The gesture of offering to the victorious athlete the blossoming of the Kharites ‘Graces’, who are the divine personifications of kharis ‘gratification; pleasurable beauty, grace’, is a symbol of reciprocity between the laudator and the laudandus. In the song here, the kharites are imagined as myrtle blossoms that garland the hair of the victor: see the comment further ahead at I.8.66. On the specialized meaning of kharites as ‘myrtle blossoms’ see also the documentation in MoM 4§144*3 and following, especially the reference in Scholia D (via Scholia A) for I.17.051: Μακεδόνες δὲ καὶ Κύπριοι χάριτας λέγουσι τὰς συνεστραμμένας καὶ οὔλας μυρσίνας, ἃς φαμὲν στεφανίτιδας ‘Macedonians and Cypriotes use the word kharites [= plural of kharis] with reference to myrtle blossoms that are compacted and curled [around a garland]. We call them garland-blossoms [stephanitides]’.