Note 267 — Chapter VIII · ATHLETICS UNDER THE ROMANS
Reading edition
Such I take to be the meaning of the words μήτ’ ἐπεξελθὼν μήτε παραιτησάμενος. But the precise meaning of this and the following phrases μήτε κατὰ χάριν βασιλικήν ἀγῶνα ἔχων μηδὲ καινὸν ἀγῶνα νεικήσας is hard to determine. ἐπεξελθόντα bears this meaning in the Iobacchi Inscription. Roberts and Gardner, Epigraphy ii. 91, l. 92. The antithesis of παραιτησάμενος would rather suggest the rendering “seeking a contest,” e.g. “pot-hunting.”