§ 19. There is figured on many vases, often in brilliant colors, the interior of the palæstra. It is denoted by the bearded Hermes--a rude bust of the patron god. A middle-aged man in a short mantle, or _chlamys_, with a rod or wand in his hand, is watching and directing the exercises of the boys, generally a wrestling-match. We know also, from the _pentathlon_ being once introduced at Olympia for boys, that its five exercises were those in which they were usually trained--leaping, running, throwing the discus, the spear, and wrestling. For elder boys, boxing and the _pancratium_ were doubtless added, if they meant to train for public competitions, but ordinary gentlemen’s sons would never undergo this special training and its hardships. Indeed, the Spartans strictly discountenanced such sports, both as likely to disfigure, and as sure to produce quarrels and ill-will. The lighter exercises were intended to make the frame hardy and the movements graceful, and were introduced by a thorough rubbing of the skin with olive oil, which, after the training, was scraped off with a special instrument, the στλεγγίς, as may be seen in the splendid Vatican statue of the athlete scraping his arm, the so-called _Apoxyomenos_, referred to as an original of Lysippus. In luxurious days they also took a bath, but this was hardly the case with ordinary boys--indeed, the water supply of Greek towns was probably scanty enough, and the nation not given to much washing. § 20. There remain little or no details as to the exact rules of training practised in the ordinary palæstras, but we may fairly assume them to have been the same in kind (though milder in degree) as those approved for formal athletes. If we judge from these, we will not form a high idea of Greek training. Pausanias informs us that they trained on dry cheese, which is not surprising, as they were (like most southerns) not a very carnivorous people. But when a known athlete (Dromeus[13]) discovered that meat diet was the best, they seem to have followed up the discovery by inferring that the more of a good thing the better; and so athletes were required to eat very large quantities of meat, owing to which they were lazy and sleepy when not engaged in active work.[14] We need not suppose that the diet of ordinary boys was in any way interfered with, but this particular case shows the crude notions which prevailed, and the trainer came more and more to assume the part of a dietetic doctor, as is stated by Plato.