operations of demons, or only to the wickedness and imposture of men. Vandale, a Dutch physician, has maintained the latter opinion; and Monsieur Fontenelle, when a young man, adopted it, in the persuasion (to use his own words) that it was indifferent, as to the truth of Christianity, whether the oracles were the effect of the agency of spirits, or a series of impostures. Father Baltus, the Jesuit, professor of the Holy Scriptures in the university of Strasburgh, has refuted them both in a very solid treatise, wherein he demonstrates, invincibly, from the unanimous authority of the Fathers, that demons were the real agents in the oracles. He attacks, with equal force and success, the rashness and presumption of the Anabaptist physician; who, calling in question the capacity and discernment of those holy doctors, secretly endeavoured to efface the high idea all true believers should entertain of those great leaders of the church, and to depreciate their venerable authority, which is so great a difficulty to all who deviate from the principles of ancient tradition. Now if that was ever certain and uniform in any thing, it is so in this point; for all the Fathers of the church, and ecclesiastical writers of all ages, maintain, and attest, that the devil was the author of idolatry in general, and of oracles in particular. forms us, that every Christian could silence them by only the sign of the cross. And all the world knows, that when Julian the Apostate was at Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, to consult Apollo; the god, notwithstanding all the sacrifices offered to him, continued mute, and only recovered his speech to answer those who inquired the cause of his silence, that they must ascribe it to the interment of certain bodies in the neighbourhood. Those were the bodies of Christian martyrs, amongst which was that of St. Babylas. This triumph of the Christian religion ought to give us a due sense of our obligations to Jesus Christ, and at the same time, of the darkness to which all mankind were abandoned before his coming. We have seen, amongst the Carthaginians, fathers and mothers, more cruel than wild beasts, inhumanly giving up their children, and annually depopulating their cities, by destroying the most vigorous of their youth, in obedience to the bloody dictates of their oracles and false gods. The victims were chosen without any regard to rank, sex, age, or condition. Such bloody executions were honoured with the name of sacrifices, and designed to make the gods propitious. "What greater evil," cries Lactantius, could they inflict in their most violent displeasure, than thus to deprive their adorers of all sense of humanity, to make them cut This opinion does not hinder our believing that the throats of their own children, and pollute their the priests and priestesses were frequently guilty of sacrilegious hands with such execrable parricides!" fraud and imposture in the answers of the oracles. A thousand frauds and impostures, openly detected For is not the devil the father and prince of lies? at Delphi, and every where else, had not opened men's In the Grecian history, we have seen more than once eyes, nor in the least diminished the credit of the orathe Delphic priestess suffer herself to be corrupted by cles; which subsisted upwards of two thousand years, presents. It was from that motive, she persuaded the and was carried to an inconceivable height, even in Lacedæmonians to assist the people of Athens in the the minds of the greatest men, the most profound expulsion of the thirty tyrants; that she caused De- philosophers, the most powerful princes, and generally maratus to be divested of the royal dignity, to make among the most civilized nations, and such as vaway for Cleomenes; and dressed up an oracle to sup-lued themselves most upon their wisdom and policy. port the imposture of Lysander, when he endavoured to change the succession to the throne of Sparta. And I am apt to believe that Themistocles, who well knew the importance of acting against the Persians by sea, inspired the god with the answer he gave, to defend themselves with wooden walls. Demosthenes, convinced that the oracles were frequently suggested by passion or interest, and suspecting, with reason, that Philip had instructed them to speak in his favour, boldly declared, that the Pythia philippized; and bade the Athenians and Thebans remember that Pericles and Epaminondas, instead of listening to, and amusing themselves with, the frivolous answers of the oracle, those idle bugbears of the base and cowardly, consulted only reason in the choice and execution of their measures. 