him transported to this island, brought forth Eacus, who afterwards ÆGINA. reigning over it, altered the name to that of his mother.

Enopiam veteres appellavêre; fed ipfe
«Æacus Æginam genitricis nomine dixit *."

OVID. Met. vii.

The father, enraged at the injury done him, rofe up in rebellion against the ravisher; but underwent the fate of the giants, being struck with thunder; whence ever after his waters were impregnated with fulphur. The whole ftory is told by Statius, Theb. vii.

EGINA. When Eacus was come to years of maturity, he begged his father to people the country, which request was granted him, and a colony transported from the continent. In course of time thefe people rendered themselves fo confiderable, by their application to commerce, that they maintained one of the most powerful fleets of all Greece, and fignalized their valour in many engagements, particularly in the battle of Salamis, where the victory was chiefly owing to the bravery of these islanders: whence Herodotus, speaking of that action, fays, that the first honours were due to the people of Ægina; and the second, to the Athenians. However this prosperity was not of long duration; for foon after, driven out of their country by the Athenians, they were obliged to fly for refuge to the Lacedæmonians, who gave them a city to inhabit on the confines of Argos. They were indeed reinftated in their former habitation, when the deftruction of the Athenian fleet in the Hellefpont facilitated their return, but were never able to rife to their ancient pitch of grandeur. There were, according to Paufanias, in the city of Egina, which was near the most frequented harbour, many noble edifices. At a fmall distance from the port, stood the temple of Venus; and upon an eminence was a large square, furrounded by a beautiful colonade of white marble pillars, called the

Eacæum.

"With Jove he durft in hardy fight engage,
“And dash'd against the stars his foamy rage:
"At length unequal to the tripple fire,
"He flunk from combat, and refign'd his ire.
"Yet fome fmall fparks of courage still remain;
"For oft in angry mood upon the plain
"He pours Ætnean vapours, badge of shame,
"And ashes, gather'd from the light'ning's flame."

LEWIS.

Eacæum. Here were preferved the ftatues of the deputies of all EGINA. Greece, who were fent to Eacus, by order of the Delphic oracle, that, by his interceffion with Jupiter, their countries might be delivered from the drought, which at that time was univerfal. There were befides three temples, near one another, facred to Apollo, Bacchus, and Diana; and in another part of the city, one dedicated to Efculapius but the deity to whom the people of Egina paid the greatest worship was the goddefs Hecate; whofe ftatue was done by the hand of the celebrated sculptor Myron. In the way towards the mountain of Jupiter Panellenus food a temple of the goddess Aphea, or Britomartis; and upon the fummit of the mountain one in honour of Jupiter, faid to have been founded by Æacus. At some distance from the Portus Secretus, (the fituation of which is not eafy to be determined,) was a stadium, and very fine theatre. There are at present but few remains of these buildings, most of which have been entirely destroyed by the injuries of time:

Near the fea-shore is a confused heap of rubbish, which fhews the
situation of the old city. About a quarter of a mile from the har-
bour
are ftanding two columns, of the Doric order, without plinths,
or bases, 26 feet high, and 13 round at the bottom, distant from one
another fix feet and an half, and fluted with no more than twenty
cavities. Were they not of ordinary stone, I should imagine them
to be the remains of the Eacæum, they being placed in the most

confpicuous

* "And e'en the ruin'd ruins are decayed.”

Rowe.

AGINA confpicuous part of the city; but as we are exprefsly told by Pau fanias, that thofe pillars were of white marble, these may poffibly have belonged to the temple of Venus. Clofe to the fea-fhore is a Mofaic pavement, which more probably was part of the temple of that goddess, as it more nearly anfwers the fituation given it by Paufanias. The port, compofed of two artificial moles, is still entire, and feems, by its smallness, to intimate that the ships of the ancients were not fo large as is generally imagined, it being, both upon the account of the depth and circumference, not capable of containing any other than a few small barks. On the other fide of the ifle, about eight miles from the fea-fhore, is the Panellenian mountain, easily to be known for fuch by the ruins of the temple of Jupiter. This building was fupported by forty-four pillars of the Doric order, of the fame proportion as thofe already mentioned, being in height twice their circumference; those in the two fronts are all of one piece, the others not; they are of ordinary stone, and in every respect of the fame architecture as those near the port. The building is as long again as it is broad, the length being eighty-eight feet; the pillars being eighteen feet high, and nine round at the bottom, without plinths or bafes, and divided into twenty flutings. Those that are ftanding, to the number of twentyfive, in the draught here given, (which will serve to give a more exact idea of the building,) are marked thus; thofe that are half standing, which are four in number, thus ; those that are fallen down and broken to pieces, thus O. I have in the draught observed the exact proportions, which I took particular care in measuring, and have brought it to answer in every point to the scale here laid down.

The