Book II.
47. Of such a
kind were the funerals conducted in the winter, the end of which closed
the first year of the war. The subsequent summer beheld the
Peloponnesians and their allies, Archidamus of Sparta as before leading
two thirds of their soldiery, invade and ravage Attica. However, before
many days had passed the plague began to appear among the people of
Athens. It is recorded to have broken out elsewhere, in Lemnos, for one,
but no disease ever recorded was so virulent and deadly to humankind as
this plague. No doctors could treat the sickness. Indeed, their rate of
mortality was all the higher for being exposed to the sufferers, who
became gradually more violent, and in the end filled with blood-lust,
mordantly attacking those who wished to help them. Appeals to the gods
were of no avail, and in time these were abandoned, the erstwhile
suppliants crushed by the gravity of their misfortune.
48. The disease is said to have originated beyond Egypt, in Ethiopia,
and to have fallen upon Egypt and the rest of North Africa, and then the
majority of the Persian Empire. It then fell with destructive swiftness
on the Athenians, first polluting those who lived and worked in the
Peiraeus. At first there was suspicion that the Spartans had polluted
the waterways, but when it reached the city proper and the number of
deaths grew, this notion was disproved. Now, anyone, doctor or no, may
describe the origin and causes he suspects led to this disaster, so
different from natural death. I myself will describe the symptoms,
serving as a precautionary and salutary guide to those who are
unfortunate witnesses to any future outbreak. For I myself very nearly
was carried off by the disease, narrowly avoiding death at the hands of
one of its sufferers, and I saw a great many of those who had to be
slain to preserve Athens.
49. All agree that insofar as other sicknesses are concerned, the year
was remarkably healthy; although anyone who was already sick, being
hampered in flight, was necessarily captured by the new sufferers and
added to the swelling number of the sick. In several cases, healthy men
were first seized with a feeling of burning within their heads, and
suffered inflammations around their eyes and within and around their
mouths, their breath becoming a foul stench. These signs were followed
by sneezing and a hoarseness of the voice, which descended to the chest,
leading to fits of coughing. Thereafter it descended to the belly,
generating vomiting of every sort of bile known to medicine, combined
with great distress. When the sufferers had no more to vomit up, they
would wretch emptily, convulsing violently. These convulsions would
sometimes end swiftly and again would on occasion continue for a while.
The body itself was cool to the touch, and in colour pale, with the skin
in some areas breaking down as though the sufferer was already dead.
However, just as with a fever, the infected felt such a burning heat
they could not bear to have even a light sheet cover them, and many
threw themselves into the water tanks, and attempted to quench the
burning with copious drafts of water. It was all the same whether they
drank much or little.
They could not rest, nor could they sleep. The body was wasted by the
disease to a degree, but the sufferers' strength did not leave them. By
the sixth or seventh day, in almost every case, the disease took their
reason, although some of them persisted as long as nine days before they
were no longer men but animals. For the disease, having destroyed man's
capacity to reason, and his ability to love, left untouched his
cupidity and hunger, leaving him with an unthinking desire to fill his
belly, even with the flesh of other men. He became insensible to many
kinds of pain. For often could one observe a sufferer dragging himself
toward one, having lost a leg, yet still intent on feeding his brutish
appetites.
50. The nature of the disease was so unprecedented as to baffle
description, and the violent change so introduced did break the spirits
of many who were even unaffected. It was remarkable in one way, as
whereas birds and animals would feed on dead bodies, in this instance
they would avoid them, or if they did feed on them, themselves perished
gradually in a similar fashion. This is demonstrated by the scarcity of
the birds at that time, and in the case of dogs, this could be more
closely observed as they dwell among men.
51. These were the general characteristics of the disease. I pass over
many uncommon symptoms, as one man would suffer this and another man
that oddity. During the reign of the sickness, there were no other
ailments, or if there were, they would be ended by this disease. For
once the disease was contracted, very few passed through the sickness
and recovered. In many cases, when the sick began to attack their
doctors and families and friends, they were restrained. But if this
proved ineffectual, as it did in almost every case, the only remaining
recourse was to kill the sufferer, who now had but the mind of a mad
dog, before he slew those whom he once had loved. The most terrible
spectacles to behold was when a woman or child suffered from this
malady, as they too would leave behind their kindly and passive natures,
becoming violent, and hurling themselves even onto outstretched
spear-points in a mad attempt to bite and feed.
