American Philological Association

Plague or Poetry? Thucydides on the Epidemic at Athens

Author(s): Thomas E. Morgan
Source: Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), Vol. 124 (1994), pp. 197-
209
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 TransactionsoftheAmericanPhilologicalAssociation124 (1994) 197-209

Plague or Poetry?Thucydides on
the Epidemic at Athens
Thomas E. Morgan
Bellevue, Washington

In the second book of his History,chapters47 through55, Thucydidesde-

scribesin greatdetaila severevo6ao (disease) thatravagedthecityof Athens
in the summerof 430/429BC.1 This disease quicklyreachedepidemicpro-
portions,attackingabout twenty-five percentof the adultpopulationwitha
highrateof mortality. So vividlydid Thucydidesdescribethesigns,symptoms,
and sequelae of thedisease thathis ancientand modemreadersalike became
fascinatedwiththeillness.But,despitehis detaileddescription,thecause of the
epidemicremainsuncertain.Its mysterious naturehas playedupon theminds
and physiciansand, in recentyears,thedisease has
of philologists,historians,
assumed more importancein some quartersthanthe war in whichit arose.
Certainlymorescholarlyattention has been directedto thenatureof the epi-
demicthanto theeffectsof theepidemicon Athens'abilityto conductthewar
withSparta.
Especiallyin thepast one hundredyears,physicianshave joined philol-
ogists in speculatingabout whatmicro-organism caused the epidemic.One
scholarlyanalysishas succeededanother,arguingthatthecause was smallpox
or measles,typhusor scarletfever,bubonicplagueor pneumonicplague,ergo-
tism,leptospirosisor Tularemia,and, more recently,Marburg-Ebolavirus,
RiftValley Fever,or influenzacomplicatedby staphylococcal infection.2Each

1I will translateGreekwordsandphrases,withapologiesto philologists,forthesakeof

physicians whomaynothavelearnedGreek.Theterms'disease' and'epidemic'willbe used
throughout sincetheyaremoreinkeepingwithThucydides' terminology andavoidtheconno-
tationsofthemoreusualterm'plague,'especiallythoseofthemedievaldiseaseof thesame
name.ThetextofThucydides usedis theOxfordeditionofH. S. Jones(1900,rpt.withappar-
atuscriticus,1942).
2Smallpox(Littmanand Littman),measles (Page, Shrewsbury), typhus(Crawfurd,
Gomme),scarletfever(Rolleston49), bubonicplagueor pneumonic plague(Hooker,Mac-
Arthur),ergotism (SalwayandDell),leptospirosis
orTularemia (WylieandStubbs),Marburg-
Ebola virus(Scarrow),RiftValley Fever (Morensand Chu), influenzacomplicatedby
staphylococcalinfection
(Langmuiretal.).

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198 ThomasE. Morgan

proposed etiology fit the descriptionin certainrespects,but each had its

difficultiesas well, thus accountingfor the continuingsearch for the true
cause.3
Since theopinionsof scholarshave variedgreatlyand no consensushas
been reached,what are we to conclude was the cause of the pestilence?Is
modemmedicalsciencecapableofdetermining whatagentwas responsible? As
a physician,recentlyearningan advanced degree in Classics, I was at first
hopefulthata definitiveanswerwould emerge,but laterI began to doubt.
Withinthepasttwo years,however,twoscholarlycontributions have appeared
whichmay directfuturecriticalthinking along moreproductivelines. In the
first,a contributionthatappearedin theseTransactions,Morensand Littman
providedan analysisbased upon epidemiologicalprinciplesratherthanthe
usual medicalapproach.Theiranalysisshowsthatthedisease was one whose
characteristicslimitbut do not definetheetiologicalpossibilities,a welcome
departure from the seeminglyendless argumentsabout the causative agent
based solely on the symptomsdescribedby Thucydides.The second contri-
bution,by Pearcy,properly focusesourattentionon Thucydides'description as
a narrativeworkof thefifth-century BC thatpresents"...realitymediated,and
therefore transformed, by theconventionsof languageand art"(599).
The purposeof thispaper is to re-examine,in the lightof theserecent
contributions,Thucydides'language,his abilityto use medicaltermsand con-
ceptscorrectly, theliterarycontextin whichtheHistorywas written, and his
purposein reporting theepidemic.My hope is thatwithsuch a reviewwe can
understand thelimitationsimposeduponourmodemscientific and philological
interpretationof Thucydides'wordsand ideas. Then,witha clearergraspof
his description,we can betterevaluatetheepidemicthatravagedAthensin the
secondyearof thePeloponnesianWar.

