τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ Σικελίης τοσαῦτα. Κερκυραῖοι δὲ τάδε ὑποκρινάμενοι τοῖσι ἀγγέλοισι τοιάδε ἐποίησαν· καὶ γὰρ τούτους παρελάμβανον οἱ αὐτοὶ οἵ περ ἐς Σικελίην ἀπίκοντο, λέγοντες τοὺς αὐτοὺς λόγους τοὺς καὶ πρὸς Γέλωνα ἔλεγον. οἳ δὲ παραυτίκα μὲν ὑπίσχοντο πέμψειν τε καὶ ἀμυνέειν, φράζοντες ὡς οὔ σφι περιοπτέη ἐστὶ ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἀπολλυμένη· ἢν γὰρ σφαλῇ, σφεῖς γε οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ δουλεύσουσι τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν ἡμερέων· ἀλλὰ τιμωρητέον εἴη ἐς τὸ δυνατώτατον.
ὑπεκρίναντο μὲν οὕτω εὐπρόσωπα· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔδει βοηθέειν, ἄλλα νοέοντες ἐπλήρωσαν νέας ἑξήκοντα, μόγις δὲ ἀναχθέντες προσέμιξαν τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ, καὶ περὶ Πύλον καὶ Ταίναρον γῆς τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἀνεκώχευον τὰς νέας, καραδοκέοντες καὶ οὗτοι τὸν πόλεμον τῇ πεσέεται, ἀελπτέοντες μὲν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὑπερβαλέεσθαι, δοκέοντες δὲ τὸν Πέρσην κατακρατήσαντα πολλὸν ἄρξειν πάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
ἐποίευν ὦν ἐπίτηδες, ἵνα ἔχωσι πρὸς τὸν Πέρσην λέγειν τοιάδε. ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἡμεῖς, παραλαμβανόντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡμέας ἐς τὸν πόλεμον τοῦτον, ἔχοντες δύναμιν οὐκ ἐλαχίστην οὐδὲ νέας ἐλαχίστας παρασχόντες ἂν ἀλλὰ πλείστας μετά γε Ἀθηναίους, οὐκ ἠθελήσαμέν τοι ἐναντιοῦσθαι οὐδέ τι ἀποθύμιον ποιῆσαι. τοιαῦτα λέγοντες ἤλπιζον πλέον τι τῶν ἄλλων οἴσεσθαι· τά περ ἂν καὶ ἐγένετο, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέει.
πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Ἕλληνάς σφι σκῆψις ἐπεποίητο, τῇ περ δὴ καὶ ἐχρήσαντο. αἰτιωμένων γὰρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὅτι οὐκ ἐβοήθεον, ἔφασαν πληρῶσαι μὲν ἑξήκοντα τριήρεας, ὑπὸ δὲ ἐτησιέων ἀνέμων ὑπερβαλεῖν Μαλέην οὐκ οἷοί τε γενέσθαι· οὕτω οὐκ ἀπικέσθαι ἐς Σαλαμῖνα, καὶ οὐδεμιῇ κακότητι λειφθῆναι τῆς ναυμαχίης.
So far of the affairs of Sicily: and as for the Corcyreans, they made answer to the envoys as follows, afterwards acting as I shall tell: for the same men who had gone to Sicily endeavoured also to obtain the help of these, saying the same things which they said to Gelon; and the Corcyreans at the time engaged to send a force and to help in the defence, declaring that they must not permit Hellas to be ruined without an effort on their part, for if it should suffer disaster, they would be reduced to subjection from the very first day; but they must give assistance so far as lay in their power. Thus speciously they made reply; but when the time came to send help, they manned sixty ships, having other intentions in their minds, and after making much difficulty they put out to sea and reached Peloponnese; and then near Pylos and Tainaron in the land of the Lacedemonians they kept their ships at anchor, waiting, as Gelon did, to see how the war would turn out: for they did not expect that the Hellenes would overcome, but thought that the Persian would gain the victory over them with ease and be ruler of all Hellas. Accordingly they were acting of set purpose, in order that they might be able to say to the Persian some such words as these: “O king, when the Hellenes endeavoured to obtain our help for this war, we, who have a power which is not the smallest of all, and could have supplied a contingent of ships in number not the smallest, but after the Athenians the largest, did not choose to oppose thee or to do anything which was not to thy mind.” By speaking thus they hoped that they would obtain some advantage over the rest, and so it would have happened, as I am of opinion: while they had for the Hellenes an excuse ready made, that namely of which they actually made use: for when the Hellenes reproached them because they did not come to help, they said that they had manned sixty triremes, but had not been able to get past Malea owing to the Etesian Winds; therefore it was that they had not come to Salamis, nor was it by any want of courage on their part that they had been left of the sea-fight.
