down into the deep blue sea.  Addressing his lyre, he sang, “Companion of my voice, come with me to the realm of shades.  Though Cerberus may growl, we know the power of song can tame his rage.  Ye heroes of Elysium, who have passed the darkling flood,—­ye happy souls, soon shall I join your band.  Yet can ye relieve my grief?  Alas, I leave my friend behind me.  Thou, who didst find thy Eurydice, and lose her again as soon as found; when she had vanished like a dream, how didst thou hate the cheerful light!  I must away, but I will not fear.  The gods look down upon us.  Ye who slay me unoffending, when I am no more, your time of trembling shall come.  Ye Nereids, receive your guest, who throws himself upon your mercy!” So saying, he sprang into the deep sea.  The waves covered him, and the seamen held on their way, fancying themselves safe from all danger of detection.

But the strains of his music had drawn round him the inhabitants of the deep to listen, and Dolphins followed the ship as if chained by a spell.  While he struggled in the waves, a Dolphin offered him his back, and carried him mounted thereon safe to shore.  At the spot where he landed, a monument of brass was afterwards erected upon the rocky shore, to preserve the memory of the event.

When Arion and the dolphin parted, each to his own element, Arion thus poured forth his thanks:  “Farewell, thou faithful, friendly fish!  Would that I could reward thee; but thou canst not wend with me, nor I with thee.  Companionship we may not have.  May Galatea, queen of the deep, accord thee her favor, and thou, proud of the burden, draw her chariot over the smooth mirror of the deep.”

Arion hastened from the shore, and soon saw before him the towers of Corinth.  He journeyed on, harp in hand, singing as he went, full of love and happiness, forgetting his losses, and mindful only of what remained, his friend and his lyre.  He entered the hospitable halls, and was soon clasped in the embrace of Periander.  “I come back to thee, my friend,” he said.  “The talent which a god bestowed has been the delight of thousands, but false knaves have stripped me of my well-earned treasure; yet I retain the consciousness of wide spread fame.”  Then he told Periander all the wonderful events that had befallen him, who heard him with amazement.  “Shall such wickedness triumph?” said he.  “Then in vain is power lodged in my hands.  That we may discover the criminals, you must remain here in concealment, and so they will approach without suspicion.”  When the ship arrived in the harbor, he summoned the mariners before him.  “Have you heard anything of Arion?” he inquired.  “I anxiously look for his return.”  They replied, “We left him well and prosperous in Tarentum.”  As they said these words, Arion stepped forth and faced them.  His well-proportioned limbs were arrayed in gold and purple fair to see, his tunic fell around him in graceful folds, jewels adorned his arms, his brow was crowned with a golden wreath, and