The example of ergot poisoning is included in the text for all the following reasons except

to show that pests impact history.

to demonstrate how disease emerges when conditions are right.

to prove that the witchcraft trials were unfair and all involved were innocent.

to illustrate the ways in which pests in agriculture can impact human populations.

Look at the painting the lictors bring to brutus the bodies of his sons by jacques-louis david (1789). the most likely message this painting sends to french citizens is that one must be prepared to sacrifice their own children to preserve france. loyalty to one’s country stops short of sacrificing one’s own children. brutality is an integral part of revolution and the reign of terror. no one is immune to death, not even the leaders of the revolution.