374. With respect to the jealousness arising in some owing to a sickness of the mind of one kind or another, that this happens is not unknown in the world. For there are jealous men who continually think of their wives as being unfaithful, and who regard them as loose women if they but hear or see them speaking in a friendly way with men or about men. There are many impairments of the mind which induce such a sickness. Chief among these is a suspicious imagination, which, if fed long, introduces the mind into societies of like spirits, from which it can only with difficulty be withdrawn. It establishes itself in the body as well, by causing the body's fluid and thus the blood to become viscous, sticky, thick, sluggish, and caustic. A failure of the virile powers further increases it, for this renders the mind incapable of being lifted up out of its suspicious fantasies. For the mind is uplifted by the presence of the virile powers, and cast down by their absence, their absence causing the mind to fall, crumple, and become limp. And the mind then becomes more and more immersed in its fantasy, until it goes mad - a madness which has its outlet in a delight of making accusations, and to the extent it is permitted, of hurling vituperations.