[1] After the mouth of the Silaris one comes to Leucania, and to the temple of the Argoan Hera, built by Jason, and near by, within fifty stadia, to Poseidonia . Thence, sailing out past the gulf, one comes to Leucosia , ¹ an island, from which it is only a short voyage across to the continent. The island is named after one of the Sirens, who was cast ashore here after the Sirens had flung themselves, as the myth has it, into the depths of the sea. In front of the island lies that promontory ² which is opposite the Sirenussae and with them forms the Poseidonian Gulf. On doubling this promontory one comes immediately to another gulf, in which there is a city which was called “ Hyele ” by the Phocaeans who founded it, and by others “Ele,” after a certain spring, but is called by the men of today “ Elea .” This is the native city of Parmenides and Zeno, the Pythagorean philosophers. It is my opinion that not only through the influence of these men but also in still earlier times the city was well governed; and it was because of this good government that the people not only held their own against the Leucani and the Poseidoniatae, but even returned victorious, although they were inferior to them both in extent of territory and in population. At any rate, they are compelled, on account of the poverty of their soil, to busy themselves mostly with the sea and to establish factories for the salting of fish, and other such industries. According to Antiochus, ³ after the capture of Phocaea by Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, all the Phocaeans who could do so embarked with their entire families on their light boats and, under the leadership of Creontiades, sailed first to Cyrnus and Massalia , but when they were beaten off from those places founded Elea . Some, however, say that the city took its name from the River Elees. ⁴ It is about two hundred stadia distant from Poseidonia . After Elea comes the promontory of Palinurus. Off the territory of Elea are two islands, the Oenotrides, which have anchoring-places. After Palinurus comes Pyxus—a cape, harbor, and river, for all three have the same name. Pyxus was peopled with new settlers by Micythus, the ruler of the Messene in Sicily , but all the settlers except a few sailed away again. After Pyxus comes another gulf, and also Laüs—a river and city; it is the last of the Leucanian cities, lying only a short distance above the sea, is a colony of the Sybaritae, and the distance thither from Ele is four hundred stadia. The whole voyage along the coast of Leucania is six hundred and fifty stadia. Near Laüs is the hero-temple of Draco, one of the companions of Odysseus, in regard to which the following oracle was given out to the Italiotes: ^{5 6} And the oracle came true, for, deceived by it, the peoples ⁷ who made campaigns against Laüs, that is, the Greek inhabitants of Italy , met disaster at the hands of the Leucani.

[2] These, then, are the places on the Tyrrhenian seaboard that belong to the Leucani. As for the other sea, ⁸ they could not reach it at first; in fact, the Greeks who held the Gulf of Tarentum were in control there. Before the Greeks came, however, the Leucani were as yet not even in existence, and the regions were occupied by the Chones and the Oenotri. But after the Samnitae had grown considerably in power, and had ejected the Chones and the Oenotri, and had settled a colony of Leucani in this portion of Italy , while at the same time the Greeks were holding possession of both seaboards as far as the Strait, the Greeks and the barbarians carried on war with one another for a long time. Then the tyrants of Sicily , and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time at war with the Romans for the possession of Sicily and at another for the possession of Italy itself, maltreated all the peoples in this part of the world, but especially the Greeks. Later on, beginning from the time of the Trojan war, the Greeks had taken away from the earlier inhabitants much of the interior country also, and indeed had increased in power to such an extent that they called this part of Italy , together with Sicily , Magna Graecia. But today all parts of it, except Taras, ⁹ Rhegium , and Neapolis , have become completely barbarized, ¹⁰ and some parts have been taken and are held by the Leucani and the Brettii, and others by the Campani—that is, nominally by the Campani but in truth by the Romans, since the Campani themselves have become Romans. However, the man who busies himself with the description of the earth must needs speak, not only of the facts of the present, but also sometimes of the facts of the past, especially when they are notable. As for the Leucani, I have already spoken of those whose territory borders on the Tyrrhenian Sea , while those who hold the interior are the people who live above the Gulf of Tarentum . But the latter, and the Brettii, and the Samnitae themselves (the progenitors of these peoples) have so utterly deteriorated that it is difficult even to distinguish their several settlements; and the reason is that no common organization longer endures in any one of the separate tribes; and their characteristic differences in language, armor, dress, and the like, have completely disappeared; and, besides, their settlements, severally and in detail, are wholly without repute.

[3] Accordingly, without making distinctions between them, I shall only tell in a general way what I have learned about the peoples who live in the interior, I mean the Leucani and such of the Samnitae as are their next neighbors. Petelia, then, is regarded as the metropolis of the Chones, and has been rather populous down to the present day. It was founded by Philoctetes after he, as the result of a political quarrel, had fled from Meliboea . It has so strong a position by nature that the Samnitae once fortified it against the Thurii . And the old Crimissa, which is near the same regions, was also founded by Philoctetes. Apollodorus, in his work On Ships, ¹¹ in mentioning Philoctetes, says that, according to some, when Philoctetes arrived at the territory of Croton , he colonized the promontory Crimissa, and, in the interior above it, the city Chone, from which the Chonians of that district took their name, and that some of his companions whom he had sent forth with Aegestes the Trojan to the region of Eryx in Sicily fortified Aegesta. ¹² Moreover, Grumentum and Vertinae are in the interior, and so are Calasarna and some other small settlements, until we arrive at Venusia , a notable city; but I think that this city and those that follow in order after it as one goes towards Campania are Samnite cities. Beyond Thurii lies also the country that is called Tauriana. The Leucani are Samnite in race, but upon mastering the Poseidoniatae and their allies in war they took possession of their cities. At all other times, it is true, their government was democratic, but in times of war they were wont to choose a king from those who held magisterial offices. But now they are Romans.

[4] The seaboard that comes next after Leucania, as far as the Sicilian Strait and for a distance of thirteen hundred and fifty stadia, is occupied by the Brettii. According to Antiochus, in his treatise On Italy , this territory (and this is the territory which he says he is describing) was once called Italy , although in earlier times it was called Oenotria. And he designates as its boundaries, first, on the Tyrrhenian Sea , the same boundary that I have assigned to the country of the Brettii—the River Laüs; and secondly, on the Sicilian Sea, Metapontium. But as for the country of the Tarantini, which borders on Metapontium, he names it as outside of Italy , and calls its inhabitants Iapyges. And at a time more remote, according to him, the names “Italians” and “Oenotrians” were applied only to the people who lived this side the isthmus in the country that slopes toward the Sicilian Strait. The isthmus itself, one hundred and sixty stadia in width, lies between two gulfs—the Hipponiate (which Antiochus has called Napetine) and the Scylletic. The coasting-voyage round the country comprised between the isthmus and the Strait is two thousand stadia. But after that, he says, the name of “ Italy ” and that of the “Oenotrians” was further extended as far as the territory of Metapontium and that of Seiris, for, he adds, the Chones, a well-regulated Oenotrian tribe, had taken up their abode in these regions and had called the land Chone. Now Antiochus had spoken only in a rather simple and antiquated way, without making any distinctions between the Leucani and the Brettii. In the first place, Leucania lies between the Tyrrhenian and Sicilian coastlines, ¹³ the former coastline from the River Silaris as far as Laüs, and the latter, from Metapontium as far as Thurii ; in the second place, on the mainland, from the country of the Samnitae as far as the isthmus which extends from Thurii to Cerilli (a city near Laüs), the isthmus is three hundred stadia in width. But the Brettii are situated beyond the Leucani; they live on a peninsula, but this peninsula includes another peninsula which has the isthmus that extends from Scylletium to the Hipponiate Gulf. The name of the tribe was given to it by the Leucani, for the Leucani call all revolters “brettii.” The Brettii revolted, so it is said (at first they merely tended flocks for the Leucani, and then, by reason of the indulgence of their masters, began to act as free men), at the time when Rio made his expedition against Dionysius and aroused all peoples against all others. So much, then, for my general description of the Leucani and the Brettii.

