<human>:  Who said the phrase, ‘the ravages of disease’?
<bot>: That would be a quote from the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the novel, Hester Prynne wears a scarlet letter A on her dress as a punishment for having an affair with a married man. The novel is set in the 17th century and the phrase "the ravages of disease" is used to describe the symptoms of the plague.