TERPSICHORE. 203

larly him who first receiving the child, had failed in
his engagements. After a short interval, they agreed
to enter the house again, and jointly destroy the
child: but fate had determined that the offspring of
Eetion should ultimately prove the destruction of
Corinth. Labda, standing near the gate, had over­
heard their discourse, and fearing that as their sen­
timents were changed, they would infallibly, if they
had opportunity, murder her infant, she carried it
away, and hid it in a place little obvious to suspicion,
namely, in a corn measure. She was satisfied, that
on their return they would make a strict search after
the child, which accordingly happened: finding, how­
ever, all their diligence ineffectual, they thought it
only remained for them to return and acquaint their
employers, that they had executed their commission.
When the son of Eetion grew up, he was called Cyp-
sclus, in memory of the danger he had escaped in tho
' corn measure,' the meaning of the word Cypsela. On
his arrival at manhood, he consulted the Delphic
oracle; the answer he received was ambiguous; but
confident of its favourable meaning, he attacked and
made himself master of Corinth. The oracle was
this:—

Behold a man whom fortune makes her care,
Corinthian Cypselus, Eetion's heir;
Himself shall reign, his children too prevail,
But there the glories of his race must fail.

When Cypselus had obtained possession of the go­
vernment, he persecuted the inhabitants of Corinth,
depriving many of their wealth, and more of their
lives. After an undisturbed reign of thirty years, ho
was succeeded by his son Periander, who at first
adopted a milder and more moderate conduct; but
having by his emissaries formed an intimate connexion
with Thrasybulus, sovereign of Miletus, he even
exceeded his father in cruelty. The object of one of
his embassies was to inquire of Thrasybulus what
mode of government would render his authority most
secure and most honourable. Thrasybulus conduct­
ed the messenger to a corn-field without the town,
where, as he walked up and down, he asked some