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But that which diminishes our astonishment at his indifference is

the indifference of the people themselves, of that part of the

population which the contagion had not yet reached, but who had

so many motives to dread it. The scarcity of the preceding year,

the exactions of the army, and the anxiety of mind which had been

endured, appeared to them more than sufficient to explain the

mortality of the surrounding country. They heard with a smile of

incredulity and contempt any who hazarded a word on the danger,

or who even mentioned the plague. The same incredulity, the same

blindness, the same obstinacy, prevailed in the senate, the

council of ten, and in all the judicial bodies. Cardinal

Frederick alone enjoined his curates to impress upon the people

the importance of declaring every case, and of sequestrating all

infected or suspected goods. The Tribunal of Health, prompted by

the two physicians, who fully apprehended the danger, did take

some tardy measures; but in vain.