Recreation in the Renaissance

The Medical Discourse 35
mending to keep a correct upright gait, in dance and in the other
exercises alike. Dancing masters warmly suggest it too, he reminds the
reader. Such posture, with its symmetry, ensures results on both aesthetic
and hygienic grounds, by regularly balancing our movements in
that vertical equilibrium which distinguishes human beings from other
animals, and puts them in agreement with the order of the universe,
itself vertically oriented. Conversely, all exercises which compel the
body to adopt bending positions will alter its shape, and shorten life.
From this respect, medical thought could also observe and recommend
specific dances as suitable for particular bodies, and take into account
differences based on age and gender, or in social and professional background,
or else in an individual’s temperament. Bicaise indeed blamed
disordered and violent dancing, as that practised by town and country
folk, which is totally harmful, because it disharmoniously shakes the
body up. Furthermore, it is arranged without skill or measure, and therefore
bears no relations to lyrics and music. That is why, to stir up the
spirits of people and put into motion those massive, hard and muscular
bodies, which all week grew numb by continuous application to
manual labouring, there is a need to awaken them by resorting to extraordinary
means. In the subsequent chapter on songs, instruments and
music, the author specified that which was needed to move those coarse
spirits and bodies, who were insensitive to sweet and enchanting music:
it was high-pitched notes, noisy sounds, and ridiculous and irregular
songs. 30
Among the other activities, in the following chapters Bicaise judges
military exercises and hunting to be utterly unsuitable for individuals
of particular temperaments; comedy is examined for its remarkable
effect on spectators; singing and playing musical instruments (which he
acknowledges as curative, as well as preservative) are considered from
the points of view of both the performer and the audience. Laughter
can be helpful in moderation, dangerous and even deadly in excess.
Walks are classified according to a remarkable number of characteristics,
including their spatial pattern. Circular movement is singled out as
being the best, in an explanation that bears witness to the longue durée
of astrological medicine (a significant component of Bicaise’s Weltanschauung
from the first chapter of his treatise, ‘Des astres’), as will be
clear from the opening sentence:
Circular promenades are more befitting to us than linear, not only
because they are in harmony (proportionnées) with that circulation
of the blood and with the three circles of fire which Hippocrates