“He came to Delphi, whither the Greeks greatly resort, purposing to contend in the games of the Pythian Apollo.  And first there was a race of runners on foot; and for this he came forward, and passing all that ran with him so won the prize.  Nor indeed did I ever see such a man; for there was not one contest in which he had not the pre-eminence.  Very fair was he to look upon, and his name, he said, was Orestes of Argos, and he was the son of that Agamemnon who in days past was captain of the host of the Greeks at Troy.  But when the Gods are minded to destroy a man, who is so strong that he can escape?  It fell out then that on the next day at sunset there was proclaimed a race of chariots, to which there came one man from Achaia, and from Sparta one, and two from Barca in Africa.  After these came Orestes, being the fifth, with horses of Thessaly.  And the sixth was a man of AEtolia, with bay horses, and the seventh a man of Magnesia in Thessaly, and the eighth was a man of Oenea, whose horses were white, and the ninth from Athens, a city which, they say, was builded of Gods, and a Boeotian was the tenth.  First the heralds shook lots for each in a helmet, and each man had his place according as his lot came forth.  And after this the trumpet sounded, and the horses leapt forward, while the men shouted to them and shook the reins, and spared not the goad.  Great was the noise, and the dust rose up like a cloud from the plain.  And on the backs of the charioteers and on the wheels of them that went before came the foam from the horses that followed, so close did they lie together.  And Orestes, when he came to the pillar where the chariots turned, drave so that his wheel wellnigh touched it, and slackened the rein for the right horse, and pressed on that which was on the left.  So far no mishap had befallen the chariots, but all had fared well.  But here the steeds of the man of Oenea, being very hard to hold, brake from their course, and drave against the side of one of the chariots from Barca.  And now they had ended six courses, and were about to begin the seventh.  But with this beginning of trouble went all things wrong, for one drave against another till all the plain of Crissa was covered with broken chariots as the sea with shipwrecks.  But the man of Athens was very skilful in driving, and, when he saw the beginning of confusion, he drew his horses aside and held back, and so escaped without damage.  Now Orestes was the hindermost of all, trusting to what he should do at the end; and when he saw that only the man of Athens was left, he shouted to his horses and made haste to come up with him.  Then the two drave together, having their chariots equal, and first one showed somewhat in the front and then the other.  And for eleven courses of the twelve all went well with Orestes; but as he was rounding the pillar for the last time, he loosed the left rein and knew not that he loosed it overmuch, and smote against the pillar and brake his axle in the midst, and so was