In another corner, it may be, there will be teams practising together. A regiment of epheboi may be undergoing their gymnastic training before service on the frontier:[425] or a team of them may be training, watched by the rich “gumnasiarchos,” for the torch-race at the festival of Hephaistos, or for the race from the Temple of Dionusos to that of Athena of the Sunshades, where the winner will receive a large bowl containing wine and honey and cheese and meat and olive oil――not all mixed together, let us hope.[426] There may also be teams practising wrestling and other bodily exercises together. Their trainer, “thinking it impossible to lay down separate regulations for each individual, orders roughly what suits the majority. So every one of the team takes an equal amount of exercise, and they all start and all stop running, or wrestling, or whatever it may be, at the same moment.”[427] In the larger open spaces we shall find Athenians throwing the diskos, like Muron’s celebrated figure, or practising archery, or flinging the spear or javelin. In watching these care must be exercised: unwary spectators may be killed or injured. Mythology is full of unfortunates killed in this way. Was not the fair Huakinthos slain by Apollo’s quoit? Antiphon, too, in his new book on speech-writing, takes as one of his themes a boy killed by a comrade’s javelin accidentally. We can also take a lesson in the use of spear and shield from the teacher of arms: a pair of Sophists, who specialise in this subject, have just come to Athens, and will doubtless be exhibiting their skill here. We remember, though, that the warlike Spartans ridicule these professors, and General Laches regards them as quite useless for military purposes, as we heard him telling Sokrates the other day.[428] So we will pass on. The vast majority of people in the gymnasium confine themselves to walking about. The colonnades and the gardens are convenient and attractive, and there is plenty to watch everywhere. The “xustos,” or covered cloister,[429] where athletes exercise in bad weather, is particularly popular among the walkers. And while they walk, they talk. There is a group of philosophical students arguing about the Supreme Good or constructing an ideal State. There is a party of inquirers who are discussing the nature of plants, or the varieties of crustaceans. Yonder, a half-naked, unkempt enthusiast is declaiming against luxury. “Man,” he cries, “is independent of circumstances.” Everywhere, walkers and spectators and talkers, but walkers above all. For the average Athenian spent all his time upon his legs: to sit down was the mark of a slave.[430] He walked nearly all day: the distance which he covered in five or six days would easily stretch from Athens to Olympia. He took a walk before breakfast, another before lunch, another before dinner, and another between dinner and bed.[431]