§6.1.12πρώτη δʼ ἐστὶ Κρότων ἐν ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα σταδίοις ἀπὸ τοῦ Λακινίου καὶ ποταμὸς Αἴσαρος καὶ λιμὴν καὶ ἄλλος ποταμὸς Νέαιθος, ᾧ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν γενέσθαι φασὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος.
The first city is Croton, at a distance of one hundred and fifty stadia from Lacinium, and there are the River Aesarus, a harbor, and another river, the Neaethus, the name of which they say was derived from what occurred.
καταχθέντας γάρ τινας τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰλιακοῦ στόλου πλανηθέντων Ἀχαιῶν ἐκβῆναι λέγουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν κατάσκεψιν τῶν χωρίων, τὰς δὲ συμπλεούσας αὐτοῖς Τρῳάδας καταμαθούσας ἔρημα ἀνδρῶν τὰ πλοῖα ἐμπρῆσαι βαρυνομένας τὸν πλοῦν, ὥστʼ ἀναγκασθῆναι μένειν ἐκείνους, ἅμα καὶ τὴν γῆν σπουδαίαν ὁρῶντας· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλων πλειόνων εἰσαφικνουμένων καὶ ζηλούντων ἐκείνους κατὰ τὸ ὁμόφυλον, πολλὰς κατοικίας γενέσθαι, ὧν αἱ πλείους ὁμώνυμοι τῶν ποταμῶν ἐγένοντο.
For they say that some of the Achaeans who had wandered from the Trojan fleet, having put in, went ashore to explore the region, and the Trojan women sailing with them, noticing that the ships were empty of men, set fire to the vessels because they were weary of the voyage, so that those men were forced to remain, especially since they saw that the land was excellent; and immediately, as more others arrived and envied them because of their common race, many settlements were formed, most of which became homonymous with the rivers.
φησὶ δʼ Ἀντίοχος, τοῦ θεοῦ χρήσαντος Ἀχαιοῖς Κρότωνα κτίζειν, ἀπελθεῖν Μύσκελλον κατασκεψόμενον τὸν τόπον, ἰδόντα δʼ ἐκτισμένην ἤδη Σύβαριν ποταμῷ τῷ πλησίον ὁμώνυμον κρῖναι ταύτην ἀμείνω· ἐπανερέσθαι δʼ οὖν ἀπιόντα τὸν θεὸν εἰ λῷον εἴη ταύτην ἀντʼ ἐκείνης κτίζειν, τὸν δὲ ἀνειπεῖν (ἐτύγχανε δὲ ὑπόκυφος ὢν ὁ Μύσκελλος)
"
Μύσκελλε βραχύνωτε, παρὲκ θεὸν ἄλλο ματεύων
κλάσματα θηρεύεις· δῶρον δʼ ὅ τι δῷ τις ἐπαινεῖν. "
ἐπανελθόντα δὲ κτίσαι τὸν Κρότωνα συμπράξαντος καὶ Ἀρχίου τοῦ τὰς Συρακούσσας οἰκίσαντος, προσπλεύσαντος κατὰ τύχην ἡνίκα ὥρμητο ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν Συρακουσσῶν οἰκισμόν.
Antiochus says that when the god gave an oracle to the Achaeans to found Croton, Myscellus went out to explore the place, but seeing that Sybaris, homonymous with the nearby river, was already founded, he judged it to be better; at any rate, when departing, he asked the god again if it would be better to found this instead of the other, but the god replied (and Myscellus happened to be somewhat hunchbacked): "Myscellus, short of back, seeking another thing besides what the god shows, you are hunting after scraps; praise whatever gift anyone may give." And returning, he founded Croton with the cooperation of Archias also, who settled Syracuse, who had sailed to the place by chance when he was setting out for the settlement of Syracuse.
ᾤκουν δὲ Ἰάπυγες τὸν Κρότωνα πρότερον, ὡς Ἔφορός φησι.
And the Iapyges used to inhabit Croton previously, as Ephorus says.
