Polycʹrates (4 syl.)

Tyrant of Samos, was so fortunate in all things that Amasis, King of Egypt, advised him to chequer his pleasures by relinquishing something he greatly prized. Whereupon Polycrătēs threw into the sea a beautiful seal, the most valuable of his jewels. A few days afterwards a fine fish was sent him as a present, and in its belly was found the jewel. Amasis, alarmed at this good fortune, broke off his alliance, declaring that sooner or later this good fortune would fail; and not long afterwards Polycrates was shamefully put to death by Orœtēs, who had invited him to his court.

“Richard [Mutimer], in surveying his guests, … had feelings not unlike those which lulled King Polycratês of old.”—G. Gissing: Demos. chap. xii.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Polycʹrates (4 syl.)

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