but Periander understood: Thrasybulus was counselling him to
slay the principal citizens.

Everywhere the rich were killed by the tyrant and their goods
confiscated; often the wealth was distributed among the poor. This is
why the populace always sustained the tyrant.

There were tyrants in Greece from the sixth century; some, like
Pisistratus, Polycrates, and Pittacus, were respected for their
wisdom. At that time every man was called tyrant who exercised
absolute power outside the limits of the constitution; it was not a
title of reproach.

But when the tyrants made incessant warfare on the rich they became
sanguinary and so were detested. Their situation is depicted in the
famous story of Damocles. This Damocles said to Dionysius, tyrant of
Syracuse, "You are the happiest of men." "I will show you the delight
of being a tyrant," replied Dionysius. He had Damocles served with a
sumptuous feast and ordered his servants to show the guest the same
honors as to himself. During the feast Damocles raised his eyes and
perceived a sword suspended to the ceiling held only by a horse hair,
and hanging directly over his head. The comparison was a striking
one--the tyrant's life hung only by a thread. The rich, his enemies,
watched for an opportunity to cut it, for it was regarded as
praiseworthy to assassinate a tyrant. This danger irritated him and
made him suspicious and cruel. He dared not trust anybody, believed
himself secure only after the massacre of all his enemies, and
condemned the citizens to death on the slightest suspicion. Thus the
name tyrant became a synonym of injustice.

=Exhaustion of Greece.=--The civil wars between rich and poor
continued for nearly three centuries (430-150 B.C.). Many citizens
were massacred, a greater number exiled. These exiles wandered about
in poverty. Knowing no trade but that of a soldier, they entered as
mercenaries into the armies of Sparta, Athens, the Great King, the
Persian satraps--in short, of anybody who would hire them. There were
50,000 Greeks in the service of Darius against Alexander. It was
seldom that such men returned to their own country.

Thus the cities lost their people. At the same time families became
smaller, many men preferring not to marry or raise children, others
having but one or two. "Is not this," says Polybius, "the root of the
evil, that of these two children war or sickness removes one, then the
home becomes deserted and the city enfeebled?" A tim