Diskos

“ When diskos-throwing was first revived in Athens in 1896, the Greeks and other competitors, taking for model Myron’s statue and untrammelled by theories, naturally developed a style which certainly approximated to the true style of the ancients. A new method was invented shortly afterwards by foreign athletes, particularly Americans, who applied to the diskos the principles employed in throwing the hammer and the heavy weight, in which the force is gained by one or more complete turns of the body. ”

“ On the contrary, the Homeric athletics especially presuppose a long antecedent course of development. Hellenic legend strengthens this inference. According to a myth, Apollo enjoyed the diskos no less than music. He practiced for amusement with his favorite Hyakinthos, whom, as it is related, he accidentally killed by an unlucky throw. Other traditions inform us, that Orion challenged Artemis to a contest with the diskos, and that Autolykos, son of Hermes, instructed young Herakles in the art of wrestling. ”

“ In the revived Olympic games a diskos is used weighing 2 kilos. It is made of wood with a metal core, and is a clumsy, ugly object for which there is absolutely no authority, infinitely inferior in every way to the ancient diskos. J. Sheridan threw it 135 ft. 8 in. at Athens in 1906, throwing in the free style, while in the cramped and artificial Greek style he succeeded in throwing 124 ft. 8 in. in the games of 1908. It would seem then that the men’s diskos was probably heavier than 2 kilos; usually but not always, for Exoïdas, as we have seen, used one much lighter. ”

“ So many representations of this sport have come down to us in statues, vase paintings, coins, and gems, [94] that it is possible to work out the successive movements of the throw. The principle seems to have been always the same, though individuals were allowed certain differences in style. A bronze statuette in Case B in the Fourth Room (fig. 114) shows one stance; the athlete is about to swing the diskos down from the left to the right hand. The position preliminary to the swing downwards to the side, the athlete now holding the diskos in both hands, may be seen on the lekythos in Case 4 ”

“ And I knew surely that the Brute did track me, and a sick and utter horror did fall upon me; so that I could scarce get my foot-gear upon me, once more. Yet, in truth, I was not long to the matter, and was to my feet, and did hold the Diskos ready; and very desperate I was to the heart; for it is ever a fearsome thing to be put in chase, and the worse an hundred times when there is a sure knowledge that a deathly Monster doth be the pursuer. ”

“ And the Priest, taking up the Aër, layeth it on the left shoulder of the Deacon, saying,
Lift up your hands to the Holies, and bless the Lord.
Then taking the holy Diskos, he placeth it on the head of the Deacon with all care and reverence, who at the same time carrieth the Censer with one of his fingers. The Priest himself taketh the holy Chalice in his hand, and goeth out at the north door, preceded by the Deacon and the lightbearers; and going round the church, they both pray for all, saying,
The Lord God remember all of us in His kingdom, always: now, and ever, and to ages of ages. ”

“ The modern thrower in the Hellenic style does contrive to rid himself of the diskos in this attitude without advancing the left foot, but the throw inevitably suffers, and there is no evidence that the ancients ever imposed such a restriction. Moreover, in the modern style the downward swing of the diskos almost precedes the straightening of the body ”

“ And because that I could not go naked to my cleansing, I tried first the hotness of the water, which was not over great, and afterward did take off the scrip and the pouch, and the cloak, and laid them with the Diskos upon the edge of the warm puddle.
Then I stept into the water, and was immediately gone downward a great way; for, truly it was no puddle as I had supposed; but a deep well, as you might call it, of hot and sulphury water. And this doth show how a man may act foolishly, even when he doth believe that he hath a great caution ”

“ In an artistic sense there can be no doubt as to the excellent effect which the ancient line produces. It gives proportion and an air of solidity and greatly diminishes the superficial area of the abdomen. And that it represented a real condition rather than an artistic ideal is a very probable fact, for the statues of Greek athletes often represent positions which for us with our weak abdomens are almost impossible of attainment. One of the most perfect of all, Myron’s Diskobolos—the young athlete throwing the diskos—seemed to Herbert Spencer ‘an impossible contortion’ ”

