The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children Read Free Page A

that you keep a fool named Pison around to help you chew your food.”
    “ It is not true; I chew my food and he chews his.”
    “ Syloson . . . you will chew your food still. . . . You will leave this island with your life, and gold; and yearly I will send you more gold, enough to pay off companions and stuff your paunch with sauced-up jays and foxes. But if you ever show yourself on this island again, your stipend will be terminated . . . and you will be put to death.”
    The next day Syloson was taken from the island in a small craft, frowning Pison 4 by his side, the gulls circling overhead, eyeing that latter, as if they might swoop down and carry him to their nests; and not long after, in Polycrates’ stables, a mare was foaled with cloven hooves.
    VIII.
     
    Polycrates married Xenocleia, the daughter 5 of Lygdamis, the tyrant of Naxos, from whom he obtained mercenaries; and he obtained mercenaries also from Bottiaea, Illyria, Crete and even as far away as Libya. He hired into his service hundreds of Sythic bowmen and Thracian peltasts, as well as many scribes, diviners, interpreters and skilled intelligence officers,—these latter endowed with full knowledge of hand signals, how to send messages by arrows, and able to disguise themselves as dogs, goats and sheep.
    He levied troops from Myus, Ephesus, Priene and Icaros; and of course many from Samos, including one-thousand archers—always careful to have the number of his soldiers equally divided between natives and mercenaries, in order to keep the power of his armed forces evenly balanced and thus have a reasonable chance at suppressing rebellion from either group.
    Around his own person he kept a picked corps of soldiers, those who were especially loyal to him and stood out for their skill in arms. These he equipped superbly with engraved bronze breastplates and well-fitting Illyrian helmets decorated with crests of horsehair, and trained and educated them for his purposes. He made them learn the various principles and methods pertaining to the affairs of combat, and then study every noteworthy battle and coup that had taken place for the last five-hundred years. They chanted songs of war and blood, so their minds were filled with enthusiasm for battle. He gave them plots of land, presents of grain, silver drinking goblets and crowns of gold.
    At meal time, before he touched a dish, he made sure that it was approved by his praegustator. His private secretary, Maeandrius, personally watched over the cooks and was under instruction to do all he could to make their lives happy so that they would have no cause for sedition. Polycrates had three properties where he would pass his time: his palace, a mansion in the heart of Samos, and an estate some short distance from the city. And in each of these, three times a day banquets were prepared, though the tyrant himself would not let it be known, until the last moment, where he would dine. And yet sometimes he would dine at none of these, but simply appear at the house of a friend, or even some citizen with whom he was not acquainted, and demand a meal.
    IX.
     
    The island was covered with excellent timber, and with this he had a fleet of one-hundred ships built, obtuse-prowed biremes, each eighty feet long. They were constructed to act as both warship and trader, having every one a sail for speed—a single mast which could be taken down before battle and left on shore—and two banks of oars for docking and manoeuvring. Every ship was crewed by a captain, four officers, ten archers and a deck crew of sixteen men, which included sailors and carpenters, and then there were fifty oarsmen.
    After drilling his soldiers vigorously in these boats, he plunged a chariot and six white horses into the sea, as a sacrifice to Poseidon, and commenced his naval campaigns. First he attacked the island of Rhenea, which, due to his numerical superiority, he easily overcame and forthwith dedicated to the Delian Apollo, binding it to