 The poems of Theognis of Megara (from the sixth century BC) and the Theban poet Pindar (of the fifth century BC) were popular among the Athenian nobles at this time, casting democracy as an immoral and unfair situation where the good (which was equated with noble-birth) were artificially forced into equality with the base (which was equated with common-birth).These poems maintained that virtues such as judgment, moderation, restraint, justice, and reverence could not be taught, and that such inborn qualities were limited to a few, leaving the rest "shameless and arrogant".These poets compared the masses to the noble born, who were supposedly inherently superior.