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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61164	The plague of Athens which hapned in the second year of the Peloponnesian Warr / first described in Greek by Thucydides, then in Latin by Lucretius, now attempted in English by Tho. Sprat.	Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.; Thucydides.; Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.	1667 (1667)	Wing S5041; ESTC R31007	15,295	42

THE Plague of Athens Which hapned in the SECOND YEAR OF HE Peloponnesian Warr. First described in Greek by Thucydides Then in Latin by Lucretius Now attempted in English By THO. SPRAT LONDON Printed by E. C. for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane 1667. Let this Book be Printed Roger L'Estrange March 28. 1665. To my VVorthy and Learned Friend Dr. Walter Pope late Proctor of the University of Oxford SIR I Know not what pleasure you could take in bestowing your commands so unprofitably unless it be that for which Nature sometimes cherishes and allows Monsters The love of Variety This only delight you will receive by turning over this rude and unpolisht Copy and comparing it with my excellent Patterns the Greek and Latin By this you will see how much a noble Subject is chang'd and disfigured by an ill hand and what reason Alexander had to forbid his Picture to be drawn but by some celebrated Pencil In Greek Thucydides so well and so lively expresses it that I know not which is more a Poem his description or that of Lucretius Though it must be said that the Historian had a vast advantage over the Poet He having been present on the place and assaulted by the disease himself had the horror familiar to his Eyes and all the shapes of the misery still remaining on his mind which must needs make a great impression on his Pen and Fancie Whereas the Poet was forced to allow his foot-steps and onely work on that matter he allow'd him This I speak because it may in some measure too excuse my own defects For being so far remov'd from the place whereon the disease acted his Tragedy and time having denied us many of the circumstances customes of the Countrey and other small things which would be of great use to any one who did intend to be perfect on the subject besides only writing by an Idaea of that which I never yet saw nor care to feel being not of the humor of the Painter in Sir Philip Sidney who thrust himself into the midst of a Fight that he might the better delineate it Having I say all these disadvantages and many more for which I must onely blame my self it cannot be expected that I should come near equalling him in whom none of the contrary advantages were wanting Thus then Sir by emboldning me to this rash attempt you have given opportunitie to the Greek and Latin to Triumph over our Mother tongue Yet I would not have the honour of the Countries or Languages engaged in the comparison but that the inequality should reach no farther than the Authors But I have much reason to fear the just indignation of that excellent Person the present Ornament and Honour of our Nation whose way of writing I imitate for he may think himself as much injured by my following him as were the Heavens by that bold man's counterfeiting the sacred and unimitable noise of Thunder by the sound of Brass and Horses hoofs I shall only say for my self that I took Cicero's advice who bids us in imitation propose the Noblest pattern to our thoughts for so we may be sure to be raised above the common Level though we come infinitely short of what we aim at Yet I hope that renowned Poet will have none of my crimes any way reflect on himself for it was not any fault in the excellent Musician that the weak Bird indeavouring by straining its throat to follow his Notes destroyed her self in the Attempt Well Sir by this that I have chosen rather to expose my self than be disobedient you may ghess with what zeal and hazard I strive to approve my self SIR Your most Humble and Affectionate Servant THO. SPRAT THUCYDIDES Lib. 2. As it is excellently Translated by Mr. Hobbs IN the very beginning of Summer the Peloponnesians and their Confederates with two thirds of their forces as before invaded Attica under the conduct of Archidamus the son of Zeuxidamas King of Lacedaemon and after they had encamped themselves wasted the Countrey about them They had not been many dayes in Attica when the Plague first began amongst the Athenians said also to have seized formerly on divers other parts as about Lemnos and elsewhere but so great a Plague and Mortality of Men was never remembred to have hapned in any place before For at first neither were the Physicians able to cure it through ignorance of what it was but died fastest themselves as being the men that most approach'd the sick nor any other art of man availed whatsoever All supplications to the Gods and enquiries of Oracles and whatsoever other means they used of that kind proved all unprofitable insomuch as subdued with the greatness of the evil they gave them all over It began by report first in that part of Aethiopia that lieth upon Aegypt and thence fell down into Aegypt and Afrique and into the greatest part of the Territories of the King It invaded Athens on a sudden and touched first upon on those that dwelt in Pyraeus insomuch as they reported that the Peloponnesians had cast poyson into their Wells for Springs there were not any in that place But afterwards it came up into the high City and then they died a great deal faster Now let every man