_Wrestling_ (πάλη [palê]) was probably regarded as the most important of these subjects, for it gave its name to the Palaistra. For this exercise the soil was broken up with the pickaxe and watered: the bodies of the combatants were oiled beforehand. By these means the Hellenes prevented their boys from disfiguring their bodies with bumps and bruises, and the slipperiness of the ground and of the antagonist’s body made the exercise more difficult and therefore more valuable. Three throws were necessary for victory. There were two sorts of wrestling. In one the victor had to throw his antagonist without coming to the ground himself; this was a matter of ingenious twists and turns somewhat like the Japanese jiu-jitsu. In the other both combatants rolled over and over on the ground: this was less scientific. The leading paidotribai had their own favourite systems of wrestling, with various openings, as in chess, and various ways of meeting them. “What style of wrestling did you learn at the Palaistra?” Kleon asks the sausage-seller.[385] When two boys were set to wrestle in school, they were not allowed to contend as they pleased with a view to victory, but had to carry out the directions of the paidotribes.[386] A fragment of a system of wrestling has been unearthed at Oxurhunchos.[387] Suppose there are two boys, Charmides and Glaukon. The paidotribes sets them to wrestle, while the rest of the class watch. He holds a long forked stick in his hand. Pointing with it to Charmides, he says, “You put your right hand between his legs and grip him.” Then to Glaukon, “Close your legs on it, and thrust your left side against his side.” To Charmides, “Throw him off with your left hand.” To Glaukon, “Shift your ground, and engage.” Each group of directions, or figure σχῆμα [schêma], as it was called, closes with the word “Engage” πλέξον [plexon]. At this point, probably, the two boys were allowed to wrestle at will, the result, however, being foreseen and inevitable owing to the previous moves. An epigram in the _Anthology_ represents instruction of this sort being given: the boy retorts in the middle, “I can’t possibly do it, Diophantos; that’s not the way boys wrestle.”[388]