festoons, the principal offerings being reserved for the grand altar of Jupiter. These were upon a scale commensurate with the general magnificence of the celebration, all the principal cities of Greece sending victims for the Olympian Jupiter; while private individuals, especially those who had gained the honour of an Olympic victory, sometimes made very sumptuous sacrifices at their own expense. Alcibiades, after having gained three prizes in the chariot-race, feasted the whole concourse of Grecians that were gathered together to view the games with the victims offered to Jupiter, only a small part of which was consumed upon the altar. It is probable, indeed, that the vast multitudes collected upon these occasions were chiefly subsisted by the sacrifices provided by the different cities; of one or other of which every private Grecian had a right to partake. The sacrificial ceremonies, performed to the sound of instruments, and by the light of the moon, then near its full, were attended with every circumstance of magnificence and solemnity that could awaken admiration and inspire reverence. At midnight, when they ended, most of the spectators, with an eagerness that never deserted them during the whole festival, ran instantly to secure places in the course, the better to enjoy the spectacle of the games, which were to commence at daybreak. The Elean people, represented by judges termed Hellanodichs, had the entire direction of every thing appertaining to the festival, being invested for the occasion with plenary authority to keep in perfect order that vast assemblage, composed of men of all ranks, and of every region and colony of Greece. Clothed in purple robes, and bearing the usual ensigns of magistracy, these judges seem to have sometimes exercised a sort of papal power, not only claiming the right to punish refractory or contumacious individuals, but to excommunicate whole nations, and cut them off from the right of participation in the festival. Lycurgus originally fixed the order of the athletic combats, which corresponded almost exactly with that described by Homer in the twentythird book of the Iliad, and eighth of the Odyssey; but the judges had authority to modify and suspend any of them, or to add new games, according to circumstances. Never, however, did the Greeks, except for a short time at Corinth, adopt the cruel gladiatorial shows of the Romans never F did they regard them with any other feeling than that of disgust and horror; never did the polished Athenians admit any spectacle of that sort within their walls, notwithstanding the example of their conquerors, and of some of their own degenerate countrymen; and when a citizen once thought proper to propose publicly the introduction of these games, in order, as he said, that Athens might not be inferior to Corinth, "Let us first," cried an Athenian, with vivacity, "let us first overthrow the altar of Pity, which our ances tors set up more than a thousand years ago." CHAPTER VI. The Olympic Games. "Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum Terrarum dominos evehit ad Deos." Horat. i. 1. THE Olympic course was divided into two parts-the stadium, and the hippodromus; the former of which was an elevated open causeway, six hundred feet long, being appropriated to the foot-races and most of the combats; while the latter was reserved for the chariot and horse-races. Pausanias has transmitted to us an accurate description of both, particularly of the hippodromus; but instead of a detail which would be little interesting to the general reader, we prefer copying the following animated picture of the scene exhibited at Olympia on the morning when the games were opened. "At the first dawn of day we repaired to the stadium, which was already filled with athletæ, exercising themselves in preparatory skirmishes, and surrounded by a multitude of spectators; while others in still greater numbers were stationing themselves confusedly on a hill, in form of an amphitheatre, above the course. Chariots were flying over the plain; on all sides were heard the sound of trumpets and the neighing of horses, mingled with the shouts of the multitude. But when we were able to divert our eyes for a moment from this spectacle, and to contrast with the tumultuous agitations of the public joy the repose and silence of nature, how delightful were the impressions we experienced from the serenity of the sky, the delightful coolness of the air from the Alpheus, which here forms a magnificent canal, and the fertile fields, illumed and embellished by the first rays of the sun!"* The candidates, having undergone an examination, and proved to the satisfaction of the judges that they were freemen, that they were Grecians by birth, and that they were clear from all infamous and immoral stains, were led to the statue of Jupiter within the senate-house. This image, says Pausanias, was better calculated than any other to strike terror into wicked men, for he was represented with thunder in both hands; and, as if that were not a sufficient intimation of the wrath of the deity against those who should forswear themselves, at his feet there was a plate of brass containing terrible denunciations against the perjured. Before this statue the candidates, their relations, and instructers swore on the bleeding limbs of the victims that they were duly qualified to engage, solemnly vowing not to employ any unfair means, but to observe all the laws relating to the Olympic games. After this they returned to the stadium, and took their stations by lot, when the herald demanded-"Can any one reproach these athlete with having been in bonds, or with leading an irregular life?" A profound silence generally followed this interrogatory, and the combatants became exalted in the estimation of the assembly, not only by this universal testimony to their moral character, but by the consideration that they were the free unsullied champions of the respective states to which they belonged; not engaged in any vulgar struggle for interested or ordinary objects, but incited to competition by a noble love of fame, and a desire to uphold the renown of their native cities in the presence of assembled Greece. Such being the qualities required before they could enter the lists, it was some distinction * Anacharsis, cap. 38. |