Herodian on the long peak of the Antonine Plague’s second wave

I’ve stayed away from posts about plague recently, but it’s been nearly a year since Berlin went into its first lockdown and I’ve found myself revisiting stories about the Antonine Plague—especially about how the city’s doctors, politicians and ordinary citizens responded to a crisis that seemed to go on for ages (it nearly led to civil war according to some sources). Here’s a little bit from the historian Herodian on doctor-recommended treatments for the rich (the emperor Commodus) and the rest (the ordinary inhabitants of the city). The narrative is familiar: lack of social distancing, travel, close quarters with animals, awareness of a need for face-protection; but also, while the treatments for both rich and poor were roughly the same (viz., aromatherapy), the outcomes were not.

“It so happened at this time that Italy was in the grip of the plague. The suffering was especially intense in the city of Rome, as it was naturally overcrowded and received people from all over the world. And there was great destruction of animals and people.

“At that point, on the advice of some doctors, Commodus retired to Laurentum. For the town, being cooler and shaded by large laurel groves (hence the town’s name), seemed to be a safe place; and he is said to have withstood the corrupting power of the air by means of the fragrant vapours from the laurels and the pleasant shade of the trees.

“Meanwhile, at their doctors’ urging, those in the city filled their nostrils and ears with the most fragrant perfumes and continually used incense and aromatics, since some of the doctors said the fragrance, entering first, filled the sensory passages and prevented the corrupting power of the air from getting in; and if any should get in, it would be overpowered by [the fragrance’s] stronger power.

“Only—it made no difference: the sickness continued to peak for a long time, with great destruction of people and of all sorts of domesticated animals.”

συνέβη δὲ κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ λοιμώδη νόσον κατασχεῖν τὴν Ἰταλίαν· μάλιστα δὲ τὸ πάθος <ἐν> τῇ Ῥωμαίων πόλει ἤκμασεν ἅτε πολυανθρώπῳ τε οὔσῃ φύσει καὶ τοὺς πανταχόθεν ὑποδεχομένῃ, πολλή τέ τις φθορὰ ἐγένετο ὑποζυγίων ἅμα καὶ ἀνθρώπων. τότε ὁ Κόμοδος συμβουλευσάντων αὐτῷ τινῶν ἰατρῶν ἐς τὴν Λαύρεντον ἀνεχώρησεν· εὐψυχέστερον γὰρ ὂν τὸ χωρίον καὶ μεγίστοις κατάσκιον δαφνηφόροις ἄλσεσιν (ὅθεν καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῷ χωρίῳ) σωτήριον εἶναι ἐδόκει, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀέρος φθορὰν ἀντέχειν ἐλέγετο εὐωδίᾳ τε τῆς τῶν δαφνῶν ἀποφορᾶς καὶ τῇ τῶν δένδρων ἡδείᾳ σκιᾷ. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν κελευόντων τῶν ἰατρῶν μύρου εὐωδεστάτου τάς τε ὀσφρήσεις καὶ τὰ ὦτα ἐνεπίμπλασαν, θυμιάμασί τε καὶ ἀρώμασι συνεχῶς ἐχρῶντο, φασκόντων τινῶν τὴν εὐωδίαν φθάσασαν ἐμπιπλάναι τοὺς πόρους τῶν αἰσθήσεων καὶ κωλύειν δέχεσθαι τὸ φθορῶδες τοῦ ἀέρος, ἢ εἰ καί τι προεμπέσοι, κατεργάζεσθαι δυνάμει κρείττονι. πλὴν οὐδὲν ἧττον ἡ νόσος ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἤκμασε, πολλῆς ἀνθρώπων φθορᾶς γενομένης πάντων τε ζῴων <τῶν> τοῖς ἀνθρώπων συνοίκων.

Herodian, History Following the Death of the Divine Marcus Aurelius 1.12.1–2

Worse than the worst of plagues: Cassius Dio on Commodus’ reign and the second wave of the Antonine plague

“A sickness occurred greater than any I have known—in fact, two thousand often died on a single day in Rome. Many people were also killed in another way, not only in the city, but throughout practically the whole Empire, by evil men: for they would smear little needles with some deadly drugs and for a fee would inject the poison into others, a thing which also happened during the time of Domitian. And while these people died without even a word, Commodus ended up more troublesome to the Romans than all the diseases and criminals together, because among other reasons the people were forced to assign to him out of fear and by command those things which had been bestowed out of respect upon his father through a vote.

