History of the Peloponnesian War

At the very beginning of summer the Peloponnesians and their[*](430 B.C.) allies, with two-thirds of their forces as before[*](Thuc. 2.10.2.) invaded Attica, under the command of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and establishing themselves proceeded to ravage

the country. And before they had been many days in Attica the plague[*](It is perhaps impossible to identify the plague of Athens with any known disease. Grote describes it as an eruptive typhoid fever. It has perhaps more symptoms in common with typhus than with any other disease.) began for the first time to show itself among the Athenians. It is said, indeed, to have broken out before in many places, both in Lemnos and elsewhere, though no pestilence of such extent nor any scourge so destructive of human lives is on