Fragmentos

Some dote then more than ever they did in their youth. How many decrepit, hoary, harsh, writhen, bursten-bellied, crooked, toothless, bald, blear-eyed, impotent, rotten old men shall you see flickering still in every place? One gets him a young wife, another a courtesan, and when he can scarce lift his leg over a sill, and hath one foot already in Charon's boat, when he hath the trembling in his joints, the gout in his feet, a perpetual rheum in his head, a continuate cough, "his sight fails him, thick of hearing, his breath stinks," all his moisture is dried up and gone, may not spit from him, a very child again, that cannot dress himself, or cut his own meat, yet he will be dreaming of, and honing after wenches; what can be more unseemly? Worse it is in women than in men; when she is aetate declivis, diu vidua, mater olim, parum decore matrimonium sequi videtur, an old widow, a mother so long since (in Pliny's opinion), she doth very unseemly seek to marry; yet whilst she is so old a crone, a beldam, she can neither see nor hear, go nor stand, a mere carcass, a witch, and scarce feel, she caterwauls, and must have a stallion, a champion, she must and will marry again, and betroth herself to some young man, that hates to look on her but for her goods, abhors the sight of her; to the prejudice of her good name, her own undoing, grief of friends, and ruin of her children.

Recordo-me sempre desta passagem, da terceira parte Love-Melancholy dessa obra profundamente estranha de Robert Burton (1577-1640) The Anatomy of Melancholy, quando sou atacado pela melancolia do Amor. O Amor, tal como o Diabo, foge de nós quando escarnecemos dele.

De lembrar que Robert Burton foi educado em Oxford, onde se tornou bibliotecário no Christ’s Church College, uma posição que ocupou até o fim da vida. Foi também vicário da igreja de St. Thomas, Oxford, e reitor de Seabrave, Leicestershire. Burton nunca saiu do seu retiro escolástico e tudo o que ele apresenta no livro é resultado das suas fastidiosas leituras e pesquisas. A quantidade de vida que Burton conseguiu enxergar e mostrar para nós, sentado numa cadeira e olhando o mundo através de uma janela é verdadeiramente impressionante.

Viva a torre de marfim! Abaixo a experiência!