Part 18
[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game=, c. +xv.+ fol. 66.]
Xenophon de Venat. c. +iii.+ condemns blink-eyed and grey-eyed hounds as bad and unsightly, αἰσχραὶ ὁρᾶσθαι: but Oppian particularly specifies blue eyes as preferable to all others; and I have known many azure-eyed dogs of great merit. The darker the eye, however, the better. “Her eynne shuld be,” according to De Langley, “reed or blak as of a sphauke:”—“full and clear, with long eye-lids,” according to Markham. The reader of Anacreon will understand the sort of eye admired in the greyhound, from the
[Sidenote: Anacreon. Od. +xxix.+]
μέλαν ὄμμα γοργὸν ἔστω κεκερασμένον γαλήνῃ—
of the 29th Ode; and at the same time, perhaps, smile at the quotation.
[70] The early part of this chapter, devoted to the portraiture of the author’s beloved Hormé, interrupts his general description of the greyhound’s shape, which he again resumes after gratifying his personal feelings in an affectionate interlude of canine biography; ostensibly introduced to prove that a blue-eyed hound (κύνα χαροπὴν, οἵαν χαροπωτάτην) may possess all the essential excellencies of his race.
[71]
[Sidenote: Stephani Schediasm. L. +iv.+]
[Sidenote: Eustath. ad Il. H. p. 692.]
I have taken the liberty of changing the sex of this favourite dog, according to the example of Holsten; because I think it probable that Arrian may have used the feminine gender here, and generally through the treatise, not from the animal spoken of having been really of that sex, but from its being usual with Xenophon and other classic authors to employ the feminine gender when speaking of the dogs of the chase. Indeed, it has been remarked by Eustathius and others, that such was the custom of the ancient Greek writers, whenever they spoke of any kind of animals collectively. But Arrian does not apply the feminine gender to dogs _gregatim_ only, but also individually: and the same prevalence of this gender is also observable in the Latin poets. It must be confessed, however, that the name Hormé (Angl. _Rush_) is more applicable to a bitch than a dog.
[72]
[Sidenote: Chronique de Froissart, and note to Johnnes’s Transl. V. +iv.+ 657.]
It is generally believed that greyhounds have very weak attachments; and the fickle companions of Charles de Blois and of Richard II. favour such an opinion. But against these well-known examples of canine infidelity, we may place others of extraordinary attachment to their lords; at the head of which let Hormé stand, πρᾳοτάτη καὶ φιλανθρωποτάτη, the beloved and affectionate hound of the founder of the leash:
[Sidenote: Natalis Comes de Venat. L. +i.+]
Possem multa canum variorum exempla referre, Ni pigeat studium parvarum noscere rerum.
[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game=, c. +xii.+ fol. 47-49.]
To the tales of inviolable attachment recorded by the royal pen of Edmund Duke of York, of “the greihounde boothe good and faire of Kyng Apollo of Lyonnys,” and the “wel good and faire greihounde that was Aubries of Mondidert,” the reader is referred for farther examples; nor should he forget the martyr Charles’s dying eulogy of the Celtic hound.
Vide J. C. Scaliger de Subtil. ad Card. Exerc. +ccii.+ the last of the Historiæ Duæ Nobilissimæ;, sect. 6.
[73]
[Sidenote: Cicero de Naturâ Deor.]
“Amans dominorum adulatio.”
——nulla homini magè prodiga grati Officii quadrupes, dominisque fidelior ipsis!
says the kind-hearted poet of Venusium: and again,
[Sidenote: J. Darcii Venusini Canes.]
Usque sequetur ovans, tua nec vestigia quoquam Deseret, at lateri semper comes ibit herili. Sistis iter? sistit—properas? velociùs Euro Scindit in obliquum campos, &c.
[74] The following lines from a canine epitaph, “De Mopso fidissimo cane,” are not inapposite:
[Sidenote: Septem Illust. Vir. Poëmata Amst. 1672.]
