There are many striking points in the little essay; the importance that Galen assigns to athletics as part of military training; his insistence on the moral and intellectual virtue of games and their value in producing a cheerful frame of mind; his depreciation, on social and physical grounds, of track-running. It is written obviously from the standpoint of a physician and not of an athlete or a sportsman. The athlete might well wish for fuller details of the three different games of ‘harpastum,’ ‘trigon,’ and ‘follis,’ which are here mentioned rather than described. The sportsman would probably object to the strictures on hunting and riding, and reply that a spice of danger gives an additional zest to exercise. It is noticeable also that in discussing the moral virtue of games Galen makes no mention of that which we consider their most important feature, the ‘team-spirit,’ the working not for yourself but for your side. Criticisms such as these, however, are ungracious. The ‘small ball’ is a delightful example of the work of a great practical genius who devoted his whole life to the service of his fellow-men. In spirit, moreover, and in method it follows the true Greek tradition, and regards athletics not as a mere diversion but as the best practical preparation for the strenuous business of life. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY _E. N. Gardiner_: Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals. Macmillan, 1910. _K. J. Freeman_: Schools of Hellas. Macmillan, 1907. _W. W. Hyde_: Olympic Victor Monuments. Washington, U.S.A., 1921. _Walter Pater_: Greek Studies. Macmillan, 1895. _J. B. Bury_: The Nemean Odes of Pindar. Macmillan, 1891. _E. Bruecke_: The Human Figure. Grevel, 1900. _D. Watts_: The Renaissance of the Greek Ideal. Heinemann, 1914. _E. Jaques-Dalcroze_: Rhythm, Music and Education. Chatto and Windus, 1921. FOOTNOTES: [A] _The Arts in Greece._ By F. A. Wright. Longmans, 1923. [B] E. Myers: _Odes of Pindar_.