Physician or other concerning the ground of this sickness whence it sprung and what causes he thinks able to produce for great an alteration speak according to his own knowledge for my own part I will deliver but the manner of it and lay open only such things as one may take his Mark by to discover the same if it come again having been both sick of it my self and seen others sick of the same This year by confession of all men was of all other for other Diseases most free and healthful If any man were sick before his disease turned to this if not yet suddenly without any apparent cause preceding and being in perfect health they were taken first with an extream ache in their Heads redness and inflamation of the Eyes and then inwardly their Throats and Tongues grew presently bloody and their breath noysome and unsavory Upon this followed a sneezing and hoarsness and not long after the pain together with a mighty cough came down into the brest And when once it was setled in the Stomach it caused vomit and with great torment came up all manner of bilious purgation that Physicians ever named Most of them had also the Hickeyexe which brought with it a strong Convulsion and in some ceased quickly but in others was long before it gave over Their bodies outwardly to the touch were neither very hot nor pale but reddish livid and beflowred with little pimples and whelks but so burned inwardly as not to endure any the lightest cloaths or linnen garment to be upon them nor any thing but meer nakedness but rather most willingly to have cast themselves into the cold water And many of them that were not looked to possessed

resemblances Of things to come and of the World below O're their distemper'd fancies go Sometimes they curse sometimes they pray unto The Gods above the Gods beneath Sometimes they cruelties and fury breath Not sleep but waking now was sister unto death XVIII Scattered in Fields the Bodies lay The earth call'd to the Fowls to take their Flesh away In vain she call'd they come not nigh Nor would their food with their own ruine buy But at full meals they hunger pine and die The Vulters afar off did see the feast Rejoyc'd and call'd their friends to taste They rallied up their troops in haste Along came mighty droves Forsook their young ones and their groves Each one his native mountain and his nest They come but all their carcases abhor And now avoid the dead men more Than weaker birds did living men before But if some bolder fowls the flesh essay They were destroy'd by their own prey The Dog no longer bark't at coming guest Repents its being a domestick Beast Did to the woods and mountains haste The very Owls at Athens are But seldome seen and rare The Owls depart in open day Rather than in infected Ivy more to stay XIX Mountains of bones and carcases The streets the Market-place possess Threatning to raise a new Acropolis Here lies a mother and her child The infant suck'd as yet and smil'd But strait by its own food was kill'd There parents hugg'd their children last Here parting lovers last embrac'd But yet not parting neither They both expir'd and went away together Here pris'ners in the Dungeon die And gain a two-fold liberty They meet and thank their pains VVhich them from double chains Of body and of iron free Here others poyson'd by the scent VVhich from corrupted bodies went Quickly return the death they did receive And death to others give Themselves now dead the air pollute the more For which they others curs'd before Their bodies kill all that come near And even after death they all are murderers here XX. The friend doth hear his friends last cries Parteth his grief for him and dies Lives not enough to close his eyes The father at his death Speaks his son heir with an infectious breath In the same hour the son doth take His fathers will and his own make The servant needs not here be slain To serve his master in the other would again They languishing together lie Their souls away together flie The husband gasp'th and his wife lies by It must be her turn next to die The husband and the wife Too truly now are one and live one life That couple which the Gods did entertain Had made their prayer here in vain No fates in death could then divide They must without their priviledge together both have dy'd XXI There was no number now of death The sisters scarce stood still themselves to breath The sisters now quite wearied In cutting single thred Began at once to part whole looms One stroak did give whole houses dooms Now dy'd the frosty hairs The Aged and decrepid years They fell and only beg'd of Fate Some few months more but 't was alas too late Then Death as if asham'd of that A Conquest so degenerate Cut off the young and lusty too The young were reck'ning ore VVhat happy dayes what joyes they had in store But ffate er'e they had finish'd their account them slew The wretched Usurer dyed And had no time to tell where he his treasures hid The Merchant did behold His Ships return with Spice and Gold He saw 't and turn'd aside his head Nor thank'd the Gods but fell amidst his riches dead XXII The Meetings and Assemblies cease no more The people throng about the Orator No course of Justice did appear No noise of Lawyers fill'd the ear The Senate cast away The Robe of Honour and obey Deaths more restless sway VVhilest that with Dictatorian power Doth all the great and lesser Officers devour No Magistrates did walk about No purple aw'd the rout The common people too A purple of their own did shew And all their Bodies ore The