than forty years they resisted the Roman arms, and it is perhaps on this account that they are stigmatized as liars and deceivers by classical writers. On the other hand, the Venetians submitted without a struggle; but it is probable that the evils they had suffered from the invasion made them anxious to obtain the protection of some powerful state.

SECTION III.-The Greek Colonies in Italy.

FROM B. C. 1030 TO в. c. 277.

THE earliest Greek settlement in Italy, of which we have any certain historical information, came from Chálcis in the island of Euboea, and settled at Cúmæ (B. c. 1030). This city soon attained a high degree of prosperity, established a powerful navy, and founded flourishing colonies, of which Neap'olis and Zan'cle (afterward called Messana) were the chief. Its form of government was aristocratic; but this constitution was subverted (B. c. 544) by the tyrant Aristodémus. Freedom was restored after his assassination; but the Cumans, weakened by internal dissensions, suffered severely in a war with the Eretrians and Daunians (B. c. 500), and were finally subdued by the Campanians. Cúma was annexed to the Roman dominions (B. c. 345); but in consequence of its harbor at Puteoli, it retained a considerable share of its importance even after the loss of its independence.

Tarentum was founded by the Parthenii from Spar'ta, under Phalan'tus (B. c. 707), as has been already mentioned. The colonists had to maintain long wars against the Italian tribes in their neighborhood, especially the Messapians and Lucanians; but they prevailed over these uncivilized barbarians, and made their city one of the most flourishing maritime states in western Europe. Luxury, however, finally brought effeminacy and weakness. To escape from the grasping ambition of the Romans, the Tarentines invited Pyr'rhus, king of Epírus, into Italy; but after the departure of that monarch, the city became dependant on Rome (B. c. 277).

Croton was founded by the Achæans (B. c. 710). Even in the first century of its existence the city attained such power as to be able to raise an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men. The constitution was in a great degree democratic, and continued so until the philosopher Pythag'oras came to reside in Cróton (B. c. 540). He established a secret association among his disciples, the chief object of which was to secure a monopoly of political power to the members of the Pythagorean society. In a few years three hundred men, all Pythagoreans, held the sovereignty of Cróton; and the influence of the new sect was established not only in the Greek cities of Italy and Sicily, but over a great part of ancient Greece and the islands of the Egean. The Crotonians soon after engaged in war with the Sybarites, and destroyed their city. Success proved ruinous; the inferior ranks of men in Crótona, intoxicated with prosperity, and instigated by the artful and ambitious Cy'lon, whose turbulent manners had excluded him from the order of Pythag'oras, into which he had repeatedly attempted to enter, became clamorous for an equal partition of the conquered territory of Syb'aris, which being denied, as inconsistent with the nature of the oligarchy established by the Pythagoreans, they secretly con

spired against their magistrates, attacked them by surprise in the senatehouse, put many to death, and drove the rest from their country. Pythag'oras himself died soon afterward at Metapon'tum, in Lucania, having lived just long enough to witness the ruin of the structure he had labored so anxiously to raise. Croton never perfectly recovered from the fatal effects of this civil war; it was repeatedly captured by the kings of Syracuse; and after the departure of Pyr'rhus from Italy, it became dependant on Rome.

Syb'aris was founded by an Achæan colony (B. c. 720). The extreme fertility of the soil, and the generous admission of all strangers to the right of citizenship, caused the population to increase so rapidly, that, in a war against the Crotonians, the Sybarites are said to have brought three hundred thousand men into the field. Its vast wealth, derived chiefly from an extensive trade in wine and oil with northern Africa and Gaul, rendered it the most extensive, populous, and luxurious city in Europe from about B. c. 600 to B. c 550; so that the debauchery and effeminacy of the Sybarites became proverbial. Disputes arose between the aristocratic and democratic factions, which led to a civil war. At length, Télys, the leader of the multitude, obtained possession of the supreme power, and expelled five hundred of the principal nobles, who fled for refuge to Crótona. The Sybarites sent to demand these refugees, and, meeting with a refusal, put to death the Crotonian ambassadors. Such an outrage naturally led to a war between the two cities (B. c. 510). With far inferior forces the Crotonians defeated the Sybarites in the field, took their city by storm, and razed it to the ground. The Sybarites, driven from their habitations, besought the Lacedæmonians and the Athenians to restore them, requesting them, at the same time, to send a colony to share in the new city they had resolved to build. The ambassadors were rejected at Spar'ta; but the Athenians, who delighted in such applications, cheerfully granted their aid (B. C. 446). A squadron of ten ships, having a considerable number of troops on board, was sent to Italy, under the command of Lam'po and Xenoc'rates; and, at the same time, proclamation was made throughout Greece, that all persons willing to emigrate to the new colony should receive the protection of the Athenian fleet. Great numbers availed themselves of the proposition, and the Sybarites, aided by the new settlers, soon recovered their former possessions, and founded Thúrium, near the site of their ancient city. Peace did not long inhabit these new dwellings; the inhabitants, coming from so many various quarters, could not forget their old animosities, and began to dispute which section among them could claim to rank as founders of the city. An appeal was made to the Delphic oracle (B. c. 433): the priests of that temple declared the city to be a colony of Apollo. But this did not put an end to discord; the Sybarites, believing that they had the best right to their own. country, began to exclude the foreign colonists, who were by far the majority, from all honors and employments; this provoked a civil war, which ended in a second expulsion of the Sybarite families. The Thurians then invited fresh colonists from Greece, and formed themselves into a commonwealth, choosing Charon'das, of Catána, for their legislator. They soon sunk under the enervating effects of luxury, and, being unable to defend themselves against the Lucanians, placed them

