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παρὰ Σαμίων: the reading of the better MSS. must be adopted, for if μετά be read Cadmus is made to take a part in the treachery of the Samians through which Scythes (presumably his own father) lost his city and for a time his liberty (cf. vi. 23, 24 n.). But with the reading παρά an intelligible reconstruction is possible. Scythes, leaving the lordship of Cos, bestowed on him by Darius, to his son Cadmus, went to Sicily and made himself ruler of Zancle, becoming apparently (circ. 495 B. C.) a vassal of Hippocrates. In 494 B. C. Samians (and some Milesians) came on his invitation to colonize Kale Acte (vi. 22, 24; Thuc. vi. 4), but on the suggestion of Anaxilas of Rhegium treacherously seized Zancle. Hippocrates, who came as suzerain to aid Zancle, ended by selling it to the Samians. Then Anaxilas, still hoping to make himself supreme in Zancle, stirred up Cadmus to take the city from the Samians (for ἔσχε cf. v. 46. 2; vi. 23. 2, 36. 1, &c.). Cadmus came from Cos with a number of followers (among whom we are told by Suidas (s. v.) was Epicharmus as a baby in arms), and with the aid of Anaxilas recovered Zancle (circ. 490 B. C.). He must, however, have been a mere subordinate of the tyrant of Rhegium, since in all other accounts Anaxilas alone is mentioned (Schol. Pind. Pyth. ii. 34; Diod. xi. 48, 66); cf. especially Thuc. vi. 4 “τοὺς δὲ Σαμίους Ἀναξίλας Ῥηγίνων τύραννος οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἐκβαλὼν καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτὸς ξυμμείκτων ἀνθρώπων οἰκίσας Μεσσήνην ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ἀρχαῖον πατρίδος ἀντωνόμασεν”. The supremacy of Anaxilas over Zancle-Messana is fully confirmed by its coinage. Further, it would seem that Cadmus must have been driven from Messene by Anaxilas before 481, otherwise he could hardly have been the trusted envoy of Gelo, the chief foe of the Rhegine tyrant. τὴν ... μεταβαλοῦσαν. The change of name apparently took place when Anaxilas first put the Samians in possession of Zancle (494-493 B. C.), not as Thucydides implies when he ejected them. This seems proved by the fact that coins on the Euboic-Attic standard, with a lion's head Samian in style on one side, and a calf's head on the other, are inscribed with the word Μεσσηνίων (Holm, G. S. iii, p. 574; further, Hill, Hist. Greek Coins, 29-35, and C. H. Dodd in J. H. S. xxviii. 56-76). These, which resemble closely the contemporary coins of Rhegium (Head, H. N. 108), must belong to the time when Anaxilas was on friendly terms with the Samians, while those with a running hare and the inscription Μεσσηνίων on one side and a mule-chariot on the other were introduced by Anaxilas from Rhegium later (Holm, G. S. iii. 576). These types, according to Aristotle (Jul. Pollux, v. 75), commemorated a victory at Olympia, and the introduction of the hare into Sicily (Hill, op. cit. p. 33). Macan prefers the reading μετὰ Σαμίων. He thus makes Cadmus co-operate with the Samians in depriving his own father of the lordship of Zancle. He suggests that there may have been a deep laid plot between the father, the son, and Hippocrates, Scythes being anxious to return to the Persian court and his imprisonment at Inyx (vi. 23) a pretence. Hippocrates certainly behaved strangely in making a bargain with the treacherous Samians at the expense of Zancle (vi. 23), but there is not sufficient evidence of the alleged plot. Subsequently on this supposition Cadmus was driven out along with the Samians by Anaxilas, and then found refuge with Gelo.
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