But they seem to have resembled their parent cities in the fixed quarrels and wars which they waged with each other. Such combos and leagues as were every so often formed arose from the need of repelling frequent enemies—Lucani, Messapii, or Samnites. As in Greece, too, some one metropolis possessed or claimed hegemony among the rest, by which it was opposed by another which differed from it in origin, structure, or habits. In early occasions this primacy seems to have been held by Sybaris—afterwards a bye word, perhaps unjustly, for wealth and luxury—whose rival was Croton. The folks of Croton, an Achaean colony, prided themselves on a healthier and more manly lifestyle. They zealously practised athletics, gained an excellent many prizes at Olympia, and rewarded these of their citizens who had been victors with the best honours and commands.
