PafjiHar ^jjor^(s and pxercije:. 059 



principal p^^t '<^^ ^^^ f^^^ solemn i^ames. The 

 gymnastic performance 



j^ j^)Q(Jily A's calcul^tc^ fgr defence, 



h^a^^li ^id uijVersion. 'll^qt branch of 

 tjiesc ,.^^erci?tis, called the athletic or spor- 

 ^^^ve, ,,nmst j^^ considered as coeval with 

 ,j;})e jfjj|i;jTi4tiyii of sj)f:iety .f* The fi ve -f gymnic 

 exercises, so accurately described by Homer, 

 J^indar, Spphp^l^^, jgmd, Pausaiiias, formed the 

 principal bran^h.of the education ofyx>uth. 



7o be enabled to e^cel in the performance 

 ^^- <]u"^:e, they were trained with the greatest 



^ig;hes( gratifjcalron ofboth t?ie Greeks and. Romans, in 

 Ihcir private schools and public solemnities. 



They were performed in ihe Gj/intiasium^ where not 

 only youth were in!>tructed in these exercises, but also 

 (he philosophers lac^ht Iheir different doctrines. — The 

 Pajajrjlra, which . forjned a part of the building, was the 

 school for the gymnic exerciser. 



♦ In almofl every inland of tbe great Pacific Ocean, we 

 find a similarity, more or less striking, in the athletic and 

 warlike exercises of the natives, witfi those practised in 

 Greece.* 



•j These five exercisirs were citJIed Pcnlaihlum by the 

 Greeks nnd Quinquertium by the Romans. They con- 

 sisted of leaping, rr.pning, throwing the Discus, darting 

 the jnvclin, and wrestling ; but inslcjid of darling the 

 javelin, others mention b >X'r.g. The last exercise was 

 combined wish wrestling; and then took the name of 



Pancratium. See Hieronymus Mcrcurialis, dc arte 



pymnnsiicu — and Pol cr's Archceoloja. 



