Disputatio de melancholia

XLIII.
Aids are contained in three genera: diet, pharmacy, and surgery. From these, although the affection seems to demand the latter two most of all, yet since the regimen of life (under which all the so-called natural things are contained) contributes most to preventing the generation of morbid matter, but does not provide the cure of the disease except by accident, it will be no less useful than the other two, and necessary to observe.

XLIIII.
Wherefore the air, which is the first in the number of non-natural things, should be tending toward warm and moist, clear and sweet-smelling, and therefore clearly contrary to that which can cause melancholia, just as other things are as well.

XLV.
If it is not such by nature, it must be made so by art: namely, by sprinkling the ground with fragrant flowers, by choosing a house more exposed to the Sun, or even by the imitation of the ancients, by changing the whole region.

XLVI.
Foods should be of praised juice, easy to digest, and free from flatulence: such as the meat of chickens, pullets, and capons, partridges, rock-fish, and things similar to these.

XLVII.
For drink, let them use barley water, or thin, white wine that is not very old or is well diluted: yet not taken in heaps, but moderately.

XLVIII.
To these must be added those things which have the power of cheering by some inherent faculty: such as borage and bugloss are said to be, and above all elecampane, and also the meat of the sea urchin, which Aetius recommends greatly for this use.

XLIX.
Moderate exercise of the body through green and pleasant places is also suitable, if taken at a convenient time: especially if it is joined with other things that can bring cheer to the mind: such as song and other musical instruments, and the recitation of stories, as Celsus teaches, or games, especially those with which the sick person was accustomed to be delighted while he was still healthy.