distinguished for the splendour of his descent and for the affluence of his fortunes. His wife was celebrated amongst the ladies of Athens for the refinement of her manners and the discreetness of her discourse. As she had no daughters of her own, she looked upon the young Ada with the eyes of a mother, and devoted herself to the improvement of her mind with unceasing assiduity. Those accomplishments, also, which serve to enhance the graces of the person, were not omitted; and when her father demanded back again his daughter, she was delivered into his hands the most polished and lovely of the maids of Greece.

During the stay of Ada under the roof of Tisander, she had often met the young Appias, his son, who was somewhat older than herself. Appias had already distinguished himself for his strength and prowess in feats of arms and in athletic exercises. He was bold and daring in his enterprises, and formed for warlike achievements. Few of his own age could compete with him in the use of the sword or the throwing of the dart. 'He was ever foremost also in the exercises of the palestra, or place of out-door sports-wrestling, boxing, and throwing the discus or quoit, inuring his body to fatigues of every sort. Athens, indeed, rang with the praises of Appias, and Tisander congratulated himself upon having such a son. The project of uniting him to the wealthy heiress of Clisthenes already presented itself to his mind, and he felt assured the noble qualities of his son would win the sanction of the Prince of Sicion.

Perhaps the rough and vigorous sports in which Appias placed his pride, unfitted him for soft discourse with the gentle Ada; for although she admired his fine and manly person, and rejoiced to hear his valour praised, he never made an impression on her heart. But a youth more delicate in his frame, and placid in his mien, had touched the chord upon which the affections vibrate. He who had thus awakened these gentle sympathies was named Milenos, the brother of a fair Athenian girl, the friend and companion of Ada. Silent, and with downcast eyes,

Milenos used to meet the maid of Sicion, but, bashful and diffident, could scarcely tell his tale. When kindred hearts, however, are drawn together, what need of words? It is then sufficient to know, that Milenos and Ada owned a mutual attachment, and that their vows were plighted at the appropriate shrine in one of the temples of the city. Such was their heedlessness, that they for a time forgot that parents and guardians would sternly regulate their destiny. At last they were awakened from their dream of passion. Clisthenes summoned his daughter home, and with many holy-formed projects for their future conduct, they unwillingly parted.

When Ada returned to the court of her father, Clisthenes found her in every way answerable to his hopes. He thought himself the happiest of fathers in having such a daughter, and in the pride of his heart he declared she should have for a husband the most distinguished man in Greece. The fame of her beauty, and the wealth and power of her father, drew many proposals for her hand, and, amongst the rest, Tisander sent a solemn embassy to solicit an alliance with his son Appias, whose heroic qualities he did not fail largely to expatiate upon. But Clisthenes civilly evaded all offers for the present, and particularly to Tisander he returned for answer, 'that the obligations he was under to him for the care he had bestowed upon his daughter's education were such as could scarcely be repaid, but whilst the uniting her to so excellent a youth as Appias would be highly gratifying to him, he had determined to bestow her in marriage in a manner the most honourable and least invidious to all her suitors. Of the plan it was his intention to adopt, he should early apprise Tisander.'

Whilst the matter was thus in suspense, all Greece was busy with preparations to celebrate the games of Hercules at Olympia. An armistice was proclaimed amongst all the powers at war, according to the ancient custom of the Greeks. A simultaneous movement from all parts of Greece now took place towards the territory of Elis, and a prodigious assemblage was formed at the

famed Olympia. After the accustomed offerings had been rendered to Jupiter Olympicus, the heralds announced, in repeated proclamations, that the games were about to commence. The combatants in the athletic exercises marched in procession to the vast arena whereon their strength was to be exhibited, whilst numerous race-horses were led prancing to the stadium. The chariots, as they moved leisurely along, some drawn by four horses abreast, others by two, presented a cheering spectacle, since their numbers promised unusual sport in the most admired of the games. When the judges had taken their seats, and those who had been victors at any of the public games had stationed themselves in the first row, as was permitted to them, with their wreaths of olive, laurel, or parsley around their heads, the general body of spectators assumed their places on the benches which ran along the place of exercise in a slanting direction upwards. The competitors then advanced towards the judges, and were severally sworn to observe the rules laid down in the different contests, and to use no unworthy art or guile. Afterwards the great business of the meeting began.

