3. Hence the island of Delos itself became one of the subjects of mythology. Pindar, in an ode to Delos, addresses it as “_the daughter of the sea, the unshaken prodigy of the earth, which mortals call Delos, but the gods in Olympus the far-famed star of the dark earth_;”(1302) and related how “_the island, driven about by the winds and waves, as soon as Latona had placed her foot on its shore, became fast bound to the roots of the earth by four columns_.”(1303) The fable of the floating island(1304) (which is, however, of a more recent date than the Homeric hymn to Apollo) indicated merely the restless condition which preceded the tranquillity and brightness introduced by the manifestation of the god. Henceforth Delos remained fixed and unshaken, immoveable, according to the belief of the Greeks, even by earthquakes; for which reason, the whole of Greece was alarmed when this phenomenon happened before the Persian war.(1305) By the words “_the star of the dark earth_,” Pindar alludes to the idea that Delos (as the name shows) was considered as a pure and bright island, whose shores, too holy for pollution, were ever kept free from corpses, the sight of which is odious to the god. Hence also the tradition that Asteria, whose name is derived from ἀστὴρ, the offspring of the Titans, had cast herself into the sea, and been petrified on the shore. 4. The birth of Apollo, being an epoch in mythology, was without doubt celebrated in ancient hymns, whose simplicity presented a striking contrast to the higher polish of the Homeric poems. A hymn of this description, ascribed to Olen, was addressed to Eileithyia, the worship of which goddess, together with other religious ceremonies, was brought over (as has been above remarked)(1306) from Cnosus to Delos, and from thence to Athens.(1307) In calling Eileithyia the mother of the god of love,(1308) Olen exceeded the regular bounds of tradition respecting Apollo, by confusing the worship of a strange god with that deity, and probably identified her with the ancient Aphrodite (Ἀφροδίτη ἀρχαία), whose altar Theseus is said to have erected at Delos.(1309) In either case, the establishment of this ancient Attic worship on the sacred island, and its connexion with the Delian rites, illustrate the mention of Eros in the Delian hymn. _Nine days and nine nights Latona writhed in hopeless pains of childbirth, surrounded by the benevolent Titanidæ, Dione, Rhea, Themis, and Amphitrite, who finally_ (according to the hymn of Homer) _prevailed upon Eileithyia by the promise of a golden necklace. Then the pains seized Latona; she cast her arms around the palm-tree, and brought forth her divine son._ The explanations of the bribe offered to Eileithyia are all too far-fetched: probably pregnant women at Delos consecrated their necklaces to that goddess.