1 The estimation they were in, may be judged from the magnificence of the temple of Delphi, and the immense riches amassed in it through the superstitious credulity of nations and monarchs. The temple of Delphi having been burnt about the fifty-eighth Olympiad, the Amphictyons, those celebrated judges of Greece, took upon themselves the care of rebuilding it. They agreed with an architect for 300 talents, which amounts to 900,000 livres. The cities of Greece were to furnish that sum. The inhabitants of Delphi were taxed a fourth part of it, and collected contributions in all parts, even in foreign nations, for that service. Amasis, at that time king of Egypt, and the Grecian inhabitants of his country, contributed considerable sums towards it. The Alcmæonidæ, a potent family of Athens took upon themselves the conduct of the building, and made it more magnificent, by considerable additions of their own, than had been proposed in the model. The same Father Baltus examines, with equal success, a second point in dispute, namely, the cessation of oracles. Mr. Vandale, to oppose with some advantage a truth so glorious to Jesus Christ, the sub- Gyges, king of Lydia, and Crasus one of his verter of idolatry, had falsified the sense of the Fa- successors, enriched the temple of Delphi with an thers, by making them say, that oracles ceased precise-incredible number of presents. Many other princes, ly at the moment of Christ's birth. The learned apolo- cities, and private persons, by their example, in a kind gist for the Fathers shows, that they all allege that of emulation of each other, had heaped up in its trioracles ceased after our Saviour's birth, and the preach- pods, vases, tables, shields, crowns, chariots, and staing of his gospel; not on a sudden, but in proportion tues of gold and silver of all sizes, equally infinite in as his salutary doctrines became known to mankind, number and value. The presents of gold which and gained ground in the world. This unanimous Croesus alone made to this temple, amounted, accordopinion of the Fathers is confirmed by the unexcep-ing to Herodotus, to upwards of 254 talents; that tionable evidence of great numbers of the Pagans, who agree with them as to the time when the oracles ceased. ricidium suum, id est tetrum atque execrabile humano Herod. 1. ii. c. 180. and l. v. c. 62. is, about 762,000 French livres; and perhaps those | of whose poetry, whilst it immortalized themselves, of silver to as much. Most of these presents were in being at the time of Herodotus. Diodorus Siculus, adding those of other princes to them, makes their amount 10,000 talents, or 30,000,000 of livres." Amongst the statues of gold, consecrated by Croesus in the temple of Delphi, was placed that of his female baker, the occasion of which was this. Alyattes, Croesus's father, having married a second wife, by whom he had children, she laid a plan to get rid of her son-in-law, that the crown might descend to her own issue. For this purpose she engaged the female baker to put poison into a loaf, that was to be served at the young prince's table. The woman, who was struck with horror at the crime (in which she ought to have had no part at all,) gave Croesus notice of it. The poisoned loaf was served to the queen's own children, and their death secured the crown to the lawful successor. When he ascended the throne, in gratitude to his benefactress, he erected a statue to her in the temple of Delphi. But, it may be said, could a person of so mean a condition deserve so great an honour? Plutarch answers in the affirmative; and with a much better title, he says, than many of the so-much-vaunted conquerors and heroes, who have acquired their fame only by murder and devas tation. It is not to be wondered at, that such immense riches should have tempted the avarice of mankind, and exposed Delphi to being frequently pillaged. Without mentioning more ancient times, Xerxes, who invaded Greece with a million of men, endeavoured to seize upon the spoils of this temple. Above a hundred years after, the Phoceans, near neighbours of Delphi, plundered it at several times. The same rich booty was the sole motive of the irruption of the Gauls into Greece under Brennus. The guardian god of Delphi, if we may believe historians, sometimes defended this temple by surprising prodigies; and at others, either from impotence or want of presence of mind, suffered himself to be plundered. When Nero made this temple, so famous throughout the universe, a visit, and found in it five hundred brass statues of illustrious men and gods to his liking, which had been consecrated to Apollo (those of gold and silver having undoubtedly disappeared upon his approach,) he ordered them to be taken down, and shipping them on board his vessels carried them with him to Rome. Those who are desirous of more particular information concerning the oracles and riches of the temple of Delphi, may consult some dissertations upon this subject, printed in the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres, of which I have made good use, according to my custom. Of the Games and Combats. Games and combats made a part of the religion, and had a share in almost all the festivals, of the ancients; and for that reason it is proper that they should find a place in this work. Whether we consider their origin, or the design of their institution, we shall not be surprised at their being so prevalent in the best-governed states. Hercules, Theseus, Castor, and Pollux, and the greatest heroes of antiquity, were not only the institutors or restorers of them, but thought it glorious to share in the exercise of them, and meritorious to succeed therein. These subduers of monsters, and