p. 406
SIXTH CHAPTER.
Variety of Games and victors gave variety of crowns. Some won more than one crown at the same Olympic Games. Also those who won in other Games received a stack of crowns. Periodonikai. Several examples of those who had many crowns. The vain ambition of Nero to obtain many crowns, even from lesser Games. Winning a single Olympic crown already brought honor and gave many benefits. First, second and third prizes. The latter also given for a reason. Also fourth and fifth. Some examples from Virgilius and Statius.
§ 1
Thus the crowned victor now stands before our eyes in full splendor, that is (not to mention the tributes, exclamations, roars and other things, which are partly not, partly not so visible) with his white ceremonial robe adorned with palm branches, a palm branch in his hands and a wreath of wild olive, as visible as possible to the mind's eye. One could depict him as a valiant, heroic man with such a triumphal robe, a palm branch in one hand and a wreath of wild olive on his head.
§ 2
In the description and the shape of a single one, we see all the great victors: for there were several games, and so there could also be several vic-
p. 407
tors: consequently, several crowns also had to be given and several crowned persons had to appear. After all, there was a crown and victory for the runners, one for the fist fighters, one for the wrestlers, one for the discus throwers, one for the pankratiasts and one for the pentathletes. And because the competitions were held one after the other, some could win more than once at the same Olympic Games, namely in several games, and thus carry away more than one crown. This increased the glory and the honor, which indeed grew with the number of crowns. Because the other great Games, namely the Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean and other, lesser Games, were also held at different times, it happened that some victors also carried away the prize and crown in those games. Thus they made the stack of their crowns even higher and thus showed off with greater honor. Such victors bore the name of honor PERIODONIKAI, that is, those who 'in the round', or in all games, had become victors, as Festus explains it, as we have seen above (Pomp. Festus in Periodos).
§ 3
And that several people had many crowns, because they had been proclaimed victors in various Olympic and other games, we will now further illustrate with some passages and examples.
§ 4
DAMISCUS, who, at the age of twelve, outran the boys in the competition, afterwards achieved five more Nemean and Isthmian victories, and consequently also so many crowns, as Pausanias relates (Pausanias lib. 6).
§ 5
That GLAUCUS, who has already been spoken of before, received, according to the same writer, besides
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the Olympic, two more Pythian and eight Nemean and Isthmian crowns (idem ibidem).
§ 6
DORIEUS obtained besides Olympic, eight Isthmian, seven Nemean and then another Pythian crown (idem ibidem).
§ 7
Also that THEAGENES, about whose penance has been spoken before, won and obtained the prize at the next Olympic Games. He then obtained three more Pythian crowns for the fist fight, nine Nemean, and for the mixed fight, consisting of the fist fight and the Pankration, ten more Isthmian, as the same writer testifies (idem ibidem).
§ 8
However, according to the story of the same Pausanias, PHTHIAS went further: for he, striving for honor and competing with a certain ACHILLES, obtained (namely from various games, and from various places and times) not just twelve, but hundreds of crowns, up to a number of four hundred (idem ibidem).
§ 9
As Dio also relates in Xiphilinus, that the famous chariot driver EUPREPES, killed by CARACALLA because he favored another faction, carried away seven hundred eighty-two crowns (Xiphilinus in Ant. Caracalla). See about him also in Faber.
§ 10
The vain ambition of NERO to win as a PERIODONIKES 'in the round' and in all games and to show off with many crowns, made him travel through Greece and practice not only the brave combat and war games, but rather the dance game, cither playing, (Faber Agon. lib. 1. cap. 28)
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song game and such, as Zonaras testifies about this (Zonaras tom. 2. annal. pag. 188):
Περιιὼν δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, οὐχ ὡς οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ὀρχούμενος καὶ κιθαρῳδῶν καὶ κηρύττων καὶ τραγῳδῶν. οὐ γὰρ αὐτῷ ἡ Ῥώμη μόνη ἀπέχρησεν, ἀλλ’ ἔδει καὶ ἀποδημῆσαι, ἵνα καὶ περιοδονίκης, ὡς ἔλεγε, γένηται. That is: However, he also traveled through Greece, not like his ancestors, but for the dance and cither playing and for the competitions in declamation and tragedy. For Rome was not enough for him, he also had to make a foreign trip, so that he became a Periodonyk (victor everywhere), as he said. Therefore he was described by Suetonius as someone who upon his return to Rome made his entry with an Olympic crown on his head and a Pythian in his right hand, and had placed holy crowns in his bedroom around the bed (Suetonius in Nerone cap. 25). About this Causaubonus says (Cafaubonus ad Sueton. ibid.): haene illae Junt, de quibus Dio ? qui Auctor est octingentos & octo supra mille coronas, quas Nero aurigando meruerat, fuisse ab illo in Circo appensas AEgyptiaco obelisco. That is: Are these the ones about which Dio speaks? Who testifies that one thousand eight hundred and eight crowns, which Nero had earned with chariot racing, were hung by him on the Egyptian obelisk in the Circus. See there what a stack of crowns! He had not earned them, but they had been given to him, partly because of his authority and power, partly because of his money, with which he bribed the judges, as is clear from the example that Dio relates (Xiphilinus pag. 178), namely that NERO, although he had fallen from his chariot on the Olympic field (about which Suetonius also relates) (Suetonius in Nerone cap. 24), was nevertheless proclaimed victor by the Hellanodikai for a sum of sertiarum millionem twenty-five million, about which we may have spoken before.
