§6.14.1Φερίας δὲ Αἰγινήτης—οὗτος γὰρ δὴ παρὰ τὸν Ἀθηναῖον Ἀριστοφῶντα ἀνάκειται—ὀγδόῃ μὲν πρὸς ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα Ὀλυμπιάδι κομιδῇ τε ἔδοξεν εἶναι νέος καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτήδειός πω νομισθεὶς παλαίειν ἀπηλάθη τοῦ ἀγῶνος, τῇ δὲ ἑξῆς—κατεδέχθη γὰρ τηνικαῦτα ἐς τοὺς παῖδας—ἐνίκα παλαίων.
Pherias of Aegina—for he is dedicated beside Aristophon the Athenian—in the seventy-eighth Olympiad seemed to be extremely young, and being judged not yet fit to wrestle, he was excluded from the contest; but in the next Olympiad—for he was then admitted into the boys' class—he won the wrestling.
τῷ δὲ Φερίᾳ τούτῳ διάφορον καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἐοικυῖαν ἔσχεν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τύχην Νικασύλος Ῥόδιος.
But Nicasylus of Rhodes had a fortune in Olympia that was different and in no way similar to this Pherias.
§6.14.2ὄγδοον γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς δέκα ἔτεσι γεγονὼς μὴ παλαῖσαι μὲν ἐν παισὶν ὑπὸ Ἠλείων ἀπηλάθη, ἀνηγορεύθη δὲ ἐν ἀνδράσιν, ὥσπερ γε καὶ ἐνίκησεν· ἀνηγορεύθη δὲ καὶ ὕστερον Νεμέᾳ τε καὶ Ἰσθμῷ.
For having reached his eighteenth year, he was prevented by the Eleans from wrestling in the boys' class, but he was proclaimed in the men's class, and indeed he won; and later he was also proclaimed victor at Nemea and the Isthmus.
γεγονότα δὲ εἰκοσαετῆ τὸ χρεὼν ἐπιλαμβάνει, πρὶν ἢ ἐς τὴν Ῥόδον αὐτὸν οἴκαδε ἀναστρέψαι.
But when he was twenty years old, fate overtook him before he could return home to Rhodes.
τὸ δὲ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τοῦ Ῥοδίου παλαιστοῦ τόλμημα Ἀρτεμίδωρος γένος Τραλλιανὸς ὑπερεβάλετο κατὰ ἐμὴν δόξαν.
However, the bold attempt of this Rodian wrestler at Olympia was, in my opinion, surpassed by Artemidorus, a Trallian by birth.
Ἀρτεμιδώρῳ γὰρ ἁμαρτεῖν μὲν Ὀλυμπίων συνέβη παγκρατιάζοντι ἐν παισίν, αἰτία δέ οἱ ἐγένετο τῆς διαμαρτίας τὸ ἄγαν νέον· §6.14.3ὡς δὲ ἀφίκετο ἀγῶνος καιρὸς ὃν Σμυρναῖοι Ἰώνων ἄγουσιν, ἐς τοσοῦτο ἄρα αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς ῥώμης ἐπηύξητο ὡς κρατῆσαι παγκρατιάζοντα ἐπὶ ἡμέρας τῆς αὐτῆς τούς τε ἐξ Ὀλυμπίας ἀνταγωνιστὰς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς παισὶν οὓς ἀγενείους καλοῦσι καὶ τρίτα δὴ ὅ τι ἄριστον ἦν τῶν ἀνδρῶν.
For it happened that Artemidorus missed an Olympic victory when competing in the boys' pancratium, and the cause of his failure was his being too young; but when the time came for the contest which the Smyrnaeans of the Ionians hold, his strength had so greatly increased that on the same day he overcame in the pancratium his former opponents from Olympia, and those in the class of boys called "beardless," and thirdly the very best of the men.
γενέσθαι δέ οἱ τὴν ἅμιλλαν πρὸς ἀγενείους τε καὶ ἄνδρας τὴν μὲν ἐκ γυμναστοῦ παρακλήσεώς φασι, τὴν δὲ ἐξ ἀνδρὸς παγκρατιαστοῦ λοιδορίας.
They say that his contest against the beardless boys arose from the encouragement of a trainer, and that against the men from the insult of a male pancratiast.
ἀνείλετο δὲ ἐν ἀνδράσιν ὁ Ἀρτεμίδωρος Ὀλυμπικὴν νίκην δευτέρᾳ καὶ δεκάτῃ πρὸς διακοσίαις Ὀλυμπιάδι.
Artemidorus carried off an Olympic victory in the men's class in the two hundred and twelfth Olympiad.
