§5.2.1καὶ ταύτην τὴν βίβλον ἐπιγράφοντες νησιωτικὴν ἀκολούθως τῇ γραφῇ περὶ πρώτης τῆς Σικελίας ἐροῦμεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ κρατίστη τῶν νήσων ἐστὶ καὶ τῇ παλαιότητι τῶν μύθολογουμένων πεπρώτευκεν.
And entitling this book "The Book of the Islands" in accordance with our plan of writing, we shall speak first of Sicily, since it is both the most excellent of the islands and has held the first place in the antiquity of its myths.
ἡ γὰρ νῆσος τὸ παλαιὸν ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ σχήματος Τρινακρία κληθεῖσα, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν κατοικησάντων αὐτὴν Σικανῶν Σικανία προσαγορευθεῖσα, τὸ τελευταῖον ἀπὸ Σικελῶν τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας πανδημεὶ περαιωθέντων ὠνόμοσται Σικελία.
For the island was in ancient times called Trinacria after its shape, then Sicania after the Sicani who inhabited it, and finally it was named Sicily after the Sicels who crossed over in a body from Italy.
§5.2.2ἔστι δʼ αὐτῆς ἡ περίμετρος σταδίων ὡς τετρακισχιλίων τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα· τῶν γὰρ τριῶν πλευρῶν ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελωριάδος ἐπὶ τὸ Λιλύβαιον ὑπάρχει σταδίων χιλίων ἑπτακοσίων, ἡ δʼ ἀπὸ Λιλυβαίου μέχρι Παχύνου τῆς Συρακοσίας χώρας σταδίων χιλίων καὶ πεντακοσίων, ἡ δʼ ἀπολειπομένη σταδίων χιλίων ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα.
Its circumference is about four thousand three hundred and sixty stades; for of its three sides, that from Pelorias to Lilybaeum is one thousand seven hundred stades, that from Lilybaeum to Pachynus in the territory of Syracuse is one thousand five hundred stades, and the remaining side is one thousand one hundred and forty stades.
§5.2.3οἱ ταύτην οὖν κατοικοῦντες Σικελιῶται παρειλήφασι παρὰ τῶν προγόνων, ἀεὶ τῆς φήμης ἐξ αἰῶνος παραδεδομένης τοῖς ἐκγόνοις, ἱερὰν ὑπάρχειν τὴν νῆσον Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης· ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν μυθολογοῦσι κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Πλούτωνος καὶ Φερσεφόνης γάμον ὑπὸ Διὸς ἀνακάλυπτρα τῇ νύμφῃ δεδόσθαι ταύτην τὴν νῆσον.
Now the Siceliots who inhabit this island have received from their ancestors—the tradition being always handed down from age to age to their descendants—that the island is sacred to Demeter and Kore; and some of the poets tell the myth that at the marriage of Pluto and Persephone this island was given by Zeus to the bride as an unveiling present.
§5.2.4τοὺς δὲ κατοικοῦντας αὐτὴν τὸ παλαιὸν Σικανοὺς αὐτόχθονας εἶναί φασιν οἱ νομιμώτατοι τῶν συγγραφέων, καὶ τάς τε προειρημένας θεὰς ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ πρώτως φανῆναι καὶ τὸν τοῦ σίτου καρπὸν ταύτην πρώτην ἀνεῖναι διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς χώρας, περὶ ὧν καὶ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν ποιητῶν μαρτυρεῖν λέγοντα
"ἀλλὰ τά γʼ ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα πάντα φύονται πυροὶ καὶ κριθαί, ἠδʼ ἄμπελοι, αἵτε φέρουσιν οἶνον ἐριστάφυλον, καί σφιν Διὸς ὄμβρος ἀέξει. "
ἔν τε γὰρ τῷ Λεοντίνῳ πεδίῳ καὶ κατὰ πολλοὺς ἄλλους τόπους τῆς Σικελίας μέχρι τοῦ νῦν φύεσθαι τοὺς ἀγρίους ὀνομαζομένους πυρούς.
And the Sicani who inhabited it in ancient times were indigenous, as the most reliable of the historians say, and they state both that the aforementioned goddesses first appeared in this island and that this island, because of the fertility of the land, was the first to send up the crop of grain, concerning which even the most famous of the poets testifies, saying: "But all things grow unsown and unplowed, wheat and barley, and vines, which bear wine of rich clusters, and the rain of Zeus makes them grow." For in the Leontine plain and in many other places in Sicily, the so-called wild wheat grows down to the present day.
§5.2.5καθόλου δὲ πρὸ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ σίτου ζητουμένου κατὰ ποίαν τῆς οἰκουμένης γῆν πρῶτον ἐφάνησαν οἱ προειρημένοι καρποί, εἰκός ἐστιν ἀποδίδοσθαι τὸ πρωτεῖον τῇ κρατίστῃ χώρᾳ· καὶ τὰς θεὰς δὲ τὰς εὑρούσας ἀκολούθως τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁρᾶν ἐστι μάλιστα τιμωμένας παρὰ τοῖς Σικελιώταις.
And in general, if it is investigated before the discovery of grain in which land of the inhabited world the aforementioned crops first appeared, it is reasonable that the first place should be assigned to the most excellent country; and one can see that the goddesses who discovered them are, in accordance with what has been said, especially honored among the Siceliots.