the space between the Long Walls, and the harbour-town of Peiraeus,
was packed with a vast multitude of human beings, penned together,
like sheep in a fold. Into these huddled masses now crept a subtle and
unseen foe, striking down his victims by hundreds and by thousands.
That foe was the Plague, which beginning in Southern Africa, and
descending thence to Egypt, reached the southern shores of the
Mediterranean, and passed on to Peiraeus, having been carried thither
by seamen who trafficked between northern Africa and Greece. From
Peiraeus it spread upwards with rapid strides, and before long the
whole space within the walls presented the appearance of a vast lazar-
house.

From the description of the symptoms we may conclude that this
epidemic was similar to that dreadful scourge of mankind which has
been almost conquered by modern science, the small-pox. The patient
who had taken the infection was first attacked in the head, with
inflammation of the eyes, and violent headache. By degrees the poison
worked its way into the whole system, affecting every organ in the
body, and appearing on the surface in the shape of small ulcers and
boils. One of the most distressing features of the disease was a
raging thirst, which could not be appeased by the most copious
draughts of water; and the internal heat, which produced this effect,
caused also a frightful irritability of the skin, so that the sufferer
could not bear the touch of the lightest and most airy fabrics, but
lay naked on his bed, in all the deformity of his dire affliction. Of
those who recovered, many bore the marks of the sickness to their
graves, by the loss of a hand, a foot, or an eye; while others were
affected in their minds, remaining in blank oblivion, without power to
recognise themselves or their friends. The healing art had made great
progress in Greece in the course of the last generation; and in this,