Polykleitos

“ But Polycrates would listen to no counsel. He sailed to meet Oroetes, with a great retinue of followers, among whom was Democedes, son of Calliphon, a man of Crotona and the most skilful physician of his time. But no sooner had Polycrates come to Magnesia than he was foully murdered, making an end which ill beseemed himself and his pride; for, saving only the despots of Syracuse, there is no despot of Greek race to be compared with Polycrates for magnificence. ”

“ The ring of Polycrates the tyrant, which was flung into the sea to propitiate Nemesis, was found, like that of Solomon, inside a fish served at his table. The story is thus related by Herodotus. Amasis, King of Egypt, after Polycrates had obtained possession of the island of Samos, sent the tyrant a friendly letter, expressing a fear of the continuance of his singular prosperity, for he had never known such an instance of felicity which did not come to calamity in the long run ”

“ I ever misliked that Polycrates or any other man should lord it over men like to himself. Polycrates has fulfilled his destiny; for myself, I call you to share all power, and I proclaim equality; only claiming as my own such privilege that six talents of Polycrates’ wealth be set apart for my use, and that I and my descendants have besides the priesthood of Zeus the Liberator, whose temple I have founded, and I now give you freedom.” Such was Maeandrius’ promise to the Samians. ”

“ The galley flew over the waters; it glided round the outflung arm of the mole, and reached the quay. Messengers [370] bore in haste to the palace a missive sealed with the great seal of Amasis.
Polycrates searched the hieroglyphics in vain for some bold scheme, his share in which shall be more slaves, more land, more gold, more power, and more hate from those he conquers.
For this is what Amasis wrote to his ally:
"It is pleasant to hear of the success of a friend and ally. But thy excessive good fortune doth not please me, knowing as I do that the divinity is jealous. ”

“ These warriors mutinied before they reached the battle ground, and returned in war array against Samos, but they, too, failed and Polycrates became more powerful than ever. And then it was that Orœtes, the Persian satrap of Sardis, who had conceived a hatred of Polycrates, enticed the fortunate tyrant to visit him and seized upon him treacherously and crucified him, so that men might see how the jealous gods will not suffer a mortal to share immortal bliss, and that soon or late pride has a fall. ”

“ But Polydectes the wicked knew him, and hardened his heart still more; and scornfully he called—
‘Ah, foundling! have you found it more easy to promise than to fulfil?’
‘Those whom the Gods help fulfil their promises; and those who despise them, reap as they have sown. Behold the Gorgon’s head!’
Then Perseus drew back the goat-skin, and held aloft the Gorgon’s head.
Pale grew Polydectes and his guests as they looked upon that dreadful face. They tried to rise up from their seats: but from their seats they never rose, but stiffened, each man where he sat, into a ring of cold gray stones. ”

“ It was this Polycrates then, prosperous in all things, against whom the Lacedemonians were making an expedition, being invited by those Samians who afterwards settled at Kydonia in Crete, to come to their assistance. Now Polycrates had sent an envoy to Cambyses the son of Cyrus without the knowledge of the Samians, as he was gathering an army to go against Egypt, and had asked him to send to him in Samos and to ask for an armed force. ”

“ The noblest image, and which was afterwards looked upon as the ideal of the goddess, was the statue by Polycletus. She was usually represented as a majestic woman at a mature age, with a beautiful forehead, large and widely opened eyes, and with a grave expression commanding reverence. Her hair was adorned with a crown or a diadem. A veil frequently hangs down the back of her head, to characterise her as the bride of Zeus, and, in fact, the diadem, veil, sceptre, and peacock are her ordinary attributes. A number of statues and heads of Hera still exist. ”

“ Such are the two reasons alleged for the death of Polycrates; it is open to all to believe which they please. What is certain is that Oroetes, while residing at Magnesia on the Maeander, sent a Lydian, by name Myrsus, the son of Gyges, with a message to Polycrates at Samos, well knowing what that monarch designed. ”

