GYMNASTICS. 



This mighty quoit Action wont to rear, 

 A,nd from his whirling arm dismiss in 



air ; 



The giant by Achilles slain, he stow'd 

 Among his spoils this memorable load. 

 For this he bids ihose nervous artists vie, 

 That teach the disc to sound along the 



sky." 



Book xxiii. 975. 



Galen classed the discus in the medi- 

 cinal gymnastics, in hurling which he 

 was declared the victor, who sent it high- 

 est in the air, the greatest distance, and 

 the nearest to the mark. Circular quoits, 

 resembling a broad ring, and made of 

 iron, are stili used in England, but it is 

 extremely doubtful whether the most ex- 

 perienced player could rival the inferior 

 discobuli of ancient times. 



Wrestling was the only exercise, of 

 those already mentioned, which could be 

 said to be improper or dangerous. Ter- 

 tullian reprobated it, and Galen suffered 

 a dislocation of his shoulder when wrest- 

 ling, which satisfactorily accounts for his 

 enmity to the sport. It is rather singular, 

 that this method of trying muscular 

 ' strength should have prevailed, when it 

 is remembered that strains of the mus- 

 cles and dislocation of the joints, and even 

 fractured limbs and skulls, were conse- 

 quences not improbable : in addition to 

 these objections, it must be allowed, that 

 no method more certain could be devised 

 for the excitement of sudden anger and 

 blows. To obviate the first of these dis- 

 advantages, the Grecian athletes anointed 

 th.-ir bodies with oil, hoping by this 

 means to render their joints more flexible, 

 though some authors have supposed the 

 practice originated from an intention to 

 prevent their adversaries obtaining a firm 

 grasp of the limbs, and others think it 

 was done to check profuse and debi- 

 liating perspirations. The mode adopted 

 to save the limbs from fractures was ab- 

 surd indeed: they lived well, and con- 

 trived every possible way to make them- 

 selves corpulent, that their flesh might 

 act, between their bones and the earth, 

 as a medium or cushion, forgetting that, 

 as their gravity increased, the bruises 

 they received were proportionally more 

 violent, and a fracture more difficult to 

 reduce. 



^ Besides the application of oil, and rub- 

 bing it on the surface of the skin till the 

 friction produced a glow, il is said they 

 added dust or sand, but for what pur- 

 pose, unless to close the pores, cannot 



well be decided. Salzmann says, <* after 

 this preparation the exercise itself com- 

 menced The combatants began with 

 handling each other slightly, each press- 

 ing or pulling his antagonist backwards 

 and forwards, till they grew warm, (hen 

 butting him with his head, thrusting him 

 from his ground, assailing him with all his 

 force, wrenching his limbs, shaking 

 him, twisting his neck so as to choke 

 him, lifting him up in his arms, See This 

 kind of wrestling was called O p Stoc. ira^y, 

 because it was performed standing : and 

 he was declared victor who threw his an- 

 tagonist thrice. Another kind was per- 

 formed on the ground. This was called 

 avotx.*uo7roito. Every thing was prac- 

 tised in this that was in wrestling erect, 

 as far as the posture would allow. The 

 combatants voluntarily lay down, and he 

 whose strength was first exhausted lost 

 the /ictory, which he acknowledged by 

 words, or by holding up one of his 

 fingers. 



* With wrestling, the athletes after- 

 wards united the savage practice of box- 

 ing, which was known before the Trojan 

 war. Hence arose the two-fold contest, 

 called rayfcgseT/ev, which was pursued 

 to excess by the athletes, but could 

 scarcely be considered as a part of medi- 

 cinal gymnastics in the schools. No an- 

 cient physician recommends boxing in a 

 medical view. The boxers likewise laid 

 great stress on rendering their bodies 

 corpulent, that they might be the better 

 able to bear the blows of their antago- 

 nists." The same author adds, "The 

 boxers fought erect, never hugging their 

 antagonist, and throwing him down, but 

 merely striking him : the wrestlers were 

 not allowed to strike : the pancratiasts 

 united the two, both wrestling and strik- 

 ing." 



K>ennet refers the Lucius Trojae, cele- 

 brated by bands of boys, to the inven- 

 tion of Ascanius. The youths engaged in 

 this exercise were selected from the most 

 honourable families of Rome, were ele- 

 gantly habited, and armed with weapons 

 of a size proportioned to their age. The 

 commander received the title of Princeps 

 Juventutis, and was sometimes the son 

 of a senator, and not unfrequently the 

 heir to the empire. Augustus was ex- 

 tremely partial to their infantile imitations 

 of the ardour of manhood ; and Virgil, 

 aware of his partiality, introduced a de- 

 scription of their celebrations in his 

 Eneid. They wore chaplets of flowers on 

 their heads, and their hair flowed loose 



