Three Books on Life

...becomes an instrument. Hence, filled with divine influences and oracles from on high, he always devises new and unusual things and predicts the future. This is affirmed not only by Democritus and Plato, but also by Aristotle in his book of Problems, and Avicenna in his Book of Divine Things and his Book on the Soul. Why so many words about the humor of black bile? So that we might remember that just as this "bright bile" original: "candida bilis". Ficino uses this term to distinguish the healthy, "shining" version of the melancholic humor—which promotes genius—from the toxic, "burnt" version. is to be sought and nourished as the best, its opposite—as we have said—is to be avoided as the worst. For it is such a dreadful thing that Serapio A reference to the 12th-century physician Ibn Sarabi. said its impulse is incited by an evil demon, and the wise Avicenna The influential Persian polymath Ibn Sina (c. 980–1037). did not deny it.

Chapter 7

To return to the point from which we have now wandered for some time: the road that leads to truth and wisdom is very long, full of heavy labors on both land and sea. Therefore, whoever undertakes this journey—as a certain poet might say—is often in danger on land and sea. For if they sail the sea, they are tossed about continuously between two waves—that is, two humors: namely, phlegm original: "pituitam". In humoral theory, phlegm was considered cold and moist, often leading to sluggishness. and that harmful melancholy—as if between Scylla and Charybdis Two famous mythological sea monsters from Homer’s Odyssey, representing a choice between two equally dangerous options.. Or if they travel by land (so to speak), three monsters immediately present themselves. First, the earthly Venus and Priapus The gods of sexual desire and fertility, representing carnal temptation. nourish the first monster. Second are Bacchus and Ceres The gods of wine and grain, representing the dangers of over-indulgence in food and drink.. Third, the nocturnal Hecate The goddess of ghosts and the night, here associated with the "fog" of excessive sleep. frequently opposes them. Therefore, Apollo must be called from the heavens, Neptune from the sea, and Hercules from the earth: so that Apollo may pierce these monsters—enemies of Pallas Athena/Pallas, the goddess of wisdom and patron of scholars.—with his arrows, Neptune may tame them with his trident, and Hercules may crush and tear them with his club. The first monster is indeed sexual intercourse, especially if it exceeds one’s strength even a little. For it suddenly exhausts the spirits The vital vapors that Ficino believes act as the link between the body and the soul's intellectual faculties., particularly the finer ones; it weakens the brain, and shatters the stomach and the vital organs. Nothing can be more hostile to genius than this evil. For why did Hippocrates judge sexual intercourse to be similar to the "falling sickness" original: "comitiali morbo". An ancient term for epilepsy., if not because it strikes the mind—which is sacred—and causes such great harm?