Book 7
7.6
Nicopolis is well peopled, and is improving every day. It has a large territory, and is adorned with the spoils of war. In the suburbs is a sacred enclosure; part of it is a grove, containing a gymnasium and a stadium, intended for the celebration of quinquennial games; the other part, on a rising ground overhanging the grove, is sacred to Apollo. The Olympian game, called the Actia,Virg. Aen. iii. 280. is instituted there in honour of Apollo Actius. It is under the superintendence of the Lacedaemonians. The other surrounding settlements are dependent on Nicopolis. The Actian gamesVirg. Aen. iii. 280. were formerly celebrated in honour of the god by the neighbouring people; it was a contest in which the victor was crowned; but Caesar has conferred on it greater honours.
