Scientific Athletics

historian , and musicians. These games w re eel bratecl v ry five y ar , and b came so famous that instead of calculating time by lu tra, the inhabitant began to comput by the Capitoline Games, a the Greek did by Olympiad . Thi custom was not, how ver, of long duration. Th principal fe tivals in tituted by the Roman wer the APPOLLIXARI N and IRCE The in– veterate cu tom of the Grecians wa r cogni ed when c mferring di tinction upon the gladiator . We are und ran obligation to th bard of antiquity, who have red emecl the cont ts and victorie of their he ,-oes from obscurity and oblivion. Th follO\·ving ode onveys admirably an impres ion of an ancient wr tling contest : .'carcc did the chief the vigorous strif propose \Vhcn tower-like Ajax and ly es r sc, Amid the ring each nervous rival . lands, Embracing rigid with implicit hands ; lo c lock' cl above, their h ads and arms arc mixed ; Below, their plant cl f ct at distance fix' d, Like two strong rafter - which the builder form·, Proof to the "·intry winds and howling storms, Their tops connected, but at wider space Fix 'cl on the centre stands th ir ·olid base. Xow to grasp each manlv body b ncls; The humicl sweat from every pore descend ; Their bones resound with blows sides, shoulders, thigh , Swell to each gripe, ancl bloody tumours rise. • or could l ' Jyss s, for his art rcnown'd, O'erturn the strength of .\jax on th ground; • ·or ould th ' strength of jax ov rthrow The watchful caution of his artful foe. \\'hilc the long strife even tired the lookers on, Thus to L'lysses spoke great Telamon : ''Or let me lift thee, chief, or lift thou me; Prov ' we our force, and Jove the r t deer e." II' said, and, straining, heaved him off the ground, \\'ith matchless str ngth; that time ly ses found The strength to evade, and whcr the ncn·c combin His ankle slru k ; the giant fell upinc ; L lyss s, following, on hi - bosom lies ; Shouts of applause run raUlina through the skie.. .\jax lo lift, 1Tlvsses next essays, 23