The teachers of music were divided into two classes: the Citharistæ, who simply played on the instrument, and the Citharœdi who accompanied themselves on the cithara with a song.^[610] Of these the humble and poorer taught, as we have already observed, in the corners of the streets, while the abler and more fortunate opened schools of music or gave their lessons in the private dwellings of the great. The Cithara, however, was not anciently in use at Athens, if we may credit the tradition which attributes to Phrynis its introduction from Ionia.^[611]

Damon the great Athenian musician^[612] used to observe, that wherever the mind is susceptible of powerful emotions there will be the song and the dance, and that wherever men are free and honourable their amusements will be liberal and decorous, where men are otherwise the contrary. A very judicious remark was likewise made by Caphesias the flute-player. Observing one of his pupils striving to produce loud sounds, he stamped on the ground and said,—"Boy, that is not always good which is great; but that is great which is good."^[613]

The power of music in assuaging passion and anger is well illustrated by an anecdote of Cleinias the Pythagorean philosopher, a man distinguished for his virtue and gentleness. If at any time he felt himself moved to wrath, taking up his lyre he would touch the chords and chaunt thereto some ode, and if any questioned why he did so, he would reply, “I am in search of serenity.”^[614]

Like the Hebrews, also, the people of Hellas attributed to music still more marvellous virtues,^[615] conceiving it to be able to cure diseases both of the mind and body. Thus the sounds of the flute were supposed to remove epilepsy, and sciatica, and faintness, and fear, and paroxysms of long-established madness,^[616] which will probably remind the reader of David playing before Saul, when his mind was troubled.

In the later ages of the commonwealth drawing likewise, and the elements of art entered into the list of studies pursued by youths, partly with the view of diffusing a correct taste, and the ability to appreciate and enjoy the noble productions of the pencil and chisel, and partly, perhaps, from the mere love of novelty, and the desire which man always feels to enlarge the circle of his acquirements. Aristotle,^[617] indeed, suggests a much humbler motive, observing that a knowledge of drawing would enable men to appreciate more accurately the productions of the useful arts; but this perhaps was said more in deference to that spirit of utilitarianism then beginning to show itself than from any conviction of its soundness.

Simultaneously with the above studies,^[618] that highly intricate and artificial system of exercises denominated gymnastics occupied a considerable portion of the time of youth. Among northern nations the influence of education is requisite to soften the manners and check ferocity; but in the south hardihood must in general be the fruit of discipline, and flourishes only while assiduously cultivated. Thus we find that the Persians,^[619] by acting on the advice of Crœsos, and teaching the Lydians to become musicians and shopkeepers, uprooted entirely their martial spirit. In Greece, however, during the flourishing period of her history there was more danger that the passion for war should drown all others, than that its influence should be too feeble. Among the Athenians particularly, that restless energy of character, so marvellous and so distasteful to the Dorians, sought vent in dangerous and distant wars and stupendous schemes of ambition. This characteristic trait is adduced by Plato for the purpose of suggesting a contrast with the rival race. He had been dwelling, to his Cretan and Spartan companions, on the exercises necessary for pregnant women,^[620] and observing their astonishment, he could understand, he said, how it might appear extraordinary to them, but at Athens his recommendation would be perfectly intelligible; for there, people were rather too active than otherwise. The difficulty always was to find becoming employment. Accordingly, for lack of something better, not merely boys but grown-up men, comprehending nothing of the dolce far niente, employed themselves in breeding cocks, quails, and other birds for fighting, and the care of these imposed on them the necessity of much exercise. To be sure, these cock-fighters, during their professional perambulations, presented a spectacle infinitely ludicrous. All regard to appearances was abandoned. With a couple of small cocks^[621] in their hands, and an old one under either arm, they sallied forth, like vagabonds who had been robbing a henroost, to give their favourite animals air and gentle exercise, and thus laden often strolled several miles into the country.

To such a people the gymnasium opened up a source of peculiar delight, and in the end became a passion prejudicial to the cultivation of the understanding. But within the bounds of moderation it was prescribed by philosophers in lieu of physic, and as an antidote against those pale faces and emaciated frames, too common where intellectual studies are ardently pursued.^[622] It was a law of Solon, that every Athenian^[623] should be able to read and to swim; and the whole spirit of Attic legislation, leaving the poor to the exercise of industrious and hardy occupations, tended to create among the opulent and the noble a taste for field-sports, horsemanship, and every martial and manly exercise.^[624] The difficulty, of course, was to render them subordinate to mental cultivation, and to blend both so cunningly together as to produce a beautiful and harmonious system of discipline, well fitted to ripen and bring to greatest perfection every power and faculty of body and mind.

