Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/72

54 54 HISTORY OF GRFECE. ordinary personal glory, but with the prodigious number of seven distinct chariots, each with a team of four horses. And so supe- rior was their quality, that one of his chariots gained a first prize, and another a second prize, so that Alkibiades was twice crowned with sprigs of the sacred olive-tree, and twice proclaimed by the herald. Another of his seven chariots also came in fourth : but no crovn or proclamation, it seems, was awarded to any after the second in order. AVe must recollect that he had competitors from all parts of Greece to contend against, not merely private men, but even despots and governments. Nor was this all. The tent which the Athenian theors provided for their countrymen, visitors to the games, was handsomely adorned ; but a separate tent, which Alkibiades himself provided for a public banquet to celebrate his triumph, together with the banquet itself, was set forth on a scale still more stately and expensive. The rich allies of Athens Ephesus, Chios, and Lesbos are said to have lent him their aid in enhancing this display. It is highly probable that they would be glad to cultivate his favor, as he had now become one of the first men in Athens, and was in an ascendent course. But we must farther recollect that they, as well as Athens, had been excluded from the Olympic festival, so that their own feelings on first returning might well prompt them to take a genuine interest in this imposing reappearance of the Icnic race at the common sanctuary of Hellas. Five years ;uten';irds, on i:n important discussion which will be hereafter describe.!, Alkibiades maintained publicly before the thenianassemblythathisunparalleled Olympic display had pro- Juced an effect upon the Grecian mind highly beneficial to Athens ;' 1 Thucyd. vi, 16. Oi yap EAP.jyvcf ical VTTfp 6uvafnv fieifa rjft.uv ~TJV TTO^-CV h>6[icaav TU> eftti dicnrpeTrei T^f 'OtofrniaZe deupiaf, Ttpo T e pov e/.Triov- Tf avrijv *<( r ftfre *T-o A e/*i? a#at ' 6io~t apfiara (LEV Itrra Kafir/no, oaa ovSii? TTU idiuTTi? irporspov, kviKfjau, re, KOI 6evrepof KOI rercprof e; e vofiriv, KCII ru/.Aa ufi'wf 7/}f viKT/f xapeGKevacra/j.Tjv. The full force of this grandiose display cannot be felt unless we bring to our minds the special position both of Athens and the Athenian allies to- wards Olympia, and of Alkibiades himself towards Athens, Argos, and the rest of Greece, in the first half of the year 420 B.C. Alkibiades obtained from Euripides the honor of an epinikiun ode, or song of triumph, to celebrate this event ; of which a few lines are preserved