Athens

ἐς δὲ τὴν Ἀθηναίων πόλιν ἐξαπιναίως ἐσέπεσε, καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἐν τῷ Πειραιεῖ ἥψατο τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὥστε καὶ ἐλέχθη ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ὡς οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι φάρμακα ἐσβεβλήκοιεν ἐς τὰ φρέατα· κρῆναι γὰρ οὔπω ἦσαν αὐτόθι. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν ἄνω πόλιν ἀφίκετο, καὶ ἔθνῃσκον πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἤδη.

Then it fell on Athens without warning. It struck first at Piraeus, so that people there even claimed the Peloponnesians had poisoned the wells, for Piraeus had no fountains yet. Later it reached the upper city too, and from then on far more people died.

περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ χρηστηρίου τὰ γιγνόμενα ᾔκαζον ὁμοῖα εἶναι· ἐσβεβληκότων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ἡ νόσος ἤρξατο εὐθύς, καὶ ἐς μὲν Πελοπόννησον οὐκ ἐσῆλθεν, ὅτι καὶ ἄξιον εἰπεῖν, ἐπενείματο δὲ Ἀθήνας μὲν μάλιστα, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων χωρίων τὰ πολυανθρωπότατα. ταῦτα μὲν τὰ κατὰ τὴν νόσον γενόμενα.

People supposed that events were matching the oracle. The sickness broke out just after the Peloponnesians invaded, and it never entered the Peloponnese to any extent worth mentioning. It spread most of all through Athens, and after that through the most crowded of the other places. Such were the events of the sickness.

ἔπειτα οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ φαίνεται τήν τε αἰγίδα ἔχουσα καὶ τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ σύμπαν δὴ σχῆμα οἵα περ ἡ Ἀθήνησιν ἡ Φειδίου.

Not long after, Athena appeared. She had her aegis, and in beauty, in size, and in her whole form she looked just like Phidias's Athena in Athens.

sed cum fere ante aequinoctium uernum triste sit caelum et nubibus obductum, sed et mare nauigantibus clausum, terrae etiam ipsae aut aqua aut pruina aut niuibus contegantur, eaque omnia uerno, id est hoc mense, aperiantur, arbores quoque nec minus cetera, quae continet terra, aperire se in germen incipiant: ab his omnibus mensem Aprilem dici merito credendum est, quasi Aperilem, sicut apud Athenienses ἀνθεστηριὼν idem mensis uocatur ab eo, quod hoc tempore cuncta florescant.

Before the spring equinox the sky is usually gloomy and covered with clouds. The sea is closed to sailors, and the land itself is covered with water, frost or snow. All of this opens up in spring, that is, in this month. Trees, and everything else the earth holds, begin to open into bud. It is right to believe, then, that April takes its name from all this opening, as if it were Aperilis. In the same way the Athenians call this month Anthesterion, because everything flowers at this time.

omni autem intercalationi mensis Februarius deputatus est, quoniam is ultimus anni erat, quod etiam ipsum de Graecorum imitatione faciebant. nam et illi ultimo anni sui mensi superfluos interserebant dies, ut refert Glaucippus, qui de sacris Atheniensium scripsit. uerum una re a Graecis differebant.

Every intercalation was assigned to February, since it was the last month of the year. This too they did in imitation of the Greeks, who also put their extra days into the last month of their year, as Glaucippus reports in his book on the rites of the Athenians. But the Romans differed from the Greeks in one thing.

On the 24th of July, 1844, the writer of this little book went to dine at the —— Club, quite unconscious of the wonderful events which Fate had in store for him. Mr. William was there, giving a farewell dinner to his friend, Mr. James (now Sir James). These two asked Mr. Titmarsh to join company with them, and the conversation naturally fell upon the tour Mr. James was about to take. The Peninsular and Oriental Company had arranged an excursion in the Mediterranean, by which, in the space of a couple of months, as many men and cities were to be seen as Ulysses surveyed and noted in ten years. Malta, Athens, Smyrna, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Cairo were to be visited and everybody was to be back in London by Lord Mayor's-day.

On July 24, 1844, the writer of this little book went to dine at the —— Club, quite unaware of the wonderful events that Fate had in store for him. Mr. William was there, giving a farewell dinner to his friend Mr. James (now Sir James). These two asked Mr. Titmarsh to join them, and the talk naturally turned to the tour Mr. James was about to take. The Peninsular and Oriental Company had arranged an excursion in the Mediterranean. In the space of a couple of months, it would show as many men and cities as Ulysses saw and noted in ten years. Malta, Athens, Smyrna, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Cairo were to be visited, and everybody was to be back in London by Lord Mayor's Day.