en from every house, Lycophron took lodging in the public
porticos, where he dwelt without shelter and almost without food. Seeing
his wretched state, Periander took pity on him and bade him come home
and no longer indulge in such foolish and unfilial behavior.

[Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS.]

Lycophron's only reply was that his father had broken his own edict by
coming and talking with him, and therefore himself owed the penalty to
Apollo.

Periander, seeing that the boy was uncontrollable in his indignation,
and troubled at heart by the piteous spectacle, now sent him by ship to
the island of Corcyra, a colony of Corinth. As for Proclus, the tyrant
made war upon him for his indiscreet revelation, robbed him of his
kingdom, Epidaurus, and carried him captive to Corinth.

And the years went on, and Periander grew old and unable properly to
handle his affairs. His elder son was incapable of taking his place, so
he sent to Corcyra and asked Lycophron to come to Corinth and take the
kingship of that fair land.

Lycophron, whose indignation time had not cooled, refused even to answer
the message. Then Periander sent his daughter, the sister of Lycophron,
hoping that she might be able to persuade him. She made a strong appeal,
begging him not to let the power pass away from their family and their
father's wealth fall into strange hands, and reminding him that mercy
was a higher virtue than justice.

Her appeal was in vain. Lycophron refused to go back to Corinth as long
as his father remained alive.

Then the desperate old man, at his wits' end through Lycophron's
obstinacy, sent a herald, saying that he would himself come to Corcyra,
and let his son take his place in Corinth as king. To these terms
Lycophron agreed. But there were others to deal with, for, when the
terrified Corcyrians heard that the terrible old tyrant was coming to
dwell in their island, they rose in a tumult and put Lycophron to death.

And thus ended the dynasty of Cypselus, as the oracle had foretold.
Though Periander revenged himself on the Corcyrians, he could not bring
his son to life again, and the children's children of Cypselus did not
come to the throne.

_THE RING OF POLYCRATES._

Near the coast of Asia Minor lies the bright and beautiful island of
Samos, one of the choicest gems of the AEgean archipelago. This island
was, somewhere about the year 530 B.C., seized by a political adventurer
named Polycrates. He acco