popular religion, hailed by the hopes of the religious and the aspirations of the devout, have no parallel in the history of modern solemnities.
His hymns and pæans in honour of Apollo were frequently chanted in the temples of Greece by the poet, seated in his iron chair, which was afterward placed as a venerable relic in the temple at Delphi; and the priestess herself declared it to be the will of the presiding deity that Pindar should be rewarded with one half of the first fruits which were offered at his shrine.[1]
We are not acquainted with many particulars of his early life, but may collect from the accounts of various authors that the character of the living bard was held in the highest degree of estimation, especially by King Hiero, and his memory after death contemplated with the deepest reverence. It is related of him that he had a particular devotion for the god Pan, and therefore took up his abode near the temple of that deity. He was appointed to compose the hymns which were sung by the Theban virgins in honour of that mystic emblem of universal nature. It also appears from Pyth. iii., 139, that near the dwelling of Pindar stood a shrine or chapel dedicated to the great goddess Rhea, where the nymphs were wont to assem-
- ↑ See the note on the tenth Olympic ode, line 61.
