§2.54.1τοιούτῳ μὲν πάθει οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι περιπεσόντες ἐπιέζοντο, ἀνθρώπων τ’ ἔνδον θνῃσκόντων καὶ γῆς ἔξω δῃουμένης.
Falling into such a calamity, the Athenians were hard pressed, while within the city people were dying and outside the land was being ravaged.
§2.54.2ἐν δὲ τῷ κακῷ οἷα εἰκὸς ἀνεμνήσθησαν καὶ τοῦδε τοῦ ἔπους, φάσκοντες οἱ πρεσβύτεροι πάλαι ᾄδεσθαι
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‘ἥξει Δωριακὸς πόλεμος καὶ λοιμὸς ἅμ’ αὐτῷ. ’
" §2.54.3ἐγένετο μὲν οὖν ἔρις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μὴ λοιμὸν ὠνομάσθαι ἐν τῷ ἔπει ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν, ἀλλὰ λιμόν, ἐνίκησε δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος εἰκότως λοιμὸν εἰρῆσθαι· οἱ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς ἃ ἔπασχον τὴν μνήμην ἐποιοῦντο.
And in their distress, as was natural, they also remembered this verse, the older men saying that it had been sung of old: "'A Dorian war shall come, and with it a plague.' "Thus a dispute arose among the people, some maintaining that not 'plague' but 'famine' had been named in the verse by the ancients; but under the present circumstances, the opinion naturally prevailed that 'plague' had been spoken of, for people adapted their memory to what they were currently suffering.
ἢν δέ γε οἶμαί ποτε ἄλλος πόλεμος καταλάβῃ Δωρικὸς τοῦδε ὕστερος καὶ ξυμβῇ γενέσθαι λιμόν, κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς οὕτως ᾄσονται.
But if, I think, another Dorian war should ever come after this one and it should happen that a famine occurs, they will in all probability sing in that way.
§2.54.4μνήμη δὲ ἐγένετο καὶ τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων χρηστηρίου τοῖς εἰδόσιν, ὅτε ἐπερωτῶσιν αὐτοῖς τὸν θεὸν εἰ χρὴ πολεμεῖν ἀνεῖλε κατὰ κράτος πολεμοῦσι νίκην ἔσεσθαι, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔφη ξυλλήψεσθαι.
And those who knew of it also remembered the oracle given to the Lacedaemonians, that when they inquired of the god whether they should go to war, he answered that if they fought with all their might, victory would be theirs, and said that he himself would take part with them.
§2.54.5περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ χρηστηρίου τὰ γιγνόμενα ᾔκαζον ὁμοῖα εἶναι· ἐσβεβληκότων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἡ νόσος ἤρξατο εὐθύς, καὶ ἐς μὲν Πελοπόννησον οὐκ ἐσῆλθεν, ὅτι καὶ ἄξιον εἰπεῖν, ἐπενείματο δὲ Ἀθήνας μὲν μάλιστα, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων χωρίων τὰ πολυανθρωπότατα.
Thus regarding the oracle, they conjectured that what was happening was similar to it; for the disease began immediately after the Peloponnesians had invaded. And while it did not enter the Peloponnese to any extent worth mentioning, it ravaged Athens most of all, and next those of the other places that were most populous.
ταῦτα μὲν τὰ κατὰ τὴν νόσον γενόμενα.
These, then, were the events that occurred in connection with the disease.