“The young disease with milder force began, And raged on birds and beasts, excusing man. The lab’ring oxen fall before the plough; The unhappy ploughmen stare, and wonder how: The tabid sheep, with sickly bleatings, pines, Its wool decreasing as its strength declines: The warlike steed, by inward foes compell’d, Neglects his honours, and deserts the field, Unnerved and languid, seeks a base retreat, And at the manger groans, but wish’d a nobler fate: The stags forget their speed, the boars their rage, Nor can the bears the stronger herds engage; A general faintness does invade them all, And in the woods and fields promiscuously they fall The air receives the stench, and, strange to say, The rav’nous birds and beasts avoid the prey; The offensive bodies rot upon the ground, And spread the dire contagion all around.