458 On the Peftilential Difeafes which 
as well when fuffered to lie on the fkin, as when elfewhere, 
or otherwife difpofed of. With thefe limitations, and in 
this view of the queftion, there need be no objection to the, 
teftimony of Livy; nor have we any ground, from a know- 
ledee of the fymptoms of the plague he defcribes, to oppofe 
or fortify his narration. 
5. Mortality of the peftilence.—Of the mortality of the 
ficknefs which affected the army under Nicias, we only 
‘know that it was confiderable. Our knowledge is not much 
more definite -refpecting the number of the Carthaginians 
who perifhed of the army of Imilcon. There is reafon, how- 
. ever, to believe that it far exceeded that of the Athenians, 
and probably it was not lefs than 100,000 men. For it muft 
be recollected, that many had been regularly interred in the 
firft of the plague, and that all the fick and wounded were 
_left behind when their general ingtorioufly fled from Sicily. 
Nor is it probable that a number greatly exceeding 50,000 
fell in the battle which. preceded his flight. In the laft cafe, 
our computation may be nearer the truth. The army with 
which Himileo invaded Syracufe amounted to 28,000, ex- 
clufive of his Sicilian auxiliaries, and of the troops from that 
city which joined him under the command of Hippocrates. 
The defeat of this laft, by Marcellus, the preceding year; 
the feceffion of the Sicilians; and his own loffes in the va- 
rious ations in which he had been previoufly engaged, had 
no doybt reduced his army below its original ftrength. But, 
when it is remembered that all this army perifhed, and that 
a lefs, but ftill a great number of the Roman army alfo were 
deftroyed by the plague, there is reafon to eftimate the whole 
lofs as exceeding 30,000, The entire number of men fa- 
crificed to this unhealthy fituation, in three fucceffive periods, 
- could not be lefs than 150,000: a moft melancholy illuftra- 
tion of the influence of climate, feafon, and foil, on the health 
of mankind; and an example of the aétivity of local caufes 
in producing difeafe, compared with which, all the yellow 
fevers of the United States, whether originating here, or im- 
ported from abroad, fearcely deferve to be remembered. 
6. Symptoms and natute of the peftilence.—On_ this 
point our information is lefs complete than. on any other. 
9 >) The - 
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