d that the fire should be extinguished, but
would have been too late had not a timely downpour of rain just then
come to the aid of the captive king,--sent by Apollo, in gratitude for
the gifts to his temple, suggests Herodotus. Croesus was afterwards
made the confidential friend and adviser of the Persian king, whose
dominions, through this victory, had been extended over the whole Lydian
empire, and now reached to the ocean outposts of Greece.

_THE SUITORS OF AGARISTE._

Sicyon, the smallest country of the Peloponnesus, lay on the Gulf of
Corinth, adjoining the isthmus which connects the peninsula with the
rest of Greece. In this small country--as in many larger ones--the
nobles held rule, the people were subjects. The rich and proud rulers
dwelt on the hill slopes, the poor and humble people lived on the
sea-shore and along the river Asopus. But in course of time many of the
people became well off, through success in fisheries and commerce, to
which their country was well adapted. Weary of the oppression of the
nobles, they finally rose in rebellion and overthrew the government.
Orthagoras, once a cook, but now leader of the rebels, became master of
the state, and he and his descendants ruled it for a hundred years. The
last of this dynasty was Cleisthenes, a just and moderate ruler,
concerning whom we have a story to tell.

These lords of the state were called tyrants; but this word did not mean
in Greece what it means to us. The tyrants of Greece were popular
leaders who had overthrown the old governments and laws, and ruled
largely through force and under laws of their own making. But they were
not necessarily tyrannical. The tyrants of Athens were mild and just in
their dealings with the people, and so proved to be those of Sicyon.

[Illustration: GRECIAN LADIES AT HOME.]

Cleisthenes, who became the most eminent of the tyrants of Sicyon, had a
beautiful daughter, named Agariste, whom he thought worthy of the
noblest of husbands, and decided that she should be married to the
worthiest youth who could be found in all the land of Greece. To select
such a husband he took unusual steps.

When the fair Agariste had reached marriageable age, her father attended
the Olympic games, at which there were used to gather men of wealth and
eminence from all the Grecian states. Here he won the prize in the
chariot race, and then bade the heralds to make the following
proclamation:

"Whoever among the Greeks dee