Painfully Happy: Satirical Disease Eulogies and the Good Life

Abstract

According to Johannes Britannicus, one of the most prominent vices censured in satire — luxury — owed its name to twisted body parts, which were distorted from their normal positions, just as luxurious habits were dissolute and turned from their regular course.¹ Satires described various pathological symptoms — paleness, wounds, stomach pains, excess bile, fever and gout — which bespoke questionable living habits and were said to be the well-deserved consequences. Gout especially was the subject of several satirical texts in the early modern period, because it was thought to result from self-indulgent, luxurious living and hence, was called a rich man’s malady (cf. Juvenal 13.96, locupletem podagram), since it usually affected wealthy and highly esteemed men.