Erōtomania or A treatise discoursing of the essence, causes, symptomes, prognosticks, and cure of love, or erotique melancholy. Written by Iames Ferrand Dr. of Physick

CAP. XXV. Whether or no, Iealousy be a Diagnosticke signe of Love-Melancholy.

ALexander Piccolomineus in his E∣thicks, Lib. 10. cap. 7. Labours to prove, that true Love must be free, and void of all Iealousy: Because that he that pursues any thing with a vertuous desire, is glad to find any companions in his pur∣suit; for this may not only further him in the attaining of it, but may also serve for an argument of the worth of the Object of his desires. For it is Weaknesse only that is afraid of an Incounter, as being conscious of it's owne insufficiency and want of power to resist.

But Plutarch is of the contrary opini∣on, and saies, that as Vertue is not Praise∣worthy, nor produceth any laudable ef∣fects, unlesse it elevate the heart, and raise in it an earnest desire and Emulation, to be

like good men, and to be accomplished with all those Indowments that are re∣quisite for the attainement of the height of perfection: so Love, if it have not a tin∣••ure of jealousy, is neither Active, nor Ef∣ficacious. This was it that encreased the ••ove of Achilles to his captive Briseis; of Menelaus to Helen; and of Orestes to Her∣eione.

Mcrius Hermionem ideò delexit Orestes, Esse quòd alterius caeperat illa viri. Quid Menelaë doles? Jbas sine conjuge Creten: Et poteras nuptâ laetus abesse tuâ. Ʋt Paris hanc rapuit, tum demum uxore carere Non potes. Alterius crevit amore tuus.

••restes lov'd Hermione the more, Cause now she should have been ano∣thers whore. Why griev'st thou Menelaus? thou couldst be At Creet, without thy wife, or jealousie. Only thy Love a Rivall could not brooke. Thus thine, from Paris love, new forces tooke.

I for my part am of Simonides his opinion whose saying it was, that as every Lap¦wing has a tuft upon his head, so must eve¦ry true Lover have a touch of jealousie and that from hence it will necessarily follow, that Phaulius, that voluntary Cuc∣kold, that plaid the Pandar for King Phi¦lip, with his owne wife, did not love her with any true love. Nor that infamous Galba in Rome, who having one night in¦vited Mecoenas to come and sup with him, and perceiving him, as they sate a•• the table, to cast amourous glances on his wife, when supper was ended, he tooke occasion to counterfeit himselfe asleepe to the end that Mecoenas might have the more liberty to court his wife to his de∣sires. Meane while there comes a servant of his into the roome, who finding his Master, as he thought, asleep, went toward the table, thinking to steale a cup of wine that stood there: which his Master Galba Perceiving, and not willing to loose his wine, he hindred his servants purpose with a sudden exclamation; and cries our unto him, Non omnibus dormio, I doe not sleep for every body; but only for Mecoe∣nas.

Both of these were of the same Nature that the Hee-goat is of: which only, a∣long all living creatures is observed by ••e Naturalists never to be jealous of his ••ate: (notwithstanding that the story of ••rathis, who was killed by a Hee-goat, ••ems to prove the contrary.) Of which condition, the women of Tartaria are re∣••orted to be at this day; as of old, the La∣••daemonian, Cyprian, Rhodian, and Assy∣••an were.

But as Iealousy insinuates it selfe into the Mind under the title and pretence of ••ood will: so when it hath once gotten ••ossession of it, it presently begins to play ••he Tyrant, and torments it extreamely; and makes the Lover looke with a pale, ••eane, and amazed kind of visage, and sometimes casts him headlong into De∣spaire: as it did Lepidus, and a thousand more. And then the same causes that ser∣ved at the first to build Love upon, serve afterward to raise as deadly a hatred: as namely the Vertues, Beauty, Worth, Re∣putation of the party beloved. So that if it were possible for a man to make his choice, from which of all the evills in the

world be free; he could not, in my opini¦on, make a fitter choice, then of this mis¦chievous Iealousy. Because that in all o¦thers, the paine endures no longer the the cause: but Iealousy springs indifferent¦ly from that which is, and from that which is not, nor perhaps never shall be. O the Ingenuity of this Passion! which hath the power, out of an Imaginary evill, to draw a true, and reall torment. Thus the fa¦mous Painter Parrhasius was wont to put his owne servants to torture, that by see¦ing them, he might be the better able t•• expresse to the life the Paines and Horri•• sufferings of Prometheus.

Why are we so ambitious of our Mise¦ries, as to run to meet them, and make them prevent Imagination? We see that many have lost their Mistresses, only for suspecting their Chastity: as we often see those persons that are troubled with Hy∣pochondriacall Melancholy, to fall sicke, with the very feare of being so.

So that we may conclude, that Iealousy of times causes us to be overtaken by that which we desire most of all to avoyde: and therefore a witty fellow once said,

that Iealousy, and Cuckoldry, had their feast kept both on a day. And indeed this seemes to be confirmed also by many ex∣amples; as namely, that of Danaë, who so long as she enjoyed her liberty, continued Chast: but she was no sooner imprisoned in the brazen Tower by her jealous Fa∣ther, but presently she was lost. For, as the old Comicke Poet saith,

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There is no doore so close, nor closet so secret, where a Cat, and a Wencher will not find entrance.