Life of Alcibiades, 11

Plutarch  translated by Bernadotte Perrin

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11His breeds of horses were famous the world over, and so was the number of his racing-chariots. No one else ever entered seven of these at the Olympic games—neither commoner nor king—but he alone. And his coming off first, second, and fourth victor (as Thucydides says;[20] third, according to Euripides), transcends in the splendour of its renown all that ambition can aspire to in this field. 2The ode of Euripides[21] to which I refer runs thus:

“Thee will I sing, O child of Cleinias;

A fair thing is victory, but fairest is what no other Hellene has achieved,

To run first, and second, and third in the contest of racing-chariots,

And to come off unwearied, and, wreathed with the olive of Zeus,

To furnish theme for herald’s proclamation.”

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Notes

  • [20] In a speech of Alcibiades, vi. 16. 2.

  • [21] An Epinikion, or hymn of victory, like the extant odes of Pindar.

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