Chapter II: Part 2

Many classical quotations have been introduced in the notes to elucidate and enliven the text; some in their original language, others in the English tongue. Where the former appeared more illustrative and expressive, it has been retained. The latter has been occasionally substituted, where the passages selected conveyed information acceptable to an English courser, or a version of acknowledged merit faithfully conveyed the sense of the original. And in a few instances the original and translation have been introduced in juxta-position, to enable the reader to judge of their respective excellencies. To this too I have been “moved,” as Wase very nicely observes, by a wish that the quotations from the dead languages “may be understood with ease, and the delight of attending to the elegancies in them rather doubled than intermitted, by adjoyning a translation in equal consort:” “wherein,” as he adds, “I shall have pleased either those that have an affection to see our language enriched with the wit of former ages; or on the other side, even those men whose inclinations do rather move to look upon the native beauties of every piece.”

[Sidenote: Plinii Præf. Vespas.]

The references to antiquity, which have imperceptibly increased to some extent,—“nec dubitamus multa esse, quæ et nos præterierint, homines enim sumus, et occupati officiis,”—have not been introduced for the sake of ostentatious display of knowledge of Greek and Latin literature, like those

[Sidenote: Young’s Love of Fame, Sat. +i.+]

Who, for renown, on scraps of learning dote,
And think they grow immortal as they quote.

but that the classical courser might be induced “antiquos exquirere fontes,”

[Sidenote: Pitt’s Vida.]

T’ examine all, and bring from all away
Their various treasures as a lawful prey;

to compare the beauties and defects of the several authors who have treated on the same favourite subject; and that the issue of the comparison might be the illustration of the Nicomedian courser.

[Sidenote: Ausonius Symmacho. Griphus.]

To the classic reader (“cui nihil neque non lectum est, neque non intellectum”) no apology is necessary for the number of the extracts made from writers who must ever be prized, while pure and correct taste prevails: and to the courser, who with his academic gown has laid on the shelves of his library the authors of Greece and Rome, to be no more disturbed, like “the rude forefathers” of the rustic cemetery,

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid;

[Sidenote: Ben Jonson’s Epicœne, act +ii.+ sc. 3.]

[Sidenote: Churchill “The Author.”]

and who “wonders” with Sir John Daw in “The Silent Woman,” that “those fellows have such credit with gentlemen;” there is a summary power vested in himself, of reducing the number to the measure of his own taste and capacity. Such, however, not having been the fate of “the crabbed authors” with myself, I confess that I have found it difficult to check my pen in transcribing apposite and explanatory quotations from these early friends. For in the language of old Gervase, “the minde being preoccupied and busied with a vertuous search, is ever ready to catch hold of whatsoever can adorne or illustrate the excellencie of the thing in which it is imployed.”

This, I trust, will be received as an apology; and that the practical notes interspersed with the classical, will redeem my character as a moderate amateur of the sport, and give admission to this translation on the courser’s table.

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +iv.+ vs. 16.]

αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ἐρέω τά τ’ ἐμοῖς ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσι,
θήρην ἀγλαόδωρον ἐπιστείχων ξυλόχοισιν
ὅσσα τ’ ἀπ’ ἀνθρώπων ἐδάην, τοῖσιν τὰ μέμηλε,
αἰόλα παντοίης ἐρατῆς μυστήρια τέχνης.

[Sidenote: Specimens of English Poets, Vol. +i.+ p. 11.]

With the exception of Somerville, “who has shown,” as Dr. Johnson observes, “by the subjects which his poetry has adorned, that it is practicable to be at once a skilful sportsman and a man of letters,” I have extracted very little from writers of the last century: but the natural historians, poetic and prosaic authors of the olden time, whose works are not of very common occurrence in our libraries, have afforded much information confirmatory of Arrian’s opinions. These selections, as well as those from ancient English authors, incorporated with this preface, have been left in their original spelling, so happily expressed by Mr. Ellis as “that fortuitous combination of letters, which the original transcribers or printers had assigned to them.”

[Sidenote: Plin. in Præfat. Vespas.]

A knowledge of what others have written on a subject on which we ourselves are about to write appears indispensable. “Although I were very much experienced,” says the translator of Gratius, “in any art, and were apt to conceive a good opinion of my own ability therein, yet being to publish a discourse concerning it, I was obliged to inform myself of what others had formerly proposed in the same matter, as far as may conveniently be attained. There are some who esteem it glory to be thought to have declined any other helps but their own wit, which I should charge upon myself as negligence.” Far be such self-sufficiency from me! I am ever glad to avail myself of the opinions and sentiments of others; and in so doing, to give the merit of originality to its rightful owner, and not to a modern plagiarist. “Est enim benignum ut arbitror, et plenum ingenui pudoris, fateri per quos profeceris, non ut plerique ex iis, quos attigi, fecerunt. Scito enim conferentem autores me deprehendisse à juratissimis et proximis veteres transcriptos ad verbum, neque nominatos,” &c.

[Sidenote: Chaucer, Assembl. of Fowls.]

For out of the old fieldis, as men saith,
Cometh all this new corn from year to year;
And out of olde bookis, in good faith,
Cometh all this new science that men lere.

[Sidenote: Ausonius Symmacho. Griphus.]

Few will think me sparing of citation: but if there be such a one, and well disposed to a brother courser, “si bonus est, quæ omisi, non oblita mihi, sed præterita existimet. Dehinc qualiscunque est, cogitet secum, quàm multa de his non reperisset, si ipse quæsisset. Sciat enim me non omnibus erutis usum;” I hope he will not add with Ausonius, “et quibusdam oblatis abusum.”

[Sidenote: On Gardening Miscell. Pt. +ii.+]

Should curiosity induce any one to inquire who is the translator of this treatise, let it suffice, that he is an humble individual of retired habits, too utterly unknown to the world to expect that any additional interest will be imparted to his labours by the publication of the name of their author:—that he is in the enjoyment of the ease and freedom of a private scene, where, in the felicitous language of Sir W. Temple, “a man may go his own way and his own pace:”—that his pursuits at home and abroad are rationally diversified. “For honest pleasures,” like Brathwait’s gentleman, “he is neither so Stoicall as wholly to contemne them, nor so Epicureall as too sensually to affect them.” “There is no delight on mountaine, vale, coppice, or river, whereof he makes not an usefull and contemplative pleasure;”

[Sidenote: Darcius Venusinus.]

