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FIFTH CHAPTER.
The actual prize was the crown. Formerly, these were round wreaths, which were made of different materials, but at the Games they were made of branches or foliage. They were used in the four great Greek Games, but varied according to their diversity. Apple leaves, apple twigs, even apples were used here. Also olive branches. How should one understand that Daikles was the first to be crowned with it, while others name Hercules, and still others Coroebus. The material of the crown was the foliage of the tree called 'wild olive tree'. This was therefore called 'beautiful-crowns-tree'. Also 'beautiful olive tree'. It was called holy. The crown olive was formerly not in Elis, or at Olympia, but was brought there by Hercules. Iphitus cultivated it further. What the shape of the olive wreath was. The variety of war crowns among the Romans. The Olympic crown and the triumphal crown probably had the same shape. How this crown was placed on the victor's head. The place where, and the tables on which it stood. How among the Greeks and the Romans. What 'finish line' means here. Crowns were also hung high up. Special gestures of the victors upon receiving the crown. The rushing to the crown place. The cleverness in this of the horses of Emperor Claudius. The Rutumena gate or Ratumena gate. Reaching out for the crown, and grasping it. The placement of the crown. By whom that happened.
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§ 1
Now we come to the actual prize of the completed struggle and the achieved victory, namely the so very famous CROWN that, with its name and splendor, entices and astounds the world. CROWN, I say, that has made almost all tongues speak, and has provided work for all pens and styluses to write.
§ 2
CROWNS were formerly round WREATHS, made from a single branch bent into a circle with its leaves, or from certain foliage, leaves and green woven around a circle; or purple or differently colored bandages, bands, wraps, which were called diadems or tiaras; suitable for encircling the crown of the head. The first kind is relevant here, which is why not only the crown, but also the games at OLYMPIA were called 'crowned' and 'crown games', as Faber demonstrates (Faber Agon. book 2, chapter 22).
§ 3
In all four of the great Greek Games, namely the Olympic, Isthmian, Nemean and Pythian, over time the victors were given such crowns, but made of special foliage: as is clear from this verse by Archias (Archias Antholog.):
That is:
The Greek considers four games as high and holy,
Two are for high gods, two for mortals.
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Jupiter, Apollo, then Palaemon and Archemorus:
The prizes are olive, and apples, celery, and for
The fourth pine foliage.
What Lucianus has expressed as follows (Lucianus Dialogue on Gymnastics):
That is: at the Olympic Games a wreath of wild olive, at the Isthmian of pine foliage, at the Nemean of celery green was woven, and at the Pythian apples dedicated to the gods were offered (as a prize for the victor). By those apples I understand a wreath bent from an apple twig, or woven from apple leaves mixed with apples: which apples could have been pomegranates, lemons, peaches, or the like, whose foliage is laurel-like, and whose fruit is elegant and contrasting. But even if it were otherwise, namely that only the apples were meant separately, it is still certain that three of the great Greek games at a certain point awarded a crown or wreath to the victors.
§ 4
However, sometimes in the Olympic field the victor was given apples, either separately, or their foliage and fruit woven into a wreath (which I prefer). However, according to the story of Phlegon (Phlegon in Fragments), IPHITUS received from the Pythian priestess, speaking on behalf of her oracle, the answer to his question: 'Iphitus, no longer set the fruit of the apple tree as a prize for victory.' And added to that:
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That is:
But crown and wreath the head with wild olive leaves,
In which the spider weaves its finely spun threads.
IPHITUS carried out this command, for when he had returned home again, or, to use Greek words, 'when he returned to Olympia, he saw, while there were many wild olive trees in the holy place, one that was covered with spider webs, and he walled it in. And from this the crown was given to the victors.' The first who was now crowned, was Daikles the Messenian, who had won the race during the seventh Olympiad. See this also mentioned by Faber (Faber Agon. book 3, chapter 23). IPHITUS had now asked this question to APOLLO on the same Olympiad, namely after the restoration of the games by himself, as we said earlier from Phlegon (book 1, chapter 2, last §).
§ 5
DAIKLES is said here to be the first to be crowned with the olive wreath, while in the meantime it appears, or at least it is said, that HERCULES, namely the Idean, was first crowned with it at his victory there (Pausanias book 5): just as it must also be assumed (Paschalius de Coronis book 6, chapter 17, at the end), that in some following games the victors were crowned with it, following the example of HERCULES (Faber Agon. book 2, chapter 22). HERCULES had indeed brought in and planted young plants of those olives, but they seem, as if they had been moved to a different soil and under a hotter sky, to have thrived and grown little, but to have almost disappeared over time. Therefore, in our opinion, one returned to giving apples or apple wreaths. However, IPHITUS, so long after HER-
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CULES' life, found, on the instructions of the Pythian oracle on the same Olympiad, a remaining twig of that olive, which was greening among other olives, and used it on the seventh Olympiad to crown DAIKLES with it, and undoubtedly afterwards had it cultivated with new zeal, so that it could serve for the crowning of the victors from then on.
§ 6
And so the difficulty disappears that DAIKLES would have been the first to be crowned with the olive, while HERCULES and others had already boasted with it earlier. But it is more doubtful that DAIKLES would have been the first to be crowned, namely with the olive, while Agellius says that MILO of Croton was crowned in the first Olympiad. His words are as follows (A. Gellius Noctes Atticae book 15, chapter 16): 'Milo of Croton, a famous athlete, of whom it is written in the chronicles that he was crowned in the first Olympiad, etc.' Just as other witnesses state that the Elean cook COROEBUS carried away the first crown. P. Faber does not think it worthwhile, or has (Faber Agon. book 2, chapter 23) neither the time nor the inclination to rack his brain over how these things can be reconciled with each other. And the man is quite right, as someone who knew how differently writers are accustomed to relate things differently, and contradict each other. To want to bring these into agreement is as much as trying to wash the Moor white. Nevertheless, it seems to us that in the present case an agreement of the matters can be found with little effort: namely in the following way, that we assume DAIKLES,
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MILO and COROEBUS lived at the same time, as it is also certain that the histories state it so, after the restoration by IPHITUS. If this is established, it cannot be otherwise than that DAIKLES was the first to be crowned, because his coronation happened on the seventh Olympiad. After him followed, with regard to these three, not MILO, but COROEBUS, since he was crowned on the twenty-eighth Olympiad, as has been shown elsewhere. Now, because that twenty-eighth Olympiad was the first from which the OLYMPIADS, or Olympiad counting, took a fixed basis and beginning, as has also been reported elsewhere, COROEBUS is said to have been the first to be crowned, because he was namely adorned with that ornament of splendor on the first Olympiad from which the counting began. But as for MILO, who lived much later, namely at the time of TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, the seventh Roman king (see Solinus, chapter 4), all difficulty disappears when one thinks with Petrus Mosellanus (P. Mosellanus at Gellius, at the cited place), that in the books of Gellius there is a gross error, namely 'first' for 'sixty-first'. For the said TARQUINIUS had begun to reign in the fourth year of that Olympiad, and at the games thereof, three years later, MILO may have carried away the victory.
§ 7
Furthermore, it serves our purpose that we further investigate 1. the material from which the crown was made, 2. the shape or model thereof, 3. the manner in which the victor obtained it on his head and in his possession.
§ 8
The material from which it was made, was the tree that was called 'wild olive tree' in Greek. That is sufficiently clear from the words of Pausanias (Pausanias book 5), when he relates that HERCULES, after he had had his Idean brothers participate in a competition, crowned the victor 'with the twig', that is, the crown of the 'wild olive tree'. Yes, it is said that Hercules himself was crowned with it, for, as Statius sings (Statius Thebaïs book 6, verses 5, 6, 7):
First, the pious Alcides
Contended on the fields of Pisa for this honor for Pelops,
And wrung the dust from his hair with the wild olive.
