History of the Peloponnesian War

That same summer the Athenians sent thirty ships round the Peloponnesus under the command of Demosthenes son of Alcisthenes and Procles son of Theodorus, and sixty ships and two thousand hoplites under the command of Nicias son of Niceratus, to Melos.

For the Melians, although they were islanders,[*](The Melians and Theraeans, as Laconian colonists (v. lxxxiv. 2), alone in the Cyclades held aloof from the Athenian alliance.) were unwilling to be subject to Athens or even to join their alliance, and the Athenians wished to bring them over.