Throwing the dart or spear was of de cided importance in ancient warfare, and the skill of their soldiers was probably very great. In this instance, however, it may be doubted, whether all the ad antages of their gymnasiums enabled them to excel some of the tribes of Hot tentots, exclusive of savages in a supe rior state of civilization ; the debased people alluded to possess wonderful abi lity in throwing and arresting the progress of spears ; the writer of the present ar ticle had an opportunity of knowing, from a witness of the scene, that a Hot tentot frequently caught a heavy pole hurled at him by a strong man, ere it had power to injure him.
Throwing the discus, now known by the name of the quoit, required equal strength and skill; the shape of the discus was nearly oval, about a foot in length, and three or four inches thick in the centre, whence it tapered on each side to the extremity, in the manner of a lens, and a hole was perforated in the middle. Statues of persons employed at this game exhibit them with the discus "rested on the four fingers, which were closed, with their ends pointing upward on the inside of it ; the thumb was ex tended horizontally along the outside." Salzmann says, the thrower obtained the necessary impulse by swinging the arm, and at the proper moment he gave the discus a rotatory motion, and sent it through the air to the mark. Kennet as serts, in describing the Roman Circensian shows, that they obtained their quinquer tium, or the five exercises of running, wrestling, leaping, throwing, and boxing, from the Grecian games, and adds, that the discus or quoit of the former people " was made of stone, iron, or copper, five or,six fingers broad, and more than a foot long, inclining to an oval figure; they sent this to a vast distance, by the help of a leathern thong tied round the per son's hand that threw." The latter par ticular has been disputed, and the posi tion is maintained, by observing that, had a thong been used, it was unne cessary for the discobuli to rub their hands on the earth, to prevent the discus from slipping ; besides, the strap would have interrupted the rotatory whirl, thought indispensable for its steady course.
If we may depend upon Homer, the weight of the discus was an object of some importance : " Then hurl'd the hero, thund'ring on the ground, A mass of iron, (an enormous round,) Whose weight and size the circling Greeks admire, Rude from the furnace, and but shap'd by fire, This mighty quoit Action wont to rear, And from his whirling arm dismiss in air ; The giant by Achilles slain, he stow'd Among his spoils this load. For this hc.: bids those nervous artists vie, That teach the disc to sound along the sky." Book xxiii. 975.
Galen classed the discus in the medi cinal gymnastics, in hurling which he was declared the victor, who sent it high est in the air, the greatest distance, and the nearest to the mark. Circular quoits,
resembling a broad ring, and made of iron, are still used in England, but it is extremely doubtful whether the most ex perienced player could rival the inferior discobuli of ancient times.
Wrestling was the only exercise, of those already mentioned, which could be said to he improper or dangerous. Ter tullian reprobated it, and Galen suffered a dislocation of his shoulder when wrest ling, which satisfactorily accounts for his enmity to the sport. It is rather singular, that this method of trying muscular strength should have prevailed, when it is remembered that strains of the mus cles and dislocation of the joints, and even fractured limbs and skulls, were conse quences not improbable': in addition to these objections, it must be allowed, that no method more certain could be devised for the excitement of sudden anger and blows. To obviate the first of these dis advantages, the Grecian athletes anointed their bodies with oil, hoping by this means to render their joints more flexible, though some authors have supposed the practice originated from an intention to prevent their adversaries obtaining a firm grasp of the limbs, and others think it was done to check profuse and debi listing perspirations. The mode adopted to save the limbs from fractures was ab surd indeed : they lived well, and con trived every possible way to make them selves corpulent, that their flesh might act, between their bones and the earth, as a medium or cushion, forgetting that, as their gravity increased, the bruises they received were proportionably more violent, and a fracture more difficult to reduce.
Besides the application of oil, and rub bing it on the surface of the skin till the friction produced a glow, it is said they added dust or sand, but thr what pur pose, unless to close the pores, cannot well be decided. Salzmann says, " after this preparation the exercise itself com menced. The combatants began with handling each other slightly, each press ing or pulling his antagonist backwards and forwards, till they grew warm, then butting him with his head, thrusting him from his ground, assailing him with all his force, wrenching his limbs, shaking him, twisting his neck so as to choke him, lifting him up in his arms, &c This kind of wrestling was called oc94oc irccAa, because it was performed standing : and he was declared victor who threw his an tagonist thrice. Another kind was per formed on the ground. This was called Every thing was prac tised in this that was in wrestling erect, as far as the posture would allow. The combatants voluntarily lay down, and he whose strength was first exhausted lost the iictory, which' he acknowledged by words, or by holding up one of his fingers.