Cu. IX.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 235
pillar. Half-way between these was a third pillar. On the first pillar was inscribed excel ; on the second, hasten ; on the third, ¢wrn, since the racers turned round the column to go back to the starting-point.*
The isthmus of Corinth was the scene of the Isthmian games, one of the four great national festivals of the Greeks. The celebration was a season of great rejoicing and feasting. The contests included horse, foot, and chariot-racing; wrestling, boxing, musical and poetical trials, and later, fights of animals. The victor’s prize was a garland of pine leaves, and his victory was generally celebrated in triumphal odes called epinikia, of which specimens remain among the poems of Pindar.t At the period of Paul’s epistles the games were still celebrated, and the apostle himself may very probably have been present. ¢ At the same time, he would have been familiar with similar scenes in Tarsus, in all the great cities of Asia Minor, espec- ially Ephesus, and even in Jerusalem. Metaphors and allus- ions founded upon such spectacles abound in Paul’s writings. ftacers, 1 Cor. ix. 24; bowers, 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27; gladiators Jighting with beasts, 1 Cor. xv. 82; the judge awarding the prize, 2 Tim. iv. 8; the goal and the prize, 1 Cor. ix. 24; Philip. tii. 14; the chaplet, 1 Cor. ix. 25; 2 Tim. ii. 5; iv. 8; the training for the contest, 1 Tim. iv. 7,8; the rules govern- ang it, 2 Tim. ii. 5; the chariot-race, Philip. iii. 14. These images never occur in the gospels. See on of life, Apoc. ii. 10.
Prize (SpaBeiov). Only here and Philip. iii.14. The kind- red verb BpaBetvw to be umpire, occurs once, Col. iii. 15. See note.
Obtain (kataraPnrte). Lit., lay hold of. Rev., attain. See on comprehended, John i. 5; come upon you, John xii. 85; and perceived, Acts iv. 13. Compare Philip. iii. 12.
* See the description of the stadium at Ephesus in Wood’s ‘‘ Ephesus.” +See a fine description of the Olympic games, on which the others were
modelled, in J. Addington Symonds’ ‘‘ Studies of the Greek Poets,” i., ch. xi ¢ See the question discussed by Conybeare and Howson, ch. xx.
236 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Ca. IX,
95. Striveth for the mastery (dyavifopevos). Better, Rev., striveth in the games, thus preserving the metaphor. The word was the regular term for contending in the arena or on the stage.
Is temperate (éyxpateveras). Only here and ch. vijo. ne candidate for the races was required to be ten months in train- ing, and to practise in the gymnasium immediately before the games, under the direction of judges who had themselves been ‘structed for ten months in the details of the games. The training was largely dietary. Epictetus says: “Thou must be orderly, living on spare food ; abstain from confections; make a point of exercising at the appointed time, in heat and in cold; nor drink cold water nor wine at hazard.” Horace says: “The youth who would win in the race hath borne and done much; he hath sweat and been cold; he hath abstained from love and wine” (“Ars Poetica,” 412). Tertullian, commending the ex- ample of the athletes to persecuted Christians, says: * Oogun- tur, cruciantur, fatigantur.” ‘They are constrained, harassed, wearied ” (“ Ad Martyres,” 3). Compare 2 Tim. ii. 5.
Crown (crépavov). Chaplet of pine-leaves. See on Apoc. iv. 4.
96. Uncertainly (a8%Aws). Only here in the New Testa- ment. The kindred adjective aSnXos not manifest, occurs Luke xi. 44 (see note) and 1 Cor. xiv. 8. Compare also adnrOTNs UN- certainty, 1 Tim. vi. 17. He runs with a clear perception of his object, and of the true manner and result of his striving.
Fight | (arueredw). Only here in the New Testament. Dis- tinctively of fighting with the fists, and evidently in allusion to the boxing-match. Rev., in margin, bow. Etymologically akin to muypn the fist ; see on oft, Mark vii. 3.