52

now, calling the day of the festival Martis in Campo. And immediately, beginning again, he built the hippodrome in Rome, wishing to distract the mass of the Roman populace, because they were rioting and rising up against him on account of his brother. And he was the first to hold a horse race in the land of Rome for a festival of the Sun, he says, and in honor of the four elements under him, that is, of the earth and the sea and of fire and of the air, having also considered this, that the kings of the Persians fare fortunately in their wars, as they honor the same four elements. But Oenomaus, king of the land of the Pisans, held a contest in the regions of Europe on the 25th of the month Dystros, which is also March, for the Sun Titan as he is exalted, with the earth and the sea competing, he says, that is, Demeter and Poseidon, the elements subject to the Sun. And a lot was cast between the same king Oenomaus and the one coming from any country whatsoever to compete against him; and when the lot called Oenomaus to compete on behalf of Poseidon, he wore the costume of blue garments, which is of the waters, and the one competing against him wore the green costume, which is of the earth. And again, if the lot brought it about for Oenomaus to wear the costume of Demeter, he wore the green costume, and 174 his antagonist wore the costume of Poseidon, that is, of the waters, the blue one; and the one who was defeated was killed. And an infinite crowd came to watch the annual royal contest from every country and city; and the citizens inhabiting the coastal cities and the islands, and the coastal villages, and the sailors prayed for the one wearing the blue costume to win, that is, that of Poseidon, divining that if the one competing for Poseidon were defeated, a disappearance of all kinds of fish occurs, and shipwrecks at sea, and the constraints of violent winds. But the citizens inhabiting the inland regions and the local country-folk and all those toiling in agriculture prayed for the one wearing the green costume to win, divining that if the one competing for Demeter, that is, for the earth, were defeated, a famine of grain and a scarcity of wine and of oil and of the other fruits occurs. And Oenomaus defeated many antagonists and for many years; for he also had Apsyrtus teaching him the art of charioteering. This Oenomaus, having been defeated by Pelops the Lydian, was killed. And this equestrian contest was first devised by one named Enyalius, a son of Poseidon, who had taken Libya, the daughter of Io and Picus Zeus, who, having conquered the southern regions, called the same land in which he reigned Libya, after the name of his wife. And the same equestrian contest Enyalius 175 invented with two-horse chariots, as Callimachus the wise wrote these things in his Etesia. And thereafter, after him, Erichthonius held the same contest with four-horse chariots; for which reason also he became famous, as is reported in the histories of Charax; who also wrote these things, that the structure of the hippodrome was built for the administration of the cosmos, that is, of the heaven and the earth and the sea; and the twelve gates he recorded as the twelve houses of the zodiac, which administers the earth and the sea and the transitory course of human life. and the track of the hippodrome to be the whole earth, and the euripus the sea lying in the middle of the earth, and the turning post at the gates the east, and the one at the sphendone the west, and the seven laps the course and the astronomical motion of the seven stars of the great bear. But king Romus, he too in honor of the Sun and the four elements under him, first invented the contest in Rome, and held it in the land of

