Vol. I, p.1 AMAnno Mundi, meaning ‘in the year of the world’. By Bede’s reckoning, the birth of Christ happened in AM 3952, which puts 2017 as AM 5969. 1657 ON the 19th Day of the second Month, for the general Corruption into which Mankind were fallen, the Fountains of the great Abyss of Waters were broke open, and the Cataracts of Heaven were opened, and Rain fell upon the Earth for 40 Days and 40 Nights. The Waters were so encreased, that they were raised 15 Cubits perpendicular above the Tops of the Mountains, and they continued 150 Days on the Earth, without either rising or falling, till all living Creatures on the Earth and in the Air were destroyed, save only what was with Noah in the Ark. Gen. 7.
Vol. I, p.2 AM 2107 For the unnatural Wickedness of Sodom, and its three neighbouring Cities, the pleasant and fruitful Plain where it stood, like an earthly Paradise, was first inflamed by Lightning, which set Fire to the Bitumen, of which that Earth was full, and was afterwards overflowed by the Waters of Jordan, which diffused themselves there, and formed the Dead Sea, called also the Lake Asphaltites, because of the Bitumen with which it abounds. Gen, 19.
AM 2114 A great Famine in Canaan forced Abraham into Egypt. Gen. 20.
AM 2213 Isaac by a Famine was driven to Gezar. Gen. 26.
AM 2252 Was the Flood of Ogyges, which almost overwhelmed and drowned all Achaia, in the Reign of Ogyges King of Achaia, from an Inundation of the Sea, driven in by Winds; it lay waste 200 Years.
AM 2297 Began the seven Years great Famine in Egypt, from Drought preventing the Overflowing of the Nile. Gen. 41. Beros.
AM 2407 Was a great Earthquake, which terrified the Babylonians. Beros.
AM 2446 Amphytrion being King of Athens, happened that great Flood, which drowned and laid waste most of Thessaly, only such as fled and escaped to the high Mountains, where Deucalion reigned, were preserved. At the same time raged a Plague in Ethiopia, which cut off the greatest Part of the Inhabitants, and India groaned under a desolating War. Oros.
AM 2513 Happened the ten great Plagues of Egypt, so famed in sacred Writ. The same Year theVol. I, p.3 King of Egypt with his whole Army, Horses and Chariots, were drowned in the Red Sea, in their Pursuit of the Israelites. The same Year, because of Pharaoh's Backwardness to let the Israelites go out of Egypt, a destroying Angel visited every House of the Egyptians in one Night, and slew all the First-born in the Kingdom, Exod.7 to 13. In the 4th Month of this Year, the Israelites, for their Idolatry in the golden Calf, in Imitation of the Egyptian Apis, had 23000 Men die of a Plague, Exod. 32. The same Year was not only a great Drought, but such an intolerable, not scoarching, but burning Heat of the Sun over all the World, as gave Birth to the Story of Phaeton's burning it. Oros. Plague and Famine reigned in Italy at the same Time. Chron. Funci.
AM 2514. Two Plagues befel the Israelites; one by Fire at Taberah, for murmuring; the other at Kibroth-Hattavah, for immoderately longing for a Flesh Diet. Numb. 11.
AM 2515. The Plague instantly consumed 14700 of the Israelites, for the Rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Numb. 16.
AM 2527. A terrible Earthquake and grievous Famine in Italy. Func.
AM 2553. The Israelites were plagued with fiery Serpents for their murmuring. Numb. 22. To this Year some refer the Discomfiture of the five Kings confederated against Joshua, by a Shower of Stones. And at Joshua's Prayer the Sun and Moon stood still. Joshua 11. The Midianites having sent their Daughters intoVol. I, p.4 the Israelite Camp, subtile to tempt the Israelites to commit Whoredom and Idolatry, were so successful, that it Occasioned the Death of 24000 Israelites of the Plague. Numb. 25 Where note, that by the Plague the Hebrews Understand all kinds of Diseases and Calamities sent as Punishment and Corrections from Heaven as Plague, Infection, sudden Deaths, Famine, Tempests, &c.
AM 2816. The Grecians being encamped before Troy, among Fens and Marshes, during violent Heats, and pestilential Vapours raised by the Sun, a terrible Plague broke out in their Camp. Heraclid.
AM 2888. The Philistines were plagued with Haemorrhoides, for looking into the Ark of God. I Sam. 6.