However much modem observersmay wish it otherwise,we are still

dependenton Thucydides;onlyhe givesus sucha completedescription bothof
thisde-
thedisease and of its consequencesforAthens.If we are to understand
scription,we mustunderstand Thucydides'times,his vocabulary,and the lit-
erarysettingof his Historyin thelastquarterof thefifthcentury.Althoughwe
cannotknowall thatmightbe desiredin thatregard-indeed,we are noteven
surewhatfraction of theAthenianpopulationwas literate-we do have certain
information thatbears on the literary"standards"of his time. Cochrane in

Poole and Holladay,and

3Cf. theexcellentreviewsof theproblemby Scarborough,
Longrigg.

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 Thucydideson theEpidemicat Athens 199

1929 showedclearlyhow indebtedThucydideswas to theHippocraticauthors,

maintainingthatit was theircriticalapproachto medicinethatinfluenced
Thucydidesto adopt the criticalmethodin historicalnarrative.J. H. Finley
agreedwithCochrane,holdingthattheHippocraticcriticalmethodinfluenced
not onlyThucydidesand therecordingof history,but also extendedto many
otherareas of Greek endeavoras well. Cochrane's seminal work was also
acceptedand extendedby scholarssuch as Weidauer,Page, de Romilly,and
Scarborough,but Thucydides'relationto theHippocrateanshas not yetbeen
completely explored.The persuasivearguments of Cochraneand Weidauerstill
go largelyunnoticed.
Page notedthatThucydidesused manytermsin his descriptionof the
disease thatwere also used by the Hippocrateans:aixat68;, (blood-red),
qXoyw)acw (burning),tir"puOpov(reddened),-tsXirvo6(livid) among others.
In his carefulscholarship,Page notedverb usage thatwas typicallyHippo-
crateanas well as a numberof termsthatwerenotemployedby thephysicians
exclusively.Sixteen yearslater,Parry(113) respondedthatPage had over-
statedThucydides'dependenceuponthephysiciansfortechnicalterms,saying
thatthe"vocabularyof thedescription of thePlague is notentirely,
is noteven
largely,technical"and thatmostof the termswere in commondaily usage.
Parry'ssharpdisagreement withalmostall previousscholarlycommentary has
neverbeen,to myknowledge,critically reviewed,buthas been acceptedas the
ultimatejudgmentby manylaterwriters. Yet, if we are to understandprecisely
whatThucydideswas describing, we mustunderstand his terminology.Who is
correct,Page or Parry?Usingthecomputer-based ThesaurusLinguae Graecae
(TLG), I examinedtheoccurrenceof all thetermsused by Thucydidesto de-
scribethesymptoms in History2.49 and confirmed thatPage was in almostall
respectscorrect.Thereare at least fivetermsin Thucydides'descriptionthat
occur only in the Hippocrateancorpus and nowhereelse in all of the pre-
ThucydideanGreek literaturethathas survivedto modem times (Morgan).
Page approachedtheproblemto showthatThucydideswas dependent uponthe
Hippocrateansforhis medical terminology; Parrywas at pains to show that
Thucydideswas not indebtedto thephysicians.As is oftenthe case in such
controversies,thetruthlies somewherein themiddle,buttheTLG searchdid
supporttheconclusionthatThucydidesknewthemedicalliterature of his time
and reliedupon it forthetechnicaltermsand medicalconceptsdemandedby
his descriptionof thedisease.
A furtherfact helpful in understandingthe literary culture of
Thucydides'timesemergedwhentheTLG searchwas conducted.The TLG-
IBYCUS compactdisc containsall extantGreekworksof antiquity.As the