Custos assiduus domi forisque Nostri principis, et comes fidelis: Equo seu fuit ire, sive curru, Seu tritâ pedibus viâ voluptas. Hinc me carior haud erat; nec alter Posthac est aliis futurus annis Me carus magis, aut magis peritus Blandiri domino, &c.
[75] Ἐπανίοντος πρόεισι, θαμινὰ ἐπιστρεφομένη, κ. τ. λ.
[Sidenote: J. Darcii Venusini Canes.]
——si post terga relinquas, (Nam dominum crebrò aspiciens observat euntem) Ille moram cursu pensat, viden’ ecce repentè A tergo ut vultuque hilaris blanditur amico, &c.
[76]
[Sidenote: Vanierii Præd. Rustic. L. +iv.+]
——fidas ad limina custos Excubias agit, et nutus observat heriles; Ut quò jussa vocant velocior advolet: idem Nunc hilari congaudet hero, nunc _tristior ægro Assidet_.
[77] So Calpurnius of the pet stag:
[Sidenote: Eclog. +vi.+ 35.]
——sequiturque vocantem Credulus, et mensæ non improba porrigit ora.
[78] The ancients cleansed their hands with the soft crumb of bread after meals, and threw it to their dogs. These pieces of bread were called ἀπομαγδαλίαι: the μειλίγματα of the Homeric simile:
[Sidenote: Homer. Odyss. +x.+ 216.]
ὡς δ’ ὅταν ἀμφὶ ἄνακτα κύνες δαίτηθεν ἰόντα σαίνωσ’, (αἰεὶ γάρ τε φέρει μειλίγματα θυμοῦ).
Hence probably Juvenal’s “sordes farris mordere canini.”
[79] Πολύφθογγος.
[Sidenote: Martial. Issa Publii.]
Hanc tu si queritur, _loqui_ putabis. Sentit tristitiamque gaudiumque.
[Sidenote: Anyta Epidauria.]
Did Hormé’s “verba canina” (Ovid, in Ibin) extend to the imitation of spoken language, as in the memorable case of M. Leibnitz’s dog, recorded by him (“témoin oculaire”) in the Hist. de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences, ann. 1715? or are we to understand that this most musical of hounds, φιλοφθόγγων ὠκυτάτη σκυλάκων, only “gave tongue,” like his congeners, with various intonations of bark?
[Sidenote: Apollon. Rhod. L. +iii.+ 1216.]
ὀξειῇ ὑλακῇ χθόνιοι κύνες ἐφθέγγοντο—
making up by intelligence, and significancy of action, for deficiency of speech:
[Sidenote: Nonni Dionysiac. L. +xvi.+]
εἰσὶ καὶ ἐν σκυλάκεσσιν ἐχέφρονες, οἷσι Κρονίων ἀνδρομέην φρένα δῶκε καὶ οὐ βροτέην πόρε φωνήν.
[Sidenote: Andreas Naugerius, Carm. +v.+ Illustr. Poetar.]
Nunc blandè assiliebat hùc et illùc Ludens, atque avido appetebat ore. Erectis modo cruribus, bipesque Mense adstabat herili, heroque ab ipso Latratu tenero cibum petebat.
[80] Ὑποπτήξασα λιπαρεῖ—
[Sidenote: The Chace. B. +i.+]
The fawning hound Salutes thee cow’ring.
[Sidenote: Lucretius. L. +v.+ 1071.]
Plorantes fugiunt summisso corpore plagas.
[81]
[Sidenote: Buffon, H. N. Le Chien.]
“Plus sensible au souvenir des bienfaits qu’à celui des outrages, il ne se rebute pas par les mauvais traitemens, il les subit, les oublie, ou ne s’en souvient que pour s’attacher davantage; loin de s’irriter ou de fuir, il lèche cette main, instrument de douleur, qui vient de le frapper; il ne lui oppose que la plainte, et la désarme enfin par la patience et la soumission.”
[82] Σοφωτάτη. Plato also has κύων σοφωτάτος.