That is
Hercules, that pious hero, formerly so famous,
Fought this battle in honor and funeral service of Pelops,
And pressed around his sweating head the wreath of wild olives.
About which Paschalius says (Paschalius book 6, chapter 19): 'wild olive, that is, wild olive, is the 'wild olive tree'.' This is further clear from the saying of Aristophanes (Aristophanes in Plutarchus):
'O Zeus, proclaim the Olympic victors, them gracefully adorned with a crown of wild olive.'
That is:
Jupiter proclaims, display the Olympic victors,
Gracefully adorned with a crown of wild olive.
as is clear from the fact that Alpheus at Philostratus (Philostratus in Plastic Arts) ascribes a crown of this tree to PELOPS as an Olympic crown; as well as from the fact that SOLON (Lucianus on Gymnastics), when asked by ANACHARSIS the Scythian about the prize of the Olympic games, answers: a crown of foliage of the wild olive tree. Tyrius Maximus also indicates this (Tyrius Maximus oration: What is the goal of philosophy?), as this is also clear from the story of Dio (Dio in Nero), who says that NERO upon his return from Greece entered Ro-
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(blank page, content of this page is the translation of the previous pages' text, the headings have been moved)
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me, 'crowned with a crown of wild olive'.
§ 9
Now the 'wild olive tree' was nothing but a wild olive tree. Hesychius (Hesychius in 'wild olive tree'): 'wild olive tree means a wild olive tree'. Theophrastus also understands it that way, when he considers it impossible (Theophrastus book 2 on plants) 'to make a wild olive tree into an olive tree', that is, to change the wild one into a domesticated, real olive tree. This is also clearly shown by the interpreter of Apollonius Rhodius (Apollonius Rhodius and his interpreter), who explains the words of this writer, 'staff of wild-olive wood', with: 'of wild-olive wood'. Furthermore, this is also clear from the just-cited passage of Statius, and what Paschalius said about it, namely that Statius' 'wild olive' was the 'wild olive tree', and consequently that the 'wild olive tree' could be nothing other than the 'wild' olive.
§ 10
Furthermore, this kind of wild olive, which bore the name 'wild olive tree', was given the nickname 'beautiful-crowns-tree', that is, 'beautiful, suitable for crowns'. Pausanias again mentions this nickname (Pausanias book 5):
'Behind that on the right side a special plant has sprouted, the wild olive tree, called the 'olive beautiful for crowns', or 'beautiful crown olive'.' And it is certain that one would give crowns from it to the Olympic victors. This is also what Aristotle wants to say (Aristotle, Marvelous matters 49): 'in Panslethion there is an olive tree that is called Kallistephanos, 'beautiful-crowns-tree'.' By the way, we say,
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that this same wild or field olive also bore the name 'beautiful olive tree', as Paschalius testifies (Paschalius de Coronis book 6, chapter 19). () This indicated that this tree had a beautiful shape with regard to trunk, twig and leaves. For this reason Paschalius says: 'And the 'kotinos'-tree was indeed also called 'Beautiful Olive Tree', and was counted among the most notable trees.' What he also goes on to prove from Theophrastus (Theophrastus book 5 on plants, chapter 3). The beauty included the straightness of the twigs, as well as their smooth firmness, and the beautiful model of the leaves. Because of the first and the second, also royal scepters, shepherd's staffs and clubs of heroes were made from it, which bore the name 'of wild-olive wood' (Paschalius book 6, chapter 19). But because of the beautiful model of the leaves, either on the twigs, suitable for forming an elegant crown of honor with a single bend, or separately, and to be woven into a crown, the tree could also rightly be called 'beautiful olive', yes, as seen before, 'beautiful crown olive'. This crown olive was also called holy (Aristotle in Marvelous traditions). Furthermore, Aristotle describes to us, and from him the Scholiast of Aristophanes (Scholiast of Aristophanes), the suitability and beauty of this tree for making crowns, and at the same time reveals its special quality, different from other olives, thus: its leaves are directly opposite to the nature and leaves of other olives. It lets its branches hang down like the myrtle, being straight and suitable for making crowns from them. The hanging down and the resulting bending of the branches ensures roundness, and the inverse position of the leaves made them rise up visibly: and both said that they, almost by themselves representing crowns, were made for the making of crowns.
