Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/471

Rh FOLY CRATES. to say more in a subspqiietit part of his work (vi, 1"2. § 3. 8. 9). Accordingly, at the end of the chapter in which he describes Elateia in Phocis, after mentioning the temple of Asclepius, with the bearded statue of the god in it, made by Timocles and Timarchides, who were of Athenian birth, he proceeds to give an account of the temple of Athena Cranaea, in which was a statue of the goddess, equipped as if for battle, and with works of art upon the shield in imitation of the shield of the Athena of the Parthenon ; " and this statue also,'" he says, '' was made by the sons of Polycles." (Pans. X. 34. § 3. s. 6 — 8.) From this passage, taken in its connection, it is evident that the sons of Polycles were no other than Timocles and Timarchides, and that these were Athenian artists of considerable reputation. Now, reverting to Pliny, we find in the same list of statuaries at the revival of the art in 01. 156, in which the name of Polycles occurs, the name of Timocles ; and in the passage respecting the works in the portico of Octavia, immediately after the mention of the statue of Juno by Polycles, he mentions that of Jupiter by the sons of Timarchides, in the adjacent temple. It follows that, if there be no mistake in Pliny, the Polycles of the two latter passages of Pausanias (and perhaps, therefore, of the first) was the younger Polycles. At all events, we establish the existence of a family of Athenian statuaries, Polycles, liis sons Timocles and Timar- chides, and the sons of Timarchides, who either belonged (supposing Pliny to have made the mis- take above suggested) to the later Attic school of the times of Scopas and Praxiteles, or (if Pliny be right) to the period of that revival of the art, about B.C. 155, which was connected with the employment of Greek artists at Rome. (Comp. Timarchides and Timocles.) There is still one more passage in which the name of Polycles occurs, as the maker of some statues of the Muses, in bronze. (Varro, ap. Nomum, s. v. Ducere.) 3. Of Adramyttiura, a painter, mentioned by Vitruvius among those artists who deserved fame, but who failed through adverse fortune to attain to it. (iii. Praef. § 2.) [P. S.] POLY'CRATES (TlovKpar'i]s historical. 1. Of Samos, one of the most fortunate, ambitious, and treacherous of the Greek tyrants. With the assistance of his brothers Pantagnotus and Sylo- son, he made himself master of the island towards the latter end of the reign of Cyrus. At first he shared the supreme power with his brothers ; but he shortly afterwards put Pantagnotus to death and banished Syloson. Having thus become sole despot, he raised a fleet of a hundred ships, and took a thous,'ind bowmen into his pay. With this force he conquered several of the islands, and even some towns on the main land ; he made war upon Miletus, and defeated in a sea-fight the Lesbians, who had come to the assistance of the latter city. His navy became the most formidable in the Gre- cian world ; and he formed the design of conquer- ing all the Ionian cities as well as the islands in the Aegean. He had formed an alliance with Amasis, king of Egypt, who, however, finally re- nounced it through alarm at the amazing good for- . tune of Polycrates, which never met with any I check or disaster, and which therefore was sure, Booner or later, to i^icur the envy of the gods. 1 Such, at least, is the account of Herodotus, who has narrated the story of the rupture between POLYCRATES. 459 Amasis and Polycrates in his most dramatic man- ner. In a letter which Amasis wrote to Poly- crates, the Egyptian monarch advised him to throw away one of his most valuable possessions, in order that he might thus inflict some injury upon him- self. In accordance with this advice Polycrates threw into the sea a seal-ring of extraordinary beauty ; but in a few days it was found in the belly of a fish, which had been presented to him by a fisherman. Thereupon Amasis immediately broke off his alliance with him. Of course the story is a fiction ; and Mr. Grote remarks {Hist, of Greece, vol, iv. p. 323) with justice, that the facts related by Herodotus rather lead us to believe that it was Polycrates, who, with characteristic faith- lessness, broke off his alliance with Amasis, find- ing it more for his interest to cultivate friendship with Cambyses, when the latter was preparing to invade Egypt, B. c. 525. He sent to the assistance of the Persian monarch forty ships, on which he placed all the persons opposed to his government, and at the same time privately requested Cambyses that they might never be allowed to return. But these malcontents either never went to Egypt, or found means to escape ; they sailed back to Samos, and made war upon the tyrant, but were de- feated by the latter. Thereupon they repaired to Sparta for assistance, which was readily granted. The Corinthians likewise, who had a special cause of quarrel against the Samians, joined the Spartans, and their united forces accompanied by the exiles sailed against Samos. They laid siege to the city for forty da3's, but at length de- spairing of taking it, they abandoned the island, and left the exiles to shift for themselves. The power of Polycrates now became greater than ever. The great works which Herodotus saw and ad- mired at Samos were probably executed by him. He lived in great pomp and luxury, and like some of the other Greek tyrants was a patron of litera- ture and the arts. The most eminent artists and poets found a ready welcome at his court ; and his friendship for Anacreon is particularly celebrated. But in the midst of all his prosperity he fell by the most ignominious fate. Oroetes, the satrap of Sardis, had for some reason, which is quite un- known, foi-med a deadly hatred against Polycrates. By false pretences, the satrap contrived to allure him to the mainland, where he was arrested soon after his arrival, and crucified, b. c. 522. (Herod, iii. 39—47, 54—56, 120—125 ; Thuc. i. 13 ; Athen. xii. p. 540.) 2. An Athenian, a lochagus in the army of the Cyrean Greeks, is mentioned several times by Xenophon, whom he defended on one occasion. (Xen. Anah. iv. 5. § 24, v. 1. § 16, vii. 2. §§ 17, 29, vii. 6. § 41.) 3. An Argive, the son of Mnasiades, descended from an illustrious family at Argos, came over to the court of the Egyptian monarch Ptolemy Philo- pator, just before his campaign against Antiochus III., in B. c. 217. Polycrates was of great service in drilling and encouraging the Egyptian troops, and he commanded the ciivalry on the left wing at the battle of Raphia, in b. c. 217, in which Antio- chus was defeated, and which secured to Ptolemy the provinces of Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Pa- lestine. Although Polycrates was still young he was second to no one, saj's Polybius, in the king's court, and was accordingly appointed by Ptolemy governor of Cyprus. The duties of this oiHce he