“Nor does the triumph of those athletes who have conquered end here,” Sheshà went on to say. “When they return, each to his native city, the whole population will come forth to greet them. The victor belonging to each city, wearing his olive crown, will be placed in a chariot. Torch bearers will receive and run before him, and, when he approaches the wall of his native town, he will find that a breach has been made in it through which he will drive in triumph instead of entering at any one of its gates. In such honour do the citizens of Greece hold a victor in the Olympian Games.” “I expect Phidolas and Agis will drive in the same chariot when they get back to Athens?” suggested Diana. “Oh, won’t their father be pleased. I’m glad. He looked such a nice man.” “He _has_ been pleased, you mean,” said Rachel, rather quietly. “It all happened long ago.” “It’s so difficult to remember that,” murmured Diana. There was a little silence, and then Rachel exclaimed: “See, the people are going. Is this the end of the games?” “It is the end of the first day’s contests,” Sheshà replied. “There will be yet four days, but these will not be wholly occupied by the racing and wrestling and quoit-throwing. Poets will read their odes in praise of the victors. Plays by the greatest dramatists in Greece will be judged and acted, and musicians will play the music they have composed. Olympia does not exist solely for the body. It is for the spirit also. And some of the most famous plays in the world have been acted here.” “Oh, can’t we see them too?” begged the children. “Why need we go on into the Present at all?” added Diana. “The Past is so wonderful.” Sheshà smiled at her kindly. “The Present is wonderful too. It’s _all_ wonderful. Come now, and you shall behold yet another wonder, for the people are going to the temple of Zeus, where the victors will worship and give thanks. We will follow them, and you shall have a glimpse of the statue which Phidias made in honour of Zeus, or to give him his other name—of Jupiter Olympius.” “He’s called that because his temple is here at Olympia, I suppose?” Rachel said. “Agis told us something about Phidias. He made the statue of Minerva in the Parthenon, didn’t he?” “And the frieze of riding boys too,” put in Diana. “Yes—he was the sculptor who adorned the Parthenon at Athens,” said Sheshà, as they followed the huge crowd that was moving towards the temple of Zeus. “But the citizens were ungrateful to him. Therefore he left Athens, and came to live here, near Olympia. And for the people of this part of Greece, he carved a statue even larger and more famous than that of Minerva in the Parthenon—the statue you are about to behold.” “Look! The doors are open now. They were shut when we saw the temple before,” cried Rachel. “Let us walk where we may gain a view through the gates,” Sheshà suggested. In another moment the children saw the interior of the temple.