by a period of ill luck and degradation,
following those of his new patron. In the constant wars of Greece a free
citizen could never be sure how soon he might be reduced to slavery, and
such was the fate of Democedes.

We have already told how Polycrates was treacherously seized and
murdered by the Persian satrap Oroetes. Democedes had accompanied him
to the court of the traitor, and was, with the other attendants of
Polycrates, seized and left to languish in neglect and imprisonment.
Soon afterwards Oroetes received the just retribution for his
treachery, being himself slain. And now a third turn came to the career
of Democedes. He was classed among the slaves of Oroetes, and sent
with them in chains to Susa, the capital of Darius, the great Persian
king.

But here the wheel of fortune suddenly took an upward turn. Darius, the
king, leaping one day from his horse in the chase, sprained his foot so
badly that he had to be carried home in violent pain. The surgeons of
the Persian court were Egyptians, who were claimed to be the first men
in their profession. But, though they used all their skill in treating
the foot of the king, they did him no good. Indeed, they only made the
pain more severe. For seven days and nights the mighty king was taught
that he was a man as well as a monarch, and could suffer as severely as
the poorest peasant in his kingdom. The foot gave him such torture that
all sleep fled from his eyelids, and he and those around him were in
despair.

At length it came to the memory of one who had come from the court of
Oroetes, at Sardis, that report had spoken of a Greek surgeon among
the slaves of the slain satrap. He mentioned this, and the king, to whom
any hope of relief was welcome, gave orders that this man should be
sought and brought before him. It was a miserable object that was soon
ushered into the royal presence, a poor creature in rags, with fetters
on his hands, and deep lines of suffering upon his face; a picture of
misery, in fact.

He was asked if he understood surgery. "No," he replied; saying that he
was a slave, not a surgeon. Darius did not believe him; these Greeks
were artful; but there were ways of getting at the truth. He ordered
that the scourge and the pricking instruments of torture should be
brought. Democedes, who was probably playing a shrewd game, now admitted
that he did have some little skill, but feared to practise his small art
on so great a patient. He was bidden