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To be sure, of madness itself there are countless varieties, with many causes and even dissimilar names; for perversity, eccentricity, delirium, and lunacy are not the same thing, but are all names that signify whether one is more or less in the grip of the disease. The causes, too, are of one sort with men, another with women, and even among men they are of one sort with the young and different with the aged; for instance, with the young usually excess of humours, whereas in the case of the old, groundless prejudice and insensate anger against members of the family, attacking them frequently, disturbs them at first, then gradually deranges them to the point of insanity. Women are affected by many things which easily incline them to this ailment, especially by excessive hatred of someone, or jealousy of an enemy who is prospering, or grief of some sort, or anger; these passions, slowly smouldering and acquiring strength in a long lapse of time, produce madness.
