The plain itself where the Olympic games were held had been designed, it seemed, by the gods themselves only for this purpose. The vale was sacred to the gods, the games were, as it were, divine. During the four years which intervened between each celebration the Olympic valley was tenanted by its sixty temples, nearly three times as many altars, and a thousand statues of former victors. No human beings were allowed within that sacred spot except the priests who tended the altars and ministered within the temples, which the gods, as it was said, loved to inhabit. The scene was fit for gods. The very air was more diaphanous, serene, and clear, the rivers, the woods, the hills, more lovely, than elsewhere; the flowers there gave out a more delicious fragrance. All was filled with a peace divine, and with the beauty of the world. But when the cycle of the months of quietude was past, then all was animation, as striking as the peace had been before. The Eleans, special guardians of the sacred vale, had sent their unarmed troops in preparation. Greeks were hurrying hitherward from every colony, island, city, town, from all the villages of Ionia and Greece. The Spartans alone, on account of their base conduct, were excluded. Stadia, theatres, and places where the manly combats of all sorts would be witnessed by unnumbered crowds, were ready. Soon the surrounding hills were covered by ten thousand tents and other temporary habitations. Where silence had reigned so long, all became bustle and activity, until the day came when the ‘architheori,’ who were the chiefs selected to head the missions of envoys (called ‘theori’) sent by the different states to represent them at the sacred games, were seen approaching the renowned Olympic valley, with all their followers, high and low, musicians, singers, runners, wrestlers, boxers, and athletes of every kind. Unless we realize the depth of the religious meaning of the games we shall but inadequately understand the honours that were given to the victors. After due study of the history of the Grecian race, we say advisedly that no honour known in Greece, whether that given to the statesman, the poet, sculptor, tragedian, or even to the greatest warrior and general, was to be compared with the honours given to the victors at these games. A statue of each victor was erected there; and the people of his native town or village went forth to meet him as he returned, and brought him home in triumph, with garlands, music, and with incense. An opening was made in the city walls, that he might come in by a way no one had entered through before. His name was graven on stone or brass in the most noted place, and he and his descendants after him were maintained at the sole charges of the state. No Roman Emperor, proceeding in triumph through the streets of Rome, was more honoured than a victor at the Olympic games.