"No greater honor e'er has been attain'd Thau what strong hands or nimble feet have gaiu'd."
Indeed, all those exercises thai conduced to til men lor war were more especially valued. Swiftness was looked
upon as an excellent qualification in a warrior, both be- cause it serves for a Midden assault and onset, and like-
wise for a nimble retreat ; and tin r< fore it i- not to he wondered at thai the constant character which Homer gives of Achilles i-. that he was swift of foot ; and in the Holj Scripture, David, in his poetical lamentation over those two great captain- Saul and Jonathan, takes particular notice ofthis warlike quality of theirs: " I hey were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions" (2 Sam. i, 23). See Ahimaaz.
Ancient Greek Torch-race on Foot Such as obtained victories in any of these games, es- pecially the Olympic, were universally 1 red nay.
almost adored. At their return home they rode in a triumphal chariot into the city, the walls being broken down to give them entrance: which was done (as Plu- tarch is of opinion) to signify that walls are of small use to a city that is inhabited by men of courage and abil- ity to defend it. At Sparta they had an honorable post in the army, being stationed near the king's p< rson. Ai some towns they had presents made to them by their native city, were honored with the first place at Bhows and games, and ever after maintained at the public charge. Cicero reports that a victory in the Olympic games was not much less honorable than a triumph at Rome. Happy was that man esteemed who could hut obtain a single victory: if any person merited repeated rewards, he was thought to have attained the utmost fejicity of which human nature is capable; but if he came off conqueror in all the exercises, he was elevated
above the condition of men. .and his act i"ii- sl\ led won- derful victories. Nor did their honor- terminate in themselves, hut were extended t<> all about them; the city that gave them birth and education was esteemed more honorable and august : happy were their relations, and thrice happy t heir parent-. It is a remarkable story which Plutarch relate- <ii a spartan who, meeting Di- agoras, that hail himself been crowned in the Olympic games, and Been In- aons .and grandchildren victors. embraced him and said. "Now die. Diagoras; for thou
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Medal Commemorating an Isthmian Victory.
Ancient Greek Torch-race on Horseback.
canst not be a god!" By the laws of Solon, a hundred drachms were allowed from the public treasury to every Athenian who obtained a prize in the Isthmian games, and five hundred drachms to such as were victors in the Olym- pian. Afterwards, the latter of these had their mainte- nance in the Prytaneum, or public hall of Athens. The rewards given in these games have been thus rendered into English by Addison, from the Greek: "Greece, in four games thy martial youth were train'd, For heroes two, and two for gods ordaiu'd: Jove bade the olive round his victor wave ; Phoebus to his an apple-garland gave; The pine Palaemon ; nor with less renown, Archemorus couferr'd the parsley crown."
(.inc. Med. Dial. 2.)
Compare with these fading vegetable crowns that im- mortal life which the Gospel offers as a prize to the victor, in order to understand the apostle's comparison (1 Cor. ix, 25; 1 Pet. v, 4). See Crown.
Ra'chab (Matt, i, 5). See Raiiab.
Ra'chal (Heb. Rakal', Vo'n, trade; Sept, 'PaxaX v. r. 'Pay/A), a town in the tribe of Judah, and appar- ently in the southern part ; being one of those to which David sent presents out of the spoil of the Amalekites (1 Sam. xxx, 29). ': The Vatican edition of the Sept. omits this name, but inserts rive names in this passage between ' Eshtemoa' and ' the Jerahmeelitcs.' The only one of these which has any similarity to Rachal is Car- mel, which would suit very well as far as position goes; but it is impossible to consider the two as identical with- out further evidence" (Smith). See David.
Racham, Rachamah. See Gier-eagle.
Rachel. See Sheep.
Ra'chel (Heb. Rachel', h'n'l, a " ewe" or " sheep," as in Gen. xxxi, 38; xxxii, 14; Cant. vi. 6; Isa. liii, 7; Sept, and New Test, 'Pay/jX, Josephus 'Pa^/;Xaf), the j'ounger daughter of the Aramaean grazier Laban (Gen. xxix, Hi), whom Jacob, her near blood-relation, earned for his wife, as wages for a second seven-years' service (ver. 18 sq.). B.C. 1920. See Leah. After a long pe- riod of unfruitfulness, she bore him a son (xxix, 31), Joseph (xxx, 22 sq.). She went with him to Canaan, on which occasion she stole the household gods of her father and hid them artfully (xxxi, 19, 34), and finally died on the journey, after the birth of Benjamin, not far from Ephrath (xxxv, 16 sq.). See Rachel's Tomb.
" The story of Jacob and Rachel lias always had a peculiar interest: there is that in it which appeals to some of the deepest feelings of the human heart. The beauty of Rachel, the deep love with which she was loved by Jacob from their first meeting by the well of Haran, when he showed to her the simple courtesies of the desert life, and kissed her and told her he was Re- bekah's son ; the long servitude with which he patiently served for her, in which the seven years ' seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her ;' their mar-