[4] The Bruttii occupy the remainder of the coast as far as the Strait of Sicily, extending about 1350 stadia. Antiochus, in his treatise on Italy, says that this district, which he intended to describe, was called Italy, but that previously it had been called Œnotria. The boundary which he assigns to it on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the river Lao,1 and on the Sea of Sicily Metapontium, the former of which we have given as the boundary of the Bruttii. He describes Tarentum, which is next to Metapontium,2 as beyond Italy, calling it Iapygian. He also relates that, at a more ancient period, those who dwelt on this side the isthmus, which lies next the Strait of Sicily, were the only people who were called Œnotrians and Italians. The isthmus is 160 stadia across between the two gulfs, namely, that of Hipponium,3 which Antiochus called Napitinus, and that of Scylletium.4 The circumnavigation of the peninsula, which is comprised between this isthmus and the strait, is 2000 stadia. He says that afterwards the names of Italy and of the Œnotrians were extended as far as Metapontium and the Siritis; the Chones, a people of Œnotrian descent, and highly civilized, inhabited these districts, and called their country Chone. However, this author has written in a very loose and old-fashioned manner, without giving any definite boundaries to the Leucani and Bruttii. Now Leucania is situated on the Tyrrhenian and Sicilian Seas, extending on one coast from the Silaro5 to the river Lao, and on the other from Metapontium6 to Thurii. Along the continent it stretches from the country of the Samnites, as far as the isthmus between Thurii and Cerilli,7 near the Lao. This isthmus is 300 stadia8 across. Beyond are the Bruttii, who dwell on the peninsula; in this is included another peninsula, which is bounded by the isthmus between Scylletium9 and the Hipponiate gulf.10 The nation received its appellation from the Leucani, for they call runaways Bruttii, and they say that formerly they ran away from them when employed as shepherds, and that afterwards their independence was established through the weakness [of the Leucani], when Dion [of Syracuse] was prosecuting a war against [the younger] Dionysius, and fomented hostilities amongst all.11 This is all we shall remark as to the Leucani and Bruttii.
1 Laos, now Lao.
2 Torre di Mare.
3 Golfo di S. Eufemia.
4 Golfo di Squillace. Scylletium was once a Greek city of note, communicating its name to the gulf. Servius observes that the Athenians who founded the colony were returning from Africa. There was a Greek inscription found in 1791 relative to the λαμπαδηδοͅομία, which seems to confirm the tradition of the Athenian origin of Scylletium. It was the birth-place of Cassiodorus.
5 σιλαοͅις. The Silaro, which divides Lucania from Campania, takes
its rise in the Apennines, in a district which formerly belonged to the
Hirpini; and after receiving the Tanager, now Negro, and the Calor,
now Calore, falls into the Gulf of Salerno. Silius Italicus (viii. 582)
states that this river possessed the property of incrusting twigs with a
calcareous deposit:
“
Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite tradunt
Duritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.
6 Torre di Mare.
7 Cirella.
8 This measure, upon our charts, is 330 Olympic stadia. Gosselin.
9 Golfo di Squillace.
10 The Golfo di S. Eufemia.
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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