We read, then,[507] that once he was invited to sup with one of the “rulers.” Tradition delights in such vague titles. “Supper was well advanced, but no wine was brought in. The rest of the company said nothing, but Empedokles was righteously indignant, and insisted on wine being served. The host, however, said he was waiting for the serjeant of the Council. When that official arrived, he was appointed ruler of the feast. The host, of course, appointed him. Thereupon he began to give hints of an incipient tyranny. He ordered the company either to drink or have the wine poured over their heads. At the time, Empedokles said nothing; but next day he led both of them before the court, and had them condemned and put to death—both the man who asked him to supper, and the ruler of the feast.[508] This was the beginning of his political career.” The next tale is that Empedokles prevented the Council from granting his friend Akron a piece of land for a family sepulchre on the ground of his eminence in medicine, and supported his objection by a punning epigram.[509] Lastly, he broke up the assembly of the Thousand—perhaps some oligarchical association or club.[510] It may have been for this that he was offered the kingship, which Aristotle tells us he refused.[511] At any rate, we see that Empedokles was the great democratic leader at Akragas in those days, though we have no clear knowledge of what he did. Footnote 507: Timaios _ap._ Diog. viii. 64 (_F.H.G._ i. p. 214, fr. 88 a). Footnote 508: In the first edition, I suggested the analogy of accusations for _incivisme_. Bidez says (p. 127), “J’imagine qu’un Jacobin aurait mieux jugé l’histoire” (than Karsten and Holm); “sous la Terreur, on était suspect pour de moindres vétilles.” Footnote 509: Diog. viii. 65. The epigram runs thus: ἄκρον ἰητρὸν Ἄκρων’ Ἀκραγαντῖνον πατρὸς Ἄκρου κρύπτει κρημνὸς ἄκρος πατρίδος ἀκροτάτης. On Akron, see M. Wellmann, _op. cit._ p. 235, n. 1. Footnote 510: Diog. viii. 66, ὕστερον δ’ ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς καὶ τὸ τῶν χιλίων ἄθροισμα κατέλυσε συνεστὼς ἐπὶ ἔτη τρία. The word ἄθροισμα hardly suggests a legal council, and συνίστασθαι suggests a conspiracy. Footnote 511: Diog. viii. 63. Aristotle probably mentioned this in his _Sophist._ Cf. Diog. viii. 57. [Sidenote: Empedokles as a religious teacher.]