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200 ThomasE. Morgan

searchfortheoccurrenceof a givenwordproceeds,a sense of thevolumeof

theliteraturebeingsearchedis imparted as a functionof thetimenecessaryfor
the search.The factthatemergedwas thatthefifty-one books of theHippo-
craticCorpusare equal in volumeto all otherpre-Thucydidean Greeklitera-
turecombined.The Corpus was, however,probablywrittenbothbeforeand
afterThucydides'time,so thatonlyabouthalfof whatwe have todaywould
have been available to Thucydides.4Still,thenumberof volumesthatwould
have compriseda completeGreek library(if indeed such a libraryhad ever
been assembledin fifth-century Athens)would have been heavilyweighted
towardmedicalworks.While some mayquibbleas to theexact proportion of
themedicalworks,theymusthave compriseda significant partof thewritten
thenavailable.We can concludeon thisbasis, as well as thosecited
literature
by otherauthorssuchas J.H. Finleyand Cochrane,thatThucydidesmusthave
knownthesemedicalworksand could hardlyhave escaped beingin some way
influencedby them.But, in assessing the literaryenvironment in whichhe
composedtheHistory,we shouldnotforgetthat,whileThucydidesdepended
on the physiciansfor some terminologyand concepts of disease, he was
addressinghis Historyprimarily to a non-medicalaudience.
It was in thisenvironment, then,thatThucydidesset downthisaccountof
whatseemedto him to be themost important war in history.He says as much
in thebeginning(History1.1) and thusjustifieshis labor.But it is important to
understand thattheHistoryis narrative, a seriesof eventslinkedtemporally.
Thereis littleanalysisof cause and effectcomparedto thepracticesof modem
historians,and therealityof theevents,especiallythespeeches,was admitted
by Thucydidesto have been tailoredto suithis narrative purposes(1.22.1). Did

4Thisestimate oftheoccurrence
is basedonan analysis oftheverbs"todie"(certainly a com-
monverbofoutcomeinmedicine) inGreekworksbeforeandafter Thucydides' time.Priorto
430 BC theverbOvilojicis overwhelmingly with97 occurrences
preferred, in 10 non-medical
whileafter
authors, 400 BC throughthetimeofGalenthepreference shiftstoa&ioOvialco.and
avovacoOv ojicw (morethan1195occurrences ofthecompound verbsin fourauthors) as op-
posedtoOvojic(o(237 occurrencesinthesamefourauthors). In eachanalysis,theHippocratic
Corpuswasexcluded.WhentheCorpuswasanalyzedseparately, 232 occurrences of"verbsof
dying"werefoundin 35 books:90 wereOvilcaicw and 142 were(auv)axoOvijicw. Butthe
two formsdid notoftenoccurtogether in the same book; eitherOviraicowas used or
(asov)aicoOvMaicw was employed. Of the 35 books using the verb, 12 used Ovijamcoex-
19usedonlythecompound
clusively, forms,andonly4 booksusedbothforms
I haveassumed, basedonthefactthatOviramo.wasfavoredbymoreancientauthors, thatthe
Hippocraticbooksusingthesimpleformweretheolderbooks.Further, Thucydides usesboth
forms period.[Formorecomplete
equally,thusplacinghiminthe'transitional' please
analysis,
refertomythesis.]Finally,thesumofthe'Ov aicwo ones[4]
books'[12] plusthe'transitional'
equals thosewritten beforeor duringThucydides'lifetimeand is roughlyequal to the 19
'(auv)axoOvijaicw books' writtenlater.

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 Thucydideson theEpidemicat Athens 201