δοκεῖ δʼ ἡ πόλις τά τε πολέμια ἀσκῆσαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἄθλησιν· ἐν μιᾷ γοῦν Ὀλυμπιάδι οἱ τῶν ἄλλων προτερήσαντες τῷ σταδίῳ ἑπτὰ ἄνδρες ἅπαντες ὑπῆρξαν Κροτωνιᾶται, ὥστʼ εἰκότως εἰρῆσθαι δοκεῖ διότι Κροτωνιατῶν ὁ ἔσχατος πρῶτος ἦν τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων· καὶ τὴν παροιμίαν δὲ ὑγιέστερον Κρότωνος λέγουσαν ἐντεῦθεν εἰρῆσθαί φασιν, ὡς τοῦ τόπου πρὸς ὑγίειαν καὶ εὐεξίαν ἔχοντός τι φορόν.
And the city seems to have cultivated both military affairs and those concerning athletics; at least in one Olympiad, the seven men who surpassed the others in the stadium race were all Crotoniates, so that it seems with good reason to have been said that the last of the Crotoniates was the first of the other Greeks; and they say that the proverb "healthier than Croton" was spoken from this, since the place has a certain influence conducive to health and physical fitness.
πλείστους οὖν Ὀλυμπιονίκας ἔσχε, καίπερ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον οἰκηθεῖσα διὰ τὸν φθόρον τῶν ἐπὶ Σάγρᾳ πεσόντων ἀνδρῶν τοσούτων τὸ πλῆθος· προσέλαβε δὲ τῇ δόξῃ καὶ τὸ τῶν Πυθαγορείων πλῆθος καὶ Μίλων, ἐπιφανέστατος μὲν τῶν ἀθλητῶν γεγονὼς ὁμιλητὴς δὲ Πυθαγόρου διατρίψαντος ἐν τῇ πόλει πολὺν χρόνον.
It had, therefore, the greatest number of Olympic victors, although it was not inhabited for a long time on account of the destruction of so many men in number who fell at the Sagra; and the multitude of Pythagoreans and Milo added to its fame, Milo having become the most illustrious of athletes and having been a pupil of Pythagoras, who spent a long time in the city.
φασὶ δʼ ἐν τῷ συσσιτίῳ ποτὲ τῶν φιλοσόφων πονήσαντος στύλου τὸν Μίλωνα ὑποδύοντα σῶσαι ἅπαντας, ὑποσπάσαι δὲ καὶ ἑαυτόν· τῇ δʼ αὐτῇ ῥώμῃ πεποιθότα εἰκὸς καὶ τὴν ἱστορουμένην ὑπό τινων εὑρέσθαι καταστροφὴν τοῦ βίου.
And they say that once, during the common meal of the philosophers, when a pillar began to give way, Milo slipped under it and saved everyone, and pulled himself out as well; and it is likely that, trusting in this same strength, he met the end of his life that is recorded by some.
λέγεται γοῦν ὁδοιπορῶν ποτε διʼ ὕλης βαθείας παραβῆναι τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπὶ πλέον, εἶθʼ εὑρὼν ξύλον μέγα ἐσφηνωμένον, ἐμβαλὼν χεῖρας ἅμα καὶ πόδας εἰς τὴν διάστασιν βιάζεσθαι πρὸς τὸ διαστῆσαι τελέως· τοσοῦτον δʼ ἴσχυσε μόνον ὥστʼ ἐκπεσεῖν τοὺς σφῆνας· εἶτʼ εὐθὺς ἐπισυμπεσεῖν τὰ μέρη τοῦ ξύλου, ἀποληφθέντα δʼ αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ πάγῃ θηρόβρωτον γενέσθαι.
At any rate, it is said that once, while traveling through a deep forest, he strayed far from the road, and then, finding a large log into which wedges had been driven, he thrust both his hands and his feet into the cleft and exerted force to split it completely; but he had only enough strength to make the wedges fall out; then immediately the parts of the log collapsed back together, and he, being trapped in such a trap, became food for wild beasts.
