昨日の記事「#4341. Shakespeare にみられる4体液説」 ([2021-03-17-1]) に続き，西洋古代中世を通じて広く信じられていた4体液説 (the four humours) について．英文学において中世といえば，まず Chaucer の名前が挙がるが，Chaucer 文学においても4体液説は現役である．現役どころか，随所にそのパワーの炸裂をみることができる．
4種の体液のうち，現代まで最も強く当時の余韻と意味を保持しているのは黒胆汁 (melancholy) だろう．現代英語の melancholy という単語の語源は，ギリシア語 melas/melan- (black) + kholē (bile) に遡り，文字通り「黒胆汁」となる．この体液が過剰だと，人間はふさぎ込み「憂鬱」になるとされた．
Chaucer における melancholy の最たる事例の1つとして，The Canterbury Tales の Knight's Tale より，恋の病に陥った Arcite が「憂鬱」に犯されているシーンをみてみよう (I(A), 1361--76) ．
His slep, his mete, his drynke, is hym biraft,
That lene he wex and drye as is a shaft;
His eyen holwe and grisly to biholde,
His hewe falow and pale as asshen colde,
And solitarie he was and evere allone,
And waillynge al the nyght, makynge his mone;
And if he herde song or instrument,
Thanne wolde he wepe, he myghte nat be stent.
So feble eek were his spiritz, and so lowe,
And chaunged so, that no man koude knowe
His speche nor his voys, though men it herde.
And in his geere for al the world he ferede
Nat oonly lik the loveris maladye
Of Hereos, but rather lyk manye,
Engendred of humour malencolik
Biforen, in his celle fantastic.
最後から2行目の humour malencolic が問題の箇所である．恋の病に陥った Arcite は，黒胆汁に犯されて狂人のようになっていたという．哀れな騎士の外見と心理を描写するのに，humour が一役買っている事例である．以上，Rogers (186--89) の Chaucer 百科事典より "Four Humours" の項を参照した．
・ Rogers, Shannon L. All Things Chaucer: Ann Encyclopedia of Chaucer's World. 2 vols. Westport, Connecticut and London: Greenwood, 2007.
古代・中世ヨーロッパの医学・病理学においては，心身の病態を体液 (humours) に基づいて説明する原理が広く受け入れられていた．とりわけ古代ギリシアの時代よりヒッポクラテスやガレノスが指摘してきた4種の体液 (the four cardinal humours) が重要な役割を果たすとされた．血液 (blood)，粘液 (phlegm)，（黄）胆汁 (choler，yellow bile)，黒胆汁 (melancholy, black bile) の4種である．これらのバランスがよいと健康となるが，不足や過剰が生じると，支配的な体液の種類に応じて特有の病態，気質，気分が現出するという．Crystal and Crystal (230) の説明を引こう．
In early account of human physiology, a person's physical and mental disposition was thought to be governed by a combination of fluids, or humours, within the body. Four humours were recognized: blood, phlegm, choler (also called yellow bile), and melancholy (also called black bile or black choler). The notion transferred readily into a range of seances to do with temperament, mood, inclination, and manner of action . . . , regarded as permanent or alterable features of behaviour.
ルネサンス以降には解剖学が進歩し4体液説は徐々に廃れていったが，Shakespeare の時代にはまだ後者の影響が色濃く残っていた．Shakespeare からの例の一部を Crystal and Crystal (230) より挙げつつ，登場人物のなかに4体液説の具体的な反映をみてみよう．
| Humour | Typical disposition | Seen in character | Example |
| blood | optimistic, passionate, amorous, courageous | Hotspur (as described by his wife) | In military rules, humours of blood, / He was the mark and glass, copy and book, / That fashioned others (2H4 ll.iii.30) |
| phlegm | dull, indifferent, indolent, apathetic, idle | Falstaff and his companions (as described by Prince Hal) | I know you all, and will awhile uphold / The unyoked humour of your idleness, (1H4 l.ii.194) |
| choler | angry, irascible, bad-tempered | Cassius (as described by Brutus) | Go show your slaves how choleric you are ... Must I stand and crouch / Under your testy humour? (JC IV.iii.43) |
| melancholy | sad, gloomy, sullen, depressed | Jaques (as described by Rosalind) | They say you are a melancholy fellow. [Jaques] I am so: I do love it better than laughing (AY IV.i.3) |
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