§6.1.6κτίσμα δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ Ῥήγιον Χαλκιδέων, οὓς κατὰ χρησμὸν δεκατευθέντας τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι διʼ ἀφορίαν ὕστερον ἐκ Δελφῶν ἀποικῆσαι δεῦρό φασι παραλαβόντας καὶ ἄλλους τῶν οἴκοθεν·
Rhegium is a foundation of the Chalcidians, who, they say, having been dedicated as a tithe to Apollo according to an oracle because of a dearth, later emigrated here from Delphi, taking along others from their home.
ὡς δʼ Ἀντίοχός φησι, Ζαγκλαῖοι μετεπέμψαντο τοὺς Χαλκιδέας καὶ οἰκιστὴν Ἀντίμνηστον συνέστησαν ἐκείνων.
But as Antiochus says, the Zancleans sent for the Chalcidians and appointed Antimnestus as their founder.
ἦσαν δὲ τῆς ἀποικίας καὶ οἱ Μεσσηνίων φυγάδες τῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ καταστασιασθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ βουλομένων δοῦναι δίκας ὑπὲρ τῆς φθορᾶς τῶν παρθένων τῆς ἐν Λίμναις γενομένης τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, ἃς καὶ αὐτὰς ἐβιάσαντο πεμφθείσας ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερουργίαν, καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβοηθοῦντας ἀπέκτειναν.
And the colony also included those of the Messenian exiles who had been overpowered in factional strife in the Peloponnese by those who were unwilling to pay the penalty for the violation of the maidens, which had occurred at Limnae against the Lacedaemonians, who had violated these very maidens when they were sent to the sacred rites, and had killed those who came to their aid.
παραχωρήσαντες οὖν εἰς Μάκιστον οἱ φυγάδες πέμπουσιν εἰς θεοῦ, μεμφόμενοι τὸν Ἀπόλλω καὶ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν εἰ τοιούτων τυγχάνοιεν ἀνθʼ ὧν ἐτιμώρουν αὐτοῖς, καὶ πυνθανόμενοι πῶς ἂν σωθεῖεν ἀπολωλότες.
The exiles, therefore, having withdrawn to Macistus, sent to the oracle of the god, complaining to Apollo and Artemis that they should meet with such a fate in return for avenging them, and asking how they might be saved, since they were ruined.
ὁ δʼ Ἀπόλλων ἐκέλευσε στέλλεσθαι μετὰ Χαλκιδέων εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον καὶ τῇ ἀδελφῇ αὐτοῦ χάριν ἔχειν· οὐ γὰρ ἀπολωλέναι αὐτοὺς ἀλλὰ σεσῶσθαι μέλλοντάς γε δὴ μὴ συναφανισθήσεσθαι τῇ πατρίδι ἁλωσομένῃ μικρὸν ὕστερον ὑπὸ Σπαρτιατῶν· οἱ δʼ ὑπήκουσαν.
And Apollo ordered them to set out with the Chalcidians to Rhegium and to be grateful to his sister; for they had not perished but were saved, since they were not going to perish along with their fatherland, which was to be captured a little later by the Spartans; and they obeyed.
διόπερ οἱ τῶν Ῥηγίνων ἡγεμόνες μέχρι Ἀναξίλα τοῦ Μεσσηνίων γένους ἀεὶ καθίσταντο.
For this reason, the rulers of Rhegium were always appointed from the Messenian race down to Anaxilas.
Ἀντίοχος δὲ τὸ παλαιὸν ἅπαντα τὸν τόπον τοῦτον οἰκῆσαί φησι Σικελοὺς καὶ Μόργητας, διᾶραι δʼ εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ὕστερον ἐκβληθέντας ὑπὸ τῶν Οἰνωτρῶν.
But Antiochus says that in ancient times Sicels and Morgetes inhabited this entire region, and having been expelled later by the Oenotrians, crossed over into Sicily.
φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ τὸ Μοργάντιον ἐντεῦθεν τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τῶν Μοργήτων ἔχειν.
And some say that Morgantium also got its name from the Morgetes from this circumstance.
ἴσχυσε δὲ μέγιστον ἡ τῶν Ῥηγίνων πόλις καὶ περιοικίδας ἔσχε συχνάς, ἐπιτείχισμά τε ὑπῆρξεν ἀεὶ τῇ νήσῳ καὶ πάλαι καὶ νεωστὶ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, ἡνίκα Σέξτος Πομπήιος ἀπέστησε τὴν Σικελίαν.
The city of Rhegium grew extremely powerful and had many surrounding towns; and it was always a bulwark against the island, both in ancient times and recently in our own day, when Sextus Pompeius caused Sicily to revolt.
ὠνομάσθη δὲ Ῥήγιον εἴθʼ, ὥς φησιν Αἰσχύλος, διὰ τὸ συμβὰν πάθος τῇ χώρᾳ ταύτῃ· ἀπορραγῆναι γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἠπείρου τὴν Σικελίαν ὑπὸ σεισμῶν ἄλλοι τε κἀκεῖνος εἴρηκεν
"
ἀφʼ οὗ δὴ Ῥήγιον κικλήσκεται. "
τεκμαίρονται δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ τὴν Αἴτνην συμπτωμάτων καὶ τῶν κατʼ ἄλλα μέρη τῆς Σικελίας καὶ τῶν κατὰ Λιπάραν καὶ τὰς περὶ αὐτὴν νήσους, ἔτι δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὰς Πιθηκούσσας καὶ τὴν προσεχῆ περαίαν ἅπασαν οὐκ ἀπεικὸς ὑπάρχειν καὶ τοῦτο συμβῆναι.
