ABSTRACT
Discussing the way in which plague epidemics influenced the perception of the poor in early modern Italy, Brian Pullan relates that, during the epidemic which raged in Venice in 1630, in a propitiatory spirit three sacred areas were established in the city; in addition, an ordinance issued on 22 June established that one board of magistrates should suppress 'blasphemy and related excesses such as gambling and loose living' and that the other would be 'concerned with the control of ostentatious expenditure on clothing, jewellery and hospitality'. The now common medical knowledge that the plague is transmitted by the parasites of rats was far from being suspected in the early modern period. Rather curiously, however, parasitism was another of the faults with which both beggars and players were constantly charged. There is also a linguistic, or rather communicational, side to parasitism, of which beggars may be accused, and this is their secret 'unlawful language'.
