31 



SECTION V. 



GAMES AND GYMNASTIC EXERCISES or THE ANCIENTS NAMES AND PE- 

 DIGREES THE SPLENDOR AND PERILS OK THE ANCIENT COURSE 



OLVMPIA. 



TO ))roceed to the games of the ancients, in which the Horse was 

 concerned, it will be perceived that we derived also from them the 

 j)rincij)le of improvement, and that our Newmarket is, althoiii,di on a 

 diminished scale, the Olympia of ancient Greece. Modern racing in- 

 stitutions are confined simply to the purposes of improvement in the 

 national breed of Horses, and of amusement and private profit in the 

 practice of Avagering, or betting on the events of the race. The Olym- 

 pian games of the ancients, it will be seen, had far more extensive and 

 more important objects. 



The grand and j)aramount object of these, was to kindle and pre- 

 serve a spirit of martial emulation in the breast of the youth, to foster 

 it by honors and rewards to the victors, and by trials of strength, 

 skill, courage and activity, to prove their aptitude and readiness for 

 war, in those days, the most important business of life. Games at 

 stated periods, with this intent, have probably originated in most war- 

 like nations. But Greece sat an example to all other countries, by the 

 national splendor and magnificence, with which games were annually 

 celebrated in her various cities ; the Olympian, however, eclipsing all 

 the rest, being, in the swelling language of Pindar, as much superior 

 as water is among the elements, or gold in comparison with other 

 metals. Of such high national consequence were these institutions 

 deemed by the ancient pliilosophical politicians, that their commence- 

 ment formed the regular aera from which the Grecian chronology took 

 its date; and according to the universal niaxims of ancient policy, in order 



to 



