Their gallant countrymen, stood nobly forth,
Praying to Venus, the all-powerful goddess;
Nor was the queen of beauty willing ever
To leave the citadel of Greece to fall
Beneath the arrows of the unwarlike Persians."
Private individuals frequently vowed, upon the fortunate issue of some undertaking, to dedicate to the goddess of love a certain number of hetæræ. These votaries of Aphrodite were called hierodulæ, or temple attendants. Pindar in his immortal verses thus describes them:
"O hospitable damsels, fairest train
Of soft Persuasion,--
Ornament of the wealthy Corinth,
Bearing in willing hands the golden drops