Nugae literariae: prose and verse

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might; but is this Was his large profession and emulation, falling

called emphaticalty P num; Neque pugno, neque Segni pede, victus. 'l' West has cited Dom tho Greeli Anthology the sollowing lines, expressive of physiognomical disaster :

By the union of the caestus and wresiling, an institutearose under the name, Pancratium. The victor in both was the Pancratiast. This doubie strife Was much savoured, and this doubie honour dearly craVed. :Αnother addition to the original simplicity Was the ArmedCΟurSe, the Aγων χαλπιος. In the srst Isthmian Odo wo road of

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tho drivor holding a goad in his right halid, and a long Wand in his test, boni at the eiad, reaching beyond the horses' neclis, and capable of stopping them by hooking into some part of theirharness, probably that abolit the head. Μore frequently theyhad retris. In the Digned account, giVen by the Paedagogue, of

Hurton suggesis this illustration of the passage in the Electra. : In the Rock-Temple, Ebsambul, Rameses is sculptured standingin his chariot drawn by two horses, the reins fastened to his girdio bohind him. g When the son of Alcibiades was the client of Isocrates, it appears that the libet which had boon lisapodupon the sather's memory Was, that he had stolen or talion with violenco his famotis horses hom Tisias. The orator proceeds: Αt that timo, the olympic Games Wore the clites theatre os

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but reflected splendour on the state to Whicli they belonged. Alcibiades observing this considered, that the Hory acquiredat Olympus raised the reputation of the republic in the esleemos ali Greece. Upon this reflection, though inferior to none in bodily strongili and address, he disdained the gymnastic eXercises as belonging to men Of mean eXtraction and narroW fortunes, or to the members of inconsiderable states; and applying himself to the mana gement of horses, whicli nono but the most amuent could undertake, he eXcelled ali his competitors. Hohad more chariois than the greatest states. His sacrifices undother expenses in the festival Were more magnificent than those of whole nationS.

Aher this, or charioteering Was certainly much antecedent, and belonged to the original games of Hercules besoro therestricted rule of the Pentathlon, orse-racing Was introduced. Ιt might seem that this, as simpler, Would have the earlier rise. This Was not, hoWever, true. It Was not triae in War, for these chariots were used greatly besore the employment of caVHry. It was not triae in the games, for Strictly equestrianeXercises Were of the latost date. Thore is litti se information toguide uS here. The Κελης, the vatilling horse, is the Pindaricname,-and the practice may have been to leap them ,-or more

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Seu quis, Olympiacae miratus praemia Palmae, Pascit equos.

Froin the fifth Olympic Ode it appears that mules, as Weli ashorses, ran, and that both Were governed by a single rein. The probability, I thin k is, that μοναμπυκια Was a Lind of halter,such as our dragoons use When they take their horses to water :for it is very destrabie to have this power of directing the animal, in case that Elther of the reins Ahould bresi, or be cui a funderin batile. -We osten meet with much concerning the horse in Homer: Phoenix is I ηλαῖα,--Hector is Ι τοδαμ ος. The Steed sos Eumelus are celebrated for their Winged fleetness,-and allwill recati the captured coursers of Rhesus whicli Ulysses and Diomede rode back to their camp. Horses, as in Our da 8, had their names ; our Eclipses and Plenipotentiaries are only the descendanis and successors of the Xanthus of Achilles, tho Cthe of Agamemnon, tho Phoronicos of Hiero, the Aura ofPhidolas. This latior mare, iis rider being thrown, finished the race by herself, and stood bosore tho judges as is claiming the victory. The statue, decreed on Such occasionS, WaS ratSed, says Pausanias, to her according to the Wishes of her oWner. Tho four horses with whicli Cimon Won the Olympic prige Were buriod with him. We must not sorget to remark, that very soon in ilis history of these Games, eXercises Were opened for boyS, Eφηβοι. Thoy were at first excluded froni the Pentathlon and the Pancratium. They Were trained in almost ait the toWns ; the gymnasia being, in Shori, military colleges. They Wero admittedio the serious contests of the stadium, and wresiled and ran sorpriges. There is a notice in Plato Whicli leads iis to suppose