[5] The next city after Laüs belongs to Brettium, and is named Temesa, though the men of today call it Tempsa; it was founded by the Ausones, but later on was settled also by the Aetolians under the leadership of Thoas; but the Aetolians were ejected by the Brettii, and then the Brettii were crushed by Hannibal and by the Romans. Near Temesa, and thickly shaded with wild olive trees, is the hero-temple of Polites, one of the companions of Odysseus, who was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and for that reason became so exceedingly wroth against the country that, in accordance with an oracle, the people of the neighborhood collected tribute ¹⁴ for him; and hence, also, the popular saying applied to those who are merciless, ¹⁵ that they are “beset by the hero of Temesa.” But when the Epizephyrian Locrians captured the city, Euthymus, the pugilist, so the story goes, entered the lists against Polites, defeated him in the fight and forced him to release the natives from the tribute. People say that Homer has in mind this Temesa, not the Tamassus in Cyprus (the name is spelled both ways), when he says ¹⁶ And in fact copper mines are to be seen in the neighborhood, although now they have been abandoned. Near Temesa is Terina , which Hannibal destroyed, because he was unable to guard it, at the time when he had taken refuge in Brettium itself. Then comes Consentia , the metropolis of the Brettii; and a little above this city is Pandosia , a strong fortress, near which Alexander the Molossian ¹⁷ was killed. He, too, was deceived by the oracle ¹⁸ at Dodona , which bade him be on his guard against Acheron and Pandosia ; for places which bore these names were pointed out to him in Thesprotia , but he came to his end here in Brettium. Now the fortress has three summits, and the River Acheron flows past it. And there was another oracle that helped to deceive him: for he thought that the oracle clearly meant the destruction of the enemy, not of his own people. It is said that Pandosia was once the capital of the Oenotrian Kings. After Consentia comes Hipponium , which was founded by the Locrians. Later on, the Brettii were in possession of Hipponium , but the Romans took it away from them and changed its name to Vibo Valentia . And because the country round about Hipponium has luxuriant meadows abounding in flowers, people have believed that Core ¹⁹ used to come hither from Sicily to gather flowers; and consequently it has become the custom among the women of Hipponium to gather flowers and to weave them into garlands, so that on festival days it is disgraceful to wear bought garlands. Hipponium has also a naval station, which was built long ago by Agathocles, the tyrant of the Siciliotes, ²⁰ when he made himself master of the city. Thence one sails to the Harbor of Heracles, ²¹ which is the point where the headlands of Italy near the Strait begin to turn towards the west. And on this voyage one passes Medma , a city of the same Locrians aforementioned, which has the same name as a great fountain there, and possesses a naval station near by, called Emporium. Near it is also the Metaurus River, and a mooring-place bearing the same name. Off this coast lie the islands of the Liparaei, at a distance of two hundred stadia from the Strait. According to some, they are the islands of Aeolus, of whom the Poet makes mention in the Odyssey. ²² They are seven in number and are all within view both from Sicily and from the continent near Medma . But I shall tell about them when I discuss Sicily . After the Metaurus River comes a second Metaurus. ²³ Next after this river comes Scyllaeum, a lofty rock which forms a peninsula, its isthmus being low and affording access to ships on both sides. This isthmus Anaxilaüs, the tyrant of the Rhegini, fortified against the Tyrrheni, building a naval station there, and thus deprived the pirates of their passage through the strait. For Caenys, ²⁴ too, is near by, being two hundred and fifty stadia distant from Medma ; it is the last cape, and with the cape on the Sicilian side, Pelorias, forms the narrows of the Strait. Cape Pelorias is one of the three capes that make the island triangular, and it bends towards the summer sunrise, ²⁵ just as Caenys bends towards the west, each one thus turning away from the other in the opposite direction. Now the length of the narrow passage of the Strait from Caenys as far as the Poseidonium, ²⁶ or the Columna Rheginorum, is about six stadia, while the shortest passage across is slightly more; and the distance is one hundred stadia from the Columna to Rhegium , where the Strait begins to widen out, as one proceeds towards the east, towards the outer sea, the sea which is called the Sicilian Sea.

[6] Rhegium was founded by the Chalcidians who, it is said, in accordance with an oracle, were dedicated, one man out of every ten Chalcidians, to Apollo, ²⁷ because of a dearth of crops, but later on emigrated hither from Delphi , taking with them still others from their home. But according to Antiochus, the Zanclaeans sent for the Chalcidians and appointed Antimnestus their founder-in-chief. ²⁸ To this colony also belonged the refugees of the Peloponnesian Messenians who had been defeated by the men of the opposing faction. These men were unwilling to be punished by the Lacedaemonians for the violation of the maidens ²⁹ which took place at Limnae, though they were themselves guilty of the outrage done to the maidens, who had been sent there for a religious rite and had also killed those who came to their aid. ³⁰ So the refugees, after withdrawing to Macistus, sent a deputation to the oracle of the god to find fault with Apollo and Artemis if such was to be their fate in return for their trying to avenge those gods, and also to enquire how they, now utterly ruined, might be saved. Apollo bade them go forth with the Chalcidians to Rhegium , and to be grateful to his sister; for, he added, they were not ruined, but saved, inasmuch as they were surely not to perish along with their native land, which would be captured a little later by the Spartans. They obeyed; and therefore the rulers of the Rhegini down to Anaxilas ³¹ were always appointed from the stock of the Messenians. According to Antiochus, the Siceli and Morgetes had in early times inhabited the whole of this region, but later on, being ejected by the Oenotrians, had crossed over into Sicily . According to some, Morgantium also took its name from the Morgetes of Rhegium . ³² The city of Rhegium was once very powerful and had many dependencies in the neighborhood; and it was always a fortified outpost threatening the island, not only in earlier times but also recently, in our own times, when Sextus Pompeius caused Sicily to revolt. It was named Rhegium , either, as Aeschylus says, because of the calamity that had befallen this region, for, as both he and others state, Sicily was once “rent” ³³ from the continent by earthquakes, “and so from this fact,” he adds, “it is called Rhegium .” They infer from the occurrences about Aetna and in other parts of Sicily , and in Lipara and in the islands about it, and also in the Pithecussae and the whole of the coast of the adjacent continent, that it is not unreasonable to suppose that the rending actually took place. Now at the present time the earth about the Strait, they say, is but seldom shaken by earthquakes, because the orifices there, through which the fire is blown up and the red-hot masses and the waters are ejected, are open. At that time, however, the fire that was smouldering beneath the earth, together with the wind, produced violent earthquakes, because the passages to the surface were all blocked up, and the regions thus heaved up yielded at last to the force of the blasts of wind, were rent asunder, and then received the sea that was on either side, both here ³⁴ and between the other islands in that region. ³⁵ And, in fact, Prochyte and the Pithecussae are fragments broken off from the continent, as also Capreae , Leucosia , the Sirenes, and the Oenotrides. Again, there are islands which have arisen from the high seas, a thing that even now happens in many places; for it is more plausible that the islands in the high seas were heaved up from the deeps, whereas it is more reasonable to think that those lying off the promontories and separated merely by a strait from the mainland have been rent therefrom. However, the question which of the two explanations is true, whether Rhegium got its name on account of this or on account of its fame (for the Samnitae might have called it by the Latin word for “royal,” ³⁶ because their progenitors had shared in the government with the Romans and used the Latin language to a considerable extent), is open to investigation. Be this as it may, it was a famous city, and not only founded many cities but also produced many notable men, some notable for their excellence as statesmen and others for their learning; nevertheless, Dionysius ³⁷ demolished it, they say, on the charge that when he asked for a girl in marriage they proffered the daughter of the public executioner; ³⁸ but his son restored a part of the old city and called it Phoebia. ³⁹ Now in the time of Pyrrhus the garrison of the Campani broke the treaty and destroyed most of the inhabitants, and shortly before the Marsic war much of the settlement was laid in ruins by earthquakes; but Augustus Caesar, after ejecting Pompeius from Sicily , seeing that the city was in want of population, gave it some men from his expeditionary forces as new settlers, and it is now fairly populous.

