ppocrates himself, _Dandum aliquid tempori, aetati regioni,
consuetudini_, and therefore to [1462]continue as they began, be it diet,
bath, exercise, &c., or whatsoever else.

Another exception is delight, or appetite, to such and such meats: though
they be hard of digestion, melancholy; yet as Fuchsius excepts, _cap. 6.
lib. 2. Instit. sect. 2_, [1463]"The stomach doth readily digest, and
willingly entertain such meats we love most, and are pleasing to us, abhors
on the other side such as we distaste." Which Hippocrates confirms,
_Aphoris. 2. 38._ Some cannot endure cheese, out of a secret antipathy; or
to see a roasted duck, which to others is a [1464]delightsome meat.

The last exception is necessity, poverty, want, hunger, which drives men
many times to do that which otherwise they are loath, cannot endure, and
thankfully to accept of it: as beverage in ships, and in sieges of great
cities, to feed on dogs, cats, rats, and men themselves. Three outlaws in
[1465]Hector Boethius, being driven to their shifts, did eat raw flesh, and
flesh of such fowl as they could catch, in one of the Hebrides for some few
months. These things do mitigate or disannul that which hath been said of
melancholy meats, and make it more tolerable; but to such as are wealthy,
live plenteously, at ease, may take their choice, and refrain if they will,
these viands are to be forborne, if they be inclined to, or suspect
melancholy, as they tender their healths: Otherwise if they be intemperate,
or disordered in their diet, at their peril be it. _Qui monet amat, Ave et
cave_.

"He who advises is your friend
Farewell, and to your health attend."

SUBSECT. IV.--_Retention and Evacuation a cause, and how_.

Of retention and evacuation, there be divers kinds, which are either
concomitant, assisting, or sole causes many times of melancholy. [1466]
Galen reduceth defect and abundance to this head; others [1467]"All that is
separated, or remains."

_Costiveness_.] In the first rank of these, I may well reckon up
costiveness, and keeping in of our ordinary excrements, which as it often
causeth other diseases, so this of melancholy in particular. [1468]Celsus,
lib. 1. cap. 3, saith, "It produceth inflammation of the head, dullness,
cloudiness, headache," &c. Prosper Calenus, _lib. de atra bile_, will have
it distemper not the organ only, [1469]"but the mind itself by troubling of
it:" and sometimes it is a sole cause of madness, as y