use at Athens, if we may credit the tradition which attributes to Phrynis its introduction from Ionia.' Damon the great Athenian musician 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." 66 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." Like the Hebrews, also, the people of Hellas attributed to music still more marvellous virtues," 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," 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 1 Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 958; Vesp. 574. 2 Cf. Plat. Repub. t. vi. p. 133. 3 Athen. xiv. 26. * ПIpaúvoμoi. Cham. Pont. ap. Athen. xiv. 18. 5 Thus demons were expelled by the sound of brass bells.— Magius, Var. Lect. p. 205. b. 6 Athen. xiv. 18. Apollon. ap. Schweigh. Animad. xii. p. 399. on the story, and bronze votive offerings on the Tænarian promontory of the musician Arion.-Herod. i. 23. seq. Dion. Chrysost. Orat. xxxvii. p. 455. Pausan. i. 24. Elian. de Nat. Animal. xii. 45. 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,' 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. 1 Polit. viii. 3. 189 CHAPTER V. EXERCISES OF YOUTH. SIMULTANEOUSLY with the above studies,' 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, by acting on the advice of Croesos, 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,' 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 employ3 De Legg. vii. t. viii. p. 3. cf. p. 11. 1 Cf. Plato, de Rep. t. vi. p. seq. 139, vii. 6. 4. Justin, i. 6. ment. 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 cocks1 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. It was a law of Solon, that every Athenian3 should be able to read and to swim; 1 Plato, de Legg. vii. t. viii. p. 3. seq.-On the practice of quail-fighting, see Poll. vii. 16. Comm. p. 237. Büd. Com. Ling. Græc. p. 615. Paris. Iungermann ad Poll. vii. 136. p. 427, observes that it was customary to exhibit public quailfights at Athens. But Lucian who states this (Anach. § 37), confounds the quail with the cock-fighting. Ælian. V. H. ii. 28. Cf. Ludovic. Nonn. de Re Cib. ii. 22. p. 228. Poliarchos, an Athenian, buried his dogs and cocks magnificently.-viii. 4. In the same spirit, a French lady erected a mausoleum to her cat with this epitaph: --- 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. 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, 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,' 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. In fact, so far were the legislators of Greece from designing by gymnastics to create, as Montesquieu 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 1 Plat. de Legg. vii. t. viii. 17. seq. Cf. Athen. i. 16. 5 3 Hom. Hymn. Apoll. 149. |