[7] As one sails from Rhegium towards the east, and at a distance of fifty stadia, one comes to Cape Leucopetra ⁴⁰ (so called from its color), in which, it is said, the Apennine Mountain terminates. Then comes Heracleium, which is the last cape of Italy and inclines towards the south; for on doubling it one immediately sails with the southwest wind as far as Cape Iapygia, and then veers off, always more and more, towards the northwest in the direction of the Ionian Gulf. ⁴¹ After Heracleium comes a cape belonging to Locris , which is called Zephyrium ; its harbor is exposed to the winds that blow from the west, and hence the name. Then comes the city Locri Epizephyrii , ⁴² a colony of the Locri who live on the Crisaean Gulf, ⁴³ which was led out by Evanthes only a little while after the founding of Croton and Syracuse . ⁴⁴ Ephorus is wrong in calling it a colony of the Locri Opuntii. However, they lived only three or four years at Zephyrium , and then moved the city to its present site, with the cooperation of Syracusans [for at the same time the latter, among whom . . .] ⁴⁵ And at Zephyrium there is a spring, called Locria, where the Locri first pitched camp. The distance from Rhegium to Locri is six hundred stadia. The city is situated on the brow of a hill called Epopis.

[8] The Locri Epizephyrii are believed to have been the first people to use written laws. After they had lived under good laws for a very long time, Dionysius, on being banished from the country of the Syracusans, ⁴⁶ abused them most lawlessly of all men. For he would sneak into the bed-chambers of the girls after they had been dressed up for their wedding, and lie with them before their marriage; and he would gather together the girls who were ripe for marriage, let loose doves with cropped wings upon them in the midst of the banquets, and then bid the girls waltz around unclad, and also bid some of them, shod with sandals that were not mates (one high and the other low), chase the doves around—all for the sheer indecency of it. However, he paid the penalty after he went back to Sicily again to resume his government; for the Locri broke up his garrison, set themselves free, and thus became masters of his wife and children. These children were his two daughters, and the younger of his two sons (who was already a lad), for the other, Apollocrates, was helping his father to effect his return to Sicily by force of arms. And although Dionysius—both himself and the Tarantini on his behalf—earnestly begged the Locri to release the prisoners on any terms they wished, they would not give them up; instead, they endured a siege and a devastation of their country. But they poured out most of their wrath upon his daughters, for they first made them prostitutes and then strangled them, and then, after burning their bodies, ground up the bones and sank them in the sea. Now Ephorus, in his mention of the written legislation of the Locri which was drawn up by Zaleucus from the Cretan, the Laconian, and the Areopagite usages, says that Zaleucus was among the first to make the following innovation—that whereas before his time it had been left to the judges to determine the penalties for the several crimes, he defined them in the laws, because he held that the opinions of the judges about the same crimes would not be the same, although they ought to be the same. And Ephorus goes on to commend Zaleucus for drawing up the laws on contracts in simpler language. And he says that the Thurii, who later on wished to excel the Locri in precision, became more famous, to be sure, but morally inferior; for, he adds, it is not those who in their laws guard against all the wiles of false accusers that have good laws, but those who abide by laws that are laid down in simple language. And Plato has said as much—that where there are very many laws, there are also very many lawsuits and corrupt practices, just as where there are many physicians, there are also likely to be many diseases. ⁴⁷

[9] The Halex River, which marks the boundary between the Rhegian and the Locrian territories, passes out through a deep ravine; and a peculiar thing happens there in connection with the grasshoppers, that although those on the Locrian bank sing, the others remain mute. As for the cause of this, it is conjectured that on the latter side the region is so densely shaded that the grasshoppers, being wet with dew, cannot expand their membranes, whereas those on the sunny side have dry and horn-like membranes and therefore can easily produce their song. And people used to show in Locri a statue of Eunomus, the cithara-bard, with a locust seated on the cithara. Timaeus says that Eunomus and Ariston of Rhegium were once contesting with each other at the Pythian games and fell to quarrelling about the casting of the lots; ⁴⁸ so Ariston begged the Delphians to cooperate with him, for the reason that his ancestors belonged ⁴⁹ to the god and that the colony had been sent forth from there; ⁵⁰ and although Eunomus said that the Rhegini had absolutely no right even to participate in the vocal contests, since in their country even the grasshoppers, the sweetest-voiced of all creatures, were mute, Ariston was none the less held in favor and hoped for the victory; and yet Eunomus gained the victory and set up the aforesaid image in his native land, because during the contest, when one of the chords broke, a grasshopper lit on his cithara and supplied the missing sound. The interior above these cities is held by the Brettii; here is the city Mamertium, and also the forest that produces the best pitch, the Brettian. This forest is called Sila, is both well wooded and well watered, and is seven hundred stadia in length.

[10] After Locri comes the Sagra , a river which has a feminine name. On its banks are the altars of the Dioscuri, near which ten thousand Locri , with Rhegini, ⁵¹ clashed with one hundred and thirty thousand Crotoniates and gained the victory—an occurrence which gave rise, it is said, to the proverb we use with incredulous people, “Truer than the result at Sagra .” And some have gone on to add the fable that the news of the result was reported on the same day ⁵² to the people at the Olympia when the games were in progress, and that the speed with which the news had come was afterwards verified. This misfortune of the Crotoniates is said to be the reason why their city did not endure much longer, so great was the multitude of men who fell in the battle. After the Sagra comes a city founded by the Achaeans, Caulonia , formerly called Aulonia, because of the glen ⁵³ which lies in front of it. It is deserted, however, for those who held it were driven out by the barbarians to Sicily and founded the Caulonia there. After this city comes Scylletium, a colony of the Athenians who were with Menestheus (and now called Scylacium ). ⁵⁴ Though the Crotoniates held it, Dionysius included it within the boundaries of the Locri . The Scylletic Gulf, which, with the Hipponiate Gulf forms the aforementioned isthmus, ⁵⁵ is named after the city. Dionysius undertook also to build a wall across the isthmus when he made war upon the Leucani, on the pretext, indeed, that it would afford security to the people inside the isthmus from the barbarians outside, but in truth because he wished to break the alliance which the Greeks had with one another, and thus command with impunity the people inside; but the people outside came in and prevented the undertaking.

[11] After Scylletium comes the territory of the Crotoniates, and three capes of the Iapyges; and after these, the Lacinium, ⁵⁶ a temple of Hera, which at one time was rich and full of dedicated offerings. As for the distances by sea, writers give them without satisfactory clearness, except that, in a general way, Polybius gives the distance from the strait to Lacinium as two thousand three hundred stadia, ⁵⁷ and the distance thence across to Cape Iapygia as seven hundred. This point is called the mouth of the Tarantine Gulf. As for the gulf itself, the distance around it by sea is of considerable length, two hundred and forty miles, ⁵⁸ as the Chorographer ⁵⁹ says, but Artemidorus says three hundred and eighty for a man well-girded, although he falls short of the real breadth of the mouth of the gulf by as much. ⁶⁰ The gulf faces the winter-sunrise; ⁶¹ and it begins at Cape Lacinium, for, on doubling it, one immediately comes to the cities ⁶² of the Achaeans, which, except that of the Tarantini, no longer exist, and yet, because of the fame of some of them, are worthy of rather extended mention.

