and distemper of the body will cause a distemperature of the soul, and 'tis hard to decide which of these two do more harme to the other. Plato, Cyprian, and some others, as I have formerly said, lay the greatest fault upon the soul, excusing the body; others again accusing the body, excuse the soul, as a principal agent. Their reasons are, because "m the manners do follow the temperature of the body," as Galen proves in his book of that subject, Prosper Calenius de Atra bile, Jason Pratensis c. de Mania, Leminius l. 4. c. 16. and many others. And that which Gualter hath commented hom. 10. in epist. Johannis, is most true, concupiscence and original sin, inclinations, and bad humors, are radical in every one of us, causing these perturbations, affections, and several distempers, offering many times violence unto the soul. Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence (James 1. 14) the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and rebelleth against the spirit," as our Apostle teacheth us that methinks the soul hath the better plea against the body, which so forcibly inclines us, that we cannot resist, Nec nos obniti contra, nec tendere tantum Sufficimus. How the body being material, worketh upon the immaterial soul, by mediation of humors and spirits; which participate of both, and ill disposed organs, Cornelius Agrippa hath discoursed lib. 1. de occult. Philos. cap. 63, 64, 65. Levinus Lemnius lib. 1. de 1 Intus bestiæ minutæ multæ necant. Numquid minutissima sunt grana arenæ? sed si arena amplius in navem mittatur, mergit illam; quam minutæ guttæ, pluviæ & tamen implent flumina, domus cjiciunt, timenda ergo ruina multitudinis, si non magnitudinis. Mores sequuntur temperaturam corporis. * Scintillæ latent in corporibus. • Gal. 5. occult. occult. nat. mir. cap. 12. & 16. & 21. institut. ad opt. vit. Perkins lib. 1. Cases of Cons. cap. 12. T. Bright c. 10, 11, 12. * in his Treatise of melancholy," For as Panger, fear, sorrow, obtrectation, emulation, &c. si mentis intimos recessus occnparint, saith Lemnius, corpori quoque infesta sunt, & illi teterrimos morbos inferunt, cause grievous diseases in the body, so bodily diseases affect the soul by consent. Now the chiefest causes proceed from the Heart, humors, spirits: as they are purer, or impurer, so is the Minde, and equally suffers, as a Lute out of tune, if one string or one organ be distempered, all the rest miscarry, Corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis, animum quoque prægravat und. The Body is domicilium animæ, her house, abode, and stay; and as a torch gives a better light, a sweeter smell, according to the matter it is made of; so doth our soul performe all her actions, better or worse, as her organs are disposed; or as wine savours of the cask wherein it is kept; the soul receives a tincture from the body, through which it works. We see this in old men, children, Europeans; Asians, hot and cold Climes; Sanguin are merry, Melancholy sad, Phlegmatick dull, by reason of abundance of those humors, and they cannot resist such passions which are inflicted by them. For in this infirmity of humane nature, as Melancthon declares, the Understanding is so tied to, and captivated by his inferior senses, that without their help he cannot exercise his functions, and the Will being weakned, hath but a small power to restrain those outward parts, but suffers her self to be overruled by them; that I must needs conclude with Lemnius, spiritus & humores maximum nocumentum obtinent, spirits and humors do most harme in troubling the soul. How should a man choose but be cholerick and angry, that hath his body so clogged with abundance of gross huinors? or melancholy, that is so inwardly disposed? That thence comes then this malady, Madness, Apoplexies, Lethargies, &c. it may not be denied. Now this body of ours is most part distempered by some precedent diseases, which molest his inward organs and instruments, and so per consequens cause melancholy, according to the consent of the most approved Physicians. This humor (as Avicenna 1. 3. Fen. 1. Tract 4. c. 18. Arnoldus breviar. 4. 1. c. 18. Jacchinus comment. in 9. Rhasis. c. 15. Montaltus t » Sicut ex animi affectionibus corpus languescit : sic ex corporis vitiis, & morborum plerisq; cruciatibus animum videmus hebetari, Galenus. Lib. 1. c. 16. Corporis itide morbi anima per consensum, a lege consortii afficiunt, & quanquam objeca mukos motus turbulentos in homine concitet, præcipua tamen causa in corde & humoribus spiritibusque consistit, &c. ⚫ Hor. *Humores pravi mentem obnub lant. Hic humor vel A partis intemperie generatur vel relinquitur post inflammationes, vel crassior in venis conclusus vel torpidus malignam qualitatem contrahit, X for a e. 10. Nicholas Piso c. de Melan. &c. suppose) is begotten by the distemperature of some inward part, innate, or left after some inflammation, or else included in the bloud after an “ague, or some other malignant disease." This opinion of theirs concurres with that of Galen. l. 3. c. 6. de locis affect. Guianerius gives an instance in one so caused by a quartan ague, and Montanus consil. 32. in a young man of 28. years of age, so distempered after a quartan, which had molested him five years together, Hildesheim spicel. 2. de Maniá, relates of a Dutch Baron, grievously tormented with melancholy after a long ague: Galen. 1. de atra bile c. 4. puts the plague a cause. Botaldus in his book de lue vener. c. 2. the French pox cause, others, Phrensie, Epilepsie, Apoplexie, because those discases do often degenerate into this. Of suppression of Hamrods, Hæmorogia, or bleeding at nose, menstruous retentions, (although they deserve a larger explication, as being the sole cause of a proper kinde of melancholy, in more ancient Maids, Nunnes and Widowes, handled apart by Rodericus à Castro, and Mercatus, as I have elsewhere signified,) or any other evacuation stopped, I have already spoken. Only this I will add, that this melancholy which shall be caused by such infirmities, deserves to be pitied of all men, and to be respected with a more tender compassion, according to Laurentius, as coming from a more inevitable cause. SUBSECT. II. Distemperature of particular Parts, causes: THER HERE is almost no part of the Body, which being distempered, doth not cause this malady, as the Brain and his parts, Heart, Liver, Spleen, Stomack, Matrix or Wombe, Pylorus, Mirache, Mesentery, Hypocondries, Meseraick veines; and in a word, saith Arculanus, "there is no part which causeth not melancholy, either because it is adust, or doth not expel the superfluity of the nutriment. Savanarola Pract. major. rubric. 11. Tract. 6. cap. 1. is of the same opinion, that melancholy is engendred in each particular part, and Crato in consil. 17. lib. 2. Gordonius, who is instar omnium, Sæpe constat in febre hominem Melancholicum vel post febrem reddi, aut alium morbum. Calida intemperies innata, vel à febre contracta. * Raro quis diuturno morbo laborat, qui non sit melancholicus, Mercurialis de affect. capitis lib. 1. c. 10. de Melanc." • Ad nonum lib. Riasis ad Almansor. c. 16. Universaliter â quacunque parte potest ficri melancholicus. Vel quia aduritur, vel quia non expellit superfluitatem excrementi, * A Liene, jecinore, utero, & aliis partibus oritur. |