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He sent also part of the spoils into Italy, to the Crotoniats, to honor the zeal and courage of their citizen Phayllus, the wrestler, who, in the Median war, when the other Grecian colonies in Italy disowned Greece, that he might have a share in the danger, joined the fleet at Salamis, with a vessel set forth at his own charge.
Yet the ancient epitaph of Phayllus the Crotonian claimed for him nothing less than fifty-five feet, on an inclined plane. Certainly the story must have taken a leap also.
He also sent some part of the spoils to the citizens of Kroton, in Italy, to show his respect for the memory of Phaÿllus the athlete, who, during the Persian invasion, when all the other Greek cities in Italy deserted the cause of their countrymen in Greece, fitted out a ship of war at his own expense, and sailed to Salamis to take part in the battle there, and share in the dangers of the Greeks.
The most prominent members of this board were Rhinon of Paeania and Phayllus of Acherdus, who, even before the arrival of Pausanias, opened negotiations with the party in Piraeus, and after his arrival seconded his efforts to bring about the return of the exiles.
As for Philip, although he probably cared not an iota for the Delphian god, he shrewdly professed to be on a crusade against the impious Phocians, and drowned all his prisoners as guilty of sacrilege. A third leader, Phayllus by name, now took command of the Phocians, and the temple of Apollo was rifled still more freely than before. The splendid gifts of King Croesus had not yet been touched.
They were held too precious to be meddled with. But Phayllus did not hesitate to turn these into money. One hundred and seventeen ingots of gold and three hundred and sixty golden goblets went to the melting-pot, and with them a golden statue three cubits high and a lion of the same precious metal.
By the aid of springing boards and weights in their hands, the old jumpers covered great distances. Phayllus of Croton is accredited with jumping the incredible distance of 55 feet, and we have the authority of Eustache and Tzetzes that this jump is genuine.
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