more than once in close political alliance. And, in Pindar's favourite legends, members of the heroic Æginetan house of Æacus appeared, again and again, as the chosen friends and comrades of the Theban Heracles.
No less than eleven of Pindar's extant Odes[1] are addressed to Æginetan conquerors. In many of these he expresses what is evidently a warm and sincere admiration for the character of the people and their institutions; and his language as to the families of the victors often indicates the closest intimacy and friendship between himself and them.
The island of Ægina lies in the middle of the Saronic gulf, between the two great promontories of Attica and Argolis. It will be remembered that the Nemean festival was held in the latter district, and a large proportion of the Æginetan victories recorded by Pindar were obtained in the lists of Nemea. Ægina was a most conspicuous object in the view from Athens over the Saronic gulf; and it was in allusion to this, and to the long-standing jealousies which existed between the two states, that Pericles called Ægina "the eyesore of the Piræus." The natural features of the island were not specially attractive. It was somewhat bare and rocky. Such beauty as it possessed was due to the luminous clearness of its air, and the bold outlines of the mountain which formed its centre. But its buildings in Pindar's day were among the most magnificent in Greece; its harbour was filled with stately ships;
- ↑ These are—Ol. viii. Pyth. viii. Nem. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. Isthm. iv. v. vii.