AM 2983. Began the three Years Famine in Judea in David's Reign, for Saul's Slaughter of the Gibeonites. 2 Sam. 21.
AM 2937. David from a carnal Confidence in the Multitude, Strength, and Fruitfulness of his People, caused them to be numbered, which occasioned a Plague of three Days among them, whereof died 70000. 2 Sam. 24.
AM 3141. Began the 7 Years Famine in Israel, foretold 3120. by Elisha. 2 Kings 8.
AM 3160. Happened the Earthquake mentioned Amos 1.
AM 3184. A grievous Drought and Famine afflicted all Greece, especially Attica. Petav.
AM 3294. Sennacherib besieging Lachish, sent Rabshakeb before Jerusalem with a prodigious Army, threatning the dethroning of Hezekiah, razing of that MonarchyThe king/queen and royal family of a country, or a form of government with a king/queen at the head., and pouring outVol. I, p.5Blasphemies against God in one Night, either a sudden Plague, Thunder and Lightning, hot Wind, Storm, or some such sudden Destruction, killed in the Assyrian Camp 18500 Men, under which terrible Distress and Shame he fled home in great Grief and Anger; intending probably to appease the Wrath of his Gods, by offering up two of his Sons in Sacrifice, but 45 Days after, they prevented his bloody and unnatural Design, by killing himself, and flying into Armenia, leaving the Throne for the third Son to ascend. Isa. 37.
AM 3375. Was the great Drought mentioned by Jerem. Chap. 14.
AM 3474. Was a great Famine in Rome. Func.
AM 3479. After many Signs and Prodigies in Rome, followed a pestilential Disease, chiefly fatal to Women with Child, and made fearful Havock.
AM 3488. The Romans were terribly afflicted with a Plague, which begun with sweeping off whole Herds of Horses and Cattle, afterwards Flocks of Sheep and Goats, and almost extirpated the whole Tribes of Quadrupedes. Then it fell on Shepherds and HusbandmenPeople who cultivate the land; farmers.; after laying waste the Country, it invaded the City of Rome, so as the dead Bodies were gathered together in great Heaps, and thrown into the Marshes, and the Poorer were thrown into the Tyber. Of the Senate died a 4th Part. The Plague began on the Calends of September, and raged all that year equally among all Sexes, Ages and Ranks.
Vol. I, p.6 AM 3493. Olympiad 80th, Ann. 4to, When the Plague had invaded the Selenuntii from the Stench of the adjacent River, Empedocles contrived to let in two other Rivers, at his own Expence, by which he sweetned the Waters, and stayed the Plague.
AM 3505. It rained Flesh in Italy. Func.
AM 3511. Titus Gessonius and Publius Minutius being Consuls, a terrible Famine and Plague raged in Rome.
AM 3516. Appeared a fearful Meteor, the whole Heavens seemed in a Flame, soon after followed a grievous Plague over Italy, which laid Rome almost waste.
AM 3527 and 3534. Were both great Famines in Rome. Func.
AM 3531. The Plague raged in Italy. Id. and an Earthquake.
AM 3539. A severe Drought in Italy. Id. A great Earthquake at Locris, the Earth rent, and the City was turned to an Island, Id.
AM 3544. An Earthquake and Eclipse of the Sun happened in Judæa. Id.
AM 3553. Was a very snowy Winter, followed by a Pestilential Disease in Summer.
AM 3556. Was a terrible Drought for two Years; and almost continual Earthquakes; Famine and Pestilence grievously afflicted Italy and Rome. A little after happened a terrible Earthquake in Sicily, and a deplorable Eruption of Ætna, which laid waste the Country about. Locris was destroyed by an Eruption of the Sea, and Athens groaned under a Plague.
