the good strife '). It is not apparent that in 2 Ti 4^ tlie figure of speech in the first two clauses is uniform and drawn from the athletic ground (con- trast 2^"*). An improved reading of 1 Ti 41", in- corporated in the RV, gives dywvi^6/xeda, 'strive,' instead of 6veLOi'(;6ixeda, ' suffer reproach ' ( AV). The same idea of contest or striving, with the same basal form dywv, appears in Ro 15^", 1 Co 9''^, Ph 1^, Col 1^ 21 41-, 1 Th 22, He \2^-\ Jude». Specific features of the athletic contest are found in 'course' [bpoixos ; Ac 1325 20--». 2 Ti 4^, ' run ' (rpexw ; Ro Q^^, Gal 22 S', Ph 216, 2 Th 31, 1 P 4^), ' press on ' (oiwku, ; Ph3i-ff-), 'stretching forth' {iweKTeivofievo^ ; Ph 3"). Kara (tkottov (' mark,' AV, 'goal,' RV ; Ph3'^), while relevant, is not technical to racing [HDB iii. 244).
Thus far the language is suggestive of the stad- ium, particularly of the foot-race, although it is not forbidden to think of the hippodrome and of chariot-racing. Another event in the games is recalled by the expressive term irvKTevo) (1 Co 9^), rendered by 'fight,' 'box' (RVm), and the no less expressive depuiv {y.'^^), ' beating,' and xnrwTTLa^u} (v.^), ' bufl'et' or ' bruise' (under the eye), rnxiv i] TrdXt], ' our wrestling ' (Eph 6I-), seems like an intrusion of the imagery of the athletic ground into the meta- phor of the complete warrior.
Not the least interesting part of the Pauline figures of speech now being considered is related to the laws and regulations governing the public games, both beforehand and during the actual con- test (1 Co 9-^'). and the conditions attending the giving of the prize {<rTe(pavos, ' crown ' or ' wreath '). The reward to the victor follows upon the decision of the umpires {^pa^evral}, and the herald's an- nouncement (KTipi'Cffiiv ; cf. 1 Co 9^). ^pa^dov (Ph SI'*) is the word used for the prize bestowed according to the laws of the games (compare jSpa- ^ev^TO}, Col 316, ' rule,' ' arbitrate,' RVm, and Kara- ^pa^everu, 2"*, ' rob you of your prize '). The immediate prize in the shape of a wreath suggests the idea of something better than itself, not only in connexion with the actual contest, where further honours were afterwards bestowed upon the victor, but also in the Christian thought of St. Paul (1 Co 925, Ph 41, 1 Th 219, 2 Ti 4®) and other NT writers (Ja V\ 1 P 5^ Rev 21" 3" 4* etc.). Some reluctance has been felt to admit the use by Jewish writers of this figure drawn from the ceremonial of the heathen games (R. C. Trench, Synonyms 0/ the AT, 1865, p. 76 f.), but it is probable that they were indirectly indebted to this outstanding phase of ancient life {HDB iv. 555'' ; cf. Ramsay, op. cit., p. 290 f.).
While we are wUling to believe that the profitable aspect of bodily training (1 Ti 4*) was not altogether in abeyance during the Apostolic Age, we are chiefly impressed by the historical evidence for the gross degeneracy of the public games during the 1st cent. A.D. For this deterioration the Romans must be held responsible. It is not necessary to dwell on the details of the lust for blood, both human and animal, which disfigured the public displays of the Imperial city and to a less extent of the provinces. The motto of the age Avas ' bread and races ' (panis et circenses), and coupled with this was the cry : ' The Christians to the lions ! ' {Christiani ad leones). The Christians thus had a tragic interest in the ludi circenses, especially in the cruel displays of the amphitheatre. St. Paul's experience at Ephesus may be taken as typical. There he fought with beasts (i67}pion6.xn<y'>; 1 Co 15^2), an expression which is generally understood figuratively (see art. Beast), but which is considered by McGiffert {Apostolic Age, 1897, p. 280) and von Weizsacker [Apostolic Age, i.^ [1897] 385) as setting forth actual fact. In the same city the Apostle and his friends Gains and Aristarchus came near experiencing the violence of the mob in the theatre
442
GAMES
GARLANDS
(Ac IQ-^**^), which was the recognized place of as- sembly, and even of execution following judgment (Jos. BJ VII. iii. 3). Originally designed for scenic exliibitions of a bloodless type, the tlieatre had developed, or rather had deteriorated, into the amphitiieatre with its wliolesale butcheries.
The theatre supplies NT writers with two similes : dearpov — Oea/xa, 'a spectacle,' 1 Co 4', and Oearpii^o- /xevoiiKe 10^), translated by 'gazingstock.' In ad- dition to this the atrocities of tlie amphitheatre doubtless underlie many of the references to perse- cutions, being most patent in 1 Co 15^^ and 2 Ti 4'" : ' I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.' It should be noted that this last-named experience has also been refined into a proverb (C. Clemen, op. cit., p. 134 ; EBiiv. 5090 n.). Considerable un- certainty attaches to the language of He 12^ : ' Ye have not yet resisted unto blood,' in which it is tempting to see a repetition of St. Paul's metaphor from boxing (I Co 9-'^'"), or even a reference to the extreme penalty of martyrdom suffered by some, after the example of ' the author and perfecter of our faith.' The blood may have been shed in sight of the circle of spectators in the amphitheatre (cf. wepLKelixevov, He l2').