of the common enemies of mankind, thought it no disgrace to them to aspire to the victories in these combats; nor that the new wreaths, with which their brows were encircled in the solemnization of these games, detracted from the lustre of those they had before acquired. Hence the most famous poets made these combats the subject of their verses; the beauty seemed to promise an eternity of fame to those whose victories it celebrated. Hence arose that uncommon ardour which animated all Greece, to tread in the steps of those ancient heroes, and, like them, to signalize themselves in the public combats. A reason more solid, and originating in the very nature of these combats, and of the people who used them, may be given for their prevalence. The Greeks, by nature warlike, and equally intent upon forming the bodies and minds of their youth, introduced these exercises, and annexed honours to them, in order to prepare the younger sort for the profession of arms, to confirm their health, to render them stronger and more robust, to inure them to fatigues, and to make them intrepid in close fight, in which, the use of firearms being then unknown, strength of body generally decided the victory. These athletic exercises supplied the place of those in use amongst our nobility, as dancing, fencing, riding the great horse, &c.; but they did not confine themselves to a graceful mien, nor to the beauties of a shape and face; they were for joining strength to the charms of person. It is true, these exercises, so illustrious by their founders, and so useful in the ends at first proposed from them, introduced public masters, who taught them to young persons, and, from practising them with success, made public show and ostentation of their skill. This sort of men applied themselves solely to the practice of this art, and, carrying it to an excess, they formed it into a kind of science, by the addition of rules and refinements; often challenging each other out of a vain emulation, till at length they degenerated into a profession of people who, without any other employment or merit, exhibited themselves as a sight for the diversion of the public. Our dancingmasters are not unlike them in this respect, whose natural and original designation was to teach youth a graceful manner of walking, and a good address; but now we see them mount the stage, and perform ballets in the garb of comedians, capering, jumping, skipping, and making variety of strange unnatural motions. We shall see, in the sequel, what opinion the wiser among the ancients had of their professed combatants and wrestling-masters. There were four games solemnized in Greece. The Olympic, so called from Olympia, otherwise Pisa, a town of Elis in Peloponnesus, near which they were celebrated, after the expiration of every four years, in honour of Jupiter Olympicus. The Pythian, sacred to Apollo Pythius, so called from the serpent Python, killed by him; they were celebrated at Delphi every four years. The Nemaan, which took their name from Nemaa, a city and forest of Peloponnesus, and were either instituted or restored by Hercules, after he had slain the lion of the Nemean forest. They Isthmian, celebrated upon the isthmus of Corinth, every were solemnized every two years. And lastly, the restorer of them, and they continued even after the four years, in honour of Neptune. Theseus' was the these public sports with greater quiet and security, ruin of Corinth. That persons might be present at there was a general suspension of arms, and cessation of their celebration. of hostilities, throughout all Greece, during the time dible magnificence, and drew together a prodigious In these games, which were solemnized with increa simple wreath was all the reward of the victors. In concourse of spectators and combatants from all parts, the Olympic games, it was composed of wild olive; in the Pythian, of laurel; in the Nemaan, of green parsley; and in the Isthmian, of the same herb dried. The institutors of these games wished that it should be implied from hence, that honour alone, and not mean and sordid interest, ought to be the motive of great actions. Of what were men not capable, ac customed to act solely from so glorious a principle! | estimation of the Grecians, more great and glorious, We have seen, in the Persian war, that Tigranes, than to receive the honour of a triumph at Rome. one of the most considerable captains in the army of Horace speaks in still stronger terms of this kind of Xerxes, having heard the prizes in the Grecian games victory. He is not afraid to say, that it exalts the described, cried out with astonishment, addressing victor above human nature; they were no longer men, himself to Mardonius, who commanded in chief, but gods. "Heavens! against what men are you leading us? Insensible to interest, they combat only for glory!" Which exclamation, though looked upon by Xerxes as an effect of abject fear, abounds with sense and judgment. It was from the same principle that the Romans, whilst they bestowed upon other occasions crowns of gold of great value, persisted always in giving only a wreath of oaken leaves to him who had saved the life of a citizen. "O