War brought unmitigated disaster for Athens and Aspasia. Soon after its outbreak, plague swept the overcrowded city, killing as much as a quarter of all its citizens. In their fury and panic the citizens turned on Pericles, stripping him of his office, only to reinstate him soon after.

Pericles' fell ill and struggled for long months against the plague. A broken man, his carefully thought out war strategy in ruins, he now wore magical charms in an effort to ward off the pestilence that had claimed so many lives. With both his legitimate sons dead he also tried to do the unthinkable and have his son by Aspasia declared as heir. He lingered at death's door for long months until finally, in 429, he died.

Left alone in a foreign city devastated by disease and war, the outlook for Aspasia and her young son seemed bleak. But deprived of their great leader, and with both his legitimate heirs dead, the Athenians responded with a kindness that they had never shown their great leader's mistress while he still lived. The popular assembly voted to allow Pericles' son full citizenship.