Pestilentia Amidae orta, intra decimum diem exiguo imbre sedatur. Et de causis acgeneribus pestilentiae.

[1] Sed in civitate, ubi sparsorum per vias cadaverum multitude humandi officia superaret, pestilentia tot malis accessit, verminantium corporum lue tabifica, vaporatis aestibus varioque plebis languore nutrita, quae genera morborum unde oriri solent breviter explicabo.

[2] Nimietatem frigoris aut caloris, vel umoris vel siccitatis, pestilentias gignere philosophi et illustres medici tradiderunt. Unde accolentes loca palustria vel umecta tusses et oculares¹ casus et similia perferunt, contra confines caloribus tepore² febrium arescunt.³ Sed quanto ignis materies ceteris est efficacior,⁴ tanto ad perimendum celerior siccitas.

[3] Hinc cum decennali bello Graecia desudaret, ne peregrinus poenas dissociati regalis matrimonii lucraretur, huius modi grassante pernicie, telis Apollinis periere complures (qui sol aestimatur).

[4] Atque ut Thucydides exponit, clades illa, quae in Peloponnesiaci belli principiis Athenienses acerbo genere morbi vexavit, ab usque ferventi Aethiopiae plaga paulatim proserpens, Atticam occupavit.

[5] Aliis placet auras (ut solent) aquasque vitiatas faetore cadaverum, vel similibus, salubritatis violare maximam partem, vel certe aeris permutationem subitam aegritudines parere leviores.

[6] Affirmant etiam aliqui, terrarum halitu densiore crassatum aera, emittendis corporis spiraminibus resistentem, necare non nullos, qua causa animalia praeter homines cetera iugiter prona, Homero auctore, et experimentis deinceps multis, cum talis incesserit labes, ante novimus interire.

[7] Et prima species luis pandemus appellatur, quae efficit in aridioribus locis agentes, caloribus crebris interpellari, secunda epidemus, quae tempore ingruens, acies hebetat luminum, et concitat periculosos umores, tertia loemodes, quae itidem temporaria est, sed volucri velocitate letabilis.

[8] Hac exitiali peste quassatis,⁵ paucis intemperantia aestuum⁶ consumptis, quos multitude augebat, tandem nocte quae diem consecuta est decimum, exiguis imbribus disiecto concreto spiritu et crassato, sospitas retenta est corporum firma.

Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Res Gestae (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).)

Translations (1)

History Perseus (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).) — 19.4 focus

[1] But within the city, where the quantity of corpses scattered through the streets was too great to admit of burial, a plague was added to so many ills, fostered by the contagious infection of maggotin-fested bodies, the steaming heat, and the weakness of the populace from various causes. The origin of diseases of this kind I shall briefly set forth.

[2] Philosophers and eminent physicians have told us that an excess of cold or heat, or of moisture or dryness, produces plagues. Hence those who dwell in marshy or damp places suffer from coughs, from affections of the eyes, and from similar complaints; on the other hand, the inhabitants of hot climates dry up with the heat of fever. But by as much as the substance of fire is fiercer and more effective than the other elements, by so much is drought the swifter to kill.

[3] Therefore when Greece was toiling in a ten years’ war in order that a foreigner¹ might not evade the penalty for separating a royal pair, a scourge of this kind raged and many men perished by the darts of Apollo,² who is regarded as the sun.

[4] And, as Thucydides shows,³ that calamity which, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, harassed the Athenians with a grievous kind of sickness, gradually crept all the way from the torrid region of Africa and laid hold upon Attica.

[5] Others believe that when the air, as often happens, and the waters are polluted by the stench of corpses or the like, the greater part of their healthfulness is spoiled, or at any rate that a sudden change of air causes minor ailments.

[6] Some also assert that when the air is made heavy by grosser exhalations from the earth, it checks the secretions that should be expelled from the body, and is fatal to some; and it is for that reason, as we know on the authority of Homer⁴ as well as from many later experiences, that when such a pestilence has appeared, the other animals besides man, which constantly look downward, are the first to perish.

[7] Now the first kind of plague is called endemic, and causes those who live in places that are too dry to be cut off by frequent fevers. The second is epidemic, which breaks out at certain seasons of the year, dimming the sight of the eyes and causing a dangerous flow of moisture. The third is loemodes,⁵ which is also periodic, but deadly from its winged speed.

[8] After we had been exhausted by this destructive plague and a few had succumbed to the excessive heat and still more from the crowded conditions, at last on the night following the tenth day the thick and gross exhalations were dispelled by light showers, and sound health of body was regained.

Notes on the current edition

Res Gestae

1. humecta fusses et oculares, Lind.; umectatus sese ioculares, V.

2. tepore, G; tempore, V.

3. arescunt, G; arescentes, V; lac. after arescentes, Novák; arescunt frequentes, Her.

4. materia est acrior ceteris et efficacior suggested by Novák.

5. quassatis, Dederichs, Pet.; quassati, V.

6. intem. perantia aestuum, Her.; intemperanti (second n added by V 2) aestu, V.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 19.4

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Pestilentia Amidae orta, intra decimum diem exiguo imbre sedatur. Et de causis acgeneribus pestilentiae.

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers