For some time neither could succeed in grasping the other.

The Crotonian threw almost irresistible weight into his attempts to lay hold of his opponent, but the latter slipped through the iron grip like a snake.

This struggle to gain a hold lasted long, and the immense multitude watched silently, breathless from excitement.
Not a sound was to be heard but the groans of the wrestlers and the singing of the nightingales in the grove of the Altis.

At last, the youth succeeded, by means of the cleverest trick I ever saw, in clasping his opponent firmly.

For a long time, Milo exerted all his strength to shake him oft, but in vain, and the sand of the Stadium was freely moistened by the great drops of sweat, the result of this Herculean struggle.
"More and more intense waxed the excitement of the spectators, deeper and deeper the silence, rarer the cries of encouragement, and louder the groans of the wrestlers.