“Erect Orestes, and erect his car, Through all the number’d courses now had stood; But luckless in the last, as round the goal The wheeling courser turn’d, the hither rein Imprudent he relax’d, and on the stone The shatter’d axle dashing, from the wheels Fell headlong; hamper’d in the tangling reins The frighted mares flew diverse o’er the course. “The throng’d assembly, when they saw the chief Hurl’d from his chariot, with compassion moved, His youth deplored; deplored him, glorious late For mighty deeds, now doom’d to mighty woes; Now dragg’d along the dust, his feet in air: Till, hasting to his aid, and scarce at length The frantic mares restraining, from the reins The charioteers released him, and convey’d, With wounds and gore disfigured, to his friends. The just Amphictyons on the Athenian steeds The Delphic laurel solemnly conferr’d.” In a political view, these games were productive of local advantages; for, being sacred to Jupiter, they protected the inhabitants of Elis against all the calamities of war. In an economical point of view, they were of general use; for, as Greece was generally short of horses, nothing was so likely to encourage the breeding of them as the emulation thus raised among the different states. The circulation of money also was not a trifling consideration; for the olive crown was obtained at great expense. By these games being celebrated at the beginning of every fifth year, the Greeks settled their chronology and dates; and as they lasted a thousand years, a great part of the traditional history of Greece rests upon their base. That the honour of the prize was above all price, the following anecdote shows:--A Spartan having gained the victory at the Olympic games with much difficulty, was asked what he should profit by it? “I shall have the honour,” said he, “of being posted before my king in battle.” As a further proof of the value and the moral effect of these contentions for honour, it is stated that, when a conqueror returned to his native city, he made his entry through a breach in the wall--by which was implied that cities inhabited by such men had no need of walls. A senator of Rome, indeed, says Gibbon, “or even a citizen, conscious of his dignity, would have blushed to expose his person or his horses in a Roman circus. There, the reins were abandoned to servile hands; and, if the profits of a favourite charioteer sometimes exceeded those of an advocate, they were considered as the effect of popular extravagance, and the high wages of a disgraceful profession.” The Romans, with more pride, were far less intellectual than the Greeks; but it must still be borne in mind, that, inconsistently enough, the interest taken in the charioteers of Rome shook the very foundation of the government.