13.

Beyond this, at the distance of 200 stadia, is situated Sybaris,2187 a colony settled by the Achæans, between the two [Pg 396]
[CAS. 263] rivers Crati2188 and Sybaris.2189 Its founder was Is....2190 the Helicean.2191 So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring people and twenty-five towns; in the war with the Crotoniatæ it brought into the field 300,000 men, and occupied a circuit of 50 stadia on the Crati. But on account of the arrogance and turbulence of its citizens, it was deprived of all its prosperity by the Crotoniatæ in 702192 days, who took the city, and turning the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed it with an inundation.2193 Some time after, a few who had escaped came together and inhabited the site of their former city, but in time they were dispossessed by the Athenians2194 and other Greeks, who came and settled amongst them, but they despised and subjugated them, and removed the city to a neighbouring place, calling its name Thurii, from a fountain of that name. The water of the river Sybaris has the peculiar property of making the horses which drink it shy,2195 for which reason they keep their horses away from the river. The Crati turns the hair of those who bathe in it yellow, and sometimes white, but has been found salutary for the cure of many disorders. Thurii, after having flourished for a long time, became a continual prey to the aggressions of the Leucani,2196 and afterwards the Tarentini troubling them, they appealed to the Romans for succour, who, in course of time, sent a colony2197 when it was nearly deserted, and changed the name of the city to Copiæ.2198