Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.49.4 · 2.49.4
Retching and spasm
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λύγξ τε τοῖς πλέοσιν ἐνέπιπτε κενή, σπασμὸν ἐνδιδοῦσα ἰσχυρόν, τοῖς μὲν μετὰ ταῦτα λωφήσαντα, τοῖς δὲ καὶ πολλῷ ὕστερον.
A retching fell upon most of the sick, an empty one, and it brought on a violent spasm. In some of them the spasm eased after this, in others only much later.
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The setting
Most of the sick are seized by an empty retching that brings on a violent spasm. For some it passes after a while, for others only much later.
A note on this passage
The first word is lynx, the ordinary Greek word for a hiccup or a fit of retching, and Thucydides adds kenē, "empty," so the sufferer heaves with nothing to bring up. The spasm that follows is spasmos, a pulling or convulsive tightening, and the participle endidousa, "giving in," says the retching was what delivered it. The sentence ends on a pair of datives, tois men and tois de, "in some" and "in others," which sorts the sick by how long the spasm lasted.
His dating is loose and matter of fact. For some it eased meta tauta, "after this," and for others kai pollōi husteron, "even much later," where the dative pollōi measures how far behind the second group lagged. He gives no number of days. He records only that the duration varied.
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