Aristotle on melancholy 143
body is in such a condition (diakeitai) that it seems as if they have not had
any food at all:^19 ‘for black bile is cold by nature and therefore chills the
nutritive region (threptikos topos) of the body as well as any other parts that
may contain this residue’.^20
This passage, too, features in the context of a consideration of bodily
(anatomical, physiological) influences on the psycho-physical phenomenon
in question, namely sleep. First of all, it should be noted that Aristotle
speaks not only of melancholics but also of ‘black bile’ (melaina chole ̄):
underlying his use of the termhoi melancholikoiis a physiological concept
that recognises black bile as a distinct fluid (i.e. apart from yellow bile or
bile as such). The text implies that black bile is cold by nature and has a
chilling effect on its environment. Cold as a natural elementary quality of
black bile corresponds to the Hippocratic characterisation of black bile as
dry and cold (see Flashar ( 1966 ) 39 ), although the phrase ‘naturally’ seems to
leave open the possibility of heating.^21 Finally, there is the significant notion
that black bile is aperittoma ̄ , a residue or remainder of food (this term will
be discussed in section 4 below) and the remark that it can be located both
near the nutritive region, that is, the heart (cf.On Respiration(Resp.) 474 b
3 andOn Youth and Old Age(De iuv.) 469 a 5 – 7 ) and in other places in the
body; this is an important addition to its localisation around the ‘perceptive
region’ as stated in the above passage fromOn Memory and Recollection.^22
The melancholic is given a particularly significant role in Aristotle’s trea-
tises on dreams (De insomniis) and on divination in sleep (De divinatione
per somnum). At first there seems to be considerable discrepancy between
the two writings: whilst melancholics are presented as an example of people
with clear and prophetic dreams inOn Divination in Sleep(Div. somn. 463 b
17 ff.; 464 a 32 ff.), inOn Dreams(Insomn. 461 a 22 ), by contrast, the images
they see in their dreams are said to be cloudy and confused. Closer analysis
of the relevant passages should reveal whether they are indeed inconsistent.
To start with the passages inOn Divination in Sleep, at the beginning of
chapter 2 ( 463 b 12 ff.) Aristotle argues that dreams are not sent by the gods,
but that their origin lies in human nature. For this reason dreams are not
divine, albeit beyond human control, for nature is beyond human control
(^19) SeePr. 954 a 7 – 11 (I endorse Flashar’s reading # instead of #here).
(^20) 8 .
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$ ) ( 457 a 31 – 3 ).
(^21) This possibility is explicitly recognised inPart. an. 649 a 24 ff., and the author ofPr. 30. 1 clearly uses
it ( 954 a 14 ff., in particular line 21 , which refers toSomn. vig. 457 a 31 ).
(^22) It is possible to interpret this in the sense that the location of black bile in the region of the heart
is a characteristic feature of the melancholics, whereas its occurrence in other places may happen to
all people.