8i2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cases interfere with the disposal of the children, and then only when 

 its interests were impaired. A strong state with mighty warriors was 

 a more effective argument than a sickly family. Then, too, the lack 

 of commercial pursuits among the upper-class Greeks made their 

 seeming cruelty only prudence or at the most selfishness. Socrates, 

 comparing the feelings of his pupils, when reasoned out of their 

 darling errors, to the anger of the young mother when her firstborn 

 is torn from her, furnishes almost the only adverse mention of this 

 practice. 



The time at which children shall begin school was as perplexing 

 a question to the ancients as to us. Some educators argued that the 

 child's introduction to books should not begin before the seventh 

 year; the really vital point that some are too young at seven while 

 others are too old was, as now, skillfully lost sight of. Hence the 

 carelessness and indulgence of parents often left an unoccupied 

 period between infancy and school days, which the boy or girl em- 

 ployed in sports — those unconscious educators of the young. There 

 is hardly any modern sport that was not in vogue in ancient Greece. 

 Hopping on one foot, top-splitting, ball playing (both with football 

 and some systematic game with small ball), playing at king, taking 

 prisoners, and catching the knuckle bones of animals on the back of 

 the hand — our jackstones — busied the younger boys and girls. A 

 game is described exactly like the modern Canadian game of " la- 

 crosse." The real, wide-awake boy, however, indulged in beetle- 

 flying, by means of a long thread tied to its tail, sometimes varying 

 the sport by attaching a lighted wax taper — a game still practiced in 

 the country and frequently the cause of extensive fires. This last 

 game might be compared to young America's harmless amusement of 

 tying lighted firecrackers to a kitten's tail. Throwing dice was a 

 favorite pastime with the young as well as with the old. The best 

 throw — three sixes — was called the "Venus" throw; the lowest — 

 three ones — the " dog " or " wine " throw; this last throw evidently 

 meant liquid refreshment for the company. Among the false dice 

 in the Royal Museum at Berlin there are a number " loaded," and 

 some on which the four occurs twice. The Italian game of morra 

 was known to the ancients. The two players, opening their clinched 

 hands with lightning speed, cried out the number of fingers instan- 

 taneously. From vase painting and written evidence we have con- 

 clusive proof that cock-fighting was indulged in by old and young. 

 Themistocles, after the victory over the Persians, made provision for 

 annual festivities of this sort. The birds were fed on garlic, before 

 their fights, to increase their fierceness. Metal spurs were used, and 

 wagers made on the result, the same as in our refined nineteenth 

 century. 



