The great epidemic of the second century, which is sometimes referred to as the “Plague of Galen,” first struck the army of Verus, while campaigning in the East in 165 A.D., and from there spread across the Empire. The mortality was so high in many cities that Marcus Aurelius spoke of caravans of carts and wagons hauling the dead from cities. Hans Zinsser (100) noted that … so many people died that cities and villages in Italy and in the provinces were abandoned and fell into ruin. Distress and disorganization