marked for destruction. Some were banished, some were slain, and some
were deprived of their influence, and so reduced to the ordinary
level, by the confiscation of their property, the lives and fortunes
of all the citizens of the state being wholly in the despot's hands.

This same Periander had a wife whose name was Melissa. A very
extraordinary tale is related respecting her, which, though mainly
fictitious, had a foundation, doubtless, in fact, and illustrates very
remarkably the despotic tyranny and the dark superstition of the
times. Melissa died and was buried; but her garments, for some reason
or other, were not burned, as was usual in such cases. Now, among the
other oracles of Greece, there was one where departed spirits could be
consulted. It was called the oracle of the dead. Periander, having
occasion to consult an oracle in order to find the means of recovering
a certain article of value which was lost, sent to this place to call
up and consult the ghost of Melissa. The ghost appeared, but refused
to answer the question put to her, saying, with frightful solemnity,

"I am cold; I am cold; I am naked and cold. My clothes were not
burned; I am naked and cold."

When this answer was reported to Periander, he determined to make a
great sacrifice and offering, such as should at once appease the
restless spirit. He invited, therefore, a general assembly of the
women of Corinth to witness some spectacle in a temple, and when they
were convened, he surrounded them with his guards, seized them,
stripped them of most of their clothing, and then let them go free.
The clothes thus taken were then all solemnly burned, as an expiatory
offering, with invocations to the shade of Melissa.

The account adds, that when this was done, a second messenger was
dispatched to the oracle of the dead, and the spirit, now clothed and
comfortable in its grave, answered the inquiry, informing Periander
where the lost article might be found.

The rude violence which Periander resorted to in this case seems not
to have been dictated by any particular desire to insult or injure the
women of Corinth, but was resorted to simply as the easiest and most
convenient way of obtaining what he needed. He wanted a supply of
valuable and costly female apparel, and the readiest mode of obtaining
it was to bring together an assembly of females dressed for a public
occasion, and then disrobe them. The case only shows to what an
extreme and absolu