Thalia   

into the market-place at Memphis, when Dariuss who was one of
Cambyses' bodyguard, and not at that time a man of any account, saw
him, and taking a strong liking to the dress, went up and offered to
purchase it. Syloson perceived how anxious he was, and by a lucky
inspiration answered: "There is no price at which I would sell my
cloak; but I will give it thee for nothing, if it must needs be
thine." Darius thanked him, and accepted the garment.
Poor Syloson felt at the time that he had fooled away his cloak in
a very simple manner; but afterwards, when in the course of years
Cambyses died, and the seven Persians rose in revolt against the
Magus, and Darius was the man chosen out of the seven to have the
kingdom, Syloson learnt that the person to whom the crown had come was
the very man who had coveted his cloak in Egypt, and to whom he had
freely given it. So he made his way to Susa, and seating himself at
the portal of the royal palace, gave out that he was a benefactor of
the king. Then the doorkeeper went and told Darius. Amazed at what
he heard, king said thus within himself:- "What Greek can have been my
benefactor, or to which of them do I owe anything, so lately as I have
got the kingdom? Scarcely a man of them all has been here, not more
than one or two certainly, since I came to the throne. Nor do I
remember that I am in the debt of any Greek. However, bring him in,
and let me hear what he means by his boast." So the doorkeeper ushered
Syloson into the presence, and the interpreters asked him who he
was, and what he had done that he should call himself a benefactor
of the king. Then Syloson told the whole story of the cloak, and
said that it was he who had made Darius the present. Hereupon Darius
exclaimed, "Oh! thou most generous of men, art thou indeed he who,
when I had no power at all, gavest me something, albeit little?
Truly the favour is as great as a very grand present would be
nowadays. I will therefore give thee in return gold and silver without
stint, that thou mayest never repent of having rendered a service to
Darius, son of Hystaspes. "Give me not, O king," replied Syloson,
"either silver or gold, but recover me Samos, my native land, and
let that be thy gift to me. It belongs now to a slave of ours, who,
when Oroetes put my brother Polycrates to death, became its master.
Give me Samos, I beg; but give it unharmed, with no bloodshed- no
leading into captivity."
When he heard this, Darius sent off an army, under Otanes, one
of the seven, with orders to accomplish all that Syloson had
desired. And Otanes went down to the coast and made ready to cross
over.
The government of Samos was held at this time by Maeandrius, son
of Maeandrius, whom Polycrates had appointed as his deputy. This
person conceived the wish to act like the justest of men, but it was
not allowed him to do so. On receiving tidings of the death of
Polycrates, he forthwith raised an altar to love the Protector of
Freedom, and assigned it the piece of ground which may still be seen
in the suburb. This done, he assembled all the citizens, and spoke
to them as follows:-
"Ye know, friends, that the sceptre of Polycrates, and all his
power, has passed into my hands, and if I choose I may rule over
you. But what I condemn in another I will, if I may, avoid myself. I
never approved the ambition of Polycrates to lord it over men as
good as himself, nor looked with favour on any of those who have
done the like. Now therefore, since he has fulfilled his destiny, I
lay down my office, and proclaim equal rights. All that I claim in
return is six talents from the treasures of Polycrates, and the
priesthood of Jove the Protector of Freedom, for myself and my
descendants for ever. Allow me this, as the man by whom his temple has
been built, and by whom ye yourselves are now restored to liberty." As
soon as Maeandrius had ended, one of the Samians rose up and said, "As
if thou wert fit to rule us, base-born and rascal as thou art! Think
rather of accounting for the monies which thou hast fingered."
The man who thus spoke was a certain Telesarchus, one of the