History of the Peloponnesian War

And so the people of Athens sent aid unto them, pretending propinquity but intending both to hinder the transportation of corn from thence into Peloponnesus and also to test the possibility of taking the states of Sicily into their own hands.

These arriving at Rhegium in Italy joined with the confederates and began the war. And so ended this summer.

The next winter, the sickness fell upon the Athenians again (having indeed never totally left the city, though there was some intermission) and continued above a year after;

but the former lasted two years, insomuch as nothing afflicted the Athenians or impaired their strength more than it.

For the number that died of it of men of arms enrolled were no less than four thousand four hundred; and horsemen, three hundred; of the other multitude, innumerable.