[10] Παίειν τὰ μέτωπα, Dionys. Halicarn. x. 9; ‘frontem ferire’, Cicero, _Epist. ad Attic._ i. 1; for other instances see Sittl, _Gebärden der Griechen and Römer_, p. 21. [11] Isocrates ix. 1. [12] With reference to _phersu_, which is supposed to be synonymous with and the origin of the Latin _persona_, see Pauly-Wissowa, vi. 775, and S.P. Cortsen, _Vocabulorum Etruscorum interpretatio_ in _Nord. Tidsskr. for Filologi_, 1917, p. 174. [13] iv. 153 f. [14] Tertullian, _Ad nation._ i. 10. [15] Pauly-Wissowa, iii. 2178. [16] B 630. Figured in _Terra-cotta Sarcophagi in British Museum_, pl. ix-xi. V [Sidenote: TOMBA DELLE ISCRIZIONI] A good idea of the different sort of athletic contests at the great Etruscan funerals is given by the wall-paintings in the Tomba delle Iscrizioni at Corneto, described and copied by Stackelberg and Kestner in 1827,[17] and represented in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by facsimiles and coloured drawings executed in 1907, after a chemical treatment of the plaster stucco, which brought out a number of details more plainly. The pictures are of the same period as those of the Augur tomb, and of similar style. The numerous inscriptions from which the tomb has derived its title seem to be mostly proper names. Each of the three wall-surfaces of this tomb, which contains only one chamber, has a false painted door in the middle. Of the first figures on the left main wall, two pugilists, only very little is preserved (fig. 7). They are contending, like the two wrestlers to the right of them, one of whom has lifted the other from the ground, to the accompaniment of the flute-player who is standing between the two groups. This and many other Etruscan paintings confirm the statement of Aristotle[18] that the Etruscans made their boxers perform to the sound of the flute. Flute-playing was so popular that masters scourged their slaves and caused their cooks to work in the kitchen to the sound of the flute; and here again the Romans adopted the Etruscan tradition and gave their flute-players a recognized position in the community, as is shown by the amusing story about the strike of the Roman flute-players[19]: the flute-players left Rome in disgust and went in a body to Tibur, and the only device the Romans could think of was to make the excellent fellows drunk and cart them back to Rome, where the citizens made haste to confirm the ancient privileges of the flute-players and to add several new ones in order to make the awakening more pleasant. [Illustration: FIG. 7. LEFT MAIN WALL OF THE TOMBA DELLE ISCRIZIONI. After a coloured drawing in the Helbig Museum] [Illustration: FIG. 8. BACK WALL OF THE TOMBA DELLE ISCRIZIONI]