LIFE OF PERIANDER.
I. Periander was a Corinthian, the son of Cypselus, of the
family of the Heraclidæ. He married Lyside (whom he
himself called Melissa), the daughter of Procles the tyrant of
Epidaurus, and of Eristhenea the daughter of Aristocrates, and
sister of Aristodemus, who governed nearly all Arcadia, as Heraclides
Ponticus says in his Treatise on Dominion and had by
her two sons Cypselus and Lycophron, the younger of whom was
clever boy, but the elder was deficient in intellect. At a subsequent
period he in a rage either kicked or threw his wife down
stairs when she was pregnant, and so killed her, being wrought
upon by the false accusations of his concubines, whom he afterwards
burnt alive. And the child, whose name was Lycophron,
he sent away to Corcyra because he grieved for his mother.
II. But afterwards, when he was now extremely old, he sent
for him back again, in order that he might succeed to the
tyranny. But the Corcyreans, anticipating his intention, put
him to death, at which he was greatly enraged, and sent their
children to Corcyra to be made eunuchs of; and when the ship
came near to Samos, the youths, having made supplications to
Juno, were saved by the Samians. And he fell into despondency
and died, being eighty years old. Sosicrates says that he died
forty-one years before Crœsus, in the last year of the forty-eighth
Olympiad. Herodotus, in the first book of his History,
says that he was connected by ties of hospitality with Thrasybulus
the tyrant of Miletus. And Aristippus, in the first book
of his Treatise on Ancient Luxury, tells the following story
of him; that his mother Cratea fell in love with him, and introduced
herself secretly into his bed; and he was delighted;
but when the truth was discovered he became very oppressive
to all his subjects, because he was grieved at the discovery.
Ephorus relates that he made a vow that, if he gained the
victory at Olympia in the chariot race, he would dedicate a
golden statue to the God. Accordingly he gained the victory;
but being in want of gold, and seeing the women at some
national festival beautifully adorned, he took away their golden
ornaments, and then sent the offering which he had vowed.
III. But some writers say that he was anxious that his tomb
should not be known, and that with that object he adopted the
following contrivance. He ordered two young men to go out
by night, indicating a particular road by which they were to go,
and to kill the first man they met, and bury him; after them
he sent out four other men who were to kill and bury them.
Again he sent out a still greater number against these four,
with similar instructions. And in this manner he put himself
in the way of the first pair, and was slain, and the Corinthians
erected a cenotaph over him with the following inscription:—
We ourselves have also written an epigram upon him:—
IV. It was a saying of his that we ought not to do anything
for the sake of money; for that we ought only to acquire such
gains as are allowable. He composed apophthegms in verse to
the number of two thousand lines; and said that those who
wished to wield absolute power in safety, should be guarded by
the good will of their countrymen, and not by arms. And
once being asked why he assumed tyrannical power, he replied,
“Because, to abdicate it voluntarily, and to have it taken from
one, are both dangerous.” The following sayings also belong
him:—Tranquillity is a good thing.—Rashness is dangerous.—Gain
is disgraceful.—Democracy is better than tyranny.—Pleasures
are transitory, but honour is immortal.—Be
moderate when prosperous, but prudent when unfortunate.—Be
the same to your friends when they are prosperous, and
when they are unfortunate.—Whatever you agree to do, observe.—Do
not divulge secrets.—Punish not only those who do
wrong, but those who intend to do so.
V. This prince was the first who had body-guards, and who
changed a legitimate power into a tyranny; and he would not
allow any one who chose to live in his city, as Euphorus and
Aristotle tell us.
VI. And he flourished about the thirty-eighth Olympiad, and
enjoyed absolute power for forty years. But Sotion, and Heraclides,
and Pamphila, in the fifth book of her Commentaries,
says that there were two Perianders; the one a tyrant,
and the other a wise man, and a native of Ambracia. And
Neanthes of Cyzicus makes the same assertion, adding, that
the two men were cousins to one another. And Aristotle says,
that it was the Corinthian Periander who was the wise one;
but Plato contradicts him. The saying—“Practice does
everything,” is his. He it was, also, who proposed to cut
through the Isthmus.
VII. The following letter of his is quoted:—
I give great thanks to Apollo of Delphi that my letters are
able to determine you all to meet together at Corinth; and I
will receive you all, as you may be well assured, in a manner
that becomes free citizens. I hear also that last year you met
at Sardis, at the court of the King of Lydia. So now do not
hesitate to come to me, who am the tyrant of Corinth; for the
Corinthians will all be delighted to see you come to the house
of Periander.
VIII. There is this letter too:—
The injury of my wife was unintended by me; and you
have done wrong in alienating from me the mind of my child.
I desire you, therefore, either to restore me to my place in his
affections, or I will revenge myself on you; for I have myself
made atonement for the death of your daughter, by burning in
her tomb the clothes of all the Corinthian women.[16]
IX. Thrasybulus also wrote him a letter in the following
terms:—
I have given no answer to your messenger; but having
taken him into a field, I struck with my walking-stick all the
highest ears of corn, and cut off their tops, while he was walking
with me. And he will report to you, if you ask him, everything
which he heard or saw while with me; and do you act
accordingly if you wish to preserve your power safely, taking
off the most eminent of the citizens, whether he seems an
enemy to you or not, as even his companions are deservedly
objects of suspicion to a man possessed of supreme power.
