It is a general social affliction, visited upon us by government policy, corporate strategy, the collapse of communities and civic life, and our acquiescence in a system that is eating us from the inside out.
Lately, the bosses of some of these firms have taken to speaking about the industry's excess capacity as if this were an affliction visited upon them from outer space, rather than the product of their own investment decisions.
Visiting Stratford-upon-Avon is always a curious experience.
Still, the story of Bradley's ancestors was a story not of failure but of fate: God had chosen to visit them with affliction, and there was nothing they could do but praise Him.
Milton, however, replies that his blindness is a trial that has been visited upon him, an affliction that he is enduring under the approval of the Lord, who has granted him, in turn, special inner illumination, a gift that distinguishes him from others.
The severity of the affliction depends upon the area struck.
"Had this affliction come upon me at some other time I could have bowed to the surgeon's knife, been stitched and recovered and resumed my toil.
This will visit a plague upon those families.
The end of the plague brought a new affliction: visiting relatives, notably "a silly, forward, ugly" aunt quivering with sensational plague stories.
However, sins visited upon fathers may also be visited upon the children.
Whatever miseries Israel and its accomplices are visiting upon the people of Gaza, they are visiting primarily upon children.
