1、Believed Causes Of The Plague
人們所認為的引發瘟疫的原因
The rampant illness and the countless deaths left survivors throughout history looking for a reason for their suffering. One common idea was that mankind brought on the plague by its own evil. Supporters of this theory pointed to passages in the Bible where God used pestilence and plagues as a weapon to punish the unholy.
瘟疫及其造成的無數死亡不禁讓幸存者們思考這背后的原因到底是什么。一個普遍的看法是人類因自己的罪惡而引發了瘟疫。相信這種理論的人指向了《圣經》中的某些章節,里面說道上帝將會使用鼠疫和瘟疫來懲罰那些罪惡的人們。

In the Book of Revelation, Pestilence is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and people felt that this disease surely heralded the end of the world. To the nobility and other authority figures, this idea had a practical advantage. Should the masses believe that a higher power was holding them accountable for their actions, said authorities could more easily regulate activities that they thought troublesome, like gambling and brothels.
在《啟示錄》中,鼠疫是天使四騎士之一,人們覺得這種瘟疫的發生肯定意味著世界末日的來臨。對于貴族和其他當權者來說,這樣的理論是很有用的。如果大眾認為存在著一個更高的力量在審視他們的所作所為,那么當局者在管理上就會輕松得多,比如在賭博和妓院這樣的事情上。
Ideas about cures for the plague were linked to possible causes. It was long thought that the balance of the humors and states of the body was crucial to staying healthy; if that was true for humans, then the same might be true for the universe. This led to a number of astrological theories on what was causing the clear imbalance of life and death on Earth.
要想解決瘟疫,就得找到引發瘟疫的原因。長久以來人們都認為心情與身體狀態的平衡是保持健康的關鍵;如果這種理論也適用于人類的話,那么也可能同樣適用于宇宙。所以在何物引發地球上生命與死亡失衡的問題上,出現了很多占卜理論。
Quoting Greek philosophers and their writings on the balance of life, astrologer Geoffrey de Meaux tried to use the positioning of the planets within the zodiac to determine how long each outbreak would last, why certain cities were vulnerable, and who would die next.
在援引了希臘哲學家們及其有關生命平衡的作品的情況下,占星家Geoffrey de Meaux 試圖利用十二宮圖里的行星位置來預測每一次的瘟疫爆發會持續多久,為什么某些城市會變得如此脆弱以及下一個死去的將是何人等。