οὗτοι μὲν οὕτω διεκρούσαντο τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Κρῆτες δέ, ἐπείτε σφέας παρελάμβανον οἱ ἐπὶ τούτοισι ταχθέντες Ἑλλήνων, ἐποίησαν τοιόνδε· πέμψαντες κοινῇ θεοπρόπους ἐς Δελφοὺς τὸν θεὸν ἐπειρώτων εἴ σφι ἄμεινον τιμωρέουσι γίνεται τῇ Ἑλλάδι.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη ὑπεκρίνατο ὦ νήπιοι, ἐπιμέμφεσθε ὅσα ὑμῖν ἐκ τῶν Μενελάου τιμωρημάτων Μίνως ἔπεμψε μηνίων δακρύματα, ὅτι οἳ μὲν οὐ συνεξεπρήξαντο αὐτῷ τὸν ἐν Καμικῷ θάνατον γενόμενον, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐκείνοισι τὴν ἐκ Σπάρτης ἁρπασθεῖσαν ὑπʼ ἀνδρὸς βαρβάρου γυναῖκα. ταῦτα οἱ Κρῆτες ὡς ἀπενειχθέντα ἤκουσαν, ἔσχοντο τῆς τιμωρίης.
These then evaded the request of the Hellenes thus: but the Cretans, when those of the Hellenes who had been appointed to deal with these endeavoured to obtain their help, did thus, that is to say, they joined together and sent men to inquire of the god at Delphi whether it would be better for them if they gave assistance to Hellas: and the Pythian prophetess answered: “Ye fools, do ye think those woes too few, which Minos sent upon you in his wrath, because of the assistance that ye gave to Menelaos? seeing that, whereas they did not join with you in taking vengeance for his death in Camicos, ye nevertheless joined with them in taking vengeance for the woman who by a Barbarian was carried off from Sparta.” When the Cretans heard this answer reported, they abstained from the giving of assistance.
λέγεται γὰρ Μίνων κατὰ ζήτησιν Δαιδάλου ἀπικόμενον ἐς Σικανίην τὴν νῦν Σικελίην καλευμένην ἀποθανεῖν βιαίῳ θανάτῳ. ἀνὰ δὲ χρόνον Κρῆτας, θεοῦ σφι ἐποτρύναντος, πάντας πλὴν Πολιχνιτέων τε καὶ Πραισίων ἀπικομένους στόλῳ μεγάλῳ ἐς Σικανίην πολιορκέειν ἐπʼ ἔτεα πέντε πόλιν Καμικόν, τὴν κατʼ ἐμὲ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι ἐνέμοντο·
τέλος δὲ οὐ δυναμένους οὔτε ἑλεῖν οὔτε παραμένειν λιμῷ συνεστεῶτας, ἀπολιπόντας οἴχεσθαι. ὡς δὲ κατὰ Ἰηπυγίην γενέσθαι πλέοντας, ὑπολαβόντα σφέας χειμῶνα μέγαν ἐκβαλεῖν ἐς τὴν γῆν· συναραχθέντων δὲ τῶν πλοίων, οὐδεμίαν γάρ σφι ἔτι κομιδὴν ἐς Κρήτην φαίνεσθαι, ἐνθαῦτα Ὑρίην πόλιν κτίσαντας καταμεῖναί τε καὶ μεταβαλόντας ἀντὶ μὲν Κρητῶν γενέσθαι Ἰήπυγας Μεσσαπίους, ἀντὶ δὲ εἶναι νησιώτας ἠπειρώτας.
