Corporeal excellence, however, was not the only benefit which the Greeks derived from the Athletic exercises. The powers of the mind were also strengthened and augmented, and that courage which depends on the nerves was improved to the highest pitch. The undaunted spirit of the Greeks appalled their enemies; and the most signal exploits in the field of battle were performed by those who had previously obtained the Olympic crown[10]. The love of glory is the greatest incentive to splendid actions; and the SACRED GAMES fostered a passion that could easily be transferred from the gymnasia to the contests in the field. One Grecian could conquer ten Persians, for his body was robust, and his mind was brave; and HONOR was the sole reward which he courted.
It is related by Herodotus, (lib. viii. c. 25.) that when Xerxes invaded Greece, he found the Grecians employed in celebrating the Olympic festival, and that the prize which they contended for, was no more than--A CHAPLET OF WILD OLIVE. TIGRANES, the son of ARTABANUS, exclaimed, “Alas, Mardonius! against what kind of men have you led us to fight! men who engage in a contest with each other, not for gold and silver, but only for a superiority of virtue and glory!”
The physical, political, and moral influence of the gymnastic exercises on the bodies and minds of the Greeks, was thus evinced by their superior beauty and strength--their strict observance of the laws of their country--their bravery in war--and by their temperance, sobriety, and industry, in civil life.
Of all the Olympic games, the FOOT-RACE, as we have previously remarked, held the foremost rank. Homer distinguishes Achilles by the epithet “swift of foot;” and, whether as conducive to health, useful in the affairs of life, or important in the operations of war, pedestrian exercises must be considered as of the utmost consequence to mankind. The human frame is peculiarly calculated for activity and exertion; and it should be remembered, that it is by EXERCISE and LABOUR that man is enabled to preserve his health, increase his strength, improve the faculties of his mind, and procure his subsistence.
Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, there were runners of great celebrity; and the rapid marches of their armies on various emergencies, shew how much they were habituated to pedestrian exercises. Two thousand Lacedemonians marched from Sparta to Attica in three days--a distance of twelve hundred stadia--to assist the Athenians at the battle of Marathon. Phidippides ran seven hundred and fifty stadia in the space of two days, which was deemed a most extraordinary effort, until Philonides, the runner of Alexander the Great, accomplished twelve hundred stadia in one day, from Sicyone to Ellis. In the reign of Nero, a boy of nine years of age, ran seventy-five thousand paces, between noon and night[11].