For when the disease had felled many hundreds of Athenians, it became
necessary to arm the citizenry and to fight against the sick, as they
would otherwise have imperilled every person in Athens. The police first
attempted to employ their arrows against the sick, but it became
apparent that the resistance of the infected to pain demanded harsher
measures. For this reason every man took up weapons, while the elderly
men and women and children locked themselves up in houses. The heavy
infantry and skirmishers were much engaged in the bloody business of
cutting down the sick. This was not just a horrible business to behold,
but on account of the bestiality of the sick, wounds that were normally
mortal very frequently did not slay them. The only certain measure was
to crush the head or cut it from the torso. This was both sickening and
also heavy work. If one of the sick got too close, and bit one of the
soldiers, he then knew he would become sick. Many men who fought in the
battle-line would grow sick, and some would suddenly turn against their
fellows in battle, precipitating a general flight, leading to more men
joining the ranks of the savage sick.
52. The troubles of the Athenians were greatly worsened as the city was
crowded with refugees from the countryside, who has crowded into the
city to escape the Peloponnesians. No houses having been available to
house them, they had lived in ramshackle huts, which were indefensible
when the sick fell upon them, tearing them to pieces. Many took refuge
from the sickness in the temples, and the temples to Aesculapius were
often filled with the sick, so when they fell to savagery, the
suppliants were among the first to suffer as a result of their piety.
The normal funerary customs could no longer be observed, so overwhelmed
was the city by the disaster, and when slain, the sick were heaped up in
piles, some being buried, and others burned. Lacking the material for
their own pyres, some would steal wood from the piles of others, and
others would throw corpses onto an already-burning heap of wood, and
flee.
53. The plague was also instrumental in introducing much thievery and
immorality into the city. Whereas men had heretofore been restrained by
shame and custom from indulging their desires, the threat of imminent
death stripped away their restraints, leaving a careless audacity. They
beheld the sudden changes of fortune, both in the prosperous who fell
sick, and in the poor who inherited the property of the dead. They
therefore decided to steal every pleasure from life in the short span
that might be left them, gratifying their lusts, condemning as worthless
their bodies and wealth.
None concerned himself with matters of honour, everyone fearing he would
lose his life before he could attain it, and so instant pleasure came
to be seen as honourable and expedient. They beheld the demise of all,
and felt that piety and impiety were alike ineffectual, while believing
he would not live to be called to account in the law courts. Instead
they believed that they had already been condemned to die, and so
resolved to take pleasure in what life remained to them.
After this, there is a lacuna in the text,
but we know from scholiasts and other historians, notably Plutarch and
Xenophon, that the Peloponnesians retreated from the siege when they
began to suffer the effects of the plague. The Athenians may have lost
as much as one in three of their population, and Thucydides recounts
that the city, which was to suffer two further recurrences of plague in
the next several years, one of which carried off Pericles, did not
recover until it mounted the Sicilian Expedition a decade and a half
later. It is more reasonable to remark that with such a diminution of
population at such an early stage of the war, that Athens never did
truly recover from this disastrous plague. The disease has proved
impossible to eradicate, and recurred many times in the ancient world,
for instance in Rome in 293 BC and the Antonine Plague or Plague of
Galen that lasted from 165-180 AD. As indicated by Jenner in his
pioneering work of...
----
Those of you wondering why I am ripping off Thucydides may be demanding an explanation. A friend of mine has suggested a little literary contest, which you can read more of here (please note that you have to be a member to access that part of the site). In short, to participate in this I have taken a historical event, the Plague of Athens, and very slightly altered Thucydides' words so that rather than fearing a disease, the Athenians are now having to slay zombies in order to survive. I dashed this off rather quickly, but I fancy it might be well-received for two reasons. First, it's getting some friendly comments on the two sites I have posted it on. Second, a lot of wargamers like fiddling about with zombies, and I have never heard of them being sent against hoplites before. I did read an amusing tale of zombies and Ancient Egyptians once, mind you. So there may be some scenario-fodder here for some of you. If you did enjoy the above, I really recommend to you the man whose work I am stealing. Thucydides is a wonderful read. If you thought it dreadful, all flaws are mine, and you should go read Thucydides!
No comments:
Post a Comment