Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/186

BOOK VI During the same winter the Athenians conceived a The Athenians, »V- desire of Sending another expedition to norant of the size and Sicily, larger than those commanded resources of the island, u t u j ir j n Tu^.. ,, .^ , ' by Laches and hurymedon i. 1 hey determine to send a •' -^ _ , . great expedition to hoped to conquer the island. Of its Sicily. great size and numerous population, barbarian as well as Hellenic, most of them knew nothing, and they never reflected that they were entering on a struggle almost as arduous as the Peloponnesian War. The voyage in a merchant-vessel round Sicily takes up nearly eight days, and this great island is all but a part of the mainland, being divided from it by a sea not much more than two miles in width. I will now describe the original settlem.ent of Sicily, Thttcydides describes and enumerate the nations which it contained. Oldest of all were (i) the Cyclopes and Laestrygones, who are said to have dwelt in a district of the island ; but who they were, whence they came, or whither they went, I cannot tell. Wc must be content with Phocians, who came to tj^g legends of the poets, and every Sicily after the fall of ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ,^^^ ^^ ^^^.^^ j^j^ ^^^^^ Troy. 5. 1 he bicels from Italy. 6. The Opinion. (2) The Sicanians appear to Fhoenicians. have Succeeded these early races, although according to their own account they were still older ; for they profess to have been children of the soil. the races by which the island zvas inhabited. 1 . The mythical Cyclop- es and Laestrygones. 2. The Sicanians from Spain said to be auto- chthons. 3. Some Tro- jans, and 4. some Cp iii. 86, 115.