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Of Kroton;[1] he won six consecutive Olympic titles in wrestling.[2] At his seventh attempt he was not strong enough to wrestle down his fellow citizen Masitheos,[3] a fit young man who was not prepared to fight him at close quarters. Standing on an oiled discus he would make fools of those who rushed at him and tried to push him off it. He would tie a cord round his forehead as if it were a ribbon or garland; then, holding his breath behind tight lips and filling with blood the veins on his head, he would break the cord by the strength of his veins as if it were paper.[4] He would let down by his side his right arm from the shoulder to the elbow and stretch out straight the arm below the elbow, turning the thumb upwards while the other fingers lay in a row; thus the little finger was lowest, yet nobody could bend it back by force. This man died after encountering a dry log which had wedges to separate its sides. The pride of Milon made him put his hands in, to pull it apart; the wedges slipped, of course, and Milon, held fast by the log, fell prey to wolves -- a beast that lives in very large numbers in the territory of Kroton.

Μίλων, Κροτωνιάτης, ἐνίκησε παλαίων ἓξ ὀλύμπια ἐφεξη̂ς. ἐν δὲ τῃ̂ ζ# οὐκ ἴσχυσε καταπαλαι̂σαι τὸν Μασίθεον, συμπολίτην αὐτου̂, ἡλικίᾳ καὶ νέον ὄντα καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλοντα ἐγγὺς ἵστασθαι. ἱστάμενος δὲ ἐπὶ ἀληλιμμένῳ τῳ̂ δίσκῳ γέλωτα ἐποιει̂το τοὺς ἐμπίπτοντάς τε καὶ ὠθουμένους ἀπὸ του̂ δίσκου. περιεδει̂το δὲ τῳ̂ μετώπῳ χορδὴν καθάπερ ταινίαν ἢ στέφανον: κατέχων δὲ ἐντὸς χειλέων τὸ ἀ̂σθμα καὶ ἐμπιπλὰς αἵματος τὰς ἐν τῃ̂ κεφαλῃ̂ φλέβας διερρήγνυεν ἀπὸ ἰσχύος τω̂ν φλεβω̂ν τὴν χορδὴν καθάπερ πάπυρον. καὶ τη̂ς δεξια̂ς χειρὸς τὸ μὲν εἰς τὸν ἀγκω̂να ἐκ του̂ ὤμου παρ' αὐτὴν καθίει τὴν πλευράν, τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ του̂ ἀγκω̂νος ἔτεινεν ἐς εὐθὺ τω̂ν δακτύλων, τὸν μὲν ἀντίχειρα ἀντιστρέφων ἐς τὸ ἄνω, τω̂ν λοιπω̂ν δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐπικειμένων κατὰ στοι̂χον: τὸν ἐλάχιστον οὐ̂ν τω̂ν δακτύλων κάτω γινόμενον οὐκ ἀπεκίνησεν ἄν τις βιαζόμενος. ἀπέθανε δὲ οὑ̂τος ἐπιτυχὼν ξύλῳ ξηρῳ̂ σφη̂νας ἔχοντι τοὺς διιστω̂ντας αὐτό: ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ φρονήματος καθίησι τὰς χει̂ρας ὡς διαρρήξων: ὀλισθαίνουσί τε δὴ οἱ σφη̂νες, κἀκει̂νος ἐχόμενος ὑπὸ του̂ ξύλου λύκων ἐγένετο εὕρημα: μάλιστα γὰρ τὸ θηρίον του̂το πολὺ καὶ ἄφθονον ἐν τῃ̂ Κροτωνίᾳ χώρᾳ νέμεται.

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