Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/406

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392
STRABO.
CASAUB. 261.

of the number of citizens who fell in the battle. After the Sagras is Caulonia, which was at first called Aulonia, from the αὐλὼν, or valley, in which it was situated; but it is deserted, for its former possessors were driven out by the barbarians,[1] and have taken refuge in Sicily, and there founded [another] Caulonia.[2] After this is Scylletium,[p 1] a colony of the Athenians, who set out under Menestheus;[3] it is now called Scylacium.[4] Dionysius [the elder] allotted a portion of it to the Locri, whilst it was in the possession of the Crotoniatæ.[y 1] The Scylleticus Sinus received its name from this city. It together with the Hipponiates Sinus forms the isthmus which we have mentioned above.[q 1] Dionysius[5] undertook to build a wall across the isthmus, at the time he was carrying on war against the Leucani, assigning as a pretext that it would afford security to the inhabitants of the peninsula from the inroads of the barbarians dwelling beyond it; but in truth his intention was to cut off the communication of the Greeks with each other, and to have the greater power over those who dwelt within the peninsula, but those who dwelt without[6] assembled and prevented the undertaking.

11. After Scylletium is the region of Crotona, and the

  1. ↑ During the war against Pyrrhus, whose cause was espoused by Caulonia, the city was pillaged by the Mamertini, the allies of the Romans. The town was subsequently occupied by the Bruttii, who defended it against the Romans in the second Punic war. Barrio and other Calabrian topographers have fixed its site at Castro Vetere, but Strabo placed it on the left bank of the Sagras, which is inconsistent with their supposition, and it is still a subject of inquiry.
  2. ↑ Cluvier (Sicil. ant. lib. ii.]) reckons this place was situated between Caltanis and Pietra preccia.
  3. ↑ Servius observes that these Athenians were returning from Africa, Serv. Æn. iii. 552.
  4. ↑ Saumaise (Exercit. Plin. p. 47, 57) thinks the true reading should be Scylaceium, or Virgil could not have made the penultimate long.
    … Attollit se diva Lacinia contra
    Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylaceum. Æn. iii. 652.
  5. ↑ Pliny seems to attribute to Dionysius the elder the project of cutting not walling off the isthmus: “Itaque Dionysius major intercisam eo loco adjicere Siciliæ voluit.” Hist. Nat. lib. iii. § 15. Grimaldi also is of opinion that the circumstance mentioned by Strabo should be referred to the first years of Dionysius the younger, about B. C. 366–359.
  6. ↑ By those who dwelt without, Strabo doubtless intended the Crotoniatæ, and their allies.
  1. ↑ Now Squillace.
  1. ↑ Book vi. cap. i. § 4.
  1. ↑ About B. C. 389.
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