() The Apostle uses this word in Romans 11:24: 'For if you were cut off from the Olive Tree, which was by nature wild ('wild olive tree'), and were grafted contrary to nature into the good Olive Tree ('good olive tree').' Grotius says about it: 'Paul conceived this word to be able to better contrast it with 'wild olive tree', while he at the same time, as often in this whole argument, refers to Psalm 52:10, where in the Greek 'fruit-bearing olive tree' stands.' Our translators have translated it as: a green olive tree.
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§ 11
This 'Crown Olive' was, it is said, formerly not in ELIS, and even less in the vicinity of OLYMPIA. No! HERCULES is said to have brought it in and planted it, bringing it from the north, from the Danube River, and planting it by the Olympic field near the river HILISSUS. There, over the years, and in particular after, as we indicated above, IPHITUS had taken care to cultivate it carefully around the sixth and seventh Olympic games, it produced a large forest. These things are related to us by both Aristotle (Aristotle at the cited place) and Pindarus, Pausanias and Philostratus. The first of these says, in the place from which we have already taken several words:
'in Panslethion there is an olive tree, which is called 'beautiful crown olive', whose leaves are directly contrary to the nature
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and the leaves of other olives. It lets its branches hang down like the myrtle, and is very suitable for making crowns from them. From this Hercules took and planted in the Olympic area, from which crowns are given to the victors. It stands near the river Hilissus, about sixty stadia removed from the river itself, and is walled in. A great punishment has been established for anyone who would touch it. From this the Eleans took the crowns, which they laid out in the Olympic field for the victors.' Pindarus, who sings the praise of THERON the Agrigentian (Pindarus Olympic Ode 3), speaks about it as follows:
That is:
the Aetolian winds around the head
With the green bands
Of olive, plundered
Once by the hands
Of Alcmena's Son
By the Danube banks
In the dark north.
Pausanias relates likewise that HERCULES brought the crown olive from the HYPERBOREANS, a people above the north, or the north star, as the poet Olen Lycius said (Olen Lycius in a hymn), and indeed in such abundance, at least by growth, that his brothers the Ideans could spread their bed from its foliage (Pausanias book 5). Although we have indicated above that this kind of
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olive later diminished greatly and almost completely perished. Philostratus further indicates that this crown olive was so abundant, at least at a certain point, and according to our guess after the time of IPHITUS, that there were entire forests of it, when he says (Phylostratus in Apollonius book 8): 'the forests of wild olive trees crowned the victors'. That is to say that there were entire forests of crown olives at the service and for the use of taking material for crowns for the victors from them and adorning their heads with it.
