A Wrestling match in Nonnus

8/10/2019 A Wrestling match in Nonnus

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T h e lassical R e v i e w

AUGUST 1911

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONSA WRESTLING MATCH IN NONNUS.

THERE is a point in connexion withGreek wrestling which, as it seems tome, has not been satisfactorily explainedby Mr. Norman Gardiner either in hisarticles in the Journal of Hellenic Studies(xxv. 14, 263, xxvi. 4) or in his recentbook, Greek A thletic Sports and Festivals.The question is this. When it was acase of a fight to a finish how did thevanquished wrestler acknowledge de-feat? All that Mr. Gardiner says is,'In the pankration, as in boxing, thecontest continued till one or other ofthe parties held up his hand in signof defeat' (p. 435). Elsewhere, whendealing with boxing, he writes, 'Usuallythe fight went on until one of thetwo acknowledged himself defeated(dreWredv) by holding up his hand'

(P. 415,and

cf. pp. 424, 440). For thishe relies upon the evidence of vasepaintings, and adduces no authorityfrom literature. In boxing there seemsto be no need for any such specialmeans of acknowledging defeat. Ifknocked down and unable to rise andcontinue the combat the pugilist wouldsimply be counted out: if not, he couldat any moment end the fight by merelysaying that he was beaten. So againin wrestling proper no question couldarise, as the judges would decide whenthe requisite number of falls had takenplace. But in ground wrestling it is adifferent matter. Here some recog-nised sign of yielding was necessary,and the question is, What was that

NO. CCXIX. VOL. XXV.

sign ? If it is suggested that here tooall that was required was a verbal con-fession of defeat, I would point out thatvictory was usually obtained by gettinga strangling grip of the throat whicheffectually prevented speech. Theanswer to this question will, I think, befound in the account of the matchbetween Aeacus and Aristaeus as re-ported in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus(xxxvii. 554 sqq.). It will be convenientto consider this passage, as arranged inthe edition of Koechly (1858), in threedivisions:

wrp&-ro9Apto-rao9, JeT7rEeLra &SSe-'epo9 eon'7

555 Aia/ck evtraXapoto wd'XqX &SeSaq-Atevo0 epya.

Na',Lart & CEVroaWVrE9 a 7TOf-VbnCrv l8ooU7vpvol abeOxev'av'rev ibeorTao'avap o0epoL 8

pCrpTa pvpbo'rapan waXalLa E7re.

81.vyt /~aprrpca6rC4LXErov vOa iat EvOa,XVVFs 'rl'

vy7(a COVS560

(iXX'Xov('EpVozre9

'apotpa&', a&a-t

a/cpo'a-6' Gi-OtfxavTeI-E y' V' 8akt-8pouov av?7p,

av8pa 7raXviv8qov,vryo v .w.repO'vyvraXpLj5,XAcv \ c~ voEv -vvosxkfoaroyap aoo#oXEpatv Aot/patlvy,, dcvp'rT-avno 86

se~p~jg

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130 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW

565 FeOa'r &I apprlvov1r6apeoro

dtxtvee(?, VEVOVTE9? WLX0OVO9 EK86eE, , ,

OXt,8oewov Icaid TroLo rpodyyeXo9'ppeev 18pOr

alo.OTEpwo apa vcara

Ice./cvoTra&fLyt

cv'LrXEI.Eo,7raXir/9, dErp/Pero

570 oi&c B' abroXea?'OTX avi4pa/peva57tar0 Oep/9,ai6Xa rropfnpovoa /epa(S' 6 'feTTO

oS,e vaXatapo'vre r~pdopovra

ya,ava 7'XV~nAXXfXovavpawov apoqpat&' atT-

rpc-rov 'AprTra'o( 7raXd/h&l '-7lX-vaTro apr(To575

C XOooV9oXXLtwv?oXl(~ 8' 0ob

Xi'ero

r.XvrlAlAtk atloxoprts, V roXX7rTOVT

86rapac

Xatbv 'Apwratoto 7roso( ciXrl7ra7raTa7a9

V'7rTov

a'rodCiLXto'Cov

Xov 7reptIca3-

3aXe calya

17Xtapr,7rpn&vt 7ravelweXov * capIe Xao

580 vqXt'xov avX~evrao o evov vita'QoIlovoplkaut 8Oalp~aXdoeerw 4Oplrav'ro

7reoo VTa.

