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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §13.4.1-13.4.4

Severe Drought and Pestilence in Rome after Camillus

Passage 884 of 962 · Greek

Summary

It describes the severe drought and the subsequent outbreak of a pestilence in Rome after Camillus's term, which caused devastating damage to both livestock and humans.

§13.4.1ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀρχῇ τῶν μετὰ τὸν Κάμιλλον ὑπάτων νόσος εἰς Ῥώμην κατέσκηψε λοιμικὴ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπό τε ἀνομβρίας καὶ αὐχμῶν λαβοῦσα ἰσχυρῶν, ὑφʼ ὧν κακωθεῖσα ἥ τε δενδρῖτις καὶ ἡ σιτοφόρος ὀλίγους μὲν ἀνθρώποις καρποὺς ἐξήνεγκε καὶ νοσερούς, §13.4.2ὀλίγην δὲ καὶ πονηρὰν βοσκήμασι νομήν.
At the beginning of the term of the consuls after Camillus, a pestilential disease fell upon Rome, taking its origin from a lack of rain and severe droughts. Damaged by these, both the wooded and the grain-bearing land produced but few and unhealthy crops for men, and for the cattle, a scanty and poor pasture.
προβάτων μὲν οὖν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑποζυγίων ἀναρίθμητόν τι διεφθάρη πλῆθος οὐ χιλοῦ σπανισάμενον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ποτοῦ· τοσαύτη γὰρ τῶν τε ποταμίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ναμάτων ἐπίλειψις ἐγένετο, ἡνίκα μάλιστα κάμνει πάντα δίψει τὰ βοτά.
Consequently, a countless multitude of sheep and other beasts of burden perished, being deprived not only of fodder but also of water; for so great a failing of both river and other spring waters occurred, just when all the herds suffer most from thirst.
§13.4.3ἄνθρωποι δὲ ὀλίγοι μὲν τινες διεφθάρησαν, ἃς οὔπω πρότερον ἐπείρασαν προσενεγκάμενοι τροφάς, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ μικροῦ πάντες εἰς νόσους δεινὰς κατέπεσον ἀρχομένας μὲν ἀπὸ μικρῶν ἐξανθημάτων, ἃ περὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν χρῶτας ἀνίστατο, κατασκηπτούσας δʼ εἰς ἕλκη μεγάλα φαγεδαίναις ὅμοια, πονηρὰν μὲν ὄψιν, δεινὴν δὲ ἀλγηδόνα παρέχοντα.
Some few of the people perished, having consumed foods which they had never before experienced, while almost all the rest fell into terrible diseases, which began with small eruptions that rose about the outer skin, and degenerated into large ulcers resembling gangrenes, presenting a foul appearance and causing dreadful pain.
§13.4.4ἦν τε οὐθὲν ἴαμα τῆς περιωδυνίας τοῖς κάμνουσιν, ὅ τι μὴ κνησμοὶ καὶ σπαραγμοὶ συνεχεῖς λωβώμενοι τοῖς χρωσὶ μέχρι γυμνώσεως ὀστέων.
And there was no remedy for the severe pain of the sufferers, except continuous itching and scratching that damaged the skin even to the baring of the bones.

Notes

  1. 13.4.1ἥ τε δενδρῖτις καὶ ἡ σιτοφόρος — Feminine adjectives, functioning with the ellipsis of the feminine noun γῆ (land).
  2. 13.4.3ἃς οὔπω πρότερον ἐπείρασαν προσενεγκάμενοι τροφάς — The antecedent τροφάς (food) is attracted into the relative clause of ἃς. The participle προσενεγκάμενοι (aorist participle of προσφέρομαι) complements the main verb ἐπείρασαν (aorist of πειράομαι) to denote 'foods which they had never before experienced consuming'.
  3. 13.4.3μικροῦ — Genitive used adverbially as an ellipsis of μικροῦ δεῖν, meaning 'almost' or 'well-nigh'.
  4. 13.4.4ὅ τι μὴ — An idiomatic expression meaning 'except' or 'other than' following a negative main clause (οὐθὲν ἴαμα). The following nominatives κνησμοὶ καὶ σπαραγμοὶ stand independent in case, rather than taking the dative to agree with the patients or the genitive of recovery.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §13.4.1-13.4.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:13.4.1-13.4.4

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