52

νῦν, καλοῦντες τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς πανηγύρεως Μάρτις ἐν κάμπῳ. καὶ εὐθέως πάλιν ἀρξάμενος ἔκτισε τὸ ἱππικὸν ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ, θέλων διασκεδάσαι τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ δήμου τῶν Ῥωμαίων, ὅτι ἐστασίαζον καὶ ἐπήρχοντο αὐτῷ διὰ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐπετέλεσε πρῶτος ἱπποδρόμιον ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῆς Ῥώμης εἰς ἑορτὴν τοῦ Ἡλίου, φησί, καὶ εἰς τιμὴν τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν τεσσάρων στοιχείων, τοῦτ' ἐστὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τοῦ ἀέρος, λογισάμενος καὶ τοῦτο, ὅτι εὐτυχῶς φέρονται οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς εἰς τοὺς πολέμους, ὡς τιμῶντες τὰ αὐτὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα. ὁ δὲ τῆς Πισαίων χώρας βασιλεὺς Οἰνόμαος ἀγῶνα ἐπετέλει ἐπὶ τὰ Εὐρώπεια μέρη μηνὶ δύστρῳ τῷ καὶ μαρτίῳ κεʹ τῷ Ἡλίῳ Τιτᾶνι ὡς ὑψουμένῳ ἀγωνιζομένης, φησί, τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης, ὅ ἐστι ∆ημήτρας καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, τῶν ὑποκειμένων στοιχείων τῷ Ἡλίῳ. καὶ ἐβάλλετο κλῆρος μεταξὺ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Οἰνομάου βασιλέως καὶ τοῦ ἐρχομένου ἀπὸ οἱασδήποτε χώρας καταγωνίσασθαι αὐτόν· καὶ ὅτε μὲν ὁ κλῆρος ἐκάλει τὸν Οἰνόμαον ἀγωνίσασθαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, ἐφόρει σχῆμα ἱματίων κυανῶν, ὅ ἐστι τῶν ὑδάτων, καὶ ὁ ἀνταγωνιζόμενος κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐφόρει τὸ χλοῶδες σχῆμα, ὅ ἐστι τῆς γῆς. καὶ πάλιν εἰ ἤνεγκεν ὁ κλῆρος τῷ Οἰνομάῳ φορῆσαι τὸ τῆς ∆ημήτρας σχῆμα, ἐφόρει τὸ χλοῶδες σχῆμα, καὶ 174 ὁ ἀνταγωνιστὴς αὐτοῦ ἐφόρει τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, ὅ ἐστι τῶν ὑδάτων, τὸ κυανόν· καὶ ὁ ἡττώμενος ἐφονεύετο. καὶ πλῆθος ἄπειρον ἤρχετο θεωρῆσαι τὸν ἐτήσιον βασιλικὸν ἀγῶνα ἀπὸ ἑκάστης χώρας καὶ πόλεως· καὶ οἱ μὲν τὰς παραλίους πόλεις οἰκοῦντες καὶ τὰς νήσους πολῖται καὶ τὰς κώμας τὰς παραλίους καὶ ναῦται ηὔχοντο νικῆσαι τὸν φοροῦντα τὸ κυανὸν σχῆμα, τοῦτ' ἐστὶ τὸ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, οἰωνιζόμενοι ὅτι ἐὰν ἡττηθῇ ὁ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἀγωνιζόμενος, ἔκλειψις ἰχθύων γίνεται παντοίων καὶ ναυάγια θαλάσσης καὶ ἀνέμων βιαίων ἀνάγκαι. οἱ δὲ τὰς μεσογείους οἰκοῦντες πολῖται καὶ ἐπιχώριοι ἄγροικοι καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐν τῇ γεωργίᾳ κάμνοντες ηὔχοντο νικῆσαι τὸν φοροῦντα τὸ χλοῶδες σχῆμα, οἰωνιζόμενοι ὅτι εἰ ἡττηθῇ ὁ ὑπὲρ τῆς ∆ημήτρας ἀγωνιζόμενος, ὅ ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς, λιμὸς σίτου καὶ σπάνις οἴνου καὶ ἐλαίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καρπῶν γίνεται. καὶ ἐνίκησε πολλοὺς ὁ Οἰνόμαος ἀνταγωνιστὰς καὶ ἐπὶ πολλὰ ἔτη· εἶχε γὰρ καὶ τὸν Ἄψυρτον διδάσκοντα αὐτὸν τὴν ἡνιοχικὴν τέχνην. ὅστις Οἰνόμαος ἡττηθεὶς ὑπὸ Πέλοπος τοῦ Λυδοῦ ἐφονεύθη. Τὸν δὲ ἱππικὸν ἀγῶνα τοῦτον ἐπενόησε πρῶτος Ἐνυάλιός τις ὀνόματι, υἱὸς Ποσειδῶνος, ἀγαγόμενος τὴν Λιβύην, θυγατέρα τῆς Ἰοῦς καὶ τοῦ Πίκου ∆ιός, ὃς κρατήσας τὰ μεσημβρινὰ μέρη ἐκάλεσε τὴν αὐτὴν χώραν ἐν ᾗ ἐβασίλευσε Λιβύην εἰς ὄνομα τῆς αὐτοῦ γυναικός. τὸν δὲ αὐτὸν ἱππικὸν ἀγῶνα ὁ Ἐνυάλιος 175 ἅρμασι διπώλοις ἐφεῦρε, καθὼς ταῦτα συνεγράψατο Καλλίμαχος ὁ σοφὸς ἐν τοῖς Ἐτησίοις αὐτοῦ. Καὶ λοιπὸν μετ' αὐτὸν ὁ Ἐριχθόνιος ἐπετέλεσε τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα ἅρμασι τετραπώλοις· διὸ καὶ περιβόητος ἐγένετο, καθὰ ἐν ταῖς Χάρακος ἐμφέρεται ἱστορίαις· ὃς συνεγράψατο καὶ ταῦτα, ὅτι τοῦ ἱπποδρομίου τὸ κτίσμα εἰς τὴν τοῦ κόσμου διοίκησιν ᾠκοδομήθη, τοῦτ' ἐστὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης· τὰς δὲ δεκαδύο θύρας τοὺς δώδεκα οἴκους ἱστόρησε τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ τοῦ διοικοῦντος τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν παροδικὸν τοῦ βίου δρόμον. τὸ δὲ πέλμα τοῦ ἱππικοῦ τὴν γῆν πᾶσαν εἶναι, τὸν δὲ εὔριπον τὴν θάλασσαν ὑπὸ τῆς γῆς μεσαζομένην, τὸν δὲ ἐπὶ τὰς θύρας καμπτὸν τὴν ἀνατολήν, τὸν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν σφενδόνην τὴν δύσιν, τὰ δὲ ἑπτὰ σπάτια τὸν δρόμον καὶ τὴν κίνησιν τῆς ἀστρονομίας τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων τῆς μεγάλης ἄρκτου. Ὁ δὲ Ῥῶμος βασιλεὺς πρὸς τιμὴν καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ Ἡλίου καὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν τεσσάρων στοιχείων τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ πρῶτος ἐφεῦρε, καὶ ἐπετέλεσεν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῆς