Note 252-2 — Chapter II

I would mention the Athenian pestilence during the last years or Pericles; the Roman in the orbis terrarum, between 250 and 265 B.C., which is said to have destroyed one-half of the population of Alexandria. (Gibbon, Hist. of the Roman Empire, ch. 10.) It also made frightful ravages, intellectually, on the nationality of the Romans. (Niebuhr.) Thus, in England, the black death contributed very largely to cause the disappearance of the medieval spirit. (Rogers.) Of great political importance was the pestilence of Bagdad, which, in 1831, carried off 2/3 of the inhabitants. All national bonds seemed dissolved, robbers ruled the country; the army of the powerful Doud Pascha was carried off entirely, and his whole political system, constructed after the model of that of Mehemet-Ali, fell into ruin. Compare Anth. Groves, Missionary Journal of a Residence at Bagdad, 1832.