manners, worthy of eternal remembrance!" cried Pliny, in relating this laudable custom. "O grandeur, truly Roman, that would assign no other reward but honour, for the preservation of a citizen! a service, indeed, above all reward; thereby sufficiently evincing their opinion, that it was criminal to save a man's life from the motive of lucre and interest!" O mores æternos, qui tanta opera honore solo donaverint; et cùm reliquas coronas auro commendarent, salutem civis in pretio esse noluerint, clarâ professione servari quidem hominem nefas esse lucri causâ! Amongst all the Grecian games, the Olympic held undeniably the first rank; and that for three reasons. They were sacred to Jupiter, the greatest of the gods; instituted by Hercules, the first of the heroes; and celebrated with more pomp and magnificence, amidst a greater concourse of spectators attracted from all parts, than any of the rest. If Pausanias may be believed, women were prohibited to be present at them upon pain of death; and during their continuance, it was ordained, that no woman should approach the place where the games were celebrated, or pass on that side of the river Alpheus. One only was so bold as to violate this law, and slipped in disguise amongst those who were training the wrestlers. She was tried for the offence, and would have suffered the penalty enacted by the law, if the judges, in regard to her father, her brother, and her son, who had all been victors in the Olympic games, had not pardoned her offence, and saved her life. This law was very conformable with the manners of the Greeks, amongst whom the ladies were very reserved, seldom appeared in public, had separate apartments, called Gynacea, and never ate at table with the men when strangers were present. It was certainly inconsistent with decency to admit them at some of the games, as those of wrestling and the Pancratium, in which the combatants fought naked. The same Pausanias' tells us, in another place, that the priestess of Ceres had an honourable seat in these games, and that virgins were not denied the liberty of being present at them. For my part, I cannot conceive the reason of such inconsistency, which We shall see hereafter what extraordinary honours were paid to the victor, of which one of the most affecting was, to date the year with his name. Nothing could more effectually stimulate their endeavours, and make them regardless of expenses, than the assurance of immortalizing their names, which, through all future ages, would be enrolled in their annals, and stand in the front of all laws made in the same year with the victory. To this motive may be added the joy of knowing, that their praises would be celebrated by the most famous poets, and form the subject of conversation in the most illustrious assemblies; for these odes were sung in every house, and formed a part in every entertainment. What could be a more powerful incentive to a people, who had no other object and aim than that of human glory? I shall confine myself upon this head to the Olympic games, which continued five days; and shall describe, in as brief a manner as possible, the several kinds of combats of which they were composed. M. Burette has treated this subject in several dissertations, printed in the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres; wherein purity, perspicuity, and elegance of style, are united with profound erudition. I make no scruple in appropriating to my use the riches of my brethren; and, in what I have already said upon the Olympic games, have made very free with the late Abbé Massieu's remarks upon the Odes of Pindar. The combats which had the greatest share in the solemnity of the public games, were boxing, wrestling, the pancratium, the discus or quoit, and racing. To these may be added, the exercises of leaping, throwing the dart, and that of the trochus, or wheel; but as these were neither important, nor of any great reputation, I shall content myself with only having mentioned them in this place. For the better methodising the particulars of these games and exercises, it will be necesssary to begin with an account of the Athletæ, or combatants. Of the Athlete, or Combatants. The term Athlete is derived from the Greek word deos, which signifies labour, combat. This name intention to dispute the prizes in the public games. was given to those who exercised themselves with an The art by which they formed themselves for these encounters, was called Gymnastic, from the Athlete's practising naked. Those who were designed for this profession frequented, from their most tender age, the Gymnasia or Palæstræ, which were a kind of academies maintainplaces, such young people were under the direction of ed for that purpose at the public expense. In these The Greeks thought nothing comparable to the vic-methods to inure their bodies for the fatigues of the different masters, who employed the most effectual tory in these games. They looked upon it as the per-public games, and to train them for the combats. The fection of glory, and did not believe it permitted to mortals to desire any thing beyond it. Cicero as indeed seems incredible. sures us, that with them