§ 12
The making and the shape of the olive wreath must be the subject of our further consideration. To portray it more clearly, we say beforehand that not only were the crowns and wreaths in general numerous and manifold, but that also the war crowns were very diverse, already from ancient times. Agellius describes to us at least seven kinds (Agellius Noctes Atticae book 5, chapter 6), of which Stewechius with Vegetius (Stewechius with Vegetius book 2, chapter 7) and Sal. van Til with Jac. Lydius (Jac. Lydius syntagma sacrum de re militari book 6, chapter 7) have given us six for illustration, namely the Triumphal Crown, Siege Crown, Civic Crown, Mural Crown, Rampart or Camp Crown, and the Naval Crown. From what has been written about these crowns, we see that they were named among the Romans: 1. TRIUMPHAL CROWN. 2. SIEGE CROWN. 3. CIVIC CROWN. 4. MURAL CROWN. 5. RAMPART or CAMP CROWN. 6. NAVAL CROWN. The 7th, not shown here, is called OVATION CROWN, the lesser victory crown. The triumphal crown was in ancient times made from a laurel twig with its leaves. It appears to us in this print representation as consisting of two twigs that are bent with the help of some wickerwork on the one
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and of some trinket or ornament on the other side; although Paschalius wants (Paschalius book 6, chapter 18) that it consisted of only one laurel twig, curved in a circle and tied together at the ends; and that it would therefore have been called 'laureola' (little laurel wreath) in the singular; which name he cites from Cicero (Cicero Letters to friends book 2, letter 10), where he says: 'that I might only have to do as much as is enough for a little laurel wreath.' With this crown the triumphant generals were adorned, who however in later times preferred to use golden ones for the triumphal procession, as can be understood from Gellius in the above-mentioned place. The siege crown was woven from grass and was given to the general who had relieved and freed a besieged city. The grass had to have been plucked from the very place where the besieged had been enclosed. The civic crown was made of oak leaves, or also of beech, skillfully, as the illustration shows, woven together. One citizen gave it to another citizen, namely to the one who had saved him in battle from the jaws of death, as a witness to the saved life and the obtained salvation. The mural crown was equipped with wall stones that stuck out above, and was given by the army commander to the one who first climbed the wall of a captured city, and had the heart to jump in for others. The camp crown has palisades, stakes, that stick out above, and was given to the one who first fighting broke into the enemy's camp fortress. The naval crown was adorned with the 'rostra', ram prows, or front ends of ships, and was the prize for such as were the first to jump into the enemy's ship in a naval battle. The lesser triumphal crown was of myrtle foliage, undoubtedly of the same making as the great
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triumphal crown, which, as has been said, was composed of laurel. Adorned with this, the general, who had not earned a proper or great triumph, entered the city on foot, while at the great triumph the triumphant victor rode in seated gloriously on a triumphal chariot. But perhaps more on these things elsewhere.
§ 13
Now, as for the Olympic crown, from all circumstances it is probable that it had the same making and the same shape as the triumphal or victory crown of the generals. Only the material, there crown olive, here laurel, was different. And just as Paschalius wants (Paschalius at the cited place) that the laurel crown consisted of only one bent twig, so he testifies in the same place that it was also the case with the Olympic crown, basing himself in particular on the story of Pausanias, who says that HERCULES crowned his victor 'with a branch of the wild olive tree'. If this is certain, we may imagine a crown of crown olive that consists of a single bent branch. As for us, however, we believe that it was not always prepared in the same way, nor of the same making, and therefore sometimes consisted of two twigs, yes, often and mostly also of leaves that were skillfully woven together. For which reason we so often read about the 'weaving' of the crowns, which cannot well take place with the bending of one or two branches, since such a thing is of too little art and effort.
§ 14
It remains for us to pay attention to the manner in which the victor obtained the proud crown of honor on his head and in his possession. In this, it is particularly
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important to understand in what place and in what state the Olympic crowns were, and then with what gestures each victor came to obtain his own; and finally who placed it on him.
§ 15
The place where the crowns were, was specifically at or within the elevated enclosure where the HELLANODIKAI with their retinue and various servants stayed. This seems crystal clear from what Aelianus says (Aelianus Varia Historia book 9, chapter 31): 'The athlete from Croton, who had won the Olympic Games, ran to the Hellanodikai to receive the crown.' That unnamed Crotonian ran there to receive the crown, which shows that it must have been there. And we think that there all the victory crowns, after they had first been carried around for viewing and to incite the competitors, lay on elevated tripods and their disks or plates, three in number, of which that of IPHITUS was the foremost (about which is spoken elsewhere), and over time on ivory and golden tables, as is clear from Pausanias and others (Pausanias book 5). However, it also seems true that sometimes, at least some crowns, were displayed in the middle, or also at the end of the field, where some of the AGONOTHETAI, BRABEUTAI, judges and prize distributors stayed, and were then given to the victors (Faber Agon. book 2, chapter 26). Just as among the Romans in their circus games the prize and crown could be seen on, and fetched from the 'spina', the median barrier that was in the middle of the field, and specifically from near the obelisk that was dedicated to the Moon (Faber book 2, chapter 27).
