54.
Such was the grievous calamity which now afflicted the Athenians; within the walls
their people were dying, and without, their country was being ravaged.
[2]
In their troubles they naturally called to mind a verse which the elder men among them
declared to have been current long ago:—
“
A Dorian war will come and a plague with it.
” [3] There was a dispute about the precise expression some saying that limos, a famine, and not1 loimos, a plague, was the original word. Nevertheless, as might have been expected, for men's memories reflected their sufferings, the argument in favour of loimos prevailed at the time. But if ever in future years another Dorian war arises which happens to be accompanied by a famine, they will probably repeat the verse in the other form. [4] The answer of the oracle to the Lacedaemonians when the God was asked 'whether they should go to war or not,' and he replied 'that if they fought with all their might, they would conquer, and that he himself would take their part2,' was not forgotten by those who had heard of it, and they quite imagined that they were witnessing the fulfilment of his words. [5] The disease certainly did set in immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians, and did not spread into Peloponnesus in any degree worth speaking of, while Athens felt its ravages most severely, and next to Athens the places which were most populous. Such was the history of the plague3.
” [3] There was a dispute about the precise expression some saying that limos, a famine, and not1 loimos, a plague, was the original word. Nevertheless, as might have been expected, for men's memories reflected their sufferings, the argument in favour of loimos prevailed at the time. But if ever in future years another Dorian war arises which happens to be accompanied by a famine, they will probably repeat the verse in the other form. [4] The answer of the oracle to the Lacedaemonians when the God was asked 'whether they should go to war or not,' and he replied 'that if they fought with all their might, they would conquer, and that he himself would take their part2,' was not forgotten by those who had heard of it, and they quite imagined that they were witnessing the fulfilment of his words. [5] The disease certainly did set in immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians, and did not spread into Peloponnesus in any degree worth speaking of, while Athens felt its ravages most severely, and next to Athens the places which were most populous. Such was the history of the plague3.
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