Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 2.50

[1] For this was a kind of sickness which far surmounted all expression of words and both exceeded human nature in the cruelty wherewith it handled each one and appeared also otherwise to be none of those diseases that are bred amongst us, and that especially by this. For all, both birds and beasts, that use to feed on human flesh, though many men lay abroad unburied, either came not at them or tasting perished.

[2] An argument whereof as touching the birds is the manifest defect of such fowl, which were not then seen, neither about the carcases or anywhere else. But by the dogs, because they are familiar with men, this effect was seen much clearer.

[1] But while the nature of the distemper was such as to baffle all description, and its attacks almost too grievous for human nature to endure, it was still in the following circumstance that its difference from all ordinary disorders was most clearly shown. All the birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching them (though there were many lying unburied), or died after tasting them.

[2] In proof of this, it was noticed that birds of this kind actually disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or indeed to be seen at all. But of course the effects which I have mentioned could best be studied in a domestic animal like the dog.

Daß die Besonderheit dieser Seuche über alle Beschreibung
geht, zeigt sich schon darin, daß sie den Einzelnen mit einer Gewalt
anfiel, welche die menschliche Natur nicht zu ertragen vermochte; daß sie
aber etwas ganz Unerhörtes war, beweist das Folgende. Von den
Vögeln und Vierfüßlern, welche sonst von Leichnamen fressen, rührte
keiner die vielen unbegrabenen Todten an, oder wenn das Thier davon
sraß, so verendete es selbst. Beweis dafür ist das unzweifelhafte
Verschwinden von dergleichen Vögeln, und man sah weder sonstwo einen,
noch auch in der Nähe der Leichnam. Am deutlichsten war diese
Wirkung bei den Hunden wahrzunehmen, weil sie in Gesellschaft der
Menschen leben.

L. Aucune expression ne saurait donner une idée de ce mal ; sa violence, dans chacun des cas, était audessus de tout ce que comporte la nature humaine ; mais ce qui le distingue surtout des autres maladies propres à notre espèce, c’est que les oiseaux et les quadrupèdes qui se nourrissent de cadavres n’en approchaient pas alors, quoiqu’il y en eût un grand nombre sans sépulture, ou périssaient s’ils y avaient touché. Ce qui le prouve, c’est que les oiseaux de cette espèce disparurent complétement, et qu’on n’en voyait aucun ni autour des cadavres, ni ailleurs. Les chiens, par suite de leur familiarité avec l’homme, rendaient ce phénomène encore plus sensible.

Il est impossible de dépeindre les ravages de ce fléau; il sévissait avec une violence irrésistible. Ce qui prouve qu’il différait de toutes les affections connues, c’est que les animaux carnassiers, oiseaux et quadrupèdes, n’approchaient point des cadavrés, quoiqu’il y en eût une foule sans sépulture, ou périssaient dès qu’ils y avaient touché. On s’en aperçut clairement à la disparition de ces animaux; on n’en voyait aucun autour des corps morte ni ailleurs. Cette circonstance était surtout frappante à l’égard des chiens, accoutumés à vivre en société avec l’homme.

[1] Indeed the character of the disease proved such that it baffles description, the violence of the attack being in each case too great for human nature to endure, while in one way in particular it showed plainly that it was different from any of the familiar diseases: the birds, namely, and the fourfooted animals, which usually feed upon human bodies either would not now come near them, though many lay unburied, or died if they tasted of them.

[2] The evidence for this is that birds of this kind became noticeably scarce, and they were no longer to be seen either about the bodies or anywhere else; while the dogs gave a still better opportunity to observe what happened, because they live with man.

[1] For the character of the disorder surpassed description; and while in other respects also it attacked every one in a degree more grievous than human nature could endure, in the following way, especially, it proved itself to be something different from any of the diseases familiar to man. All the birds and beasts that prey on human bodies, either did not come near them, though there were many lying unburied, or died after they had tasted them.

[2] As a proof of this, there was a marked disappearance of birds of this kind, and they were not seen either engaged in this way, or in any other; while the dogs, from their domestic habits, more clearly afforded opportunity of marking the result I have mentioned.

[1] Cum enim hoc morbi genus multo fuerit atrocius, quam quod oratione possit exprimi, et aliis in rebus gravius , quam ut humana natura ferre possit, singulos invasit, et hoc maxime declaravit, se aliud esse, quam aliquod familiarium; alites enim et quadrupedes, quotquot humanis cadaveribus vescuntur, quum multa jacerent insepulta, aut non accedebant, aut, si gustassent, interibant.

[2] Argumento autem hoc est, quod hujusmodi avium manifestus fuit defectus; nec uspiam alibi, nec circum ulla hujusmodi cadavera visebantur; canes vero, propter consuetudinem, quam cum hominibus habent, majorem eventus significationem dabant.

[1] Und nun, da ich als Festredner nach bestem Wissen dem Gesetze genügt, und die Veranstaltungen zur Ehre der Bestatteten theils schon beendigt, theils die alsbaldige Uebemahme der Erziehung ihrer Söhne bis zum Mannesalter vom Staate freigebig beschlossen ist — und solche Aufopferung jetzt und in Zukunft nicht ungelohnt zu lassen, ist er sich schuldig; denn je grösser der Ehrenpreis, der den Tapfern erwartet, desto mehr zuverlässige Männer hat der Staat —

Questa spezie di morbo superiore ad ogni racconto che far se ne possa, si avventava a ciascuno con acerbità da non reggervi forza umana: e principalmente mostrossi esser bene altra cosa che una delle malattie comuni, da questo; che gli uccelli ed i quadrupedi che mangiano carne umana, bene che molti cadaveri restasero insepolti, o non vi si accontavano, o gustandoli morivano. Argomento ne fu la mauifesta mancanza di tali uccelli che non si vedevano intorno a veruno di quei cadaveri nè altrove ; e sovrattutto i cani i quali, perchè assuefatti a conversare con gli uomini, rendevano più sensibile tal crudel conseguenza.