Thucydidesalso tailorhis descriptionof theepidemicto suitthepurposesof

his story?I believe thathe did and thatwe can findevidenceto supportthis
pointof view in Thucydides'choice of verbsand styleof presentation in the
disease descriptionas compared with the remainderof the History. If
Thucydideshad followedtheHippocrateans in describingthecourseof theepi-
demic,he wouldhave been,likethephysicians, terseand spare.By
telegraphic,
comparison,Thucydides'disease descriptionis literaryand complete.Physi-
cians, bothancientand modem,tendto use thesame verbsrepeatedlyto ex-
presstheoutcomeof a case whenitends in death;Greekphysiciansinvariably
used a formof OvKano. Thucydidesneitheruses thesame verbsas thephysi-
cians nor confineshimselfto a single one, using insteada varietyof verbs:
&wapOsipo six timesin chapters49-53, a6cirXXvitwice,and OvKCnco three
in
times,but never the disease descriptionitself.He seems to alternatethese
verbsto avoid repetition.Was Thucydideschoosingverbs more commonly
used in militaryconnectionsthan in medical situations?Was this a subtle
attempt to linkthepestilenceto thewarin themindof thereader?He also used
themoreancient,poeticformOvaK1c) ratherthanthecompounda1roOvoKaK
in vogue duringhis lifetime.
Withtheexceptionof Parry,no scholarhas paid attention to the styleof
thedescription. This is mostcuriousbecause even to an inexperienced reader,
chapters49-53 seem remarkablyfree fromthe usual difficultiesof Thu-
cydides'style.Thereare fewpassagesmarked,as so oftenelsewhere,by ellip-
sis and difficultgrammar.On thecontrary, as Parryhas so aptlyput it: "The
style of that descriptionis observantand exact, but...it is grammatical,
...dramaticand imaginative,controlledthroughout by the writer'sdetermina-
tionto show theawfuland overwhelming powerof thesickness.The sentence
construction is various,oftencontaining powerfuland unexpectedverbsin em-
phaticpositions,or aftera climacticcatalogue,resolvingitselfintoan epigram-
maticsummation"(114). I would disagreewithParry'spositionin only one
respect:the literaryemphasisThucydidesdisplayshas interfered withexact
reportingof the medical facts.And it is this medical inexactnessthathas
defeatedmodemattempts to assignan etiologicagent.
If then,as seems veryprobable,the descriptionis a narrativeone that
vergeson the poetic,how are we to view his descriptionof the epidemicof
430-427? As a factualrealityor as a narrative thatblendsfactwithotherpur-
poses? Pearcy, reviewingthe differencesbetween modernontological or

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202 ThomasE. Morgan

patho-physiologicalmedicine5and Hippocraticdoctrine,arguesconvincingly
thatmodemphysiciansare "...conditioned...to suppose thatThucydides'text
will be sufficiently transparentto allow [them]to identifythe disease thatit
presents"(598-99). As a result,modemcommentators have tendedto takeall
symptoms all questionabletechnicaltermsin modem
at face value,to interpret
terms(e.g., thevariationsin translation of vpX-otaivaiqas eitherflator raised
skinlesions), to overlookcertainitemsor theirabsence (e.g., the absence of
reportsof scarringif thedisease weresmallpox)and to misreadtheGreek,all
in order to fit the disease to a modem patho-physiologicalentity.While
Morensand Littmanreviewedthe disease symptomsontologically,theycor-
rectlyconcludedthat"...Thucydides'description of theepidemicdisease is sub-
ject to potentialerror"(1992: 278). They note thathis accuracyin recording
signsand symptoms maybe flawedbecause of inconsistencies betweenancient
and modemconceptsof disease,becauseof lack ofprecisionin ancientmedical
terms,because Thucydideswas nottrainedas a physician(as faras we know),
and because,as I will show,Thucydideswrotetheaccountof theepidemicnot
formedicalreasonsalonebutalso fordramaticones.
Pearcyhas extensivelydiscussedthepointthatancientand modemcon-
cepts of disease differ,primarilybecause the ancientsdid not have modem
knowledgeof patho-physiology, butalso because theyregardeddiseasesas en-
genderedbyhumoralimbalancewithina singleperson.Givensucha basic doc-
trinaldifference,it is extremelyunlikelythatthetwoapproacheswill converge
on a singledisease entity.Lack of recognition of thesedifferencesin doctrines
and lack of precision in medical terms have led to much ink being spilled
duringthepast fiftyyearsin thehope thatby preciseidentification of symp-
tomsa singlemodemcause of thedisease could by recognized.For example,
Thucydides'victimsdisplayedreddish,lividskin,breakingout intosmallpus-
tulesand ulcers(...I?npVoOpov,irsXtwo6V,pXkutaivat; glKpai; Kat EX'iKatV
?4ivOrpc6;, 2.49.5) or, in modemparlance,an exanthematous disease. Then
the controversyraged among modem scholars:was the disease measles or
smallpoxor typhusor scarletfever?Some read KpXuKtaivaiqas 'blisters,'such
as Aristophanes'rowershad (Frogs 236); othersread 'spots' or 'rashes.' Thus
theterm(pXKctaivat;,variouslyinterpreted, meantraisedskinlesionsto some
modem commentators but smoothlesions others.Some said the rashwas
to
thatof scarletfever.No, said others,thelesions were the swollen glands of
bubonic plague because Thucydidesreallymeantto say ,oov,c'v insteadof
KPxvic-raivaltKiccO'XKicatv.The factthatsuch cruciallydifferent meanings

