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ἐκ μεγέθους καὶ ἰσχύος] for boxing and wrestling; τάχους, for the foot-race. καὶ γὰρ ὁ ταχὺς ἰσχυρός ἐστιν] seems to be added as a mere passing observation, or note upon τάχους: and the γάρ, which implies that this clause gives a reason for the preceding, must therefore be regarded as due to mere carelessness of writing, there being no logical connexion between the two sentences. (If there were any such connexion between the two, the meaning could only be, that the relation of strength and speed as genus and species, speed being only a variety of strength, is the reason for the introduction of τάχος into the list of agonistic virtues: the fact being that this could only be a reason for omitting it.) ῥίπτειν iacere, ῥιπτεῖν iactare, of a repeated action. Hermann ad Aiac. 235, Trach. 776. See also Lobeck, Aj. 239, p. 1771. This distinction, which has been doubted by some scholars, is now I believe generally accepted. At all events it applies very well here, where the simple notion of flinging or hurling, once for all, from you, as a stone, would be quite inappropriate to the motion of the legs intended to be described. ῥιπτεῖν τὰ σκέλη is to ‘toss about’ or ‘swing the legs’, backwards and forwards, again and again. κινεῖν πόρρω] ‘to take long strides’. ὦσαι τῇ πληγῇ] in boxing, to push or thrust away from you by the blow, so as aliquem de statu deicere; as when you knock a man down. ἀμφοτέροις τούτοις] These two last, boxing and wrestling; not running. Supply therefore, in explanation of ἀμφοτέροις, θλίβειν καὶ κατέχειν, καὶ ὦσαι τῇ πληγῇ δυνάμενος. Victorius (and also Krause, u. s., p. 534, n. 1) quotes Plut. Symp. 4, ὅτι γὰρ μέμικται τὸ παγκράτιον ἔκ τε πυγμῆς καὶ πάλης, δῆλον, and Quint. Inst. Orat. II 8, 13, as confirming Aristotle's statement. Other ancient authorities are given in Krause's notes. On the pancratium, and the size, strength, and skill required by those who engaged in it, see Krause, u. s. p. 534—538, abschn. VI § 41. Compare with the four preceding sections the following passage of Plato on the use of athletic exercises. Legg. VIII 832 E seq. ἔστι γοῦν πάντων πολεμικώτατον ἡ σώματος ὀξύτης πάντως, ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν, ἡ δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν χειρῶν: φυγεῖν μὲν καὶ ἑλεῖν ἡ τῶν ποδῶν, ἡ δὲ ἐν ταῖς συμπλοκαῖς (the παγκράτιον, and especially wrestling) μάχη καὶ σύστασις ἰσχύος καὶ ῥώμης δεομένη.
1 Lobeck in his elaborate dissertation on the question seems to leave the matter in doubt; and no doubt, from the uncertainty of the MSS readings, the distinction of the two forms of the verb being shewn in most cases merely by the difference of accent, it is difficult to decide in any particular case which of the two forms is to be preferred: and Lobeck shews by examples that (so far as the reading is to be depended on) the same notion of the verb is expressed indifferently by either form. At the same time in the somewhat obscure summing up at the conclusion of his note, he seems (as I understand him) to be in favour, as a general principle, of the hypothesis, that a difference of form in the termination of a verb radically the same (he cites ἴλλω or εἴλλω and its numerous varieties as a remarkable instance) does express a corresponding variety in the signification; as in the instance given, the various terminations correspond to different varieties of the general notion of ‘rolling’.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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