The daughter of
Polycrates, dreamed that Jupiter bathed her father, and Apollo anointed him; and it came to pass, that he was crucified in an open place, where the sun made his body run with sweat, and the rain washed it.
The Pyramids of Egypt are a proof of this, and the votive edifices of the Cyposelidse, and the temple of Jupiter Olympus, built by the Pisistratidae, and the works of
Polycrates at Samos; for all these produced one end, the keeping the people poor.
You shall take half the sum that will be advanced upon it, or I will throw it into the Seine; and I doubt, as was the case with
Polycrates, whether any fish will be sufficiently complaisant to bring it back to us."
The terror of cloudless noon, the emerald of
Polycrates, the awe of prosperity, the instinct which leads every generous soul to impose on itself tasks of a noble asceticism and vicarious virtue, are the tremblings of the balance of justice through the heart and mind of man.
In the first place, he is the son of a wealthy and wise father, Anthemion, who acquired his wealth, not by accident or gift, like Ismenias the Theban (who has recently made himself as rich as
Polycrates), but by his own skill and industry, and who is a well- conditioned, modest man, not insolent, or overbearing, or annoying; moreover, this son of his has received a good education, as the Athenian people certainly appear to think, for they choose him to fill the highest offices.
(7) However, although emeralds were known to Herodotus, who mentions that the famous ring of
Polycrates consisted of an emerald ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) set in gold (3.41), he makes no mention of any dispute between the Persians and the Ethiopians over emerald mines.
The Most Precious Possession: The Ring of
Polycrates in Ancient Religious Narratives
The Life of
Polycrates & Other Stories for Antiquated Children.