Timoleon

For at that time parsley was still used for wreaths at the Isthmian, as it is now at the Nemean games, and it was not long ago that the pine came into use instead.

Accordingly, when Timoleon had addressed his soldiers, as I have said, he took of the parsley amid crowned himself with it first, and then the captains and the common soldiers about him did the same.

Moreover, the soothsayers, observing two eagles coming up on the wing, one of which bore a serpent pierced with its talons, while the other flew with a loud and inspiring cry, pointed them out to the soldiers, and all betook themselves to invoking the gods with prayers.

Now, the season of the year was early summer, the month of Thargelion was drawing to a close, and the summer solstice was near;[*](It was early in June, 339 B.C.)