The practises of the gymnasium may be traced backward to the remotest antiquity, and probably commenced among the warriors of the heroic ages,^[625] in the peaceful intervals occurring between expeditions, from the desire to amuse their leisure by mimic representations of more serious contests. At first, no doubt, the exercises, frequently performed in honour of the gods,^[626] were few and rude; but by the age of Homer they had assumed an artificial and regular form, and comprehended nearly all such divisions of the art as prevailed in later times. Other views than those with which they were instituted, caused them to be kept up. When reflection awoke, it was perceived that in these amicable contests men acquired not only force and agility, a martial bearing, the confidence of strength, beauty, and lightness of form; but, along with them, that easy cheerfulness into which robust health naturally blossoms.^[627] In fact, so far were the legislators of Greece from designing by gymnastics to create, as Montesquieu^[628] supposes, a nation of mere athletes and combatants, that they expressly repudiate the idea, affirming that lightness, agility, a compactly knit frame, health, but chiefly a well-poised and vigorous mind, were the object of this part of education. In order the better to attain this point, Plato in his republic ordains that boys be completed in their intellectual studies, which in his ideal state they were to be at the age of sixteen, before they entered the gymnasium, the exercises of which were to be the companions of simple music. From converting their citizens into athletes they were prevented by experience; for it was quickly discovered that those men who made a profession of gymnastics acquired, indeed, by their diet and peculiar discipline a huge stature and enormous strength, but were altogether useless in war, being sleepy, lethargic, prodigious eaters, incapable of enduring thirst or hunger, and liable to the attacks of sudden and fatal diseases if they departed in the least degree from their usual habits and regimen.^[629]

Already in the Homeric age, gymnastics, though not as yet so named, constituted the principal object of education, and many branches of the art had even then been carried to a high degree of perfection.^[630] The passion for it descended unimpaired to the Spartans, whose polity, framed solely for the preservation of national independence and the acquisition of glory in war, inspired little fondness for mental pursuits, but left the youth chiefly to the influence of the gymnasia, which gradually created in them a temper of mind compounded of insensibility and ferocity,^[631] not unlike that of the North American Indians. This, however, they above all things prized, though as has been justly observed their exercises could in no sense be considered among the aids to intellectual cultivation.^[632]

At Athens they came later into vogue, though common in the age of Solon. When, however, this ardent and enthusiastic people commenced the study of gymnastics, admiring as they did strength and vigour of frame, when united with manly beauty, their plastic genius soon converted it into an art worthy to be enumerated among the studies of youth. In very early ages they imitated the Spartan custom of admitting even boys into the gymnasia. But this was soon abandoned, it being found more profitable first to instruct them in several of the branches of study above described, and a class of men^[633] called pædotribæ or gymnasts arose, who taught the gymnastic art privately, in subordination to their other studies, and were regarded as indispensable in the progress of education.^[634] These masters gave their instructions in the palæstræ,^[635] which generally formed a part of the gymnasia, though not always joined with those edifices, and to be carefully distinguished from them. It is not known with certainty at what age boys commenced their gymnastic exercises, though it appears probable that it was not until their grammatical and musical studies were completed, that is somewhere perhaps, as Plato counsels, about the age of sixteen. For it was not judged advisable to engage them in too many studies at once, since in bodies not yet endowed with all their strength over-exertion was considered injurious.

Before we enumerate and explain the several exercises it may be proper to introduce a description of the gymnasia themselves. Of these establishments there were many at Athens;^[636] though three only, those of the Academy, Lyceum, and Cynosarges have acquired celebrity. The site of the first of these gymnasia being low and marshy was in ancient times infested with malaria, but having been drained by Cimon and planted with trees it became a favourite promenade and place of exercise.^[637] Here, in walks shaded by the sacred olive, might be seen young men,^[638] with crowns of rushes in flower upon their heads, enjoying the sweet odour of the smilax and the white poplar, while the platanos and the elm mingled their murmurs in the breeze of spring. The meadows of the Academy, according to Aristophanes the grammarian, were planted with the Apragmosune,^[639] a sort of flower so called as though it smelt of all kind of fragrance and safety like our Heart’s-ease or flower of the Trinity. This place is supposed to have derived its name from Ecadamos, a public-spirited man who bequeathed his property for the purpose of keeping it in order. Around it were groves of the moriæ sacred to Athena, whence the olive crowns used in the Panathenaia were taken. The reason why the olive trees as well as those in the Acropolis were denominated moriæ must be sought for among the legends of the mythology, where it is related that Halirrothios son of Poseidon formed the design of felling them because the patronship of the city had been adjudged to Athena, for the discovery of this tree. Raising his axe, however, and aiming a blow at the trunk the implement glanced, and he thus inflicted upon himself a wound whereof he died.^[640]

The name of the Lyceum^[641] sometimes derived from Lycus, son of Pandion^[642] probably owed its origin to the temenos of Lycian Apollo there situated. It lay near the banks of the Ilissos, and was adorned with stately edifices, fountains and groves. Here stood a celebrated statue of Apollo, in a graceful attitude, as if reposing after toil, with his bow in the left hand, and the right bent negligently over his head. The walls, too, were decorated with paintings. In this place anciently the Polemarch held his court^[643] and the forces of the republic were exercised before they went forth to war.^[644]

Appended to the name of the Cynosarges, or third gymnasium surrounded with groves^[645] was a legend which related that when Diomos was sacrificing to Hestia, a white dog snatched away a part of the victim from the altar, and running straightway out of the city deposited it on the spot where this gymnasium was afterwards erected.^[646] Here were several magnificent and celebrated temples to Alcmena, to Hebe, to Heracles, and to his companion Iolaos. Its principal patron, however, was Heracles,^[647] who, lying himself under the suspicion of illegitimacy, came very naturally to be regarded as the protector of bastards, half citizens, and in general all persons of spurious birth, who accordingly in remoter ages resorted thither to perform their exercises.