selves under the protection of the Romans. This afforded the Tarentines an excuse for attacking the city, of which they made themselves masters, and thus brought upon themselves the vengeance of Rome. At the close of the Tarentine war, Thúrium became a Roman dependancy. It suffered very severely in the second Punic war, and, having been almost depopulated, was occupied by a Roman colony (B. c. 190). The city of Locri Epizephy'rii was inhabited by the people of the same name. The original colonists were sent out by the Locri O'zola (B. C. 683); but these were joined by a great variety of settlers, chiefly from western Greece. Zaleúcus, one of their own citizens, became the legislator of the Locrians, and his wise institutions remained unchanged for nearly two centuries. The constitution appears to have been a judicious mixture of aristocracy and democracy. The Locrians continued to be honorably distinguished by their peaceful condition, quiet conduct, and good manners, until Diony'sius II., tyrant of Syracuse, having been expelled by his subjects, sought refuge in Lócri, which was the native country of his mother (B. c. 357). His insolence, his licentiousness, and the excesses of his followers, brought the state to the verge of ruin; and, when he returned to Syracuse (B. c, 347), the Locrians revenged their wrongs on his unfortunate family. When Pyr'rhus invaded Italy, he placed a garrison in Lócri (B. c. 277); but the Locrians rose in revolt, and put the intruders to the sword. The king of Epírus, in revenge, stormed and plundered the city. After his return home, it submitted to the Romans, and was one of the places that suffered most severely in the second Punic war.

Rhégium was colonized jointly by the Chalcidians and Messenians (B. c. 668); but the chief power was possessed by the Messenian aristocracy. This oligarchy was subverted by Anaxiláus (B. c. 494), and an absolute despotism established. After some time the Rhegians recovered their freedom, and attempted to secure tranquillity by adopting from the Thurians the constitution of Charon'das. Thenceforward Rhégium enjoyed tranquillity and happiness, until it was captured and destroyed by Dionys'ius I., of Syracuse (B. c. 392). It was partially restored by Dionys'ius II.; but, during the wars of Pyr'rhus in Italy, it was still so weak as to require the protection of a Roman garrison. A legion, raised in Campánia, was sent to Rhégium, under the command of Décius Jubel'lus. These soldiers having been used to a life of hardship, began soon to envy the luxurious ease and wealth of the citizens they had come to protect, and they formed a perfidious plan for their destruction (B. c. 281). They forged letters from the Rhegians to Pyr'rhus, offering to put that monarch in possession of the city, and, under this pretence, they put the principal part of the citizens to death, and drove the rest into exile. The Roman senate was not slow in punishing this atrocious outrage; they sent an army against the guilty Campanians, who had been reinforced by several bands of profligate plunderers, and, after a severe struggle, obtained possession of the city. The survivors of the wicked legionaries were beaten with rods, and beheaded in bands of fifty at a time; and a few Rhégians who survived were reinstated in possession of their estates, liberties, and laws. But the city was too weak to maintain its independence, and it became thenceforth subject to Rome.

193

SICILY.

CHAPTER XIV.

HISTORY OF SICILY.

SECTION I.-Geographical Outline.

