orus), will
surpass every building that has yet been erected by the Hellenes. He
understands how to attract poets and artists of all kinds to Athens, he
has had the poems of Homer put into writing, and the prophecies of
Musaeus collected by Onomakritus. He lays out new streets and arranges
fresh festivals; trade flourishes under his rule, and the people find
themselves well off, in spite of the many taxes laid upon them. But what
are the people? a vulgar multitude who, like the gnats, fly towards every
thing brilliant, and, so long as the taper burns, will continue to
flutter round it, even though they burn their wings in doing so. Let
Pisistratus' torch burn out, Phanes, and I'll swear that the fickle crowd
will flock around the returning nobles, the new light, just as they now
do around the tyrant.

"Give me your hand once more, you true son of Ajax; for you, my friends,
I have still many an interesting piece of news untold.

"The chariot-race, as I have just related, was won by Cimon who gave the
olive-branch to Pisistratus. Four finer horses than his I never saw.
Arkesilaus of Cyrene, Kleosthenes of Epidamnus, Aster of Sybaris,
Hekataeus of Miletus and many more had also sent splendid teams. Indeed
the games this time were more than brilliant. All Hellas had sent
deputies. Rhoda of the Ardeates, in distant Iberia, the wealthy
Tartessus, Sinope in the far East on the shores of Pontus, in short,
every tribe that could boast of Hellenic descent was well represented.
The Sybarite deputies were of a dazzling beauty; the Spartans, homely and
simple, but handsome as Achilles, tall and strong as Hercules; the
Athenians remarkable for their supple limbs and graceful movements, and
the men of Crotona were led by Milo, strongest of mortal birth. The
Samian and Milesian deputies vied in splendor and gorgeousness of attire
with those from Corinth and Mitylene: the flower of the Greek youth was
assembled there, and, in the space allotted to spectators, were seated,
not only men of every age, class and nation, but many virgins, fair and
lovely maidens, who had come to Olympia, more especially from Sparta, in
order to encourage the men during the games by their acclamations and
applause. The market was set up beyond the Alphaeus, and there traders
from all parts of the world were to be seen; Greeks, Carthaginians,
Lydians, Phrygians and shrewd Phoenicians from Palestine settled weighty
business transactions, or offered their goods