Our knowledge of the programme of the Thesea is derived from inscriptions of the second century B.C.,[431] with regard to which I need only repeat that late though they are, such was the religious conservatism of the Greeks, that they may be considered as representing the general character of the festival in the fifth century, and that such changes as had been introduced were merely changes in detail. Theseus was the patron of the Athenian ephebos, and the Thesea were essentially the games of the epheboi. The festival was a yearly one, and included a procession, sacrifice, torch-races, athletics, and horse-races. There was also a banquet provided at the public cost for all free citizens. The programme of sports opened with the usual competitions for heralds and trumpeters, followed by certain military competitions for general smartness and equipment, εὐανδρία and εὐοπλία. These were divided into three or more classes: first, “the picked troops,” οἱ ἐπιλέκτοι; next the foreign troops, οἱ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν; lastly, the cavalry, οἱ ἱππεῖς, as a subdivision of which we find the Tarantini, so called from their equipment. The competition was between tribes, or, in the case of the foreign troops, regiments (τάγματα), the captain of the successful tribe or regiment being mentioned in the inscriptions. It is evident that εὐανδρία is used here in a slightly different sense to that in which it is used in the Panathenaic inscriptions. There, as we have seen, the object of the competition was purely ceremonial, here it is manifestly military. εὐανδρία like many another word varies in meaning with the object to which it is applied. When used of a regiment, it implies good physique, activity, and general smartness. There is a certain pathos in the existence of these elaborate military reviews and competitions at an age when Athens had no more any freedom to defend, and when her military service was of no practical value. It may be that with the loss of the reality she clung the more closely to the empty form and semblance of an army. But it seems to me more probable that these competitions were not the futile invention of her decadence, but were the survival of the great outburst of patriotism and militarism in the fifth century. Next came torch-races. At the Thesea these seem to have been contests between teams. There are torch-races for boys, epheboi, and men; sometimes also for young men, νεανίσκοι, who come between the epheboi and the men. The teams are sometimes representatives of a particular palaestra or gymnasium—boys from the palaestra of Timeas or Antigenes, youths or men from the Lyceum. The mention of a torch-race of the Tarantini indicates that there were also torch-races on horseback.