The people shouted, and forbade bestow Will undertake to throw me th' other two? 4. Upon the day of the chariot-race, the chariots, at a certain signal marched out of the lodges and entering the course according to the order before settled by lot, were there drawn up in a line; but whether abreast, or one behind another, is a question among the learned. The following noble and animated description of a chariotrace in all its forms, from the pen of Sophocles, translated by Mr. West, will give the reader a lively idea of this part of the contest in the Grecian games: A description of a Chariot race. Of charioteers, his bold antagonists. One from Achaia came, from Sparta one, In native gold array'd. The next in rank only lost the victory by that fall; which ever way it was, occasion was taken from thence to make a law, that all the Athletes for the fature should contend naked. West's Pindar, vol. i. p. 72, 12mo. Ascending, tainted the fresh breath of morn, But to the pillar as he nearer drew, Horses and charioteers, and soon was fill'd And now with equal fronts abreast they drove. Beyond each other push'd their stretching steeds. Erect Orestes, and erect his car Thro' all the number'd courses, now had stood; P For mighty deeds, now doom'd to mighty woes, From this description of the chariot-race the reader will easily imagine what a noise, what a bustle and confusion, ten, twenty, and sometimes forty chariots must have made bursting at the sound of a trumpet, altogether from the barrier! and pressing all to the same point! what skill and courage in the charioteers! what obedience, what strength and swiftness in the horses! what ardour and emulation in both must have been requisite to maintain the advantages, which their own lots had given them, or to surmount those of their antagonists. 5. To excite the ardour and emulation of the competitors, by placing in their view the object of their ambition, the crowns, the rewards of victory, were laid upon a tripod, or table, which during the solemnity, was brought out, and placed in the middle of the stadium. Λελλοπόδων μεν τινας ευφραί νεσιν ιππων τιμαι και σεφανοι. The crowns, whose blooming honours grace PINDAR. Tempestuous rushing to the goal, With rapture fill the victor's soul. DUNKIN. There were also branches of palm exposed, which the victors were to receive along with the crowns, and which they carried in their hands as emblems, says Plutarch, of the insuppressible vigour of their body and minds. Near the goal was erected a tribunal, on which sat the presidents of the games, called Hellanodics, personages venerable for their years, and characters, who were the sovereign arbiters and judges of these arduous contentions, and impartial witnesses of the respective merit and pretensions of each combatant, and with the strictest justice conferred the crown. ན But though the conquerors, immediately on their gaining the victory, were entitled to the chaplet and the palm, yet Pet. Faber, (Agonis. lib. i. c. 30.) conjectures, from a passage of Chrysostom, that they who contended in the morning exercises, did not receive their crowns till noon; at which time it may also be inferred from the same passage, that the spectators, as well as the candidates, were dismissed in order to take some refreshment before the afternoon exercises came on; the conquerors in which were in like manner obliged to wait for their reward till the evening. To this custom the Apostle is supposed to allude. (Heb. xi. 40.) And indeed, as every part of these games was conducted with the utmost order and decency, it is not natural to suppose that the course of the exercises was interrupted, by giving the crown to every single conqueror as soon as he had obtained his victory, especially as that solemnity was attended with a great deal of ceremony.. The following is the manner, according to Mr. West, in which this ceremony was performed: The conquerors being summoned by proclamation, marched in order to the tribunal of the Hellanodics, where a herald, taking the crowns of olive from the table, placed one upon the head of each of the conquerors; and giving into their hands branches of palm, led them in that equipage along the stadium, preceded by trumpets, proclaiming at the same time with a loud voice, their names, the names of their fathers, and their countries; and specifying the particular exercise in which each of them had gained the victory. The form made use of in that proclamation, seems to have been conceived in these or such like terms; viz. "Diagoras the son of Damagetus, of Rhodes, conqueror in the cæstus in the class of men;" and so of the rest, whether men or boys, mutatis mutandis. That different degrees of merit were rewarded with different degrees of honour, and consequently with different crowns, is inferred from the words of St. Basil: "No president of the Games, says he, is so devoid of judgment, as to think a man, who, for want of an adversary, hath not contended, deserves the same crown as one, who hath contended and over come.' 99 Though the olive chaplet seems to have been the only reward which the Hellanodics conferred upon the conquerors, yet were there many others, no less glorious and no less pleasing recompences attending their victories, as well from the specta-tors in general, as from their own countrymen, friends, and relations in particular; some of which they received even before they were put in possession of the crown. Such were the acclamations and applauses of that numerous assembly; the warm congratulations of their friends, and, even the faint and extorted salutations of their maligners and opponents. As they passed along the stadium, after they had received the crown, they were again saluted with the acclamations of 'the spectators, accompanied with a shower of herbs and flowers, poured on them from every side.. It was farther customary, for the friends of the conquerors to express their particular respect to them, by going up to them, accosting them, and presenting them with chaplets of herbs, &c. To perpetuate the glory of these victories, the Hellanodics entered into a public register the names of the conquerors; specifying, without doubt, the particular exercise and class, whether of men or boys, in which each had been victorious; together with the number of the Olympiad; and then set up their statues in the altis, or sacred grove of Jupiter at Olympia. ! These particulars respecting the sacred games of the Grecians, which were held in the highest renown in the days of the Apostles, explain and illustrate not only the passage which we have placed at the head of this article, but various parts of their writings, the beauty, energy, and sublimity of which consist in metaphorical allusions to these games, from the various gymnastic exercises of which their elegant and expressive imagery is borrowed. Apud Fab. Agon. 1. iii. cap. 1. |