geneticabnormalities,
5Thatis,theviewthatdiseasesarecausedbyagentssuchas microbes,
etc.whichcauseabnormal
chemicaldisorders, ofthebodyoritsparts.
functioning

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 Thucydideson theEpidemicat Athens 203

could be read into Thucydides'wordsshows the degreeof imprecisionthat

exists.
Consideranother,moreflagrant, exampleof ancientand modemimpre-
cision: In 2.49.8 a-rptalc6Ogevot (themasculine,thirdperson,plural,middle
or passive participleof atepio, agreeingwithnokXXoi, the antecedentsof
whichare aixoia, Xstpaxand no'&x) has oftenbeen translated as active:'cut-
tingoff,'ratherthanin thepassivesense,'beingdeprivedof' or 'losingtheuse
of' (LSJ s.v. arep6o, 1). Most modemcommentators have missedthepassive
nuanceof 'losingtheuse of' whichaccordswiththeancientoccurrences where
one 'septaicoRgat...tov o6gg&rv,' thatis, 'loses theuse of theeyes,' or 'is
blinded'but certainlydoes not 'cut offtheeyes.'6 Interpreting thepassive as
activein History2.49.8 has led some,includingLucretius,to a misunderstand-
ing thata-sptpaicogevot meansamputation witha knife(as Lucretius'ferro),
thatis, surgicallyby the patientor physician,or amputationby gangrene.7
Gangrenousamputation suggeststyphusor ergotism(amongotherdiseases),or
thecombination of influenzaand secondarystaphylococcalinfection. This lat-
tersuggestionthattwo diseases whichhad capturedpopularattentionin the
twentieth century mighthave been thecause of a 'toxic shocksyndrome'2400
yearsago, gave riseto a symposiumat the 1985 annualmeetingof theAmeri-
can Philological Association and to national press attention.Fortunately,
Morens and Littman(1992, 1994) have now invokedepidemiologicalargu-
mentsto showthattwoor morediseasescouldnothave been involvedto cause
a singleepidemic,thussparingacademiciansthenecessityof arguingon philol-
ogical groundswhether themiddleor passivewas intended.
These are onlytwoexamplesof crucialsymptoms thatmightidentify the
disease ifmorepreciseagreement betweenancientintentand modeminterpre-
tationcould be found.More suchdisagreements exist,butthesetwoexamples
demonstrate thefutilityof our continuedattemptsto read intoThucydides'de-
scriptiona modeminterpretation of thecause of thedisease. Thereis another
aspectof Thucydides'description thatoccurredbothto me and to Morensand
Littmanthatcan perhapslead us to a betterunderstanding of Thucydides''case
history.'It seemedto me and to otherphysiciansto whomI showeda transla-
tionof History2.49-50, thatthe organizationof initialsymptomsand signs
mixedwithlater"complicationsand sequelae,"as Morensand Littman(1992)

6For example, Herodotus6.117.2 and 9.93.3-4 and Plato Phaed. 243a.-b.

7Bailey ad 6.1209 commentson Lucretius' error.The diagnosticimportanceof gangrenein
theAthenianepidemichas been verymuchoverstatedin theliterature, especially since itis un-
clear thatgangrenewas actually being described by Thucydides. Cf. Littmanand Littman,
especiallyat 270.