At sylvæ gelidique specus, cava lustra ferarum,
Ruraque, et arcanâ labentia flumina valle
Sunt animo!

[Sidenote: Plin. Panegyr. Trajan. 81.]

But his “hour-beguiling pastime,” when not occupied in any of the more important duties of life, “si quandò cum influentibus negotiis paria fecit, instar refectionis,” is that of a theoretical and practical courser—desirous of acquiring, in the sedentary retirement of his library, the science of active enjoyment in the field; and of elucidating the mysteries of the leash, and the pertinent anecdotes of animal biography, by collecting in one point of view the scattered glimmerings of classical antiquity, and the illustrations of more modern days, relative to an elegant and manly diversion:—directing the whole under the guidance of experience, and the name of the father of the leash, to the advancement of human recreation.

[Sidenote: Terent. Andr. act. +i.+ sc. +i.+ 28.]

Quod plerique omnes faciunt adolescentuli,
Ut animum ad aliquod studium adjungant, aut equos
Alere, aut canes ad venandum, aut ad philosophos:
Horum ille nihil egregiè præter cætera
Studebat, et tamen omnia hæc mediocriter.

The translator has his hack, his greyhound, and his slipper, (κυναγωγὸς,) participating of the unimportant character of their master, and equally devoid of interest in the eyes of the public. All, therefore, are consigned to the same fate, and merged in one common namelessness; spite of the example of Hippamon of old, in the metrical commemoration of his sporting establishment:

[Sidenote: Apud Pollucis Onomasticon.]

Ἀνδρὶ μὲν Ἱππάμων ὄνομ’ ἦν, ἵππῳ δὲ Πόδαργος,
καὶ κυνὶ Λήθαργος, καὶ θεράποντι Βάβης.

With regard to the Appendix,

Si quis tamen hæc quoque, si quis
Captus amore leget,

I have only a few remarks to make. To many, though mere sciolists in natural history, it must have appeared, during their progress in classical reading, that much ignorance of the varieties of the canine race is shown by annotators. With the gentlemen _è societate Jesu_, and others who have favoured us with their expositions of the ancients, there is too great an inclination to generalize both as to the names and properties of the canine tribe. The “veloces Spartæ catuli”[26] are all “lévriers,” though there was not, according to Arrian, (and he is supported by Blumenbach,) a greyhound in the whole of ancient Greece: and certainly as “the babbling echo mocked them” in their quick-scented pursuit of the Laconian quarry, they could be no more entitled to the appellation, than any sharp-nosed mongrel, bred in modern days, between a sagacious yelping hound, and a prick-eared shepherd’s cur. Upon the same principle of generalization, all truculent Molossi, C. Custodes, Pecuarii, &c. are by these worthies at once dismissed as Gallicè “dogues,” Anglicè “mastiffs,” without an attempt to particularize their respective attributes in warfare, or the chase, or the economy of rural life.

[Sidenote: Macbeth, act +iii.+ sc. +i.+]

Hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped
All by the name of dogs; the valued file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him closed; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike.

This confusion of nomenclature might pass at school, but not longer. Subsequent experience, and the reflection of maturer years would direct the attention of many literary ruralists to the occasional correction of errors in the canine vocabulary. Such at least has been the case with the writer of these pages; and he conceives that errors, apparent to him, must have been manifest to others. Nor is a misapprehension of some of the names and qualities of the individuals of this multifarious genus

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. 154.]

(Mille canum patriæ, ductique ab origine mores
Cuique suâ)

[Sidenote: A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, &c.]

to be wondered at in scholiasts and commentators; when we consider their monkish habits of indolent seclusion, and how unfit and unwilling they were to ascertain by actual experiment, whether Pliny was correct in affirming that Minerva was as fond of traversing the hills as Diana. “These bookish fellowes,” in the words of Sir John Harrington, “could judge of no sports, but within the verge of the fair fields of Helicon, Pindus, and Parnassus.” Their practice in the field was not commensurate with their scholastic knowledge. Very few carried their note-books, like the learned and indefatigable Vlitius to the covert side, and examined the difficulties of rural poetry, and obscure allusions to canine instinct in the field of experience. And unless they did so, they had little chance of becoming acquainted with the sylvan goddess, who tells us in her petition to her sire, that she rarely descends from her mountain haunts into the cities of men;

[Sidenote: Callimach. H. in Dian.]

————σπαρνὸν γὰρ ὅτ’ Ἄρτεμις ἄστυ κάτεισιν.
οὔρεσιν οἰκήσω.

Wherever the different sporting dogs of antiquity are alluded to, or mentioned by name in the Cynegeticus of Arrian, or the classical works to which I have had occasion to refer in illustration of it, I have endeavoured to clear up some of the obscurity, in which they were enveloped; by classifying varieties, and in a few cases even individuals, and comparing ancient types with modern representatives. This I have attempted more especially in relation to the ancient British dogs, and the Celtic greyhound (the subject of Arrian’s Treatise), as being of paramount interest to the British courser.

[Sidenote: Theocriti Idyll. +xxv.+ vs. 78.]

ὦ πόποι, οἷον τοῦτο θεοὶ ποίησαν ἄνακτες
θηρίον ἀνθρώποισι μετέμμεναι· ὡς ἐπιμηθές.

The observations and extracts on these points, more trite probably than recondite, have been thrown together in an appendix, which I hope may be found amusing to any literary sportsman who may condescend to peruse them.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
AND
BIOGRAPHICAL
NOTICES.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE
OF THE
CYNEGETICUS,
OR
WORK ON COURSING.

