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A Greek lyric poet; born in Rhegium, about B. C. 560 (?); died there (or near Corinth?), B. C. 525 (?). The fragments of exquisite metre that have come down to us, and the picturesque fate that befell him- a fate that suggested to Dante one of his inimitable images- have won for him a distinct renown. The ancients esteemed him highly, although Cicero complains of the impurity of his Muse as a sign of the degeneracy of the Romans who admired it. The story told of him is that the poet went on a journey to Corinth but was captured by bandits near that city, and murdered after having been despoiled. As he expired he called to a flock of passing cranes to avenge him; and as the bandits sat in the theatre not many days later, a flight of the stately birds took place, whereupon the leader of the guilty men called attention, ironically, to the dead poet's "avengers". The word attracted notice and led to discovery.