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204 ThomasE. Morgan

put it,closelyresemblesthe 'head to toe' listingof symptomsand signsgath-

ered by a neophytemodemmedicalstudentwhenfirstpresentedwitha com-
plicated diagnosticproblem.The student,armed with a catechismfor the
orderingof signsand symptoms and rudimentary instruction in themethodsof
elicitingthem,is sentintothepresenceof a moreor less cooperativepatient,
thereto sharpenthediagnosticskills.The result,almostalways,is thecollec-
tionof a bewilderingarrayof data,nottheleast one of whichcan be omitted
frompresentation to the student'sinstructor.In orderto miss nothingand to
organizethesymptoms and signscoherently, thestudentresortsto a catalogue
arrangedin 'head to toe' sequence.8Such mayhave been theancientapproach
as well, althoughwe have nothingto tellus how theformidable Hippocratean
skills of observationwere taughtto apprentices.Whateverthe reason, the
occurrenceof symptoms in thehead-to-toesequencedescribedby Thucydides
is notcharacteristicof anyknowndisease.
When the epidemicragedthroughout Athens,Thucydideswas likelyto
have encountereda veryconfusingsituation.He observedAtheniansin all
stagesof thedisease: some showedmoreof a givensymptom thanothers,some
werejust becomingill while othersdied or recovered;some had mild cases,
othersall the symptomsand sequelae; some passed the crisisin seven days,
some in nine; all thepopulace was crazedwithfear.How was thehistorianto
deal withsuchconfusion, recordingeverything and omitting nothingthatmight
help thereaderto recognizethedisease whenit recurred? Thucydideswas un-
doubtedlyacquaintedwithHippocratean theorybutnotskilledin medicalprac-
tice, thereforewhat would be more naturalthanthehead-to-toecatalogueof
symptoms and signsthathe has leftus?
Havingconsideredthemedicalaspectsof thedescription of theepidemic,
let us turnto thehistorian'spurposein reporting it in such graphicdetailand
especially in placing it in such close associationwiththe funeralorationof
Pericles.Most historiansbelievethatas thewar progressed, Thucydidesmade
notesfromwhichhe completedhis Historymanyyearslater.9If so, it appears
fromthedescription he has givenus thathe was no morecertainof theform
takenby thedisease at theend thanat thebeginningof thewar. It is obvious
thatneitherhe norphysicianswithwhomhe musthave consultedhad a clear
idea of thenatureof thisepidemic.Whatthenwas his purposein givingsuch
prominenceto the descriptionof the epidemic?Was it "merelyto describe

8Sucha sequencehas formanyyearsbeenmandated in theprotocolstaughtin 'physical

diagnosis'courses.See, forexample,R. D. Judgeand G. Zuidema,Physical Diagnosis
(Boston1963).
9J.H. Finley77, M. I. Finley46.

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 Thucydideson theEpidemicat Athens 205

whatit was like and set downthesymptoms so that[itcan] be recognized,if it

ever breaksout again" (2.48.3)? Or was thereanotherreasonthatguidedhim
in his description?
It is likelythatThucydidesused theepidemicto emphasizetheeffectsof
thewarupontheAthenianpeople,whowerethenat theheightof theirpowers.
M. I. Finleynotes thatThucydideshad to describethe epidemicbecause it
killed so manyAthenians,but that"to make thepoint,however,Thucydides
did not need to build up thehorrifying picturehe did, as detailis piled upon
detail with superb artistry...The objective, for which the details laid the
necessarybasis,was thelongfinalperoration [2.52-54] on themoraland social
breakdownbroughtaboutby theplague" (49). And Parryis correctin saying
that,to Thucydides,"The Plague is a mriOo;, like war,and in fact,it is a part-
nerof war. War,Thucydidestellsus clearlyin 1.23, consistsof iROii. It is in
factto be measuredby suffering and destruction."10In thissense,thedescrip-
tionof thedisease,whichis clearlya resultof conditionssuchas overcrowding
broughtabout by the war,is a literarydevice emphasizingthe tripledestruc-
tionof crops,people,and animalsby thewarand its accompanying pestilence.
Thucydidesspeaksof theSpartansravagingthedesertedfieldsand orchardsat
theheightof thegrowingseason whileinsidethecrowdedcitypeople and ani-
mals are struckdownby an illnessnonecan preventor treat.He describesthe
disease in horrifying detailand thenshowsthatit leaves its victimsso weak-
ened in mindas well as in bodythatindividualand collectivemorescollapse,
menlook onlyforpleasureand refuseto fight,thegods are forgotten, temples
are desecrated,funeralpyresstolen,and thedead go unburiedin Athenswhile
thecountryside is wasted.Thucydidesconcludes:

nepta6wVT?; ixteovto, av-

oi 'AOiqvcaot
Toto&co gi?v mriOet
OpXCOV t' C?V6oV0OvllrKnVT(0VKCiCot
Y; 0)&o flol4cvr.

