t of good fortune. Polycrates, therefore, ordered one
of the largest vessels in his navy, a fifty-oared galley, to be
equipped and manned, and, embarking in it with a large company of
attendants, he put to sea. When he was at some distance from the
island, he took the ring, and in the presence of all his attendants,
he threw it forth into the water, and saw it sink, to rise, as he
supposed, no more.

But Fortune, it seems, was not to be thus outgeneraled. A few days
after Polycrates had returned, a certain fisherman on the coast took,
in his nets, a fish of very extraordinary size and beauty; so
extraordinary, in fact, that he felt it incumbent on him to make a
present of it to the king. The servants of Polycrates, on opening the
fish for the purpose of preparing it for the table, to their great
astonishment and gratification, found the ring within. The king was
overjoyed at thus recovering his lost treasure; he had, in fact,
repented of his rashness in throwing it away, and had been bitterly
lamenting its loss. His satisfaction and pleasure were, therefore,
very great in regaining it; and he immediately sent to Amasis an
account of the whole transaction, expecting that Amasis would share in
his joy.

Amasis, however, sent word back to him in reply, that he considered
the return of the ring in that almost miraculous manner as an
extremely unfavorable omen. "I fear," said he, "that it is decreed by
the Fates that you must be overwhelmed, at last, by some dreadful
calamity, and that no measures of precaution which you can adopt will
avail to avert it. It seems to me, too," he added, "that it is
incumbent on me to withdraw from all alliance and connection with you,
lest I should also, at last, be involved in your destined
destruction."

Whether this extraordinary story was true, or whether it was all
fabricated after the fall of Polycrates, as a dramatic embellishment
of his history, we can not now know. The result, however, corresponded
with these predictions of Amasis, if they were really made; for it was
soon after these events that the conversation took place at Sardis
between Oretes and Mitrobates, at the gates of the palace, which led
Oretes to determine on effecting Polycrates's destruction.

In executing the plans which he thus formed, Oretes had not the
courage and energy necessary for an open attack on Polycrates, and he
consequently resolved on attempting to accomplish his end by treachery
and stratagem.