what was necessary to be known, that their judgment might be just, and afford satisfaction to the competitors and their friends, besides the vast concourse of spectators who interested themselves for the victors.

9. In Greece the education of young persons was extended to the body, and they were taught in public places, by proper persons, those exercises which afterwards might procure them such high distinction. The candidates for the Olympic Games were presented to the judges by their instructors and relatives, who swore that they had been educated so as to qualify them for the trial at hand. After the proper introduction to their judges, the Athletæ, so the runners and wrestlers were called, were exercised as a preparation, and were bound to observe all the rules instituted for the regulation of the games.

10. Nothing can he more magnificent than the representations given by ancient historians of this great national festival. The ceremonies preparatory to these games began on the night preceding the first day of the celebration, and Jupiter, honoured by the Greeks as the father of gods and men, was at this time the peculiar object of their prayers and praises. A magnificent temple in honour of him stood within sight of the ground on which the acts of heroes were to be achieved; another to Juno was not far off; and, disposed in different places, was a multitude of statues representing former victors.

11. Among the images of the gods was one surpassing all, a statue of Jupiter, from the hand of Phidias. The artist had bestowed on the countenance of the Divinity the noblest expression of

power and goodness; and this gave inexpressible dignity to the whole assemblage. A cultivated country extending far as the eye could reach, watered by a beautiful river, along whose banks were ranged innumerable tents of the great throng of people who resorted to the games; the delicious atmosphere of the finest climate upon earth, and the mild lustre of a moon nearly full, embellishing every object, altogether made the spectacle of this preparation one of the grandest that can be conceived.

12. Besides the Altar to Jupiter, other altars, consecrated to other gods, stood near. All were hung with festoons and garlands, and all were successively sprinkled with the blood of animals offered in sacrifice; but that of Jupiter was the chief place of these offerings. As soon as the religious services were ended, great numbers of people, too eager to witness the strife of the ensuing day to allow themselves to take any rest, pressed to secure the best places near the race course, where the games began at early dawn.

13. The ground allotted to the representation was divided into two parts, the Stadium and the Hippodrome. The Stadium was a causeway six hundred feet long, upon which the foot-races were run, and on which, most of the combats in which the men engaged, were exhibited. The Hippodrome was appropriated to races of Chariots and Horses. The Hippodrome was twelve hundred feet long, and six hundred feet wide, and was separated from the Stadium by a building called the Barrier, through the walls of which a sufficient space was left to permit several chariots to pass abreast. Along the walls of the Barrier, accom

modations for the Chariots and Horses were arranged; for these places lots were drawn, as some were more advantageously situated than others.

14. At day-light, chariots were seen flying over the adjacent plains, the hills were covered with an ardent and impatient multitude, and the neighing of horses, mingling with the shouts of men, broke in upon the repose of nature, and proclaimed, with the loudest voice, the public joy and hope.

The first ceremony to be observed at the opening of the games was, for the Athlete to repair to the Statue of Jupiter, and there, in the name of the god, to vow to the eight judges, that they would act with perfect honour towards their adversaries. Their clothes were stripped off, buskins were put upon their feet, and their bodies were rubbed over with oil by persons appointed to this service.

2. When the judges had taken their seats, a Herald proclaimed, "Let the runners in the Stadium advance." A great number instantly appeared and stationed themselves in a line, according to the places assigned to them by lot. The herald recited their names and the country whence they came: if any of these individuals had distinguished themselves by a former victory they were received with the loudest applauses. The herald added, "Can any one reproach these Athletæ with having been in bonds, or of leading an irregular life?" After a moment of anxious silence,

while the

eyes of thousands were fixed upon those who thus challenged reproach, the trumpet sounded, and the runners, whom no voice had condemned, started in the adventurous career.

3. The following description from Homer, will serve best to illustrate the foot-race:

"All start at once; Oileus led the race;
The next Ulysses, meas'ring pace with pace;
Behind him, diligently close, he sped,

As closely following as the running thread
The spindle follows

*

Graceful in motion, thus his foe he plies,
And treads each footstep ere the dust can rise:
His glowing breath upon his shoulders plays;
'Th' admiring Greeks loud acclamations raise,
To him they give their wishes, hearts, and eyes,
And send their souls before him as he flies.

4. "Now three times turn'd in prospect of the goal,

The panting chief to Pallas lifts his soul:
Assist, O goddess! (thus in thought he pray'd,)
And present at his thought, descends the maid.
Buoy'd by her heav'nly force, he seems to swim,
And feels a pinion lifting ev'ry limb.

All fierce, and ready now the prize to gain,
Unhappy Ajax stumbles on the plain.

5. The point at which the runners aimed was the Goal; he who first reached it was the victor. But the races were considerably varied; sometimes the runners doubled the goal, and returned

to the starting point; some ran wholly unencumbered, while others carried a shield and wore a helmet; some ran twelve times the length of the Stadium, and many carried off the prizes of several races. The loudest demonstrations of applause were bestowed on the successful competitor, while the most insulting contempt was expressed towards the less fortunate candidate. He who had the ill luck to fall in the course, was driven off with derision.

6. The victors were crowned with a wreath of olive leaves on the last day of the festival, but at the moment of triumph, each received from the judges some pledge that he was entitled to the honours reserved for the victorious. The Greeks were a nation of animated feelings, they expressed the most lively sympathy with those who came off the lists with glory, and they crowded around to see and to congratulate them; their friends, relatives, and countrymen, shed tears of joy and tenderness, and lifted them above the crowd, that they might be recognised and applauded, and they beheld with delight these objects of their own pride and affection covered with odorous flowers, by the witnesses of their success. It was not the least agreeable circumstance of the Olympic Games that children shared the pleasures and praises of the day, for boys of twelve years of age were often found among the victors. Females were not permitted to attend them.

7. On the second day the races of the Hippodrome were held. These were only open to the rich, as they were attended with great expence, for the keeping and training of horses, the splendour of chariots, and the number of slaves employed un