The healer's burden

Lesson plan

3 class periods of about 45 minutes.

1. Day 1 · 45 min

   Doctors and nurses in Athens

   1. 5 minutes: Pose the unit question: What does an epidemic ask of those who care for the sick? List on the board who cares for the sick today.
   2. 5 minutes: The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians is High intensity: detailed symptoms, unburied bodies and funeral pyres. Before reading, tell students that today's passages leave out the worst of it (2.49–2.50 and 2.52), and that anyone upset by a passage may stop and say so.
   3. 15 minutes: Read 2.47.3–2.48.3 and 2.51.1–2.51.6 aloud together. On the source's worksheet, students note what happened to the doctors and to people who nursed their friends.
   4. 15 minutes: In pairs, students explain why those who took pride in doing the right thing died most (2.51.5), and who showed the most pity for the sick, and why (2.51.6).
   5. 5 minutes: Exit note: one thing caring for the sick cost people in Athens.

2. Day 2 · 45 min

   A doctor and a bishop

   1. 10 minutes: Read the History tab of Zhang Zhongjing's Preface to the Treatise on Cold Damage, then passages [11] to [14], where he tells of his clan's losses and why he wrote. Its intensity is Low: deaths reported, nothing graphic.
   2. 10 minutes: Pairs read [18] to [21] and list what Zhang says the doctors of his day do wrong. Ask what he thinks a good doctor owes the sick.
   3. 15 minutes: Read section 16 of The Plague as a Test: A Bishop's Sermon at Carthage together. Its intensity is Medium: a vivid list of symptoms in 14.1, which today's reading skips. Students list what Cyprian says the plague tests, and what the list suggests about how people in Carthage were behaving.
   4. 10 minutes: Students write two sentences each: what Zhang expects of doctors, and what Cyprian expects of everyone near the sick. Note from Cyprian's History tab that his deacon says he urged Christians to help pagans as well as their own.

3. Day 3 · 45 min

   Nurses in Constantinople

   1. 5 minutes: The Plague at Constantinople is High intensity: detailed symptoms and deaths, including mothers and newborns, and bodies piled in towers. Tell students before reading that today's passages leave those parts out, though the full page includes them.
   2. 15 minutes: Read 2.22.22–2.22.24, 2.22.32–2.22.34 and 2.23.5–2.23.8 together. Students note what the nurses, the doctors and the official Theodore did, and why people pitied the nurses (2.22.23).
   3. 5 minutes: Point out that Thucydides saw nurses catch the disease (2.51.4), while Procopius says no one caught it by touching the sick (2.22.23). Ask what evidence each writer gives.
   4. 20 minutes: Students answer the unit question in a paragraph: What does an epidemic ask of those who care for the sick? They use at least two of the four sources, with passage numbers. Two or three read theirs aloud.

Read these sources

In this order. Each opens in Hearth Library with the original beside plain English, and a History tab on who made it and how far to trust it.

1. 1

   The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians

   Thucydides, 430–400 BCE. Moderate.

   Plain language; Pericles's argument needs context.

   Questions, key terms and an activity

   oracle

   a shrine where a god was believed to answer questions, or the answer given there

   contagion

   the spread of disease from person to person

   pyre

   a pile of wood for burning a dead body

   Assembly

   the meeting of Athenian citizens that made the city's decisions

   general

   one of ten elected officials who led the Athenian armies and much of the city's politics

   envoy

   a messenger sent to bargain with another state

   tyranny

   rule by one person who took power without a legal right

   humors

   the body fluids (later fixed as four, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) that doctors believed had to stay in balance

   1. Comprehension Trace the course of the disease in one sufferer, from the first signs to death or recovery. What happened to many who survived?
   2. Analysis Thucydides says people stopped fearing the gods and the law. What reasons does he give, and do they follow from what he has described?
   3. Analysis (reliability) Thucydides says he had the disease himself. How does that make his account stronger, and what might a survivor leave out? He also says he wrote the speeches in his own words, keeping as close as he could to the general sense of what was said. How should that change the way we read Pericles's defense?
   4. Connection Procopius, in The Plague at Constantinople, modeled his account on this one. Compare how the two writers describe what happened to burial customs, and what each says about the gods.

   Activity Hold the Athenian Assembly of 430 BCE. Half the class argues for sending envoys to make peace with Sparta; half defends Pericles's policy. Each side may use only evidence from the text. Vote, then read 2.65 to compare with what the Athenians actually did.

   For teachers · Worksheet for this source

2. 2

   Preface to the Treatise on Cold Damage

   Zhang Zhongjing, 200–206. Moderate.

   Short, formal sentences full of contrasts; the medical classics and the ancient doctors' names need context.