[12] The first city is Croton , within one hundred and fifty stadia from the Lacinium; and then comes the River Aesarus, and a harbor, and another river, the Neaethus. The Neaethus got its name, it is said, from what occurred there: Certain of the Achaeans who had strayed from the Trojan fleet put in there and disembarked for an inspection of the region, and when the Trojan women who were sailing with them learned that the boats were empty of men, they set fire to the boats, for they were weary of the voyage, so that the men remained there of necessity, although they at the same time noticed that the soil was very fertile. And immediately several other groups, on the strength of their racial kinship, came and imitated them, and thus arose many settlements, most of which took their names from the Trojans; and also a river, the Neaethus, took its appellation from the aforementioned occurrence. ⁶³ According to Antiochus, when the god told the Achaeans to found Croton , Myscellus departed to inspect the place, but when he saw that Sybaris was already founded—having the same name as the river near by—he judged that Sybaris was better; at all events, he questioned the god again when he returned whether it would be better to found this instead of Croton , and the god replied to him (Myscellus ⁶⁴ was a hunchback as it happened): “Myscellus, short of back, in searching else outside thy track, thou hunt’st for morsels only; ’tis right that what one giveth thee thou do approve;” ⁶⁵ and Myscellus came back and founded Croton , having as an associate Archias, the founder of Syracuse , who happened to sail up while on his way to found Syracuse. ⁶⁶ The Iapyges used to live at Croton in earlier times, as Ephorus says. And the city is reputed to have cultivated warfare and athletics; at any rate, in one Olympian festival the seven men who took the lead over all others in the stadium-race were all Crotoniates, and therefore the saying “The last of the Crotoniates was the first among all other Greeks” seems reasonable. And this, it is said, is what gave rise to the other proverb, “more healthful than Croton ,” the belief being that the place contains something that tends to health and bodily vigor, to judge by the multitude of its athletes. Accordingly, it had a very large number of Olympic victors, although it did not remain inhabited a long time, on account of the ruinous loss of its citizens who fell in such great numbers ⁶⁷ at the River Sagra. And its fame was increased by the large number of its Pythagorean philosophers, and by Milo , who was the most illustrious of athletes, and also a companion of Pythagoras, who spent a long time in the city. It is said that once, at the common mess of the philosophers, when a pillar began to give way, Milo slipped in under the burden and saved them all, and then drew himself from under it and escaped. And it is probably because he relied upon this same strength that he brought on himself the end of his life as reported by some writers; at any rate, the story is told that once, when he was travelling through a deep forest, he strayed rather far from the road, and then, on finding a large log cleft with wedges, thrust his hands and feet at the same time into the cleft and strained to split the log completely asunder; but he was only strong enough to make the wedges fall out, whereupon the two parts of the log instantly snapped together; and caught in such a trap as that, he became food for wild beasts.

[13] Next in order, at a distance of two hundred stadia, comes Sybaris , founded by the Achaeans; it is between two rivers, the Crathis and the Sybaris . Its founder was Is of Helice. ⁶⁸ In early times this city was so superior in its good fortune that it ruled over four tribes in the neighborhood, had twenty- five subject cities, made the campaign against the Crotoniates with three hundred thousand men, and its inhabitants on the Crathis alone completely filled up a circuit of fifty stadia. However, by reason of luxury ⁶⁹ and insolence they were deprived of all their felicity by the Crotoniates within seventy days; for on taking the city these conducted the river over it and submerged it. Later on, the survivors, only a few, came together and were making it their home again, but in time these too were destroyed by Athenians and other Greeks, who, although they came there to live with them, conceived such a contempt for them that they not only slew them but removed the city to another place near by and named it Thurii , after a spring of that name. Now the Sybaris River makes the horses that drink from it timid, and therefore all herds are kept away from it; whereas the Crathis makes the hair of persons who bathe in it yellow or white, and besides it cures many afflictions. Now after the Thurii had prospered for a long time, they were enslaved by the Leucani, and when they were taken away from the Leucani by the Tarantini, they took refuge in Rome , and the Romans sent colonists to supplement them, since their population was reduced, and changed the name of the city to Copiae.

[14] After Thurii comes Lagaria, a stronghold, bounded by Epeius and the Phocaeans; thence comes the Lagaritan wine, which is sweet, mild, and extremely well thought of among physicians. That of Thurii , too, is one of the famous wines. Then comes the city Heracleia, a short distance above the sea; and two navigable rivers, the Aciris and the Siris . On the Siris there used to be a Trojan city of the same name, but in time, when Heracleia was colonized thence by the Tarantini, it became the port of the Heracleotes. It is Twenty-four stadia distant from Heracleia and about three hundred and thirty from Thurii . Writers produce as proof of its settlement by the Trojans the wooden image of the Trojan Athene which is set up there—the image that closed its eyes, the fable goes, when the suppliants were dragged away by the Ionians who captured the city; for these Ionians came there as colonists when in flight from the dominion of the Lydians, and by force took the city, which belonged to the Chones, ⁷⁰ and called it Polieium; and the image even now can be seen closing its eyes. It is a bold thing, to be sure, to tell such a fable and to say that the image not only closed its eyes (just as they say the image in Troy turned away at the time Cassandra was violated) but can also be seen closing its eyes; and yet it is much bolder to represent as brought from Troy all those images which the historians say were brought from there; for not only in the territory of Siris , but also at Rome , at Lavinium , and at Luceria, Athene is called “Trojan Athena,” as though brought from Troy . And further, the daring deed of the Trojan women is current in numerous places, and appears incredible, although it is possible. According to some, however, both Siris and the Sybaris which is on the Teuthras ⁷¹ were founded by the Rhodians. According to Antiochus, when the Tarantini were at war with the Thurii and their general Cleandridas, an exile from Lacedaemon , for the possession of the territory of Siris , they made a compromise and peopled Siris jointly, although it was adjudged the colony of the Tarantini; but later on it was called Heracleia, its site as well as its name being changed.

[15] Next in order comes Metapontium, which is one hundred and forty stadia from the naval station of Heracleia. It is said to have been founded by the Pylians who sailed from Troy with Nestor; and they so prospered from farming, it is said, that they dedicated a golden harvest ⁷² at Delphi . And writers produce as a sign of its having been founded by the Pylians the sacrifice to the shades of the sons of Neleus. ⁷³ However, the city was wiped out by the Samnitae. According to Antiochus: Certain of the Achaeans were sent for by the Achaeans in Sybaris and resettled the place, then forsaken, but they were summoned only because of a hatred which the Achaeans who had been banished from Laconia had for the Tarantini, in order that the neighboring Tarantini might not pounce upon the place; there were two cities, but since, of the two, Metapontium was nearer ⁷⁴ to Taras, ⁷⁵ the newcomers were persuaded by the Sybarites to take Metapontium and hold it, for, if they held this, they would also hold the territory of Siris , whereas, if they turned to the territory of Siris , they would add Metapontium to the territory of the Tarantini, which latter was on the very flank of Metapontium; and when, later on, the Metapontians were at war with the Tarantini and the Oenotrians of the interior, a reconciliation was effected in regard to a portion of the land—that portion, indeed, which marked the boundary between the Italy of that time and Iapygia. ⁷⁶ Here, too, the fabulous accounts place Metapontus, ⁷⁷ and also Melanippe the prisoner and her son Boeotus. ⁷⁸ In the opinion of Antiochus, the city Metapontium was first called Metabum and later on its name was slightly altered, and further, Melanippe was brought, not to Metabus, but to Dius, ⁷⁹ as is proved by a hero-temple of Metabus, and also by Asius the poet, when he says that Boeotus was brought forth ⁸⁰ meaning that Melanippe was brought to Dius, not to Metabus. But, as Ephorus says, the colonizer of Metapontium was Daulius, the tyrant of the Crisa which is near Delphi . And there is this further account, that the man who was sent by the Achaeans to help colonize it was Leucippus, and that after procuring the use of the place from the Tarantini for only a day and night he would not give it back, replying by day to those who asked it back that he had asked and taken it for the next night also, and by night that he had taken and asked it also for the next day.

Next in order comes Taras and Iapygia; but before discussing them I shall, in accordance with my original purpose, give a general description of the islands that lie in front of Italy ; for as from time to time I have named also the islands which neighbor upon the several tribes, so now, since I have traversed Oenotria from beginning to end, which alone the people of earlier times called Italy , it is right that I should preserve the same order in traversing Sicily and the islands round about it.

