276 HORACE ON INSANITY. 



be perfectly competent to conduct his aff'airs without injury to him- 

 self or to society. Horace says, 



** Si quis emat citharas, emtas comportet in unum 

 Nee studio citharae, nee musae deditus ulli ; 

 Si scalpra et formas non sutor, nautica vela 

 Aversus mercaturis ; delirus et amens 

 Undique dicatur merito." 



Here the words " delirus et amens" must not be literally taken, 

 as the mental disorder, if confined to the description given, would 

 not amount to more than eccentricity. But the moment the men- 

 tal afiection begins to deprive the individual of the power of proper 

 self-direction, he, of course, becomes obnoxious to society and dan- 

 gerous to himself; and at this period the law steps in, and charges 

 itself with the duty of protection, both towards the individual and 

 towards society at large. Horace tells us that when there was suf- 

 ficient evidefnce of aberration of intellect to render the individual 

 incapable of taking care of his property, he was placed under the 

 guardianship of the law, and his estates committed to the care of 

 his relatives. He here draws a distinction between that kind of 

 mental disease which constitutes real insanity, and that which re- 

 sults from the development of uncontrolled evil passions and pro- 

 pensities, and between these and the state of eccentricity before al- 

 luded to. He now puts a case of real monomania, in which a de- 

 lusion or false mental impression exists, not connected either by the 

 evidence of the senses or by the exercise of the reasoning faculties, 

 by the powers of comparison and judgment. 



" Si quis lectica nitidam gestare amet agiiam 

 Huic vestem, ut natse, paret, ancillas paret, aurum 

 Pupam aut pupillam appellei, fortique marito 

 Destinet uxorem ; interdicto huic omne adimat jus 

 Praetor, et ad sanos abeat tutela propinquos." 



A person in such a state of mind as here represented, would, 

 without doubt, be considered a fit inmate for a lunatic asylum. His 

 insanity would be at once recognised, and his social rights would 

 with justice be suspended during the period of such an aberration of 

 intellect ; but what will be the answer to the following question, in 

 which the sacrifice of Iphigenia by her father, Agamemnon, is 

 alluded to ? 



" Quid si quis natam pro muta devovet 

 Integer est animi ?'* 



