His
winning the first, second, and fourth prizes with these, as Thucydides
tells us, though Euripides says that he won the third also, excels in
glory any other successes by other persons in these races. The poem of
Euripides runs as follows:
"Son of Kleinias, thee I sing,
In truth it is a noble thing,
First, second, and third place
To win in chariot race,
To hear the herald thrice thy name proclaim,
And thrice to bear away the olive crown of fame."
XII. His success was rendered all the more conspicuous by the manner in
which the various States vied with one another in showing him honour.
Ephesus pitched a magnificent tent for his accommodation, Chios
furnished his horses with provender, and himself with animals for
sacrifice; and Lesbos supplied him with wine, and every thing else
necessary for giving great entertainments. Yet even at this brilliant
period of his life he incurred discredit, either by his own fault or
through the spite of his enemies. The story is that an Athenian named
Diomedes, a respectable man and a friend of Alkibiades, was desirous of
winning a victory at Olympia. Hearing that there was a chariot and four
which belonged to the city of Argos, and knowing that Alkibiades had
great influence and many friends in that place, he persuaded him to buy
the chariot for him. Alkibiades, however, bought the chariot and entered
it for the race as his own, leaving Diomedes to call upon heaven and
earth to witness his ill-treatment.
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