GENTLEMEN COACHMEN. 377 



meet with on ancient coins they appear to have been very 

 low, and only on two wheels, somewhat resembling our 

 curricle. Springs, of course, they had none, and, as there 

 was no seat for the coachman, great part of his skill con- 

 sisted in being able to preserve his balance and keep his 

 legs. Although Nero once made his appearance at the 

 Olympic games in a chariot drawn by ten horses, which 

 he attempted to drive himself, four horses driven abreast 

 was the usual team, as I stated before. 



Those who wish to be better acquainted with the 

 nature and importance of this species of diversion will find 

 it described in the 23rd ' Iliad' of Homer, the 'Thebais' 

 of Statius, Sophocles, and numerous other authors, both 

 in verse and prose. According to Pausanias, however — 

 and here we are more entitled to the truth — the method 

 of starting was as follows. The chariots entered the 

 course according to order previously settled by lot, and 

 then drew up in a line. They started at a signal given, 

 and to him who passed the pillar at the top of the course 

 twelve times, and the one at the bottom ten times, in 

 the neatest manner, without touching it or overturning 

 his chariot, to him was the reward given. 1 As, how- 

 ever, it was the aim of everyone who started to make 

 for this pillar as to a centre, we can easily imagine the 

 confusion there must have been in forty, or even twenty, 

 chariots, all rushing to one given point, amidst the 

 clanging of the trumpets. No one was debarred 

 driving his own chariot, and kings were often seen con- 

 tending against kings. The following is the translation 



1 This is what we call feather-edging. 



