History of the Peloponnesian War

In the course of the following winter[*](427 B.C.) the plague again[*](cf. 2.47. ff.) fell upon the Athenians; and indeed it had not died out at any time entirely, though there had been a period

of respite. And it continued the second time not less than a year, having run for two full years on the previous occasion, so that the Athenians were more distressed by it than by any other misfortune and their power

more crippled.[*](This statement may have been written without a knowledge of the later events of the war, especially the unhappy issue of the Sicilian expedition (see Introd. p. xiii.)—unless δύναμις be taken to mean “fighting strength,” or something narrower than “power.”) For no fewer than four thousand four hundred of those enrolled as hoplites died and also three hundred cavalry, and of the populace a number that could not

be ascertained. It was at this time also that the great number of earthquakes occurred at Athens, in Euboea, and in Boeotia, and especially at Orchomenus in Boeotia.