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says that the chin os Pytheas had not shown so much of hair asthe tender bloom Whicli precedes and germinates in the earliestgrape. Indulgence Was dotabiless extended to them. In thegames Whicli Xenophon describes in his Anabasis, the boys ranthe Shori, and the men the long, course. Afier ali, the eighth

Games begian. From Sophocles me learn that a trumpet founded sor the course. In Pindar We obtain the fame faci,

of the listod heroes solanding through the thin bragen iube. 'Sudden attention is arrested i We must noW look at the candidates. None could enter the stadium but on tho oath that thoyhad exercised for ten monilis, One monti, of the ten beingspsent at Elis. They had trainers, and these Were permitted tocheor and direct them during the stri . In certain notices of Μonifaucon at the close of Chrvsostoriss Wortis, and taken froni them, me find that the trainer might sit upon the doors, encoura ging With voice and Sigia his pupit, though he must not proach him nearer. It took a long and severe initiation. The quotation of Horace is Very Worn:

Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Μulta tulit fecitque puer.

But the most elaborate tractate on such preparation is

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for their undertakings. The Judges Were called Hellonodicae. Thoir number vari ed. At last it Was decided to remain ten. They were chosen by the Elean people, mere alWays fuit tenmonilis in ossico previolis to the games, and never Were sufferedio contend themselves. Their poWer Was abSolute. Xenophon, on the Lacedaemonian Republic, says of the Ephori, tho Lacedaemonians do not, like other states, alloW those electedalWays to command during the War,-but like kius and presidenis in the Gymnasia, is they perceiVe any one acting contrary

triast, it does not appear that it Was suffered to operato. Woread in Pindar, Μεγαλων αεθλων αγναν κριο ν. They could expelnations, and suffered not sor a time the Lacedaemonians to sacrifice in their temples or contest in their games. They sned tho Athenians, and obtained, notWithstanding a long contumacy, themulct. Every punishment Was threatened against bribery and subornation. Statues Were erected hom the penalty iapon every fraudulent intrigue, bearing the inscription of the disgrace. It Was not only avenged, but committed to the fanis of a bad immortality. Thucydides, in his fifth book, insornis iis, that Lichas, a Lacedaemonian, Was Scourged in the course for deci ring his chariot the Victor, in opposition to the judiciat aWarii, -and this at the very time an attach Was expected froni his COUntrymen then Under eXclusion. - Ιt being hoasted in tho

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mations, and declared the victors. This ossice Was contested. Pausanias says that there Was an altar near the Stadium, onWhich no sacrifice Was offered to any of the gods, but trum- peters and oriers contend Upon it uster the ancient manner.'

Among his disserent politis of singular ambition, Nero fought this distinction. Os course he gain ed. Who would shout against an Imperiat articulation 8 Backed by thirty legions, and carrying in his pocket the key of the aerarium, he Won all

does not seem to have eXisted in the Grecian mind. That thetree Was common in Elea hom Whicli circumstance the countryperhaps Was called) appears rather an objection against iis boingselected for such a rare occasion. When tiarning to Theocritus,

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A palm Was gi ven to eVery Victor as Soon as he had Won, but the coronation was reserved to the fifth day. Then, besorothe congregated nations, they Were brought sortii and ma inalied into a spisendid retinue, With attendanis, With strians of triumph and paeans of congratulation. Aster that ensiled a Solemn pause. I Wo illustrative passages are found in Chrysostom : Do ye not see in the Olympio contests When the Agonothetes, Wearing his croWn Upon his head, arra ed in his robe,

wOman' Was sussered, for obvious rea8onS, to attend these games, the victor could not here receive a mothe 's tears or sister s

Odyss : ix. 320.' AElian relates, in his tentii book, that Pherenice was admitted, after much dispute, as the claughter of one victor, the sister of three, and the mollier os a combatant at the time. The priestess of Ceres Was a standing eXception. From the Delance of Murena by Cicero we find that the Vestat Virgin Waspermitted to attend the shοws of the gladiators.

