After this he married my motherHipparet.; and I believe that in her he also won a glorious prize of valor. For her father was Hipponicus,Son of Callias, noted for his wealth. first in wealth of all the Greeks and second in birth to none of the citizens, most honored and admired of his contemporaries. The richest dowry and fairest reputation went with his daughter’s hand; and although all coveted union with her, and only the greatest thought themselves worthy, it was my father whom Hipponicus chose from among them all and desired to make his son-in-law.

About the same time my father, seeing that the festival assembly at Olympia was beloved and admired by the whole world and that in it the Greeks made display of their wealth, strength of body, and training, and that not only the athletes were the objects of envy but that also the cities of the victors became renowned, and believing moreover that while the public services performed in Athens redound to the prestige, in the eyes of his fellow-citizens, of the person who renders them, expenditures in the Olympian Festival, however, enhance the city’s reputation throughout all Greece,

reflecting upon these things, I say, although in natural gifts and in strength of body he was inferior to none, he disdained the gymnastic contests, for he knew that some of the athletes were of low birth, inhabitants of petty states, and of mean education, but turned to the breeding of race-horses, which is possible only for those most blest by Fortune and not to be pursued by one of low estate, and not only did he surpass his rivals, but also all who had ever before won the victory.

For he entered a larger number of teams in competition than even the mightiest cities had done, and they were of such excellence that he came out first, second, and third.Cf. Thuc. 6.16.2 and Plut. Alc. 11, who give the same testimony; Alcibiades entered seven teams. Cf. Plutarch, : "His horse-breeding was famous, among other things, for the number of his racing-chariots. He was the only man, not excluding king, who ever entered at Olympia as many as seven. And his winning not only first place but second and fourth according to Thucydides—second and third according to Euripides—is the highest and most honorable distinction ever won in this field. Euripides’ Ode contains the following passage: “‘But I will sing thy praises, son of Cleinias. A noble thing is victory, noblest of the noble to do what no Greek had ever done, be first and second and third in the chariot-race, and go unwearied yet, wreathed in the olive of Zeus, to make the herald cry you.’”—(Edmonds, ii. p. 241.) Besides this, his generosity in the sacrifices and in the other expenses connected with the festival was so lavish and magnificent that the public funds of all the othersi.e., the Θεωροί, representing the otherstates. were clearly less than the private means of Alcibiades alone. And when he brought his mission to an end he had caused the successes of his predecessors to seem petty in comparison with his own and those who in his own day had been victors to be no longer objects of emulation, and to future breeders of racing-steeds he left behind no possibility of surpassing him.

With regard to my father’s services here in Athens as choregus and gymnasiarch and trierarchThese public services (referred to in Isoc. 16.32) were the liturgies , discharged by the wealthier citizens, e.g., the choregia (expenses of the public choruses); the gymnasiarchia (defraying of expenses of training athletes for the contests); and the trierarchia (the cost of equipping a war-ship and keeping it in service for a year). I am ashamed to speak; for so greatly did he excel in all the other public duties that, although those who have served the state in less splendid fashion sing their own praises therefor, if anyone should on my father’s behalf ask for a vote of thanks even in recognition of services as great as his, he would seem to be talking about petty things.