Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/396

 380 HISTORY OF GREECE. cognized connuUum; 1 a fact referred, by the informants of Ari totle, to the long duration of the lirst Messenian war, the Lo- krian warriors having for the most part continued in the Messe- nian territory as auxiliaries of the Spartans during the twenty years of that war.' 3 permitting themselves only rare and short visits to their homes. This is a story resembling that which we shall find in explanation of the colony of Tarentum. It comes to us too imperfectly to admit of criticism or verification ; but the unamiable character of the first emigrants is a statement deserv- ing credit, and very unlikely to have been invented. Their first proceedings on settling in Italy display a perfidy in accordance with the character ascribed to them. They found the territory in this southern portion of the Calabrian peninsula possessed by native Sikels, who, alarmed at their force, and afraid to try the hazard of resistance, agreed to admit them to a participation and joint residence. The covenant was concluded and sworn to by both parties in the following terms: "There shall be friend- ship between us, and we will enjoy the land in common, so long as we stand upon this earth and have heads upon our shoulders." At the time when the oath was taken, the Lokrians had put earth into their shoes and concealed heads of garlic upon their shoul- ders ; so that, when they had divested themselves of these ap- pendages, the oath was considered as no longer binding. Avail- ing themselves of the first convenient opportunity, they attacked the Sikels by surprise and drove them out of the territory, of which they thus acquired the exclusive possession. 3 Their first establishment was formed upon the headland itself, cape Zephy- rium (now Bruzzano) ; but after three or four years the site of the town was moved to an eminence in the neighboring plain, in which the Syracusans are said to have aided them. 4 1 Polyb. xii, 5, 8, 9 ; Dionys. Perieget. v, 365. Sparta; but the statement of Pausanias (iii, 3, 1), that the Spartans in the reign of king Polydcrus founded both Lokri and Kroton, seems to belong to a different historical conception. 3 Polyb. xii, 5-12. 4 Strabo, vi, p. 259. We find that, ill the accounts given of the foundation of Koikyra, Kroton, and Lokri, reference is made to the Syracnsan settlers, either as contemporary in the way of companionship, or as auxiliaries.
 * This fact may connect the foundation of the colonj of Lokri with