Abstract
Misomedon. By your coming again, I see you are satisfied with what I did.
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Notes
- 1.
But to come to the Business.
- 2.
And is not Cheese a peevish Elf,
Digesting all things but it self?
According to the old English Translation of that verse.
- 3.
Medicines to purge bilious Humours.
- 4.
Medicines to purge melancholy Humours.
- 5.
Medicines to purge Watry Humours.
- 6.
Medicines to purge Phlegm.
- 7.
Strong Purges.
- 8.
That Medicines call’d purging did not purge or make clean, but caused Putrefactions; that they had dissolv’d and turn’d into Corruption the living Substance of his Body: That instead of selecting and separating one thing from another, they contaminated and carried off promiscuously whatever they touch’d in any Manner, the very Blood and even the Flesh from the Bones, as well as any thing else: That the Corruption which came away made it evident, that the corrupting Cause was a mere poison to the Body, that had a Faculty of liquifying and rendring putrid: That whatever was thus corrupted would by the Propulsion of Nature continue to be carried off, till the Strength of the Poison was spent; and that Purges had this effect upon People in perfect Health, as well as upon those that were sick.
[This long passage is taken from Jan-Baptist Van Helmont, Opuscula Medica Inaudita. For the original Latin text, see for example the second, enlarged edition: Opuscula Medica Inaudita (Amsterdam, Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1658) Book II, “De Febribus,” chap. v, “Purgatio examinatur,” p. 27].
- 9.
It is better to run back again, than to run wrong. A Proverb, of which the Application is obvious.
- 10.
The lower Orifice of the Stomack.
- 11.
There is a great Difference between a Woman and a Fagot.
- 12.
The Veins keep their Blood fluid even in a Corpse, as all Anatomists must allow, but Blood got out of the Veins presently congeals to a clod.
[Jan-Baptist Van Helmont, Ortus medicina (Amsterdam, L. Elzevirium, 1652), p. 743].
- 13.
For all the Humours, as in other Viscera, are carried along by Propulsion, and it is impossible to prove such a thing as an Attraction of the natural Parts of the Body, by the Help of which they receive their Nourishment.
[Mandeville is here quoting Michael Ettmüller’s doctoral dissertation on hypochondria (Dissertatio Academica de Malo Hypochondriaco, 1671). See Michael Ettmüller, Opera Medica Theorico-practica (Geneva, Fratres de Tournes, 1736), vol. IV, p. 770].
- 14.
That whatever Sour is hurtful to Nature, except in the Stomack.
[Otto Tachenius, Hippocrates Chymicus, translated by J.W. (London, Nath. Crouch, 1677)].
- 15.
In a bad Sense.
- 16.
Absurdity.
- 17.
Philosophical Transactions, N°173
- 18.
Philosophical Transactions, N°194.
- 19.
One that had adorn’d our Art and been an Ornament to it himself; that having set aside the Fictions of Men’s Brains, had spent all his Time in making Observations, and from his Youth to his old Age cohabited with Nature.
[The “eminent foreigner” is Giorgio Baglivi. See De Praxi medica, Book I, chap 12, III].
- 20.
Though they should dispute of smoak. A Proverb, to wrangle about the greatest Trifles.
- 21.
Become decrepit by Age and War.
- 22.
This passage of Juvenal is used to express the force of contagion, and the ill consequence of bad examples. To give the Sense of it in English, Mr. Dryden thought it sufficient to say: As one infected Sheep confounds the flock.
[Juvenal, Satires, sat. II. As to the English translation quoted by Mandeville, see The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis; translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden, and other eminent Hands (London, Jacob Tonson, 1713). The second satire was in fact translated by Nahum Tate (see p. 21)].
- 23.
Of Codicils.
- 24.
Of a depraved Chylification.
- 25.
The Head of the University for one Year.
- 26.
Since you are not a Syrus, don’t act like one. A Proverb used to warn People against appearing by their Actions what they pretend not to be, by their Words.
- 27.
We neither run nor row; a Proverb used, when we take great Pains without advancing or getting Ground.
- 28.
A Drop hollows a Stone. The Beginning of a very trite Proverb; denoting the great Efficacy of a small Force when it is often repeated.
[The full Latin proverb is “Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed sæpe cadendo.” A drop hollows a stone, not by force but by falling repeatedly].
- 29.
I think; therefore I exist.
- 30.
In the Gardens of Adonis. A Proverb used when Men take delight in things that are soon fading, and more pleasant than profitable.
- 31.
Messengers.
- 32.
