The next summer, 426, the Peloponnesians cancelled their annual invasion of Attica after earthquakes struck. The Athenians sent out two fleets, one under Demosthenes to cruise around the Peloponnese, the second under Nicias to attack Melos. Nicias' force of 60 ships and 2,000 hoplites failed to bring the Melians to terms, so he sailed north to raid the Boeotian coast. Demosthenes, meanwhile, reached Naupactus and embarked on an ill-fated invasion of Aetolia. He hoped that after conquering the Aetolian tribesmen, he could raise an army to invade Boeotia from the "back door," without using any Athenian manpower. Unfortunately for this grand plan, his initial invasion ended in disaster. His small army made it to Aegitium, whose inhabitants fled into the hills. Soon, however, the Athenians found themselves surrounded by an army of lightly-armed tribesmen, and got a harsh lesson in the vulnerability of a hoplite phalanx unsupported by light troops of its own.
[QUOTE
][The Aetolians] came running down the hills on all sides, hurling their javelins, falling back whenever the Athenian army advanced, and coming on again as soon as it retired. So for some time the fighting went on in this way, with alternate advances and retreats, in both of which the Athenians had the worst of it.3
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