THALIA. 63

ever reigned in Greece, those of Syracuse alone ex­
cepted, none equalled Polycrates in magnificence.
Orcotes, having basely put him to death, fixed his body
to a cross; his attendants he sent back to Samos, tell­
ing them, " they ought to be thankful, that he had •
not made them slaves." The strangers, and the ser­
vants of those who had accompanied Polycrates, he
detained in servitude. The circumstance of his being
suspended on a cross, fulfilled the vision of the daugh­
ter of Polycrates: for he was washed by Jupiter, that
is to say, by the rain, and he was anointed by the sun,
for it extracted the moisture from his body. The great
prosperity of Polycrates terminated in this unfortu­
nate death, which indeed had been foretold him by
Amasis, king of Egypt.

CXXVI. But it was not long before Orates paid
ample vengeance to the manes of Polycrates. After
the death of Cambyses, and the usurpation of the
magi, Orates, who had never deserved well of the
Persians, whom the Medes had fraudulently deprived
of the supreme authority, took the advantage of the
disorder of the times, to put to death Mitrobates the
governor of Dascylium, and his son Cranapes. Mi­
trobates was the person who had formerly reproached
Oroetes; and both he and his son were highly esteemed
in Persia. In addition to his other numerous and atro­
cious crimes, he compassed the death of a messenger,
sent to him from Darius, for no other reason but be­
cause the purport oft the message was not agreeable
to him. He ordered the man to be waylaid in his
return, and both he and his horse were slain, and their
bodies concealed.

CXXVII. As soon as Darius ascended the throne,
he determined to punish Orates for his various enor­
mities, but more particularly for the murder of Mitro­
bates and his son. He did not think it prudent to send
an armed force openly against him, as the state was
still unsettled, and as his own authority had been so
recently obtained; he was informed, moreover, that
Oroetes possessed considerable strength : his govern­
ment extended over Phrygia, Lydia, and Ionia, and
he was regularly attended by a guard of a thousand