There being little prospect of a satisfactory settlement of the matter by arms, the Chians consented to enter into a truce as with a public enemy. Humbled by their losses and defeats, Drimacos found them submissive to reason. He, therefore, provided himself with weights, measures, and a signet,[61] and exhibiting them to his former masters, said, “When, in future, our necessities require that I should supply myself from your stores, it shall always be by these weights and measures, and having possessed myself of the necessary quantity of provisions, I shall be careful to leave your warehouses sealed with this signet. With respect to such of your slaves as may fly and offer themselves to me, I will institute a rigid examination into their story, and if, upon inquiry, they appear to have had just grounds for complaint, I will protect them—if not, they shall be sent back to their proprietors.” ----- Footnote 61: In illustration of the ancient practice of sealing storehouses and other places where valuable things were kept, we may cite the following anecdote from Diogenes Laertius. (iv. 8. 3.) Lacydes, who succeeded Arcesilaus as principal professor in the New Academy, having, as it would appear, a set of thievish domestics, was in the habit of carefully sealing the door of his storeroom; but, in order not to run any risk of losing the seal, he used, unobserved, as he thought, to slip it into the chamber through an aperture in the door. The slaves, however, diligently reconnoitering his movements, discovered the old gentleman’s secret, and visiting his stores as often as they thought proper, they escaped detection by sealing the door again, and placing through the hole the signet where he had left it. ----- To these conditions the magistrates readily acceded, upon which the slaves who still remained with their masters grew more obedient, and seldom took to flight, dreading the decision of Drimacos.[62] Over his own followers he exercised a despotic authority. They, in fact, stood far more in fear of him than when in bondage of their lords, and performed his bidding without question or murmur, as soldiers obey their commander. For he was severe in the punishment of the unruly, and permitted no man to plunder or lay waste the country, or commit any act of injustice,—in short, to do anything without his order. The public festivals he was careful to observe, going round and collecting from the proprietors of the land, who bestowed upon him voluntarily both wine and the finest victims; but if, on these occasions, he discovered that a plot was hatching, or any ambush laid for him, he would take speedy vengeance. ----- Footnote 62: