, and produced
some letters from the emperor, expressly enjoining that all that could
be done was to be done without exposing the troops to any danger; but
his own secret motive he kept in his own bosom, namely, that he had been
constantly recommended while at court to refuse his predecessor, who was
very eager for glory, every opportunity of acquiring renown, however
much it might be for the interest of the republic.

3. Extreme pains were taken, even to the ruin of the provinces, to
prevent the gallant Ursicinus from being spoken of as the author of or
partner in any memorable exploit. Therefore, bewildered with these
misfortunes, Ursicinus, seeing that, though constantly sending spies to
us (although from the strict watch that was set it was not easy for any
one to enter the city), and proposing many advantageous plans, he did no
good, seemed like a lion, terrible for his size and fierceness, but with
his claws cut and his teeth drawn, so that he could not dare to save
from danger his cubs entangled in the nets of the hunters.

IV.

Sec. 1. 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.

2. 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.

3. On this account it is that when the Greeks were toiling at the ten
years' war,[103] 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.

4. 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.

5. Others maintain