The Cruise of the Branwen

THE GAMES IN ATHENS Gardiner has conclusively shown what the Greeks actually did from the pictorial evidence of a large number of vases and statues, which can alone explain the texts. Taking the standing Discobolus of the Vatican first, we see the athlete just after he has rubbed the discus with sand, to get a firm grip, holding it in his left hand, and standing just behind the line beyond which his foot may not pass in making the throw. The weight is momentarily on the left leg, but the tense muscles of the other calf and thigh show that it will soon be transferred to the right, which will become the pivot on which the essential body swing depends. Though the position is restful, it is the pause that precedes action. The eyes are measuring the distance to which he can swing the left foot forward at the final instant of the throw, just as the right-handed bowler is on his left foot when the ball leaves his hand in cricket. The nervous curl of the fingers of the outstretched right hand, which seems to assist the eye in estimating the required distance accurately, betokens a readiness to seize the discus when it is swung forward in the preliminary movement, which takes it, in both hands, straight in front of him. The position, in fact, is far from betokening merely unimportant "rest"; it is a most important and typical part of the actual throw. From the position, then, immortalised in the Vatican statue, the discobolus first moves to a position in which the discus is held by both hands straight in front of him, level with the waist, as 69