his boasted
strength.

XXXI. THE JEALOUS ATHLETE.

Near the statue of Milo of Croton stood that of The-ag'e-nes, another
noted athlete, who lived many years after Milo. He too had defeated
every rival. He was the winner of many prizes, and all envied him his
strength and renown.

One of the men in particular, whom he had defeated in the games, was
jealous of him, and of the honors which he had won. This man, instead of
trying to overcome these wicked feelings, used to steal daily into the
temple to view his rival's statue, and mutter threats and curses against
it.

In his anger, he also gave the pedestal an angry shake every night,
hoping that some harm would befall the statue. One evening, when this
jealous man had jostled the image of Theagenes a little more roughly
than usual, the heavy marble toppled and fell, crushing him to death
beneath its weight.

When the priests came into the temple the next day, and found the man's
dead body under the great statue, they were very much surprised. The
judges assembled, as was the custom when a crime of any kind had been
committed, to decide what had caused his death.

As it was usual in Greece to hold judgment over lifeless as well as over
living things, the statue of Theagenes was brought into court, and
accused and found guilty of murder.

The judges then said, that, as the statue had committed a crime, it
deserved to be punished, and so they condemned it to be cast into the
sea and drowned. This sentence had scarcely been executed, when a plague
broke out in Greece; and when the frightened people consulted an oracle
to find out how it could be checked, they learned that it would not
cease until the statue of Theagenes had been set up on its pedestal
again. The superstitious Greeks believed these words, fished the statue
up out of the sea, and placed it again in Olympia. As the plague stopped
shortly after this, they all felt sure that it was because they had
obeyed the oracle, and they ever after looked upon the statue with great
awe.

XXXII. THE GIRLS' GAMES.

Although the women and girls were not often allowed to appear in public,
or to witness certain of the Olympic games, there were special days held
sacred to them, when the girls also strove for prizes.

They too ran races; and it must have been a pretty sight to see all
those healthy, happy girls running around the stadium, as the foot-race
course was called.

One of these races was ca