Plato in Italy

had commanded twenty-five cities and four peoples, were forced to abandon their own homes and beg for a new fatherland: part of them went to the opposite shore to found the small city of Hipponium; part took refuge in Paestum (1), and those few who remained were forced to invite the Spartans and the Athenians to come and cultivate their lands.

The Spartans did not heed the invitation; the Athenians, due to their habit of commerce, which makes them more inclined to change their residence, accepted it. There was a tradition in Athens of a very ancient oracle that promised its inhabitants the territory located on the banks of the river Siris; and Themistocles had almost moved all his fellow citizens there, when Eurybates, obstinate in his advice, wanted to tempt the fate of Greece against the Persians in a way different from what Themistocles believed to be the best (2). Callimachus being Archon of Athens, the Athenians designated ten ships and many men for the foundation of this new colony. The expedition was entrusted to Lampon and Xenocrates, who gathered from all of Greece as many as wished to be

(1) Mazzocchi l. c. Grimaldi An. V. I. 2.
(2) Herodotus.