HumanitiesWeb.org - Roman History Roman History - Book XIX. (IV. A pestilence, which breaks out in Amida, is checked within ten days by a little rain. A discussion of the causes, and different kinds of pestilences.) by Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman History Roman History - Book XIX. IV. A pestilence, which breaks out in Amida, is checked within ten days by a little rain. A discussion of the causes, and different kinds of pestilences.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
But in the city, where the number of the corpses which lay
scattered over the streets was too great for any one to
perform the funeral rites over them, a pestilence was soon added to the
other calamities of the citizens; the carcases becoming full of worms
and corruption, from the evaporation caused by the heat, and the
various diseases of the people; and here I will briefly explain whence
diseases of this kind arise.
Both philosophers and skilful physicians agree that
excess of cold, or of
heat, or of moisture, or of drought, all cause pestilences; on which
account those who dwell in marshy or wet districts are subject to
coughs and complaints in the eyes, and other similar maladies: on the
other hand, those who dwell in hot climates are liable to fevers and
inflammations. But since fire is the most powerful of all elements, so
drought is the quickest at killing.
On this account it is that when the Greeks were toiling at the ten years' war, to prevent a foreigner from profiting by his
violation of a royal marriage, a pestilence broke out among them, and
numbers died by the darts of Apollo, who is the same as the Sun.
Again, as Thucydides relates, that pestilence which at the
beginning of the Peloponnesian war harassed the Athenians with a most
cruel kind of sickness, came by slow steps from the burning plains of
Ethiopia to Attica.
Others maintain that the air and the water, becoming
tainted by the smell of corpses, and similar things, takes away the
healthiness of a place, or at all events that the sudden change of
temperature brings forth slighter
sicknesses.
Some again affirm that the air becomes heavier by emanations from
the earth, and kills some individuals by checking the perspiration of
the body, for which reason we learn from Homer, that, besides men, the
other living creatures also died; and we know by many instances, that
in such plagues this does occur.
Now the first species of pestilence is called pandemic;
this causes those who live in dry places to be attacked by frequent
heats. The second is called epidemic, which gets gradually more
violent, dims the sight of the eyes, and awakens dangerous humours. The
third is called loemodes, which is also temporary, but still often
kills with great rapidity.
We were attacked by this deadly pestilence from the
excessive heat, which our numbers aggravated, though but few died: and
at last, on the night after the tenth day from the first attack, the
heavy and dense air was softened by a little rain, and the health of
the garrison was restored and preserved.