The Cynegeticus was originally written by Arrian, in imitation of Xenophon’s Treatise de Venatione, to supply the lacunæ of that work in the particular department of Coursing.

The manuscript seems to have been neglected in the Vatican library for several years after it had been first discovered, in consequence of its bearing the name of Xenophon: for the persons who accidentally met with it, not being aware of Arrian’s assumption of that title, took no pains to examine it, under an impression that it was the edited Cynegeticus of the elder Xenophon, and not a new and unknown treatise on a different branch of the same subject, by an author of the same assumed name, a pseudo-Xenophon.

We are told by Mausacus that Rigaltius intended to have edited it with the Scriptores de Re Accipitrariâ et de Curâ Canum, (the first edition of which he published in 1612, with a forged epistle in Castilian and Latin from Aquila Symmachus and Theodotion to a Ptolemy, King of Egypt,) but the printers refused their consent, unless he added a Latin translation; a desideratum which was afterwards supplied by Holstein in the first edition. Henry Stephens, however, had previously perused the unpublished treatise, and given to the world, in his Schediasmata, some observations on different passages.

Holstein, the first editor, was a celebrated scholar of his day, and is commemorated in the Sept. Illustr. Vir. Poemata as—

[Sidenote: Poem. Ferdin. Lib. Baron de Furstenberg.]

Graiæ Latiæque Minervæ
Artibus, Eois notus et Hesperiis.

His edition issued from the Paris press of Sebastian and Gabriel Cramoisy in the year 1644. The Greek text, and version attached to it, were amended by Blancard in his Amsterdam edition of 1683; which contains also the minor works of Arrian, and the pertinent schediasmata of Henry Stephens above mentioned. My library affords no editions but the above two, and the accurate reprint of Schneider by the University of Oxford in 1817. The last is certainly the best edition of the Cynegeticus of Arrian which I have seen. The Clarendon press also published in the same volume the Cynegeticus of the elder Xenophon, and his Opuscula Politica; the same collection of the minor works as Zeune comprehended in one volume, printed at Leipsic, 1778.

M. Gail is reported to have published a French translation of the work, with critical notes and dissertations, at Paris, in 1801: but, notwithstanding repeated applications to the Parisian booksellers, I have not been able to procure a copy. Equally unsuccessful have been my endeavours to obtain from the same source Defermat’s version, published by Hortemels of Paris, in 1690. The latter, however, in consequence of the literary character given of its author by Belin de Ballu, in his prolegomena to Oppian, I do not much regret. It accompanied a French version of the two last books of the Cynegetics of the Cilician poet, which are stated to abound in errors of translation, and to be performed in a tedious and barbarous style by Defermat, eminent as a mathematician, but of moderate attainment in Greek literature.

The present version was completed before I was aware of any prior attempt to translate the Cynegeticus into English: the first notice of which, in the partial labours of Mr. Blane, was derived from Schneider’s annotations. I do not believe any other to exist in the English language, with the exception of such fragments of the treatise as may have been occasionally made to speak English, on the emergency of a periodical publication needing an article on Coursing; or a literary sportsman wishing to enliven his communications by a reference to the manual, and quoting it in his vernacular tongue.

Mr. Blane’s attempt did not extend apparently to the whole treatise. It is in parts inaccurately executed, and omits numerous sentences, where he professes to translate; and whole chapters in sequence, where we can see no reason for omission. The fourth, and ten following chapters to the fourteenth inclusive, and the twenty-third and twelve following chapters to the thirty-fifth inclusive, are entirely omitted by this capricious translator. Since, then, in a work consisting of only thirty-five chapters, he has, without assigning any cause, passed over twenty-four unnoticed, nearly all of them important to practical coursers, some evincing the kindly feelings of their author, (as for instance, the one containing the affectionate history of his beloved dog Hormé,) and others most honourable to his humanity, and confirmative of the purity of his religious faith, operative in a heathen breast, (as the two closing chapters, showing, amidst much fabulous allusion, his unreserved acknowledgment of human dependence on divine aid, and the certainty of evil and misfortune being consequent on irreligion and moral transgression,) I hope a complete translation of this ancient courser’s enchiridion will not be considered an useless undertaking.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ARRIAN.

[Sidenote: Luciani Alexander seu Pseudomantis.]

Ἀνὴρ Ῥωμαίων ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις, καὶ παιδείᾳ παρ’ ὄλον τὸν βίον συγγενόμενος.

Mr. Addison has remarked, that “a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or a fair man, of a mild or a choleric disposition, married, or a bachelor, with other particulars of the like nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an author.” If, however, the satisfaction of perusing the Cynegeticus of Arrian be dependent on a previous acquaintance with these personal particulars of their author, I fear the modern reader will regret the insufficiency of the following biographical notice. Scanty as it is, it contains all the information I have been able to collect relative to the younger Xenophon.[27]

[Sidenote: Arriani Bithynica et Parthica apud Photii Eclogas.]

Flavius Arrianus[28] was a citizen both of Athens and Rome, of Grecian extraction, and born probably in the reign of Domitian, at Nicomedia, a celebrated city of Bithynia; where, according to Photius on the authority of our author’s “Bithynica,” a lost work on the subject of his native country, he was priest of Ceres and Proserpine, to whom the city of Nicomedia was sacred. His fondness for polite literature, and celebrity for philosophical knowledge, acquired him the honour of the twofold citizenship. But, though a friend and disciple of Epictetus, and the first recorder of his Stoical Apophthegms—φιλόσοφος μὲν ἐπιστήμην, εἷς τῶν ὁμιλητῶν Ἐπικτήτου, he appears, like the elder Xenophon, to have been much engaged in military affairs; and as Roman prefect of Cappadocia, in the reign of Hadrian, to have taken an active part in the war against the Alani and Massagetæ, a people bred to eternal warfare—

[Sidenote: Lucan. Pharsal. L. +viii.+]

duros æterni Martis Alanos.

