Thalia   

will explain in a different way- it is a figure resembling that of a
pigmy. He went also into the temple of the Cabiri, which it is
unlawful for any one to enter except the priests, and not only made
sport of the images, but even burnt them. They are made like the
statue of Vulcan, who is said to have been their father.
Thus it appears certain to me, by a great variety of proofs,
that Cambyses was raving mad; he would not else have set himself to
make a mock of holy rites and long-established usages. For if one were
to offer men to choose out of all the customs in the world such as
seemed to them the best, they would examine the whole number, and
end by preferring their own; so convinced are they that their own
usages far surpass those of all others. Unless, therefore, a man was
mad, it is not likely that he would make sport of such matters. That
people have this feeling about their laws may be seen by very many
proofs: among others, by the following. Darius, after he had got the
kingdom, called into his presence certain Greeks who were at hand, and
asked- "What he should pay them to eat the bodies of their fathers
when they died?" To which they answered, that there was no sum that
would tempt them to do such a thing. He then sent for certain Indians,
of the race called Callatians, men who eat their fathers, and asked
them, while the Greeks stood by, and knew by the help of an
interpreter all that was said - "What he should give them to burn
the bodies of their fathers at their decease?" The Indians exclaimed
aloud, and bade him forbear such language. Such is men's wont
herein; and Pindar was right, in my judgment, when he said, "Law is
the king o'er all."
While Cambyses was carrying on this war in Egypt, the
Lacedaemonians likewise sent a force to Samos against Polycrates,
the son of Aeaces, who had by insurrection made himself master of that
island. At the outset he divided the state into three parts, and
shared the kingdom with his brothers, Pantagnotus and Syloson; but
later, having killed the former and banished the latter, who was the
younger of the two, he held the whole island. Hereupon he made a
contract of friendship with Amasis the Egyptian king, sending him
gifts, and receiving from him others in return. In a little while
his power so greatly increased, that the fame of it went abroad
throughout Ionia and the rest of Greece. Wherever he turned his
arms, success waited on him. He had a fleet of a hundred penteconters,
and bowmen to the number of a thousand. Herewith he plundered all,
without distinction of friend or foe; for he argued that a friend
was better pleased if you gave him back what you had taken from him,
than if you spared him at the first. He captured many of the
islands, and several towns upon the mainland. Among his other doings
he overcame the Lesbians in a sea-fight, when they came with all their
forces to the help of Miletus, and made a number of them prisoners.
These persons, laden with fetters, dug the moat which surrounds the
castle at Samos.
The exceeding good fortune of Polycrates did not escape the notice
of Amasis, who was much disturbed thereat. When therefore his
successes continued increasing, Amasis wrote him the following letter,
and sent it to Samos. "Amasis to Polycrates thus sayeth: It is a
pleasure to hear of a friend and ally prospering, but thy exceeding
prosperity does not cause me joy, forasmuch as I know that the gods
are envious. My wish for myself and for those whom I love is to be now
successful, and now to meet with a check; thus passing through life
amid alternate good and ill, rather than with perpetual good
fortune. For never yet did I hear tell of any one succeeding in all
his undertakings, who did not meet with calamity at last, and come
to utter ruin. Now, therefore, give ear to my words, and meet thy good
luck in this way: bethink thee which of all thy treasures thou valuest
most and canst least bear to part with; take it, whatsoever it be, and
throw it away, so that it may be sure never to come any more into
the sight of man. Then, if thy good fortune be not thenceforth
chequered with ill, save thyself from harm by again doing as I have