Oppian’s distribution of them into classes is nearly similar:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +iv.+ 25.]
θηρῶν οἱ μὲν ἔασιν ἐπίφρονες, αἰολόβουλοι, ἀλλὰ δέμας βαιοί· τοὶ δ’ ἔμπαλιν ἀλκήεντες, βουλὴν δ’ ἐν στήθεσσιν ἀνάλκιδες· οἱ δ’ ἄρ’ ὁμαρτῆ καὶ κραδίην δειλοὶ, καὶ γυῖα πέλουσ’ ἀμενηνοὶ, ἀλλὰ πόδεσσι θοοί· τοῖσιν δὲ θεὸς πόρε πάντα, βουλὴν κερδαλέην, κρατερὸν μένος, ὠκέα γοῦνα. γιγνώσκουσι δ’ ἕκαστος ἑῆς φύσιος κλυτὰ δῶρα, ἔνθ’ ὀλιγοδρανέες τε καὶ ἔνθα πέλουσι δαφοινοί. κ. τ. λ.
And in Claudian we recognise a summary classification of the same distinctive characters, adapted to the threefold varieties of the dog already noticed in his poem:
[Sidenote: Claudian. de Laud. Stilic. L. +iii.+]
capitur decus omne timorque Silvarum. Non cauta latent: non mole resistunt Fortia: non volucri fugiunt pernicia cursu.
A minute description of each particular chase would exceed the limits of a compendium,[325] and lead me into too extensive a field.
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +iv.+ 10.]
εἴδεα πολλὰ πέλει κλειτῆς πολυεργέος ἄγρης, ἄρμενα καὶ θήρεσσι καὶ ἔθνεσιν ἠδὲ χαράδραις, μυρία· τίς κεν ἅπαντα μιῇ φρενὶ χωρήσειεν, εἰπέμεναι κατὰ μοῖραν;
Let a few brief sketches of the more celebrated suffice—beginning with the hare-chase of the keenest and most accomplished sportsman of the classic ages.
[Sidenote: De Venatione c. +vi.+ 13.]
[Sidenote: Sic apud Dindorfii Annot. in loco, pro κακάς.]
After the snares and nets are duly set, and a man placed to watch them, the first-fruits of the sport being vowed to Apollo and Diana Ἀγροτέρα, Xenophon slips one of his most keen-nosed dogs, σοφωτάτη ἰχνεύειν, the rest of the pack being held singly at the covert. If this finder hit on a scent, a second dog is immediately slipped, and a third, and so on till the whole pack are in full cry after the started hare. The huntsman follows with his pole, and _chlamys_ wrapped about his hand, cheering the dogs, Ἰῶ κύνες, ἰῶ κύνες, σαφῶς γε ὦ κύνες, καλῶς γε ὦ κύνες,—taking care not to head the game—μὴ ὑπαντᾷν· ἄπορον γὰρ—for nobody but a bungler and no-sportsman is guilty of this. It is then customary to shout to the watchman at the nets, Αὐτῷ παῖς, αὐτῷ παῖς, παῖ δὴ, παῖ δὴ—_To her, boy! to her, boy! now, boy! now, boy!_—the latter replying whether the hare be taken or not. If she be captured, the hounds are called off, and begin to draw for a second; but if not, and they again hit off the scent, the halloo should be Εὖγε, εὖγε ὦ κύνες, ἕπεσθε ὦ κύνες. If the dogs are got very forward, so that the huntsman cannot keep up, but is thrown out—neither seeing them, nor hearing their cry—he should keep running on, calling to every one he happens to come near, and inquiring for the pack—ἦ κατεῖδες ὠῆ τὰς κύνας;
[Sidenote: Sic apud C. Gesner. vox bacchantium in mountibus!]
[Sidenote: Vide Savary Alb. Dianæ Leporicidæ.]
[Sidenote: Xen. de Venat. c. +vi.+ 23.]
