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given by the dropping of a white cloth or mappa.^[1] The race are run with great fury, and the charioteers, standing in their vehicles, make every effort to win, not merely by speed, but by fouling each other so as to pass in front or gain the inmost position of the circuit. Hence serious and fatal accidents are of habitual occurrence, and help to stimulate the popular frenzy to the highest pitch.^[2] The antagonists, however, pay but little attention to the clamours of the spectators, looking only to the Emperor's eye for their meed of approval or censure.^[3] At the conclusion of the games, amid the chanting of various responsions by the factions and the populace, the victors, supported by delegates from the four Demes bearing crosses woven from fresh flowers, wait upon the Emperor in the Kathisma, and receive from his hand the awards of their prowess.^[4]*

↑ Sueton., Nero, 22; Novel cv, 1, etc.
↑ Chrysostom, In Illud, Vidi Dominum, etc. (in Migne, vi, 113); Ad Pop. Ant., xv, 4 (in Migne, ii, 158); In Illud, Pater Meus, etc., Hom. ix, 1 (in Migne, xii, 512); a particular instance of a youth killed in the chariot race the day before his intended wedding.
↑ Chrysostom, In Illud, Vidi Dominum, etc., Hom. iii, 2 (in Migne, vi, 113); In Genes. Hom. v, 6 (in Migne, iv, 54).
↑ Const. Porph., op. cit., i, 69; Theophanes, an. 5969, etc. The winners usually received about two or three pounds in money, also a laurel crown and a cloak of a peculiar pattern (Pellenian, perhaps; Strabo, VIII, vii, 5); Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. liv, 6 (in Migne, vii, 539); but under some of the insensate emperors immense prizes, small fortunes in fact, were often given; see Reiske's Notes, ad op. cit., p. 325. I have not met in Byzantine history with any allusion to the seven circuits of the races (except Jn. Lydus, De Mens., i, 12), the eggs or the dolphins; these are assumed from the Latin writers of old Rome and from the sculptured marbles. It appears from Cod. Theod. (XV, ix, etc.), that the successful horses, when past their prime, were carefully nurtured through their old age by the state. The choicest breeds of these animals came from Spain and Cappadocia; Claudian, De Equis Hon.,

[1] Sueton., Nero, 22; Novel cv, 1, etc.

[2] Chrysostom, In Illud, Vidi Dominum, etc. (in Migne, vi, 113); Ad Pop. Ant., xv, 4 (in Migne, ii, 158); In Illud, Pater Meus, etc., Hom. ix, 1 (in Migne, xii, 512); a particular instance of a youth killed in the chariot race the day before his intended wedding.

[3] Chrysostom, In Illud, Vidi Dominum, etc., Hom. iii, 2 (in Migne, vi, 113); In Genes. Hom. v, 6 (in Migne, iv, 54).

[4] Const. Porph., op. cit., i, 69; Theophanes, an. 5969, etc. The winners usually received about two or three pounds in money, also a laurel crown and a cloak of a peculiar pattern (Pellenian, perhaps; Strabo, VIII, vii, 5); Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. liv, 6 (in Migne, vii, 539); but under some of the insensate emperors immense prizes, small fortunes in fact, were often given; see Reiske's Notes, ad op. cit., p. 325. I have not met in Byzantine history with any allusion to the seven circuits of the races (except Jn. Lydus, De Mens., i, 12), the eggs or the dolphins; these are assumed from the Latin writers of old Rome and from the sculptured marbles. It appears from Cod. Theod. (XV, ix, etc.), that the successful horses, when past their prime, were carefully nurtured through their old age by the state. The choicest breeds of these animals came from Spain and Cappadocia; Claudian, De Equis Hon.,

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