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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. For
Polycrates entertained a design which no other Greek, so far as we
know, ever formed before him, unless it were Minos the Cnossian,
and those (if there were any such) who had the mastery of the Egaean
at an earlier time - Polycrates, I say, was the first of mere human
birth who conceived the design of gaining the empire of the sea, and
aspired to rule over Ionia and the islands. Knowing then that
Polycrates was thus minded, Oroetes sent his message, which ran as
follows:
"Oroetes to Polycrates thus sayeth: I hear thou raisest thy
thoughts high, but thy means are not equal to thy ambition. Listen
then to my words, and learn how thou mayest at once serve thyself and
preserve me. King Cambyses is bent on my destruction - of this I
have warning from a sure hand. Come thou, therefore, and fetch me
away, me and all my wealth - share my wealth with me, and then, so
far as money can aid, thou mayest make thyself master of the whole of
Greece. But if thou doubtest of my wealth, send the trustiest of thy
followers, and I will show my treasures to him."
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