Suchwas thedisasterwhichfellupontheAthenians crushing

them,with
peopledyinginsidethecityandthelandoutsidelaidwaste. (2.54.1)

Withthesewordshe evoked an image thatjoined him and his audienceto a

long line of authorsgoingback to theverybeginningof Greekliterature:so
Homertoldin Iliad 1.47-53 of thepestilenceraineddownby Apollo's arrows
upontheGreekswarring
at Troy,and Aeschylusspokeof "theevils with
whichthegods smotethePersians"(Persians514), and Sophoclessetthestage
forthetragedyof Oedipuswiththewords:

10Parry115. The excellentdiscussionby Parryon thepoetic styleof Thucydidesis

commendable.

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206 ThomasE. Morgan

(pOivovoa Rev X&6XvEtv

C?1KV&pirotqxOovo;
(pOivo-cna8' a?ka&wSt Povvo,got; Co'Kowsit
ICE
v 6Aoipqpopo; 9e6;
&yovot;yivauxcdveV
olNaS; AmVWet, Xotg05; ?X0t0o;, no'XLv..."

"Blightingthelandinripening
flower,
Blightingthegrazingherdsofoxen,
Blighting women,thefiery
ourbirth-laboring godstrikes;
he hurlsdowna hatefulplagueonourcity..."(OT 25-28)

Justso does Thucydidesdescribethisepidemic:people dyingin thecitywhile

thefieldsoutsideare laid waste.AnyGreekreadingThucydides'Historywould
be confrontedwith powerfulliteraryresonancesbetweenthe conditionsat
Athensand themythology and legendsof Troyand Oedipus.It seemsscarcely
credibleto supposethatsuchresonancewas notintended byThucydides.
Certainlythedramaticeffectof the epidemicon the fortunesof Athens
was not lost on ancientauthors.There can be no doubtthatLucretiusrecog-
nized thepowerof Thucydides'description of thedual xatOo;of war and pes-
tilence.Whywouldhe have giventheepidemicsuchprominenceand copied it
so exactlyin De rerumnatura?And in the 'Noric cattleplague' of Vergil's
Georgics 3 manysee anotherimitation of Thucydides'descriptionof theepi-
demic at Athens(West, Mynorsad 3.478). Indeed, some believe the 'Noric
cattleplague' was whollyinventedby Vergilforthedramaticand poeticeffect
he so admiredin Lucretiusand,by extension,in Thucydides(West37, Thomas
ad 3.478). In his mythical'plague at Aegina' (Met. 7.523-613), Ovid used
elementsborrowednotonlyfromThucydides'Atheniandescription, but from
Vergil's cattleplague as well (cf. Bomer ad 523). Thucydides' disease de-
scriptionwas emulatednotonlyby ancientpoetsbutalso by ancienthistorians
who admiredthepowerof his description so muchthattheyimitatedit in their
historiesof Parthianand Byzantinewars." These ancientimitators of Thucyd-
ides understoodvery well thatthe dramaticeffectsof the epidemic made
grippingreading.12It is beyondthescope of thispaperto go further intothe
descriptions of plaguesby Latinauthorsor intotheextensivebibliographies on
thesubject;yet,thefactthatthreeof thegreatestLatinpoetsrespondedas they
did to thedramaof Thucydides'presentation of theAthenianepidemicsuggests

1Woodman citesLucianDe historiaeconscribendi15 andProcopius 2.22.

by comparison
12West,"Two Plagues,"concludes,"Virgilis rhetorical withLucretius...
Lucretiusis emotional withThucydides.
bycomparison Butitwouldbe misleading tosay,tout
orthatThucydides
is emotional
court,thatLucretius A comparison
is dispassionate. withGreek
medicalwritingsshowsthatThucydides'accountoftheplagueis dramatic andcompassionate
todemonstrate
patterned
andpoetic,artistically Thucydides' viewofhistory" (88).

