Post-Plague Constantinople

Although during the horrific events of the first recorded appearance of the Bubonic Plague during the time of Justinian we read that rivals put aside their differences, the aftermath did not usher in a golden age of humanity.A chief chronicler of that time, Procopius, tells us that people started changing the course of their lives and acted according to their "better angels":Nay, more, those who in times past used to take delight in devoting themselves to pursuits both shameful and base, shook off the unrighteousness of their daily lives and practiced the duties of religion with diligence, not so much because they had learned wisdom at last nor because they had become all of a sudden lovers of virtue, as it were—for when qualities have become fixed in men by nature or by the training of a long period of time, it is impossible for them to lay them aside thus lightly, except, indeed, some divine influence for good has breathed upon them—but then all, so to speak, being thoroughly…