tyrant of Corinth and Corcyra, was reckoned among the seven wise men of Greece; though he might rather have been reckoned among the most wicked men, since he changed the government of his country, deprived his countrymen of their liberty, usurped the sovereignty, and committed the most shocking crimes. In the beginning of his reign he behaved with mildness; but after his having sent to the tyrant of Syracuse to consult him on the safest method of government, he abandoned himself to cruelty. The latter, having heard Periander's envoys, took them into a field, and, instead of answering them, pulled up before them the ears of corn which exceeded the rest in height. Periander, on being told of this action, understood what was meant by it. He first secured himself by a good guard, and then put the most powerful Corinthians to death. He abandoned himself to the most enormous crimes; committed incest with his mother, kicked to death his wife Melilla, daughter of Procles king of Epidaurus, notwithstanding her being with child; and was so enraged at Lycophron, his second son, for lamenting his mother's death, that he banished him into the island of Corcyra. Yet he passed for one of the greatest politicians of his time; and Heraclides tells us, that he forbade voluptuousness; that he imposed no taxes, contenting himself with the custom arising from the sale and the import and export of commodities; that, tho' wicked himself, he hated the wicked, and caused all pimps to be drowned; lastly, that he established a senate, and settled the expense of its members. He died 585 B.C.