had been neglected in his poems: this defect he promised to supply as soon as he should arrive in the kingdom of Pluto, when he would consecrate a hymn to her honour; and that he died either in the theatre or the gymnasium on the tenth day after his dream.
Another account, by Valerius Maximus, (b. ix., c. 12,) is so far removed from all recorded instances of the departure of illustrious men from the world, as naturally to excite the skepticism of the reader—although it is mentioned by that author as a sign of the favourable regard of the gods, no less than the excellence of his poetic faculty. This event is said to have taken place when the poet had attained the advanced age of eighty-six years. A monument was erected to his memory in the hippodrome at Thebes, near the Prostæan Gate, at the distance of a furlong from the city, and an inscription engraved on it, recording his candid and agreeable manners both to his fellow-townsmen and to strangers.
The reader will perhaps not be displeased if to this short biographical sketch is added, from Heyne's excellent edition, a life of Pindar digested according to the order of years, together with a notice of the victors who are celebrated in his odes.
Olymp. 65,1, A.C. 520, Pindar born.
