Mr. Dodwell, when he was in Ægina, lodged at the house of the principal Greek, who was acquainted with the leading particulars of its history; and when he talked of its former grandeur, and compared it with its present abject condition, the tears came into his eyes, and he exclaimed--"_Alas! where is Ægina now?_" The island of Ægina lies between Attica and Argolis, eighteen miles distant from the coast of Athens and fourteen from Epidaurus. It does not exceed nine miles in its greatest length, nor six miles in its greatest breadth; its interior is rough and mountainous, and the valleys, though they are made to bear corn, cotton, olive, and fruit trees, are stony and narrow. Notwithstanding this, in ancient days, through the blessings of commerce, this spot in the seas of Greece was the residence of a numerous and most thriving population, who created upon it such works as are still the admiration of the civilised world, though they are now in ruins; the place, however, of those who built them, is scantily occupied by an impoverished and degraded race of men. The people of Ægina were the first who coined money to be subservient to the uses of life, agreeably to the advice of Phidon, who considered that a maritime commerce would best be promoted, where exchange and accommodation became easy and familiar between the vendor and purchaser. The place, too, had the advantage of security; an important point in the earlier ages of Greece, when piracy was a common and honourable profession. It lay deep within a gulf; nature had made access to its shores difficult, by nearly encircling them with rocks and sand-banks; and its industrious population added artificial defences. Its port also was commodious, and well protected against the attacks of man. Here, therefore, the goods procured, far and near, by the enterprising inhabitants, could be lodged without fear of pillage, and the Greeks would resort hither as to a general mart, where whatever they wanted might be purchased. Wealth would thus flow into the island, and its inhabitants, with their exquisite feeling for all that was beautiful, would employ their wealth in cultivating the fine arts, and in covering their barren rocks with grand and graceful edifices; and this was shown by the ancient inhabitants of Ægina having had the honour of introducing a style in sculpture superior to all that preceded, though inferior to the ultimate perfection of the Athenian school. Ægina was, originally, subject to kings; but it afterwards adopted the republican form of government. It was at length reduced by the Athenians, and continued subject to them, till, at the end of the Macedonian war, it was declared free by the Romans. In the reign of Vespasian, however, it underwent the same fortune as the other states of Greece.