[Sidenote: Dion. Cassii Hist. Roman. L. +lxix.+]

It is related by Dion Cassius, and the epitomizer Xiphilin, that the Scythian barbarians under Pharasmanes having committed great havock and spoil in Media, (A.D. 136.) had begun to threaten Armenia and Cappadocia; but finding Flavius Arrianus, the prefect of the latter province, better prepared for their reception than they had anticipated, they were induced, partly by the bribes of Vologæsus, and partly through fear of the governor, to retire from the territory under his jurisdiction.

Suidas, on the authority of Heliconius, states that Arrian was advanced to the senatorial and consular dignities, and that he was denominated “the second Xenophon” from the sweetness of his literary style. And Photius also, in his “Eclogæ,” speaking of our author’s “Parthica” observes, ἐπωνόμαζον αὐτὸν Ξενοφῶντα νέον· διὰ δὲ τὸ παιδείας ἐπίσημον, ἄλλας τε πολιτικὰς ἀρχὰς ἐπιστεύθη, καὶ εἰς τὸ τῶν ὑπάτων ἀνέβη τέλος: and again he adds, δῆλον δὲ ὡς οὐδὲ ῥητορικῆς σοφίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως ἀπελείπετο.

Like his namesake, as I have remarked, he united the character of a man of letters with that of a warrior, dedicating a great portion of his time to philosophical and historical research. But it is not my intention to enlarge on his literary character in general, nor to enter in detail into the merits of his several compositions.

His principal historical work, “The Anabasis of Alexander, though composed,” says Dr. Robertson, “long after Greece had lost its liberty, and in an age when genius and taste were on the decline, is not unworthy the purest times of Attic literature.” And his “Indian history is one of the most curious treatises transmitted to us from antiquity.” The latter may be considered an episode to the former. It is partly historical and partly geographical, and will be found to contain a fund of entertainment.

On the model of the Socratic Xenophon, he committed to writing the dictates of Epictetus, during the philosopher’s lifetime, and published them as his dissertations:—[29]subsequently compiling his Enchiridion or manual—a brief compendium of all the principles of his master, and acknowledged to be one of the most valuable and beautiful pieces of morality extant.

His Periplus of the Euxine, in the form of a letter from its author to the Emperor, contains an accurate topographical survey of the coast of that sea,

[Sidenote: Oppian. Halieut. +i.+ vs. 600.]

πάσης γλυκερώτερος ἀμφιτρίτης
κόλπος,

[Sidenote: Eutropii L. +viii.+]

from the commencement of his voyage at Trapezus, within his own prefecture of Cappadocia, to its completion at Byzantium; and was written probably while he held his office of command in the province, a short time before the breaking out of the war against the Alani. Many learned men, as Ramusius, Ortelius, and others, have doubted whether he wrote the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, which sometimes passes under his name; indeed the late Dean of Westminster says positively “it is not the work of Arrian of Nicomedia:” but his claim to the Circumnavigation of the Euxine has never been disputed. It was compiled expressly for the Emperor; who, according to Spartian and Dion Cassius, was particularly attached to geographical research, and had visited in person a large portion of his extensive dominions—“orbem Romanorum circumivit.” The elder Xenophon is spoken of, sub initio, by our scientific geographer, in the same relative terms, as in the Cynegeticus, ὡς λέγει ὁ Ξενοφῶν ἐκεῖνος, and it is fair to infer that the Periplus and Cynegeticus are the works of the same individual.

[Sidenote: Arriani Tactica. Sub fine.]

In his Tactics, written, as he states himself, in the 20th year of the reign of Hadrian, there is a brief account of former writers on this subject, and a description of the order and arrangement of an army in general: but in the “Acies contra Alanos,” a short and imperfect fragment annexed thereto, the particular instructions,[30] which were delivered by him as general, for the march of the Roman army against the northern barbarians, are minutely given.

[Sidenote: Photii Eclogæ de Rebus post Alexandr. gestis.]

Fragments of other historical works, supposed to have been written by him, are preserved by the learned and indefatigable patriarch of Constantinople—“The History of Events subsequent to Alexander’s Death, in 10 books,” “The Parthica, in 17 books,” and “Bithynica, in 8 books.” Under the review of the first of which works, the Byzantine has left us his opinion of Arrian as an historiographer, and of the style of his compositions: ἀνὴρ οὐδενὸς τῶν ἄριστα συνταξαμένων ἱστορίας δεύτερος, κ. τ. λ.

[Sidenote: Eutropii L. +viii.+]

Of the Libellus de Venatione, the treatise on Coursing, I have already made mention; and shall merely add, what is in some degree pertinent to the subject, that there seems to have been a strong similarity of taste between Hadrian and our author. The Emperor, like his prefect, was not only intimately conversant with Greek and Latin literature, “facundissimus Latino sermone, Græco eruditissimus,” but also passionately fond of the chase. While living in his native town of Italica in Spain, Spartian tells us, he bore the title of Græculus, and was, at the same time, “venandi usque ad reprehensionem studiosus—equos et canes sic amavit, ut eis sepulchra constitueret.” To such a height did he carry this regard, that, according to Xiphilin, he graced a monument to the memory of his beloved hunter Borysthenes, with an inscription written by his own pen:

Borysthenes Alanus
Cæsareus Veredus, &c.

[Sidenote: De Remediis U. F. L. +i+. D. +xxxii.+]

For all which unbounded affection for the brute creation, the reader may remember, he incurs the severity of Petrarch’s satire in the dialogue “de Venatu et Aucupio.”

Whether the similarity of Arrian’s rural diversions to those of Hadrian in early life, co-operated with other causes to his elevation by so capricious and eccentric a patron, must ever remain doubtful. He is not mentioned by name in the biography of Hadrian by Spartian: where it is stated, in general terms only, of this singular Emperor, that he was on terms of familiar intimacy with Epictetus, Heliodorus, and _all_ grammarians, rhetoricians, &c. Of his acquaintance with the eminent men of his capital there can be no doubt, and his roving disposition must have introduced such to his notice in the colonies and more distant parts of the empire. One, therefore, who had been following the same pursuits with himself from his youth upwards, a sportsman, a military tactician, and a joint friend of Epictetus, was not likely to escape him. Besides, we are assured that he was, on all occasions, sociable in his field amusements, “venationem semper cum amicis participavit;” and therefore we may suppose that the literary founder of Adrianotheræ would gladly avail himself of the earliest opportunity of adding to his personal friends and sporting associates the most accomplished writer and courser of his day. We know how much the pleasure of intercourse is enhanced by identity of pursuit; and how strong the hold which innocent amusements, shared with congenial friends, have on our affections!