ἀπὸ δὲ Ὑρίης πόλιος τὰς ἄλλας οἰκίσαι, τὰς δὴ Ταραντῖνοι χρόνῳ ὕστερον πολλῷ ἐξανιστάντες προσέπταισαν μεγάλως, ὥστε φόνος Ἑλληνικὸς μέγιστος οὗτος δὴ ἐγένετο πάντων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν, αὐτῶν τε Ταραντίνων καὶ Ῥηγίνων, οἳ ὑπὸ Μικύθου τοῦ Χοίρου ἀναγκαζόμενοι τῶν ἀστῶν καὶ ἀπικόμενοι τιμωροὶ Ταραντίνοισι ἀπέθανον τρισχίλιοι οὕτω· αὐτῶν δὲ Ταραντίνων οὐκ ἐπῆν ἀριθμός.
ὁ δὲ Μίκυθος οἰκέτης ἐὼν Ἀναξίλεω ἐπίτροπος Ῥηγίου καταλέλειπτο, οὗτος ὅς περ ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ Ῥηγίου καὶ Τεγέην τὴν Ἀρκάδων οἰκήσας ἀνέθηκε ἐν Ὀλυμπίῃ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀνδριάντας.
For the story goes that Minos, having come to Sicania, which is now called Sicily, in search of Daidalos, died there by a violent death; and after a time the Cretans, urged thereto by a god, all except the men of Polichne and Praisos, came with a great armament to Sicania and besieged for seven years the city of Camicos, which in my time was occupied by the Agrigentines; and at last not being able either to capture it or to remain before it, because they were hard pressed by famine, they departed and went away. And when, as they sailed, they came to be off the coast of Iapygia, a great storm seized them and cast them away upon the coast; and their vessels being dashed to pieces, they, since they saw no longer any way of coming to Crete, founded there the city of Hyria; and there they stayed and were changed so that they became instead of Cretans, Messapians of Iapygia, and instead of islanders, dwellers on the mainland: then from the city of Hyria they founded those other settlements which the Tarentines long afterwards endeavoured to destroy and suffer great disaster in that enterprise, so that this in fact proved to be the greatest slaughter of Hellenes that is known to us, and not only of the Tarentines themselves but of those citizens of Rhegion who were compelled by Mikythos the son of Choiros to go to the assistance of the Tarentines, and of whom there were slain in this manner three thousand men: of the Tarentines themselves however, who were slain there, there was no numbering made. This Mikythos, who was a servant of Anaxilaos, had been left by him in charge of Rhegion; and he it was who after being driven out of Rhegion took up his abode at Tegea of the Arcadians and dedicated those many statues at Olympia.
ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Ῥηγίνους τε καὶ Ταραντίνους τοῦ λόγου μοι παρενθήκη γέγονε· ἐς δὲ τὴν Κρήτην ἐρημωθεῖσαν, ὡς λέγουσι Πραίσιοι, ἐσοικίζεσθαι ἄλλους τε ἀνθρώπους καὶ μάλιστα Ἕλληνας, τρίτῃ δὲ γενεῇ μετὰ Μίνων τελευτήσαντα γενέσθαι τὰ Τρωικά, ἐν τοῖσι οὐ φλαυροτάτους φαίνεσθαι ἐόντας Κρῆτας τιμωροὺς Μενέλεῳ.
ἀπὸ τούτων δέ σφι ἀπονοστήσασι ἐκ Τροίης λιμόν τε καὶ λοιμὸν γενέσθαι καὶ αὐτοῖσι καὶ τοῖσι προβάτοισι, ἔστε τὸ δεύτερον ἐρημωθείσης Κρήτης μετὰ τῶν ὑπολοίπων τρίτους αὐτὴν νῦν νέμεσθαι Κρῆτας. ἡ μὲν δὴ Πυθίη ὑπομνήσασα ταῦτα ἔσχε βουλομένους τιμωρέειν τοῖσι Ἕλλησι.
This of the men of Rhegion and of the Tarentines has been an episode in my narrative: in Crete however, as the men of Praisos report, after it had been thus stripped of inhabitants, settlements were made by various nations, but especially by Hellenes; and in the next generation but one after the death of Minos came the Trojan war, in which the Cretans proved not the most contemptible of those who came to assist Menelaos. Then after this, when they had returned home from Troy, famine and pestilence came upon both the men and their cattle, until at last Crete was stripped of its inhabitants for the second time, and a third population of Cretans now occupy it together with those which were left of the former inhabitants. The Pythian prophetess, I say, by calling these things to their minds stopped them from giving assistance to the Hellenes, though they desired to do so.
Cite This Text