frequently support a variety of characters, the " Let it be further observed, for the elucidation of a very striking passage in 1 Cor. iv. 9, that in the Roman amphitheatre the bestiarii, who in the morning combated with wild beasts, had armour with which to defend themselves, and to annoy and slay their antagonist. But the LAST who were brought upon the stage, which was about noon, were a miserable number, quite naked, without any weapons to assail their adversary, with immediate and inevitable death before them in all its horrors, and destined to be mangled and butchered in the direst manner. In allusion to this custom, with what sublimity and energy are the apostles represented to be brought out LAST upon the stage, as being devoted to certain death, and being made a PUBLIC SPECTACLE to the world, to 3. It is also well known that, in the Roman angels and men!" For I think that God hath theatres and amphitheatres, malefactors and cri- set forth us the apostles last, as it were, appointed minals were condemned to fight with lions, bears, to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, elephants, and tigers, for which all parts of the to angels and men." Dr. Whitby's illustration of Roman dominions were industriously ransacked, this distinguished passage is accurate and judito afford this very polite and elegant amusement cious. "Here the apostle seems to allude to the to this most refined and civilized people! The Roman spectacles, that of the bestiarii and the wretched miscreant was brought upon the stage, gladiators, where in the morning men were brought regarded with the last ignominy and contempt by upon the theatre to fight with wild beasts, and to the assembled multitudes, made a gazing-stock to the them was allowed armour to defend themselves, world, as the apostle expresses it; and a wild and smite the beasts that assailed them: but in beast, instigated to madness by the shouts and the meridian spectacle were brought forth the light missive darts of the spectators, was let loose gladiators naked, and without any thing to defend upon him, to tear and worry him in a miserable them from the sword of the assailant, and he that manner. To this sanguinary and brutal custom the then escaped was only reserved for slaughter anfollowing expressions allude:-" Ye endured a other day; so that these men might well be called, great fight of afflictions, partly whilst you were men appointed for death; and this being the last made a gazing-stock, both by reproaches and afflic-appearance on the theatre for that day, they are tions," Heb. x. 32, 33. The original is very em- said here to be set forth the last.”+ phatic being openly exposed, as on a public theatre, to ignominious insults and to the last cruelties. In another passage, also, Paul, speaking of the determined fierceness and bigotry with which the citizens of Ephesus opposed him, uses a strong metaphorical expression taken from the theatre. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus," 1 Cor. xv. 32. Not that the apostle appears to have been actually condemned by his enemies to combat with wild beasts in the theatre he seems only to have employed this ing to another custom. As to the expression, after the manner strong phraseology to denote the violence and of men, the sense seems to be, speaking after the manner of ferocity of his adversaries, which resembled the men.-Dissertations on Scripture, Diss. xlix. pp. 200, 201. The rage and fury of beasts; and to compare his con- very sanie word which the apostle here employs, to denote the tention with these fierce pagan zealots and fana-fury and violence of his adversaries, is used by Ignatius in the tics, to the common theatrical conflicts of men with wild beasts.* *The same metaphors are of frequent occurrence in the New Testament; Herod is called a fox, Luke xiii. 32. Hypocrites are called wolves in sheep's clothing, Matt. vii. 15. Rapacious "Be and mercenary preachers are styled wolves, that will enter and like metaphorical sense.-"All the way from Syria to Rome, by sea and by land, by night and by day, do I fight with wild beasts."-" I advise you to beware of beasts in the shape of men." So also the Psalmist, "My soul is among lions, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows," Ps. lvii. 4. "Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord,” lviii. 6. Comment. in loc.-Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii., pp. 36-46. SECTION II. THE GRECIAN GAMES. 1. Various Exercises in the Olympic Games-2. Qualifications of the Candidates-3. Preparatory Discipline-4. Introduction into the Stadium-5. The Foot-race-6. Boxing-7. Manner of contending-8. Rewards of the Victors-9. Record of the Victors-10. Allusions to these Games in the New Testament.