3. At the Olympic games thc prize was simply a chaplet made of wild olive. The crowns were laid on a tripod, and placed in the middle of the course, so as to be seen of all. On the same table there were also exposed to view palm-branches, one of which S'aS given into the hand of each con queror at the same time with the chaplet. The victors, havipg been summoned by proclamation, were presented with the ensigns of victory, and conducted along the stadium, preceded by a herald, who proclaimed their honours, and an nounced their name, parentage, and country.
The real reward, however, \vas in the fame which ensued. A chaplet won in the chariot-races at Olympia was the highest of earthly honours. What congratulations from friends ; how was the public eye directed to the fortunate conqueror ; what honour had he conferred on his native city, and for what office was such an one unfit What intense and deep delight must his bosom have been filled with when the full acclaim of as sembled Greece fell upon his ear, coming in loud salutations and applauses from every part of the crowded course ! Then came the more private attentions of individual friends. One brought a chaplet of flowers ; another bound his head with ribbons. Afterwards came the triumphal sacrifice made to the twelve gods, accompanied by sump tuous feasting. The poet now began his office, gaining, in some cases, both for himself and the happy victor, an unexpected immortality. Music also lent her aid, and his name was sung wherever the noble accents of the Greek tongue asserted their supremacy. In order to perpetuate the me mory of these great men, their names and achieve ments were entered into a public register, which was under the care of suitable officers. A no less privilege was that of having a statue of them selves placed either at the expense of their country or their friends, in the sacred grove of Jupiter. A perhaps still greater honour awaited the victor on his return home. The conquerors at the Isth
mian games were wont to be received in their chariots, superbly attired, amid thronging and jubi lant multitudes.
One or two other privileges belonged to these victors, such as immunity from public offices, and a certain yearly stipend. If to all this be added the strict scrutiny which competitors were obliged to undergo (in the best ages), so that none could enter the lists but such as were of pure Greek blood, and incorrupt in life, none but such as had undergone the required disciplinary training, and (in the case of the chariot and horse-races) none but those who could afford to possess and train horses in a country in which, as in Greece, horses, particularly zn the earlier ages, were very scarce and dear ; it will be seen that the distinction of the prize was not over-rated, when it was com pared with a Roman triumph, nor that the de scription of Horace is too highly coloured— palmaque nobilis Terrarum dominos evehit ad Deos.
At the Isthmian games the pnze was parsley during the mythic periods. In later ages the vic tor was crowned with a chaplet of pine leaves. Parsley, however, appears to have been also em ployed. If the conqueror had come off victorious in the three great divisions—music, gymnastics, and was in the Pythian, as well as in the other sacred games, presented also with a palm-branch. The names of about seventy per sons are pteserved who gained honours at the Isthmian games, among which occurs that of thd emperor Nero, who is recorded to have gained the victory in the character of harper and that of herald. On the subject here treated of see West's Odes of Pindar, 2d edit.; Potter's Antiquities ty Greece. By far the best work, however, is Kmuse's Die Gymmzstik mid Agonislik der Hellenen ; and his Die Pythien, ilremeen und hanzien, Leipzig, 1341.—J. R. B.