Book 6
2.4
Archaism, sailing from Corinth, founded Syracuse about the same periodAbout 758 or 735 B. C. that Naxos and Megara were built. They say that Myscellus and Archias having repaired to Delphi at the same time to consult the oracle, the god demanded whether they would choose wealth or health, when Archias preferred wealth and Myscellus health, upon which the oracle assigned Syracuse to the former to found, and Crotona to the latter. And certainly, in like manner as it fell out that the Crotoniatae should inhabit a state so notable for salubrity as we have described,Book vi. chap. 1, § 12. so such great riches have accrued to the Syracusans that their name has been embodied in the proverb applied to those who have too great wealth, viz. that they have not yet attained to a tithe of the riches of the Syracusans. While Archias was on his voyage to Sicily, he left Chersicrates, a chief of the race of the Heracleidae,According to other authorities he was descended from Bacchus. with a part of the expedition to settle the island now called Corcyra,At present Corfû. but anciently called Scheria, and he, having expelled the Liburni who possessed it, established his colony in the island. Archias, pursuing his route, met with certain Dorians at Zephyrium,Cape Bruzzano. come from Sicily, and who had quitted the company of those who had founded Megara; these he took with him, and in conjunction with them founded Syracuse. The city flourished on account of the fertilityCicero’s Oratio Frumentaria supports this character of the country. Silius Italicus, lib. xiv. vers. 23, thus celebrates the richness of the soil, Multa solo virtus: jam reddere foenus aratris, Jam montes umbrare olea, dare nomina Baccho; Nectare Cecropias Hyblaeo accendere ceras: Silius Italicus, lib. vix. vers. 23 and Florus terms it Terra frugum ferax. of the country and the convenience of the harbours, the citizens became great rulers; while under tyrants themselves, they domineered over the other states [of Sicily], and when freed from despotism, they set at liberty such as had been enslaved by the barbarians: of these barbarians some were the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, while others had come across from the continent. The Greeks suffered none of the barbarians to approach the shore, although they were not able to expel them entirely from the interior, for the Siculi, Sicani,Strabo makes a distinct mention of Siculi and Sicani, as if they were different people. Philologists have been much divided as to whether they were not different appellations of the same nation. Morgetes, and some others,Such as the Elymi, or Helymi, who occupied the districts bordering on the Belici in the western part of the island. still inhabit the island to the present day, amongst whom also were the Iberians, who, as Ephorus relates, were the first of the barbarians that are considered to have been settlers in Sicily. It seems probable that MorgantiumIt is probable that Morgantium was situated on the right bank of the Giaretta, below its confluence with the Dattaino, but at some little distance from the sea; at least such is the opinion of Cluverius, in opposition to the views of Sicilian topographers. Sic. Ant. book ii. cap. 7, pp. 325 and 335. was founded by the Morgetes. Formerly it was a city, but now it is not. When the CarthaginiansThe first settlement of the Carthaginians in Sicily was about 560 B. C. endeavoured to gain possession of the island they continually harassed both the Greeks and the barbarians, but the Syracusans withstood them; at a later period the Romans expelled the Carthaginians and took Syracuse after a long siege.212 years B. C. And [Sextus] Pompeius, having destroyed Syracuse in the same way as he had done by the other cities,42 years B. C. Augustus Caesar in our own times sent thither a colony, and to a great extent restored it to its former importance, for anciently it consisted of five townsThey were called Nesos, [the island Ortygia,] Achradina, Tycha, Neapolis, and Epipolae. Ausonius applies the epithet fourfold, Quis Catinam sileat? quis quadruplices Syracusas? Dionysius however fortified Epipolae with a wall, and joined it to the city. enclosed by a wall of 180Twenty-two miles four perches English. Swinburne spent two days in examining the extent of the ruins, and was satisfied as to the accuracy of Strabo’s statement. stadia, but there being no great need that it should fill this extensive circle, he thought it expedient to fortify in a better way the thickly inhabited portion lying next the island of Ortygia, the circumference of which by itself equals that of an important city. Ortygia is connected to the mainland by a bridge, and [boasts of] the fountain Arethusa, which springs in such abundance as to form a river at once, and flows into the sea. They say that it is the river AlpheusA river of Elis. which rises in the Peloponnesus, and that it flows through the land beneath the seaVirgil thus deals with the subject: Sicanio praetenta sinu jacet insula contra Plemmyrium undosum: nomen dixere priores Ortygiam Alpheum fama est huc, Elidis amnem, Occultas egisse vias subtar mare; qui nunc Ore, Arethusa, tuo Sicniss confunditur undis. Aen. iii. 69. to the place where the Arethusa rises and flows into the sea. Some such proofs as these are given in .upport of the fact. A certain chalice having fallen into the river at Olympia was cast up by the springs of Arethusa; the fountain too is troubled by the sacrifices of oxen at Olympia. And Pindar, following such reports, thus sings, Ortygia, revered place of reappearingThe words of Pindar are, ἄμπνευμα σεμνὸν?