“ In two hours' time we seal these manuscripts in their iron covering, and attach them to the motors.
Time is speeding on. The scene around us here is a curious and imposing one. We stand upon the summit of one of the hills on which the fair city of Edos is built. A forge and brawny smiths, who have come hither from Pamax to complete our task, are in the foreground; the King, surrounded by Ministers and servants, by Princes and Priests, watches Doctor Hermann and Temple with heightening wonderment, the latter busy writing these few last words. ”

“ Decius said, "Take heed for thyself and thy priests, and offer; for if thou dost not, thou shalt be an example to all others." But Sixtus answered, "A little before I said to thee, that I always offer to Almighty God." Decius then said to his soldiers, "Lead him to the temple of Mars, that he may offer to the god Mars: if he will not offer, shut him in the prison Mamortinum." The soldiers led him to the temple, and urged him to offer his gift to the dead image. When he despised the emperor's command, and would not offer to the idol, they brought him with his two deacons into the dark prison. ”

“ Dixon, looking up from 'er sewing. “You've only got your interfering ways to thank for it.”
“This is a fine state of affairs in my own 'ouse,” ses Dixon, 'ardly able to speak. “You've got no proper feeling for your husband, Julia, else you wouldn't allow it. Why, I was happier at sea than wot I am 'ere.”
“Well, you'd better go back to it if you're so fond of it,” ses 'is wife.
“I think I 'ad,” ses Dixon. “If I can't be master in my own 'ouse I'm better at sea, hard as it is. You must choose between us, Julia—me or your relations. I won't sleep under the same roof as them for another night. ”

“ He chose the way of the darkness, and avoided the path of the shine. To follow him Said must pass that blaze of light which streamed through the door. Naked and brown, Said leaped across it, like the flitting of a bat, and darkness swallowed him. Old Reliable hurried on, intent upon his affair, while Said slunk behind, close enough to hear him mumble, as a man of stricken conscience mutters in his sleep. Once the Black Effendi jostled against a palm, and again Said caught the pleasant jingle of metal, a clink that put his teeth on edge and set every nerve to quivering. ”

“ He reeled toward Minos, but his strength gave way. He pitched on his face, and a stream of blood welled from his lips. Minos bent and laid his hand on the lad's head. At a sign, four of the hunters picked the boy up and wrapped him in his cloak.
"Take me with you," said the king. "It is his right.... Lady Memene, what of thee?" he asked. "Here is the end. Thy people march to their last long sleep before the darkness cometh. There on the Gateway are thy father and all thy house. Goest thou also?"
The girl gazed at him for a moment, while Zalos and the hunters waited on her answer. ”

“ It will be readily seen that in statues of athletes the sculptor had greater freedom than in statues of the gods. The latter must be represented in dignified attitudes of repose, but the former would naturally be portrayed in some characteristic posture of action. It is so with the statue in our illustration called the Discobolus or Disk-thrower.
The game of disk-throwing was very old, so old that there were Greek legends of famous games played by the gods and heroes. Apollo sometimes tried his hand at it, and also Perseus. ”

“ Reinhart coughed and bent over to see. Dixon flashed on a pocket flare and set it beside the body.
The body was charred, half destroyed by the burning phosphorus. It lay motionless, one arm over its face, mouth open, legs sprawled grotesquely. Like some abandoned rag doll, tossed in an incinerator and consumed almost beyond recognition.
“He’s alive!” Dixon muttered. He felt around curiously. “Must have had some kind of protection screen. Amazing that a man could—”
“It’s him? It’s really him?” ”

“ I am from Pamax, yonder. My name is Kios—and yours?"
"We are strangers to your country and your world; we come from the star which you call Ramos, which we call Earth; and we come as brothers, in friendship and in peace," answered the Doctor in an assuring voice.
"Are ye, then, the men of Ramos, with whose evil fame all Gathma rings? The men of Ramos who escaped death at the crag Remagaloth? Are ye the slayers of Osa? If so be ye are, I know your story as well as any man in Edos, for we listened to each word of your trial and sentence here in Pamax." ”

