We must not omit, in speaking of the Olympic games, to notice that ladies were admitted to dispute the prize in them as well as the men, which many of them obtained. Cynisca, sister of Agesilaus, king of Sparta, first opened this new path of glory to her sex, and was proclaimed victrix in the race of chariots with four horses. This victory, which till then had no example, did not fail of being celebrated with all possible splendour.—A magnificent monument was erected in Sparta in honour of Cynisca; and the Lacedæmonians, though otherwise very little sensible to the charms of poetry, appointed a poet to transmit this new triumph to posterity, and to immortalize its memory by an inscription in verse. OF THE HONOURS AND REWARDS GRANTED TO THE VICTORS.—These honours and rewards were of several kinds. The spectators’ acclamations in honour of the victors were only a prelude to the rewards designed them. These rewards were different wreaths of wild olive, pine, parsley, or laurel, according to the different places where the games were celebrated. Those crowns were always attended with branches of palm, that the victors carried in their right hands. As he might be victor more than once in the same games, and sometimes on the same day, he might also receive several crowns and palms. When the victor had received the crown and palm, a herald, preceded by a trumpeter, conducted him through the Stadium, and proclaimed aloud his name and country. When he returned to his own country, the people came out in a body to meet him, and conducted him into the city, adorned with all the marks of his victory, and riding upon a chariot drawn by four horses. He made his entry not through the gates, but through a breach purposely made in the walls. Lighted torches were carried before him, and a numerous train followed, to do honour to the procession. One of the most honourable privileges granted to the athletic victors, was the right of taking place at the public games. At Sparta it was a custom for the king to take them with him in military expeditions, to fight near his person, and to be his guard; which, with reason, was judged very honourable. Another privilege, in which the useful united with the honourable, was that of being maintained for the rest of their lives at the expense of their country. They were also exempted from all civil offices and employments. The praises of the victorious athlete were, amongst the Greeks, one of the principal subjects of their lyric poetry. We find, that all the odes of the four books of Pindar turn upon it, each of which takes its title from the games, in which the combatants signalised themselves, whose victories those poems celebrate.