A storm of strokes, well meant, with fury flies,
And errs about their temples, ears, and eyes;
Nor always errs, for oft the gauntlet draws
A sweeping stroke along the crackling jaws.
Hoary with age, Entellus stands his ground,
But with his warping body wards the wound.
His hand and watchful eye keep even pace,
While Dares traverses and shifts his place.
With hands on high, Entellus threats the foe;
But Dares watched the motion from below.
And slipped aside, and shunned the long-descending blow.
Entellus wastes his forces on the wind,
And, thus deluded of the stroke designed,
Headlong and heavy fell."
There was much more than rude "give-and-take" in this fight. It was skilful boxing, even from a modern stand-point.
VIII.
THE GLADIATORS OF ROME.
Among the Romans, fond as they were of exhibitions of physical skill and strength, the profession of athlete was entirely an exotic, and was, even under the empire, with difficulty transplanted from Greece. The system, and the athletes themselves, were always purely Greek.
The vicious luxury of imperial Rome had degraded the gymnasium into the circus, and the
