The birthday of the emperors, victories in battle, funerals of great men were marked in this way, and in later times not even these occasions were required to unlock the coffers of the state for the amusement of the populace. One hundred and seventy-five games were celebrated in the year 354 A. D. alone.

The paragraph on a preceding page showing the order of exercises in the earlier celebrations is very inadequate as a description of the games as they were conducted in later times, and utterly fails to convey any idea of their character as they appeared when the passion for such exhibitions was at its height.

The old Etruscan belief that human blood should be spilt on newlymade graves led eventually to combats between condemned victims. as a part of the funeral games, and these developed into the well-known gladiatorial contests that became the favorite amusement of the Romans.

Hares and foxes had often been chased in public for the entertainment of the spectators, but such tame sport was not relished long after the people had grown accustomed to the bloody fights of gladiators, and the venationes were transformed into desperate encounters between men and wild beasts brought from all quarters of the world to gratify the passion for variety in methods of shedding blood. Julius Cæsar introduced sea fights upon artificial lakes, and each such exhibition that followed surpassed its predecessor in magnitude, until the climax was reached in the games of Claudius on Lake Fucinus, in which there fought 19,000 men with 100 ships, 50 on each side.

Probus, in the search for novelty, made an artificial forest in the circus and filled it with a thousand ostriches, a thousand stags, a thousand deer, and a thousand wild boar. The whole people were then admitted and allowed to capture and carry away what they pleased.

Chariot racing never lost its place as a favorite spectacle, and after the gladiatorial combats had been suppressed by the Christian emperors it became the absorbing passion of the multitude.

The races were always between the chariots of "factions," which were legalized corporations of undetermined origin, which owned the chariots, bred the horses, and trained the charioteers. Each faction was known by the color of its livery, and the people espoused the cause of their favorites so eagerly that they formed themselves into parties which took the names of the colors of the several factions. So immoderate was their enthusiasm and so fierce was the enmity between the parties that serious conflicts often took place. The most remarkable of these occurred in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern empire, in the reign of Justinian. It lasted five days, and in that time caused the loss of 30,000 lives, and but for the spirit and firmness of the Empress Theodora would have deprived Justinian of his throne.

With such imtemperate ardor for professional exhibitions and with the love of luxury and ease that followed the increase of national wealth, the desire for personal physical power on the part of the great mass of

the Roman people dwindled away. And this must receive a prominent place among the causes that led to the decay and downfall of the Roman Empire.

III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND MODERN GYMNASTICS.

BODILY EXERCISE PRACTICALLY UNIVERSAL.

To enumerate the other nations of antiquity that valued and practiced physical exercises would be not only a difficult but a fruitless task. War was the principal occupation of those days and individual skill and bodily strength were the most important elements of success in battles, which consisted almost wholly of series of individual conflicts. That people was most powerful whose soldiers possessed these qualities in the highest degree. Defeat and national extinction followed the lack of them just as surely. It naturally followed that he who displayed the greatest prowess was favored with the most conspicuous honors which his people could give, and the broadest avenue open to ambition lay in the cultivation of martial skill and of physical strength, which was its necessary concomitant.

It is therefore reasonably certain that among all, or nearly all, ancient peoples bodily exercises of a warlike kind were practiced with more or less enthusiasm, although their physiological aspect was of minor concern.

Sports and games, too, requiring to a greater or less extent bodily activity may be assumed to have existed among the youth of all races and all times. Child nature is the same, whether it is seen in the aboriginal forests or in the refinements of modern civilization, and play is the natural instinct of childhood. The games of the children of the forest are, to be sure, simple and rude, but they nevertheless perform as important a part in bodily development as the more complicated sports of the British or American boy. Then, since "men are but children of a larger growth," there have been few nations in which the sports of childhood have not been continued in some form in the diversions of maturer years. This is especially true of nations in the earlier stages of civilization, for civilization is but the process of removing man from the state of nature, and man in his natural state is essentially child-like in many of his characteristics.

But in all sports and games the primary object in view was amusement, and the effects upon the physique, although considerable and in the main beneficial, were accorded even less attention than were the physiological effects, as such, of martial exercises.

In many cases undoubtedly the influences of Hellenic ideas were seen among tribes which had been brought by war or commerce in contact

with the Greeks, but these influences were probably only temporary, for there could be no true and lasting appreciation of Greek gymnastics where there was not Greek civilization and Greek love of the beautiful.

On account, therefore, of their practical universality and the general lack of a definite and rational plan, it is not necessary to the present purpose that an extended description be sought of the methods of martial training or of games pursued for diversion among any other of the earlier nations.

ANCIENT GERMANY.

But a brief mention of some of the customs of the warlike tribes of Germany is not only necessary to an understanding of the transition to the peculiar institutions of a later period, but possesses a value of its own.

Tacitus is, of course, our principal source of information concerning the early Germans, and it is to him that we must turn.

The Germans, he says, were men of large bodies, powerful in sudden exertions, but impatient of toil and labor, deeming it base and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase by blood. So warlike was their character that they transacted no business, public or private, without being armed, and quarrels that arose amongst them generally ended in bloodshed.

It was not customary for anyone to bear arms till his ability to use them had been approved by the state. Then in the presence of the assembly he was formally invested with a spear and javelin by the chief, or his father, or a near relative. By this ceremony he gained a position as a member of the tribe and was no longer considered merely one of his father's household.