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See H. Kipping (Kipping. Antiq. Rom. book 2, chapter 6, § 3). Likewise, Maro (Vergilius) also relates (Vergilius Aeneis book 5, verse 109), alluding to the custom of the Greeks, both in the Olympic field and elsewhere, and in particular of the Romans in their just-mentioned CIRCUS, that AENEAS first shows the prizes and has them placed in the middle of the field. Thus speaks that fame of the Latin poets, as has been said elsewhere:
'First the gifts are placed before the eyes and in the race track, in the middle the holy tripods, and the green crowns, and the palm branches, the prize for the victors, and weapons, and garments soaked in purple, and talents of silver and gold.'
Vondel renders this as:
The prizes are placed in the middle of the track,
God-dedicated tripods, standing as field tables,
Gold, silver, weaponry, and purple garments,
And victory branches, and also wreaths, green of leaf.
However, with regard to the CIRCUS (to add another word about that), it must also be taken into account that specifically the palm branches and the crowns, which were intended for the victorious chariot racers and chariot drivers, were placed in the front of the field, specifically at the transverse line where the race began and to which it, after the turn around the turning posts and especially at the seventh round, ended. That line, which the Greeks called 'white line' (about which is spoken elsewhere), and also 'end', 'end post', 'turning post', 'start line', 'start', and the Romans called 'chalk', and also 'heel' or 'the backmost'. Hence we find that 'chalk' and 'heel' are used figuratively and euphemistically by writers, to denote not only the palm branch and the crown itself, but even all reward, yes the end and the outcome, even of life. Propertius:
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'--- this is the last chalk line for my race.' (Propertius)
That is:
This is the last chalk line for my run,
The end of my ways, and of all my hope.
Varro (Varro):
'Fate allows no one to let his chariot, released from the deepest starting box, slide uninjured over the white plain to the finish line.'
That is:
Fate does not allow anyone to drive his own chariot wheel,
Launched from the starting box, through the field,
So that he would not learn to know any setback or disaster,
And gently and unharmed reach the white heel.
For more on this, see the extensive argument of Claudius Salmasius (Salmasius at Solinus chapter 45), and note that he with reasons asserts that the word 'Calx' here means a 'heel' or 'heel', and by similarity 'the end' or 'last', and not lime (although it also has that meaning in Latin). This, although some have explained it in this respect, thinking that the above-mentioned line obtained its whiteness from chalk or lime, and that it could therefore be called 'Creta' or 'Calx' indifferently. But the crowns were also sometimes hung up and down from an elevation, so that they would be more visible and would evoke more desire, fire and passion in the competitors. This is clear from what Plutarch (Plutarch, On Garrulousness) argues as follows: 'The trainer Hippomachus said (when some praised a very tall man with long arms as very suitable for fist fighting), 'certainly, if it was about pulling down the hung-up crown'.' See more on this what Faber (Faber at the cited place), and from him Lydius (Lydius Agon. Sacr. chapter 1), has noted.
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§ 16
The gestures of the victors, now declared victors and entitled to the crown, were special. Namely, as soon as they believed they would receive the crown, their first gesture was that they stormed with great passion to the place of the crown. This is clear from the behavior of that Crotonian, whom we just spoke of, as well as from that of the Parthenopian ARCAS, when he had overtaken his opponent JOLAS. For immediately after, according to Statius (Statius Thebaïs book 6, verses 642, 643):
'With a shout he stormed through the gates, with a shout he ran back for the leader, and with the pressed hand palm he lightened his sighs.'
Others read: with the gripped hand palm.
That is:
He went with a great cry to storm the doors,
With a great cry he returned, and came to stand
Before the leader of the battle, and immediately grasped
The palm branch, and refreshed his almost exhausted soul.
