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The plague came to Athens in the second year of the war. I had it myself and survived. People died who had cared for others, and those who had kept to themselves. The gods' temples were full of bodies. Respect for law and custom dissolved. Men who saw they were dying saw no advantage in restraint. The plague did to Athenian society what no Spartan army managed: it exposed the degree to which moral order depends on the expectation of living to face consequences.