Page:An Account of Corsica (1769).djvu/99

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OF CORSICA.
89

I shall therefore, in treating of the revolutions of Corsica, go as far back as books will serve me; though at the same time, I intend to give no more than a concise recital, and am rather to shew my readers what is to be seen, than to detain them till I exhibit a full view of it.

The earliest accounts that we have of Corsica, are to be found in Herodotus. He tells us, that its first inhabitants were Phenicians; for, that Cadmus, the son of Agenor, when wandering in quest of Europa, fell upon this island, which was named Callista, and left there some of his countrymen, with his own cousin Membleareus [1]. He tells us, that eight generations after this, Theras brought a colony to the island, from Lacedaemon. This Theras [2] was originally of the race of Cadmus, but, being uncle by the motherside to Eurysthenes and Procles, the two sons of Aristodemus,

  1. Ησαν δὲ ἐν τῇ νῦν Θήρῃ καλεομένη νήσῳ, πρότερον δὲ Καλλίστῃ τῇ αὐτῇ ταύτῃ, ἀπόγονοι Μεμβλιάρου τοῦ Ποικίλεω, ἀνδρὸς Φοίνικος. Κάδμος γὰρ ὁ Ἀγήνορος, Εὐρώπην διζήμενος προσέσχε ἐς τὴν νῦν Θήρην καλεομένην: προσσχόντι δὲ εἴτε δή οἱ ἡ χώρη ἤρεσε, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως ἠθέλησε ποιῆσαι τοῦτο, καταλείπει γὰρ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ ἄλλους τε τῶν Φοινίκων, καὶ δὴ καὶ τῶν ἑωυτοῦ συγγενέων Μεμβλίαρον.

    Herodot. lib. iv. cap. 147.

  2. Ην δὲ ὁ Θήρας οὗτος, γένος ἐὼν Καδμεῖος, τῆς μητρὸς ἀδελφεὸς τοῖσι Ἀριστοδήμου παισὶ Εὐρυσθένεϊ καὶ Προκλές. Εόντων δὲ ἔτι τῶν παίδων τούτων νηπίων