Whatever the truth about the colossus the fact remains that the fame of Cypselus was largely eclipsed by that of his son and successor Periander, who was actually claimed by some writers as one of the seven sages of early Greece[970]. This is unfortunate when we are searching for origins, since Periander is said to have changed the character of the sovereignty[971]. Even if the authorities who made this statement are not particularly good, still it must be taken as in some part true. The son born in the purple can never succeed exactly to the position of the father who founded the house. Luckily however we are told the nature of Periander’s change. He regarded himself as a soldier and sought to make Corinth a great military power, whereas Cypselus had been a man of peace with a peaceful policy[972]. So far therefore as Periander’s policy was not directly or indirectly military, there is no need to assume a break with that of his father. He maintained and enlarged the colonial empire of the city[973]. As regards Corinthian trade under Periander we are told that his public revenues were all derived from its taxation[974]: but everything shows that he did not follow the Bacchiads and tax it ruthlessly. Rather he seems to have aimed at increasing his revenues by fostering commerce. Corinthian shipping, with which the trade of the city was inseparably bound up, certainly owed much to him. “He built triremes and plied both seas[975].” This last statement seems intended to contrast Periander with his father, whose activities had been mainly in the west. Periander on the other hand is found acting in close concert with Thrasybulus the tyrant of Miletus[976]. He has been suspected of slave-dealing with Lydia[977], and acted as arbitrator between that state and Miletus[978]. He had a nephew who bore the name of a king of Egypt[979]. In order the better to “ply both seas” he is said to have wanted to cut a canal through the Corinthian Isthmus[980]. Here too he was following in the footsteps of his father who had “velificated” Leukas. It is interesting therefore to notice the emphasis laid on Periander’s wealth[981], and to recall the social legislation attributed to him by Nicolaus Damascenus, according to whom the tyrant “forbad the citizens to acquire slaves and live in idleness, and continually found them some employment[982].” Heraclides[983] and Diogenes Laertius (quoting Ephorus and Aristotle)[984] state that he did not allow anybody and everybody to live in the city. Their statement is capable of many interpretations. It may mean that Periander sought to control labour in the city or to prevent the rural population from quitting the land for the superior attractions of life in the great industrial centre.