[Ibycus] son of Phytios, but others [say] of Polyzelos the Messenian historiographer,[1] others yet of Kerdas. His family was from Rhegium.[2] From there he came to Samos when Polycrates the father of the tyrant was ruling.[3] This was at the time of Croesus, in the 54th Olympiad.[4] He became obsessed with the love of boys and was the first to invent the so-called sambuke (a kind of three-cornered kithara).[5] There are 7 books of his in the Doric dialect. When he was captured by robbers in a deserted place, he said that the very cranes which happened to be flying over would become his avengers. And he himself was killed; but after this one of the robbers in the city saw some cranes and said, "Behold the avengers of Ibycus."[6] When someone heard this and followed up on these words, the deed was confessed and the robbers were punished. So from this came the proverb, "the cranes of Ibycus."