a kind of dance anciently in use among the Athenians and Magnesians, performed by two persons, the one acting a labourer, the other a robber. The labourer, laying by his arms, goes to ploughing and sowing, still looking warily about him as if afraid of being surprised; the robber at length appears; and the labourer, quitting his plough, betakes himself to his arms, and fights in defence of his oxen. The whole was performed to the sound of flutes, and in cadence. Sometimes the robber was overcome and sometimes the labourer; the victor's reward being the oxen and plough. The design of the exercise was to teach and accustom the peasants to defend themselves against the attacks of rustics.