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devoured them till they bled, crouching with their breast down on
their knees in their intense and unbearable anguish. Herds of
animals were to be seen, such as horses, oxen, goats and swine
already environed by the waters and left isolated on the high peaks
of the mountains, huddled together, those in the middle climbing to
the top and treading on the others, and fighting fiercely
themselves; and many would die for lack of food. Already had the
birds begun to settle on men and on other animals, finding no land
uncovered which was not occupied by living beings, and already had
famine, the minister of death, taken the lives of the greater number
of the animals, when the dead bodies, now fermented, where leaving
the depth of the waters and were rising to the top. Among the
buffeting waves, where they were beating one against the other, and,
like as balls full of air, rebounded from the point of concussion,
these found a resting place on the bodies of the dead. And above
these judgements, the air was seen covered with dark clouds, riven
by the forked flashes of the raging bolts of heaven, lighting up on
all sides the depth of the gloom.
The motion of the air is seen by the motion of the dust thrown up by
the horse's running and this motion is as swift in again filling up
the vacuum left in the air which enclosed the horse, as he is rapid
in passing away from the air.
Perhaps it will seem to you that you may reproach me with having
represented the currents made through the air by the motion of the
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