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168 Our Dorian home

Ægina's hospitable isle." —(S.)

He dwells with admiration and sympathy on the culture of the Æginetans, on their zealous and successful athleticism, on their prowess in naval warfare:—

Who clash the spear and love the song,

Training their youth to love alway

The glorious fray." —(S.)

Not banished from the Graces lies

His home, in all the virtues rare

Of Æacids that claimeth share.

No! from that righteous island's rise

Never-failing praise is hers, and songs her worth proclaim.

Oft have the heroes she has borne the crown of sportive contests worn,

Oft in rapid fight won fame."

"Glad am I," cries the poet in the Fifth Nemean, "that all the state strives after glory;" and in the same Ode he calls the island, "a soil well loved of strangers, mother of valiant men, and glorious in ships."

At the beginning of the Persian troubles, when Darius invaded Greece, Ægina had disgraced herself by deserting the national cause, and associating herself with the foreigner. Consequently, when the invasion was over, Athens denounced the Æginetans before