to take a share in the murder. (d) From the offspring of Aetion
however it was destined that evils should spring up for Corinth: for
Labda was listening to all this as she stood close by the door, and
fearing lest they should change their mind and take the child a second
time and kill it, she carried it and concealed it in the place which
seemed to her the least likely to be discovered, that is to say a
corn-chest, 84 feeling sure that if they should return and come to a
search, they were likely to examine everything: and this in fact
happened. So when they had come, and searching had failed to find it,
they thought it best to return and say to those who had sent them that
they had done all that which they had been charged by them to do. (e)
They then having departed said this; and after this the son of Aetion
grew, and because he had escaped this danger, the name of Kypselos was
given him as a surname derived from the corn-chest. Then when Kypselos
had grown to manhood and was seeking divination, a two-edged 85 answer
was given him at Delphi, placing trust in which he made an attempt upon
Corinth and obtained possession of it. Now the answer was as follows:

"'Happy is this man's lot of a truth, who enters my dwelling,
Offspring of Aetion, he shall rule in famous Corinthos,
Kypselos, he and his sons, but his children's children no longer.'

Such was the oracle: and Kypselos when he became despot was a man of
this character,--many of the Corinthians he drove into exile, many he
deprived of their wealth, and very many more of their lives. (f) And
when he had reigned for thirty years and had brought his life to a
prosperous end, his son Periander became his successor in the despotism.
Now Periander at first was milder than his father; but after he had had
dealings through messengers with Thrasybulos the despot of Miletos, he
became far more murderous even than Kypselos. For he sent a messenger to
Thrasybulos and asked what settlement of affairs was the safest for him
to make, in order that he might best govern his State: and Thrasybulos
led forth the messenger who had come from Periander out of the city, and
entered into a field of growing corn; and as he passed through the crop
of corn, while inquiring and asking questions repeatedly 86 of the
messenger about the occasion of his coming from Corinth, he kept cutting
off the heads of those ears of corn which he saw higher than the rest;
and as he cut off their heads