it; as also
with the Pyrrhic dance, performed by certain youths, to each of whom,
after the performance was over, he granted the freedom of Rome. During
this diversion, a bull covered Pasiphae, concealed within a wooden
statue of a cow, as many of the spectators believed. Icarus, upon his
first attempt to fly, fell on the stage close to the emperor's
pavilion, and bespattered him with blood. For he very seldom presided
in the games, but used to view them reclining on a couch, at first
through some narrow apertures, but afterward with the _Podium_ quite
open. He was the first who instituted, in imitation of the Greeks, a
trial of skill in the three several exercises of music, wrestling, and
horse-racing, to be performed at Rome every five years, and which he
called Neronia. Upon the dedication of his bath[153] and gymnasium, he
furnished the senate and the equestrian order with oil. He appointed
as judges of the trial men of consular rank, chosen by lot, who eat
with the praetors. At this time he went down into the orchestra among
the senators, and received the crown for the best performance in Latin
prose and verse for which several persons of the greatest merit
contended, but they unanimously yielded to him. The crown for the best
performer on the harp; being likewise awarded to him by the judges, he
devoutly saluted it, and ordered it to be carried to the statue of
Augustus. In the gymnastic exercises, which he presented in the Septa,
while they were preparing the great sacrifice of an ox, he shaved his
beard for the first time, and putting it up in a casket of gold
studded with pearls of great price, consecrated it to Jupiter
Capitolinus. He invited the Vestal Virgins to see the wrestlers
perform, because, at Olympia, the priestesses of Ceres are allowed the
privilege of witnessing that exhibition....

Twice only he undertook any foreign expeditions, one to Alexandria,
and the other to Achaia; but he abandoned the prosecution of the
former on the very day fixt for his departure, by being deterred both
by ill omens, and the hazard of the voyage. For while he was making
the circuit of the temples, having seated himself in that of Vesta,
when he attempted to rise, the skirt of his robe stuck fast; and he
was instantly seized with such a dimness in his eyes, that he could
not see a yard before him. In Achaia, he attempted to make a cut
through the Isthmus;[154] and, having made a speech encouraging his
pretorians to set