21
I have related the adventures in which I incurred danger indeed, yet suffered no harm; but I have also to speak of friendly services I rendered him which involved me in the greatest misfortunes. For when we had arrived at Melos, and Thrasylochus perceived that we were likely to remain there, he begged me to sail with him to TroezenOn the southern coast of the Saronic Gulf, in the northeastern part of the Peloponnese, near Epidaurus. and by all means not to abandon him, mentioning his bodily infirmity and the multitude of his enemies, saying that without me he would not know how to manage his own affairs.
22
And although my mother was afraid because she had heard that Troezen was unhealthy and our guest-friends advised us to remain where we were, nevertheless we decided that we ought to satisfy his wish. No sooner had we arrived at Troezen than we were attacked by illnesses of such severity that I barely escaped with my own life, and within thirty days I buried my young sister fourteen years of age, and my mother not five days therereafter. In what state of mind do you think I was after such a change in my life?