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The Justinian Plague AD 542
DURING these times there was a pestilence, by which the whole human race came near to being annihilated.
It did not come in a part of the world nor upon certain men, nor did it confine itself to any season of the year...
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DURING these times there was a pestilence, by which the whole human race came near to being annihilated.
It did not come in a part of the world nor upon certain men, nor did it confine itself to any season of the year...
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... but it embraced the entire world, and blighted the lives of all men, though differing from one another in the most marked degree, respecting neither sex nor age
It attacked some in the summer season, others in the winter, and still others at the other times of the year
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It attacked some in the summer season, others in the winter, and still others at the other times of the year
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At first the deaths were a little more than the normal, then the mortality rose still higher, and afterwards the tale of dead reached five thousand each day, and again it even came to ten thousand and still more than that.
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And it fell to the lot of the emperor, as was natural, to make provision for the trouble. He therefore detailed soldiers from the palace and distributed money
And work of every description ceased, and all the trades were abandoned by the artisans, and all other work as well
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And work of every description ceased, and all the trades were abandoned by the artisans, and all other work as well
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Indeed in a city which was simply abounding in all good things starvation almost absolute was running riot.
Procopius: History of the Wars
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/542procopius-plague.asp
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Procopius: History of the Wars
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/542procopius-plague.asp
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