This flair and allure would also have been shown by the horses of Emperor CLAUDIUS, in particular through the policy of the horse CORAX, according to the story of Solinus and Plinius (Solinus chapter 45). The former speaks as follows: 'The ingenuity of horses was also proven by the circus horses of Emperor Claudius, when the four-horse team, after the driver had been thrown off, overtook the competing chariots no less with cunning than with speed; and after completing the full race of their own accord stopped at the place of the palm branch, as if they wanted to demand the prize of victory.
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Also the four-horse team, after throwing off the driver, whom they called Rutumanna, leaving the battle arena, stormed to the Capitol, and did not stop sooner, although hampered by oncoming traffic, than after it had circled the Tarpeian Jupiter three times clockwise.' Plinius, according to the correction of Salmasius (Plinius Natural History book 8, chapter 42): 'During the centennial games in the circus of Emperor Claudius, after the driver of the white party was thrown off in the starting boxes, the horses led by Corax took the lead, gained the first place, blocking the way, evading, and doing everything against the rivals that they should have done under the guidance of the most experienced driver. As if they were ashamed that the arts of men were surpassed by horses, they stopped at the turning post after completing the required race. A greater omen was it among the ancients that at the circus games, after throwing off the driver, the horses ran to the Capitol and circled the temple three times. But the greatest omen was that they came there from Veii with the palm branch and the crown, after Ratumena, who had won there, was thrown off.' That is: 'at the circus centennials of Emperor Claudius, the white horses, led by the horse Corax, after the chariot driver was thrown off, won the victory. They took the lead, held back opponents, shot forward, and did everything against the competitors (as if they were ashamed that the arts of man were overcome by horses) that they should have done as if an extremely skilled driver had been on it. After the completed race they stopped at the turning post. A greater wonder was it that at the circus games the horses, after having thrown off the driver,
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stormed to the Capitol and ran three times around that temple. But the greatest was that they came here from Veii with the palm branch and the crown, after throwing off Ratumena, who had won there.' Pompeius Festus also made mention of this case (Festus on the Ratumena gate), and indicated that a gate was named after that thrown-off Rutumenna, whom he calls Ratumena. 'The Ratumena gate is named after him, a young man of Etruscan origin who, as a victor in a chariot race, was thrown from the chariot by his runaway horses in Veii and died in Rome. Of these horses it is said that they did not stop sooner than when they reached the Capitol and saw the terracotta four-horse teams that stood on the fronton of the temple of Jupiter etc.'
§ 17
Second: the second gesture was that they, now having come to the place of the palm branch and crown, reached out to grasp and pull it towards them. This shows at least the fiery desire to have the crown, and perhaps at the same time that in some cases, especially if the crown was high up or hung up, they actually grabbed it and fetched it from above. This the Greeks called not only 'receiving' and 'taking' (alluding to this the Apostle says in Philippians 3:12: 'not that I have already obtained it, or am already perfected, but I press on, if I may also grasp it'; and in 1 Timothy 6:12: 'fight the good fight of faith, take hold of eternal life'. See Lydius' Agon. Sacr. chapter 1; Adam's Observ. Theol. Philol. p. 370),
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as is clear from Pollux (Pollux Onomasticon book 3, chapter 3), Aelianus (Aelianus Varia Historia book 9, chapter 31) and others, but also 'plundering' (according to Chrysostomus (Chrysostomus on Romans chapter 7) and Procopius (Procopius on Isaiah 44)) to express the said desire, zeal, passion and strength, by which alone, and as it were by plunder and violence, the victory, and consequently the crown, could be obtained. That the victors so reached out to grasp the crown, to tear it towards them, yes to plunder it, is very clear to note, both from the examples of the just-mentioned Crotonian, who hurried to the game directors 'to grab the crown', as Aelianus says in the said place, and from the sarcastic remark that HIPPOMACHUS made about that great and long-armed man, whom he said was suitable 'if it was about pulling down the hung-up crown'. See on this also above. As well as from that ARCAS, who with a roar stormed to the doors and refreshed his panting breath 'with the gripped (or pressed) palm branch', or the gripped, torn towards him, or pressed palm branch and crown. Pressed, namely, because he, after he had torn it towards him, held it tightly. This was also mentioned in the previous paragraph. This is also what Statius alludes to at the end of these verses (Statius, elegy on his father, verse 221 et seq.):
'So the father looks at his son who competes in the Olympic arena; he himself suffers more, he is tormented deeper in his heart. The spectators pay attention, but Acetes is looked at more, while he keeps burying his eyes with dust and swears to die with the gripped crown in his hand.'