[83] Ἱεροτάτη—“holiest;” Encycl. Metropol., article “Hunting.” It is scarcely possible to express this epithet in English. Zeune’s Index Græcitatis gives “præstantissima.” I do not like Mr. Smedley’s translation, E. M.; and yet I cannot suggest a better in its place than that of the version. A coursing friend substitutes “perfectly divine.”
[84] He now returns from his beautiful episode on Hormé to the physical indications of excellence in greyhounds generally. The _conque_ of the ear is semi-pendulous, and yet the greyhound has the power of elevating it with as much ease as the less reclaimed varieties of dog. This particular structure gives the appearance, noticed in the text, of the ear being broken; and also adds to its seeming magnitude.
[85] The modern courser prefers the small ears of the Oppianic hound,
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ +v.+ 403.]
βαιὰ δ’ ὕπερθεν οὔατα λεπταλέοισι περιστέλλοινθ’ ὑμένεσσι:
[Sidenote: =Chap.= +xv.+ =fol.= 66.]
and excludes the pricked ear, the “rectæ aures” of Fracastor. Albertus recommends “aures acutæ retrorsùm directæ, et parvæ:” the Mayster of Game, “the eerys smal and hie in the maner of a serpent:” Gervase Markham, “a sharp ear, short, and close-falling:” but the most correct notion of the ears of a perfect greyhound is imparted in the line
[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneget. 113.]
Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures—
of the Carthaginian poet.
[86]
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ 405.]
δειρὴ μηκεδανὴ, καὶ στήθεα νέρθε κραταιὰ, εὐρέα.
[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xv.+ fol. 66.]
[Sidenote: Belisar. Aquiv. Aragoneus de Venatione.]
[Sidenote: Booke of Hawkyng, &c.]
On the necessity of a long neck all the Cynegetica, ancient and modern, are agreed; but there is a difference of opinion on the formation of the chest. “The neke,” according to De Langley, should be “grete and longe, bowed as a swannes nek.” “Pectore acuto,” says Belisarius, “costis inferiùs longis, et ad ima paululùm trahentibus: præcordiis lateribusque ita amplis, ut sine difficultate canes spiritum trahant. Nam quò facilior respiratio fuerit, tantò expeditiores ad cursum erunt.” Albertus agrees with him in all points of importance. Juliana’s portrait is “neckyd lyke a drake:” Markham’s, “a long neck, a little bending, with a loose hanging wezand; a broad breast, straight fore-legs, and side-hollow ribs.”
[Sidenote: Hist. of Four-footed Beasts, &c. 1657.]
[Sidenote: Vulgar Errors. B. +i.+]
Topsel translates from Albertus an invention “to make a greyhound have a long neck,” far too ridiculous to be extracted. Indeed, this worthy Bishop of Ratisbon fully merits the character given of him by Sir Thos. Brown, “that he hath delivered most conceits, with strict enquiry into few:” and the Rector of St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate, is a close copyist of all his absurdities.
[87] The following lines complete the accurate portrait of the Cilician poet:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ 406.]
τὼ πρόσθεν δέ τ’ ὀλιζοτέρω πόδε ἔστων, ὀρθοτενεῖς κώλων ταναοὶ δολιχήρεες ἱστοὶ, εὐρέες ὠμοπλάται, πλευρῶν ἐπικάρσια ταρσὰ, ὀσφύες εὔσαρκοι, μὴ πίονες· αὐτὰρ ὄπισθε στριφνή τ’ ἐκτάδιός τε πέλοι δολιχόσκιος οὐρή. τοῖοι μὲν ταναοῖσιν ἐφοπλίζοιντο δρόμοισι δόρκοις, ἠδ’ ἐλάφοισιν, ἀελλόποδί τε λαγωῷ.
Nemesian is brief, but highly illustrative:
[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. 106.]