[1] AFTER the mouth of the Silaro, ¹ is Leucania, and the temple of Argive Juno, founded by Jason. Near to this, within 50 stadia, is Posidonia. ² Sailing thence, towards the high sea, is the island of Leucosia, ³ at a little distance from the main-land. It bears the name of one of the Sirens, who according to the mythology was cast up here, after having been precipitated with her companions into the deep. The promontory ⁴ of the island projects opposite the Sirenussae, ⁵ forming the bay of Posidonium. ⁶ After having made this cape there is another contiguous bay, on which is built the city which the Phocaeans called Hyela when they founded it, but others Ela from a certain fountain. People in the present day call it Elea. It is here that Parmenides and Zeno, the Pythagorean philosophers, were born. And it is my opinion that through the instrumentality of those men, as well as by previous good management, the government of that place was well arranged, so that they successfully resisted the Leucani and the Posidoniatae, notwithstanding the smallness of their district and the inferiority of their numbers. They are compelled, therefore, on account of the barrenness of the soil, to apply to maritime trade chiefly, to employ themselves in the salting of fish, and in such other occupations. Antiochus ⁷ says that when Phocea was taken by Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, those who had the means embarked with their families, and sailed under the conduct of Creontiades, first to Cyrnos and Marseilles, but having been driven thence, they founded Elea; ⁸ the name of which some say is derived from the river Elees. ⁹ The city is distant about two hundred stadia from Posidonia. After this city is the promontory of Palinurus. But in front of the Eleatis are the Oenotrides, two islands ¹⁰ having good anchorage. ¹¹ And beyond Palinurus are the promontory, harbour, and river of Pyxus; ¹² the three having the same name. This colony was founded ¹³ by Micythus, then governor of Messina in Sicily; but those who were located here, except a few, abandoned the place. After Pyxus are the gulf, ¹⁴ the river, ¹⁵ and the city ¹⁶ of Laüs. This, the last ¹⁷ city of the Leucani, situate a little above the sea, is a colony ¹⁸ of the Sybarites, and is distant from Aelea 400 stadia. The whole circuit of Leucania, by sea is 650 stadia. Near to Latis is seen the tomb of Draco, one of the companions of Ulysses, and the oracular response, given to the Italian Greeks, alludes to him: For the Greeks of Italy, enticed by this prophecy, marched against Laiis, and were defeated by the Leucani. ¹⁹

[2] Such, along the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, are the possessions of the Leucani, which at first did not reach to the other sea; ²⁰ the Greeks who dwelt on the Gulf of Tarentum possessed it. But before the coming of the Greeks there were no Leucani, the Chones ²¹ and Oenotri possessed these territories. But when the Samnites had greatly increased, and expelled the Chones and Oenotri, and driven the Leucani into this region, while the Greeks possessed the seacoast on both sides as far as the straits, the Greeks and the Barbarians maintained a lengthened contest. The tyrants of Sicily, and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time making war against the Romans, for the acquisition of Sicily, and at another, for Italy itself, utterly wasted all these regions. The Greeks, however, succeeded in depriving the ancient inhabitants of a great portion of the midland country, beginning even as early as the Trojan war; they increased in power, and extent of territory, to such a degree, that they called this region and Sicily, the Magna Groecia. But now the whole region, except Tarentum, Rhegium, and Neapolis, has become barbarian, ²² and belongs partly to the Leucani and Bruttii, partly to the Campani; to these, however, only in name, but truly to the Romans; for these people have become Roman. However, it is incumbent on one who is treating of universal geography, to speak both of things as they now are, and of some of those that have been, and especially when they are important. Of the Leucani, who border upon the Tuscan Sea, mention has already been made; those who possess the midland regions dwell above the Gulf of Tarentum, but these, as well as the Bruttii, and the Samnites themselves, the progenitors of both, have been so maltreated [by the Romans], that it is difficult to determine the boundaries of each people. The reason of this is, that there no longer remains separately any of the institutions common to these nations; and their peculiarities of language, of military and civil costume, and such particulars, have passed away; besides, even their places of abode, considered separately and apart, possess nothing worthy of observation.

[3] We will narrate in a general manner what we have gathered concerning the Leucani, who dwell in the interior, without too much care in distinguishing them from their neighbours, the Samnites. Petilia ²³ is considered as the metropolis of the Leucani, and is still well peopled. It owes its foundation to Philoctetes, who was compelled to quit Meliboea on account of civil dissensions. Its position is so strong, that the Samnites were formerly obliged to construct forts around it for the defence of their territory. The ancient Crimissa, situated near these places, was also founded by Philoctetes. Apollodorus, in his description of the ships [of the Greeks], narrates concerning Philoctetes, that, according to certain writers, this prince having disembarked in the district of Crotona, settled on the promontory of Crimissa, and built the city of Chone ²⁴ above it, from which the inhabitants were called Chones; and that certain colonists being sent by him into Sicily, to the neighbourhood of Eryx, ²⁵ with Aegestus the Trojan, founded Aegesta. ²⁶ In the inland districts are also Grumentum, ²⁷ Vertinae, ²⁸ Calasarna, ²⁹ and other small villages, reaching as far as Venusia, ³⁰ a city of some importance. This, however, I consider to be a Samnite city, as are also those which are next met with on going into Campania. Above the Thurii lies the district called Tauriana. ³¹ The Leucani are of Samnite origin. Having vanquished the Posidoniates and their allies, they took possession of their cities. At one time the institutions of the Leucani were democratic, but during the wars a king was elected by those who were possessed of chief authority: at the present time they are Roman.

[4] The Bruttii occupy the remainder of the coast as far as the Strait of Sicily, extending about 1350 stadia. Antiochus, in his treatise on Italy, says that this district, which he intended to describe, was called Italy, but that previously it had been called Oenotria. The boundary which he assigns to it on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the river Lao, ³² and on the Sea of Sicily Metapontium, the former of which we have given as the boundary of the Bruttii. He describes Tarentum, which is next to Metapontium, ³³ as beyond Italy, calling it Iapygian. He also relates that, at a more ancient period, those who dwelt on this side the isthmus, which lies next the Strait of Sicily, were the only people who were called Oenotrians and Italians. The isthmus is 160 stadia across between the two gulfs, namely, that of Hipponium, ³⁴ which Antiochus called Napitinus, and that of Scylletium. ³⁵ The circumnavigation of the peninsula, which is comprised between this isthmus and the strait, is 2000 stadia. He says that afterwards the names of Italy and of the Oenotrians were extended as far as Metapontium and the Siritis; the Chones, a people of Oenotrian descent, and highly civilized, inhabited these districts, and called their country Chone. However, this author has written in a very loose and old-fashioned manner, without giving any definite boundaries to the Leucani and Bruttii. Now Leucania is situated on the Tyrrhenian and Sicilian Seas, extending on one coast from the Silaro ³⁶ to the river Lao, and on the other from Metapontium ³⁷ to Thurii. Along the continent it stretches from the country of the Samnites, as far as the isthmus between Thurii and Cerilli, ³⁸ near the Lao. This isthmus is 300 stadia ³⁹ across. Beyond are the Bruttii, who dwell on the peninsula; in this is included another peninsula, which is bounded by the isthmus between Scylletium ⁴⁰ and the Hipponiate gulf. ⁴¹ The nation received its appellation from the Leucani, for they call runaways Bruttii, and they say that formerly they ran away from them when employed as shepherds, and that afterwards their independence was established through the weakness [of the Leucani], when Dion [of Syracuse] was prosecuting a war against [the younger] Dionysius, and fomented hostilities amongst all. ⁴² This is all we shall remark as to the Leucani and Bruttii.