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 Thucydideson theEpidemicat Athens 207

that a propercourse for furtherinvestigationof Thucydides' dramaticin-

tentionslies in thisdirection.
Those who look at thedisease descriptionseparatelyfromtherestof the
Historymake anothererror.Theyfailto see how Thucydidesplaces Pericles'
funeraloration,thespeechthatcelebratesAthens'pre-eminenceand grandeur,
in juxtapositionto thedescription
of theepidemicand themoraland physical
degradationthe epidemiccaused. Many monthselapsed betweenthe funeral
orationin the winterand the onset of the epidemic the next summer,but
Thucydidesshortensthisintervalto the space of onlysix lines of text(2.47).
Rapidlybutgraphically, he describesthediseasein threeshortchapterstotaling
72 lines(2.48-50) and thendepictsAthens'degradationat lengthin chapters51
through54. And whenwe read thetwo sectionstogether-theorationand the
resultoftheepidemic-we see manyparallels:

In 2.36PericlesspeaksofAthenian sinceitis "right

ancestors andproper
topaythemhonor."Butin 2.52 Athenianshavelapsedmorally to such
an extentthattheydo notburytheirdead,theultimatedishonorto
ancestors.

In 2.37.2-3: "Athenianskeep thelaw," says Pericles,"...becauseit

commands ourdeeprespect.We obeythelawsandthoseunwritten laws
whichitis helda shametobreak."Butin 2.53.1:"Thediseasebrought
thebeginning ofgreatlawlessness," "no fearofgodor the
and,finally,
law ofmanrestrainedthem"fornomanexpectedtolivelongenoughto
be triedandpunished(2.53.4).

In 2.41.5 and 42.5, Periclesspeaksof yevvacw;6ucatoiivre;(noble

andrighteous) menwithapearc (manlyvirtue)whofought forAthens.
We see a marked contrastinthedescriptions
in2.52.4ofmenwhowere
cvatoXvwrov;(shameless)in theirdeedsandrecklessin openlyseek-
ingself-indulgentpleasure(2.53.2)

In 2.44 Periclespraisesthosewhometbrave,honorabledeathon the

battlefield
whilein2.52-53Thucydides
speaksoftemplesfilledwiththe
deadleftunburied orbumedshamelessly
on stolenfuneral
pyres.

All this suggeststhatThucydidesintendedthe funeraloration,the epi-

demic,and itssequelae to be readtogether.
He wishedto describethepathosof
war and the pathosof thepestilencein juxtapositionin orderto contrastthe
loftyideals of thefuneralorationwiththedegradationaccompanying a terrible
In
epidemic. doing so he used imagesthatresonatedpowerfully withtheleg-
ends of Greekliterature.
In thiswayhe could accomplishhis greaterobjective,
whichwas to showtheincalculable,demoniceffectof war and itsconcomitant
pestilenceon thecitizensof Athens.Therecan be no doubtthathis secondary

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208 ThomasE. Morgan

aim was to describe a very serious epidemic thatcontinuedto afflictthe

Athenianarmyforseveral years,bothbecause it was a factessentialto his
Historyand so thatit mightbe recognizedif it shouldoccuragain. Whatis in
doubtis our abilityto findan etiologicalagentforthedisease by dissectionof
thesignsand symptoms These signsand symptoms
of Thucydides'description.
are imprecisebecause our basis forunderstanding theirmeaningis different
fromthatof theHippocrateansor of Thucydides,who used Hippocratictermi-
nologyand doctrines.The termsare imprecise,in short,because the ancient
humoralapproachdoes not coincide witha modem patho-physiologicalap-
proach,howevermuch we mightwish themto coincide. The descriptionis
imprecisenot onlybecause the recorderlacked medicaltraining, but also be-
cause he took dramaticlicense. To focus endlesslyon whatcurrently recog-
nized disease caused the epidemicis futileand divertsus fromThucydides'
over-archingpurpose:to describea season of suffering thatreducedAthens
temporarilyto thesame conditionwhichtwenty-five yearsof warfinallymade
permanent.

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 Thucydideson theEpidemicat Athens 209

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