it was no less honourable than the consular dignity in its original splendour with the ancient Romans. And in another place he says, that to conquer at Olympia," was almost, in the regimen they were under was very hard and severe. At first they had no other nourishment than dried figs, called pala. They were absolutely forbidden the use nuts, soft cheese, and a coarse heavy sort of bread, of wine, and enjoined continence; which Horace ex presses thus: St. Paul, by a comparison drawn from the Athlete, exhorts the Corinthians, near whose city the Isthmian games were celebrated, to a sober and penitent life. Those who strive," says he, "for the mastery, are temperate in all things: Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." Tertullian1 uses the same thought to encourage the martyrs. He makes a comparison from what the hopes of victory made the Athlete endure. He repeats the severe and painful exercises they were obliged to undergo; the continual denial and constraint in which they passed the best years of their lives; and the voluntary privation which they imposed upon themselves, of all that was most pleasing and grateful to their passions. It is true, the Athletæ did not always observe so severe a regimen, but at length substituted in its stead a voracity and indolence extremely remote from it. a It is time to bring our champions to blows, and to run over the different kinds of combats, in which they exercised themselves. Of Wrestling. which we have any knowledge, having been practised Wrestling is one of the most ancient exercises of in the time of the patriarchs, as the wrestling of the gels attack so vigorously, that the latter perceiving angel with Jacob proves. Jacob supported the an he could not throw so rough a wrestler, was induced to make him lame by touching the sinews of his thigh, which immediately shrunk up. Wrestling, among the Greeks, as well as other nations, was practised at first with simplicity, little art, and in a.natural manner; the weight of the body, and the strength of the muscles, having more share in it than address and skill. Theseus was the first that reduced it to method, and refined it by the rules of schools called Palestra, where the young people had art. He was also the first who established the public masters to instruct them in it. The wrestlers, before they began the combat, were rubbed all over in a rough manner, and afterward anointed with oils, which added to the strength and flexibility of their limbs. But as this unction, by making the skin too slippery, rendered it difficult for The Athlete, before their exercises, were rubbed with oils and ointments, to make their bodies more supple and vigorous. At first they made use of belt, with an apron or scarf fastened to it, for their more decent appearance in the combat; but one of the combatants happening to lose the victory by this covering's falling off, that accident was the occasion of sacrificing modesty to convenience, and retrenching the apron for the future. The Athlete were naked only in some exercises, as wrestling, boxing, the pan-them to take hold of each other, they remedied that cratium, and the foot-race. They practised a kind of novitiate in the Gymnasia for ten months, to accomplish themselves in the several exercises by assiduous application; and this they did in the presence of such, as curiosity or idleness conducted to look on. But when the celebration of the Olympic games drew nigh, the Athlete who were to appear in them were kept to double exercise. Before they were admitted to combat, other proofs were required; as to birth, none but Greeks were to be received. It was also necessary that their manners should be unexceptionable, and their condition free. No foreigner was admitted to combat in the Olympic games; and when Alexander, the son of Amyntas, king of Macedon, presented himself to dispute the prize, his competitors, without any regard to the royal dignity, opposed his reception as a Macedonian, and consequently a barbarian and a stranger; nor could the judges be prevailed upon to admit him, till he had proved in due form his family originally descended from the Argives. The persons who presided in the games were called Agonothela, Athletheta, and Hellanodica: they registered the name and country of each champion; and upon the opening of the games a herald proclaimed the names of the combatants. They were then made to take an oath, that they would religiously observe the several laws prescribed in each kind of combat, and do nothing contrary to the established orders and regulations of the games. Fraud, artifice, and excessive violence, were absolutely prohibited'; and the maxim so generally received elsewhere, that it is indifferent whether an enemy is conquered by deceit or valour, was banished from these combats. The address of a combatant, expert in all the niceties of his art, who knows how to shift and ward dexterously, to put the change upon his adversary with art and subtilty, and to improve the least advantages, must not be confounded here with the cowardly and knavish cunning of one who, without regard to the laws prescribed, employs the most unfair means to vanquish