Mycenae (Extinct city); Olympia (Greece : Ancient sanctuary); Pompeii (Extinct city)
Behind all these buildings rose a great hill, dark green with trees.
Down from the hill poured a little stream. It met a wide river that
wound far through the valley. In the angle of these rivers lay Olympia.
The temple and walls and gymnasium were all of stone and looked as
though they had been there forever. But in the meadow all around the
sacred place was a city of winged tents. There were little shapeless
ones of skins lying over sticks. There were round huts woven of rushes.
There were sheds of poles with green boughs laid upon them. There were
tall tents of gaily striped canvas. Farther off were horses tethered.
And everywhere were gaily robed men moving about. Menon, Charmides’
father, looking ahead from the high place, turned to a slave.
“Run on quickly,” he said. “Save a camping place for us there on Mount
Kronion, under the trees.”
The man was off. Menon spoke to the other servants. “Push forward and
make camp. I will visit the gymnasium. Come, Charmides, we will go to
see Creon.”
They rode down the slope toward Olympia. As they passed among the tents
they saw friends and exchanged kind greetings.
“Ah, Menon!” called one. “There is good news of Creon. Every one expects
great things of him.”
“I have kept room for your camp next my tent, Menon,” said another.
“Here are sights for you, Charmides,” said a kind old man.
Charmides caught a glimpse of gleaming marble among the crowd and
guessed that some sculptor was showing his statues for sale. Yonder was
a barber’s tent. Gentlemen were sitting in chairs and men were cutting
their hair or rubbing their faces smooth with stone. In one place a
man was standing on a little platform. A crowd was gathered about him
listening, while he read from a scroll in his hands.
But the boy had only a glimpse of these things, for his father was
hurrying on. In a moment they crossed a bridge over a river and stopped
before a low, wide building. Glaucon helped Charmides off his horse.
Menon spoke a few words to the porter at the gate. The man opened the
door and led the visitors in. Charmides limped along beside his father,
for he was lame. That was what had made him sigh when he had seen
Victory hovering over Olympia. She would never give him the olive
branch. But now he did not think of that. His heart was beating fast.
His eyes were big. For before him lay a great open court baking in the
sun. More than a hundred boys were at work there, leaping, wrestling,
hurling the disk, throwing spears. During the past months they had been
living here, training for the games. The sun had browned their bare
bodies. Now their smooth skins were shining with sweat and oil. As they
bent and twisted they looked like beautiful statues turned brown and
come alive. Among them walked men in long purple robes. They seemed to
be giving commands.
“They are the judges,” whispered Glaucon. “They train the boys.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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