[5] From the Lao the first city is the Temesa ⁴³ of the Bruttii, which at present is called Tempsa. It was founded by the Ausonians; afterwards the Aetolians, under the command of Thoas, gained possession of it. These were expelled by the Bruttii; Hannibal and the Romans have overthrown the Bruttii. ⁴⁴ In the vicinity of Temesa is the Heroum of Polites, one of the companions of Ulysses. It is surrounded by a thick grove of wild olives. He was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and became in consequence very wrathful, and his shade so tormented the inhabitants that they submitted to pay him a tribute, according to the direction of a certain oracle. Thus it became a proverb amongst them, Let no one offend the hero of Temesa, for they said that [for a long time he ⁴⁵ ] had tormented them. But when the Epizephyrian Locrians took the city, they feign that Euthymus the pugilist went out against him, and having overcome him in fight, constrained him to free the inhabitants from tribute. ⁴⁶ They say that the poet intended this Temesa, and not the Tamassus ⁴⁷ in Cyprus, (for it is said that the words are suitable to either, ⁴⁸ ) when he sings,

in quest of brass

To Temesa. ⁴⁹

Odyssey i. 184. and certain copper-mines are pointed out near to the place, which are now exhausted. Contiguous to it is Terina, ⁵⁰ which Hannibal destroyed, when he found he could no longer retain it; at the time when he took refuge in the country of the Bruttii. ⁵¹ Next in order comes Cosentia, ⁵² the metropolis of the Bruttii. A little above it is Pandosia, which is strongly fortified, before which Alexander the Molossian king was overthrown. This prince was led astray by the oracle of Dodona, which commanded him to avoid Acheron and Pandosia; ⁵³ for places with names like these being pointed out in Thesprotia, caused him to lose his life ⁵⁴ here. The position has three summits, and the river Acheron flows by it. He was also mistaken in another oracle, for he thought that it foreshowed the destruction of his enemies, and not of his own people. They say that Pandosia ⁵⁵ was formerly the residence of the Oenotrian kings. After Cosentia is Hipponium, ⁵⁶ founded by the Locrians. ⁵⁷ The Romans took it from the Bruttii, who were in possession of it at a subsequent period, and changed the name into Vibo-Valentia. ⁵⁸ And because the meadows in its vicinity are luxuriant and full of flowers, it is supposed that Proserpine came over from Sicily to gather them, and from thence the custom among women of this city, to gather flowers and plait garlands, prevailed to such an extent, that they now think it shameful to wear purchased garlands at the festivals. ⁵⁹ It also possesses a harbour ⁶⁰ made by Agathocles, ⁶¹ the tyrant of Sicily, when he was in possession of the town. On sailing hence to the Portus Herculis, ⁶² we come to the point where the headlands of Italy, as they stretch towards the Strait [of Sicily], begin to turn westward. In this voyage we pass Medma, ⁶³ a city of the same Locrians, ⁶⁴ which bears the name of a copious fountain, and possessing at a short distance a naval station, called Emporium. ⁶⁵ Very nigh is the river Metauro, ⁶⁶ as also a naval station bearing the same name. ⁶⁷ The Lipari Isles lie off this coast; they are distant 200 stadia from the strait. They say that they are the islands of Aeolus, of whom the poet makes mention in the Odyssey. ⁶⁸ They are seven in number, and are all easily distinguished both from Sicily and the coast of the continent about Medma. We will speak of them in particular when we describe Sicily. After the river Metaurus, there is another Metaurus. ⁶⁹ Next in order is Scyllaeum, an elevated cliff nearly surrounded by the sea. But connected with the main-land by a low isthmus easily accessible on either side, which Anaxilaus, the tyrant of Rhegium, fortified against the Tyrrheni, and formed a commodious haven, and thus prevented the pirates from passing through the strait. Next to the Scyllaean promontory was that of Caenys, distant from Medma 250 stadia. It is the last headland, and forms the narrowest part of the Strait [of Sicily], being opposite to Cape Pelorus on the Sicilian side, which is one of the three points which give to that island the form of a triangle. Its aspect is towards the rising of the sun in summer, whilst that of Caenys looks towards the west. Indeed they both seem to have diverged from the general line of coast in order to stand out opposite each other. ⁷⁰ From Caenys to the Posidonium ⁷¹ [and] the Columna Rheginorum, ⁷² the narrow part of the strait stretches as much as 6 stadia, the shortest passage across the strait is a little more. From the Columna [Rheginorum] to Rhegium, where the strait begins to widen, is a hundred [stadia] as you advance in a direction towards the exterior and eastern sea, which is called the sea of Sicily.

[6] Rhegium ⁷³ was founded by certain Chalcidenses, who, as they say, were decimated as an offering to Apollo in a time of scarcity, by order of an oracle, and afterwards removed hither from Delphi, taking with them certain others from home. As Antiochus says, the Zanclaeans sent for the Chalcidenses, and appointed Antimnestus chief over them. Certain fugitives of the Messenians of Peloponnesus accompanied this colony, who had been compelled to fly by those who refused to give satisfaction to the Lacedaemonians for the violation ⁷⁴ of the virgins at Limnae, whom they had abused when attending the religious festival, and had slain those who assisted them. However when the fugitives had removed to Macistus, they sent to the oracle complaining against Apollo and Diana for suffering these things to happen notwithstanding they so greatly honoured them, and inquiring how the devoted might be saved. Apollo commanded to send them with the Chalcidenses to Rhegium, and to be grateful, therefore, to his sister Diana for that they were not lost but saved, as they should not be destroyed with their country, which would be annihilated shortly after by the Spartans. ⁷⁵ They acted in accordance with the oracle, and thus it was that the rulers of the Rhegini were all of Messenian race until the time of Anaxilaus.

Antiochus asserts that anciently the whole of this district was inhabited by Sicilians and Morgetes; and that they afterwards passed into Sicily when they were expelled by the Oenotri. Some say that Morgantium ⁷⁶ thus received its name from the Morgetes. But the city of the Rhegini became very powerful, and possessed many dependent settlements. It has always been a bulwark for us against the island [of Sicily], and, indeed, has recently served to that purpose when Sextus Pompeins alienated Sicily. ⁷⁷ It was called Rhegium either, as Aeschylus says, because of the convulsion which had taken place in this region; for Sicily was broken from the continent by earthquakes, Others, ⁷⁹ as well as he, have affirmed the same thing, and adduce as an evidence that which is observed about Aetna, and the appearances seen in other parts of Sicily, the Lipari and neighbouring islands, and even in the Pithecussae, with the whole coast beyond them, which prove that it was not unlikely that this convulsion had taken place. But now these mouths being opened, through which the fire is drawn up, and the ardent masses and water poured out, they say that the land in the neighbourhood of the Strait of Sicily rarely suffers from the effects of earthquakes; but formerly all the passages to the surface being blocked up, the fire which was smouldering beneath the earth, together with the vapour, occasioned terrible earthquakes, and the regions, being disturbed by the force of the pent-up winds, sometimes gave way, and being rent received the sea, which flowed in from either side; and thus were formed both this strait and the sea which surrounds the other islands in the neighbourhood. For Prochyta ⁸⁰ and the Pithecussae as well as Capreae, Leucosia, the Sirenes, and the Oenotrides, are but so many detached fragments from the continent, but other islands have risen from the bottom of the sea, a circumstance which frequently occurs in many places; for it is more reasonable to think that the islands in the midst of the sea have been raised up from the bottom, and that those which lie off headlands and are separated merely by a strait were broken off from them. Still it is beside our purpose to investigate thoroughly whether the name were given to the city for these causes, or whether it were named by the Samnites from the Latin word regium, which signifies royal, on account of its importance, ⁸¹ for their chieftains participated in the privileges of citizenship with the Romans, and generally used the Latin language. But Dionysius (the elder), having been treated with contempt by them, destroyed the illustrious city which had founded many towns and produced many distinguished characters, whether statesmen or men of letters, ⁸² for when he sought a consort from their city, they offered him the hangman’s daughter; ⁸³ but his son (Dionysius the younger) partly restored it, ⁸⁴ and called it Phoebia. During the war with Pyrrhus, a body of Campanians destroyed most of the citizens against the faith of treaties, ⁸⁵ and a little before the Marsic or social war, earthquakes destroyed most of the towns; ⁸⁶ but after Augustus Caesar had driven Sextus Pompeius out of Sicily, when he saw that the city was deficient of inhabitants, he appointed certain of those who accompanied the expedition to reside there, and it is now tolerably well peopled. ⁸⁷

