ould, followed the example thus set.
Erastus and his medical colleagues urged the magistrate to stricter
measures. All communication with the infested villages was forbidden,
the University and schools were closed. The hospital was set aside
especially for plague stricken patients, and everyone infected with
this terrible sickness was carried thither. A violent thunderstorm
which dispelled the evil vapors, aided by a high tide which cleared out
the sewers enabled them to obtain the mastery. The Court returned to
the Castle and Heidelberg resumed its usual aspect. But even after the
disappearance of the epidemic, a victim died here and there of the
disease from which they had imagined themselves now free. The cause lay
in the continuation of the plague in the neighbouring villages, which
in the anxiety to save the town had been neglected. Heart-rending were
the accounts heard, but the exertions of the officials were limited to
the provision of food, the strictest quarantine being maintained. He
who wished to leave to render assistance, could only do so by promising
not to return. Erastus finally managed to carry an order through, that
the Magistrate and certain physicians should visit the various
localities, bringing with them especially medicines, clean clothing,
and linen. As the Magistrate fell ill on the day appointed Erastus
placed himself at the head of the Commission to see what might be done
to abate the evil. Ten of the hospital laborers accompanied them with
spades and axes in a second cart. A third cart was loaded with wine,
food, lime, and other disinfectants. The physicians found the nearest
village still as if all were dead. All the roads leading from the
mountains were barricaded and the peasantry armed with hallebards and
weapons mounted guard to prevent the entry of the inhabitants of the
valleys. The Commissioners were only permitted to pass their carts
through with the greatest difficulty, and in spite of the mandate given
by the Kurfuerst, the peasants declared they would not suffer one of the
gentlemen to return that way, as the plague did not seem to trouble
itself about princely mandates. They continued on their way through
this still valley of death. Here and there a stray beast browsed on the
green pastures. The houses of the peasantry above seemed to be
abandoned. The Commissioners entered one. A hen seeking for grain in
the empty court was the only living being. The doors were broken in,
the shu