§6.14.4Νικασύλου δὲ τῆς εἰκόνος ἵππος τε οὐ μέγας ἔχεται χαλκοῦς, ὃν Κρόκων Ἐρετριεὺς ἀνέθηκεν ἀνελόμενος κέλητι ἵππῳ στέφανον, καὶ πλησίον τοῦ ἵππου Τελέστας ἐστὶ Μεσσήνιος κρατήσας πυγμῇ παῖδας· Σιλανίωνος δὲ ἔργον ἐστὶν ὁ Τελέστας.
Beside the statue of Nicasylus is a small bronze horse, which Crocon of Eretria dedicated after winning a crown with a race-horse; and near the horse is Telestas of Messene, who won in the boys' boxing; Telestas is the work of Silanion.
§6.14.5Μίλωνα δὲ τὸν Διοτίμου πεποίηκε μὲν Δαμέας ἐκ Κρότωνος καὶ οὗτος·
Milon, the son of Diotimus, was made by Dameas, who was also from Croton.
ἐγένοντο δὲ τῷ Μίλωνι ἓξ μὲν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ πάλης νῖκαι, μία δὲ ἐν παισὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν, Πυθοῖ δὲ ἔν τε ἀνδράσιν ἓξ καὶ μία ἐνταῦθα ἐν παισίν.
Milon had six victories in wrestling at Olympia, one of them being in the boys' class, and at Pytho six in the men's class and one there in the boys'.
ἀφίκετο δὲ καὶ ἕβδομον παλαίσων ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν· ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἐγένετο οἷός τε καταπαλαῖσαι Τιμασίθεον πολίτην τε ὄντα αὐτῷ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ νέον, πρὸς δὲ καὶ σύνεγγυς οὐκ ἐθέλοντα ἵστασθαι.
He also came to Olympia to wrestle a seventh time; but he was not able to overcome Timasitheus, who was his fellow-citizen and young in age, and who, moreover, refused to come to close quarters.
§6.14.6λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐσκομίσειεν αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ τὸν ἀνδριάντα ἐς τὴν Ἄλτιν ὁ Μίλων, λέγεται δὲ ἐς αὐτὸν καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ ῥοιᾷ καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ δίσκῳ·
It is also said that Milon himself carried his own statue into the Altis, and stories are told of him about the pomegranate and the quoit.
ῥοιὰν μὲν δὴ οὕτω κατεῖχεν ὡς μήτε ἄλλῳ παρεῖναι βιαζομένῳ μήτε αὐτὸς λυμήνασθαι πιέζων, ἱστάμενος δὲ ἐπὶ ἀληλιμμένῳ τῷ δίσκῳ γέλωτα ἐποιεῖτο τοὺς ἐμπίπτοντάς τε καὶ ὠθοῦντας ἀπὸ τοῦ δίσκου.
He would hold a pomegranate so that no one could force it from him, yet he did not crush it by his pressure; and standing on an oiled quoit, he made a mockery of those who rushed at him and tried to push him off the quoit.
παρείχετο δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τοιάδε ἐς ἐπίδειξιν.
He also exhibited other feats of this kind.
§6.14.7περιέδει τῷ μετώπῳ χορδὴν κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὴ καὶ εἰ ταινίαν περιθεῖτο ἢ στέφανον· κατέχων δὲ ἐντὸς χειλῶν τὸ ἆσθμα καὶ ἐμπιπλὰς αἵματος τὰς ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ φλέβας, διερρήγνυεν ὑπὸ ἰσχύος τῶν φλεβῶν τὴν χορδήν.
He would bind a cord round his forehead just as if he were putting on a ribbon or a crown; then, holding his breath inside his lips and filling the veins in his head with blood, he would break the cord by the strength of his veins.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς τῆς δεξιᾶς χειρὸς τὸ μὲν ἐς τὸν ἀγκῶνα ἐκ τοῦ ὤμου παρʼ αὐτὴν καθίει τὴν πλευράν, τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγκῶνος ἔτεινεν ἐς εὐθύ, τῶν δακτύλων τὸν μὲν αὐτῶν ἀναστρέφων τὸν ἀντίχειρα ἐς τὸ ἄνω, τῶν λοιπῶν δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐπικειμένων κατὰ στοῖχον· τὸν ἐλάχιστον οὖν τῶν δακτύλων κάτω γινόμενον οὐκ ἀπεκίνησεν ἄν τις βιαζόμενος.
It is also said that he would let the part of his right hand from the shoulder to the elbow hang down close to his side, and stretch out the part from the elbow straight, with the thumb turned upwards and the rest lying over one another in a row; so no one could move even his little finger, which was the lowest of all, by any force.