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +ii.+ vs. 32.]

οὐ γάρ τις κέντροισι δαμεὶς ἄγρης ἐρατεινῆς
αὖτις ἑκὼν λείψειεν, ἔχει δέ μιν ἄσπετα δεσμά.

[Sidenote: De Venat. c. +i.+]

[Sidenote: Ejusdem c. +v.+]

As to the period of his life at which Arrian may be supposed to have written the Cynegeticus, the inference to be drawn from the meagre paragraph of autobiography in the first chapter, wherein he states his fitness to supply the deficiencies of the elder Xenophon’s work, from having been ἀμφὶ ταὐτὰ ἀπὸ νέου ἐσπουδακὼς, κυνηγέσια καὶ στρατηγίαν καὶ σοφίαν, although it establishes the fact of his early predilection for field sports, yet it rather militates against the idea of the Cynegeticus having been written at a very early period of the author’s life. However, be this as it may, his patronage of “_the long dogs_” continued at the time of his writing this libellus; and his beloved Ὁρμὴ, ὠκυτάτη, καὶ σοφωτάτη, καὶ ἱεροτάτη, was then in his possession, living seemingly in the closest intimacy with his attached and philosophic master, and sharing with Megillus his society at home and abroad, the well-earned recompense in declining years of the excellence he had manifested in the vigour of his youthful days on the coursing plain; where, in Arrian’s own words of eulogy, τέτταρσιν ἤδη ποτὲ λαγωοῖς ἐφ’ ἡλικίας ἀντήρκησεν.[31]

[Sidenote: Arrian. de Exped. Alexand. L. +i.+ c. +xii.+ Vide Raphelii annotat. in loc.]

Antiquity is almost silent relative to the personal history of the younger Xenophon;[32] and as an autobiographer, he seems to have been desirous that nothing should be known of himself or family; but rather that his personal history should be darkened under the doubtful celebrity of anonymous authorship, or merged in the somewhat arrogant assumption of a fictitious and equivocal title. In the conclusion of the 12th chapter of the 1st book of his History of Alexander’s Anabasis, he says that the number and magnitude of the exploits of the son of Philip, were his inducement to record them, not deeming himself altogether unworthy to transmit them to posterity. “But who I am,” he continues, “that thus characterise myself, and what my name, (though far from obscure,) it concerns the reader but little to know. Neither would an account of my family, my city, nor such offices as I have there borne, be of any use to him. Be it sufficient for him to know, that an ardent love of literature, in which I have constantly indulged myself from youth, has been with me instead of family connexion, and civic and magisterial honours. Wherefore I may perhaps be little less worthy of a place among the most celebrated authors of Greece, than Alexander among her most illustrious heroes.”

[Sidenote: Phot. Eclog. Arrian. Parthica.]

After the brief sketch which I have given of the writings of the younger Xenophon, it must strike every one that he was influenced in the choice of his subjects as an author, by a recollection of what had engaged the literary attention of his celebrated namesake; and that while writing under the same personal appellative, he probably proposed to imitate the matter and style of composition of his prototype—ἰσχνὸς τὴν φράσιν, καὶ μιμητὴς ὡς ἀληθῶς Ξενοφῶντος.

Under this view of his works we have the dissertations of Epictetus from the pen of his most renowned follower, the Bithynian Xenophon, and the Memorabilia of Socrates from that of the son of Gryllus, the most eminent disciple of the Socratic school: the Anabasis of Alexander for that of Cyrus, with the same distribution of the work into seven books, and the same title. The Hellenica of Xenophon gave birth to the Parthica and Bithynica of Arrian: and in imitation of the Essay on Hunting, our pseudo-Xenophon has left us his Observations on Coursing.

Upon their general similarity of character in active life I have already remarked, and shall only observe farther, that, as far as we can judge from the scanty personal anecdotes which have survived of the younger, for comparison with those of the elder philosopher, this similarity appears to have extended to the frame and composition of their minds. Many of the same excellencies, and respectable weaknesses of character, co-existed in both; the same patient and unerring virtue—the same kind and generous feeling—the same credulous and enthusiastic regard to celestial admonitions—πειθομένους τεράεσσι θεῶν—with a proportionate degree of the purest heathen piety.

[Sidenote: De Expedit. Alexandri L. +vii.+ c. +xxx.+]

If it be stigmatised with the title of superstitious credulity in the priest of Ceres, that he supposed himself led by divine inspiration to write the history of a man, οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ ἀνθρώπων ἐοικὼς, I would plead his enthusiastic admiration of his hero in palliation of the fond supposition, qualified as it is, with equal good sense and piety, in the concluding sentences of the Anabasis; where he states that as so extraordinary a person as Alexander could not have risen up in the world without divine interference—οὐδ’ ἔξω τοῦ θείου; so, with admiration of his good qualities, and reprobation of his bad ones, with a strict regard to truth, and public utility, he professes himself his historian, writing, as he verily believes, under the same divine influence that first gave being to the subject of his memoir.

Surely such a belief in heavenly interference, exciting its professor to what is just and honourable, and deterring him from every breach of propriety, as an historian of truth, must be applauded by every fair and impartial judge of human character; and more particularly so, when in the person of a Stoic, unenlightened by any philosophy but that of Epictetus, it could have no other foundation than innate rectitude of mind.

Under the conviction that Arrian’s expectation of posthumous fame has been realized in general, and that my brethren of the leash will award him particular honour as the first writer of a Courser’s Manual, I conclude this brief sketch of his life and literary labours; which might have been more full, if his biography by Dion Cassius had come down to us.