Elige tunc cursu facilem, facilemque recursu, Seu Lacedæmonio natam, seu rure Molosso, Non humili de gente canem. Sit cruribus altis, Sit rigidis, multamque gerat sub pectore lato Costarum, sub fine decenter prona, carinam, Quæ sensim sursùs siccâ se colligat alvo, Renibus ampla satis vadis, diductaque coxas, Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures.
[Sidenote: Alcon.]
Fracastorius’s canine portrait, “Sint armi lati, sint æquè pectora lata,” &c. are of doubtful application.
[Sidenote: Onomasticon. L. +v.+ c. +x.+]
Pollux adds to the perfection of the fore-legs by saying they should be μὴ προὔχοντα κατὰ τοὺς ἀγκῶνας—“not out at the elbows:” and Xenophon would have the Spartan dog straight both in the leg and at the elbow.
[Sidenote: Belisarius de Venatione.]
“Ilia sint angusta et compressa: venter exilis, nam crassus currentem gravat. Crura alta, brachia non æquè, ne leporis capturam impediant. Anteriores pedes, ut in fele, rotundi potius quàm longi.”
[88] The terms λαγόνες and κενεῶνες are often confounded as synonymous. Arrian and the elder Xenophon use the term λαγόνες to designate (speaking anatomically) that part of the lumbar region, behind the last or short ribs, where the kidneys are situate, the upper and anterior part of the flanks: κενεῶνες, the lower and posterior part of the flanks.
[Sidenote: Aristot. Physiognom. c. +vi.+]
Aristotle observes that the best Canes Venatici are well tucked-up in the flanks ἴδοι δ’ ἄν τις καὶ τῶν κυνῶν τοὺς φιλοθηροτάτους εὐζώνους ὄντας. Such was the Ovidian Ladon,
[Sidenote: Metam. L. +iii.+]
Substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon.
[Sidenote: =Chap.= +xv.+ =fol.= 66.]
The Mayster of Game is here peculiarly illustrative of the text, fashioning the greyhound to perfection: “her shuldres as a roobuk. The for legges streght and greet ynow and nought to hie legges, the feet straught and rounde as a catte and greet clees,—the boone and the joyntes of the chyne greet and hard as the chyne of an hert. Eke be reson his chynne shuld be a litel hie, for it is better than it were flatt, &c. &c.—the thyes grete and squarred as an hare, the houghes streight and not crompyng as of an oxe, a cattes tayle makyng a ryng at eende and not to hie, the to boonys of the chyne behynd brode of a large pame or more. Also ther byne many greihoundes with longe tailles ryght swift,” &c.
[Sidenote: Book of Hawkyng, &c. 1486.]
Fotyd lyke a catte: Tayllyd lyke a ratte: Syded lyke a teme, And chynyd lyke a beme—
finishes the doggerel of the Sopewell portrait.
[89]
[Sidenote: Skinner Etymolog.]
Εὐπαγἢ—well-filleted? Fillet, “musculosior pars femoris sic dicta, quia eò loci magni et validi tendines et nervi insignes, qui propter longitudinem, filorum speciem exhibent, occurrunt.”
[Sidenote: Countrey Contentments. B. +i.+ p. 48.]
[Sidenote: The Countrey Farme. c. +xxii.+]
So Markham: “a straight square and flat back, short and strong fillets; a broad space between the hips; a strong stern or tail, and a round foot, and good large clefts.” Elsewhere, he says: “a long, broad, and square beame back, with high round fillets”—“hee must be deepe swine sided, with hollow bended ribs, and a full brest; he must have rush growne limbes before, and sickell houghs behind; a fine, round, full cat’s foot, with strong cleyes and tough soles, and an even growne long rat’s tail, round turning at the lower end from the leash ward; and hee must bee full set on betweene the buttockes,” &c.
[90] The Cynosophium has the same remarks on the relative length of the fore and hind legs; see sect. +iv.+ p. 262.
[91]
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +iv.+ v. 425.]
