Everyone is crazy according to Burton. I did not know that I would be drawing so much crazy when I started this project.
On philosophers and scholars:
You shall find that of Aristotle true, nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae [no great wit without some admixture of sorrow], they have a worm as well as others; you shall find a fantastical strain, a fustian, a bombast, a vainglorious humour, an affected style, etc., like a prominent thread in an uneven woven cloth, run parallel throughout their works. And they that teach wisdom, patience, meekness, are the veriest dizzards, hair-brains, and most discontent. In the multitude of wisdom is grief, and he that increaseth wisdom, increaseth sorrow.
(111)
On poets:
They sail in the bark of folly, they inhabit the grove of madness. (112)
Well shoot. I think I will still increaseth my wisdom though.
This post is part of a long, tedious, and illustrated read-along of Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy – more info here and follow along on Facebook here.