The chariots were generally drawn by two or four horses. Sometimes mules supplied the place of horses. These chariots, upon a signal given, started together. Their places were regulated by lot, which was not an indifferent circumstance as to the victory; for being to turn round a boundary, the chariot on the left was nearer than those on the right, which in consequence had a greater compass to take. They ran twelve times round the Stadium. He that came in first the twelfth round was victor. The chief art consisted in taking the best ground at the turning of the boundary; for if the charioteer drove too near it, he was in danger of dashing the chariot to pieces; and if he kept too wide of it, his nearest antagonist might get foremost. To avoid such danger, Nestor gave the following directions to his son Antilochus, who was going to dispute the prize in the chariot races. “My son,” says he, “drive your horses as near as possible to the turning; for which reason, always inclining your body over your chariot, get the left of your competitors; and encouraging the horse on the right, give him the rein, whilst the near-horse, hard held, turns the boundary so close to it, that the nave of the wheel seems to graze upon it; but have a care of running against the stone, lest you wound your horses, and dash the chariot in pieces.” It was not required, that those who disputed the victory should enter the lists, and drive their chariots in person. Their being spectators of the games, or sending their horses thither, was sufficient. No one ever carried the ambition of making a great figure in the public games of Greece so far as Alcibiades, in which he distinguished himself in the most splendid manner, by the great number of horses and chariots, which he kept only for the races. It is not easy to comprehend, how the wealth of a private person should suffice to so enormous an expense: but Antisthenes, the scholar of Socrates, who relates what he saw, informs us, that many cities of the allies, in a kind of emulation with each other, supplied Alcibiades with all things necessary for the support of such magnificence. Equipages, horses, tents, sacrifices, the most exquisite provisions, the most delicate wines; in a word, all that was necessary to the support of his table or train.