History of the Peloponnesian War

Above all, from regard to what was agreeable at the moment, and because they would be likely to find the Lacedaemonians zealous in their behalf at first, they were ready on all accounts to run the risk. The Athenians perceiving this, distributed guards in the different states as well as they could in a short time, and in the winter season; while Brasidas sent despatches to Lacedaemon, begging them to send him additional forces, and himself prepared for building triremes in the Strymon.

But the Lacedaemonians did not comply with his wishes, partly through envy felt by the principal men, and partly because they were more anxious to recover the men taken in the island, and to bring the war to a conclusion.

The same winter the Megareans took and razed to their foundations the long walls in their country which the Athenians had held; and Brasidas, after the capture of Amphipolis, marched with his allies against the territory called Acte.

This territory runs out from the king's dike on the inner side of the isthmus, Athos, a high mountain which stands in it, being its boundary on the side of the Aegean Sea.