At this moment a part of four hale and hearty men still in the young prime are about to compete in the “double race.”  They come forward all rubbed with the glistening oil, and crouch at the starting point behind the red cord held by two attendants.  The gymnasiarch stands watchfully by, swinging his cane to smite painfully whoever, in over eagerness, breaks away before the signal.  All is ready; at his nod the rope falls.  The four fly away together, pressing their elbows close to their sides, and going over the soft sands with long rhythmic leaps, rather than with the usual rapid running motion.  A fierce race it is, amid much exhortation from friends and shouting.  At length, as so often—­when speeding back towards the stretched cord,—­the rearmost runner suddenly gathers amazing speed, and, flying with prodigious leaps ahead of his rivals, is easily the victor.  His friends are at once about him, and we hear the busy tongues advising, “You must surely race at the Pythia; the Olympia; etc.”

This simple race over, a second quickly follows:  five heavy, powerful men this time, but they are to run in full hoplite’s armor—­the ponderous shield, helmet, cuirass, and greaves.  This is the exacting “Armor Race” ("Hoplitodromos"), and safe only for experienced soldiers or professional athletes.[*] Indeed, the Greeks take all their foot races seriously, and there are plenty of instances when the victor has sped up to the goal, and then dropped dead before the applauding stadium.  There are no stop watches in the Academy; we do not know the records of the present or of more famous runners; yet one may be certain that the “time” made, considering the very soft sand, has been exceedingly fast.

[*]It was training in races like these which enabled the Athenians at Marathon to “charge the Persians on the run” (Miltiades’ orders), all armored though they were, and so get quickly through the terrible zone of the Persian arrow fire.

153.  The Pentathlon:  the Honors paid to Great Athletes.—­We have now seen average specimens of all the usual athletic sports of the Greeks.  Any good authority will tell us, however, that a truly capable athlete will not try to specialize so much in any one kind of contest that he cannot do justice to the others.  As an all around well-trained man he will try to excel in the “Pentathlon,” the “five contests.”  Herein he will successfully join in running, javelin casting, quoit throwing, leaping, and wrestling.[*] As the contest proceeds the weaker athletes will be eliminated; only the two fittest will be left for the final trial of strength and skill.  Fortunate indeed is “he who overcometh” in the Pentathlon.  It is the crown of athletic victories, involving, as it does, no scanty prowess both of body and mind.  The victor in the Pentathlon at one of the great Pan-Hellenic games (Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, or Nemean) or even in the local Attic contest at the Panathenea is