The distinctive character of the Homeric games may be summed up in two words—they are aristocratic and spontaneous. They are spontaneous as the play of the child, the natural outlet of vigorous youth. There is no organized training, no organized competition, and sport never usurps the place of work. They are aristocratic because, though manly exercises are common to all the people, excellence in them belongs especially to the nobles; and when sports are held on an elaborate scale at the funeral of some chieftain, it is the nobles only who compete. Footnote 1: _B.S.A._ vii. p. 94; viii. pp. 74, 77; ix. p. 56; x. p. 41. R. M. Burrows, _Discoveries in Crete_, Pl. i. Footnote 2: The ταυροκαθαψία proper is a feat rather of the hunting-field than of the circus, and should be connected rather with the bull-snaring scenes on the Vaphio cups, _vide_ E. Gardner, _Greek Sculpture_, p. 61, or with the feat known as βοῦς αἴρεσθαι depicted in Tischbein ii. 3, and referred to in inscriptions relative to the Epheboi. The only representation that I know of this sport is on a late relief from Smyrna in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, No. 219. The performers are represented pursuing bulls on horseback, leaping on to their backs, and seizing their horns, by twisting which they throw them on to the ground. The Greek bull was clearly a small animal, but must still have been a formidable opponent. The records of the gladiatorial shows afford abundant proof that man could by the aid of skill triumph over the strongest animal. The principles of jiu-jitsu could be applied against animals as easily as against men. Footnote 3: _B.S.A._ vii. p. 95, Fig. 31; ix. p. 57, Fig. 35. Footnote 4: _Od._ iv. 626, xvii. 168, 174; _Il._ ii. 774. Footnote 5: _Od._ viii. 153 sq. (Butcher and Lang’s translation). Footnote 6: _Od._ viii. 147. Footnote 7: _Od._ viii. 100. Footnote 8: _Il._ xi. 697, xxiii. 630. Footnote 9: _Od._ iv. 341 sq. Footnote 10: _Od._ xviii. 15 sq. Footnote 11: _Il._ ii. 774. Footnote 12: Murray, _Sarcophagi in British Museum_, Pl. ii., iii. Footnote 13: