Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/403

 K. vi. c. i. 8. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 389 that they were a colony of the Locri Opuntii. 1 They remained at first during three or four years at Cape Zephyrium ; after- wards they removed their city, with the assistance of certain Syracusans who dwelt amongst them. There is also a foun- tain 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. 2 8. The Locri are believed to have been the first who com- mitted 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 3 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 ome 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 o 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 re- mained inexorable, and endured a siege and the wasting of their country, that they might vent their rage on his daugh- ters. After having exposed them to the most shameful out- 1 The opinion of Ephorus seems to be supported by many other writers, and is generally preferred by modern critics. * Monte Esope. 3 This wicked prince, having been expelled from Syracuse, had found refuge among the Locrians from the storm which threatened his existence ; but, depraved as he was degraded, he repaid the kindness of the people, who treated him as their kinsman because his mother Doris had been the daughter of one of their principal citizens, with the basest treachery and ingratitude. He introduced into their city a number of miscreants, and having overpowered the inhabitants, gave loose to all the vicious pro- pensities of his nature.