a Greek tyrant, was celebrated for the uninterrupted course of success which characterized his life. With the aid of no more than fifteen armed men he seized the sovereignty of Samos, and held it for some time in conjunction with his brothers Pantagnotus and Syloson. He then managed to get rid of the one brother by assassination and of the other by banishment, and to retain the entire power for himself. This was only the preparation for a more vigorous and efficient system of policy. The city was strengthened, 100 fifty-oared galleys were manned, and 1000 archers were enlisted. His fleet scoured the seas, sweeping before it all opposition, capturing many of the islands in the neighbourhood, and taking some of the cities in the mainland. In fact, so invariable was his good fortune that Amasis, King of Egypt, looking upon him as the future victim of the joy-avenging Nemesis, broke off an alliance which had subsisted for some time between the two kingdoms. Polycrates, however, although standing alone against his enemies, continued to be as successful as ever. In vain did some malcontents among his subjects attempt to raise a general revolt. Incarcerating the women and children of the city, he threatened to set fire to the former if any more should join the insurrection. In vain did the rebels, repulsed from the town, return handed with the Spartans and Corinthians. A beleaguerment of forty days ended only in complete failure. The Samian tyrant was fast increasing in power; and no enterprise now was a fitting object for his ambition but the conquest of Ionia and of the islands in the Aegean Sea. Yet just at this crisis the bright career of Polycrates was doomed to be suddenly extinguished in darkness. Oroetes, the satrap of Sardis, for some reason unknown, allured him over to Magnesia by the promise of a large sum of money. No sooner had he set foot within that city than he was seized and crucified in 522 B.C. (See Herodotus, iii. 39-47, 54-56, 120-125.)