Vol. I, p.7 AM 3574 Now we are come to the first exactly and judiciously described Plague or fatal Epidemic, recorded in History; for the Recorder had it himself and recovered; viz. that of Athens, as described by Thucydides. It was said to break out in that part of Ethiopia that lies above Egypt , and so came down into Egypt, Lybia, and great part of the King of PersiaThe ancient area of land that at its peak stretched from parts of North Africa to parts of India, ruled by the Achaemenid (550-330 BCE), the Parthian (247 BCE - 224 CE), and the Sasanian (224-651 CE) dynasties.'s Dominions, and continued in the Greek Islands a considerable Time after. A Year or two before it began, the Weather had been mostly southerly, sultry, hot, moist, and rainy. It was so great a Plague and Mortality as had never yet been known in the Memory of Man. Physicians were so far from being able to cure it at first, for want of knowing the Nature of it, that they themselves died faster than others, as being most familiar with the Sick. Nor could any other Art of Man make Head against it. All Supplications to the Gods, and Inquiries of Oracles, and the like, signified nothing. So that at last, overcome with the Distemper, they left them all off. Athens was seized with it on a sudden; but first in Pyreus; afterwards it came up into the high City, and proved much more mortal than before. The Year was universally allowed to be the healthiest and freest from other Diseases of any. If any was sick before, all his Illness was converted to this. Others in perfect Health were taken suddenly, without apparent Cause, with violent Heats in their Heads, Redness and Inflammation in their Eyes. Their Tongues and Throats within becameVol. I, p.8 immediately bloody. Their Breath in great Disorder and offensive. A Sneezing and Hoarseness ensued. In short time the Pain descended into the Breast, attended with a violent Cough. When it Was Once settled about the Mouth of the Stomach, a Reaching and Vomiting of bilious Stuff, in as great Variety as ever was known among Physicians, succeeded but not without the greatest Anxiety imaginable. Many were seized with a Hiccup, that brought up nothing, but occasioned a violent Convulsion, which in some went off presently, but in others continued much longer. The Body outwardly was neither very hot to the Touch, but pale, reddish, livid, and as it were flowered all over with little pimply Eruptions and Ulcers. But inwardly the Heat was so exceedingly great, that they could not endure the slightest Covering, of the finest Linnen, of anything short of absolute Nakedness. It was also an infinite Pleasure to them, to plunge into cold Water and many of these who were not Well attended did so, running to the Wells to quench their insatiable Thirst; not that it signified whether they drunk much or little. A great Uneasiness and Restlesness attended them, together with a continual Watching. While the Distemper was advancing to the Height, the Body did not fall away, but resisted the Vehemency of it beyond Expectation; so that many of them died the 7th or 9th Day of the inward Burning, some Strength still remaining. Or if they held it out longer, many of them afterwards died of Weakness; the DistemperVol. I, p.9 descending into the Belly, and there producing violent Ulcerations, and fluxes of the simple or unmixed Kind. For the Disease went through the whole Body, beginning first in the Head, and if any escaped, where the Case was very desperate, this was denoted by the Extremities being affected; for it broke out upon the private Parts, the Fingers and Toes; and many came off with the Loss of those Parts; some again lost their Eyes; others were seized immediately upon their getting up, with an absolute Forgetfulness of everything, not knowing themselves, nor those that were most familiar. The Appearance of the Nature of the Distemper being greater than Words can express, and harder to be born than human Nature is accustomed to. Nor indeed was if any of those Diseases that are bred amongst us, as appeared very plainly from this Circumstance, for the Birds and Beasts that feed on human Flesh, tho' many Carcasses laid abroad unburied, either came not to them, or tasting died. Some died for want of Attendance, and some with all imaginable Care. Nor was there any certain Remedy to help them, for what did good to one, did hurt to another. Nor was there any Difference as to the Strength and Weakness of Bodies to resist it; it swept away all, what Care or Method soever was taken. The terrible Circumstance of all was; the Defection of Mind in these that found themselves beginning to be ill, (for growing immediately desperate, they gave themselves over much more, without making anyVol. I, p.10 Resistance and their dying like Sheep, infected, by their Care and Concern for others, increased their Despair, the greatest Mortality proceeding this way: For if they were willing to visit others, through Fear they died themselves without Assistance, (by which means, many Families became desolate for want of somebody to take care of them) or if they visited they likewise died, especially such as had Virtue or Humanity enough to do any friendly Offices: For such out of Shame would not spare themselves, but went into their Friends especially after it came to that Pass, that even the Domestics, wearied with the Lamentations of those that died, fell ill themselves, overcome with the Greatness of the CalamityDisaster; but such as did recover had much Compassion on the sick and dying, having felt the same Misery, and being now safe, for it never seized any Person twice, &c. Dr. Clifton, ex Thucydide.
