Of all the Olympic games, the FOOT-RACE, as we have previously remarked, held the foremost rank. Homer distinguishes Achilles by the epithet “swift of foot;” and, whether as conducive to health, useful in the affairs of life, or important in the operations of war, pedestrian exercises must be considered as of the utmost consequence to mankind. The human frame is peculiarly calculated for activity and exertion; and it should be remembered, that it is by Exercise and Labour that man is enabled to preserve his health, increase his strength, improve the faculties of his mind, and procure his subsistence.
Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, there were runners of great celebrity; and the rapid marches of their armies on various emergencies, shew how much they were habituated to pedestrian exercises. Two thousand Lacedemonians marched from Sparta to Attica in three days—a distance of twelve hundred stadia—to assist the Athenians at the battle of Marathon. Phidippides ran seven hundred and fifty stadia in the space of two days, which was deemed a most extraordinary effort, until Philonides, the runner of Alexander the Great, accomplished twelve hundred stadia in one day, from Sicyone to Ellis. In the reign of Nero, a boy of nine years of age, ran seventy-five thousand paces, between noon and night[11].
Although the modern governments of Europe have not hitherto afforded any patronage to gymnastic exercises, yet pedestrianism has been brought to great perfection by spirited individuals, especially in Britain. Exploits more extraordinary than any on the records of antiquity have been accomplished in this country; and it shall be our duty in the next and succeeding chapters, to give a particular account of these astonishing performances.
CHAPTER II.
MODERN PEDESTRIANISM.
Since the remote period of Greek and Roman prosperity, nothing analagous to the Olympic games has been exhibited in Europe, if we except modern horse-racing, which bears a faint resemblance; or, perhaps, the tournaments of the middle ages, which presented a nearer similitude.
Although the art of war be now different, in some respects, from that which was practised among the ancients, it is still not less requisite in the present than in former times, to strengthen the physical and intellectual powers of the soldier. To endure the vicissitudes of climates and seasons—to bear cold, hunger, and thirst—to perform long marches under the inclemency of the weather—and to preserve his spirit unbroken amidst the tumult of the battle, are the severe duties of his profession. It is by Exercise that the soldier is gradually inured to the hardships of the field; and the importance of preparatory training was well known to the ancients, who accordingly converted the amusements of the people into a course of military discipline. The exercises of the gymnasia prepared the youth for the fatigues of the campaign, by strengthening their bodies, and invigorating their minds; and they accomplished those brilliant achievements which stand unrivalled in the page of history.
It is justly remarked by Dr. West[12], “that a wise and prudent governor of a state may dispose the people to such sports and diversions as may render them more serviceable to the public; and that, by impartially bestowing a few HONORARY PRIZES upon those who should be found to excel in any CONTEST he shall think proper to appoint, he may excite in the husbandman, the manufacturer, and the mechanic, as well as in the soldier and the sailor, and men of superior orders and professions, such an emulation as may tend to promote industry, encourage trade, improve the knowledge and wisdom of mankind, and consequently make his country victorious in war, and, in peace, opulent and happy.”
It is admitted, that the new levies in the British army are diminished more by fatigue, than by the sword of the enemy. Our regiments are gradually wasted by sickness and disease, for they are not fitted by a course of preparatory training, to undergo those hardships to which they are unavoidably exposed; and the sudden transition from a life of ease to that of great activity, too frequently proves fatal to men of feeble bodies and weak constitutions. Were the practice of the ancients imitated, by the erection of schools for gymnastic exercises, and our young soldiers subjected to a process of training, the lives of many of them would be saved to their country, and the efficient strength of our army greatly augmented.