THE daily bath, and previous to it strong exercise, for the purpose of causing perspiration, were inseparable, in the minds of the Romans, from the idea of a regular and healthy mode of life. They had a multitude of exercises, more or less severe, which were regularly gone through every day before the bath, thus rendering the body strong and active, and exciting a greater appetite for the meal that was to follow.

Of course these exercises were confined to the male sex, as gymnastics were considered unbecoming and indecent for women, (Mart. vii. 67, 4; Juven. vi. 246, 419), and in Greece the Spartan unfeminineness (libidinosœ Lacedœmonis palœstrœ, Mart. iv. 55, 6), afforded great cause for ridicule. See Aristoph. Lysistr. 81; although Propert. iii. 14, and Ovid, Her. xvi. 149, for reasons easily understood, dwell with pleasure on this virginea palœstra.

These antique gymnastics, or rather those of the Romans, which will alone form the subject of our present inquiry, differed in many respects from those of modern times, in which they are confined to the period of youth. In Rome, on the contrary, there was not the slightest idea of impropriety when the consul, or triumphator, the world-ruling Cæsar himself, sought in the game of ball, or other kind of gymnastics, a wholesome exertion for both body and mind; and they who omitted such exercises were accused of indolence.