290 DISSERTATION ON THE 



right of the barriere, and wheeling to the left round 



the meta, always went the fame way, always wheeling 



to the left in every circuit, whatever the number of 



rounds were, there arifes a moil inexplicable injujlicey 



as to any chance that the merit of fwiftnefs in the 



horfes, or of fkill in the driver could have, except what 



they derived from their place upon the right or left, 



which mere lot gave them. For when there were from 



ten chariots to forty at fometimes, all arranged abreaft 



at the barrier -, that upon the left, and that upon the 



right, would run courfes of very different lengths, in 



the proportion of the leffer or larger circle that their 



lot deflined them to. 



The explication of this difficulty given by Mr. Weft, 

 in his difcourfe on the Olympic games, only adds con- 

 fufion to it. The whole flcill and courage of the cha- 

 rioteers were (he fays) employed to obtain the point of 

 advantage at the wheeling, and he defcribes them in 

 this attempt all driving foul of one another, by direc- 

 tions all converging to this point ; this, I fay, may add 

 to the confufion, but does not relieve the difficulty, for 

 ftill the chariot, which was placed upon the right of all, 

 had, in this firft attempt, the hypothenufe, or longeft 

 fide of the triangle to run, while the chariot upon the 

 left had only one of the Legs of the fame right-angled 

 triangle, and fo the reft in gradation ; and what a 

 fcene of unavoidable inextricable wreck muft all thefe 

 chariots rufliing together, in converging lines, have 

 made. This feems fo abfurd, that one cannot but re- 



jea 



i 



