GYMNASTICS. 



difficulty ; therefore, to render thf. art 

 laborious, and increase their weight, they 

 adopted the practice of bearing lead oil 

 their heads and shoulders, fastening it to 

 their feet, and holding it in their hands. 

 A youth, thus loaded, and almost pinion- 

 ed to the earth by attraction, who sprung 

 a greater distance than his competitors 

 under the same circumstances, was hail- 

 ed with loud plaudits, proportioned to 

 the surprise excited by his uncommon 

 strength of muscles. 



The pedestrian races admitted of more 

 ardent endeavours than leaping ; not a 

 moment could be lost or granted for re- 

 laxation ; the shouts of the teachers, and 

 of the spectators, were incentives for ex- 

 ertion, and, divested of clothing, the ef- 

 forts of the least successful were wonder- 

 ful. Homer illustrates this part of the 

 subject in his inimitable " Iliad." 



* Rang'd in a line the ready racers stand ; 

 Pelides points the barrier with his hand ; 

 All start at once ; Oileus led the race ; 

 The next, Ulysses, measuring pace with 



pace ; 



Behind him, diligently close, he sped, 

 As closely following as the running thread 

 The spindle follows, and displays the 



charms 

 Of the fair spinster's breast and moving 



arms: 



Graceful in motion thus, his foe he plies, 

 And treads each footstep ere the dust 



can rise : 

 His glowing breath upon his shoulders 



plays ; 

 The admiring Greeks loud acclamations 



raise ; 

 To him they give their wishes, hearts, 



and eyes, 

 And send' their souls before him as he 



flies." 



Iliad, book xxiii. 885, 895 



Rapidity of motion might be useful to 

 the ancients in many particulars, though 

 less so than to the uncivilized nations, 

 generally termed savage ; the inhabitants 

 of the latter seem indeed compelled to 

 acquire swiftness in running, as the pur- 

 suit of wild animals is absolutely neces- 

 sary to maintain their existence ; and 

 Some of the native chiefs of India and its 

 dependencies retain persons to convey 

 dispatches from station to station by pe- 

 destrian exertion. 



Throwing the dart or spear was of de- 

 cided importance in ancient warfare, and 

 the skill of their soldiers was probiibly 

 very great. In this instance, however, 

 it may be doubted, whether all the ad- 



v antages of their gymnasiums enabled 

 them to excel some of the tribes of Hot- 

 tentots, exclusive of savages in a supe- 

 rior state of civilization ; the debased 

 people alluded to possess wonderful abi- 

 lity in throwing and arresting the progress 

 of spears; the writer of the present ar- 

 ticle had an opportunity of knowing, 

 from a witness of the scene, that a Hot- 

 tentot frequently caught a heavy pole 

 hurled at him by a strong man, ere it had 

 power to injure him. 



Throwing the discus, now known by 

 the name of the quoit, required equal 

 strength and skill; the shape of the 

 discus was nearly oval, about a foot in 

 length, and three or four inches thick in 

 the centre, whence it tapered on each 

 side to the extremity, in the manner of 

 a lens, and a hole was perforated in the 

 middle. Statues of persons employed at 

 this game exhibit them with the discus 

 "rested on the four fingers, which were 

 closed, with their ends pointing upward 

 on the inside of it ; the thumb was ex- 

 tended horizontally along the outside." 



Salzmann says, the thrower obtained 

 the necessary impulse by swinging the 

 arm, and at the proper moment he gave 

 the discus a rotatory motion, and sent it 

 through the air to the mark. Kennet as- 

 serts, in describing the Roman Circensian 

 shows, that they obtained their quinquer- 

 tium, or the five exercises of running, 

 wrestling, leaping, throwing, and boxing, 

 from the Grecian games, and adds, that 

 the discus or quoit of the former people 

 " was made of stone, iron, or copper, 

 five or,six fingers broad, and more than a 

 foot long, inclining to an oval figure; they 

 sent this to a vast distance, by the help 

 of a leathern thong tied round the per- 

 son's hand that threw." The latter par- 

 ticular has been disputed, and the posi- 

 tion is maintained, by observing that, 

 had a thong been used, it was unne- 

 cessary for the discobuli to rub their 

 hands on the earth, to prevent the discus 

 from slipping ; besides, the strap would 

 have interrupted the rotatory whirl, 

 thought indispensable for its steady 

 course. 



If we may depend upon Homer, the 

 weight of the discus was an object of 

 some importance : 



"Then hurl'd the hero, thund'ring on 



the ground, 



A mass of iron, (an enormous round,) 

 Whose weight and size the circling 



Greeks admire, 

 Rude from the furnace, and but shap'd by 



fire, 



