Tyrant of Corinth, succeeded his father Cypselus, about 625 B.C. He began to rule with a mild and benevolent sway, yet soon adopted a system of vigorous and salutary despotism. His first measure was to insure internal peace by shutting up the clubs, common tables, and other scenes of political discussion, by removing or strictly watching all the citizens of high birth and influence, and by prohibiting all that wasteful extravagance which might result in wanton misconduct or factious poverty. Then, in order to strengthen his power, he enrolled an army, equipped a fleet, and entered into leagues with both Grecian tyrants and barbarian kings. At the same time, it was his care to adorn his capital with magnificent architecture, and to grace his court with men of philosophy and letters. The last days of Periander were clouded by domestic misfortune. His wife Melissa died in consequence of a blow which he had given her in a fit of jealous rage. His younger son Lycochron was assassinated by the Corecynians while residing among that people. The only member of his family that was left was his idiot son Cypselus. Overwhelmed by these calamities, the heavy tyrant died at the age of eighty, and after a reign of forty years. Periander is said by his biographer Diogenes Laertius to have left behind him a didactic poem, which consisted of moral and political precepts, and amounted to 2000 verses. It was this work, in all probability, which led some to rank him among the seven sages of Greece.