his competitor. Those who disputed the prize in the several kinds of combats, drew lots for their precedency in them. J Nempe enim et Athleta segregantur ad strictiorem disciplinam, ut robori ædificando vacent; continentur à uxuriâ, à cibis lætioribus, à potu jucundiore; coguntur, cruciantur, fatigantur. Tertull. ad Martyr. The persons employed in this office were called Alipte. inconvenience, sometimes by rolling themselves in the dust of the Palæstra, sometimes by throwing a fine sand upon each other, kept for that purpose in the Xystæ, or porticoes of the Gymnasia. Thus prepared, the wrestlers began their combat. They were matched two against two, and sometimes combat, the whole aim and design of the wrestlers several couples contended at the same time. In this was, to throw their adversary upon the ground. Both strength and art were employed for this purpose: They seized each other by the arms, drew forwards, pushed backwards, used many distortions and twistings of the body; locking their limbs into each other's, seizing by the neck, throttling, pressing in their arms, struggling, plying on all sides, lifting from the ground, dashing their heads together like rams, and twisting one another's necks. The most considerable advantage in the wrestler's art, was to make himself master of his adversary's legs, of which a fall was the immediate consequence. From whence Plautus says in his Pseudolus, speaking of wine," "He is a dangerous wrestler, he presently trips up the heels." The Greek terms brokeλiev and #repvíšev, and the Latin word supplantare, seem to imply, that one of these arts consisted in stooping down to seize the antagonist under the soles of his feet, and in raising them up to give him a fall. In this manner the Athlete wrestled standing, the combat ending with the fall of one of the competitors. But when it happened that the wrestler who was down drew his adversary along with him, either by art or accident, the combat continued upon the sand, in a thousand different ways, till one of them got the antagonists tumbling and twining with each other uppermost, and compelled the other to ask quarter, and confess himself vanquished. There was a third tæ's using only their hands in it, without taking hold sort of wrestling called 'Axpoxaponds, from the Athleof the body, as in the other kinds; and this exercise served as a prelude to the greater combat. It consisted in intermingling their fingers, and in squeezing them with all their force; in pushing one another, by joining the palms of their hands together; in twisting their fingers, wrists, and other joints of the arm, with out the assistance of any other member; and the victory was his who obliged his opponent to ask quarter. The combatants were to fight three times succes sively, and to throw their antagonists at least twice, | that of Epeus and Euryalus; in Theocritus, of Pollux before the prize could be adjudged to them. and Amycus; in Apollonius Rhodius, the same battle of Pollux and Amycus; in Virgil, that of Dares and Entellus; and in Statius and Valerius Flaccus, of several other combatants. Homer describes the wrestling of Ajax and Ulysses; Ovid, that of Hercules and Achelous; Lucan, of Hercules and Antæus; and Statius, in his Thebaid, that of Tydeus and Agylleus. The wrestlers of greatest reputation amongst the Greeks, were Milo of Crotona, whose history I have related elsewhere at large, and Polydamas. The latter, alone and without arms, killed a furious lion upon mount Olympus, in imitation of Hercules, whom he proposed to himself as a model in this action. Another time, having seized a bull by one of his hinder legs, the beast could not get loose without leaving his hoof in his hands. He could hold a chariot behind, while the coachman whipped his horses in vain to make them go forward. Darius Nothus, king of Persia, hearing of his prodigious strength, was desirous of seeing him, and invited him to Susa. Three soldiers of that prince's guard, and of that band which the Persians called immortal, esteemed the most warlike of their troops, were ordered to fall upon him. Our champion fought, and killed them all three. Of Boxing, or the Cestus. Boxing is a combat at blows with the fist, from whence it derives its name. The combatants covered their fists with a kind of offensive arms, called Cestus, and their heads with a sort of leather cap, to defend their temples and ears, which were most exposed to blows, and to deaden their violence. The Cestus was a kind of gauntlet or glove, made of straps of leather, and plated with brass, lead, or iron. Their use was to strengthen the hands of the combatants, and to add violence to their blows. Sometimes the Athletæ came immediately to the most violent blows, and began their onset in the most furious manner. Sometimes whole hours passed in harassing and fatiguing each other, by a continual extension of their arms, rendering each other's blows ineffectual, and endeavouring by that sparring to keep off their adversary. But when they fought with the utmost fury, they aimed chiefly at the head and face, which parts they were most careful to defend, by either avoiding or parrying the blows made at