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Thither came the virgin and the matron, the insant struggled against iis nurse s hold, and tho hoary-headed disdainod his

rofused: the wali of the city Was broken doWn to mahe anentrance sor him, as though the nobtest porch-Way, Whicli eVery obscurest inhabitant could tread, Was far too UnWorthy to receive sucia a heroic citigen. This fact is confirmed by Plutarch. In the Roman Questions he 8hows that Walis Were held to be sacred, and gates to be common; and in his Symposiacon a disserent statoment is assorded: that cities Whicli might boast such nativos could not need walis i The elation of that moment may boguessed froin the shame and depression of those Who returned homo de aled. Meilesias is pratsed by Pindar' sor having, after training tWenty-nine successsul pupiis, brought out Alcimedon, and thus is his triumph over his young antagonisis described : - Ηe, by favour of his tutelary, and not abandoning a Self- collected strength, compelled four poor Striplings to make a most Unenvia te retrent, to teli a most pileous tale, and to steat backby hidden by-patiis to their abodes. ' And in tho eighth Pythianthe fame melancholy themo is toliched. of those Whom Aristomenes overcame it is said: No joysul return is adjudged tothem, nor as they enter the presence of the eXpecting mollior

that dwelling. ' Μonuments wero speedily raised to them in Olympia, and somelimes in their own landS. The expense Wasmost generalty borne by the friends and countrymen of the Successsul candidato : in a few instances, by the direction of the Hellenodicae, froni the rich excitequer Whicli they could commmd. The statues mere of brass or marble. Is the mould-ings of the ancients Were as superior as their chiseis, What musthave been the ranges and vistas of breathing marbie and livingbrass i How Would those forins, seach individuated in characterand action, ειγιονες ur με sol, moVe the ambition of the aspirant, and excite within him every kindred emotion l FeW see theirown monuments,-they are bulli for posterity. In Altis, however, the subject of them, and the admiring Spectator, met

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beneath the fame pedestat, and the present and the future wero bisendod into one lBut Song Was to do a more memorabie Service than metalor stone. It is here that Pindar s ea gle soars, and revols in iis sight. The poei's poWer is carried to a tyranny. For When aman,'' he sings, Who has performed nobie deeds goes down to

but more generalty oVerWhelming as a Tegean cascade. In his fifth Nomoan, he indignantly repeis the notion that he shouldbs tho fabricator os human likenesses, siXed and immove loon their base: he is the poet whose uiarestricted verse sies fasterand furthor than the bark. A few of his metaphors may bocullod: and should they seem vavntingly extraVagant, it mustbe remembered that they have conserved many a name and incident Which no materiai trophy could have perpetuatedi Ιεend the out-poured nectar of my stratia, inspired by the Aluses, to the Vatiant conquerors, a pure essetice distilled froin myvery foui. ' ρε Adorned With the rich coverings of song. ' ' ρ Woaving the variegated garland of harmony for brave men. 4 Tho wreath of my verse shali ever bloom. 'Ve mustopen to the heroes the triumphant gales of poetic celebration.Vll

that I could inveni unknown ternis for my theme; that bornealost in the chariot of poesy, my courage and maSterdom Were equat to my soaring.V:: These encomiastic lines stiali go fortii, requiring and enciting the publication os future annuis, and bindlar distant ages to tho sacred pledge of renoWned virtues. ββ Pierce, O Echo, to the sombre dome of Proserpine, that thoumayst bear the glorious noWs untii thou sindost his doceassed fallier Cleodomus: thon teli him that his son, in the vallos of the illustrious Pisa, has crowned his youthsul locks With a coronal