[7] Sailing 50 stadia from Rhegium towards the east, we meet the cape called Leucopetra, from the colour of the rock, where they say the range of the Apennines terminates. ⁸⁸ Further on is Heraclaeum. ⁸⁹ It is the last promontory, and looks towards the south; for presently on doubling it the course takes a south-western direction as far as the promontory of Iapygia, ⁹⁰ then it runs towards the north more and more, and towards the west along the Ionian gulf. After the Herculeum Promontorium is the head-land of Locris, which is called Zephyrium, ⁹¹ possessing a haven exposed to the west winds, whence is derived its name. Then is the state of the Locri Epizephyrii, a colony of Locrians transported by Evanthes from the Crissaean gulf, shortly after the foundation of Crotona and Syracuse. ⁹² Ephorus was not correct in stating that they were a colony of the Locri Opuntii. ⁹³ They remained at first during three or four years at Cape Zephyrium; afterwards they removed their city, with the assistance of certain Syracusans who dwelt amongst them. There is also a fountain called Locria in the place where the Locri first took up their abode. From Rhegium to the Locri there are 600 stadia. The city is built on a height, which they call Esopis. ⁹⁴

[8] The Locri are believed to have been the first who committed their laws to writing, but after they had enjoyed the advantage of these good laws for a very considerable time, Dionysius [the younger], having been expelled ⁹⁵ from Syracuse, found means to abuse them in a most abominable manner, for he, entering into a private chamber where certain young brides had been adorned for their nuptials, violated them; he also gathered the most beautiful virgins to his revels, and having liberated doves with uncut wings, commanded the young women to chase them round the apartment in a state of perfect nudity, while on some he bound sandals of unequal height, one being high and the other low, in order to make their appearance in the pursuit the more unseemly. However he paid dearly for this, for having returned to Sicily to resume his government, the Locri overpowered the guard he had left in their city, freed themselves, and obtained possession of his wife and children; there were two of his daughters, and his second son who had already attained the age of manhood; the eldest, however, called Apollocrates, accompanied his father in the expedition. And although Dionysius himself entreated them earnestly, as did also the Tarentines, to deliver the prisoners for whatever ransom they should name, they remained inexorable, and endured a siege and the wasting of their country, that they might vent their rage on his daughters. After having exposed them to the most shameful outrages, they strangled them, burnt their bodies, pounded their bones, and cast them into the sea. ⁹⁶ Ephorus in speaking of the written law of the Locri, which Zaleucus had most judiciously selected from the Cretan, Lacedaemonian, and Areopagite codes, says that Zaleucus was the first to establish this principle, that whereas formerly lawgivers had left it to the judges to award the punishments for the several offences, he established a certain penalty in his laws, thinking that the minds of the judges would not be led to attach the same penalties for the same transgressions, which course he considered expedient. He praises him also for having simplified the law of contracts. [He says also] that the Thurians, being desirous to improve [the code of Zaleucus] more than the Locri had done, became more celebrated, but were less judicious. ⁹⁷ For that state is not regulated by the best government, where they guard against all manner of deceit by their laws, but that wherein they abide by laws simply framed. Plato also has observed that where there are many laws, there there will be law-suits and evil lives, in the same way as, where there are many physicians, there it is likely there is much sickness.

[9] There is a certain singular circumstance, respecting grasshoppers, worthy of note. The river Alece ⁹⁸ divides Rhegium from Locris, flowing through a deep ravine; those which are in the territory of the Locrians sing, but those on the other side are silent; and it is thought probable that this is caused by the region being woody, and their membranes being softened by dew do not produce sound; but those on the Locrian side being sunned, are dry and horny, so that the sound is easily produced by them. The statue of Eunomus the harper having a grasshopper seated on his harp is shown at Locri. Timaeus says, that this Eunomus was once contending at the Pythian games and disputed with Aristo of Rhegium for the prize, and that Aristo declared that the people of Delphi ought to take part with him, because his ancestors were consecrated to the god, and sent out to found the colony; but Eunomus said that they could have no claim to contend for melody with any one, because that among them even the grasshoppers, who are the most gifted of all creatures, were mute. Nevertheless Aristo was applauded, and had hopes of obtaining the victory, but Eunomus was declared victorious, and dedicated the said statue in his country, because that at the contest one of the chords of his harp having broken, a grasshopper taking his stand on it supplied the sound. Above these towns the Bruttii possess the interior, and there is the city Mamertium, ⁹⁹ and the forest which they call Sila, which produces the best or Bruttian pitch. ¹⁰⁰ It yields fine trees, and is well watered, extending over a length of 700 stadia.

[10] After the Locri is the [river] Sagras, ¹⁰¹ in the feminine gender, on which is situated the altar of the Dioscuri, near which ten thousand Locrians, with a small body of Rhegians gained a victory over 130,000 Crotoniatae whence they say arose the proverb applied to incredulous people. It is more true than the victory of the Sagras. Some people add to the mysterious account, that it was announced the same day at the Olympic games to the people there assembled, and this speedy news was found perfectly correct. They say that this mischance was so unfortunate an event to the Crotoniatae, that after it they did not long remain as a nation, on account of the number of citizens who fell in the battle. After the Sagras is Caulonia, which was at first called Aulonia, from the αὐλὼν, or valley, in which it was situated; but it is deserted, for its former possessors were driven out by the barbarians, ¹⁰² and have taken refuge in Sicily, and there founded [another] Caulonia. ¹⁰³ After this is Scylletium, ¹⁰⁴ a colony of the Athenians, who set out under Menestheus; ¹⁰⁵ it is now called Scylacium. ¹⁰⁶

. . . Attollit se diva Lacinia contra

Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylaceum.

Aen. iii. 652. Dionysius [the elder] allotted a portion of it to the Locri, whilst it was in the possession of the Crotoniatae. ¹⁰⁷ The Scylleticus Sinus received its name from this city. It together with the Hipponiates Sinus forms the isthmus which we have mentioned above. ¹⁰⁸ Dionysius ¹⁰⁹ undertook to build a wall across the isthmus, at the time he was carrying on war against the Leucani, assigning as a pretext that it would afford security to the inhabitants of the peninsula from the inroads of the barbarians dwelling beyond it; but in truth his intention was to cut off the communication of the Greeks with each other, and to have the greater power over those who dwelt within the peninsula, but those who dwelt without ¹¹⁰ assembled and prevented the undertaking.

[11] After Scylletium is the region of Crotona, and the lapygum tria Promontoria, ¹¹¹ and after these the Lacinium, ¹¹² sacred to Juno, formerly rich and filled with many offerings. But the distances have not been accurately stated. We can only say that in a general way Polybius reckons 2300 ¹¹³ stadia from the strait ¹¹⁴ to Lacinium, ¹¹⁵ and 700 stadia from Lacinium to the Iapygian promontory. They call this the entrance of the Gulf of Taranto. The extent of the gulf is considerable, being 240 miles along the shore. As the chorographer says .. of 380 .. . to a light person, Artemidorus: wanting also by so many . . . of the breadth of the mouth of the gulf. ¹¹⁶ Its aspect looks towards the rising of the sun in winter. ¹¹⁷ It commenced from Lacinium, for presently on doubling the cape you come to where the Greek cities formerly stood; now they no longer exist, with the exception of Tarentum. But on account of the estimation in which certain of them were held, it is worth while to speak of them somewhat in detail.