As the compiler of the Stoical philosophy of “the Phrygian Slave,” the historian of the son of Philip,[33] the hydrographer of the Euxine, a military tactician, a warrior-prefect, and a classic courser, he has left works behind him which will endure as long as literature itself;—he has done all in his power to benefit and instruct mankind in various departments of human learning;—has contributed his mite to the advancement of rational science and healthful recreation, and proved himself worthy of the immortality he so fondly anticipated.

ARRIAN ON COURSING.

Οὐ γάρ τοι οὐδ’ ἴσος ὁ ἀγὼν λαγωῷ καὶ κυνί· ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν, ὅποι βούλεται, θεῖ, ἡ δὲ ἄλλῳ ἐφομαρτεῖ· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐξελίξας τὸν δρόμον καὶ διαῤῥίψας τὴν κύνα ἴεται τοῦ πρόσω, ἡ δὲ, εἰ διαῤῥιφθείη, πλάζεται· καὶ ἀνάγκη φθάσαντα αὖ μεταθεῖν καὶ ἀναλαβεῖν, ὅσον ἐξηνέχθη τοῦ δρόμου.—+Arrian. de Venat.+ c. +xvii.+

——Canis in vacuo leporem cum Gallicus arvo
Vidit; et hic prædam pedibus petit, ille salutem:
Alter inhæsuro similis, jam jamque tenere
Sperat, et extento stringit vestigia rostro;
Alter in ambiguo est, an sit deprensus, et ipsis
Morsibus eripitur; tangentiaque ora relinquit.

+Ovid. Metam.+ L. +i.+ 533.

——If for sylvan sports thy bosom glow,
Let thy fleet greyhound urge his flying foe.
With what delight the rapid course I view!
How does my eye the circling race pursue!
He snaps deceitful air with empty jaws,
The subtle hare darts swift beneath his paws:
She flies, he stretches: now with nimble bound
Eager he presses on, but overshoots his ground:
She turns, he winds, and soon regains the way,
Then tears with gory mouth the screaming prey.

+Gay’s Rural Sports+, Canto +ii.+ 289.

- - - Tibi veloces catulos reparare memento
Semper, et in parvos iterum protendere curas.

_Nemesian Cyneg V. 200._

_BRITISH MUSEUM_ ]

ARRIAN ON COURSING.

[Sidenote: +Chap. I.+ Preface.]

The advantages that accrue to mankind from hunting, and the regard of the Gods for those instructed in it by Chiron,[34] and their honourable distinction throughout Greece, have been related by Xenophon, the son of Gryllus.

[Sidenote: Summary of Xenophon’s Cynegeticus.]

He has pointed out the similitude between Cynegetical and Military science;[35] and the age, constitution, and frame of mind,[36] that essentially qualify for entering on the chase;—has given a description of purse-nets, hayes, and road-nets,[37] such as are necessary to be prepared—the mode of fixing snares for animals that may be entrapped[38]—the natural history of hares, their food, haunts, forms, and the method of searching for them—what dogs are clever at scenting, and what faulty—and how, by their shape and work, each may be ascertained. Some few remarks are also left by him on the boar-hunt, the stag, bear, and lion chases—how these animals may be taken by cunning and stratagem.

[Sidenote: Omissions therein.]

The omissions of his work (which do not appear to me to have arisen from negligence, but from ignorance of the Celtic breed of dogs,[39] and the Scythian and African horses,) I shall endeavour to fill up: being his namesake and fellow-citizen,[40] of similar pursuits with himself, as a sportsman, a general, and a philosopher—writing under the same feeling that actuated him, when he thought fit to amend the imperfections of Simon’s work on horsemanship;[41] not out of rivalry with its author, but from a conviction that his labours would be useful to mankind.

[Sidenote: +Chap. II.+]

[Sidenote: Proofs of Xenophon’s ignorance of Celtic Dogs.]

In my opinion no proof is required that Xenophon was ignorant of the Celtic breed of dogs, beyond this:[42] that the nations inhabiting that district of Europe were unknown,[43] except the parts of Italy occupied by the Greeks,[44] and those with whom they had commercial intercourse by sea. And that he was unacquainted with any other breed of dogs, resembling the Celtic in point of swiftness, is evident from these words:—“whatever hares,” he says, “are caught by dogs, become their prey, contrary to the natural shape of the animal, or accidentally.”[45] Now, if he had been acquainted with the Celtic breed, I think he would have made the very same remark on the dogs; “whatever hares the dogs do not catch at speed, they fail of catching in contradiction of their shape, or from some accidental circumstance.” For assuredly when greyhounds are in good condition, and of high courage, no hare can escape them; unless the country present some obstacles, either a covert to conceal her, or a hollow deep pit to break off the course, or a ditch to favour her escape while out of sight of the dogs.

To this ignorance, in my opinion, is to be attributed the length of his instructions on driving the hare into nets,[46] and if she pass them,[47] pursuing and recovering her by scent, till she be taken, at last, completely tired out. But he has no where said either that fleet dogs altogether supersede the necessity of a sportsman having nets,[48] or of his hunting by scent after the hare has escaped them. Indeed he has described only the mode of hunting which is practised by the Carians and Cretans.[49]

[Sidenote: +Chap. III.+]

[Sidenote: Celtic Sagacious Hounds.]

[Sidenote: Their Qualities.]

But such of the Celts as hunt for the beauty of the sport, and not as a means of livelihood, never make use of nets. And yet they have a variety of dog not less clever at hunting on scent than the Carian and Cretan,[50] but in shape sorry brutes.[51] In pursuit these give tongue with a clanging howl like the yelping Carians, but are more eager, when they catch the scent.[52] Sometimes, indeed, they gladden so outrageously, even on a stale trail, that I have rated them for their excessive barking,—alike on every scent, whether it be of the hare going to form, or at speed.[53] In pursuing and recovering her, when started, they are not inferior to the Carians or Cretans, save in the one point of speed.

