f his
soldiers, too, and gave them leave to feast themselves without
restriction on what he had thus gathered. Accordingly, when the herald
came in to deliver his message, he found the whole city given up to
feasting and revelry, and he saw stores of provisions at hand, which
were in process of being distributed and consumed with the most
prodigal profusion. The herald reported this state of things to
Alyattes. Alyattes then gave up all hopes of reducing Miletus by
famine, and made a permanent peace, binding himself to its
stipulations by a very solemn treaty. To celebrate the event, too, he
built two temples to Minerva instead of one.

A story is related by Herodotus of a remarkable escape made by Arion
at sea, which occurred during the reign of Alyattes, the father of
Croesus. We will give the story as Herodotus relates it, leaving the
reader to judge for himself whether such tales were probably true, or
were only introduced by Herodotus into his narrative to make his
histories more entertaining to the Grecian assemblies to whom he read
them. Arion was a celebrated singer. He had been making a tour in
Sicily and in the southern part of Italy, where he had acquired
considerable wealth, and he was now returning to Corinth. He embarked
at Tarentum, which is a city in the southern part of Italy, in a
Corinthian vessel, and put to sea. When the sailors found that they
had him in their power, they determined to rob and murder him. They
accordingly seized his gold and silver, and then told him that he
might either kill himself or jump overboard into the sea. One or the
other he must do. If he would kill himself on board the vessel, they
would give him decent burial when they reached the shore.

Arion seemed at first at a loss how to decide in so hard an
alternative. At length he told the sailors that he would throw himself
into the sea, but he asked permission to sing them one of his songs
before he took the fatal plunge. They consented. He accordingly went
into the cabin, and spent some time in dressing himself magnificently
in the splendid and richly-ornamented robes in which he had been
accustomed to appear upon the stage. At length he reappeared, and took
his position on the side of the ship, with his harp in his hand. He
sang his song, accompanying himself upon the harp, and then, when he
had finished his performance, he leaped into the sea. The seamen
divided their plunder and pursued their voyage. Arion, however,
i