[12] The first is Crotona, 150 stadia from Lacinium and the river Esaro; ¹¹⁸ there is also a haven ¹¹⁹ there, and another river Nieto. ¹²⁰ the name whereof is said to be derived from the following circumstance—they say that certain of the Greeks who had wandered from the fleet which had besieged Troy, having arrived in this place, disembarked to take a survey of the country, and that the Trojan women who accompanied them in the fleet, having observed the absence of the men, and being wearied with a toilsome voyage, set fire to the fleet, so that they were compelled to abide, when they saw, in addition [to the loss of their ships], that the soil was very fertile. Many others arriving soon after, and being desirous to live near their fellow-countrymen, founded several settlements. Most of them derived their names from the Trojans, and the river Nieto received its appellation from the destruction ¹²¹ [of the ships]. But Antiochus relates that an oracle having commanded the Greeks to found Crotona, Myscellus went forth to view the place, and having seen Sybaris already built on a neighbouring river of the same name, thought it better, and returned to the god to ask if he might be permitted to settle in that, instead of the other; but that the oracle answered, applying to him an epithet noticing his defective stature, (for Myscellus was somewhat crook-backed,) and that he returned and built Crotena, wherein he was assisted by Archias, ¹²³ the founder of Syracuse, who happened to touch at Crotona by chance, as he was proceeding to the colony of the Syracusans. The Iapyges possessed Crotona before this time, ¹²⁴ as Ephorus relates. The city cultivated martial discipline and athletic exercises to a great extent, and in one of the Olympic games all the seven wrestlers, who obtained the palm in the stadium, were Crotoniatae; whence, it seems, the saying arose that the last wrestler of Crotona was the first of the other Greeks, and hence they say also is the origin of the expression, more salubrious than Crotona, as instancing a place which had something to show, in the number of wrestlers which it produced, as a proof of its salubrity and the robust frame of body which it was capable of rearing. Thus it had many victors in the Olympic games, although it cannot be reckoned to have been long inhabited on account of the vast destruction of its citizens, who fell at the battle of the Sagras. Its celebrity too was not a little spread by the number of Pythagoreans who resided there, and Milo, ¹²⁵ who was the most renowned of wrestlers, and lived in terms of intimacy with Pythagoras, who abode long in this city. They relate that at a banquet of the philosophers, when one of the pillars in the hall gave way, Milo sustained the ceiling while they all escaped, and afterwards saved himself. It is likely that, trusting to the same strength, he met his fate as related by some, for whilst making his way through a thick wood, he strayed considerably out of the path, when finding a great log with wedges in it, he thrust both his hands and feet into the fissure, intending to split it completely, but was only able to force it enough to let the wedges fall out, when the gaping log presently closed on him, and he, being taken as in a snare, was devoured by wild beasts.

[13] Beyond this, at the distance of 200 stadia, is situated Sybaris, ¹²⁶ a colony settled by the Achoeans, between the two rivers Crati ¹²⁷ and Sybaris. ¹²⁸ Its founder was Is . . . . ¹²⁹ the Helice an. ¹³⁰ So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring people and twenty-five towns; in the war with the Crotoniatae it brought into the field 300,000 men, and occupied a circuit of 50 stadia on the Crati. But on account of the arrogance and turbulence of its citizens, it was deprived of all its prosperity by the Crotoniatae in 70 ¹³¹ days, who took the city, and turning the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed it with an inundation. ¹³² Some time after, a few who had escaped came together and inhabited the site of their former city, but in time they were dispossessed by the Athenians ¹³³ and other Greeks, who came and settled amongst them, but they despised and subjugated them, and removed the city to a neighbouring place, calling its name Thurii, from a fountain of that name. The water of the river Sybaris has the peculiar property of making the horses which drink it shy, ¹³⁴ for which reason they keep their horses away from the river. The Crati turns the hair of those who bathe in it yellow, and sometimes white, but has been found salutary for the cure of many disorders. Thurii, after having flourished for a long time, became a continual prey to the aggressions of the Leucani, ¹³⁵ and afterwards the Tarentini troubling them, they appealed to the Romans for succour, who, in course of time, sent a colony ¹³⁶ when it was nearly deserted, and changed the name of the city to Copiae. ¹³⁷

[14] After Thurii is Lagaria, ¹³⁸ a garrison fort; it was originally settled by Epeius ¹³⁹ and the Phocenses; hence is derived the Lagaritan wine, sweet and delicate, and much recommended by the physicians, as is likewise the Thurian wine, which is reckoned among the best. Then comes the city of Heraclea, ¹⁴⁰ a little way from the sea, and two navigable rivers, the Agri ¹⁴¹ and the Sinno, ¹⁴² on which was the city Siris, founded by a Trojan colony, but in course of time, when Heraclea was peopled with the citizens of Siris by the Tarentini, it became the harbour of Heraclea. Its distance from Heraclea was 24 stadia, and from Thurii about 330. ¹⁴³ They point out the statue of the Trojan Minerva, which is erected there, as a proof of its colonization by the Trojans. They also relate as a miracle how the statue closed its eyes when the suppliants, who had fled for sanctuary to her shrine, were dragged away by the Ionians after they had taken the city; ¹⁴⁴ they say that these Ionians came to settle here, when they fled from the yoke of the Lydians, and took the town of the Trojans ¹⁴⁵ by force, calling its name Polieum. They show, too, at the present time the statue that closes its eyes. It must, however, require a good courage, not to assert that it appeared to have closed its eyes, as that at Troy turned away its eyes from beholding the violence offered to Cassandra, but to show it in the act of winking:—but it is much more daring to make so many statues of the Minerva rescued from Ilium, as those who describe them affirm, for there is a Minerva said to be Trojan in the sense of having been rescued from that city, not only at Siris, but at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria. The scene, too, of the daring of the Trojan female captives is assigned to many different places and appears incredible, although it is by no means impossible. There are some who say that Siris, and also that Sybaris on the Trionto, ¹⁴⁶ were founded by the Rhodians. Antiochus says that the site of Siris having become the subject of a contention between the Tarentini and the Thurii, on that occasion commanded by Cleandridas the general who had been banished from Lacedaemon, the two people came to a composition, and agreed to inhabit it in common, but that the colony ¹⁴⁷ should be considered as Tarentine; however, at a subsequent period both the name and the locality were changed, and it was called Heraclea. ¹⁴⁸

[15] Next in order is Metapontium, ¹⁴⁹ at a distance of 140 stadia from the sea-port of Heraclea. It is said to be a settlement of the Pylians at the time of their return from Ilium under Nestor; their success in agriculture was so great, that it is said they offered at Delphi a golden harvest: ¹⁵⁰ they adduce, as a proof of this foundation, the offerings of the dead sacrificed periodically to the Neleïdae; ¹⁵¹ but it was destroyed by the Samnites. ¹⁵² Antiochus says that certain Achaeans, who had been sent for by the Achaeans of Sybaris, settled in this place when it had been desolated; he adds that these were sent for on account of the hatred of the Achaeans to the Tarentini, who had originally migrated from Laconia, in order to prevent their seizing upon the place which lay adjacent to them. Of the two cities, viz. Metapontium which was situated the nearer, [and Siris the further, ¹⁵³ ] from Tarentum, the new comers preferred to occupy Metapontium. This choice was suggested by the Sybarites, because, if they should make good their settlement there, they would also possess Siris, but if they were to turn to Siris, Metapontium would be annexed to the territory of the Tarentines which was conterminous. But after being engaged in war with the Tarentini and the Oenotrians, who dwelt beyond them, they came to an agreement, securing to them a portion of land, which should constitute the boundary between Italy, as it then existed, and Iapygia. This, too, is the locality which tradition assigns to the adventures of Metapontus and the captive Melanippe, and her son Boeotus. But Antiochus is of opinion that the city Metapontium was originally called Metabum, and that its name was altered at a subsequent period; and that Melanippe was not entertained here but at Dius, and thinks that the heroum of Metabus as well as the testimony of the poet Asius, who says that afford sufficient proof that Melanippe was led to Dius and not to Metabum. Ephorus says that Daulius, the tyrant of Crissa ¹⁵⁴ near Delphi, was the founder of Metapontium. There is, however, another tradition, that Leucippus was sent by the Achaeans to help to found the colony, and having asked permission of the Tarentini to have the place for a day and a night, would not give it up, replying by day to those who asked it of him, that he had asked and obtained it till the following night, and when asked by night, he said that he held it till the coming day.

Next adjoining is Tarentum and lapygia, which we will describe when we shall have first gone through the islands which lie off Italy, according to our original purpose; for we have always given the adjacent islands with every nation we have hitherto described, and since we have gone through Oenotria, which only, the people of ancient times named Italy we feel justified in keeping to the same arrangement, and shall pass on to Sicily and the surrounding islands.