Up to this point we have an exhibi-tion of pO 'nrcXr Mr. Gardiner says(J.H.S. xxv. 26), 'The first roundfollows closely the Homeric model.Aristaeus tries to lift and swing Aeacus,who clicks his left knee with his heeland so throws him backwards.' Onthis I would only say that in spite ofthe authority of Eustathius and Suidas,followed by modern scholars, ex. gr.Liddell and Scott and Dr. Leaf, I aminclined to think that tcX~(~r is not' the hollow or bend of the knee,' butrather ' the ankle,' and that the actiondescribed is the kicking away the foot

of the wrestler the moment he lifts hisopponent from the ground. The passagein Homer (IL. xxiii. 726) does not helpeither view, but Nonnus, who uses theword thrice, always calls it Ic~X@li'ro8&. If it means 'ankle' the additionis natural enough, but if it means 'the

hollow of the knee' we shall be com-pelled to translate wro8o&of the leg,'which I think is hardly possible. Liddelland Scott say (s.v. wrotv) 'also of the

leg with the foot ... II. xxiii. 772, Od. xiii.261, etc.,' but I can see no reason for sotranslating the word in either of theseplaces, and a comparison of the otherpassages in Nonnus (x. 354, 368) will,I think, show that he at least took it tomean ' ankle.' So, too, Nicander (Ther.424) refers to the bite of a snake:

o, ed ICGOMIn7O f Eo 7o8O I'XeiL 7Viy.

I may add that in all these passagesthe old Latin translation

givestalus,

while the scholiast on Nicander, l.c.,says ' Xlp7ro iyouv cr-a-paydXov citingthe passage in Homer. Let us nowproceed to the second round:

582 86Teepol 77epra'E terdpatov biOt

Kov41&o t reXptov vla

Kvp'vl9AiaK/so, Eoo/voElP aper)vTreOeeaatavXaawvv,

585 'calc-~'wo XLtcaXt1pv/I, TeXa-aywa1 Xov, oj vc'rov A7O'pOtov blxeva

7rXeowtv.tCforT'potGt peaeblT TovMaIvpa op~lwv,

a0ova1etoE.C8rTr(tve Xwv rTV7rov, bvIC JE TEICT(

7rplvvwv dIvepo OveXX?5eo-Oavdcy-,Iv.

590 iaLt reXafaa9 oXov avSpa rEpptorpo-OdE'ra Kovly

AiaK? dv'rVrdXrr to Lowve7reo-aOVGOT(0P

Kai '7T0a 7re7rTa/L'vvl St yaoaripovSar'?a rw~r,ca/.7rvlXovw KppoTo-p rept yovvart

0eapJ\ Vwa7rT(ov,rapO rTapo-ov pEt& 7rapa a uvpov

bcrpov Alpao595 tat raxvs? dVrT/PIov TErvavop vOV V(0 7VV

xetpaw Ea'a7efavqlv,

6r' aXX-

ax evIt & Ty.IY '3atXXe -paXove,

Icaaprv,



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THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 131

600 tGoX&tO'Oo-'etee'plrXoio' Appart

OeppqrlY poYvoto ica7r' aXYvo4v

tlaoda retrrwv.It seems fairly obvious that lines

588, 9 are out of place. A single man,ov vCar7'ov ? pOLO al/xva a1Cpmr-m,cannot resemble a pair of rafters. Theyclearly belong to the description of thefirst bout, and a comparison with thepassage in Homer suggests that theyshould be placed after line 537, with achange of e ov to eXov. Mr. Gardiner'scomment is, 'But the second bout

diverges widelyfrom Homer. Aeacus

tries to lift Aristaeus, but failing to doso he springs suddenly round him andjumps upon his back, twisting his legsround his stomach and knotting hishand round his neck so that he cannotspeak.' It will be seen at once that bya curious oversight Mr. Gardiner hasmisrepresented what occurred. Aeacusdoes lift Aristaeus and throw him,subsequently assuming the position,and getting the grip, described above.Then Nonnus continues:

701 r 7fVlEO/oO O vveppeov 04:iE

pICEKCpLaevotEC7pVKe9., OLr rET7fpfS;dayl&vog,

lw7pt a ro/etveterv opbvyo mXeo;

605 o0 'ap Yv 6ToE E.o 4;o/O , 01vrdapoc vTro

o*L7ovotL cpaaravTo, TLTaLotvOUEV

avbevmwv WrvtIC7Tfpt wry) 8e,8apn-t ,

'tEvo' avilp

v'yqv dvrewcp ov /.LVqe1eraL, povt 0ty^,

,dvept vlrnaav7-t carnclea xetpa 7re-

Ta, o'aa.

'The officials,' says Mr. Gardiner,'interfere to save him from death;

for, says Nonnus, there was no lawsuch as later generations long agodevised by which the vanquished couldgive a sign of his defeat by turningdown his thumb. ' In the first placethe action of turning down the thumbis not that which Mr. Gardiner else-where represents, on the authority ofvase paintings, as the sign of defeat,

viz., the holding up of the hand,x andin the second he has mistaken themeaning of Kar n90. Nonnus, who hasthe word frequently, always uses it in amoral, not in a physical, sense, as asingle instance within the next fourlines will show; the son of Aristaeustakes the loser's reward.

aev7-epa warpo' ae6Xa Icarn7ie' XeLpl

There is, therefore, no idea of 'turn-ing down the thumb,' and the line mustbe translated 'stretching a dejectedhand to the conqueror.'2 If anyonewill take the trouble to assume theposition of Aristaeus, and allow a friend,on whose powers of self-restraint hecan rely, to act the part of Aeacus, hewill find that it is an absolute impossi-bility to stretch out a hand, whetherdejected or not, to his victor, and willwonder why 'later generations' shouldhave devised anything so fatuous. Thesimple explanation is that they did notdevise anything of the sort, and that

Nonnus never said that they did. Thewhole credit of the invention belongsto an early commentator according toKoechly, who, after quoting the actualwords of Nonnus, remarks, 'quodegregie em. G quem rectesecutus est Ma.' Even theboldest corrector of texts will admitthat an emendation which involves thealteration of all the words, five innumber, in a line requires some verystrong support from the context tojustify its existence, and that when the

1 The similar statement in Smith's Dictionaryof Greek and Roman Antiquities, vol. ii., p. 328,'The victory was not decided until one of theparties was killed, or lifted up a finger, therebydeclaring that he was unable to continue thecontest either from pain or fatigue,' is not borneout by the language of Philostratus (Imag. ii. 6),who is cited as the authority for the statement.He only says Ka~ alrayopevov eIr'rtrlcalmvov

r7,XEtpL, ords as applicable to the procedurerelated by Nonnus as to that stated in the

Dictionary.2 The phrase XE'ipa eraitaoarois in itself

questionable. Homer has Xipe o-reraowar, butnever XELpa: either has Nonnus elsewhere nor,as far as I know, any other writer. If he wishedto express the stretching out of a hand, it isstrange that he should not have used ravmoras(ii. 234) or, more probable still, his favouritertraLtVOv or r't&vav

(vii. 27 ; xxi. 124 et al.).



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132 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW

result is to change a perfectly clear andintelligible statement into what mayfairly be described as 'clotted nonsense,'the epithet 'egregious,' though not

quite in Koechly's sense of the word,may rightly be applied to it. Nowwhat did Nonnus say according to theMS. evidence as reported by Koechly,and as printed in the edition of Lectius(16o6) ? Why this--

dvapa v cto-av ra Karlc ? XeLtPr a 7raa 1.

