The cosmogenic alginate events that humanity is experiencing due to biological warfare haunt the mind to find the cause and discover the cure for an unexpected and unexplained flare-up of Covid-19.
The wisdom of our mental ancestors, no matter how much the spirit of the younger ones gallops and tries with all the wonderful means of Technology to overcome it, it remains intact and timeless. Those of us who remain lovers of antiquity these days look back to this very wisdom. The coronavirus can only refer us to the plague of Athens. I will try, therefore, to approach with a look at the time of the coronavirus the texts of the classics, who wrote about the plague. Guided by the Stories of Thucydides about the Peloponnesian War and the work "De rerum natura" by Lucretius, we can travel to Athens of the plague, a city that was threatened in antiquity with total destruction.
Thucydides mentions characteristically: I, who myself suffered from the disease, and with my own eyes saw other sufferers, will report its real course and describe its symptoms, the precise observation of which will allow more safely to anyone, who she would like to study them and diligently make her diagnosis, if she ever wanted to re-enter. The plague first appeared in Athens in the second year of the Peloponnesian War, in 430 BC, and suddenly affected the inhabitants of Piraeus. Until then, there was no report of an infectious disease of this magnitude, nor of human decay so great. No human art could help, not even the doctors, who, ignoring the nature of the disease, tried to cure it and ended up dying themselves. Those who tried to face evil by praying to the gods or invoking divination were disappointed and resigned.
Thucydides himself observes that the most terrible thing in all this disease was not only the discouragement of the victims, when they realized that they were afflicted with the disease, as their spirit was immediately surrendered to despair, they abandoned themselves to fate and did not resist, but also the fact that, while treating each other, they became infected and died like sheep.
Important, moreover, is the reference of Thucydides to the complete disappearance of moral and social cohesion during the plague. In his stories he writes characteristically: The disease brought other worse forms of lawlessness to the city. Many, who had previously concealed their indulgence in illicit pleasures, surrendered to them without any reservation, because they saw how sudden the transition was. Thus, they decided to enjoy life, which they considered to be ephemeral. Neither the fear of the gods nor the law of the people restrained them, as they saw that all died equally, judged that there was no difference between piety and disrespect, and believed that no one would survive to give a reason for his crimes and be punished.
Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher, in his work "On the nature of things", while he aims to cut off the minds of people from prejudice and fear of death, faithfully following the Epicurean philosophy, in the sixth book, where he attempts a "Thucydides" description of the plague of Athens, is dominated by both the fear of death and death itself.
Many scholars have pondered the reference to the plague at the end of this work by Lucretius. How does a poet, who preaches calmness, close his work suddenly and unexpectedly with an event that leads to absolute annihilation? I believe that Lucretius wanted to point out to the reader how fragile and fluid the cultural development of a city is. It prepares the reader not to be afraid of disaster, while emphasizing that death is not inevitable and no one can surpass it. However, the poet himself arms the reader with the belief that destruction precedes creation, and leaves him to assume that this creation will follow the episode of the plague.
Let us, then, be optimistic today that the biological war will be followed by the creation of a world different, deeply human and worthy of the inspiration of its Creator. Let us hope, as European citizens, that the cursed virus will make Europe wise to turn to Man again and that we will all live a new Humanism.
Emeritus Professor Stella Priovolou, President of the College of Emeritus Professors of the University of Athens, Dean of the People's University of Agios Paraskevi.