It is good sport, if they kill but a single hare in the winter season, so much resting-time do they give her in the chase; unless, indeed, by being frightened out of her wits at the tumultuous uproar of the pack, she become an easy prey.

[Sidenote: Name.]

[Sidenote: Shape, &c.]

These dogs are called Segusians,[54] deriving their name from a Celtic people, amongst whom, I suppose, they were first bred, and held in repute. But[55] all that can be said about them has been anticipated by the elder Xenophon. For they manifest nothing different from others in their mode of finding, or hunting their game;—having no peculiarity, unless one were inclined to speak of their shape, which I scarce think worth while, except merely to say, that they are shaggy and ugly; and such as are most high-bred are most unsightly. So that the comparison of them to mendicants on the highways is popular with the Celts. For their voice is dolorous and pitiful; and they do not bark on scent of their game, as if eager and savage, but as if plaintively whining after it.

[Sidenote: Celtic Swift-footed Hounds.]

[Sidenote: Vertragi.]

[Sidenote: Their Beauty.]

About these, then, I do not think any thing memorable can be written. But the swift-footed Celtic hounds are called in the Celtic tongue οὐέρτραγοι;[56]—not deriving their name from any particular nation, like the Cretan, Carian, or Spartan dogs: but, as some of the Cretans are named διάπονοι[57] from working hard, ἰταμαὶ[58] from their keenness, and mongrels from their being compounded of both; so these Celts are named from their swiftness. In figure, the most high-bred are a prodigy of beauty;[59]—their eyes, their hair, their colour, and bodily shape throughout. Such brilliancy of gloss is there about the spottiness of the parti-coloured, and in those of uniform colour such glistening over the sameness of tint, as to afford a most delightful spectacle to an amateur of coursing.

[Sidenote: +Chap. IV.+[60]]

[Sidenote: Marks of Speed and good Blood.]

I will specify the indications of speed and good breeding in greyhounds,[61] and by attention to what points ill-bred and slow ones may be distinguished from them.

[Sidenote: Derived from Shape.]

In the first place, let them be _lengthy_ from head to tail;[62] for in every variety of dog, you will find, on reflection, no one point so indicative of speed and good breeding as length; and on the other hand, no such mark of slowness and degeneracy as shortness. So that I have even seen dogs with numerous other faults, that have been, on account of their length, both swift and high-couraged. And farther, the larger dogs,[63] when in other respects equal, show higher breeding than small ones on the very score of size. But those large dogs are bad, whose limbs are unknit, and destitute of symmetry;[64] being indeed, when so formed, worse than small dogs, with an equal share of other faults attached to them.

[Sidenote: External Character generally.]

Your greyhounds should have light and well-articulated heads;[65] whether hooked[66] or flat nosed is not of much consequence: nor does it greatly matter whether the parts beneath the forehead be protuberant with muscle.[67] They are alone bad which are heavy-headed, having thick nostrils, with a blunt instead of a pointed termination. Such then are well-headed hounds. Their eyes should be large, up-raised, clear, strikingly bright. The _best_ look fiery, and flash like lightning, resembling those of leopards, lions, or lynxes.[68] Next to these are black eyes, provided they are wide-open and grim-looking; and last of all, grey:[69] nor are these to be considered bad, nor indicative of bad dogs, provided they are clear, and have a savage look.

[Sidenote: +Chap. V.+]

[Sidenote: Episode on Arrian’s dog Hormé.]

For I have myself bred up a hound whose eyes are the greyest of the grey;[70] a swift, hard-working, courageous, sound-footed dog, and, in his prime, a match, at any time, for four hares. He[71] is, moreover, (for while I am writing, he is yet alive), most gentle, and kindly-affectioned;[72] and never before had any dog such regard for myself, and friend and fellow-sportsman, Megillus.[73] For when not actually engaged in coursing, he is never away from one or other of us. But while I am at home he remains within, by my side, accompanies me on going abroad,[74] follows me to the gymnasium, and, while I am taking exercise, sits down by me. On my return he runs before me, often looking back to see whether I had turned any where out of the road;[75] and as soon as he catches sight of me, showing symptoms of joy, and again trotting on before me. If I am going out on any government business, he remains with my friend, and does exactly the same towards him. He is the constant companion of whichever may be sick;[76] and if he has not seen either of us for only a short time, he jumps up repeatedly by way of salutation, and barks with joy, as a greeting to us. At meals he pats us first with one foot and then with the other,[77] to put us in mind that he is to have his share of food.[78] He has also many tones of speech[79]—more than I ever knew in any other dog—pointing out, in his own language, whatever he wants.

Having been beaten, when a puppy, with a whip, if any one, even at this day, does but mention a whip, he will come up to the speaker cowering and begging,[80] applying his mouth to the man’s as if to kiss him, and jumping up, will hang on his neck, and not let him go until he has appeased his angry threats.[81]

Now really I do not think that I should be ashamed to write even the name of this dog; that it may be left to posterity, that Xenophon the Athenian had a greyhound called Hormé, of the greatest speed and intelligence,[82] and altogether supremely excellent.[83]

[Sidenote: Physical indications resumed.]

Let the ears of your greyhounds be large and soft,[84] so as to appear, from their size and softness, as if broken. Such are best: but it is no bad indication if they appear erect, provided they are not small and stiff.[85] The neck should be long, round, and flexible;[86] so that if you forcibly draw the dogs backwards by their collars, it may seem to be broken, from its flexibility and softness. Broad chests are better than narrow. Let them have shoulders standing wide-apart,[87] not tied together, but as loose, and free from each other, as possible—legs round, straight, and well-jointed—sides strong—loins broad, firm, not fleshy, but sinewy—upper flanks loose and supple[88]—hips wide asunder—lower flanks hollow—tails fine, long, rough with hair, supple, flexible, and more hairy towards the tip—haunches sweeping, and firm to the touch:[89]—with regard to their legs, if the hind ones are longer than the fore, the greyhound will run best up hill; if the fore legs are longest, down hill; but if both are equal, he will run best on a flat.[90] Since, however, it is more difficult to beat a hare on an acclivity, because she runs best up hill, those are deemed the better class of dogs, whose hind legs are longer than their fore ones.[91] Round and strong feet are decidedly best.[92]

[Sidenote: +Chap. VI.+]

[Sidenote: Colour of no importance.]

