At the extremity of the Stadium was a goal, where the foot-races ended, but in those of chariots and horses they were to run several times round it without stopping, and afterwards conclude the race by regaining the other extremity of the lists, from whence they started. There were three kinds of races, the chariot, the horse, and the foot-race. I shall begin with the last, as the most simple, natural, and ancient. 1. Of the Foot-race. THE runners, of whatever number they were, ranged themselves in a line, after having drawn lots for their places. Whilst they waited the signal to start, they practised, by way of prelude, various motions to awaken their activity, and to keep their limbs pliable and in a right temper. They kept themselves in wind by small leaps, and making little excursions, that were a kind of trial of their speed and agility. Upon the signal being given, they flew towards the goal, with a rapidity scarce to be followed by the eye, which was solely to decide the victory. For the Agonistic laws prohibited, under the penalty of infamy, the attaining it by any foul method. In the simple race, the extent of the Stadium was run but once, at the end of which the prize -Tune ritè citatos Explorant, acuuntque gradus, variasque per artes Stat. Theb. lib. vi. v. 587, &c. They try, they rouse their speed, with various arts; attended the victor, that is, he who came in first. In the race called Aíavλos, the competitors ran twice that length; that is, after having arrived at the goal, they returned to the barrier. To these may be added a third sort, called Aoxos, which was the longest of all, as its name implies, and was composed of several Diauli. Sometimes it con sisted of twenty-four Stadia backwards and forwards, turning twelve times round the goal. X There were some runners in ancient times, as well among the Greeks as Romans, who have been much celebrated for their swiftness. Pliny tells us, that it was thought prodigious in Phidippides to run eleven hundred and forty Stadia between Athens and Lacedæmon in the space of two days, till Anystis of the latter place, and Philonides, the runner of Alexander the Great, went twelve hundred Stadia in one day, from Sicyon to Elis. Theser unners were denominated ημεροδρόμος, as we find in that passage of Herodotus a, which mentions Phidippides. In the consulate of Fonteius and Vipsanus, in the reign of Nero, a boy of nine years old ran seventy-five thousand paces b between noon and night. Pliny adds, that in his time there were runners, who ran one hundred and sixty thousand paces in the Circus. Our wonder at such a prodigious speed will increase (continues he), dif we reflect, that when Tiberius went to Germany to his brother Drusus, then at the point of death, he could not arrive there in less than four-and-twenty hours, though the distance was but two hundred thousand paces, and he changed his carriage three times, and went with the utmost diligence. с y 57 leagues. * He had only a guide and one officer with him. 2. Of the Horse-races. THE race of a single horse with a rider was less celebrated among the ancients, yet it had its favourers amongst the most considerable persons, and even kings themselves, and was attended with uncommon glory to the victor. Pindar, in his first ode, celebrates a victory of this kind, obtained by Hiero, king of Syracuse, to whom he gives the title of Kéans, that is, Victor in the horse-race; which name was given to the horses carrying only a single rider, Kéntes. Sometimes the rider led another horse by the bridle, and then the horses were called Desultorii, and their riders Desultores; because, after a number of turns in the Stadium, they changed horses, by dexterously vaulting from one to the other. A surprising address was necessary upon this occasion, especially in an age unacquainted with the use of stirrups, and when the horses had no saddles, which made the leap still more difficult. Among the African troops there were also cavalry* called Desultores, who vaulted from one horse to another, as occasioned required; and these were generally Numidians. 3. Of the Chariot-races. THIS kind of race was the most renowned of all the exercises used in the games of the ancients, and that from whence most honour redounded to the victors; which is not to be wondered at, if we consider whence it arose. It is plain that it was derived from the constant custom of princes, heroes, and great men, of fighting in battle upon chariots. Homer has an affinity of examples of this kind. * Nec omnes Numidæ in dextro locati cornu, sed quibus desultorum in modum binos trahentibus equos, inter acerrimam sæpe pugnam, in recentem equum ex fesso armatis transultare mos erat; tanta velocitas ipsis, tamque docile equorum genus est. Liv. lib. xxiii. This custom being admitted, it is natural to suppose it very agreeable to these heroes, to have their charioteers as expert as possible in driving, as their success depended, in a very great measure, upon the address of their drivers. It was anciently, therefore, only to persons of the first consideration, that this office was confided. Hence arose a laudable emulation to excel others in the art of guiding a chariot, and a kind of necessity to practise it very much, in order to succeed. The high rank of the persons who made use of chariots, ennobled, as it always happens, an exercise peculiar to them. The other exercises were adapted to private soldiers and horsemen, as wrestling, running, and the single horse-race; but the use of chariots in the field was always reserved to princes, and generals of armies. Hence it was, that all those who presented themselves in the Olympic games to dispute the prize in the chariot-races, were persons considerable either for their riches, their birth, their employments, or great actions. Kings themselves eagerly aspired to this glory, from the belief that the title of victor in these games was scarce inferior to that of conqueror, and that the Olympic palm added new dignity to the splendors of a throne. Pindar's odes inform us, that Gelon and Hiero, kings of Syracuse, were of that opinion. Dionysius, who reigned there long after them, carried the same ambition much higher. Philip of Macedon had these victories stampt upon his coins, and seemed as much gratified with them as with those obtained against the enemies of his state. e All the world knows the answer of Alexander the Great on this subject. When his friends asked him whether he would not dispute the prize of the races in these games? Yes, said he, if kings were to be my antagonists. Which shows, that he would not have disdained these contests, if there had been competitors in them worthy of him. The chariots were generally drawn by two or four horses, ranged abreast: bigæ, quadriga. Sometimes mules supplied the place of horses, and then the chariot was called ά. Pindar, in the fifth ode of his first book, celebrates one Psaumis, who had obtained a triple victory: one by a chariot drawn by four horses, Tepí; another by one drawn by mules, ά; and the third by a single horse, xént, which the title of the ode expresses. These chariots, upon a signal given, started together from a place called Carceres. Their places were regulated by lot, which was not an indifferent circumstance as to the victory; for as they were to turn round a boundary, the chariot on the left was nearer than those on the right, which consequently had a greater compass to take. It appears from several passages in Pindar, and especially from one in Sophocles, which I shall cite very soon, that they ran twelve times round the Stadium. He that came in first the twelfth round was victor. The chief art consisted in taking the best ground at the turning of the boundary for if the charioteer drove too near it, he was in danger of dashing the chariot to pieces; and if he kept too wide of it, his nearest antagonist might cut between him, and get foremost. It is obvious that these chariot-races could not be run without some danger; for as the motion of the wheels was very rapid, and it was requisite to graze against the boundary in turning, the least error in driving would have broken the chariot in pieces, and might have dangerously wounded the charioteer. An example of which we find in the Electra of Sophocles, who gives an admirable description of a chariot-race run by ten competitors. * Metaque fervidis evitata rotis. Horat. Od. i. lib. i, |