History of the Peloponnesian War

At the close of the same winter, Salaethus the Lacedaemonian was sent out from Lacedaemon in a trireme to Mytilene; and having gone by sea to Pyrrha, and thence by land, he entered Mytilene unobserved, along the bed of a torrent, where the lines round the town were passable, and told the magistrates that there would be an invasion of Attica, and at the same time the ships would come which were to have assisted them before; and that he himself had been despatched in advance on this account, and to attend to all other matters.

The Mytilenaeans therefore took fresh courage, and thought less of coming to terms with the Athenians. And so ended this winter, and the fourth year of the war of which Thucydides wrote the history.

The following summer, after the Peloponnesians had despatched Alcidas, who was their high-admiral, (for they had conferred that office upon him,) with the [*]( As only forty are mentioned before, c. 16. 3, and 25. 2, Arnold thinks it possible that the additional two formed the contingent of Lacedaemon itself. They are again spoken of as forty, c. 29. 1, and 69. 1; in which places he may refer to them merely in round numbers. In the words that follow, Arnold agrees with Göller that either ἔχοντα or προστάξαντες is superfluous; but see note on c 16. 3.) two and forty ships to Mytilene, they themselves and their allies made an irruption into Attica; that the Athenians, being harassed both ways, might be the less able to send succours against the slips that were sailing to Mytilene.