§ 11
Although the number of crowns increased the honor,
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as is now clear, the winning of a single crown from the Olympic Games was nevertheless enough to make someone highly honored and to make him enjoy the most glorious fruits and consequences of the crown (more on which later).
§ 12
And such a crown, even if it was only one, was the βραβεῖον, as the Greeks say, that is, the first and therefore highest prize, which alone brought with it such glorious fruits. And this was so called in distinction from the () δευτερεῖον, the second, and τριτεῖον, the third, that is, the second and third prize. Or in the plural τὰ πρῶτα or πρωτεῖα, the first, τὰ δεύτερα or δευτερεῖα, the second, and τὰ τρίτα, the third prizes were called; as can be seen more extensively in P. Faber (Faber Agon. lib. 3. cap. 20).
() It is true that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24: Do you not know, that those who run in the race course, all indeed run, but only one receives the prize? (εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον); and that at Lucianus in the Gymnas. tom. 2. p. 273. Anacharsis wonders, saying: "O Solon, do so many then endure the effort for an insignificant and uncertain victory, especially since they know that only one of all will be proclaimed victor, and the defeated are the most, of whom some succeed, and some also get wounds in a miserable way?" Although the victor alone left with the βραβεῖον, which was the πρωτεῖον, this did not prevent those who almost won from also receiving some prizes, which were called δευτερεῖα and τριτεῖα, or also μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἀριστεῖα, as Lydius notes. Musculus meanwhile says very aptly about the cited passage of Paul, that Paul does not say: "run so, that one of you receives the prize", but "that you may receive it". With this he indicates that this is the difference between the earthly and the heavenly βραβεῖον, that in the race of Christianity it is not only given to one person to carry away the prize, as in the arena of the physical race, but that all have the power and the right to grasp the βραβεῖον, if only they run lawfully.
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who also shows with the help of various sources that, by analogy with the prizes at the Games, for other matters too the best is called the πρωτεῖον, the first, and what is a little less is the δευτερεῖον, the second. He confirms this most clearly with this statement of Herodianus: αὕτη γὰρ ἡ πόλις, πλούτῳ τε καὶ πλήθει οἰκητόρων καὶ μεγέθει Ῥώμῃ μόνῃ παραχωροῦσα, ἀντιπολιτεύεται πρὸς τὴν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ὑπὲρ τῶν δευτερείων &c. (Herodianus lib. 7. cap. 13). That is: For this city, which only yields to Rome in wealth, number of inhabitants and size, competes with Alexandria in Egypt for the δευτερείων, the second place.
§ 13
And it is no wonder that second and third prizes were established, because those who approached the victors so closely in the game that they were counted as second and third, were almost victors and were also almost considered as such. Not to recognize their bravery would be the same as mocking bravery, and not wanting to comfort with lesser gifts those who had not been able to obtain the highest prize (which alone had so much praise and glorious consequences). This is also the path that Virgilius lets his AENEAS take (Virgilius AEnid. lib. 5.), for example with the participants in the ship race, in which although to CLOANTHUS, as victor, the first prize was awarded, but to MNESTHEUS the second, to GYAS the third, and then a fourth was still awarded to SERGESTUS, who had run onto a rock, out of mercy. So the poet relates it (vf. 244. - 285.):
Tum fatus Anchifa, cunɛtis ex more vocatis,
Viɛtorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum
Declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro:
Muneraque in naves, ternes optare juvencos,
Vinaque, & argenti magnum dat ferre talentum.
Ipfis praecipuos duɛtoribus addit honores:
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Viɛtori chlamydem auratam, quam plurima circum
Purpura Maeandro duplici Meliboea cucurrit.
Intextufque puer frondofâ regins Idâ
Veloces jaculo cervos cursuque fatigat,
Acer, anbelanti fimilis ; quem praepes ab Ida
Sublimem pedibus rapuit. Jovis armiger uncis
Longaevi palmas nequicquam ad fidera tendunt
Cuflodes, faevitque canum latratus in auras.
At, qui deinde locum tenuit virtute fecundum;
Levibus huic hamis confertam auroque trilicem
Loricam, quam Demoleo detraxerat ipfe
Viɛtor apud rapidum Simoënta fub Nio alto,
Donat habere viro, decus & tutamen in armis.
Vix illam famuli Phegeus Sagarifque ferebant
Multiplicem, connixi humeris; indutus at olim
Demoleus, cursu palantes Troas agebat.
Tertia dona facit geminos ex aere lebetas,
Cymbiaque argento perfeɛta atque afpera fignis.
Jamaque adeo donati omnes, opibufque fuperbi,
Puniceis ibant evinɛti tempora taeniis:
Cum faevo è fcopulo multa vix arte revulfus,
Amiffis remis, atque ordine debilis uno,
Irrifam fine honore ratem Sergeftus agebat.
Qualis faepa viae deprenfus in aggere ferpens,
AErea quem obliquum rota tranfiit, aut gravis iɛtu
Seminecem liquit faxo lacerunque viator:
Nequicquam longos fugiens dat corpore tortus,
Parte ferox ardenfque oculis, & fibila colla
Arduus attollens; pars vulnere cauda retentat
Nexantem nodos, feque in fua membra plicantem
Tali remigio navis fe tarda movebat :
Vela facit tamen, & plenis fubit oftia velis.
Sergeftum AEneas promiffo munere donat.
Servatam ob navem laetus fociofque reduɛtos.
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Olli ferva datur, operum haud ignara Minervae,
Creffa genus, Pholoë, geminique fub ubere nati.
That is:
Anchises' son, to reward them all together,
called them together, declared with the voice of the herald
Cloanthus the winner on the beach,
wreaths the head of the winner with green laurel,
commands wines and three bulls, fat animals,
and a great treasure of silver, generous and happy,
to be brought as a gift for the three ships,
grants the commanders themselves the highest honors.
The winner gets a ceremonial robe, to wear,
of golden fabric, doubly along the hem
richly embroidered with a Meander stream,
of Meliboean purple, on which Ganymedes, woven
on leafy Ida, resolutely pursues the deer,
so fast with his spear that he tires the animals,
he pants for breath, who, elsewhere picked up
by Jupiter's shield-bearer with his curved claws,
and taken away, flies terrified to the high celestial fortress;
while the gray crowd in vain, so surprised,
tries to grasp him, and the barking of the greyhounds
echoes in the air. then he, a lover
of virtue, gives the second prize to the second winner,
a very valuable breastplate, three rings thick
of golden mail, which he, without fear,
before high Troy, where Demoleus failed,
tore from his body at the swift Simois.
The weight was so heavy for Phegeus and Sagarus, who carried it,
two equally strong servants, heavy enough to carry,
Demoleus, equipped with this during his life,
had often driven the Trojans from the field.
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The third gifts that he distributes in this arena,
are a pair of kettles of red copper, sturdy and strong,
drinking bowls also, made of silver and decorated
with impressive relief work. The prizes so distributed,
they all go away, encouraged by the prize,
the wreaths around their heads with purple, according to custom,
tied, each according to the richness of his gift, free from worries;
when Sergestus, who had run aground on the sharp rock
and with dexterity escaped from the rock,
arrived mocked and discouraged with his ship,
a whole row of rowers weakened, his oars lost.
As sometimes on the road a fierce snake [which one
crushed and ran over with a shod wheel:
Or at which a traveler threw with a boulder,
heavily wounded it, and left it half-dead, swollen with blood;]
in vain wants to flee, with its body it makes long twists
and circles, partly still grim, stout and proud
raises its head, its two eyes, red as fire,
still open wide, moves forward with a hiss; and partly,
mutilated by its wound, to keep its body whole,
it attaches the front and back parts with knots,
curls up with its bruised limbs:
so the slow ship came rowing, cleaving the water.
It nevertheless sails, and hurries, and enters the mouth of the harbor
with full sails. Aeneas however
honors Sergestus with the prize that was promised
for the winner of the game, and is delighted because now, free from worries,
the comrades and the ship are saved and secure.
He gives him Pholoë, a Cretan slave girl,
who, out of maternal love, a twin,
suckles and cherishes at her breasts, and spent her hours
with spinning wool, and was ingenious in embroidering,
a skillful handiwork, even Minerva's own.
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Likewise with the participants in the race, in which EURYALUS as victor would have received the first, HELYNUS the second, DIORES the third, SALIUS the fourth and NISUS (these two however out of pity) the fifth prize. The poet words this as follows (vf. 337. - 361):
Emicat Euryalus, & munere viɛtor amici
Prima tenet, plaufuque volat fremituque fecundo.
Poft Elymus fubit, & nunc tertia palma Diores.
Hic totum cavae conceffum ingentis, & ora
Prima patrum magnis Salius clamoribus implet;
Ereptumque dolo reddi fibi pofcit honorem.
Tutatur favor Euryalum, lacrymaeque decorae,
Gratior & pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.
Adjuvat, & magna proclamat voce Diores:
Qui fubiit palme; fruftraque ad praemia venit
Ultima, si primi Slio redduntur honores.
Tum pater AEneas: Veftra, inquit, munera vobis
Certa manent, pueri, & palmam movet ordine nemo.
Me liceat cafus mifereri infontis amici.
Sic fatus, tergum Gaetuli immane leonis
Dat Salio, villis onerofum atque unguibus aureis.
Idic Nifus : Si tanta, inquit, funt praemia viɛtis,
Et te lapforum miferet; quae munera Niso
Digna dabis, primam merui qui laude coronam;
Ni me, quae Salium, fortuna inimica tuliffet ?
Et fimul his diɛtis faciem oftentabat, & udo
Turpia membra fimo. Risit pater optimus olli,
Et clypeum offeri juffit, Didymaonis artes,
Neptuni facro Danais de pofte refixum.
Hoc juvenem egregium praeftanti munere donat.
That is:
Then Euryalus shot forward and won so decisively
the first prize, through the help of his faithful friend,
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and flew on the applause and the shrill voice
of his supporters; and Helymus follows him.
The third prize is chosen by Diores.
Then Salius made himself heard before all the lords,
in their assembly. he requested that everyone quickly
grant him the honor that was taken from him by cunning:
but the favor of the judge, here granted to Euryalus,
the lovely tears and virtue, which please everyone,
the virtue, which shines more beautifully from the beautiful body,
secure him the prize. Diores, who does not fail
to defend Euryalus's right with reason,
cries: "If Salius is to be honored with the first prize,
then he wrongfully only gets the last running prize."
Prince Aeneas spoke: "O lads, be at ease and be quiet.
Your prizes will remain yours, as you wish,
no one will snatch the well-deserved reward from you.
Allow me now to have pity on the innocence of my friend,
and such an accident." so he speaks, and honors
Salius with a hide, from a lion from the wild Gaetulian forest
pulled, rough with hair and locks,
with golden claws on it, worked into a breastplate.
And then Nisus spoke: "What, what now? Rewards for the
losers in this way? Can pity so hurt justice?
What prize should you then give to Nisus,
who honorably and rightfully won the first running wreath;
if the running fortune, which could so
betray Salius, had not so obstructed my foot in the run?"
So he speaks, and shows his face, smeared
by slime and blood. The good father laughed,
commanded the shield to be brought, to which Didymaon once
had dedicated his spirit, which the bands of
Greeks, who desecrated Neptune's altar and temple,
had torn from the post; and in the middle of the circle
he honors this gift to the brave youth.
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Likewise with the pigeon shooters, among whom the victorious EURYTION would have received the first prize, if not for a special reason ACESTES had been placed before him with his approval. Now ACESTES therefore received the first, EURYTION the second, MNESTHEUS the third and HIPPOCOON the fourth prize. About which the poet speaks in the following way (vf. 531. - 544):
-- fed laetum amplexus Aceftem
Muneribus cumulat magnis, act alia fatur:
Sume, pater, nam te voluit rex magnus Olympi
Talibus aufpiciis exortem ducere honorem.
Ipfius Anchifae longaevi hoc munus habebis:
Crataera impreffum fignis, quam Thracius olim
Anchifae genitori in magno munere Cisseus
Ferre fui dederat monimentum & pignus amoris.
Sic fatus, cingit viridanti tempora lauro,
Et primum ante omnes viɛtorm appellat Aceften.
Nec bonus Eurytion praelato invidit honori,
Quamvis folus avem coelo dejecit ab alto.
