and in the fable of Cephalus and Procris, the Teumesian fox being substituted for the hare;
[Sidenote: Metamorph. L. +vii.+ 781.]
Tollor eò capioque novi spectacula cursûs: Quà modo deprendi, modo se subducere ab ipso Vulnere visa fera est: nec limite callida recto, In spatiumque fugit; sed decipit ora sequentis, Et redit in gyrum, ne sit suus impetus hosti. Imminet hic sequiturque parem: similisque tenenti Non tenet, et vacuos exercet in aëra morsus.
When reading these and other splendid fables of this poet, and his similes illustrative of terror and rapidity of flight, and eagerness of pursuit, in the parties represented, it strikes us as probable that he was a practical courser, “Apollinis et Dianæ utriusque sectator,” and derived his imagery from experience in the field. To the tales of “Cephalus and his greyhound Lælaps,” and of “Daphne in Laurum” with its cited accompaniment, we may add much of the poetical ornament of Arethusa’s plaintive and terrified flight from the lustful Alpheus,
[Sidenote: Metamorph. L. +v.+ 604.]
Sic ego currebam; sic me ferus ille premebat, ... &c.
in which the classic courser will discover many allusions to his favourite sport:
[Sidenote: Ejusdem v. 609.]
Nec me velocior ille, Sed tolerare diu cursus ego viribus impar Non poteram: longi patiens erat ille laboris. Per tamen et campos, per opertos arbore montes, Saxa quoque et rupes, et quà via nulla, cucurri. Sol erat à tergo: vidi præcedere longam Ante pedes umbram: nisi si timor illa videbat. Sed certè sonituque pedum terrebar; et ingens Crinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris.
And when the affrighted nymph is rescued by the interposition of a cloud from her pursuer’s grasp, and hears the cry “Io Arethusa, Io Arethusa,” the poet compares her to a hare in a brake under similar terror,
[Sidenote: Ejusdem v. 627.]
Lepori, qui vepre latens hostilia cernit Ora canum, nullosque audet dare corpore motus:
as if the chase of this little animal had supplied him with the outline of his picture.
[159]
[Sidenote: De Naturâ Animal. L. +xiii.+ c. 14.]
Ὁ μὲν ἐξελίξας τὸν δρόμον &c. So Ælian, δρόμον δὲ ἕνα καὶ ἰθὺν οὐ θεῖ, δεῦρο δὲ καὶ ἐκεῖσε παρακλίνει, καὶ ἐξελίττει τῇ καὶ τῇ, ἐκπλήττων τοὺς κύνας καὶ ἀπατῶν.
[160] Apollonius Rhodius has well expressed the κύνες δεδαημένοι ἄγρης straining after the game with open jaws;
[Sidenote: Argonaut. L. +ii.+ 280.]
τυτθὸν δὲ τιταινόμενοι μετόπισθεν ἄκρῃς ἐν γενύεσσι μάτην ἀράβησαν ὀδόντας.
and Virgil in the simile of the “vividus Umber;” copying, probably, the poet of the Argonauts,
[Sidenote: Æneid. L. +xii.+ 754.]
Hæret hians, jam jamque tenet, similisque tenenti Increpuit malis, morsuque elusus inani est.
The hare under pursuit has a peculiar sensibility of sounds behind her. To this excellence she owes her preservation from the danger of her pursuers. By this faculty she often outstrips the fleetest brace of greyhounds, attentive to the noise of every stretch, and sound of every pant:
[Sidenote: Statii Theb. L. v. 168.]
Præcipitat suspensa fugam; jam jamque teneri Credit, et elusos audit concurrere morsus.
[Sidenote: The Booke of Venerie. p. 248.]
[Sidenote: Bacon, of Discourse, Essay +xxxii.+]
“It is a gallant sport,” says Turberville, “to see how the hare will turne and wind to save herselfe out of the dogges mouth. So that sometimes even when you thinke that your greyhound doth (as it were) gape to take her, she will turne and cast them a good way behind her: and so saveth herselfe by turning, wrenching, and winding, until she reach some covert and so save her life.” And a far greater than this translator of Fouilloux has remarked: “We see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest in the turne; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare.”
Scarce inferior to his poetical predecessor of Venusium, the classic Darcius slips his swift-footed Pterelas after the started hare, in a sketch which places the course before the reader’s eyes:
[Sidenote: Darcii Venusini Canes.]
Ocyus insequitur Pterelas, cursuque citato Intervalla facit lati decrescere campi. Jam propior propiorque micat, jam captat hianti Summa pedum rostro, jam terga fugacia stringit. Ille pavet, flexoque obliquat tramite cursus, Et dubiâ trepidans formidine, jamque teneri Se putat, et rursùm tangentis ab ore recedit, Fataque momento sibi prorogat, æmula donec Rostra levis mergat miserando in corpore victor, Fulmineus victor, gemino cui tramite lumbos Spina subit graciles, et castigata coercet Ilia substrictus venter, stant crura volantem Præteritura notum, longo internodia ductu Pes gerit, in cœlum tolluntur acumine bino Auriculæ, flexoque in lævia tergora gyro Erectæ redeunt falcata volumina caudæ.
