Periander, Psammetichus(723) the son of Gordias, of the same family, succeeded to the sovereignty, but only reigned three years, having been, without doubt, overthrown by the Spartans in Olymp. 49. 3. 582 B.C.(724) 4. Periander was married to the fair Melissa, whose beauty had captivated him in the house of her father, the tyrant Procles, while she was distributing wine to the labourers in a thin Doric dress.(725) Procles was ruler of EPIDAURUS and the island of Ægina, which were at that time still closely united; he himself was related by marriage to the princes of Orchomenus, and appears from this circumstance, and from his connexion with the family of Cypselus, to belong to the number of tyrants, who, being hostile to the Dorian aristocracy, obtained their power by the assistance of the lower ranks. And when we also add that Theagenes of MEGARA, the father-in-law of Cylon the Athenian,(726) precisely resembled the princes already mentioned in his conduct (since he likewise obtained his power by attacking the rich landed proprietors, and had killed their flocks upon the pastures of the river),(727) and that like the others he endeavoured to please the people by embellishing the city, by the construction of an aqueduct, and of a beautiful fountain;(728) it is easy to perceive in the dynasties of the Sicyonian, Corinthian, Epidaurian, and Megarian tyrants, a powerful coalition against the supremacy of the Dorians, and the ancient principles of that race, the more powerful, as they knew how to render subservient to their own ends the opinions which had lately arisen; and it is a matter of wonder that Sparta should have succeeded in overthrowing this combination.