χρειὼ δὲ σκοπέλου μὲν ἀνάντεος ἠδὲ πάγοιο σεύεσθαι προθέοντα ποδωκέα φῦλα λαγωῶν, πρὸς δὲ κάταντα σοφῇσι προμηθείῃσιν ἐλαύνειν. αὐτίκα γὰρ σκύλακάς τε καὶ ἀνέρας ἀθρήσαντες πρὸς λόφον ἰθύουσιν, ἐπεὶ μάλα γινώσκουσιν ὅττι πάροιθεν ἔασιν ὀλιζότεροι πόδες αὐτοῖς. τοὔνεκα ῥηΐδιαι πτώκεσσι πέλουσι κολῶναι, ῥηΐδιαι πτώκεσσι, δυσάντεες ἱππελάτῃσι.
[Sidenote: Lib. +xiii.+ c. 14.]
And Ælian, De Naturâ Animalium, states the advantage and disadvantage of this shape to the hare: τὰ δὲ ἀνάντη μὲν καὶ ὑψηλὰ οἱ λαγῲ ἀναθέουσι ῥᾷστα· τὰ γάρ τοι κατόπιν κῶλα μακρότερα ἔχουσι τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, καὶ καταθέουσιν οὐκ ὁμοίως, λυπεῖ γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῶν ποδῶν τὸ ἐναντίον:—a circumstance well known to every courser, and not forgotten in the “Questions” of Dame Juliana’s poetical manual,
[Sidenote: The Booke of Hunting, &c. Edmund Allde. 1586.]
Tell me, maister, (quoth the man) what dooth it skill Why the hare would so faine runne against the hil? Quoth the maister, for her leggs be shorter before, And therfore she desireth to run that way evermore.
[92]
[Sidenote: De Venat. c. +iii.+]
[Sidenote: Illustrations of Gratius.]
Bad-footed hounds, however high-couraged, are unable to bear work, according to Xenophon, on account of the pain they endure in running, διὰ τὸ ἄλγος τῶν ποδῶν. No cynegeticon omits the essential feature of a well-formed foot; which, in Wase’s words, should be “round, high-knuckled, and well-clawed, with a dry hard soal.”
[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. 276.]
Effuge qui latâ pandit vestigia plantâ, Mollis in officio, siccis ego dura lacertis Crura velim, et solidos hæc in certamina calces.
Fracastorius,
[Sidenote: Alcon.]
Ima pedum parvâ signent vestigia plantâ.
[Sidenote: De Venatione.]
Tardif explains the cat-like foot, “pedes parvi, digitis duris, et aptè conjunctis, ne quid terræ aut luti in vià admittant:” and Savary of Caen,
[Sidenote: Album Dianæ Leporicidæ. L. +ii.+]
——brevemque pedes glomerentur in orbem Parvaque compactis digitis vestigia forment.
[93] Compare Xenophon de Venat. c. +iv.+ Arrian very rationally combats the notion of a greyhound’s excellence being at all dependent on so variable a distinction as colour. Oppian, more credulous on this point, reprobates white and black dogs, as impatient of heat and cold, and gives a preference to such as are red, russet, or fawn:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ 429.]
κεῖνοι δ’ ἐν πάντεσσιν ἀριστεύουσι κύνεσσι, τοῖς ἴκελοι μορφαὶ μάλα θήρεσιν ὠμηστῇσι, μηλοφόνοισι λύκοις, ἢ τίγρεσιν ἠνεμοέσσαις, ἢ καὶ ἀλωπεκέεσσι, θοαῖσί τε πορδαλίεσσιν, ἢ ὁπόσοι δήμητρι πανείκελον εἶδος ἔχουσι σιτόχροοι· μάλα γάρ τε θοοὶ κρατεροί τε πέλονται.
[Sidenote: Sect. +iv.+ p. 262.]
The Cynosophium recommends such as are παραπλήσιοι λέουσι, πάρδοις, λύκοις: and adds to its Materia Medica (p. 275.) amongst other ridiculous nostrums, a formula by which the colour of the hair may be changed from white to black—_credat Judæus!_
In accordance with the general prejudice which bestowed superior virtue on parti-coloured, (for such was Xenophon’s opinion,) Pan confers on the Goddess of the Chase pie-bald and mottled hounds:
[Sidenote: II. in Dian. vs. 90.]
