POLYCOTYLED'ONOUS PLANTS, those plants of which the embryo has more than two seed-lobes or cotyledons. See COTYLEDON and DICOTYLEDONOUS In some of the eoniferee in particular. there are numerous cotyledons; the genus pima? has from three to twelve. These cotyledons are placed in a whorl, and have the gemmule of the embryo in the midst of them. Polycotyledonous plants do not form a separate division of the vegetable kingdom, but are ranked with the dicotyledonous plants; for plants with two, and plants with more cotyledons are found not only in the same natural order, but in the same of Samos, is a well-known name in ancient Greek history. He was h. in the first part of the 6th c. D.C., but nothing is known of him until the time when, with the assistance of his brothers, PantagnOtus and Syloson, he obtained posses sion of the island. The three brothers at first ruled conjointly, but after a short time, Polyerates put PantagnOtus to death, banished Sylostm, and made himself sole despot. His energetic. unscrupulous, and ambitious character now showed itself more conspicu ously than ever. He conquered several islands of the Archipelago, and even some towns on the Asiatic mainland, waged war successfully against the inhabitants of and defeated their allies, the Lesbians. in a great sea-fight. His fleet amounted to 100 ships, and was probably at that time the most powerful in all Greece. Polyerates seems to have aspired to the sovereignty of the iEgean, if not also of the cities of Ionia. His intimate alliance with Amasis, king of Egypt, proves the importance in which this daring island-prince was held even by great monarchs. According to Herodotus, Amasis drew off from his alliance through alarm at the uninterrupted good fortune of Polye rates. Ile dreaded, we are told, the misfortunes that. the envious gods must be prepar Mg for so lucky a mortal, and to which his friends would also he exposed. The particular incident that is said to have finally ruptured the alliance is doubtless mythical, but is so well known that we cannot afford to overlook it. Amasis is reported to have written a letter to Polverates, earnestly advising him to throw away the possession that he deemed most valuable, and thereby avert the stroke of the spleenful gods. Polyerates, in com
pliance with this friendly advice, cast Pt signet-ring of marvelously beautiful workman into the sea; but next day a fisherman presented the "tyrant" with an unusually big fish that he had caught.. and in its belly was found the identical ring. It was quite (dear to Amasis now that Polycrates was a doomed man, and he immediately broke off the alliance. So, at least, Herodotus tells the story; but Grote (History of Greece, vol. p. S23) suggests—and the suggestion is 'far more probable—that Polycrates, with char acteristic perfidy, abandoned the Egyptian fur a Persian alliance when he found the latter likely to be of more value to him in his ambitious designs. When Cambyses invaded Egypt (525 B.C.), Polycrates sent him a contingent of forty ships, iu which he placed all the Samians disaffected toward his " tyranny," and told the Persian king privately not to let them come back! However, they escaped in some way or other the fate which Polycrates had designed for them, returned to Samos. and made war against the "tyrant," but without success: Hereupon, they went to Sparta, and succeeded iu enlisting the sympathies, or, at any rate, iu securing the help of both the Spartans and Corinthians. A triple force of Samians, Spartans, and Corinthians embarked for Samos, aiid attacked the city. After vainly besieging it for forty days they sailed away, and Polycrates now became more powerful than ever; but Nemesis had her victim alter all. A certain °notes, the Persian satrap of Sardis, had, for unknown reasons, conceived a deadly hatred against Polycrates, and having enticed the latter to visit him, by appeal ing to his cupidity, he seized and crucified Min. Thus perished ignominiously, in the midst of his power and splendor, one of the most famous thalassok'rats, or sea kings, of Greek antiquity. He was a patron of literature and the fine arts, and had many poets and artists about his court. Ms intimacy with Anacreon, in particular, is quite a cele brated thing, and in his praise that joyous bard wrote many songs. To Polycrates also, in all probability, belongs the construction, or at least the enlargement, of those great buildings which Herodotus saw at Samos.