Modern Athletics 1868

ANCIENT ATHLETICS. 5 wrathful, and lay in his dark sea-traversing ships, mutter­ ing wrath againstAgamemnon, andwhile his horses were eating their heads off on trefoil and parsley, his forces amused themselves with disc-throwing and dart-hurling (Iliad II., 774). Something more than a disc—a rudely molten mass of iron which the great mighotf Eetion used to hurl—Achilles (IliadXXIII.) proposedas the projec­ tile at the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, when Epeus got laughedat; bnt Polypaetes cast it as far as a cowman can throw his crook, however far that may be. _ It wasalso the game in which Odysseus, without taking his coat off (avrcp cpdpei), and with a disc bigger, thicker, and stouterthan those puny ones which thPehfB- acians used, far surpassed all his competitors, who had been most impudently chaffing him. But then it must be remembered that he had the goddess Athene for a marker, which was hardly fair. (Odyssey YIII. 186, &c.) "Then, mantled ahse was, lie rushed inrage And seized a huge round discus, heavier far Than thatwherewith Phceacianyouths engage, And whirled it once,and launched iitn the air. Bang the great stone andthe Phaeacians there, A ship-framed people, masters ofthe oar, Crouched tothe earth beneath thebooming blare. Lightly it dartedfrom his hand, and bore, Steady in flight,right on, surpassingevery score." Worsle.y. It could havebeen wished that the weight of the disc had been given, and that Athenehad been provided with a measuring tape. As it is, we are again unable to com­ pare ancients and moderns. The distance to which the disc was commonly thrown became a measure of length, and was called ra bia-Kovpa. Thus in the games at the tomb of Patroclus, thechariots of Menelans and Antilo- chus ran abreast (IliadXXIII., 431 and 523). "Far as a discus' flighbt,y some stout youth. That testshis vigour, fromthe shoulder hurled, So far theyran together, sideby side." Lord Derby. Again, "So far wasMenelaus inthe rear Of Nestor's son;at first, a discus' cast • Between them lay." Lord Derby.