Greek Texts & Translations

The most striking illustration of the mutability and ^note capriciousness of Fortune is when a man, within a brief period, turns out to have been preparing for the use of his enemies the very things which he imagined that he was elaborating in his own honour. Thus Perseus was having some columns made, which Lucius Aemilius, finding unfinished, caused to be completed, and placed statues of himself on them. . . .

He admired the situation of the city, and the excellent ^note position of the acropolis for commanding the districts on both sides of the Isthmus.

Having been long anxious to see Olympia, ^note he set out thither.

Aemilius entered the sacred enclosure at Olympia, and was struck with admiration at the statue of the god, remarking that, to his mind, Pheidias was the only artist who had represented the Zeus of Homer; and that, though he had had great expectations of Olympia, he found the reality far surpassed them.