[25]
presents the number and the greatest variety
of features and has been deemed worthy of the most valuable prizes. For, apart
from those offered, getting the drill and practice in such exercises itself will
possess glamor as no paltry prize in the eyes of those who are even moderately
ambitious for excellence. The best evidence for this may be found in the poetry
of Homer, in which he represents the Greeks and barbarians warring against one
another with this equipment.1 I may add that even now it is
customary to employ it in contests in Greek cities, and not in the meanest
cities but in the greatest.2
1 Homeric warriors employed charioteers, dashed recklessly among the foe to spread dismay, and finally dismounted to engage in single combat; Hom. Il. 16.712-867.
2 Athens and Thebes.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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