IIORSE-BACK RIDING. 13S 



sulship ; and in his oration from Floccus, that to gain 

 the victory at Olympus conferred greater glory upon 

 a Greek than the honor of a triumph upon a Roman. 



The successful contestant was proclaimed victor by 

 a public herald and the sound of the trumpet. Not 

 only was his own name mentioned, but that of his 

 father, of the city that gave him birth, and some- 

 times even of his tribe. He was crowned by the 

 hand of one of the Hellanodices, and conducted in 

 pomp to Prytaneus, where a public and sumptuous 

 banquet awaited him. When he afterwards returned 

 to the city, his fellow-citizens assembled in throngs 

 to welcome him, and, persuaded that the glory with 

 which he was crowned rendered their country illus- 

 trious and reflected its splendor upon themselves, 

 received him with acclamations and all the magnifi- 

 cent accomplishments of a triumph. 



He never again needed to fear either poverty or 

 humiliation ; his native state provided for his mainten- 

 ance, and perpetuated his fame by monuments which 

 seem to bid defiance to the destroying touch of time ; 

 and the most celebrated statuaries solicited the priv- 

 ilege of representing him with the tokens of his vic- 

 tory, in marble or bronze, in the sacred Grove of 

 Olympus. 



Later on, when Rome had reached the height of 

 her glory, she had few if any enemies left to contest 

 with. Fearing, in consequence, a relaxation of the 

 physical strength of her people, and partly to satisfy 