Mr. Gay’s “Rural Sports,” Canto 2nd, afford the only poetical description of a hare-course in the English language, with which I am acquainted, in addition to that already cited from the Polyolbion of Michael Drayton:
[Sidenote: Canto +ii.+ v. 289.]
Yet if for sylvan spurts 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.
[161] Οἱ φελλεῶνες. I have not met with this word elsewhere. Xenophon has τὰ φέλλια, chap. +v.+ De Ven., to signify the same kind of stony ground. The Scholia on the Acharnenses of Aristophanes, Act +ii.+ sc. +ii.+ explains φελλεὺς as rocky ground, stony beneath, with a superficial covering of earth—such as we see on the slopes of hills, perhaps. Φελλὸς occurs in Hesychius: σκληρὸς τόπος καὶ δυσεργὴς, καὶ ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς πετρώδης. Possibly the English term “fell” may be derived from the Greek φελλὸς or φελλεύς.
[162]
[Sidenote: Xenophon. de Venat. c. +v.+]
Πόδας τοὺς πρόσθεν ἄκρως ὑγροὺς, στενοὺς, ὀρθούς· τοὺς δὲ ὄπισθεν στερεοὺς, πλατεῖς· πάντας δὲ οὐδενὸς τραχέος φροντίζοντας.
[Sidenote: Ælian. de Nat. Animal. L. +xiii.+ 14.]
[Sidenote: Franc. Junii Etymol. Anglican. à Lye. 1743.]
Πέφυκε γὰρ δασὺς τοὺς πόδας καὶ δὴ καὶ τῶν τραχέων ἀνέχεται. The term δασύπους is evidently derived from the woolly covering of the hare’s feet; originally an adjective expressive of this peculiarity, but subsequently used to designate the hare herself. To the same origin Junius refers the English term _rabbet_—“cuniculus:” “Quotquot unquam observarunt Anglos, in linguæ vernaculæ pronuntiatione, _o_ sonare ut _a_, facilè mecum credent olim fuisse _robbet_, quod nunc _rabbet_ pronuntiant et scribunt. Atque ita _robbet_ illud fortasse corruptum fuerint ex _roughfet_, quod exprimit Gr. δασύπους.”
The English word _hare_ is derived by the same Etymologist from the Anglo-Saxon _hara_. “A. S. _hara_ videtur esse ab _hær_, pilus; quoniam, ut est apud Plinium, ‘villosissimum animalium lepus.’”
[163] Let him be made to feel in the words of Ovid,
non tam Turpe fuit vinci, quàm contendisse decorum.
It is a great point to encourage a young hound, whether he kill or not.
Plutarch remarks in his treatise on the Comparative Instinct of Land and Water Animals, that the Canes Venatici, generally, tear their game and lick up the blood greedily, when they kill it themselves; but if the animal, of which they are in pursuit, expire from exhaustion, before they reach it, they merely wag their tails, and do not lacerate it; showing thereby that the contest was not for the flesh of the animal, but rather for the glory of victory.
[164] Κιῤῥὰ—derived probably from the red colour of the dog.
[165] Βόννα—the derivation of this canine name is unknown to me.
[166] Ὁρμὴ—Arrian’s own much-valued hound: to the same kennel perhaps belonged Cirras and Bonnas.
[167]
[Sidenote: Ælian. de Nat. Animal. L. +viii.+ c. +ii.+]
ἔοικε δὲ ἔχειν τι καὶ φιλοτιμίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ φυσικῆς· μὴ γὰρ δεῖσθαι κρεῶν, ἀλλὰ νίκης ἐρᾷν.
“Trahimur omnes laudis studio,” says Cicero, “et optimus quisque maximè glorià ducitur.”
[168] Pliny also makes the same remark, “Canes à cursu volutatio juvat, ut veterina à jugo.”
[169] In the Paris edition of 1644, in Blancard’s of 1683, and in Zeune’s, this Chapter stands after Chap. +xiv.+; but, on the authority of Schneider, it is more appropriately introduced in this place. Indeed the present, and two following chapters, treat of the different modes of coursing among the Celts, and might all be united under one title.
[170] Ὅσοι μὲν πλουτοῦσιν αὐτῶν καὶ τρυφῶσιν—the superior class of Celtic gentry, nobility, &c.
[171]
[Sidenote: Encyc. Méthod. Les Chasses. p. 439.]
Τοὺς κατοπτεύσοντας—finders to look over, &c. The French say, “aller à la vue.”—“c’est découvrir s’il y a dans le pays des bêtes courables.”