τὶν δ’ ὁ γενείητης δύο μὲν κύνας ἥμισυ πηγοὺς, τρεῖς δὲ πόρ’ οὐατίους, ἕνα δ’ αἰόλον.
[Sidenote: Onomast. L. +v.+ c. +xi.+]
Pollux would mix a little variety of colour, ἑκάστῳ παραμεμίχθω τι καὶ ἑτέρας χρόας.
The modern Cynegetica are as fickle and capricious as to colour as their ancient models:
[Sidenote: Nat. Comes de Venat.]
——color est deterrimus albo, Nec placeat niveis maculis signatus et atris; Aut longis nimium villis, fuscove colore—
[Sidenote: Album Dianæ, &c.]
[Sidenote: La Vénerie de Fouilloux. p. 4.]
according to the canine canons of Natalis Comes:—whereas Savary gives the preference to a white hound, “nunc est in pretio et reliquos supereminet albus;” and is supported by Fouilloux and his copyist Turbervile, who praise those of one homogeneous colour—white, fallow, dun, and black; the latter being the valued breed of St. Hubert, (les chiens courans,) “qui estoit veneur avec S. Eustache, dont est à conjecturer, que les bons veneurs les ensuysront en Paradis avec la grace de Dieu.”
[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xv.+ fol. 66.]
“Of alle manere of greihoundes there byn,” says De Langley, “both good and evel. Natheless the best hewe is rede falow with a blak moselle.”
[Sidenote: The Countrey Farme. c. +xxii.+]
After citing so many, and such conflicting opinions, I leave the reader to draw his own conclusion on this most unimportant point; bidding him remember that Markham supports our author, that “colours have (as touching any particular goodnesse) no preheminence one above the other, but are all equal—many good and famous dogs having been of all the several colours; onely the white is esteemed the most beautifull and best for the eie, the black and fallow hardest to endure labour, and the dunne and brended best for the poachers and nightmen, who delight to have all their pleasures performed in darknesse.” Backed by the compiler of “The Countrey Farme,” let him give to Arrian the weight he is entitled to, as a practical courser. My own conviction accords with that of Tardif, “ex colore nihil certi ferè pronunciatur: sæpius enim turpi colore canes, pulchrioribus præstant:” and with the poet of Caen,
[Sidenote: Album Dianæ, &c.]
——nullus virtutibus obstat, Aut prodest color: hunc habeas quicunque placebit;
[Sidenote: Sir Tristrem Fytte +iii.+ 10.]
I object to no dog merely on account of his colour, though he may rival in variety of tint the renowned Triamour’s marvellous Peticrewe.
[94] εἴτε οὖν τοῦ δασέος γένους, εἴτε τοῦ ψιλοῦ τύχοιεν οἱ κύνες. These two varieties still exist; but the rough, or wire-haired variety of greyhound is banished from the kennel of modern coursers; for though this δασὺ γένος may show some fire and speed in a short course in an enclosed country, it is always beaten by the ψιλὸν γένος over a champaign country, where the duration of the contest defies ignoble competition.
[Sidenote: Hist. Natur. tom. v. 241.]
Buffon derives the wiry hair from commixture with the spaniel, “le poil long de certains lévriers vient du mélange des espagneuls:” but if such be its origin, the text proves it to have been of remote antiquity.
[Sidenote: De Canibus Britannicis Libellus.]
[Sidenote: De Quad. Digit. Vivip. L. +iii.+]
“Est strigosum genus,” says Caius, “in quo alii majores sunt, alii minores; alii pilo sessili, alii hirto.” And Ulysses Aldrovandus has left us rude sketches of the two varieties under the titles of “C. leporarius hirsutus albus,” and “C. leporarius alter ferruginei coloris.” See also “The Countrey Farme,” c. +xxii.+ Schneider quotes Synesius Laud. Calvit. p. 67. ἐκεῖναι σοφώταται τῶν κυνῶν, κ. τ. λ.: see the passage in his note on the Greek text. It does not appear to what variety of dog the author alludes.
