LUCIAN, ANACHARIS AND ATHLETICS(1-8)
ANACHARSIS: And for what purpose are your young men doing all this, Solon? Some of themare enfolded round one another andare tripping one another up, while others are chokingand twisting and kneading each other inthe mud, rolling around like pigs.
Yet, in the beginning, as soon as they had taken their clothes off – for I was watching this – they oiled themselvesheavily, andeach rubbed the other down in turn very peacefully.
After that, I know what came over them: they push one another about with lowered heads and dash theirforeheads together like rams.
And look, there! Thatman raised the other up off his two legs and despatched him to the ground, then having fallen upon him,he’s not allowing him to lift his head and shoving him downinto the mud; and now finally, after winding his legs around his stomach and putting his forearm underneath histhroat, he’s choking the wretch, who is patting him on the shoulder, beseeching him, I think, not tochoke him entirely.
And not evenfor the sake of the oil do they avoid begriming themselves, but makingtheir anointingvanish and plastering themselves in the mire along with a great deal of sweat, they provide to me at any rate a spectacle of mirth, like eels slipping through each other’s hands!
Others in the open-air area are doing this same thing, though these at least not in the mud. But they have laid down this deep sand in the pit, and they not only besprinkle one another, but of their own accord they heap the dust on themselves in the manner of cocks, in order to make it harder for them to escape in wrestling locks, I suppose, as the sand removes the slipperiness and affords a firmer grip on a drysurface.
Othersstanding upright, themselves covered in dust, have set upon one another, and arehittingand kicking each other. This one here at any rate looks as if he were going to spit out his teeth, the poor devil, so full is his mouth of blood and sand, having been struck on the jaw by a fist, asyou see. Yetthis official here doesn’t separatethem and break up the fight – I infer from hispurple cloak that he is one of the officials – but he goadsthem on and praises the one whostruck the blow.
Elsewhereothers are all exerting themselves and jumping up and down,as ifrunning while remaining in the same place, and as they leap upwards together, they kick the air.
So I want to knowof what good it might be todo these things, since to me at least the affairseems to look more like lunacy, and there is not anyone whocould easily convince me that thosedoing these things are not delirious!
SOLON:It’s only reasonable, Anacharsis, that what is going on appears of such a kind to you, as it’s unfamiliarand entirely out of harmony with Scythian customs. In the same way,it’s likely that you yourselves have many theories and practices that would appear strange to us Greeks if one of usshould give his attention tothem as you are doing now. Butbe assured, good sir; what is going on is not lunacy, nor is it out of wanton violence that they strike one another and roll in the mud or sprinkle dirt. On the contrary, the business has a certain utility not unattended by pleasure, and it gives [lit. brings on] no small edge to their bodies.
As a matter of fact, if you should spendsome timein Greece, as I think you will, before longyou yourself will be one of those muddied orbedusted individuals,so delightful and at the same time profitable willthe business seem to you.
ANACHARSIS: Get out with you, Solon! These things may be beneficial and pleasurable to you. But if one ofyou should treat me in such a way, he will find out thatwe do not have theacinaces (Scythian dagger)fastened to our belts fornothing! But tell me, what name have you assigned towhat is going on? Or what are we to say they aredoing?
SOLON: The place itself, Anacharsis, is called a gymnasium by us,and it is a shrine ofLycean Apollo. And you (can) see his statue,thefigure leaning on the pillar with thebow in his left hand; and his right arm bent back abovehis head shows that the god is resting, as if as a result oflong exertion. Of these athletic exercises, thatone yonder in the mud is called wrestling, and themen in the dust are wrestling too; andas for hitting one another standingupright we call thatpancration (all-in wrestling).