Precisely. Aristaeus is lying flat onhis face upon the ground. Aeacus is

lyingon

topof

him, 'knottinghis hand

round his neck so that he cannot speak.'

Thereupon Aristaeus does the onlything he can possibly do, namely tapshis adversary to show that he gives in.Those who have seen the Japanesejiujitsu, characterised by Mr. Gardineras 'the closest parallel to the pankra-tion (J.H.S. xxvi. 13), will recognisethat this is exactly the way in which awrestler, finding himself in a hopelessposition, gives up the contest, namelyby tapping either his adversary or theground. The statement of Nonnus isconfirmed by a passage in Lucian(Anach. ? I), referred to by Mr. Gardinerin J.H.S. xx. 264, and partially quotedon p. 441 of his book. Anacharsiswatching such a bout as that describedabove, thus addresses Solon :

IKat nv 18ov a'papevo d/cKtvoot TPv 7rEpove/t TOW OKCeXOLY 'qK?e Titv 7o E8afo.,

eLrv e7raraveawv araKv rTet ovI eO-VVw:vw IW70 E0k)7

06 rXOv, 7EXo089

-8,ql 7reptkrXE'ka9 ai'roi 7TA /CKElart1 777v7yaorr-pa, 7-o pri7xvv irro/3aXWv rr3 XatuW^,

aXet 1vXtov oo 7rapaK porOTE q

TrOy t4pov, icer7Ev&ov o/LatL, (0e p)

7rXEOVa7ro7r

ervtel).HERBERT W. GREENE.

1 If authority is required to support thisphrase, I would refer to the following passagesin Nonnus, in addition to 1. 577 supra.

ocqaLpav are OpwOKov(oav, arfpILOV XELPLardafpTa

(ii. 465).a'XXov d7rrrlXolra-Ev OELtB Bovp' 7rard6av(xxii. 203).rrE raf vi 8 E' Mrcrrov OE1'Lt EPt rrvarai$a

GEvUaXevdV o dt4o~vo ipovt GELKVUE otyt (Xlii229).

Also,from he

Paraphrasef St.

John,.

199Oav/La7-t rta7tO frvwrrwa EOvl XEp rraar .

NIC. ETH. IV. III. 15. 1123b31.IN view of some questions which have

been put to me, I may be allowed toreturn to the subject of my article inthe Classical Review of August lo, 191o.

I. The words in that article: 'Thepoint is not that the tpeIyaX vX(ovwouldnot retreat, but that if he had to do it,he would retreat as became a man ofdignified courage,' were not intended toimply that eryetwLV ere means to 're-treat in general.' I supposed that Seb;-7tv itself was denied of the ,eseyaXhlovXoq.He would retreat in a dignified manner,and not fly off at a sprinting pace. Thiswould have been clear if to the wordsquoted above had been added, ' a retreat,not an

undignified headlong flight.'2. In racing, as in walking, somemovement of the arms is natural and isa help, though athletes may differ as tothe manner of it. Certainly the arya-XO#VXO9 would look ridiculous if heheld his arms stiff in running.

But whether what was exactly meantby

rrapaoel'Lv Tha Xepa9was an un-

graceful movement or not, I venture tothink Aristotle had not that in his mind,and that it is not the point of the pas-sage. So far I disagree with what Ispoke of as the ordinary view. The un-dignified thing I suppose intended issimply the racing away from the enemy;7rapao-telavrt being put in not to expressany ungraceful bodily movement, but acharacteristic of the racer's action-'going at all speed' -' sprinting off tothe rear.'

3. The use of wapaoeletv without ex-pressed accusative for vapareetv Ta'1

Xefpa( should hardly cause difficulty.That runners were said wrapao-ELE1w a9XeLpa9 appears from De. Inc. An. 705a16, t \a0t oal 7rCvra9Xot XXovrat wrX^iovXOVTE9 7TO XlpaAa ~ X

V,,

taa ot09OVTe, tro770v eovOL rrapaoe1ovTe ThXeipav' rytveTraL ydp r7L dtarrepELtoe 7


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A Wrestling match in Nonnus