ruling colours bore No Judge no Legislators sit Since this new Draco came And harsher Laws did frame Laws that like his in blood are writ The Benches and the Pleading-place they leave About the streets they run and rave The madness which Great Solon did of late But counterfeit For the advantage of the State Now his successors do too truly imitate XXIII Up starts the Souldier from his bed He though Deaths servant is not freed Death him cashier'd ' cause now his help she did not need He that ne're knew before to yield Or to give back or lead the Field Would fain now from himself have fled He snatch'd his sword now rusted o're Dreadful and sparkling now no more And thus in open streets did roar How have I death so ill deserv'd of thee That now thy self thou shouldst revenge on me Have I so many lives on thee bestow'd Have I the earth so often dy'd in blood Have I to flatter thee so many slain And must I now thy prey remain Let me at least if I must dye Meet in the Field some gallant enemy Send Gods the Persian troops again No they 're a base and degenerate train They by our Women may be slain Give me great Heavens some manful foes Let me my death amidst some valiant Grecians choose Let me survive to die at Syracuse Where my dear Countrey shall her Glory lose For you Great Gods into my dying mind infuse What miseries what doom Must on my Athens shortly come My thoughts inspir'd presage Saughters and Battels to the coming Age Oh! might I die upon that glorious stage Oh that but then he grasp'd his sword death concludes his rage XXIV Draw back draw back thy sword O Fate Lest thou repent when 't is too late Lest by thy making now so great a waste By spending all Man-kind upon one feast Thou sterve thy self at last What men wilt thou reserve in store Whom in the time to come thou mayst devour When thou shalt have destroyed all before But if thou wilt not yet give o're If yet thy greedie Stomach calls for more If more remain whom thou must kill And if thy jawes are craving still Carry thy fury to the Scythian coasts The Northern wildness and eternal frosts Against those barbrous crouds thy arrows whet Where Arts and Laws are strangers yet Where thou may'st kill and yet the loss will not be great There rage there spread and there infect the Air Murder whole towns and families there Thy worst against those Savage nations dare Those whom Man-kind can spare Those whom man-kind it self doth fear Amidst that dreadful night and fatal cold There thou may'st walk unseen and bold There let thy Flames their Empire hold Unto the farthest Seas and Natures ends Where never Summer Sun its beams extends Carry thy plagues thy pains thy heats Thy raging fires thy torturing sweats Where never ray or

heat did come They will rejoyce at such a doom They 'l bless thy Pestilential fire Though by it they expire They 'l thank the very Flames with which they do consume XXV Then if that banquet will not thee suffice Seek out new Lands where thou maist tyrannize Search every forrest every hill And all that in the hollow mountains dwell Those wild and untame troops devour Thereby thou wilt the rest of men secure And that the rest of men will thank thee for Let all those humane beasts be slain Till scarce their memory remain Thy self with that ignoble slaughter fill 'T will be permitted thee that blood to spill Measure the ruder world throughout March all the Ocean shores about Only pass by and spare the British Isle Go on and what Columbus once shall do When daies and time unto their ripeness grow Find out new lands and unknown countries too Attempt those lands which yet are hid From all Mortalitie beside There thou maist steal a victory And none of this world hear the cry Of those that by thy wounds shall die No Greek shall know thy cruelty And tell it to posterity Go and unpeople all those mighty Lands Destroy with unrelenting hands Go and the Spaniards sword prevent Go make the Spaniard innocent Go and root out all man-kind there That when the Europaean Armies shall appear Their sin may be the less They may find all a wilderness And without blood the gold and silver there possess XXVI Nor is this all which we thee grant Rather than thou should'st full imployment want We do permit in Greece it self thy Kingdom plant Ransack Lycurgus streets throughout They 've no defence of walls to keep thee out On wanton and proud Corinth seize Nor let her double waves thy flames appease Let Cyprus feel more fires than those of Love Let Delos which at first did give the Sun See unknown Flames in her begun Now let her wish she might unconstant prove And from her place might truly move Let Lemnos all thy anger feel And think that a new Vulcan fell And brought with him new Anvils and new hell Nay at Athens too we give thee up All that thou find'st in Field or camp or shop Make havock there without controul Of every ignorant and common soul But then kind Plague thy conquests stop Let Arts and let the learned there escape Upon Minerva's self commit no rape Touch not the sacred throng And let Apollo's Priests be like him young Let him be healthful too and strong But ah too ravenous Plague whilst I Strive to keep off the misery The learned too as fast as others round me die They from corruption are not free Are mortal though they give an immortality XXVII They turn'd their Authors o're to try What help what cure what remedy All Natures stores against this Plague supply And though besides they shunn'd it every where They search'd it in their books and fain would meet it there They turn'd