532 
endemic, at least in Attica, until the close of the fifth century B.c. 
But although we cannot date its introduction, it is quite certain that 
it became more common after 400 B.c:., until a Greek could talk ot 
his touch of fever in much the same way as we talk of influenza, or 
an ordinary cold. Nor did malaria change its type. From Hippo¬ 
crates to Joannes, from the fifth century B.C. to the fourteenth century 
A.D., malaria is described in almost precisely the same terms, and 
with exactly the same symptoms, and these symptoms arc so clear 
that we can recognise all the various forms of the disease as we meet 
them at the present time. 
MALARIA IN ITALY 
W hen and how malaria was introduced into Italy, or when it 
became endemic there, is a very complicated question. It is generally 
assumed, e.g. by Celli, that malaria was common in pre-historic 
times, and that the drainage works at Rome were intended to 
diminish the disease, while Cicero is quoted as putting on record 
that Romulus founded a city in a healthy spot surrounded by an 
unhealthy neighbourhood. It is quite possible that even in early 
tunes the disease did exist, but if this be so, it cannot have been 
severe, nor can it have been widely spread. For it is certain that 
some distiicts, the most highly malarious in the historical period, 
were flourishing centres in early times, and could not have been, as 
is, indeed, generally acknowledged, very unhealthy. On the other 
hand, if the drainage scheme carried out by the kings improved the 
Ca ^ C1 fy> this improvement did not last, for the Rome of 
t C carl y Empire was so malarious that it was considered very 
c an eroiis to remain in it during the autumn months. It may be 
, U ed tka ^ Ealy did not sufler much from malaria before 200 B.C, 
b . r ter date gradually became more common, as is proved 
e " Ces 111 literature, until, during the earlv Empire, many 
the”/ 1Str : CtS * and also R °me itself, suffered most severely from 
hip-i,]. ? In an cnc lemic form. The evidence that Rome was 
whelm J T" 5 ^ thC begmnin S of the Christian era is over- 
that the rT 0 1 Study the question, the plainer it becomes 
inhabitant. 1Se The eXer f te w a marked influence upon the life of every 
and there n - r 1006 orace refers to malaria at least six times, 
VC re ^ erenc es in Martial, including three to the deadly 