“He actually ordered that Rome’s name be changed to ‘Commodiana,’ its army called ‘the Commodians,’ and the day on which these motions were passed ‘Commodiana Day.’ Among the many names he took for himself, one was Herakles. He gave Rome the nickname, ‘Immortal Blessed Inhabited Colony of the Earth,’ since he wanted it to be thought of as his own colony. A golden statue was made in his honour, a thousand pounds in weight, along with a bull and a cow. And finally, all the months of the year were named after him, so that they were counted as follows: Amazon, Undefeated, Lucky, Pious, Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, August, Herakles, Roman, Excellency. For he had taken on different names at different times, but Amazon and Excellency he applied to himself constantly, to show he was absolutely in every way preeminently superior to all people—that is how preeminently insane this piece of shit turned out to be.”

γέγονε δὲ καὶ νόσος μεγίστη ὧν ἐγὼ οἶδα· δισχίλιοι γοῦν πολλάκις ἡμέρας μιᾶς ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἐτελεύτησαν. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλως οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἄστει μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ ὡς εἰπεῖν τῇ ἀρχῇ ὑπ' ἀνδρῶν κακούργων ἀπέθανον· βελόνας γὰρ μικρὰς δηλητηρίοις τισὶ φαρμάκοις ἐγχρίοντες ἐνίεσαν δι' αὐτῶν ἐς ἑτέρους ἐπὶ μισθῷ τὸ δεινόν· ὅπερ που καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Δομιτιανοῦ ἐγεγόνει. καὶ οὗτοι μὲν ἐν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ ἀπώλλυντο, ἦν δὲ ἁπάντων νοσημάτων καὶ ἁπάντων κακουργημάτων χαλεπώτερος Ῥωμαίοις ὁ Κόμμοδος, διά τε τἆλλα καὶ ὅτι ἠναγκάζοντο, ἃ τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ κατ' εὔνοιαν ἐψηφίζοντο, ταῦτ' ἐκείνῳ διὰ φόβον ἀπονέμειν ἐξ ἐπιτάγματος. Κομμοδιανὴν γοῦν τήν τε Ῥώμην αὐτὴν καὶ τὰ στρατόπεδα Κομμοδιανά, τήν τε ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ ταῦτα ἐψηφίζετο Κομμοδιανὰ καλεῖσθαι προσέταξεν. ἑαυτῷ δὲ ἄλλας τε παμπόλλους ἐπωνυμίας καὶ τὴν Ἡρακλέους ἀπήνεγκε. τὴν δὲ Ῥώμην ἀθάνατον εὐτυχῆ κολωνίαν οἰκουμένην τῆς γῆς (καὶ γὰρ ἄποικον αὐτὴν ἑαυτοῦ δοκεῖν ἐβούλετο) ἐπωνόμασεν. καὶ ἀνδριάς τε αὐτῷ χρυσοῦς χιλίων λιτρῶν μετά τε ταύρου καὶ βοὸς θηλείας ἐγένετο, καὶ τέλος καὶ οἱ μῆνες ἀπ' αὐτοῦ πάντες ἐπεκλήθησαν, ὥστε καταριθμεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς οὕτως, Ἀμαζόνιος Ἀνίκητος Εὐτυχὴς Εὐσεβὴς Λούκιος Αἴλιος Αὐρήλιος Κόμμοδος Αὔγουστος Ἡράκλειος Ῥωμαῖος Ὑπεραίρων. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοτε ἄλλα μετελάμβανε τῶν ὀνομάτων, τὸν δ' Ἀμαζόνιον καὶ τὸν Ὑπεραίροντα παγίως ἑαυτῷ ἔθετο ὡς καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς πάντας ἀνθρώπους καθ' ὑπερβολὴν νικῶν· οὕτω καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἐμεμήνει τὸ κάθαρμα.

Cassius Dio, Roman History, 72.14–15