108 HISTORICAL TALES.

Darius thanked him for the cloak, and that ended
the matter there and then,—Syloson afterwards hold-
ing himself as silly for the impulsive good nature of
his gift.

But at length he learned with surprise that the
simple Persian soldier whom he had benefited was
now king of the great Persian empire. He went to
Susa, the capital, and told who he was. Darius had
forgotten his face, but he remembered the incident
of the cloak, and offered to pay a kingly price for
the small favor of his humbler days, tendering gold
and silver in profusion to his visitor. Syloson rejected
these, but asked the aid of Darius to make him king
of Samos. This the grateful monarch granted, and
sent Syloson an army, with whose aid the island
quickly and quietly fell into his hands.

Yet calamity followed this peaceful conquest.
Charilaus, a hot-tempered and half-mad Samian,
who had been given charge of the acropolis, broke
from it at the head of the guards, and murdered
many of the Persian officers who were scattered
unguarded throughout the town. The reprisal was
dreadful. The Persian army fell in fury on the
Samians and slaughtered every man and boy in the
island, handing over to Syloson a kingdom of women
and infants. Some time afterwards, however, the
island was repeopled by men from without, and
Syloson completed his reign in peace, leaving the
sceptre of Samos to his son.