the dead to the parts
of the city which bordered on the sea and flung him down; and there the
corpses would be thrown upon skiffs in a heap, to be conveyed wherever
it might chance. At that time, too, those of the population who had
formerly been members of the factions laid aside their mutual enmity and
in common they attended to the burial rites of the dead, and they
carried with their own hands the bodies of those who were no connections
of theirs and buried them. Nay, more, those who in times past used to
take delight in devoting themselves to pursuits both shameful and base,
shook off the unrighteousness of their daily lives and practised the
duties of religion with diligence, not so much because they had learned
wisdom at last nor because they had become all of a sudden lovers of
virtue, as it were--for when qualities have become fixed in men by
nature or by the training of a long period of time, it is impossible for
them to lay them aside thus lightly, except, indeed, some divine
influence for good has breathed upon them--but then all, so to speak,
being thoroughly terrified by the things which were happening, and
supposing that they would die immediately, did, as was natural, learn
respectability for a season by sheer necessity. Therefore as soon as
they were rid of the disease and were saved, and already supposed that
they were in security, since the curse had moved on to other peoples,
then they turned sharply about and reverted once more to their baseness
of heart, and now, more than before, they make a display of the
inconsistency of their conduct, altogether surpassing themselves in
villainy and in lawlessness of every sort. For one could insist
emphatically without falsehood that this disease, whether by chance or
by some providence, chose out with exactitude the worst men and let them
go free. But these things were displayed to the world in later times.

During that time it seemed no easy thing to see any man in the streets
of Byzantium, but all who had the good fortune to be in health were
sitting in their houses, either attending the sick or mourning the dead.
And if one did succeed in meeting a man going out, he was carrying one
of the dead. And work of every description ceased, and all the trades
were abandoned by the artisans, and all other work as well, such as each
had in hand. Indeed in a city which was simply abounding in all good
things starvation almost absolute was running riot. Certainly it se