There was only one kind of public spectacle among them, and that was characteristic of a warlike people, namely, the dancing by naked young men amid drawn swords and presented spears. Women were treated with consideration, almost amounting to adoration. Their advice was freely sought and usually followed, even in such matters as joining battle or declaring war. They were not exempt from the dangers and privations of war, nor did they desire to be, for it was their custom to attend their husbands and sons in battle, encouraging them to feats of bravery, binding up their wounds, and sometimes even actually taking part in battle themselves.

It was the custom for each chief to surround himself with a large body of young men, the flower of the tribe, who devoted themselves constantly to his service. They deemed it their duty and their privilege to aid and protect him in battle, to ascribe to him all their gallant deeds, and to deliver to him the fruits of their victories.

1 Such instances may be found in the gymnastic games at Chemmis, in Egypt, mentioned by Herodotus, and the games of the Asian tribes mentioned by Thucydides.

The chief armed his companions, for such they were called, but their only pay consisted of repasts, homely indeed, but plentiful.

After the invasion of the Gallo-Roman territory many of the customs of the Germans underwent a gradual change. Most of the companions left the chiefs and occupied lands allotted to them, but were nevertheless expected to render military aid when called upon. Some were expected to serve on horseback, equipped with a coat of mail, and were called "caballarii."

CHIVALRY..

From these practices arose the feudal system and the institution of chivalry, the name of the latter being obviously derived from the term applied to the mounted companions of the German chiefs.

During the crusades chivalry acquired its full vigor, and its connec tion with the feudal system gradually ceased, while the religious and moral features became prominent.

The investiture of the knight was a survival of the old ceremonial, but its nature was changed in accordance with the change that the influences of religion had wrought. The candidate for knighthood was bathed and clad in a white robe as a symbol of purity; was required to fast, to make confession, receive communion, and attend mass; he was then questioned as to his purpose in entering the order. The answers being satisfactory, his arms were blessed and put upon him. The officiating lord then gave him three blows upon his shoulder, saying, "In the name of God, of Saint Michael, and of Saint George, I dub thee knight."

Along with the strong element of religion that crept into the supposed principles of knighthood the old German veneration for women was retained, and an extravagant devotion to the ladies was inseparably associated with the love of God in the duties of a knight. But these two were but the beginning of a long series of noble qualities that were enjoined. Guizot recites no less than twenty-six oaths that were imposed at different times between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries, covering altogether nearly the whole gamut of human perfection, but insisting more than all else upon bravery, the defense of the weak, faithfulness, courteousness, humility, and truthfulness under all circum

stances.

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.

A regular scheme of education was a necessary accompaniment to such an institution. Here, too, may be seen the remains of an ancient German custom. As soon as they reached the age of seven years the sons of gentlemen were placed in the castles of the superior lords to be reared in the very atmosphere of chivalry. They learned the lessons of love from the ladies of the court, and received from them and from the castle chaplain whatever of intellectual and religious training was deemed

fitting and necessary for them. They rendered constant personal serv ice to the lord and his lady, waiting upon them at the table, and accompanying them in their excursions, whether of pleasure or of war. During the same time a beginning was made in the training for the military life that lay before them.

They were taught to leap over trenches, to launch or cast spears and darts, to sustain the shield, and in their walk to imitate the measured tread of the soldier. They fought with light staves against stakes raised for the nonce as if they had been their mortal enemies, or met in encounters equally perilous their youthful companions of the castle.

This course of life continued for seven years, during which the boys were called pages or valets; after the age of 14 they bore the name of squire. The domestic duties of the squire gradually grew less exact ing, and as he approached manhood they were entirely laid aside, and his military exercises were assiduously pursued.

He practiced every mode by which strength and activity could be given to the body. He learned to endure hunger and thirst; to disregard the season's changes, and like the Roman youths in the Campus Martius when covered with dust, he plunged into the stream that watered the domains of his lord. He accustomed himself to wield the sword, to thrust the lance, to strike with the ax, and to wear

armor.

The most favorite exercise was that which was called the Quintain; for it was particularly calculated to practice the eye and hand in giving a right direction to the lance. A half figure of a man, armed with a sword and buckler, was placed on a post and turned on a pivot, so that if the assailant with his lance hit him not on the middle of the breast but on the extremities, he made the figure turn round and strike him an ill-aimed blow, much to the merriment of the spectators. The game of Quintain was sometimes played by hanging a shield upon a staff fixed in the ground, and the skillful squire riding apace struck the shield in such a manner as to detach it from its ligatures. But of all the exercises of chivalry, none was thought so important as horsemanship.

TOURNAMENTS.

The tournaments, however, are the features of chivalry around which the most of romance dwells. These were elegant pastimes of Europe through all the centuries in which chivalry pervaded it, and as "splendid and graceful shows" they continued to animate and delight the on lookers long after the decadence of the institution that gave them birth.

Tournaments may be considered to have risen about the middle of the eleventh century; for though every martial people have found diversion in representing the image of war, yet the name of tournaments and the laws that regulated them can not be traced any higher. Every scenic performance of modern times must be tame in comparison with these animating combats.

At a tournament, the space inclosed within the lists was surrounded by sovereign princes and their noblest barons, by knights of established renown, and all that rank and beauty had most distinguished among the fair. Covered with steel, and known only by their emblazoned shield, or by the favors of their mistresses, a still

Mills's History of Knighthood.