The colour of greyhounds is not of any importance;[93] nor does it matter if they are perfectly black, red, or white; nor is a simple, uniform colour to be suspected as ferine. The colours, such as they are, should be bright and pure; and the hair, whether the dog be of the rough or smooth sort, should be fine, close, and soft.[94] The best dogs are such as are large and well put together, and resemble bitches in point of suppleness; and the best bitches are such as resemble dogs in spirit, and muscularity of body.[95]

Now if any one pays attention to these hints, as to the shape of greyhounds, they will fully supply him, in my opinion, with the indications of good blood for his kennel, and the opposite of the reverse.

[Sidenote: +Chap. VII.+]

[Sidenote: Indications from Temper.]

Nor will the temper of greyhounds afford fewer indications of good and bad blood to a careful observer.[96] Such hounds, in the first place, as are crabbed to all persons alike, are not of a generous breed. But if you find any cross to strangers, and good-tempered to their feeder, it is rather a favourable sign than otherwise.[97]

I once knew a greyhound, who was dull and sullen at home, and took no pleasure in any of the persons about him; but, when led out hunting, was beyond measure delighted, and showed, by smiling and fawning at every body that came near him, that he was vexed at staying at home. This may be held a good sign.

[Sidenote: From obedience in the field.]

The best dogs, however, are those of most attachment to man, and to whom no human countenance is strange.[98] Such, on the other hand, as are afraid of people, and astounded at noise,[99] obstreperous, and often excited without cause, are senseless brutes of no pluck. Like men that are timid and frightened out of their wits, such dogs as these can never be deemed of generous blood. Those, too, are bad, which, when let loose from couples in a field, do not come back at the call of their keeper, but gallop away.[100] If you call them in mildly, they pay no attention to you;—if threateningly, they keep aloof from fear.

For when a greyhound has had his gallop, and has run about, he ought to come back to his keeper, even without a call,[101]—showing that he is under command at will; but, if the keeper does not choose to take him up, let him again bound away, and again return. Such dogs are well broken in as, at the voice of their keeper, crouch before him;[102] not from fear, but regard and respect for their feeder, cowering like the worshippers[103] of the Great King.[104] It is no good sign for a hound to stand still, when let out of couples on an open plain, unless he happen to be advanced in age,[105] for it shows sluggishness.

[Sidenote: From gait.]

The most high-bred greyhounds have a prominent brow, and look proud.[106] Their tread is light, quick-stepping, on their toes; and they walk sideways,[107] extending their necks like horses curvetting.[108]

[Sidenote: +Chap. VIII.+]

[Sidenote: From their mode of feeding.]

Some greyhounds eat voraciously, others with delicacy.[109] The latter mode of feeding indicates a dog of better blood than the former.[110] Good dogs are not bad feeders, but fond of bread or gruel.[111] This kind of farinaceous food is most strengthening to them, and there is no fear of their gorging themselves too much with it. I prefer, however, their liking food quite dry;[112] and yet, if it be moistened with water, and they still relish it, it is no evil.

When a dog is sick, administer the broth of fat meat to him, or having roasted a bullock’s liver over some hot coals, and rubbed it abroad, sprinkle it like flour into the broth.[113] This is good also for puppies to strengthen their limbs, when they are first weaned from milk.[114] But milk is the best food for the support of puppies till the ninth month, and even longer; and is serviceable to the sick and delicate, both as drink and aliment. Fasting too is beneficial to a sick dog.[115]

[Sidenote: +Chap. IX.+]

[Sidenote: Management of the Kennel.]

[Sidenote: Bedding.]

There is nothing like a soft and warm bed for greyhounds; but it is best for them to sleep with men:—as they become thereby affectionately attached—pleased with the contact of the human body, and as fond of their bedfellow as of their feeder.[116] If any ailing affect the dog, the man will perceive it, and will relieve him in the night, when thirsty, or urged by any call of nature. He will also know how the dog has rested. For if he has passed a sleepless night,[117] or groaned frequently in his sleep,[118] or thrown up any of his food,[119] it will not be safe to take him out coursing. All these things the dog’s bedfellow will be acquainted with.

Nothing can be worse than for dogs to sleep with each other; and more especially so, if they touch one another in bed. For as all cutaneous irritation is removed by a man sleeping with them, so, when they sleep together, they generate every sort of foulness of skin by warmth and close contact, and are generally full of mange.[120] To which cause must be referred the very offensive and pungent stench on entering a kennel where many hounds are confined together.

[Sidenote: +Chap. X.+]

[Sidenote: Rubbing down.]

Rubbing the whole body is of great service to the greyhound;[121] no less than to the horse.[122] For it is conducive to the firmness and strength of his limbs—renders his hair soft, and skin shining,[123] and cleanses it from all foulness.

The back and loins you should rub with your right hand, placing your left under the belly; lest the dog, being forcibly pressed down upon his knees, should suffer injury. The sides should be rubbed with both hands at once, and the haunches quite down to the feet, and the shoulders in the same way. When the dog seems to have had enough of it, lay hold of his tail, and lift him up by it; and then having drawn it through your hand, let him go. As soon as he is at liberty, he will shake himself, and show that he is pleased with the operation.

[Sidenote: +Chap. XI.+]

[Sidenote: Kennelling.]

It is a point of equal importance with any other, that greyhounds be confined during the day;[124] otherwise they will unavoidably become intractable, and, whenever fastened with a collar, will be impatient under the restraint, and whine, and gnaw the straps, so as even to require chains like malefactors. Besides, a hound that is at liberty must needs eat every thing that falls in his way;[125] and, from running about during the day-time, lose the acme of his speed. But, though generally at rest, they should still have their appointed times for walking out.

[Sidenote: +Chap. XII.+]

[Sidenote: Exercising.]