   Questions, key terms and an activity

   qi

   the vital breath or energy that Chinese thinkers saw in the body and the world

   Cold Damage

   a Han-era name for a broad family of feverish illnesses believed to start when cold invades the body

   Five Phases

   wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, used to explain change in nature and the body

   yin and yang

   paired opposite forces, such as dark and light or cold and heat; their balance, and the right order of the seasons, was thought to keep the body and the world healthy

   shaman

   a religious healer who tries to cure illness by contacting spirits

   pulse diagnosis

   judging illness by feeling the beat of the blood at the wrist, neck, and foot

   clan

   a large extended family sharing one surname and ancestors

   1. Comprehension What does Zhang say happened to his clan, and what did he do in response?
   2. Analysis Zhang blames two groups for deaths that did not have to happen. Who are they, and what does he accuse each of doing wrong?
   3. Analysis (reliability) The preface survives only in copies and quotations made centuries after Zhang died, and scholars debate whether he wrote all of it. How should that affect the way we use his account of his family's deaths as evidence?
   4. Connection Read Cao Zhi's Discourse on Epidemic Qi, and a Brother's Letter, about the epidemic of 217. Zhang blames learned men who chase rank and fame, and hasty doctors; whom or what does Cao Zhi blame? What does each writer think people should do, or stop doing?

   Activity Students write a short reply to Zhang in the voice of one of the "doctors of today" he attacks, defending their methods. Partners then trade papers and answer as Zhang.

   For teachers · Worksheet for this source

3. 3

   The Plague as a Test: A Bishop's Sermon at Carthage

   Cyprian, 252–253. Moderate.

   Plain words; the Scripture, the persecution, and Cyprian's purpose need context.

   Questions, key terms and an activity

   bishop

   the leader of the Christian church in a city and its region

   pagan

   a follower of the traditional Roman gods, as Christians called them

   persecution

   cruel treatment of a group, such as Christians, by the authorities because of their beliefs

   martyr

   a person killed for refusing to give up their faith

   confession

   in Cyprian's church, declaring oneself a Christian before Roman officials, at the risk of death

   Antichrist

   a last great enemy of God whom many Christians expected before the end of the world

   flux

   dysentery or severe diarrhea

   rhetoric

   the art of persuasive speech, taught in Roman schools

   1. Comprehension What troubled some of Cyprian's listeners about who was dying? Give three of his answers.
   2. Analysis In section 16 Cyprian says the plague tests people. List what it tests. What does the list suggest about how people in Carthage were actually behaving?
   3. Analysis (reliability) Cyprian was an eyewitness writing during the epidemic, but he wrote a sermon to steady his congregation. How might that purpose shape his list of symptoms in section 14 and his story of the dying bishop's vision in section 19? What other kind of source would you want to check him against?
   4. Connection Aelius Aristides (The Plague at My Country House, and a Life for a Life) also explains a plague through his faith. Compare whom each writer thinks the plague is about, and what each thinks a believer should feel when others die.

   Activity Write a short letter from a pagan neighbor in Carthage who has just heard Cyprian's sermon and wants to answer it. Then trade letters with a classmate and write Cyprian's reply, using only arguments he makes in the sermon.

   For teachers · Worksheet for this source

4. 4

   The Plague at Constantinople

   Procopius, 550–551. Moderate.

   Plain words in long, careful descriptions; the court, the factions, and Procopius's debt to Thucydides need context.

   Questions, key terms and an activity

   bubo

   a painful swelling of a gland in the groin, armpit, or neck; the mark of bubonic plague

   carbuncle

   a hard, dark, inflamed lump in the flesh

   contagion

   the spread of disease from person to person

   delirium

   a state of wild, confused thinking, often with frightening visions, brought on by illness

   demon

   an evil spirit; many Christians of Procopius's time believed demons could cause illness

   faction

   a rival group within a community; in Constantinople, the Blues and the Greens, clubs of chariot-racing fans

   providence

   God's care for the world and plan for what happens in it

   sophist

   a learned speaker or teacher; Procopius uses the word for clever people with empty explanations

   1. Comprehension How did the disease begin in a person, according to Procopius, and what different courses could it then take? What sign gave a sick person the best hope of recovery?
   2. Analysis Procopius says the plague's cause can be traced only to God, yet he also says it seemed to spare the wickedest people. What, if anything, does he think the plague teaches? How does his own answer differ from those of the theorists he mocks in 22.1?
   3. Analysis (reliability) Procopius was in Byzantium when the plague arrived, but he wrote years later and modeled his account on Thucydides. Which details seem most likely to come from what he saw for himself, and which might be borrowed or exaggerated? Look closely at the daily death tolls in 23.2 and at the comment on the survivors in 23.16.
   4. Connection Thucydides (The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians) was Procopius's model. Thucydides saw the disease pass to those who nursed the sick (2.51); what does Procopius say about whether it passed from person to person (22.23), and what evidence does he give? Where else does his account follow Thucydides, and where does it part from it?

   Activity You are Theodore, the official Justinian put in charge of burying the dead. Using only details from the text, write a one-page report to the emperor on what you found, what you did, and what you still need. Then compare reports with a classmate and discuss what an official report would leave out that Procopius puts in.

   For teachers · Worksheet for this source

To finish

Come back to the question: What does an epidemic ask of those who care for the sick? Ask students to answer it with evidence from at least two of the sources, and to say which source they trust most and why.

Standards

Students write Cyprian's reply to a pagan neighbor using only his arguments, write a reply in a doctor's voice to Zhang, and compare Procopius with Thucydides, the model he copied.

Go further

Other units

Who gets blamed? · Governments, quarantine, and consent · Explaining disease before germs · Faith and catastrophe · After the plague · Case study: smallpox · Reading sources critically

Encyclopedia

Corrupted air (miasma) · Quarantine · Smallpox, from inoculation to eradication · The Black Death

Play

Word for Word

Collection

Every source in Once in a Lifetime