_Caranus_, upon the 46th or 47th Olympiad, or thereabout. It could scarce be earlier, because _Leocides_ the son of _Phidon_, and _Megacles_ the son of _Alcmæon_, at one and the same time courted _Agarista_, the daughter of _Clisthenes_ King of _Sicyon_, as _Herodotus_ [125] tells us; and the _Amphictyons_, by the advice of _Solon_, made _Alcmæon_, and _Clisthenes_, and _Eurolycus_ King of _Thessaly_, commanders of their army, in their war against _Cirrha_; and the _Cirrheans_ were conquered _An._ 2. Olymp. 47. according to the Marbles. _Phidon_ therefore and his brother _Caranus_ were contemporary to _Solon_, _Alcmæon_, _Clisthenes_, and _Eurolycus_, and flourished about the 48th and 49th Olympiads. They were also contemporary in their later days to _Crœsus_; for _Solon_ conversed with _Crœsus_, and _Alcmæon_ entertained and conducted the messengers whom _Crœsus_ sent to consult the Oracle at _Delphi_, _An._ 1. Olymp. 56. according to the Marbles, and was sent for by _Crœsus_, and rewarded with much riches. But the times set down in the Marbles before the _Persian_ Empire began, being collected by reckoning the Reigns of Kings equipollent to Generations, and three Generations to an hundred years or above; and the Reigns of Kings, one with another, being shorter in the proportion of about four to seven; the Chronology set down in the Marbles, until the Conquest of _Media_ by _Cyrus_, _An._ 4, Olymp. 60, will approach the truth much nearer, by shortening the times before that Conquest in the proportion of four to seven. So the _Cirrheans_ were conquered _An._ 2, Olymp. 47, according to the Marbles, that is 54 years before the Conquest of _Media_; and these years being shortened in the proportion of four to seven, become 31 years; which subducted from _An._ 4, Olymp. 60, place the Conquest of _Cirrha_ upon _An._ 1, Olymp. 53: and, by the like correction of the Marbles, _Alcmæon_ entertained and conducted the messengers whom _Crœsus_ sent to consult the Oracle at _Delphi_, _An._ 1, Olymp. 58; that is, four years before the Conquest of _Sardes_ by _Cyrus_: and the Tyranny of _Pisistratus_, which by the Marbles began at _Athens_, _An._ 4, Olymp. 54, by the like correction began _An._ 3, Olymp. 57; and by consequence _Solon_ died _An._ 4, Olymp. 57. This method may be used alone, where other arguments are wanting; but where they are not wanting, the best arguments are to be preferred.