GENTLEMEN COACHMEN. 375 



birth of his son Alexander and a winning race at 

 Olympia ; but which of the three qave him most plea- 

 sure, his biographer, Plutarch, does not determine. That 

 great general Alcibiades brought no less than seven 

 chariots at one time to the post, and won the equestrian 

 crown, being the only Grecian who ever won three 

 prizes at one time in chariot races, and for which he 

 was immortalised by the poet Euripides. If we are to 

 credit history, he entertained all the spectators at his 

 own expense, which act of profuseness the cautious 

 Nicias — perhaps a little jealous of his growing popularity 

 — strongly urges in his well-known harangue against the 

 Sicilian expedition, of which Alcibiades was to be the 

 leader. Nicias feared the object he had in view was to 

 repair the injury his fortune sustained by these acts of 

 extravagance ; but the gallant general presently soothed 

 the fears of his audience by giving them to understand 

 that this imposing display of his magnificence to the 

 people was intended to reflect an honour on their coun- 

 try and on their name. The renowned Darius adorned 

 his chariots with sculptures in gold and silver of the 

 victories he had gained on the Olympic course; and Nero 

 neglected his empire to win the sprig of olive. It would 

 be endless, however, to enumerate similar instances, for 

 history would afford hundreds of them. 1 I shall only 

 proceed to a short description of the scene of action, as 



1 Perhaps the following is amongst the most powerful. In an oration 

 composed by Isocrates, to be spoken in a court of justice, he founded his 

 proof of the nobility of the family of Alcibiades, on the statement that, by 

 his mother's Side, he was descended from Alcmaeon, the first Athenian that 

 had icon a prize in the chariot race at the Olympic games / 



