Xenophanes Proves That There Is Nothing New Under the Sun--Scored Athletic Overemphasis 25 Centuries Ago

Undergraduates like to believe that with their generation the world is embarking upon a new era of ideas, culture, and general enlightenment. Later, when they grow a little older, they realize that there is nothing new under the sun.

One of the ideas the present generation of undergraduates likes to believe originated with it is the premise that athletics are overemphasized. This, too, however, is one of the oldest of theories. In the seventh century B.C., Xenophanes, a philosopher who expressed his theorics in verse, deplored the overappreciation of the Olympic heroes and the lack of recognition for wisdom of the cort he boasted.

He scored in no uncertain terms the way his fellow citizens accorded the front row seats at entertainments to men who "and gained a victory in the foot races, the pentathlon, the wrestling matches, in that brutal sport, boxing, or in the most fearful of all contests, the pancratium, which is a hand-to-hand fight with nothing barred." He, believed it was wrong to field the city's athletes from the common stores, and to give him a trophy as a gift from the municipality.

'Let a man win a race, or any other event," the Attic sage reasons, "And what does it benefit the city? Very unfairly, indeed, is it that mere brawn is considered superior to goedly wisdom."

The modern evil of the dollar in connection with athletics was not felt in the early days of Greece, as is shown by Yenophanes' statement to the effect that "small rejoicing would there be in the city over a man's victory on the strands of the Pises, nor would such a victory make the city any richer."