The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

118 ATHLETIC SPORTS OF SCOTLAND. pose, and hadprofessional trainers set over them. A conqueror in the Olympic games received amoney prize of five hundred drachmae, probably equivalent to more than as many pounds sterling ofthe present time. On his return to his native place, a breach was made inthe walls of the chief city;through this breach herode in a chariot drawn by four white horses, then through the principal streets to the temple of the guardian deity of the State, wherehymns of victory weresung. His statuewas next setup, and the poet-laureateof the time had to put his best foot foremost, and write an ode inhis honour. After this the victor paid no taxes, had abox seat at the theatre, and a front seat in the grand stand at the races. The only persons athe present time in this country who get honours and rewards atall equivalent to those acquired by the winner of a vegetable gar­ land at the Olympic games, are successful African travellers, Generals who scatter a few unwarlike Egyptian soldiers, or belong to the Royal Family, and are capable of scattering nothing but other people's money, and German princes. Lastly, the only men who were called athletes inGreece, were those who made athletic sports their sole profession ; the real amateurs of the time, thosewho practisedathletic sports as a means of recreation and healthypastime, were called agonistae. Real amateurath­ letes in ancient as in modern times never broke records nor carried off trophies. To class all athletes who compete for money prizes as professionals, and all athletes who do not com­ pete for money prizes as amateurs, is simply in most cases to call black white and white black. There is not a learned pro­ fession or trade in Scotland that does not include men who would be classed as professional athletes by amateurs. The writer has often competed with men who are now clergymen, doctors, and schoolmasters for money prizes at Scottish games, men who were no moreprofessional athletes in the true sense of the wordthan so-called amateurs.The great majority of athletes who win money prizes at Scottish games are men who mustdo all their training aftera day's work. Often theironly chance of