Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/410

 396 STRABO. CASAUB. 263. rivers Crati l and Sybaris. 2 Its founder was Is. . . . 3 the Helicean. 4 So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring peo- ple and twenty-five towns ; in the war with the Crotoniatre 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 Crotoniatse in 70 5 days, who took the city, and turning the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed it with an inun- dation. 6 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 7 and other Greeks, who came and settled amongst them, .but they despised and subju- gated- 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 mak- ing the horses which drink it shy, 8 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 1 6 Kpa0t. There was a stream of the same name in Achaia, from whence the Italian Crathis, now Crati, derived its name. The Crathis and Sybaris now join about 14 miles from the sea. 2 Now Cochile. 3 Koray objected to the old reading, 6 'ivtXiKtvg, and proposed instead OtV. . . . 'EtKie ; Groskurd thought it better to translate it Ihr Erbauer war Is aus Helike ; and Kramer has adopted this latter view, which we have followed. 4 Helice was mentioned, book i. chap. iii. 18. Ovid, Metam. xv. 293, also speaks of this city, " Si quseras Helicen et Buram Acha'idas urbes, Invenies sub aquis ..." 5 The Epitome gives nine days. 6 The events which led to this catastrophe are thus related by Diodorus Siculus : " A democratical party, at the head of which was Telys, having gained the ascendency, expelled 500 of the principal citizens, who sought refuge at Crotona. This city, upon receiving a summons to give up the fugitives, or prepare for war, by the advice of Pythagoras chose the latter. The armies met near the river Triunti, in the territory of Crotona, where the brave citizens gained a complete victory." 7 At the instigation of Pericles, the Athenians sent out a colony under the command of Lampon and Xenocritus, which arrived about 55 years after the overthrow of Sybaris. Two celebrated characters are named among those who joined this expedition, which was collected from dif- ferent parts of Greece. These were Herodotus, and Lysias the orator. 8 Compare ^Elian. Hist. Anim. ii. 36.