Themistocles afterwards, by prevailing upon several of the young nobility to accompany him to the Cynosarges, obliterated its reproach, and placed it on the same level with the other gymnasia.^[648] Here anciently stood a court in which causes respecting illegitimacy, false registry, &c. were tried. But to proceed to the general description. “The gymnasia were spacious edifices, surrounded by gardens and a sacred grove. The first entrance was by a square court, two stadia in circumference, encompassed with porticoes and buildings. On three of its sides were large halls, provided with seats, in which philosophers, rhetoricians, and sophists assembled their disciples. On the fourth were rooms for bathing and other practices of the gymnasium. The portico facing the south was double, to prevent the winter rains, driven by the wind, from penetrating into the interior. From this court you passed into an enclosure, likewise square, shaded in the middle by plane-trees. A range of colonnades extended round three of the sides. That which fronted the north had a double row of columns, to shelter those who walked there in summer from the sun. The opposite piazza was called Xystos, in the middle of which, and through its whole length, they contrived a sort of pathway, about twelve feet wide and nearly two deep, where, sheltered from the weather, and separated from the spectators ranged along the sides, the young scholars exercised themselves in wrestling. Beyond the Xystos was a stadium for foot-races.”^[649]

The principal parts of the gymnasium were,—first, the porticoes, furnished with seats and side-buildings where the youths met to converse. 2. The Ephebeion,^[650] that part of the edifice where the youth alone exercised. 3. The Apodyterion, or undressing-room.^[651] 4. The Konisterion, or small court in which was kept the haphe, or yellow kind of sand sprinkled by the wrestlers over their bodies^[652] after being anointed with the ceroma, or oil tempered with wax. An important part of the baggage of Alexander in his Indian expedition consisted of this fine sand for the gymnasium. 5. The Palæstra, when considered as part of the gymnasium,^[653] was simply the place set apart for wrestling: the whole of its area was covered with a deep stratum of mud. 6. The Sphæristerion,^[654]—that part of the gymnasium in which they played at ball. 7. Aleipterion or Elaiothesion,^[655] that part of the palæstra where the wrestlers anointed themselves with oil. 8. The area: the great court, and certain spaces in the porticoes, were used for running, leaping, or pitching the quoit. 9. The Xystoi have been described above. 10. The Xysta^[656] were open walks in which, during fine weather, the youths exercised themselves in running or any other suitable recreation. 11. The Balaneia or baths, where in numerous basins was water of various degrees of temperature, in which the young men bathed before anointing themselves, or after their exercises. 12. Behind the Xystos, and running parallel with it, lay the stadium,^[657] which, as its name implies, was usually the eighth part of a mile in length. It resembled the section of a cylinder, rounded at the ends. From the area below, where the runners performed their exercises, the sides, whether of green turf or marble, sloped upwards to a considerable height, and were covered with seats, rising behind each other to the top for the accommodation of spectators.

Such were the buildings which Athens appropriated to the exercises of its youth; and if we consider the conveniences which they contained, the large spaces they enclosed, and the taste and magnificence which they exhibited, we shall probably conclude that no country in the world ever bestowed on the physical training of its citizens so much enlightened care.

The first step in gymnastics was to accustom the youth to endure, naked, the fiercest rays of the sun and the cold of winter, to which they were exposed during their initiatory exercises.^[658] This is illustrated in a very lively manner by Lucian, where he introduces the Scythian Anacharsis anxious to escape from the scorching rays of noon to the shade of the plane-trees; while Solon, who had been educated according to the Hellenic system, stands without inconvenience bareheaded in the sun. The step next in order was wrestling, always regarded as the principal among gymnastic contests, both from its superior utility and the great art and skill which the proper practice of it required. To the acquisition of excellence in this exercise the palæstra and the instructions of the pædotribæ were almost entirely devoted; while nearly every other branch of gymnastics was performed in the gymnasium. These, according to Lucian, were divided into two classes, one of which required for their performance a soft or muddy area, the other one of sand, or an arena properly so called.^[659] In all these exercises the youth were naked, and had their bodies anointed with oil.

To render, however our account of the exercises more complete, it may be proper to give a separate though brief description of each. The first or most simple was the Dromos or Course,^[660] performed, as has been above observed, in the area of the stadium, which, in order to present the greater difficulty to the racers, was deeply covered with soft and yielding sand. Still further to enhance the labour, the youth sometimes ran in armour, which admirably prepared them for the vicissitudes of war, for pursuit after victory, or the rapid movements of retreat. The high value which the Greeks set upon swiftness may be learned from the poems of Homer, where likewise are found the most graphic and brilliant descriptions of the several exercises. Some of these we shall here introduce from Pope’s version, which in this part is peculiarly sustained and nervous. Speaking of the race between Oilean Ajax, Odysseus, and Antilochos, he says:—^[661]