itizen! a service,
indeed, above all reward; thereby sufficiently evincing their opinion,
that it was criminal to save a man's life from the motive of lucre and
interest!" _O mores aeternos, qui tanta opera honore solo donaverint; et
cum reliquas coronas auro commendarent, salutem civis in pretio esse
noluerint, clara professione servari quidem hominem nefus esse lucri
causa!_

Amongst all the Grecian games, the Olympic held undeniably the first rank,
and that for three reasons. They were sacred to Jupiter, the greatest of
the gods; instituted by Hercules, the first of the heroes; and celebrated
with more pomp and magnificence, amidst a greater concourse of spectators
attracted from all parts, than any of the rest.

If Pausanias may be believed,(117) women were prohibited to be present at
them upon pain of death; and during their continuance, it was ordained,
that no woman should approach the place where the games were celebrated,
or pass on that side of the river Alpheus. One only was so bold as to
violate this law, and slipt in disguise amongst those who were training
the wrestlers. She was tried for the offence, and would have suffered the
penalty enacted by the law, if the judges, in regard to her father, her
brother, and her son, who had all been victors in the Olympic games, had
not pardoned her offence, and saved her life.

This law was very conformable with the manners of the Greeks, amongst whom
the ladies were very reserved, seldom appeared in public, had separate
apartments, called _Gynaecea_, and never ate at table with the men when
strangers were present. It was certainly inconsistent with decency to
admit them at some of the games, as those of wrestling and the Pancratium,
in which the combatants fought naked.

The same Pausanias tells us in another place,(118) that the priestess of
Ceres had an honourable seat in these games, and that virgins were not
denied the liberty of being present at them. For my part, I cannot
conceive the reason of such inconsistency, which indeed seems incredible.

The Greeks thought nothing comparable to the victory in these games. They
looked upon it as the perfection of glory, and did not believe it
permitted to mortals to desire any thing beyond it. Cicero assures
us,(119) that with them it was no less honourable than the consular
dignity in its original splendour with the ancient Romans. And in another
place he says,(120) that to conquer at Olympia, was almost, in the
e