History of the Peloponnesian War

for word had come to them that there was a festival of Apollo Maloeis[*](ie. Apollo, god of Malea, the place north of the city (cf. 3.4.5), where Apollo had a temple.) outside Mytilene at which the whole populace kept holiday, and that they might hope to take them by surprise if they should make haste. And if the attempt succeeded, well and good; but if not, the generals were to order the Mytilenaeans to deliver up their ships and pull down their walls, and if they disobeyed, to go to war.

So the ships set off; and as there happened to be at Athens at the time ten Mytilenaean triremes serving as auxiliaries in accordance with the terms of their alliance, the Athenians detained them, placing their crews in custody.