* THE most splendid and celebrated solemnities which ancient history has transmitted to us, were the Olympic games. Historians, orators, and poets abound with references to them, and their sublimest imagery is borrowed from these celebrated exercises. They were celebrated every fifth year by a great concourse of people from almost all parts of the world, with the greatest pomp and magnificence. Elis was a scene of universal festivity and joy, and hecatombs of victims were slain in honour of the immortal gods. We find that the most formidable and opulent sovereigns of those times were competitors for the Olympic crown judging their felicity completed, and the career of all human greatness and glory happily terminated, if they could but interweave the Olympic garland with the laurels they had purchased in fields of blood. Hence Horace says, Ode 1: : In clouds the Olympic dust to roll, FRANCIS. 1. The Olympic exercises principally consisted in running, wrestling, and the chariot-race; for leaping, throwing the dart and discus, were parts of what they called the Pentathlon. religiously inspected, that the combatants might acquit themselves in the conflict in a manner worthy the Grecian name, worthy the sacred solemnity of the occasion, and worthy those crowds of illustrious spectators by whom they would be surrounded. 3. Many passages in the Greek and Roman classics mention the extreme strictness, temperance, and continence which the candidates were obliged to observe. Those who taught the gymnastic art, prescribed to their disciples the kind of meat that was proper, the quantity they were to eat, and the hours at which they were to take it. (This was called avayzopays.) They prescribed to them likewise the hours of their exercise and rest. They forbade them the use of wine and women;t as Horace tells us (Art. Poet, line 412). A youth who hopes th' Olympic prize to gain, FRANCIS. But the following passage in Epictetus is perhaps, most full and in point: "Do you wish to gain the prize at the Olympic games? Consider the requisite preparations, and the conse quences, and then, if it be for your advantage. engage in the affair: you must conform to rules; observe a strict regimen; must live on food which you dislike; you must abstain from all delicacies; must exercise yourself at the necessary and prescribed times both in heat and in cold; you must drink nothing cooling; take no wine as formerly: in a word, you must put yourself under the direc 2. The candidates were to be freemen, and per- tions of a pugilist, as you would under those of a sons of unexceptionable character. A defect in physician; and afterwards enter the lists. Here legitimacy, or in personal character, totally dis- you may dislocate your arm, put your foot out of qualified them. It was indispensably necessary joint, swallow abundance of dust, receive many for them previously to submit to a severe regimen, stripes, and after all, be conquered. When you and preparatory exercises. They prescribed them- have reckoned up all this, if your inclination still selves a particular course of diet; and they were holds, set about the combat."‡ Thus the body required, when they had given in their names as was to be purified and lightened by strict tem candidates to be enrolled in the list of competi-perance, braced by exercise, and hardened by tors, to resort to Elis, and reside there thirty days before the games commenced; where their regimen and exercises were regulated and directed by a number of illustrious persons, who were appointed every day to superintend them. This form of diet was authoritatively prescribed and * The materials composing this section have been derived from Harwood's Introd., vol. ii., pp. 1-22; West's Dissertafion on the Olympic Games; and Drs. A. Clarke and Macknight on the passages cited. being inured to the changes of the atmosphere. This whole course, which lasted for many years, was called Aokno, exercise. Hence the ancient monks, who imitated and even outstripped the Athletes in their rules of temperance, and in the laboriousness of their exercises, were cailed Ασκηται, Ascetics. Mrs. Carter's translation of Arrian, pp. 268, 269, Loodu 1758, 4to. herald, or crier, publicly proclaimed the names of the combatants, and the combat in which they were to engage, agreeably to a register kept for that purpose by the judges, who were called Hellanodics. When their names were published, the combatants appeared, and were examined, whether they were free men, and Grecians, and of an unspotted character. No person who was not of respectable family and connexions was permitted to be a competitor at the Olympic games. Chrysostom, in whose time these games were still celebrated, assures us that no man was suffered to enter the lists who was either a servant or a slave. And if any such was found after he had been inserted on the military list, his name was erased, and he was expelled and punished. To prevent any person of bad character from entering the