̓αλφεοῦ, κλεινᾶν συρακοσσᾶν θάλος,?̓ορτυγία. The French translators have rendered them, Terme saint du tourment d’ Alphée Bel ornement, de Syracuse Ortygia!” And Groskurd, Ehrwürdige Ruhstatt Alpheos’, Ruhmzweig Syrakossai’s, o Du Ortygia. Liddell and Scott call ἀνάπνευμα a resting-place, referring to this passage, but I can see no reason for not allowing to it the signification most suitable to the passage. ἀναπνέω is, to breathe again, and, according to the supposition of the ancients, the Alpheus might justly be said to breathe again on appearing at Arethusa, after its passage beneath the bed of the sea from Greece. ἀναπνοὴ also, means a recovering of breath. of the Alpheus, The offset of renowned Syracuse.Pindar, Nem. Od. i. vers. 1. See also Bohn’s Classic. Lib. Pindar. TimaeusConf. Antig. Caryst. Hist. Min. cap. 155. the historian advances these accounts in like manner with Pindar. Undoubtedly if before reaching the sea the Alpheus were to fall into some chasm,According to Strabo himself, book viii. chap. 3, § 12, the Alpheus flows through a subterraneous course before it comes to Olympia; the objection therefore which he here takes, rests only on the circumstance of the river pursuing a visible course all the way to the sea, from the point where the chalice had fallen into it. there would be a probability that it continued its course from thence to Sicily, preserving its potable water unmixed with the sea; but since the mouth of the river manifestly falls into the sea, and there does not appear any opening in the bed of the sea there, which would be capable of imbibing the waters of the river, (although even if there were they could not remain perfectly fresh, still it might be possible to retain much of the character of fresh water, if they were presently to be swallowed down into a passage running below the earth which forms the bed of the sea,) it is altogether impossible; and this the water of Arethusa clearly proves, being perfectly fit for beverage; but that the flow of the river should remain compact through so long a course, not mixing with the sea until it should fall into the fancied channel, is entirely visionary; for we can scarcely credit it of the Rhone, the body of the waters of which remains compact during its passage through the lake, and preserves a visible course, but in that instance both the distance is short and the lake is not agitated by waves like the sea, but in this case of the Alpheus,A river of Elis. where there are great storms and the waters are tossed with violence, the supposition is by no means worthy of attention. The fable of the chalice being carried over is likewise a mere fabrication, for it is not calculated for transfer, nor is it by any means probable it should be washed away so far, nor yet by such difficult passages. Many rivers, however, and in many parts of the world, flow beneath the earth, but none for so great a distance.—Still, although there may be no impossibility in this circumstance, yet the above-mentioned accounts are altogether impossible, and almost as absurd as the fable related of the Inachus: this river, as SophoclesThe play from which this is quoted is not extant. feigns, Flowing from the heights of Pindus and Lacmus, passes from the country of the PerrhoebiA people of Thessaly. to that of the AmphilochiA people of Argos. and the Acarnanians, and mingles its waters with the Achelous:Aspro-potamo. and further on [he says], Thence to Argos, cutting through the waves, it comes to the territory of Lyrceius. Those who would have the river Inopus to be a branch of the Nile flowing to Delos, exaggerate this kind of marvel to the utmost. Zoïlus the rhetorician, in his Eulogium of the people of Tenedos, says that the river Alpheus flows from Tenedos: yet this is the man who blames Homer for fabulous writing. Ibycus also says that the Asopus, a river of Sicyon,In the Peloponnesus. flows from Phrygia. Hecataeus is more rational, who says that the Inachus of the Amphilochi, which flows from Mount Lacmus, from whence also the AeasThe Lao or the Pollina. descends, was distinct from the river of like name in Argolis, and was so named after Amphilochus, from whom likewise the city of Argos was denominated Amphilochian. He says further, that this river falls into the Achelous, and that the Aeas flows to ApolloniaPollina. towards the west. On each side of the island there is an extensive harbour; the extent of the larger one is 80The Porto Maggiore of Syracuse is scarcely half so large. stadia. [Augustus] Caesar has not only restored this city, but Catana, and likewise Centoripa,Centorbe, to the south-west of Aetna. Silius, lib. xiv., mentions it as Centuripe, largoque virens Entella Lyaeo. which had contributed much towards the overthrow of [Sextus] Pompey. Centoripa is situated above Catana and confines with the mountains of Aetna and the river Giaretta,The ancient Symaethus. which flows into Catanvaea.
