But Euripides did not agree with him. He denounces the athletic life with much vigour.[346] “Of countless ills in Hellas, the race of athletes is quite the worst.… They are slaves of their jaw and worshippers of their belly.… In youth they go about in splendour, the admiration of their city, but when bitter old age comes upon them, they are cast aside like worn-out coats. I blame the custom of the Hellenes, who gather together to watch these men, honouring a useless pleasure.[347] Who ever helped his fatherland by winning a crown for wrestling, or speed of foot, or flinging the quoit, or giving a good blow on the jaw? Will they fight the foe with quoits, or smite their fists through shields? Garlands should be kept for the wise and good, and for him who best rules the city by his temperance and justice, or by his words drives away evil deeds, preventing strife and sedition.” In return for this, the athlete-loving populace, finding their voice in the popular poet Aristophanes, denounced Euripides and his Sophist friends for emptying the gymnasia and making the boys desire only a good tongue, instead of a sound body, turning them into pale-faced, indoor pedants, fit for nothing but jabbering nonsense. The attitude of the poet in the _Clouds_ and _Frogs_ is just that of an average schoolboy discussing a student. Plato has already been quoted as an authority against the athlete of his day. In the _Laws_ he rejects every kind of gymnastics which is not strictly conducive to military efficiency, and, like the Spartans, condemns the pankration and boxing. Races in the ideal State are to be run in full armour, and the javelin and spear are to replace the quoit. It is exactly the position of some moderns, who would substitute shooting and field-days for cricket and football. The case against the athletes may be closed with Aristotle’s testimony: he also condemns the specialisation of the trained professional.[348]