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Polycrates the tyrant of the Samians,1 used to dispatch triremes to the most suitable places and plunder all who were on the seas, and he would return the booty which he had taken only to those who were allies of his.2 And to those of his companions who criticized this practice he used to say that all his friends would feel more grateful to him by getting back what they had lost than by having lost nothing in the first place.

1 c. 540-523 B.C.

2 Polycrates' purpose was clearly to force all who sailed the seas to become his allies.

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