And it was named Rhegium either, as Aeschylus says, because of the disaster that befell this country; for both others and he have said that Sicily was broken off from the continent by earthquakes, "whence indeed it is called Rhegium." And they infer from the occurrences around Aetna, in other parts of Sicily, in Lipara and the islands around it, and also in Pithecussae and the entire adjacent coast opposite, that it is not improbable that this also happened.
νυνὶ μὲν οὖν ἀνεῳγμένων τῶν στομάτων, διʼ ὧν τὸ πῦρ ἀναφυσᾶται καὶ μύδροι καὶ ὕδατα ἐκπίπτει, σπάνιόν τι σείεσθαί φασι τὴν περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν γῆν, τότε δὲ πάντων ἐμπεφραγμένων τῶν εἰς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν πόρων, ὑπὸ γῆς σμυχόμενον τὸ πῦρ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα σεισμοὺς ἀπειργάζετο σφοδρούς, μοχλευόμενοι δʼ οἱ τόποι πρὸς τὴν βίαν τῶν ἀνέμων ὑπεῖξάν ποτε καὶ ἀναρραγέντες ἐδέξαντο τὴν ἑκατέρωθεν θάλατταν καὶ ταύτην καὶ τὴν μεταξὺ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ταύτῃ νήσων.
Now, indeed, because the orifices are open through which the fire is blown up and red-hot masses and waters are cast out, they say that the land about the strait is rarely shaken; but in those days, when all the passages to the surface were blocked, the fire and the wind smouldering under the earth produced violent earthquakes, and the regions, pried up by the violence of the winds, at length gave way, and being broken open, admitted the sea from both sides, both this sea and that between the other islands in this quarter.
καὶ γὰρ ἡ Προχύτη καὶ Πιθηκοῦσσαι ἀποσπάσματα τῆς ἠπείρου καὶ αἱ Καπρίαι καὶ ἡ Λευκωσία καὶ Σειρῆνες καὶ αἱ Οἰνωτρίδες.
For Prochyte and Pithecussae are also fragments torn from the mainland, as are Capriae, Leucosia, the Sirens, and the Oenotrides.
αἱ δὲ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους ἀνέδυσαν, καθάπερ καὶ νῦν πολλαχοῦ συμβαίνει· τὰς μὲν γὰρ πελαγίας ἐκ βυθοῦ μᾶλλον ἀνενεχθῆναι πιθανόν, τὰς δὲ προκειμένας τῶν ἀκρωτηρίων καὶ πορθμῷ διῃρημένας ἐντεῦθεν ἀπερρωγέναι δοκεῖν εὐλογώτερον.
While some islands have actually risen from the deep sea, as even now happens in many places; for it is plausible that the open-sea islands were rather brought up from the bottom, but more reasonable to suppose that those lying off promontories and separated by a strait were broken off from there.
πλὴν εἴτε διὰ ταῦτα τοὔνομα τῇ πόλει γέγονεν, εἴτε διὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς πόλεως ὡς ἂν βασίλειον τῇ Λατίνῃ φωνῇ προσαγορευσάντων Σαυνιτῶν διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἀρχηγέτας αὐτῶν κοινωνῆσαι Ῥωμαίοις τῆς πολιτείας καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ χρήσασθαι τῇ Λατίνῃ διαλέκτῳ, πάρεστι σκοπεῖν, ὁποτέρως ἔχει τἀληθές.
However, whether the city got its name because of this, or because the Samnites, on account of their leaders having shared citizenship with the Romans and having for a long time used the Latin tongue, called it "regium" in the Latin speech because of the prominence of the city as though it were a royal palace, one may consider which of the two is the truth.
ἐπιφανῆ δʼ οὖν πόλιν οὖσαν καὶ πολλὰς μὲν πόλεις οἰκίσασαν πολλοὺς δʼ ἄνδρας παρασχομένην ἀξίους λόγου, τοὺς μὲν κατὰ πολιτικὴν ἀρετὴν τοὺς δὲ κατὰ παιδείαν, κατασκάψαι Διονύσιον αἰτιασάμενον, ὅτι αἰτησαμένῳ κόρην πρὸς γάμον τὴν τοῦ δημίου θυγατέρα προὔτειναν· ὁ δʼ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ μέρος τι τοῦ κτίσματος ἀναλαβὼν Φοιβίαν ἐκάλεσεν.
At any rate, although it was a famous city, and had founded many cities, and had produced many noteworthy men, some for political virtue and others for learning, Dionysius razed it to the ground, bringing the accusation that when he had asked for a maiden in marriage, they had offered him the daughter of the executioner; but his son restored a part of the settlement and called it Phoebia.
ἐπὶ Πύρρου δʼ ἡ τῶν Καμπανῶν φρουρὰ παρασπονδηθέντας διέφθειρε τοὺς πλείστους· μικρὸν δὲ πρὸ τῶν Μαρσικῶν καὶ σεισμοὶ κατήρειψαν πολὺ τῆς κατοικίας.
And in the time of Pyrrhus, the garrison of the Campanians broke their treaty and destroyed most of the inhabitants; and a little before the Marsic war, earthquakes also demolished much of the settlement.
Πομπήιον δʼ ἐκβαλὼν τῆς Σικελίας ὁ Σεβαστὸς Καῖσαρ ὁρῶν λιπανδροῦσαν τὴν πόλιν συνοίκους ἔδωκεν αὐτῇ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ στόλου τινάς, καὶ νῦν ἱκανῶς εὐανδρεῖ.
But Augustus Caesar, having expelled Pompeius from Sicily, seeing that the city was lacking in population, gave it some of the men from his fleet as co-settlers, and now it is sufficiently populous.