That is:
So the father sees his son fighting in the Olympic arena,
And bears the most burden, and feels the greatest pain.
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The stands notice this: Acetes in appearance,
As if he is swallowing the dust, to stain his face,
And earnestly wishes, after the gripped crown,
To breathe out his soul, stood so alone on display.
Where he explicitly says, 'prensa corona', 'the gripped' or 'plundered crown'; because the victor grabbed it, and as if with great passion pulled it towards him, and as it were plundered it. This is also what Cassiodorus alludes to (Cassiodorus Variae book 11, chapter 53): 'If the Olympic chariot driver grasps, plunders the prizes, after the efforts.' Also Petrus Chrysologus (P. Chrysologus sermon 153), when he says of the children of Bethlehem: 'ignorantly they take up the palm branch, unknowingly they plunder the crowns: so as the unblemished virginity brought honor to the Mother, so the childlike ignorance of suffering has grasped (plundered) the palms and crowns of martyrdom.' See this also cited by Faber and Lydius.
§ 18
Now something else about the placing of the crown. For although the competitors were panting, and those declared victors ran to the crown, on some occasions also grabbed for it, and while grabbing pulled it towards them and plundered it, they still had to be crowned, that is, the crown had to be placed on them. According to Paschalius (Paschalius book 6, chapter 22), this was indeed performed by the own hands of the judges. He proves this from these verses of Pindarus (Pindarus Olympic Ode 3), which have already been cited in part above in § 2:
p. 404
'To satisfy him according to the laws of Hercules, a just man, one of the Hellanodikai, of Aetolian descent, had then prepared himself (everyone came to watch), who winds Theron's head with the green bands of olive, formerly plundered by the hands of Alcmena's son by the banks of the Ister in the dark north.'
That is:
To satisfy him
According to Hercules' laws,
Had then
Prepared himself
A just man,
One of the Hellanodikai,
An Aetolian by
Descent (everyone came to watch)
Who winds Theron's head
With the green bands,
Of olive, formerly plundered
By the hands
Of Alcmena's Son,
By the Danube banks
In the dark north.
See there a HELLANODYKOS, a game director and judge, of Aetolian nationality, who 'throws' the crown 'over the eyebrows around the hair' of the victorious THERON. For those are the poet's own words, who also very emphatically calls the crown or wreath 'the golden-yellow ornament of the olive branch'. But it can also be that, if the poet attributes this work to the HELLANODYKOS, he does not want us to understand that the HELLANODYKOS would have done it with his
p. 405
own hands (for he does not use those words, although Paschalius understands it that way), but by his command and order, and then subsequently by the hands of the 'Herald', the announcer, who was the actual placer of the crown. As is clear from this passage of Cicero, which we have already mentioned earlier (Cicero, Letters to Friends, book 5, letter 12): 'let finally many disapprove and say that the announcers at the athletic games are more modest, who, after they have placed the crowns on the other victors and have called out their names with a loud voice, etc.' By command then of the HELLANODYKOS (perhaps also sometimes by his own hand), and by the actual placement by the announcer, the victor received the wreath around his head, and became a participant, owner and possessor of it as his rightful own property, and furthermore showed off with it as his most beautiful ornament and highest glory.