[95]
[Sidenote: Sect. +iv.+ p. 262.]
So also the Cynosophium of Demetrius of Constantinople, καλὸν εἰ τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ σώματος ἡ θήλη προσήκειται ἄῤῥενι. But I do not remember to have seen these remarks of Arrian on the dog partaking of the bitch’s form, and the bitch of the dog’s, in any of the more ancient Cynegetica of Greece and Rome. The Byzantine physician doubtless derived the hint from our author.
[96]
[Sidenote: Aristotelis Physiognom.]
Aristotle admits the possibility of distinguishing by outward manifestations the innate qualities and tempers of animals; such discrimination is the result of particular experience: τῶν ἄλλων ζώων οἱ περὶ ἕκαστον ἐπιστήμονες ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας διαθέσεως δύνανται θεωρεῖν, ἱππικοί τε ἵππους, καὶ κυνηγέται κύνας.
[97] τῷ δὲ ἀνατρέφοντι προσφιλεῖς. Oppian would have hounds friendly to all men alike:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ v. 445.]
ἵπποισι κρατεροῖσι δ’ ὁμήθεες ἀγρευτῆρες ἐξέτι νηπιάχων ἔστων, μερόπεσσί τε πᾶσιν ἠθάδιοι φίλιοί τε, μόνοισι δὲ θήρεσιν ἐχθροί.
[98] κράτισται δὲ αἱ φιλανθρωπόταται—the best greyhounds are the most kindly-affectioned. Martial’s Lydia was gentle at home, but savage in the wood,
[Sidenote: Epigram. L. +ii.+]
Venatrix sylvis aspera, blanda domi:
[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xv.+ fol. 66.]
and De Langley’s greyhound, “curtaise and nought to felle, wel folowyng his maister and doyng whatever he hym commaundeth. He shuld be good and kyndly and clene, glad and joyful and playeing wel willyng, and goodly to alle maner folkes, save to wilde beestis, upon whom he shuld be felle spitous and egre.”
[99] Ὑπὸ ψόφου ἐκπλήττονται.
[Sidenote: Tickell’s Fragment on Hunting.]
Start at the starting prey or rustling wind.
[100]
[Sidenote: Xenophon. Memorabil. L. +iv.+ c. +i.+]
All these particulars are, for the most part, matters of education and discipline; but are partially dependent on innate disposition. Education, however, is very important, operating on a good subject. Τῶν κυνῶν, says Socrates, τῶν εὐφυεστάτων, φιλοπόνων τε οὐσῶν, καὶ ἐπιθετικῶν τοῖς θηρίοις, τὰς μὲν καλῶς ἀχθείσας, ἀρίστας γίγνεσθαι πρὸς τὰς θήρας, καὶ χρησιμωτάτας· ἀναγώγους δὲ γιγνομένας, ματαίους τε καὶ μανίωδεις καὶ δυσπειθεστάτας.
[101] The canes Gallici should resemble the Gallic mules of Claudian’s epigram,
[Sidenote: De Mulabus Gallicis.]
Exutæ laqueis, sub ditione tamen.
[102] Ὑποκατακλίνονται, μὴ ὑπὸ δέους, ἀλλὰ φιλοφρονούμεναι, &c.
[Sidenote: Paradise Lost. B. +viii.+ 351.]
Cowering low With blandishment.
The greyhound’s posture is peculiarly graceful, when fondly crouching before his master or keeper; and may be well likened to the ταπεινότης (Arr. Exped. Alex. L. +iv.+ c. +xi.+) of the Persian, performing his salaam to the King of kings.
[103]
[Sidenote: Spelman’s Translation of Xenophon’s Anabasis. Note.]