“ On down the roadway tore the party from the Judgment House. Minos parleyed no longer. He stooped and caught the girl under shoulders and knees, lifting her as a mother might lift a child.
"To Latmos!" he shouted. "Death be the lot of anyone that stays us!"
Thrusting his way through the hunters, he took the marsh path, running lightly and fleetly, for all the weight of his armor and his lovely burden. Zalos led his hunters in a short, fierce charge that turned back the men of Karnaon, and then the hunters broke and followed fast on the heels of their master. ”

“ It was from that old friend. "Have found all those words Dixon used, in a dialect dictionary. It gives: 'Stroom: rightly strom: a malt strainer, a wicker-work basket or bottle, placed under the bunghole of a mash-tub to strain off the hops.' Mr. Dixon used it because he loved its sound, I suppose. As to Graith, it means 'furniture, equipment, apparatus for traveling.' And agraffes are the ornamented hooks used to fasten Knights' armor. They are mentioned in Ivanhoe."
Well, poets are always disappointing me. ”

“ The next moment the vivid moon was suddenly obscured by drifting wisps of cloud. As the green light blurred to an emerald haze, the creature under the crag came slithering out toward Dixon.
He had a vague glimpse of a monster such as one should see only in nightmares—a huge loathesome spider-form with a bloated body as long as that of a man, and great sprawling legs that sent it half a dozen yards nearer Dixon in one effortless leap.
he onslaught proved too much for Dixon's morale, half-dazed as he was by the green moon's paralyzing rays. ”

“ In the silent monks bent over their desks he saw much more than piety and learning. They rose to a dignity surpassing that of consul or praefect. With their pens they warred against the powers of darkness, a grander conflict than any in which men drew sword. He wished he could talk of this with his cousin Decius, for Decius knew so much more than he, and could look so much deeper into the sense of things.
Days passed. Not yet did he receive a summons to the abbot's tower. Rapidly recovering strength, he worked long in the fields, and scrupulously performed his penitential exercises. ”

“ Of the three forms of symmetric objects that have, or haven't, fallen from the sky, it seems to me that the disk is the most striking. So far, in this respect, we have been at our worst—possibly that's pretty bad—but "lapstones" are likely to be of considerable variety of form, and something that is said to have fallen at sometime somewhere in the Dutch West Indies is profoundly of the unchosen. ”

“ Evidently the people of Edos had shunned our carriage, and desired that we and all our belongings might be destroyed together. This was a fortunate circumstance for us, for had the Sirius been dismantled and pillaged we should have been in this wilderness without food. As soon as breakfast was over we consulted together as to what was best to be done.
"There is no help for it, my friends," said the Doctor; "the Sirius is wrecked, and we shall have to leave her to her fate. Alas! she can give us safety no longer, and we may stay in her at our peril. ”

“ But in that day all Diskra was under the glorious rule of Palladin. His city on the scarlet shores of our central sea was the wonder of us all. Aye! We had a sea then, where there is now but desert.
The intelligent planets were three: our own Diskra, of course, fourth from the sun. And nearest the sun, Mirla, that fiery globe, where life apes the quality of our own salamander, existing by necessity near the flames. And second from the sun Venia, the cloud-capped world, where life exalts the virtues of the fish. Of the third planet, Terra, we then knew little. ”

“ Diaz gives this description of the presents: “The first was a disk about the size of a carriage-wheel, representing the sun, the entire plate being of the finest gold and of the most beautiful workmanship,—a most extraordinary work of art, which, according to the account of those who weighed it, was worth more than twenty thousand pesos de oro. The second was a disk, even larger than the former, of massive silver, representing the moon, with rays and figures on it, and of great value. ”

“ Their excitement hath increased; for some traders, who had journeyed to the lake of Kimeth, near which ye have told me ye camped, returned to Pamax yesternight, bringing with them scraps of strange food and other refuse ye must have left behind. The troops have started thither at dawn this morning; and what is worse, that villain Perodii is at their head. He will never rest until ye are all once more in his power, for he bears ye strange and deadly hatred."
"But, Kios,——" began the Doctor. ”