lists, the kerux or herald was accustomed, after the examination of the candidates, to proclaim silence, and then, laying his hand on the head of each combatant, led him in that manner along the stadium, demanding, with a loud voice, of all the assembly, “Is there any one who can accuse this any crime? Is he a robber, or a slave, or wicked and depraved in his life and manners?" For which Chrysostom gives this reason: That, being free from all suspicion of being in a state of slavery (and elsewhere he says of being a thief, or of corrupt morals), he might enter the lists with credit." Having passed through this public inquiry into their life and character with honour, the combatants were led to the altar of Jupiter, and there, with their relations, sworn that they would not be guilty of any fraud, or action tending to the breach of the laws of the sacred games; but that they would observe the strictest honour in the contention. man of 5. Those who were to engage in the foot-race were next brought to the barrier, along which they were arranged, and waited, in all the excess of ardour and impatience, for the signal. The cord being dropped, they all at once sprang forward, fired with the love of glory, conscious that the eyes of all assembled Greece were upon them, and that the envied palm, if they won it, would secure them the highest honours and immortalize their memory. It is natural to imagine with what rapidity they would urge their course, and, emulous of glory, stretch every nerve to reach the goal. This is beautifully represented in the following epigram (translated by Mr. West) on Arius of Tarsus, victor in the stadium: The speed of Arius, victor in the race, The barrier when he quits the dazzled sight In vain essays to catch him in his flight. Lost is the racer through the whole career, 'Till victor at the goal he re-appear. Of the manner of boxing at these games, Virgil's account of the match between Entellus and Dares (Eneid v. ver. 426, &c.) will give us a lively picture. We give Dryden's translation: Both on the tiptoe stand, at full extent; Their arms aloft, their bodies inly bent; Their heads from aiming blows, they bear afar, With dashing gauntlets then provoke the war. One [Dares] on his youth and pliant limbs relies; One [Entellus] on his sinews, and his giant-size. The last is stiff with age, his motions slow; He heaves for breath; he staggers to and fro. Yet, equal in success, they ward, they strike; Their ways are different, but their art alike. Before, behind, the blows are dealt; around Their hollow sides the rattling thumps resound. A storm of strokes well meant, with fury flies, And errs about their temples, ears, and eyes: Nor always errs; for oft the gauntlet draws A sweeping stroke along the crackling jaws. Hoary with age Entellus stands his ground, But with his warping body wards the wound; His head and watchful eye keep even pace, While Dares traverses and shifts his place ; And, like a captain who beleaguers round Some strong-built castle, on a rising ground, This and that other part in vain he tries, Views all the approaches with observing eyes, And more on industry than force relies. With hands on high, Entellus threats the foe; But Dares watched the motion from below, And slips aside, and shuns the long-descending blow. Entellus wastes his forces on the wind: And, thus deluded of the stroke designed, Headlong and heavy fell; his ample breast, And weighty limbs, his ancient mother pressed. So falls a hollow pine that long has stood On Ida's height, or Erymanthus' wood. Dauntless he rose, and to the fight returned; With shame his cheeks, his eyes with fury, burned: Disdain and conscious virtue fired his breast, And with redoubled force his foe he pressed. He lays on loads with either hand amain, And headlong drives the Trojan o'er the plain, Nor stops, nor stays, nor rest nor breath allows; But storms of strokes descend about his brows; A rattling tempest, and a hail of blows. No man who had not seen such a fight, could have given such a description of one as that we have here. It is painted from nature. 7. In all the athletic exercises the combatants contended naked ;* and their bodies were rubbed *Thucydides, lib. i., sect. vi., tom. i., pp. 16, 17, edit. Glasg. The Athletes at first wore a scarf round the waist; but in the xivth Olympiad, one Orsippus, a racer, happened to be thrown over with oil, or with a certain ointment composed | says Plutarch, of the insuppressible vigour of their of a due proportion of oil, wax, and dust, mixed body and minds. Near the goal was erected a up together, and called ceroma. These unctions tribunal, on which sat the presidents of the games, were, as some say, peculiar to the wrestlers and called Hellanodics, personages venerable for their pancratiasts, whose combats were thereby rendered years and characters, who were the sovereign