THE TYRANTS OF CORINTH. 95

saying that no man with a heart in his breast could
have done harm to that smiling babe,—certainly not
he, In the end they decided to go into the house
again, and all take part in the murder.

But they had talked somewhat too long and too
loud. Labda had overheard them and divined their
dread intent. Filled with fear, lest they should re-
turn and murder her child, she seized the infant,
and, looking eagerly about for some place in which
she might conceal it, chose a cypsel, or corn-bin, as
the place least likely to be searched.

Her choice proved a wise one. The men returned,
and, as she refused to tell them where the child was,
searched the house in vain,—none of them thinking
of looking for an infant in a corn-bin. At length
they went away, deciding to report that they had
done as they were bidden, and that the child of
Aétion was slain.

The boy, in memory of his escape, was named
Cypselus, after the corn-bin. He grew up without
further molestation, and on coming to man’s estate
did what so many of the ancients seemed to have
considered necessary, went to Delphi to consult the
oracle.

The pythoness, or priestess of Apollo, at his ap-
proach, hailed him as king of Corinth. “He and
his children, but not his children’s children.” And
the oracle, as was often the case, produced its own
accomplishment, for it encouraged Cypselus to head
a rebellion against the oligarchy, by which it was
overthrown and he made king, For thirty years
thereafter he reigned as tyrant of Corinth, with a