“ The progressive force inherent in the people and in the art of Greece did not rest until the highest point had everywhere been reached. This impulse afterwards led to excess and decadence, permitting no lasting enjoyment of the previous gains. The art of Polycleitos prevailed somewhat longer in the Peloponnesos, the Dorians being by nature conservative,{329} but in Attica the new elements early obtained a sway which could not but essentially change the character of all Hellenic sculpture. ”

“ Of that which we call mortal race Polycrates was the first; and he had great expectation of becoming ruler of Ionia and of the islands. Oroites accordingly, having perceived that he had this design, sent a message to him and said thus: "Oroites to Polycrates saith as follows: I hear that thou art making plans to get great power, and that thou hast not wealth according to thy high thoughts. ”

“ The statue is a free copy of the famous bronze figure of Diadumenos, by Polycletus, a celebrated sculptor of Sicyon, now Basilico, a town of Peloponnesus. Polycletus lived about 232 years B.C., and was universally reckoned the most skilful artist of his profession among the ancients. A companion statue, known as the Doryphorus, or spear bearer, by Polycletus, was regarded in antiquity as a figure in which the proportions of an athlete were presented in a form to serve as a canon for all succeeding sculptors. ”

“ It is by no means so full of political allusion as the plays we have just noticed, but is perhaps for that very reason a better tragedy. It treats of the climax of Hecuba's misfortunes—the sacrifice of Polyxena at the grave of Achilles, and the murder of Polydorus, her brother, by Polymestor, his Thracian host. The chorus of Trojan women sing odes of great beauty, especially that describing the capture of Ilium (vv. 905 sqq.) . The pleading of Hecuba with Odysseus, who comes to carry off her daughter, is full of pathos, and the conduct of Polyxena places her among Euripides' leading heroines. ”

“ When Amasis had read Polycrates’ letter, he perceived that no man could save another from his destiny, and that Polycrates, being so continually fortunate that he even found what he cast away, must come to an evil end. So he sent a herald to Samos to renounce his friendship, with this intent, that when some great and terrible mishap overtook Polycrates, he himself might not have to grieve his heart for a friend. ”

“ Polyxena.—I will commence with Polyxena, the virgin daughter of Hecuba, who is summoned hastily from within by her distracted mother, and informed that the Greeks have determined to sacrifice her on Achilles' tomb. Her first thought (v. 198) is pity and grief for her mother's bereavement, whom she may no longer console as her fellow-slave. As for her own life she does not give it a thought. ”

“ There is another story, that the Samians from Egypt defeated Polycrates; but to my thinking this is untrue; for if they were able to master Polycrates by themselves, they had no need of inviting the Lacedaemonians. Nay, moreover, it is not even reasonable to suppose that he, who had a great army of hired soldiers and bowmen of his own, was worsted by a few men like the returning Samians. Polycrates took the children and wives of the townsmen who were subject to him and shut them up in the arsenal, with intent to burn them and the arsenal too if their men should desert to the returned Samians. ”

“ The opinion that the deity, or the dæmon, looks with an envious eye on a man's prosperity and in the end pays him off with some equivalent loss, is very common in the Greek writers. One instance of it occurs in the letter of Amasis, the cunning King of Egypt, to Polykrates the tyrant of Samos. (Herodotus, iii. 40.) The Egyptian King tells Polykrates plainly that his great good luck would certainly draw upon him some heavy calamity, for "the dæmon (τὸ θεῖον) is envious;" and so it was, for Polykrates died a wretched death. Timotheus, according to Plutarch, provoked Fortune by his arrogance. ”

“ POLYXENA, in Greek legend, daughter of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba. She had been betrothed to Achilles, who was slain by Paris in the temple of Apollo Thymbraeus, where the marriage was to have been celebrated (Hyginus, Fab. 110) . The shade of Achilles afterwards appeared to the returning Greeks in the Thracian Chersonese and demanded the sacrifice of Polyxena, who was put to death by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, on his father’s grave (Ovid, Metam. xiii. 440 sqq.) ”

