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After Periander had put to death his wife Melissa, it chanced that
on this first affliction a second followed of a different kind. His
wife had borne him two sons, and one of them had now reached the age of
seventeen, the other of eighteen years, when their mother's father,
Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, asked them to his court. They went,
and Procles treated them with much kindness, as was natural,
considering they were his own daughter's children. At length, when
the time for parting came, Procles, as he was sending them on their
way, said, "Know you now, my children, who it was that caused your
mother's death?" The elder son took no account of this speech, but
the younger, whose name was Lycophron, was sorely troubled at it -
so much so, that when he got back to Corinth, looking upon his father
as his mother's murderer, he would neither speak to him, nor answer
when spoken to, nor utter a word in reply to all his questionings. So
Periander at last, growing furious at such behaviour, banished him
from his house.
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