Thucydides' Plague of Athens happened the same Years with the first of Hippocrates’ Epidemics, in the second Year of the Peloponesian War, the 30th of Hippocrates' s Age, and 424 or 427 before Christ, which proves that Hippocrates never had been, nor was at Athens at that Time, and consequently did not, nor could not describe that Plague, since he was so far distant as Thasus, whose ConstitutionA body of fundamental principles and established precedents by which a state governs itself; or the composition of something. of the Air and Diseases he gives us for that and, the two next Years. Thucydides tells us, that in the 5th Year of the Peloponesian War, there were several Shakings of the Earth, and theVol. I, p.11 Plague that had not been quite extinguished, broke out again at that Time, and continued above a Year, which being the 33d Year of Hippocrates's Age, and the Year of the Earth quake and Comet mentioned by him, as well as his malignant Year, when he was at Thasus, and the Year of the Plague which Soranus says began or came from the Illyrians, and spread southward, as the other did from S. E. to N, W. so that their Courses were quite contrary. But the Comet and Earthquake which Aristotle says happened in Winter, was in the 87th Year of Hippocrates's Life, and the 370th or 373d before Christ. Clifton.
In Thasus this Year, in Harvest, and about the Equinox, and under the Pleiades, the Rains were great, continual and loft, as when the Wind is southerly. The Winter mild, with southerly Winds, and very little northerly; with these were greater Droughts than ordinary, so that in effect the whole Winter was like the Spring. The Spring was also affected with southerly Winds, but yet was cold and a little wet. The Summer was for the most part cloudy and dry. The Ætefæ (northerly Winds which set in a little before the Dog-days, and continue all that hot Sea son to cool the Air) blew but little, faintly and irregularly. The whole Year being thus affected with southerly Winds, and greater Drought than ordinary (from the former Years being different, and affected with northerly Winds) some few were attacked with burningVol. I, p.12Fevers of a kind good Sort, and a few others with Haemorrhages, neither of which proved mortal. Swellings behind the Ears, many had them on one Side, but most had them on both, without a Fever, or any Confinement, tho’ some had a small Fever. In all they disappeared without any Inconveniency or Suppuration, contrary to the Custom of such Tumour from other Causes. They were at this particular Time naturally soft, diffused without Inflammation or Pain, and went off universally without any risible Signs. Children, Youth and Adults, especially such as frequented Places of publick Exercise, were subject to them, and few Women were also affected. The greatest part had dry Coughs, which were soon succeeded by Hoarsenesses. After some Time, some had painful Phlegmons on their Testicles, either on one or both; some had Fevers, others none. From early in the Summer, and till Winter, such as had Consumptions, or were consumptively disposed, or apprehended themselves to be so, were laid up; and a great many of them dropped off sooner than usual. They were seized with continual acute Fevers, attended with a Chillness, but no Intermission, of the semitertian kind, the Fit being one Day moderate, the next vehement and so encreasing to greater Severity, They sweated continually, but not all over; the Extremities were very cold, and grew warm again with Difficulty. The Belly was disturbed with bilious, small, simple, griping Stools, and that frequently. The Urine thin, withoutVol. I, p.13 Colour, crude, and little in Quantity; or else thick with a small Sediment, that did not subside well, but appeared crude and unseasonable. They coughed a little often, and the Matter expectorated was indeed digested, but brought away by little and little and with Difficulty; where the Case was very violent, no Digestion happened, but what they spit was continually crude. The Throat of most of them, was from first and all along painful, red and inflamed. The Rehum that came from them little, thin and sharp. A Consumption and general Disorder soon followed; they had a continual Aversion to all Food, but without Thirst, and many before they died became delirious. --In the Summer and Harvest many Fevers came on of the continual kind, tho' not violent, and that to such as had been long ill,but in other respects not worn out. Disorders of the Belly likewise happened to many, but such as were tolerable, without any remarkable Injury. Urine was generally well coloured and clear, but thin, and after a while, about the Crisis, digested; Coughs were moderate, and Expectoration easy. They were not so averse to Food, but readily took What was given them. In a Word, these consumptive Patients were Æffected in a Manner different from such a State, sweating a little in their chilly Fevers, while others were seized with Paroxysms in a vague uncertain Manner, never leaving them entirely, but returning as a Semitertian. The Crisis happened about the 20th, Day at soonest, in mostVol. I, p.14 on the 40th, in many on the 80th; in some again it never happened, but the Fever went off, in an erratic manner: But for most part it returned after a short Intermission; and after its return, came to its Crisis in the same Periods as before. Many held out so long as to be ill in the Winter, but of all these none died, except the Consumptive.