The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at Colonus, in Attica, about B.C. 495. Died probably at Athens, B.C. 405. Aged 90.] In Sophocles, Æschylus found a rival and a conqueror. When Cimon (B.C. 468) returned from the Isle of Scyros, with the ashes of Theseus, the first play of Sophocles (“Triptolemus”) was preferred to the composition of Æschylus, who in chagrin retired to Sicily. From this time Sophocles stood alone, until he, in his turn, met a successful rival in Euripides. In 440, he produced “Antigone,” for its calm beauty, and the pure picture of heroic, feminine self-devotion, one of the finest antique tragedies extant, and the occasion of his promotion through the favour of Pericles. In the person of Sophocles was represented the ideal of Greek perfection. He was very beautiful; he excelled in gymnastics, music, and dancing; in temperament he was calm and contented; in disposition kind and cheerful; he had a ready wit, a serene piety, and intellectual grandeur. His tragedies have an advantage over those of Æschylus, in being essentially human; they appeal to the feelings of an auditory, and are written in a less magniloquent style than that of the sublime father of Greek tragedy,--to whom, however, Sophocles lay under the obligations of a pupil to his instructor. Both are profound masters of their art. [This bust is from the Capitoline Museum, and is identified by another in the Vatican--found in 1778--on which all the letters of the name remained, except the SO. It was for a long time called PINDAR,* because of the inscription; Bottari has proved it to be Sophocles, whom it completely resembles. Compare the Lateran statue, No. 325, standing in the great Transept, near the monument of Lysicrates.] *. PINDAR. _Greek Poet._ [Born probably at Thebes, about B.C. 522. Died there, about B.C. 442. Aged about 80 years.] The most famous lyric poet of Greece. Sent at an early age to Athens, he became the pupil of Lasus. He sung the victors in the Olympic, Nemæan, Pythian, and Isthmian games,--the great festivals of assembled Greece. Forty-five of these odes of triumph are all that have descended to us; they are characterized by great boldness of style, spirit, and trumpet-toned enthusiasm, but the brilliant diction does not escape obscurity; and the modern student often follows with difficulty the excursive wing of “The Theban Eagle,” through the wide regions of Hellenic mythology. Pindar’s earliest extant work was written in his twentieth year. He is described as a man of strong religious feelings, and a devout worshipper of the gods.