The Fortunes of Pertinax: Burton and Johnson

This note revises a note in the Clarendon edition of Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy by investigating the ultimately indeterminate provenance of Burton's Latin phrases concerning irreligious sceptics. It will then propose that this very passage in the Anatomy, together with the work's conclusion, forms a composite source for Samuel Johnson's figure of Pertinax in issue 95 of The Rambler.

Publication Details

Journal
Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Published
2025-12-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17863/cam.123554
Primary Topic
Historical Philosophy and Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

The Fortunes of Pertinax: Burton and Johnson

Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Historical Philosophy and Science
article

The Fortunes of Pertinax: Burton and Johnson

article en

Abstract

This note revises a note in the Clarendon edition of Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy by investigating the ultimately indeterminate provenance of Burton's Latin phrases concerning irreligious sceptics. It will then propose that this very passage in the Anatomy, together with the work's conclusion, forms a composite source for Samuel Johnson's figure of Pertinax in issue 95 of The Rambler.

Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Openalex Percentile: Top 25%
Historical Philosophy and Science
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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The Fortunes of Pertinax: Burton and Johnson · Apollo (University of Cambridge) (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS