The triumphal arches, erected under the emperors, where the enemies
appeared with chains upon their hands and legs, could proceed only from a
haughty fierceness of disposition, and an inhuman pride, that took delight
in immortalizing the shame and sorrow of subjected nations.

The joy of the Greeks after a victory was far more modest.(166) They
erected trophies indeed, but of wood, a substance of no long duration,
which time would soon consume; and these it was prohibited to renew.
Plutarch's reason for this is admirable.(167) After time had destroyed and
obliterated the marks of dissension and enmity that had divided nations,
it would have been the excess of odious and barbarous animosity, to have
thought of reestablishing them, to perpetuate the remembrance of ancient
quarrels, which could not be buried too soon in silence and oblivion. He
adds, that the trophies of stone and brass, since substituted to those of
wood, reflect no honour upon those who introduced the custom.

I am pleased with the grief depicted on Agesilaus's countenance,(168)
after a considerable victory, wherein a great number of his enemies, that
is to say, of Greeks, were left upon the field, and to hear him utter with
sighs and groans, these words, so full of moderation and humanity: "Oh
unhappy Greece, to deprive thyself of so many brave citizens, and to
destroy those who had been sufficient to have conquered all the
Barbarians!"

The same spirit of moderation and humanity prevailed in the public shows
of the Greeks. Their festivals had nothing mournful or afflictive in them.
Every thing in those feasts tended to delight, friendship, and harmony:
and in that consisted one of the greatest advantages which resulted to
Greece, from the solemnization of these games. The republics, separated by
distance of country, and diversity of interests, having the opportunity of
meeting from time to time, in the same place, and in the midst of
rejoicing and festivity, allied themselves more strictly with one another,
stimulated each other against the Barbarians and the common enemies of
their liberty, and made up their differences by the mediation of some
neutral state in alliance with them. The same language, manners,
sacrifices, exercises, and worship, all conspired to unite the several
little states of Greece into one great and formidable nation; and to
preserve amongst them the same disposition, the same principles, the same
zeal for their liberty, and