When he finds them, if still on scent, he should cheer, and call every dog by name as often as possible, varying the intonations of his voice. If the hare has made for the mountains, he should encourage them with Εὖα κύνες, εὖα ὦ κύνες: but if they have over-shot the scent, he should call them back—_Hark back, dogs! hark back!_—οὐ πάλιν, οὐ πάλιν ὦ κύνες: when brought back to the scent, he should draw around, making many casts, (κύκλους,[326]) even up to the line of the nets, encouraging the dogs till they again pick up the scent—αἱ δὲ διαῤῥιπτοῦσαι τὰς οὐρὰς, καὶ ἑαυταῖς ἐμπίπτουσαι, καὶ πολλὰ ὑπερπηδῶσαι, καὶ ἐπανακλαγγάνουσαι, ἐπαναίρουσαι τὰς κεφαλὰς, εἰσβλέπουσαι εἰς τὸν κυνηγέτην, ἐπιγνωρίζουσαι ἀληθῆ εἶναι ἤδη ταῦτα, ὑφ’ αὑτῶν ἀναστήσουσι τὸν λαγὼ, καὶ ἐπιᾶσι κεκλαγγυῖαι—starting off again at full cry.
[Sidenote: Xenophon de Venatione. c. +vi.+]
[Sidenote: J. Sarisberiensis Policrat. L. +i.+ c. +iv.+]
The watchman at the nets gives a particular shout, significant of the hare’s capture in the ἄρκυς, or her escape by going beyond, or stopping short. If she be taken, they try for another; if not, they continue the pursuit of the same. Weary at length with their day’s work, the huntsman must himself, towards evening, assist the pack in searching out the poor tired hare at her quat, (κατακλίνεται γὰρ ἐν μικρῷ τὸ θηρίον, καὶ οὐκ ἀνίσταται ὑπὸ κόπου καὶ φόβου,) and bring them forward with encouragement; “cheering the meek dogs much, the eager ones little, the intermediate moderately,” till they kill her κατὰ πόδας, at force, or drive her into the nets: and thus at last will the huntsman become master of the hare—“infelicem bestiolam lepusculum timidum tanto fortassè prædabitur apparatu.”
Oppian’s instructions on hare-hunting, contained in a few verses at the latter end of his fourth Cynegetic, are of little interest. Hares should never be chased up hill, as their shape is particularly adapted for it, and they avail themselves of the advantage whenever they can get to a rising ground:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +iv.+ 428.]
αὐτίκα γὰρ σκύλακάς τε καὶ ἀνέρας ἀθρήσαντες πρὸς λόφον ἰθύουσιν, ἐπεὶ μάλα γινώσκουσιν ὅττι πάροιθεν ἔασιν ὀλιζότεροι πόδες αὐτοῖς. κ. τ. λ.
[Sidenote: De Naturâ Animal. L. +xiii.+ c. 14.]
Beaten roads should be avoided by huntsmen, and ploughed lands preferred for sport. Ælian has left us an animated description of the hare’s shifts and prowess in avoiding her pursuers, and the contempt with which she looks down, οἷον ἀπὸ σκοπιᾶς, on their fruitless efforts to overtake her.
[Sidenote: De Venatione c. +ix.+]
[Sidenote: Ejusdem c. +x.+]
[Sidenote: Apuleii Met. L. +viii.+ p. 512.]
