Thalia   

stated; Polycrates was at the time reclining in the apartment of the
males, and Anacreon the Teian was with him; when therefore the
herald came forward to converse, Polycrates, either out of studied
contempt for the power of Oroetes, or it may be merely by chance,
was lying with his face turned away towards the wall; and so he lay
all the time that the herald spake, and when he ended, did not even
vouchsafe him a word.
Such are the two reasons alleged for the death of Polycrates; it
is open to all to believe which they please. What is certain is that
Oroetes, while residing at Magnesia on the Maeander, sent a Lydian, by
name Myrsus, the son of Gyges, with a message to Polycrates at
Samos, well knowing what that monarch designed. For Polycrates
entertained a design which no other Greek, so far as we know, ever
formed before him, unless it were Minos the Cnossian, and those (if
there were any such) who had the mastery of the Egaean at an earlier
time- Polycrates, I say, was the first of mere human birth who
conceived the design of gaining the empire of the sea, and aspired
to rule over Ionia and the islands. Knowing then that Polycrates was
thus minded, Oroetes sent his message, which ran as follows:-
"Oroetes to Polycrates thus sayeth: I hear thou raisest thy
thoughts high, but thy means are not equal to thy ambition. Listen
then to my words, and learn how thou mayest at once serve thyself
and preserve me. King Cambyses is bent on my destruction- of this I
have warning from a sure hand. Come thou, therefore, and fetch me
away, me and all my wealth- share my wealth with me, and then, so
far as money can aid, thou mayest make thyself master of the whole
of Greece. But if thou doubtest of my wealth, send the trustiest of
thy followers, and I will show my treasures to him."
Polycrates, when he heard this message, was full of joy, and
straightway approved the terms; but, as money was what he chiefly
desired, before stirring in the business he sent his secretary,
Maeandrius, son of Maeandrius, a Samian, to look into the matter. This
was the man who, not very long afterwards, made an offering at the
temple of Juno of all the furniture which had adorned the male
apartments in the palace of Polycrates, an offering well worth seeing.
Oroetes learning that one was coming to view his treasures,
contrived as follows:- he filled eight great chests almost brimful
of stones, and then covering over the stones with gold, corded the
chests, and so held them in readiness. When Maeandrius arrived, he was
shown this as Oroetes' treasure, and having seen it returned to Samos.
On hearing his account, Polycrates, notwithstanding many
warnings given him by the soothsayers, and much dissuasion of his
friends, made ready to go in person. Even the dream which visited
his daughter failed to check him. She had dreamed that she saw her
father hanging high in air, washed by love, and anointed by the sun.
Having therefore thus dreamed, she used every effort to prevent her
father from going; even as he went on board his penteconter crying
after him with words of evil omen. Then Polycrates threatened her
that, if he returned in safety, he would keep her unmarried many
years. She answered, "Oh! that he might perform his threat; far better
for her to remain long unmarried than to be bereft of her father!"
Polycrates, however, making light of all the counsel offered
him, set sail and went to Oroetes. Many friends accompanied him; among
the rest, Democedes, the son of Calliphon, a native of Crotona, who
was a physician, and the best skilled in his art of all men then
living. Polycrates, on his arrival at Magnesia, perished miserably, in
a way unworthy of his rank and of his lofty schemes. For, if we except
the Syracusans, there has never been one of the Greek tyrants who
was to be compared with Polycrates for magnificence. Oroetes, however,
slew him in a mode which is not fit to be described, and then hung his
dead body upon a cross. His Samian followers Oroetes let go free,
bidding them thank him that they were allowed their liberty; the rest,
who were in part slaves, in part free foreigners, he alike treated
as his slaves by conquest. Then was the dream of the daughter of