Mimnermus, _Fr._ 9 (Bergk). Footnote 67: Aristot. _Politics_, v. 4. Footnote 68: The recent excavations at Sparta prove that the decline of athletics coincided with the decline of art. Mr. R. M. Dawkins, writing in last report of the _B.S.A._, vol. xiv. p. 2, says: “In every case we have the remarkable result that the finest works belong to the seventh century, and that the sixth already shows the beginning of the decline which is so marked in the very poor character of the finds of the fifth century.” Footnote 69: Hyde, _op. cit._ p. 56. Footnote 70: Paus. iii. 13, 9. Footnote 71: For the treasuries at Olympia _vide_ Louis Dyer, in _J.H.S._ vols. xxv. and xxvi. CHAPTER IV THE AGE OF ATHLETIC FESTIVALS, SIXTH CENTURY B.C. The sixth century is the age of organized athletics. The rise of Sparta and her success in sport and war gave to the Greek world an object lesson on the value of systematic training, and henceforth the training of the body was an essential part of Greek education. Palaestrae and gymnasia were established everywhere, and Solon found it necessary to lay down laws for their conduct. These institutions were originally intended for the training of the young, but the growth of athletic competition soon called into being a new and specialized form of training, the training of competitors for the great games. An art of training sprung up, and in the time of Pindar the professors of the new art, besides reaping a rich harvest from their pupils, received honour scarcely inferior to that of the victors themselves. The rapid development of the Olympic festival had shown the value of athletics as a bond of union between Greeks throughout the world, and the general yearning after a unity which was destined never to be realized found expression in the establishment of other festivals for which Olympia served as a model.