3
Others, standing upright, themselves covered with dust, are attacking each other with blows and kicks. This one here looks as if he were going to spew out his teeth, unlucky man, his mouth is so full of blood and sand; he has had a blow on the jaw, as you see. But even the official there does not separate them and break up the fight—I assume from his purple cloak that he is one of the officials; on the contrary, he urges them on and praises the one who struck the blow.
4
Others in other places are all exerting themselves; they jump up and down as if they were running, but stay in the same place; and they spring high up and kick the air.“The exercise is that known in the modern gymnasium as ‘knees up,’ and is apparently the same as that described by Seneca (Ep. xv.) as the ‘fuller’s jump,’ from its resemblance to the action of a fuller jumping up and down on the clothes in his tub.” E. N. Gardiner, Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals, p. 298
5
I want to know, therefore, what good it can be to do all this, because to me at least the thing looks more like insanity than anything else, and nobody can easily convince me that men who act in that way are not out of their minds.
