THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 323
gradually through the whole body, and, if a person got over the worst, would often seize the extremities and leave its mark, attacking the fingers and the toes ; and some escaped with the loss of these, some with the loss of their eyes. Some again had no sooner re- covered than they were seized with forgetfulness of all things and knew neither themselves nor their friends.
The malady took a form not to be described, and the fury with which it fastened upon each sufferer was too much for human nature to endure. There was one circumstance in particular which distinguished it from ordinary diseases. The birds and animals which feed on human flesh, although so many bodies were lying unburied, either never came near them, or died if they touched them. This was proved by a remark- able disappearance of the birds of prey, who were not to be seen either about the bodies or anywhere else ; while in the case of the dogs the fact was even more obvious, because they live with man.
Such was the general nature of the disease : I omit many strange peculiarities which characterized indi- vidual cases. None of the ordinary sicknesses at- tacked any one while it lasted, or, if they did, they ended in the plague. Some of the sufferers died from want of care, others equally who were receiving the greatest attention. No single remedy could be deemed a specific ; for that which did good to one did harm to another. No constitution was of itself strono; enough to resist or weak enough to escape the attacks ; the disease carried off all alike, and defied every mode of treatment. Most appalling was the despondency which seized upon any one who felt himself sickening ; for he instantly abandoned his mind to despair, and, instead of holding out, absolutely threw away his
