Of
those who recovered, many bore the marks of the sickness to their
graves, by the loss of a hand, a foot, or an eye; while others were
affected in their minds, remaining in blank oblivion, without power to
recognise themselves or their friends. The healing art had made great
progress in Greece in the course of the last generation; and in this,
as in all else, the Greeks remained the sole teachers of Europe for
ages after. But against such a malady as this, the most skilful
physicians could do nothing, and those who attempted to exercise their
skill caught the plague themselves, and for the most part perished.
Still less, as we may well suppose, was the benefit derived from
amulets, incantations, inquiries of oracles, or supplications at
temples; and at last, finding no help in god or man, the Athenians
gave up the struggle, and resigned themselves to despair.
It is recorded as a curious fact, showing the strange and outlandish
character of the pestilence, that the birds and animals which feed on
human flesh generally shunned the bodies of those who died of the
plague, though they might have eaten their fill, for hundreds were
left unburied. The very vultures fled from the infected city, and
hardly one was seen as long as the pestilence continued.
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