132 HORSE- BACK RIDING. 



soon Nicolaus, rushing against the ruins of a chariot 

 that obstructed the path, fell with his horses, and 

 left Alexander sole competitor for the prize. 



He gained the goal, doubled it, finished the race, 

 and presented himself as victor before one of the 

 Hellanodices, who, as he placed the crown upon the 

 youth's head, uttered these memorable words : " Be- 

 lieve me, Alexander, just as you have won the vic- 

 tory in this race, so you shall win many another one 

 in war" — words which filled the breast of the young 

 hero with noble joy, and perhaps first awakened in 

 his soul the desire to embark in the grand enterprises 

 that in all succeeding ages have astonished the uni- 

 verse. 



It is manifest, then, that the goal was a place of 

 extreme danger, where many an unhappy combatant 

 met Avith misfortune and lost his hope of victory ; 

 and equally manifest that, notwithstanding the dan- 

 ger,- it was necessary, in order to win the crown, to 

 reach the goal first and double it successfully, prob- 

 ably more than once ; indeed, in the opinion of 

 several authors, the whole circuit of the Stadium was 

 rnade twelve times in each race. 



And now the question arises, did the women who 

 gained the prize in chariot races at Olympus com- 

 pete in person or by proxy ? Pausanias informs 

 us in one place that any woman detected in the 

 act of viewing these games, or who should even have 

 passed the Alpheus during the time of their celebra- 