§6.1.13ἐφεξῆς δʼ ἐστὶν διακοσίοις σταδίοις Ἀχαιῶν κτίσμα ἡ Σύβαρις δυεῖν ποταμῶν μεταξύ, Κράθιδος καὶ Συβάριδος· οἰκιστὴς δʼ αὐτῆς ὁ Ἶς Ἑλικεύς.
Next is Sybaris, at a distance of two hundred stadia, a foundation of the Achaeans, situated between two rivers, the Crathis and the Sybaris; and its founder was Is of Helice.
τοσοῦτον δʼ εὐτυχίᾳ διήνεγκεν ἡ πόλις αὕτη τὸ παλαιὸν ὥστε τεττάρων μὲν ἐθνῶν τῶν πλησίον ἐπῆρξε, πέντε δὲ καὶ εἴκοσι πόλεις ὑπηκόους ἔσχε, τριάκοντα δὲ μυριάσιν ἀνδρῶν ἐπὶ Κροτωνιάτας ἐστράτευσεν, πεντήκοντα δὲ σταδίων κύκλον συνεπλήρουν οἰκοῦντες ἐπὶ τῷ Κράθιδι.
And this city formerly excelled so much in prosperity that it ruled over four neighboring nations, had twenty-five subject cities, campaigned against the Crotoniates with three hundred thousand men, and those inhabiting the banks of the Crathis completed a circuit of fifty stadia.
ὑπὸ μέντοι τρυφῆς καὶ ὕβρεως ἅπασαν τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἀφῃρέθησαν ὑπὸ Κροτωνιατῶν ἐν ἡμέραις ἑβδομήκοντα· ἑλόντες γὰρ τὴν πόλιν ἐπήγαγον τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ κατέκλυσαν.
However, on account of luxury and insolence, they were deprived of all their prosperity by the Crotoniates within seventy days; for having taken the city, they turned the river upon it and submerged it.
ὕστερον δʼ οἱ περιγενόμενοι συνελθόντες ἐπῴκουν ὀλίγοι· χρόνῳ δὲ καὶ οὗτοι διεφθάρησαν ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων καὶ ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων, οἳ συνοικήσοντες μὲν ἐκείνοις ἀφίκοντο, καταφρονήσαντες δὲ αὐτῶν τοὺς μὲν διεχειρίσαντο τὴν δὲ πόλιν εἰς ἕτερον τόπον μετέθηκαν πλησίον καὶ Θουρίους προσηγόρευσαν ἀπὸ κρήνης ὁμωνύμου.
Afterwards, the survivors gathered and inhabited it in small numbers; but in time, these too were destroyed by the Athenians and other Greeks, who arrived indeed to live with them, but despising them, they put some to death, and moved the city to another nearby place and called it Thurii, from a spring of the same name.
ὁ μὲν οὖν Σύβαρις τοὺς πίνοντας ἵππους ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ πτυρτικοὺς ποιεῖ· διὸ καὶ τὰς ἀγέλας ἀπείργουσιν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ· ὁ δὲ Κρᾶθις τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ξανθοτριχεῖν καὶ λευκοτριχεῖν ποιεῖ λουομένους καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ πάθη ἰᾶται.
Now the Sybaris makes the horses that drink from it skittish; wherefore they also keep their herds away from it; while the Crathis makes the men who bathe in it yellow-haired and white-haired, and cures many other ailments.
Θούριοι δʼ εὐτυχήσαντες πολὺν χρόνον ὑπὸ Λευκανῶν ἠνδραποδίσθησαν, Ταραντίνων δʼ ἀφελομένων ἐκείνους ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίους κατέφυγον.
And the Thurians, having been prosperous for a long time, were enslaved by the Lucanians, and when the Tarentines rescued them from them, they fled to the Romans.
οἱ δὲ πέμψαντες συνοίκους ὀλιγανδροῦσι μετωνόμασαν Κωπιὰς τὴν πόλιν.
And the Romans, having sent settlers to the underpopulated city, renamed it Copiae.