A Name given to a Powder or to a Spirit of the greatest Fineness.
- 33.
A Proverb used when we think Men to be entirely in the Wrong.
- 34.
Fruits that don’t keep, as Cherries, Currants, Mulberries, &c.
- 35.
Arts have no Enemies but those that are ignorant of them.
- 36.
We ought to be favourable in the Beginning of a Work. A Proverb.
- 37.
Phil. Trans. N°. 302 & 314.
- 38.
A Proverb, for a mean, unprofitable Help.
- 39.
The Sound, which at every Stroke some labouring Men, especially Paviours, make in forcing out their Breath.
- 40.
They don’t belong to this Place.
- 41.
Comedians in a Tragedy.
- 42.
To build upon the Sand.
- 43.
More obscure than the Numbers of Plato. It is proverbially apply’d to what is dark and unintelligible.
- 44.
In a stubborn Costiveness.
- 45.
A Proverb for Never.
- 46.
When a Mule shall have foal’d. A Proverb to the same Purpose with the former.
- 47.
Equally with the most ignorant. It is Proverbially used when Men are entirely ignorant of a thing.
- 48.
But I won’t go to Law in a strange Court. It is Proverbially used, when Men refuse to dispute about things they are not well versed in.
- 49.
For Ornament.
- 50.
That which has one Stalk, or that which has six Stalks; it is apply’d to Flowers and Plants only.
- 51.
Those who know the least of an Art talk the most of it. A Proverb.
- 52.
A Proverb apply’d to a ridiculous Opposition; as that of a Child to a Giant.
[Mandeville offers a rather euphemistic explanation for this Latin sentence, which literally means, “To fart against thunder.”]
- 53.
What Profit will it bring? A Proverb.
- 54.
That he might say nothing vulgar. A Proverb.
- 55.
By Complaisance we make Men our Friends, but speaking the Truth creates Hatred. A Proverb.
- 56.
But what Part of the World are we hurried into! It is proverbially used, when Men are carried off far from their Subject.
- 57.
A Phrase for the Venereal Infection.
- 58.
It is too late to save when you come to the Bottom of a Cask, Bag, &c. A Proverb, the Application of which is obvious.
[Mandeville is quoting Seneca’s first epistle to Lucilius: “For, as our ancestors believed, it is too late to spare when you reach the dregs of the cask. Of that which remains at the bottom, the amount is slight, and the quality is vile.” Moral Epistles, Translated by Richard Gummere, 3 vols. (The Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard UP, 1917-25), vol. I, p. 5].
- 59.
A Proverb of the same Nature, as in English, When the Steed is stolen to shut the Stable Door.
- 60.
Why was I not of the same mind I am now of, when I was young?
[Horace, Odes, Book IV, X, 7-8].
- 61.
That, when a Man’s Strength is exhausted by Excess of Venery, the Loss is irreparable; because it takes away from the innate Spirit of the Heart.
[Jan-Baptist Van Helmont, Opuscula Medica Inaudita, “De Febribus” (Köln, Elzevier, 1644) p. 41].
- 62.
At another Age that in all things we can act with Prudence.
[Micio is a character from Terence’s Adelphi, see Act V, scene 3, line 832].
- 63.
A Discourse on the Spirits.
- 64.
Not, that only learned Men are subject to this Distemper, but because a great many of them are troubled with it.
- 65.
Phil. Trans. N° 96.
- 66.
From Loaf to Loaf. A Proverb. The same as from Hand to Mouth.
- 67.
That is not in the least inferior to Falernian Wine, which was very much esteemed among the Romans.
[Horace, Odes, Book II, 6, “To Septimus.”]
- 68.
It is enough; or as one would say in English: I don’t question the Goodness of it; but I beg the Liberty not to drink more of it than I care for. Culpâ potare Magistrâ is a Phrase made use of by Horace for moderate Drinking. It is a noted Place for its various Lections, and the Criticks are not agreed yet, whether it ought to be readCulpâ, Cupâ, orCuppâ.
- 69.
You shall be free to do as you please. For it is not my Custom to force my Guestsagainst their Inclination. I have told you the Time, therefore pray don’t let us wait for you.
- 70.
I shall be with you at your Time; for my Stomach always helps me remember that Hour.
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Kleiman-Lafon, S. (2017). The Second Dialogue Between Philopirio a Physician, and Misomedon His Patient . In: Kleiman-Lafon, S. (eds) Bernard Mandeville: A Treatise of the Hypochondriack and Hysterick Diseases (1730). International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 223. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57781-4_5
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