[28]
When the teams had
been started and some had leaped to the fore and some were being reined in, you,
prevailing over both, first one and then the other,1 in proper style, seized the victory, winning that envied crown
in such fashion that, glorious as it was to win it, it seemed the more glorious
and astounding that you came off safely. For when the chariot of your opponents
was bearing down upon you head-on and all thought the momentum of your horses
beyond checking, you, aware that some drivers, though no danger should threaten,
become overanxious for their own safety, not only did not lose your head or your
nerve, but by your courage got control of the impetus of your team and by your
speed passed even those contenders whose luck had suffered no setback.
1 Blass notes the same phrase in Isoc. 4.72; it may have been technical in the language of ancient sport.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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