First, the foot-race, in which twenty competitors were engaged, attracted all eyes. The victor, who was from Thessaly, received his reward-a fillet of wild olive, and a branch of the palm-tree, from the hands of the judges, and was borne off with loud shouts of triumph by his fellow-countrymen. Then commenced the more severe of the athletic exercises. Several couples, their bodies shining with oil, prepared to wrestle. In this competition Milo of Croton overcame all opposition, and was, with tumultuous applause, proclaimed the victor, for at no time previous had the prize been gained with such dispatch and apparent ease. The same Milo, upon the following day, threw the quoit or discus further than had ever been known, whilst also, in boxing with the iron glove, he overcame his three competitors, and in one day was twice crowned, a circumstance which had never occurred on any former occasion. After the horse-race had brought

the second day's sport to a conclusion, and the assembly was about to break up, an unheard-of spectacle was presented before their eyes. Milo, carrying a two-yearold heifer on his shoulders, appeared at the barrier of the stadium, and running forward down its whole extent, turned round the goal at the far extremity, and again traversed its length with his monstrous burden. Enthusiastic shouts of rapture hailed this extraordinary exhibition, and the name of Milo was reverberated in a thousand peals. Nor did the wonder cease even here, for after disengaging himself from the heifer, he levelled his fist at his forehead, and with one blow felled him dead; then lifting him up, he bore him from the ground amidst the plaudits of the onlookers.

This feat being accomplished, the chariot-races next engaged the general attention. The vehicles which were started, were chiefly chariots with four horses, and constituted, as was considered, the most noble and interesting of the sports, for kings and princes entered the lists as competitors. Gelon, king of Syracuse, the two kings of Sparta, Periander, tyrant of Corinth, Clisthenes, Prince of Sicion, with five others of the chief men amongst the Greeks, drew up their chariots at the barrier, and, on the signal, started at speed. The skill of the charioteers was principally directed to wheel as closely as possible round the goal or distant post, at the further end, and thus cut out their adversaries. Twelve times had they to run round the stadium or course, and the interest of the race was well maintained by the ever-varying position of the parties. But upon the tenth round, the chariot of the Syracusan prince was leading the others at some distance, when, in taking the turn at the barrier, it came in contact with the goal, and the wheel being shivered into atoms, the charioteer was thrown from his stand, and killed on the spot. Regardless, however, of the accident, the others pressed forward, and now Clisthenes broke ahead, and with unexampled daring, grazing the very goal, kept such a start that all further competition was in vain. The Prince of Sicion was

therefore declared the victor, and, being crowned by the judges, his name was announced as associated with the ensuing Olympiad, and to be noticed accordingly in all public documents. The applause had scarcely subsided, when a herald advanced into the midst, and entreating silence, invited assembled Greece in the name of Clisthenes to feast with him that day. Reiterated shouts gave token of the acceptance of so munificent an invitation, and when these had again abated, the herald once more broke silence, and thus delivered himself: Clisthenes of Sicion thus speaks to the men of Greece: Whoever among ye think an alliance with his daughter Ada worthy of attention, are solicited to resort to Sicion on the sixtieth day from the present, and on the expiration of a year from that period, he will deliver his daughter to the most worthy of her suitors. For the space of that year Clisthenes will take upon himself the duties of a host to all who may come to him? This proclamation being twice repeated, the herald withdrew, whilst its terms had raised considerable excitement in the vast assemblage.

For five days the games at Olympia continued, and first of all the Athenians, Alemæon, father of Milenos, was victor in the chariot-race with two horses. The young Milenos himself managed his father's chariot, and his graceful and unpretending demeanour gained him as much applause as his skill in guiding the reins. He also maintained his reputation for address in the use of arms, by carrying off the prize for throwing the javelin, having hit the mark at 100 paces with unerring precision. The father and son were therefore received on their return to Athens with public honours, as was usual with victors at the Olympic games, the cities of their birth partaking the lustre of their achievements in the public arena. The success of Alcmæon was not less grateful to him than was that of his son. He had risen by his ability from an obscure origin to be one of the wealthiest men of Athens, and, like most persons so circumstanced, he was anxious for some species of local distinction, in