When Athenians feared a disease would wreck their democracy

IT IS ONE of the most lurid descriptions in literature of a society collapsing under the shock of a virulent disease. In 430BC, the second year of its war with Sparta, the vibrant city of Athens was struck by a malady that caused panic, despair and a loss of faith in sacred values and institutions. Symptoms included raging fever, retching, convulsions and disfigurement. According to Thucydides, “the catastrophe was so overwhelming that men, not knowing what would happen to them next, became indifferent to every rule of religion or law.”