What does pestilence mean as it is used in the following lines from Act V, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet?
Friar John: Going to find a barefoot brother out,
One of our order, to associate me,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth;
So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd.
• danger
• enemy
• plague
• thoughts
• plague
In this context, "pestilence" is used to refer to a deadly epidemic disease, such as the bubonic plague. Friar John is saying that he and another friar were suspected of being in a house where such a disease was present, resulting in them being quarantined inside and unable to deliver the important message to Romeo.