the Records of the antient times And chiefly those that were made famous by their crimes To find if men were punish'd so before But found not the disease nor cure Nature alas was now surpriz'd And all her Forces seiz'd Before she was how to resist advis'd So when the Elephants did first affright The Romans with unusual fight They many battels lose Before they knew their foes Before they understood such dreadful troops t' oppose XXVIII Now ev'ry different Sect agrees Against their common adversary the disease And all their little wranglings cease The Pythagoreans from their precepts swerve No more their silence they observe Out of their Schools they run Lament and cry and groan They now desir'd their Metempsychosis Not only do dispute but wish That they might turn to beasts or fowls or fish If the Platonicks had been here They would have curs'd their Masters year When all things shall be as they were When they again the same disease should bear And all the Philosophers would now What the great Stagyrite shall do Themselvs into the waters head-long throw XXIX The Stoick felt the deadly stroke At first assault their courage was not broke They call'd to all the Cobweb aid Of rules and precepts which in store they had They bid their hearts stand out Bid them be calm and stout But all the strength of precepts will not do 't They cann't the storms of passions now asswage As common men are angry grieve and rage The Gods are call'd upon in vain The Gods gave no release unto their pain The Gods to fear even for themselvs began For now the sick unto the temples came And brought more than a holy flame There at the Altars made their prayer They sacrific'd and died there A sacrifice not seen before That Heaven only us'd unto the gore Of Lambs or Bulls should now Loaded with Priests see its own Altars too XXX The woods gave fun'ral piles no more The dead the very fire devour And that almighty Conqueror over-power The noble and the common dust Into each others graves are thrust No place is sacred and no tomb 'T is now a priviledg to consume Their ashes no distinction had Too truly all by death are equal made The Ghosts of those great Heroes that had fled From Athens long since banished Now o're the City hovered Their anger yielded to their love They left th' immortal joys above So much their Athens danger did them move They came to pity and to aid But now alas were quite dismay'd When they beheld the marbles open lay'd And poor mens bones the noble Urns invade Back to the blessed seats they went And now did thank their banishment By which they were to die in forein Countries sent XXXI But what Great Gods was worst of all Hell forth its magazines of Lusts did call Nor would it be content With the thick troops of souls were thither sent Into the upper world it went Such guilt such wickedness Such irreligion did increase That the few good who did survive Were angry with the Plague for suffering them to live More for the living than the dead did grieve Some robb'd the very dead Though sure to be infected ere they fled Though in the very Air sure to be punished Some nor the shrines nor temples spar'd Nor Gods nor Heavens fear'd Though such examples of their power appear'd Vertue was now esteem'd an empty name And honesty the foolish voice of fame For having pass'd those tort'ring flames before They thought the punishment already o're Thought Heaven no worse torments had in store Here having felt one Hell they thought there was no more FINIS A List of some choice Books Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane POems Lyrique by Mr. Henry Bold POems Macronique by Mr. Henry Bold POems Heroique c. by Mr. Henry Bold Songs and Poems by Mr. A. Brome the second Edition All the Songs and Poems on the Long Parliament from 1640 till 1661. by Persons of Quality Songs and Poems by the Wits of both Universities Scarronides or Virgil Travestie a Mock-Poem being the first Book of Virgils Aeneis in English Burlesque Scarronnides or Virgil Travestie a Mock-Poem being the fourth Book of Virgils Aeneis in English Burlesque both by a Person of Honour Also a List of what Damages we have received by the Dutch And a brief History of the late War with the Turks Sir George Downings Reply PLAYES The English Moor. The Love-sick Court The New Academy The Weeding of Covent-garden The Royal Exchange The Jovial Crew or the Merry Beggers All by Mr. Bichard Brome Two excellent pieces of Musick the Division Viol or the Art of playing extempore on a Ground in folio The principles of Practical Musick in a Compendious Method for Beginners either in Singing or Playing both by Mr. Ch. Simpson Diodates Notes on the whole Bible in fol. The Compleat History of Independency in 4 Parts by Clement Walker Esq Bp. Ushers 18 Sermons preached at Oxon. Blood for Blood in 35 Tragical Stories The Temple of Wisdom by John Heyden Trapp on the Major Prophets in fol. The Alliance of Divine Offices by Hamond Lestrange Dr. Sparks Devotions on all the Festivals of the year adorned with sculpture Bp. Sandersons 5 Cases of Conscience lately published Divine Anthems sung in all great Cathedrals in England A Brief rule of Life A Guide to Heaven from the word or directions how to close savingly with Christ with strict Observations on the Lords Day in 12. A Geographical Descripton of All Townes Countreys Ports Seas and Rivers in the whole VVorld Justice Revived or the whole Office of a Countrey Justice 8o. The Exact Constable Both by Mr. Wingate Esq All Mr. L'Estrange's pieces against the Presbyterians