armore toilsome and various; while each combatant biters and judges of these arduous contentions, and endeavoured to seize upon the other, whose efforts impartial witnesses of the respective merits and preto escape or break the hold of his antagonist were tensions of each combatant, and with the strictest assisted by the slipperiness, as well as by the force justice conferred the crown. and agility of his body. But in order to qualify a little the extreme lubricity of the skin, thus occasioned, the Athletes were accustomed, before they came to an engagement, either to roll themselves in the mud of the Palæstra, or in the sand kept for that purpose in a place called Kawiorgio, or that with which the place of combat seems to have been covered, as well for this use as to prevent the combatants from bruising or injuring themselves in falling; which, were it not for this bed or covering of sand, they would have been liable to do. 8. The victory in these contests was adjudged to him who gave his adversary three falls; as is evident from the following famous epigram upon Milo, translated by Mr. West: When none adventured in th' Olympic sand 9. But though the conquerors, immediately on their gaining the victory, were entitled to the chaplet and the palm, yet Pet. Faber (Agonis., lib. i., c. 30) conjectures, from a passage of Chrysostom, that they who contended in the morning exercises, did not receive their crowns till noon; at which time it may also be inferred from the same passage that the spectators, as well as the candidates, were dismissed in order to take some refreshment before the afternoon exercises came on; the conquerors in which were, in like manner, obliged to wait for their reward till the evening. To this custom the apostle is supposed to allude, Heb. xi. 40. The following is the manner, according to Mr. West, in which this ceremony was performed: The conquerors, being summoned by proclamation, marched in order to the tribunal of the Hellanodics, where a kerux, taking the crowns of olive from the table, placed one upon the head of each of the conquerors; and giving into their hands branches of palm, led them in that equipage along the stadium, preceded by trumpets, proclaiming at the same time, with a loud voice, their names, the names of their fathers, and their countries; and specifying the particular exercise in which each of them had gained the victory. The form made use of in the proclamation seems to have been con the son of Damagetus, of Rhodes, conqueror in the cæstus in the class of men;" and so of the rest, whether men or boys, mutatis mutandis. To excite the ardour and emulation of the com-ceived in these or similar terms; viz., "Diagoras petitors by placing in their view the object of their ambition, the crowns, the rewards of victory, were laid open upon a tripod or table, which during the solemnity was brought out, and placed in the middle of the stadium. The crowns, whose blooming honours grace DUNKIN'S Pindar. There were also branches of palm exposed, which the victors were to receive along with the crowns, and which they carried in their hands as emblems, down by his scarf tangling about his feet, and was killed; though others say, that he only lost the victory by the fall; whichever way it was, occasion was taken from thence to make a law, that all the Athletes for the future should contend naked. West's Pindar, vol. i., p. 72, 12mo. 10. That different degrees of merit were rewarded with different degrees of honour, and consequently with different crowns, is inferred from the words of Basil: "No president of the games," says he, "is so devoid of judgment, as to think a man who, for want of an adversary, hath not contended, deserves the same crown as one who hath contended and overcome."+ 11. Though the chaplet seems to have been the only reward which the Hellanodics conferred upon the conquerors, there were many other recompences attending their victories, received as well from the spectators in general, as from their own countrymen, friends, and relations in par Apud Fab. Agon. 1. iii., cap. i. ticular. Some of these, indeed, they received even before they were put in possession of the crown; such were the acclamations and applauses of the numerous assembly, the warm congratulations of their friends, and even the faint and extorted salutations of their maligners and opponents. As they passed along the stadium, after they had received the crown, they were again saluted with the acclamations of the spectators, accompanied with a shower of herbs and flowers poured forth from every side. It was farther customary for the friends of the conquerors to express their particular respect, by personally accosting them, and presenting them with chaplets of herbs, &c. 12. To perpetuate the glory of these victories, the Hellanodics entered in a public register the names of the conquerors; specifying the particular exercise and class, whether of men or boys, in which each had been victorious; together with the number of the Olympiad. They then set up their statues in the altis or sacred grove of Jupiter at Olympia. 