THALIA. 23

seems to me to have spoken with peculiar propriety,
when he observed that custom was the universal
sovereign.

XXXIX. Whilst Cambyses was engaged in hia
Egyptian expedition, the Lacedtemonians were prose­
cuting1 a war against Polycrates, the son of jEacos,
who had forcibly possessed himself of Samos. He had
divided it into three parts, assigning one to each of
his brothers Pantagnotus and Syloson. He after­
wards, having killed Pantagnotus, and banished Sy­
loson, who was the younger, seized the whole. Whilst
he was thus circumstanced, he made a treaty of alli­
ance with Anfasis, king of Egypt, which was cement­
ed by various presents on both sides. His fame had
so increased, that he was celebrated through Ionia and
the rest of Greece. Success attended all his military
undertakings; he had a hundred fifty-oared vessels,
and a thousand archers. He made no discrimination
in the objects of his attacks, thinking that he confer­
red a greater favour even on a friend,by restoring what
he had violently taken, than by not molesting him at
all. He took a great number of islands, and became
master of several cities on the continent. The Les­
bians, who with all their forces were proceeding to
assist the Milesians, he attacked and conquered in a
great sea-fight. Those whom he made prisoners he
put in chains, and compelled to sink the trench which
surrounds the walls of Samos.

XL. The great prosperity of Polycrates excited
both the attention and anxiety of Amasis. As his
success continually increased, he was induced to write
and send this letter to Samos:

" Amasis to Polycrates.
" The success of a friend and an ally fills me with par­
ticular satisfaction; but as I know the invidiousness
" of fortune, your extraordinary prosperity excites my
" apprehensions. If I might determine for myself,
" and for those whom I regard, I would rather have
" my affairs sometimes flattering, and sometimes per-

• verse. I would wish to pass through life with the

* alternate experience of good and evil, rather than