THE fertile island of Sicily was known by various names to the ancients. It was called Triquet'ra, or Trinac'ra, from its triangular shape; Sicania and Sicilia from the Sic'ani and Sic'uli, Italian hordes who peopled a great part of the country. Its three extreme promontories were named Pelórum (Faro), Pachy'num (Passaro), and Lilybæ'um (Bocco); the first of these faces Italy, the second Greece, and the third Africa. From the narrowness of the strait opposite Pelorum, it has been supposed that Sicily was broken off from Italy by some convulsion of nature; and the Greek city Rhégium, which stood on the Italian side of the strait, derives its name from this common opinion.* The strait is remarkable for the rapidity of its current, and for the rock Scylla, and whirlpool Charyb'dis, the passage between which was accounted very dangerous. These places are frequently described by the Latin poets. Ovid thus alludes to the opinion of Italy having been joined to Sicily near the city of Zan'cle, or Messana :

"So Zan'cle to the Italian earth was tied,

And men once walked, where ships at anchor ride;
Till Neptune overlooked the narrow way,
And in disdain poured in the conquering sea."

The most remarkable cities on the eastern coast of Sicily were Zan'cle, or Messána (Messina), deriving its first name from the old Sicilian word Zan'clos signifying a reaping-hook, to which its curved shore bears some fanciful resemblance; and its second from the Messenian exiles, who conquered the city: Tauromin'ium (Taormina), on the river Tauromin'ius (Cantara), near which was the coast called Cop'ria, or "the dunghill," from the number of wrecks cast upon it by the whirlpool of Charyb'dis: Cat'ana, a Chalcidian colony on the river Aménes (Judicello): Morgan'tium, a city of the Italian Sic'uli, near the mouth of the Sigma'thus (La Jaretta): Leontíni, a flourishing Chalcidian colony: Hyb'la, celebrated for its honey, founded by the Sicanians, and subsequently colonized by the Megarians and Syracuse, the ancient capital of the island.

Syracuse contained within its walls, which were eighteen miles in circumference, four very considerable cities united into one, like LonFrom you, to break.

don, Westminister, Southwark, and Lambeth. Acradína, the largest of the four, contained the principal public buildings, such as the Prytanéum, the palace of justice, and the temple of Jupiter Olympius. Ty'che,* which stood between Acradína and the hill Epip'olæ, contained the Gymnasium for the exercise of youth, and several temples, especially one dedicated to Fortune, from which this division of the city derived its name. The third quarter, called Orty'gia, was an island, connected with the other parts by a bridge; it contained two beautiful temples, one sacred to Diana, and the other to Minerva, the tutelary deities of Syracuse. Neap'olis, or the new city, was the latest erected: it contained the temples of Céres and Proserpine, and the statue of Apollo Temen'ites, celebrated by Cicero as the most valuable monument of Syra

cuse.

Near Syracuse was a steep hill named Epip'olæ, defended in the later ages by a fort called Lab'dalon. On this hill was the famous prison called Latom'iæ, on account of its being partly excavated from the living rock. It was a cave one hundred and twenty-five paces long and twenty feet broad, constructed by order of Dionys'ius the tyrant, who imprisoned there those whom he suspected of being opposed to his usurpation. A winding tube, constructed on the model of the human ear, ascended from the cavern to a private apartment, where the tyrant used to sit and listen to the conversation of his unhappy captives.

The celebrated fountain of Arethúsa, now dried up, arose in the island of Orty'gia. The poets fabled that the Al'pheus, a river of E'lis, in the Peloponnésus, rolled its waters either through or under the waters of the sea, without mixing with them, as far as the fountain of Arethúsa; which gave occasion to the following lines of Virgil:

Thy sacred succor, Arethúsa, bring,

To crown my labor; 'tis the last I sing;
So may thy silver streams beneath the tide,
Unmixed with briny seas, securely glide!

On the African side of Sicily stood Camarína, between the rivers O'anus (Frascolari) and Hip'paris (Camarana): it was anciently a very wealthy city; but its inhabitants having drained a marsh by which the city was protected, the enemies found easy access, and destroyed it; hence Ne moveas Camarinam, "Remove not Camarina,” has passed into a proverb. Following the line of coast westward, we meet Géla (Terra Nova), now in ruins, and Ag'ragas or Agrigen'tum (Girgenti), between the rivers Ag'ragas (San Biaggio) and Hyp'sa (Drago). It was anciently the rival of Syracuse: and we may judge of its former strength and splendor from the following description given of it by the historian Polybius: "It exceeds most of the Sicilian cities in strength, beauty, and situation, and magnificent edifices. Though erected at the distance of eighteen hundred furlongs from the sea, it can conveniently import all kinds of provision and munitions of war. From its natural strength, increased judiciously by fortifications, it is one of the most impregnable places in the island. Its walls are built upon a rock, rendered inaccessible by art. The river, from which the city takes its name, protects it on the south, and it is covered by the Hyp'sa on the • From róxn, fortune. From Maas, a stone, and reprw, to cut.