13. These particulars respecting the sacred games of the Grecians, which were held in the highest renown in the days of the apostles, explain and illustrate various passages in the sacred writings, the beauty, energy, and sublimity of which consist in metaphorical allusions to the various gymnastic exercises, from which much of their elegant and expressive imagery is borrowed. (1) In 1 Cor. ix. 24-27, the apostle asks, "Do ye not know, that they who run in the stadium, run, indeed, all, but one only receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may lay hold on the prize."-Know you not, that in the Grecian stadium great numbers run, with the utmost contention, to secure the prize, but that only one person wins and receives? With the same ardour and perseverance do you run, that you may receive the garland of celestial glory. You must observe all the rules prescribed by Christ, otherwise you cannot hope to receive the prize; "so run, that ye may lay hold on the prize." Here it is evident the apostle places the Christian race in contrast with the Grecian games; in them, one only received the prize, though all ran; in this, if all run, all will receive the prize. "Now every one who contendeth for the mastery is temperate in all things."-Every one who enters the lists as a combatant submits to the most rigid and severe regimen. "They, indeed, that they may receive a fading crown; but we, one that does not fade."-They do this to obtain a fading chaplet, that is only composed of the decaying leaves of a wild olive; but in our view is hung up the unfading wreath of immortality. The crowns for which the Greeks contended in the games were for the most part of the leaves of trees, which, though evergreens, soon withered; and the honours of which they were the pledges, by length of time lost their agreeableness, and at last perished, being all confined to the present life. But the crown for which Christians contend, being a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. iv. 8), and a crown of life (James i. 12; Rev. ii. 10), it never fades, as the apostle observes in the next clause; that is, there shall never be any period put to the honours and advantages of which this crown is the pledge. "I therefore run, not as uncertainly.”*—The reward being so great, I do not exert myself with just so much agility and strength as is sufficient to secure the prize; but I exert myself to the utmost, as one who is sensible that the object is worthy the greatest exertion, and that he is always in the view of his Judge. "So I box, as not beating the air."-I engage as a combatant, but deal not my blows in empty air. Kypke observes, that there are three ways in which persons were said to beat the air. (1) When, in practising for the combat, they throw their arms and legs about in different ways, thus practising the attitudes of offence and defence. This was termed oniaμaxia, fighting with a shadow; and Virgil alludes to it when representing Dares swinging his arms about, to challenge a competitor in the boxing-match, En. v., ver. 375 :— Thus, glorying in his strength, in open view PITT. (2) Sometimes boxers were to aim blows at their adversaries which they did not intend to "The word adŋλws, which we translate uncertainly, has other meanings. 1. It signifies ignorantly. I do not run like one ignorant of what he is about, or of the laws of the course: I know that there is an eternal life; I know the way that leads to it; and I know and feel the power of it. 2. It signifies without observation; the eyes of all the spectators were fixed on multitude, they stretched every nerve. The apostle knew that those who ran in these races; and to gain the applause of the the eyes of all were fixed upon him. (1) His false brethren waited for his halting. (2) The persecuting Jews and Gentiles longed for his downfal. (3) The church of Christ looked on him with anxiety. (4) And he acted in all things as under the immediate eye of God."-Dr. A. Clarke, in loco. "The Greek adverb adnλws," says Dr. Macknight, comes from αδηλα, a word which signifies a thing not manifest or apparent, Luke x. 44: Ye are ως τα μνημεια τα άδηλα, as graves which appear not." And he paraphrases the passage as follows: “I run according to all the rules prescribed, and with the greatest activity; knowing that in no part of the course I am out of the view of my Judge, and of a great concourse of spectators.' Christ, the Judge of the world, observes how every man behaves in the station assigned to him, and that with as much attention as the judges and spectators observed the manner in which the athletes contended.”—Dr. Macknight, in loco. |