[107] This curious passage may be illustrated from a pamphlet entitled ‘Medela Pestilentiæ, wherein is contained several Theological Queries concerning the Plague,’ &c., by Richard Kephale. “Some I have talked with, who have ingenuously confest they, at their first infection, have felt themselves manifestly stricken, being sensible of a blow suddenly given them, some on the head and neck, others on the back and side, &c.; sometimes so violently that they have been as it were knockt down to the ground, remaining so for a time senseless; whereof some have died instantly, others in a short time after.”—p. 49. This statement, however, is not entitled to implicit credit; for it is the writer’s object to prove the plague a direct infliction from God, without the intervention of secondary causes. “There are two sorts of plague, the one simple, the other putrid. The simple plague is the very influence of the striking angel executing the vengeance of God on the bodies of men. This kind of plague ariseth from no distemperature of blood, putrefaction of humours, or influence of stars, but falleth merely from the stroke of God’s punishing angel.” (Such were the plagues of old, as you may read in Exod. xii. and Numb. xi. 16, 25; also 2 Sam. xxiv. and 2 Kings xix.)—_Ibid._ [108] This passage is remarkable as being probably the earliest assertion extant, of any disease known by the name of _plague_ being uncommunicable by contact. Of all the following accounts of similar pestilences, the dread of contagion will be found to form one of the most striking features. [109] More probably from that burning heat which Thucydides tells us produced the same effect at Athens. [110] _ὃυτως αἱτία τις ἦν ὀυδεμία ἐν ταυτῇ τῇ ν̓ σῳ ἐς ἀνθρώπου λογισμὸν φέρουσα_. [111] The fig–trees: it included the modern suburbs of Pera and Galata. [112] For some notice of these singular and virulent factions, see chap. xiv. [113] Procopius de Bello Persico, lib. ii, cap. 22, 23.