Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.50.1-2.50.2

Effects of the Plague on Animals and Birds

Passage 196 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The extraordinary and indescribable nature of the plague is demonstrated by the fact that flesh-eating birds and beasts either avoided the unburied bodies or died after tasting them.

§2.50.1γενόμενον γὰρ κρεῖσσον λόγου τὸ εἶδος τῆς νόσου τά τε ἄλλα χαλεπωτέρως ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν προσέπιπτεν ἑκάστῳ καὶ ἐν τῷδε ἐδήλωσε μάλιστα ἄλλο τι ὂν ἢ τῶν ξυντρόφων τι· τὰ γὰρ ὄρνεα καὶ τετράποδα ὅσα ἀνθρώπων ἅπτεται, πολλῶν ἀτάφων γιγνομένων ἢ οὐ προσῄει ἢ γευσάμενα διεφθείρετο.

For the character of the disease proved to be beyond description, assailing each person in other respects more severely than human nature could bear, and in this it showed most clearly that it was something different from any of the familiar diseases: for the birds and four-footed beasts that feed on human flesh, though there were many bodies lying unburied, either would not go near them, or, if they tasted them, perished.

§2.50.2τεκμήριον δέ· τῶν μὲν τοιούτων ὀρνίθων ἐπίλειψις σαφὴς ἐγένετο, καὶ οὐχ ἑωρῶντο οὔτε ἄλλως οὔτε περὶ τοιοῦτον οὐδέν· οἱ δὲ κύνες μᾶλλον αἴσθησιν παρεῖχον τοῦ ἀποβαίνοντος διὰ τὸ ξυνδιαιτᾶσθαι.

And as proof: there was a clear disappearance of such birds, and they were not to be seen either elsewhere or around any such object; but the dogs, because of their living with humans, provided a more noticeable indication of the outcome.

Notes

2.50.1γενόμενον — Used with the conjunction γάρ, this is a causal participle qualifying the subject τὸ εἶδος τῆς νόσου ('since the character of the disease was...').
2.50.1ἄλλο τι ὂν — A supplementary participle depending on the verb ἐδήλωσε ('showed/proved'). Since it refers back to the subject of the main verb (the disease), it stands in the nominative case (neuter singular) rather than the accusative.
2.50.1ὅσα ἀνθρώπων ἅπτεται — Relative clause. The middle verb ἅπτομαι governs the genitive case (ἀνθρώπων), meaning here 'to touch humans' in the specific sense of 'to feed on human corpses'.
2.50.1πολλῶν ἀτάφων γιγνομένων — Genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun πολλῶν (referring to unburied bodies) and the participle γιγνομένων. In this context, it has a concessive meaning ('although many lay unburied').
2.50.2οὔτε ἄλλως — Adverbial phrase meaning 'neither in other ways' or 'nor elsewhere'. Here it specifically refers to 'elsewhere (other than near the corpses)', contrasted with οὔτε περὶ τοιοῦτον οὐδέν ('nor around any such object').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.50.1-2.50.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.50.1-2.50.2

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