other form of exercise that reduces fat. I do not. I disapprove of
excess in all matters, and I think that every art should aim at
symmetry. If a thing lacks measure, it is in so far bad. So I cannot
approve of track athletics, for they reduce a man’s physical condition
and give him no training in manliness. Victory does not come to those
who run quickly but to those who are able to hold their own in a close
fight, and the Spartans owed their greatness not to their speed of foot
but to their stubborn courage. Even if you considered it purely on
grounds of health, a sport is not healthy in so far as it exercises the
parts of the body unequally. Inevitably, some parts are overstrained,
some left quite idle. Neither of these conditions are good: both foster
the seeds of illness and produce a weak state of health.
‘The exercise I approve of most is one that can give health
of body, symmetry of limbs and excellence of mind: and all these virtues
are found in the small ball. It can benefit the mind in all kinds of
ways; it exercises every part of the body alike--and this is of the
greatest importance for health--for it produces a regular state of
constitution; and it does not lead either to undue corpulence or
excessive thinness: it is competent to perform such acts as require
strength, it is suitable also for those that need quickness.
‘Now if we consider ball games in their most violent form
they are inferior in no respect to any sort of athletics. But we must
also look at them in their milder aspect, for sometimes we need gentle
exercise. We may be either too old or not old enough to stand a severe
strain; we may wish to relax our efforts or be recovering from illness.
I think that in this respect also the small ball has a great advantage,
for no game is quite so gentle, if you wish to take it gently. Should
you need moderate exercise and desire to avoid excess, you will
sometimes step softly forward, sometimes stand quite still: you need not
make any violent effort and you can add to the effect by a warm bath or
a gentle rub down with oil. Of all exercise this is the most gentle: it
is most suitable for one who needs useful recreation, it can revive
failing strength, it is most suitable for old and young alike. There
are, however, some stronger sorts of exercise which can be obtained by
the use of the small ball, although they are milder than the most
intense form of the game, and these must now be considered if we really
wish to treat the subject completely. If ever some unavoidable task,
such as often falls to many a man’s lot, has caused an excessive strain
to all the upper or all the lower parts of the body, or to the arms
alone or to the feet, by the help of the small ball you can rest those
parts that have been overstrained and give the same amount of exercise
to those other parts that were then left quite idle. To stand a fair
distance apart and throw the ball vigorously, without using the legs
hardly at all, rests the lower limbs and gives a somewhat violent
exercise to the upper parts of the body. On the other hand, if you run
most of the way at a good speed keeping a wide distance and seldom throw
the ball, the lower limbs have more work to do. The quickness of action
and the speed required, involve no great muscular strain but they
exercise the lungs, while the vigorous effort, as you grasp the ball and
catch and throw it, although it needs no speed of foot, yet braces and
strengthens the body. If the ball is thrown both vigorously and at full
speed there will be a considerable strain on the body and on the lungs:
it will be indeed the most violent form of exercise possible. But how
far this strain should be relaxed or intensified, as circumstances
require, it is impossible to set down in writing--exact quantities
should never be stated; in actual practice it is easy enough to discover
the proper limit and to instruct others. On actual experience all
depends. The quality of a thing is useless if it is spoilt by a wrong
quantity, and this will be the business of your trainer, who will act as
guide in all matters of exercise.
‘But I must bring my subject to an end. In addition to all
the other advantages, which, as I have said, the small ball possesses,
there is one more which I should not like to omit. It is free from all
the risks to which most other athletic exercises are liable. Before
to-day many a man has died of a broken blood-vessel after a violent
race: and so also the practice of loud and furious shouting, if pursued
without intermission for some time, has often proved the cause of very
serious mischief. Continuous horse-riding ruptures the parts about the
kidneys and often injures the chest, besides in some cases doing harm to
the generative organs. I say nothing of the mistakes that horses make,
whereby frequently their riders have been unseated and killed on the
spot. Many men have also been hurt while jumping, or throwing the
discus, or turning somersaults. As for the frequenters of the wrestling
school, what need I say of them? They are all scarred more shamefully
than the Curse-hags of whom Homer tells us. The great poet describes
them: “Lame and wrinkled and with eyes askance.” And so with the
wrestling master’s pupils, you will find them lame, distorted, battered,
and maimed in some part at least of their body. Since then, in addition
to the other advantages, this freedom from danger is the particular
attribute of small ball games, they must be regarded as the best of all
inventions, so far as actual utility is concerned.’
There are many striking points in the little essay; the importance that
Galen assigns to athletics as part of military training; his insistence
on the moral and intellectual virtue of games and their value in
producing a cheerful frame of mind; his depreciation, on social and
physical grounds, of track-running. It is written obviously from the
standpoint of a physician and not of an athlete or a sportsman. The
athlete might well wish for fuller details of the three different games
of ‘harpastum,’ ‘trigon,’ and ‘follis,’ which are here mentioned rather
than described. The sportsman would probably object to the strictures on
hunting and riding, and reply that a spice of danger gives an additional
zest to exercise. It is noticeable also that in discussing the moral
virtue of games Galen makes no mention of that which we consider their
most important feature, the ‘team-spirit,’ the working not for yourself
but for your side.
Criticisms such as these, however, are ungracious. The ‘small ball’ is a
delightful example of the work of a great practical genius who devoted
his whole life to the service of his fellow-men. In spirit, moreover,
and in method it follows the true Greek tradition, and regards athletics
not as a mere diversion but as the best practical preparation for the
strenuous business of life.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
_E. N. Gardiner_: Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals. Macmillan,
1910.
_K. J. Freeman_: Schools of Hellas. Macmillan, 1907.
_W. W. Hyde_: Olympic Victor Monuments. Washington, U.S.A., 1921.
_Walter Pater_: Greek Studies. Macmillan, 1895.
_J. B. Bury_: The Nemean Odes of Pindar. Macmillan, 1891.
_E. Bruecke_: The Human Figure. Grevel, 1900.
_D. Watts_: The Renaissance of the Greek Ideal. Heinemann, 1914.
_E. Jaques-Dalcroze_: Rhythm, Music and Education. Chatto and
Windus, 1921.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] _The Arts in Greece._ By F. A. Wright. Longmans, 1923.
[B] E. Myers: _Odes of Pindar_.