The stag-hunt is treated of by Xenophon, in his ninth chapter, with snares, traps, &c. Indian dogs are here preferred, for their size, strength, speed, and courage. But as his name-sake has written on the same variety of chase with Celtic hounds and Scythian horses, I pass on to the boar-hunt, in which the former is diffuse—too diffuse for more than a bare reference. Indian and Locrian hounds are selected from the pugnacious class, and Cretan and Spartan from the sagacious, to assist the sportsman in his attack of the wild boar. The latter hound appears to be employed, on this occasion, as a lime-dog, or inductor, to find out the lair of the beast. Purse-nets, javelins, προβόλια, and ποδοστράβαι, are in request. “Jamque apud frondosum tumulum,” says Apuleius, in a vivid, but somewhat wordy sketch, “ramorumque densis tegminibus umbrosum, prospectu vestigatorum obseptis campis, canes venationis indagini generosæ, mandato, cubili residentes invaderent bestias, immittuntur: statimque solertis disciplinæ memores partitæ totos præcingunt aditus: tacitâque priùs servatâ mussitatione, signo sibi repentino reddito, latratibus fervidis dissonisque miscent omnia”—“aper immanis atque invisitatus exsurgit,” &c.
[Sidenote: Ovid. Metam. L. +viii.+]
[Sidenote: Horat. Od. L. +ii.+ +i.+ 6.]
Ovid’s Calydonian boar-hunt, with the “lecta manus juvenum” of Meleager’s confederacy, will occur to the classical reader, and farther illustrate this perilous species of chase;[327] which, with others yet more dangerous, described by Xenophon in the 11th chapter of his Manual, and by Oppian in his fourth Cynegetic, constitute examples of the _bellica Venatio_, “periculosæ plenum opus aleæ,” so emblematic of actual war.
The Athenian is very brief on the subject of lion, pard, lynx, panther, and bear-hunting. These ferocious brutes are commonly etaken by stratagem; rarely, if ever, at force. Oppian is more diffuse, amplifying the lion-chase with the Libyan, Indian, and Æthiopian practices for capturing the king of beasts.
As a splendid specimen of poetical talent in this too much neglected author, (for he richly deserves the character bestowed on his works by J. C. Scaliger, C. Barthius, and other eminent scholars,) I select, from the latter part of the same book, the following extract—a description of an Armenian bear-hunt. The bear is found with the limehound of the country, the nets, snares, and μήρινθος ἐΰστροφος are set, and the din of pursuit commences:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +iv.+ 398.]
σάλπιγξ μὲν κελάδησε πελώριον· ἡ δέ τε λόχμης ὀξὺ λέληκε θοροῦσα, καὶ ὀξὺ δέδορκε λακοῦσα. αἰζηοὶ δ’ ἐπόρουσαν ἀολλέες, ἐκ δ’ ἑκάτερθεν ἀντία θηρὸς ἰᾶσι φαλαγγηδὸν κλονέοντες. ἡ δ’ ὅμαδον προλιποῦσα καὶ ἀνέρας, ἰθὺς ὀρούει γυμνὸν ὅπου λεύσσει πεδίον πολύ· κεῖθεν ἔπειτα ἑξείης κατὰ νῶτον ἐγειρόμενος λόχος ἀνδρῶν κλαγγηδὸν παταγεῦσιν, ἐπ’ ὀφρύα μηρίνθοιο σευόμενοι καὶ δεῖμα πολύχροον· ἡ δέ τ’ ἀνιγρὴ ἀμφίβολος μάλα πάμπαν ἀτυζομένη πεφόρηται. πάντα δ’ ὁμοῦ δείδοικε, λόχον, κτύπον, αὐλὸν, ἀϋτὴν, δειμαλέην μήρινθον, ἐπεὶ κελάδοντος ἀήτεω ταινίαι τ’ ἐφύπερθε διηέριαι κραδάουσι, κινύμεναι πτέρυγές τε λιγήϊα συρίζουσιν οὕνεκα παπταίνουσα κατ’ ἄρκυας ἀντίον ἕρπει· ἐν δ’ ἔπεσεν λινέοισι λόχοις. κ. τ. λ.
But farewell the detail of these savage chases![328]—
[Sidenote: The Chace. B. +ii.+]
The king of brutes In broken roarings breathes his last, the bear Grumbles in death; nor can his spotted skin, Though sleek it shine, with varied beauties gay, Save the proud pard from unrelenting fate!