Thucydides and the Plague of Athens

修西得底斯和雅典瘟疫

Thucydides was the world's first historian. Presently, we get most of our knowledge about ancient Greece from his writing. But Thucydides didn't just write about history, he lived through it. However, he almost didn't survive one historical event: the Plague of Athens.

修西得底斯是世界上第一位历史学家。目前，我们对古希腊的大部分知识都是从他的著作中获得的。但是修昔底德不仅仅写历史，他还经历了历史。然而，他差点丧命于一件历史事件:雅典瘟疫。

In 430 BCE, an army attacked the city of Athens, where Thucydides lived. Thousands of people hid from the army behind Athens' large walls. The city became very crowded as the population expanded. Then a horrifying disease broke out. People summoned doctors. But it was to no avail because no one understood how the disease spread. It seemed random. They didn't know that it was an organism. Instead, they defined disease as a punishment from their gods. Thucydides was incredulous that gods caused the plague, but he explained why others believed it. There was an old, long verse which predicted the disease. To paraphrase it, the verse said the gods would send a disease during a war. As a result, large crowds gathered at shrines to ask the gods to stop the plague. But the situation only worsened because these people were so close to each other they became sick. That's how they learned a fundamental lesson about the plague: it spread from person to person.

公元前430年，一支军队袭击了修西得底斯居住的雅典城。成千上万的人躲在雅典的高墙后面躲避军队。随着人口的增长，城市变得非常拥挤。然后一种可怕的疾病爆发了。人们请来医生，但也没有用，因为没有人知道这种疾病是如何传播开来的。这种病似乎是随机传播的，他们不知道这是一种病毒。相反，他们把疾病定义为来自神的惩罚。修西得底斯不相信是神引起了瘟疫，但他也说明了其他人相信这一说法的原因。有一首古老的长诗预言了这种疾病。诗中说神会在战争期间传播疾病。因此，很多人聚集在神殿里，祈求神灵阻止瘟疫。但情况却越变越糟，因为这些人彼此靠得太近，大家都被传染了。他们也从中了解到了瘟疫的基本知识:它会在人与人之间传播。

People wanted to leave the crowded city, but they dreaded what the army outside would do to them. At this time, Thucydides got sick, too. He quickly scribbled down notes because he thought he would soon die. His writing shows a stark contrast between people's behavior before and during the plague. There were riots, and people ignored laws. They didn't think they'd live long enough to be punished. Many sick people were left to die in solitude because no one wanted to be near them. The plague lingered for two years. But luckily, Thucydides survived. Without his writing, we would know much less about ancient Greece and the Plague of Athens.

人们想离开这座拥挤的城市，但又害怕外面的军队。这时，修西得底斯也病了。他很快地写下笔记，因为他认为自己很快就会死去。他记录了瘟疫前和瘟疫期间人们行为的鲜明对比。城里发生了骚乱，人们无视法律，因为他们认为自己活不到接受惩罚的时候。许多病人孤独地死去，因为没有人愿意靠近他们。瘟疫持续了两年。但幸运的是，修西得底斯活了下来。如果没有他的记录，我们就不会知道这么多关于古希腊和雅典瘟疫的事情。

核心单词表

avail n.效用

expand v.扩张

define v.使明确

dread v.惧怕

fundamental adj.基本的

horrifying adj.令人极其震惊的

incredulous adj.怀疑的

linger v.徘徊

organism n.有机体

paraphrase v.释义

plague n.瘟疫

presently adv.目前

random adj.随机的

riot n.暴乱

scribble v.乱写

shrine n.神殿

Solitude n.隐居

stark adj.完全的

summon v.召唤

worsen v.恶化

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