[19,0] LIVRE XIX (fragments).

[19,0] Excerpts from Book XIX.

[19,1] Ὅτι Κρότων πόλις ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ ἐστὶ καὶ Σύβαρις ἀπὸ τοῦ παραρρέοντος ποταμοῦ οὕτως κληθεῖσα. Ὅτε Λακεδαιμόνιοι Μεσήνην ἐπολέμουν καὶ χῆρος ἀνδρῶν ἡ πόλις ἦν, δεομέναις ταῖς γυναιξὶ καὶ μάλιστα ταῖς ἐν ἀκμῇ παρθένοις μὴ περιιδεῖν τὰς μὲν ἀγάμους, τὰς δὲ ἀτέκνους γινομένας ἐπέμποντό τινες ἀεὶ νέοι παραλλὰξ ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατοπέδου τῆς μίξεως τῶν γυναικῶν ἕνεκα καὶ συνῄεσαν, αἷς ἐπιτύχοιεν· ἐκ τούτων γίνονται τῶν ἀδιακρίτων ἐπιμιξιῶν παῖδες, οὓς ἀνδρωθέντας οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι προεπηλάκιζον τά τε ἄλλα καὶ Παρθενίας προσηγόρευον. Στάσεως δὲ γενομένης ἡττηθέντες οἱ παρθενίαι ἀναχωροῦσιν ἑκόντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ πέμψαντες εἰς Δελφοὺς χρησμὸν ἔλαβον πλεῖν εἰς Ἰταλίαν, ἐξευρόντας δὲ χωρίον τῆς Ἰαπυγίας Σατύριον καὶ ποταμὸν Τάραντα, ἔνθ´ 〈ἂν〉 ἴδωσι τράγον τῇ θαλάττῃ τέγγοντα τὸ γένειον, ἐκεῖ τοὺς βίους ἱδρύσασθαι. πλεύσαντες δὲ τόν τε ποταμὸν ἐξεῦρον καὶ κατά τινος ἐρινεοῦ πλησίον τῆς θαλάττης πεφυκότος ἄμπελον ἐθεάσαντο κατακεχυμένην, ἐξ ἧς τῶν ἐπιτράγων τις καθειμένος ἥπτετο τῆς θαλάττης. τοῦτον ὑπολαβόντες εἶναι τὸν τράγον, ὃν προεῖπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ὄψεσθαι τέγγοντα τὸ γένειον τῇ θαλάττῃ, αὐτοῦ μένοντες ἐπολέμουν Ἰάπυγας, καὶ ἱδρύονται τὴν ἐπώνυμον τοῦ ποταμοῦ Τάραντος πόλιν.

[19,1] (17.1) Croton is a city in Italy; likewise Sybaris, so named from the river which flows past it. 2 When the Lacedaemonians were warring against Messenê and Sparta was stripped of men, the women and especially the maidens who were of marriageable age begged them not to allow them to go unwed and childless. Accordingly, young men were constantly sent from the camp in rotation to have intercourse with the women and they consorted with the first women they met. From these promiscuous women were born boys whom, when they had grown to man's estate, the Lacedaemonians called Partheniae, among other taunts that they hurled at them. 3 (2) When a sedition occurred and the Partheniae were defeated, they voluntarily withdrew from the city; and sending to Delphi, they received an oracle bidding them sail to Italy and after finding a town in Iapygia called Satyrium and a river Taras, to establish their abode where they should see a goat dipping his beard in the sea. 4 Having made the voyage, they (p343) found the river and observed a wild fig-tree growing near the sea and overspread with a vine, one of whose tendrils hung down and touched the sea. Assuming this to be the "goat" which the god had foretold them they would see dipping his beard in the sea, entreaty remained there and made war upon the Iapygians; and they founded the city which they named for the river Taras.