Proximus ingreditur donis, qui vincula rupit:
Extremus, volucri qui fixit arundine malum.
That is:
---- Aeneas embraced Acestes
with joy, bestows great gifts upon him, and says something else:
"Accept these gifts,
O father, [for it pleases Jupiter to remember you,
who now misses the prize in the lot, with this reward,
by these omens.] This gift is still from old Anchises
preserved; a golden cup, engraved
with impressive work, given to him by Cisseus,
the Thracian, as a pledge of favor, never tired of doing good."
So he speaks, grants Acestes the highest archery prize,
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wreaths his head with foliage and green laurel leaves.
The good Eurytion is not burdened with envy,
because another is granted the honor above him,
although he alone shot the pigeon high in the air with his arrow:
and after Eurytion, Mnestheus received a prize,
because his bow had shot the string into pieces.
Hippocoon came in last, the hit on the mast.
§ 14
To these examples from Virgilius we may add some examples from Statius (Statius Theb. lib. 6. vf. 643), who speaks as follows about the ended race and the prize ceremony thereof:
Finiti curfus, operumque infignia praefto
Arcas equum dono, clypeum gerit improbus Idas;
Caetra plebs Lyciis gaudet contenta pharetris.
That is:
The race is over, the signs of the deeds are at hand
Arcas gets a horse as a gift, the impudent Idas carries a shield;
The rest of the people are content with Lycian quivers.
a quiver like those that fit on Lycian shoulders.
And so about the throwing competition (vf. 719):
Tunc genitus Talao viɛtori tigrin inanem
Ire jubet, fulvo quae circumfufa nitebat
Margine, & extremos auro manfueverat ungues.
Guofiacos arcus babet & vaga tela Meneftheus.
At tibi ait Phlaegya cafu fruftrate finiftro
Hunc quondam noftri decus, auxiliumque Pelafgi
Ferre damus (neque enim Hippomedon inviderit) enfem.
That is:
Adrastus then proceeds to hand over the prizes,
he has a tiger skin delivered to Hippomedon,
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which is yellow striped, and has also tamed the claws with yellow gold
and has adorned them: but Mnestheus, the second, gets
Gnosian bows, and then very whimsical arrows.
But to Phlegyas Adrastus says in the meantime:
"Fate was against you, yet do not be unhonored:
Accept, receive, as third, that glittering sword.
Our pride, the help of the Pelasgi, to fight bravely.
I know that even Hippomedon will not envy this."
§ 15
And with this it is clear enough that those who came after the victor received the second and third prize, namely in such competitions where as many or more people participated at the same time: for where only two appeared, only a first and second prize were awarded. This happened in the caestus fight between DARES and ENTELLUS, in which AENEAS assigned a young bull, adorned with gold and ribbons, to the victor, and to the vanquished, who came closest to the victor, a sword and a helmet. So Virgilius relates it (Virgilius AEn. lib. 5. vf. 365):
Sic ait, & geminum pugnae proponit honorem;
Viɛtori velatum auro, vittifque juvencum;
Enfem, atque infignem galeaam solatia viɛto.
That is:
So he spoke and immediately proposed two honors for the fight;
a bull, veiled with gold, and with ribbons for the victor;
A sword, and a notable helmet as a consolation for the vanquished.
So was the promise or the proposal, but then the same writer relates that the payment was also so, when he says:
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Aft illum fidi aequales, genna aegre trahentem,
Joɛtantemque utroque caput, craffumque cruorem
Ore ejeɛtantem, mixto que in fanguine dentes,
Ducunt ad naveis, galeamque enfemque vocati
Accipiunt: palmam Entello taurumque relinquant.
That is:
---- but all those who love Dares
his fighting companions lead him (who from fatigue
drags his legs, and his head from the burden.
lets hang on both sides, ejects congealed blood and teeth
in pieces from his nose and mouth,) to the shores,
to the ship, and receive, after being called, helmet and sword,
and let hero Entellus enjoy the bull, kept as a prize,
and the palm.
The same also applied to the wrestling match between TYDEUS and AGYLLEUS, according to the testimony of Statius (Statius Theb. 6. vf. 902):
Palmam autem dextra, laevaque nitentia dono
Arma ferens Tydeus :
Haec fimul oftentane, quaefitaque praemia laudum
Dat fociis fequitur negleɛtus Agyllea thorax.
That is:
But Tydeus carried the palm very gloriously in his right-
and in his left hand the smooth weapons as a gift; however,
although he boastingly displayed them, he gave them at that moment
to his friends: Agylleus received the breastplate that was neglected.