“ But by this time the Persian satrap at Sardis, Oroetes, had made up his mind that Polycrates must be got rid of. He was accordingly lured over to Asia by a pretended offer of Oroetes to join him in revolting from the king and seizing the treasures at Sardis; and was arrested on his way and put to death. His brother, who was willing to be subservient to Persia, was put in his place. In this way the Persian power over the Greek states was steadily strengthened, and was now becoming continually more formidable. The conquest of Phoenicia had put in the king's hand a numerous and enterprising navy. ”

“ To this end came the great prosperity of Polycrates, as Amasis the king of Egypt had foretold to him: 111 but not long afterwards retribution overtook Oroites in his turn for the murder of Polycrates. For after the death of Cambyses and the reign of the Magians Oroites remained at Sardis and did no service to the Persians, when they had been deprived of their empire by the Medes; moreover during this time of disturbance he slew Mitrobates the governor in Daskyleion, who had brought up against him the matter of Polycrates as a reproach ”

“ Whether he like it or no, let him pay in full; and do not take us away before."
Polycrates the Athenian, who was put forward by Xenophon, said: "If my eyes do not deceive me, sirs, there stands Heracleides, yonder, the man who received the property won by our toil, who took and sold it, and never gave back either to Seuthes or to us the proceeds of the sale, but kept the money to himself, like the thief he is. If we are wise, we will lay hold of him, for he is no Thracian, but a Hellene; and against Hellenes is the wrong he has committed." ”

“ The punishment of excessive and unbroken prosperity was assigned by the Greeks to the goddess Nemesis. The idea of too great a career of success exciting the anger of the gods is common throughout the whole of ancient literature. A well-known instance is the story of Polykrates of Samos, as told by Herodotus. Amasis the king of Egypt, observing the unbroken good fortune of Polykrates, advised him voluntarily to sacrifice some of his treasures. ”

“ The machinations of Oroetes.
156.—But Oroetes, who used to live at Magnesia, sent a certain Lydian, bearing a message by which he might ascertain the intention of Polycrates. Now Polycrates had great hopes that he would gain the sovereignty of Ionia and the islands. Oroetes, understanding that he was considering this in his mind, having sent a messenger, said as follows: ‘Oroetes sends greeting to Polycrates. I have understood that thou art planning great things, but that thou hast little money. ”

“ He found the door of the work-room open, and, himself unseen and unheard, he was witness to his wife’s vehement speech, and to the lad’s justification, while Polykarp’s work stood in the full light of the lamps, exactly in front of him.
His gaze was spell-bound to the mass of clay; he looked and looked, and was not weary of looking, and his soul swelled with the same awe-struck sense of devout admiration that it had experienced, when for the first time, in his early youth, he saw with his own eyes the works of the great old Athenian masters in the Caesareum. ”

“ If anything could flatter their pride, it would be to have one of their own number, and a poor slave into the bargain, win favor and affection in Athens.
“Even if the man did once take what belonged to others,” observed a friendly philosopher, “there may be some good in him.”
“Yes, Lycon is really a good man,” replied Polycles, and now related how the latter, who was living so prosperously in Athens, had no sooner heard of Simonides’ illness and the slaves’ neglect than he sold everything he possessed and came to Methone to restore order in the household and obtain his master’s forgiveness. ”

“ Lycon drew a long breath, and passed his huge hand over his face several times.
“I thank you, Polycles,” he said at last, “I thank you from my heart! But how is this to be? I am a freedman, it is true; but you forget....”
297 “I forget nothing,” answered Polycles. “But one thing you must know—the citizens must hear the whole story ... your condition of slave, your sin, and the punishment whose mark you bear. In a little place like Methone nothing can be hidden, so it is better to confess everything yourself rather than have it discovered by others. ”

“ He was Polyphemus, one of the Cyclops, sons of Neptune, and workmen of Vulcan. He asked fiercely who the strangers were, and Ulysses told him that they were shipwrecked sailors, imploring him for hospitality in the name of the gods. Polyphemus laughed at this, saying he was stronger than the gods, and did not care for them; and, dashing two unhappy Greeks on the floor, he ate them up at once; after which he closed up the front of the cave with a monstrous rock, penned up the kids and lambs, and began to milk his goats, drank up a great quantity of milk, and fell asleep on the ground. ”