"'Passion,' continued the doctor, still holding the dish, 'throws the mind into too violent a fermentation; it is a kind of fever of the soul or, as Horace expresses it, a short madness'

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744); Arbuthnot, John (bap. 1677, d. 1735)


Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed by and for George Faulkner
Date
1741
Metaphor
"'Passion,' continued the doctor, still holding the dish, 'throws the mind into too violent a fermentation; it is a kind of fever of the soul or, as Horace expresses it, a short madness'
Metaphor in Context
"Passion," continued the doctor, still holding the dish, "throws the mind into too violent a fermentation; it is a kind of fever of the soul or, as Horace expresses it, a short madness. Consider, woman, that this day's suction of my son may cause him to imbibe many ungovernable passions, and in a manner spoil him for the temper of a philosopher. Romulus by sucking a wolf became of a fierce and savage disposition; and were I to breed some Ottoman emperor, or founder of a military commonwealth, perhaps I might indulge thee in this carnivorous appetite."
(Chapter 4, p. 21)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 16 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1741, 1742, 1752, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1761, 1764, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1772, 1774, 1778, 1779, 1789). Republished in the Works of Pope and of Swift.

See Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus. By Mr. Pope (Dublin: Printed by and for George Faulkner, 1741). <Link to ECCO-TCP>

Reading Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus (London: Hesperus Press, 2002). [From which much of my text was originally transcribed.]
Date of Entry
05/18/2004

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.