way to treat it, but they died themselves the most
thickly, as they visited the sick most often; nor did any human art
succeed any better. Supplications in the temples, divinations, and so
forth were found equally futile, till the overwhelming nature of the
disaster at last put a stop to them altogether.

It first began, it is said, in the parts of Ethiopia above Egypt,
and thence descended into Egypt and Libya and into most of the King's
country. Suddenly falling upon Athens, it first attacked the
population in Piraeus--which was the occasion of their saying that the
Peloponnesians had poisoned the reservoirs, there being as yet no wells
there--and afterwards appeared in the upper city, when the deaths became
much more frequent. All speculation as to its origin and its causes, if
causes can be found adequate to produce so great a disturbance, I leave
to other writers, whether lay or professional; for myself, I shall
simply set down its nature, and explain the symptoms by which perhaps
it may be recognized by the student, if it should ever break out again.
This I can the better do, as I had the disease myself, and watched its
operation in the case of others.

That year then is admitted to have been otherwise unprecedentedly free
from sickness; and such few cases as occurred all determined in this.
As a rule, however, there was no ostensible cause; but people in good
health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and
redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the
throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid
breath. These symptoms were followed by sneezing and hoarseness, after
which the pain soon reached the chest, and produced a hard cough. When
it fixed in the stomach, it upset it; and discharges of bile of every
kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by very great distress.
In most cases also an ineffectual retching followed, producing violent
spasms, which in some cases ceased soon after, in others much later.
Externally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor pale in its
appearance, but reddish, livid, and breaking out into small pustules and
ulcers. But internally it burned so that the patient could not bear to
have on him clothing or linen even of the very lightest description; or
indeed to be otherwise than stark naked. What they would have liked best
would have been to throw themselves into cold water; as indeed was done
by some of the