Assail'd imperious Cities; never yet,
At once amid the Waves and on the Shore,
Hath such a Deed been wrought by mortal Men
Who Earth inhabit. They, whose Arms the Medes
In Cyprus felt pernicious, they, the same,
Have won from skilful Tyre an Hundred Ships
Crouded with Warriors. Asia groans, in both
Her Hands fore smitten, and deserts the War.
dPindar was contemporary with Aristides and Cimon, in whom the Glory of ancient Greece was at it's height. When Xerxes invaded Greece, Pindar was true to the common interest of his Country; tho' his Fellow Citizens, the Thebans, had sold themselves to the Persian King. In one of his Odes he expresses the great Distress and Anxiety of his Mind, occasion'd by the vast Preparations of Xerxes against Greece (Isihm. 8.) In another he celebrates the Victories of Salamis, Platæa, and Himera (Pyth. i.) It will be necessary to add two or three other Particulars of his Life, real or fabulous, in order to explain what follows in the Text concerning him. First then, he was thought to be so great a favourite of Apollo, that the Priests of that Deity allotted him a constant Share of their Offerings. It was said of him, as of some other illustrious Men, that at his Birth a Swarm of Bees lighted on his Lips, and fed him with their Honey. It was also a Tradition concerning him, that Pan was heard to recite his Poetry, and seen dancing to one of his Hymns on the Mountains near Thebes. But a real Historical Fact in his Life is, that the Thebans imposed a large Fine upon him on account of the Veneration which he express'd in his Poems for that Heroic Spirit, shewn by the People of Athens in Defence of the common Liberty, which his own Fellow Citizens had shamefully betrayed. And as the Argument of this Ode implies, that great Poetical Talents, and high Sentiments of Liberty, do reciprocally produce and assist each other, so Pindar is perhaps the most exemplary Proof of this Connection, which occurs in History. The Thebans were remarkable, in general, for a slavish Disposition through all the Fortunes of their Common-wealth; at the Time of it's Ruin by Philip; and even in its best State, under the Administration of Pelopidas and Epaminondas: And every one knows, they were no less remarkable for great Dullness, and Want of all Genius. That Pindar should have equally distinguished himself