them. When a combatant came on to throw himself with all his force and vigour upon another, they had a surprising address in avoiding the attack, by a nimble turn of the body, which threw the imprudent adversary down, and deprived him of the victory. However fierce the combatants were against each other, their being exhausted by the length of the combat, would frequently reduce them to the necessity of making a truce; upon which the battle was suspended by mutual consent for some minutes, that were employed in recovering their fatigue, and rubbing off the sweat in which they were bathed: after which they renewed the fight, till one of them, by letting fall his arms, through weakness and faintness, explained that he could no longer support the pain or fatigue, and desired quarter; which was confessing himself vanquished. Of the Pancratium. The Pancratium was so called from two Greek words, which signify, that the whole force of the body was necessary for succeeding in it. It united boxing and wrestling in the same fight, borrowing from one its manner of struggling and flinging, and from the other, the art of dealing blows and of avoiding them with success. In wrestling it was not permitted to strike with the hand, nor in boxing to seize each other in the manner of the wrestlers; but in the Pancratium, it was not only allowed to make use of all the gripes and artifices of wrestling, but the hands and feet, and even the teeth and nails, might be employed to conquer an antagonist. This combat was the most rough and dangerous. A Pancratiast in the Olympic games (called Arrichion, or Arrachion,) perceiving himself almost suffocated by his adversary, who had got fast hold of him by the throat, at the same time that he held him by the foot broke one of his enemy's toes, the extreme anguish of which obliged him to ask quarter at the very instant that Arrichion himself expired. The Agonotheta crowned Arrichion, though dead, and proclaimed him victor. Philostratus has left us a very lively description of a painting, which represented this combat. Of the Discus, or Quoit. made sometimes of wood, but more frequently of The Discus was a kind of quoit of a round form, stone, lead, or other metal; as iron or brass. Those who used this exercise were called Discoboli, that is, fingers of the Discus. The epithet karádios, which signifies borne upon the shoulders, given to this instrument by Homer, sufficiently shows that it was of too great a weight to be carried from place to place in the hands only, and that the shoulders were necessary for the support of such a burden for any length of time. The intent of this exercise, as of almost all the others, was to invigorate the body, and to make men more capable of supporting the weight and use of In war they were often obliged to carry such arms. loads, as appear excessive in these days, either of provisions, fascines, palisades; or in scaling of walls, when, to equal the height of them, several of the besiegers mounted upon the shoulders of each other. The Athletæ, in hurling the Discus, put themselves into the posture best adapted to add force to their cast; that is, they advanced one foot, upon which they leaned the whole weight of their bodies. They then poised the Discus in their hands, and whirling it round several times almost horizontally, to add force to its motion, they threw it off with the joint strength of hands, arms, and body, which had all a share in the vigour of the discharge. He that flung the Discus farthest was the victor. The most famous painters and sculptors of antiBoxing was one of the roughest and most dangerous of the gymnastic combats; because, besides quity, in their endeavours to represent naturally the the danger of being crippled, the combatants ran the attitudes of the Discoboli, have left to posterity many hazard of their lives. They sometimes fell down dead, masterpieces in their several arts. Quintilian exceed or dying, upon the sand; though that seldom hap-ingly extols a statue of that kind, which had been pened, except the vanquished person persisted too long in not acknowledging his defeat; yet it was common for them to quit the field with a countenance so disfigured, that it was not easy to know them afterward; carrying away with them the sad marks of their vigor ous resistance, such as bruises and contusions in the face, the loss of an eye, their teeth knocked out, their jaws broken, or some more considerable fracture. We find in the poets, both Latin and Greek, several descriptions of this kind of combat. In Homer, 1 Iliad. l. xxiii. v. 708, &c. Ovid. Metam. 1. ix. v. 31, &c. Phars. l. iv. v. 612. Stat. 1. vi. v. 847. finished with infinite care and application by the celebrated Myron: "What can be more finished," says he, "or express more happily the muscular distortions of the body in the exercise of the Discus, than the Discobolus of Myron ?" Of the Pentathlum. The Greeks gave this name to an exercise com→ 3 Dioscor. Idyl. xxii. Argonautic, lib. ii. Æneid. 1. v Thebaid. 1. vii. Argonaut. 1. iv. * Πᾶν κράτος. Quid tam distortum et elaboratum quám est ille Dis cobolus Myronis? Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13. |