SECT. XVII.—ON LOVE-SICK PERSONS.
It will not be out of place here to join love to the affections of the brain, since it consists of certain cares. For care is a passion of the soul occasioned by the reason’s being in a state of laborious emotion. The following symptoms attend lovers: Their eyes are hollow, and do not shed tears, but appear as if overflowing with gladness, their eyelids move rapidly; and even, when none of the other parts of the body are affected, these parts are always so affected in lovers. There is no pulse peculiar to lovers, as some have supposed, but it is the same as that of persons labouring under care. When they call to recollection the beloved object, either from seeing or hearing, and more especially if this occur suddenly, then the pulse undergoes a change from the disorder of the soul, and, therefore, it does not preserve its natural equability or order. Such persons, therefore, being desponding and sleepless, some physicians, mistaking their affection, have wasted them by prohibiting baths, and enjoining quietude, and a spare diet; but wiser ones, recognizing the lover, direct his attention to baths, the drinking of wine, gestation, spectacles, and amusing stories. Some must also be attacked with fear; for, while they think of nothing but love, the affection is difficult to remove. Wherefore, they ought also to be roused to emulation with regard to the objects of their peculiar interest in life; and, upon the whole, their understanding should be diverted to other concerns.
Commentary. See Oribasius (Synops. viii, 9); Haly Abbas (Theor. ix, 7, Pract. v, 25); Avicenna (iii, i, 5, 23); Alsaharavius (Pract. i, 2, 17); Rhases (Divis. 11.)
Although Theocritus had declared that neither ointment nor powder is of any efficacy for the cure of love, several of the ancient writers on medicine have given directions for the treatment of desponding lovers.
Rhases, with unusual brevity, merely recommends, in general terms, repeated enjoyment, fasting, walking, and frequent intoxication. Avicenna, Haly Abbas, and Alsaharavius direct nearly the same treatment; and also mention hunting and sports.